A website splash page is an animated or multimedia home page that's designed to impress visitors with its cleverness, creativity, or "coolness." The goal of a splash page is ostensibly to give the visitor a very favorable impression of the website they are about to enter (and the company that runs the site.)

But what a splash page is supposed to do, and what it actually does, is often two completely different stories. In fact, usually the only people who are happy with even the best splash pages are the business owner, the business owner's family and best friends, and the graphic designer who designed the splash page.

Most web users dislike splash pages because they delay them from reaching the information (content) they came to the site to get. So the first thing a majority of visitors do when they hit a splash page is to look for a "click to close" box, button or link.

Search engines also have a problem with most splash pages. The reason: most are created in a way that makes them impossible for search engines to understand. When the search engines can't understand what a web page is about, they don't include the page in their indices. Result: your website doesn't get found.

Bottom line: if you have a splash page now for your home page, get rid of it. Replace it with a page that has a lot of text and internal links on it.

If you are having a website designed or redesigned, just say "No!" to suggestions that you put up a splash page for your home page.

More: When You Should and Shouldn't Use Flash

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