Adobe Flash is the medium of choice for designers creating engaging websites. But now, in combination with a powerful content management solution, DDX FlashCMS, from Rich Internet Applications development company DDX, these engaging websites can become sophisticated business tools for tracking, monitoring and responding to online engagement.

Australia's much-loved designer clothing manufacturer, Mambo is a company who has been quick to take advantage of the latest leading-edge technology to engage and build customer relationships and deliver real return on investment.

Mambo's new website, designed by Damien Aistrope and developed by DDX using Adobe Flash, is an engaging, interactive, rich internet experience designed to inform and entertain. Powering the website is DDX FlashCMS, which allows Mambo to manage its website.

'The Mambo label has always represented what is fun and quirky in life. It appeals to the Australian sense of humour. We wanted our website to reflect this by providing a colourful, fun, interactive experience. We achieved this by using Adobe Flash,' says Matt Owens, marketing manager at Mambo.

'In addition to providing a rich internet experience, we will be able to track our customer base, measure the effectiveness of our website and integrate with other internet marketing opportunities so that we can respond to online information more effectively.'

With DDX FlashCMS, designers can continue to use Adobe Flash to provide the most engaging, interactive user experience without compromising functionality. Clients can quickly and easily update text, images, rich media files and functionalities without ongoing maintenance costs.

Other features include cross platform/browser back/next button and bookmarking functionality and the ability for the website to be viewed on newer model mobile phones. There is also an increased performance over HTML websites due to zero page refreshes and compression of media in Adobe Flash.

Search Engine Optimisation for Adobe Flash websites has previously been limited but now, with DDX FlashCMS, Adobe Flash websites can be indexed by search engines for online marketing purposes, similar to HTML websites. Clients who wish to deliver an engaging and interactive online experience with Adobe Flash no longer need to compromise search engine indexability, marketing measurability and accountability. DDX FlashCMS allows them to achieve both.

DDX FlashCMS also now allows Adobe Flash websites to be fully integrated with Google Analytics, a free service provided by Google. Google Analytics offers detailed statistical information on visitors to a website, such as where visitors were referred from and how long they stayed, as well as geographical information.

Marketers using Googles AdWords advertisements can use Google Analytics to more closely target advertisement and marketing campaigns to potential customers. Dollar spend on advertisements can then be tracked with dollar sales gained.

Sasha Merzliakov and Ricky Chong, Directors of DDX, explain that there are significant benefits of using Adobe Flash technology. These include a flexible development framework which enables DDX to develop a broad range of rich media projects and applications quickly. There is also ease of integration of media capabilities and reduced cross browser/platform issues.

DDX can bring unique content management and search engine optimisation benefits to clients with Adobe Flash websites without compromising on features taken for granted in HTML websites.

Merzliakov and Chong believe that these marketing, analysis and reporting functions available for Adobe Flash websites through DDX FlashCMS and through integration with Google Analytics, together with the eCommerce options, will open the internet for increasingly sophisticated and targeted marketing.

DDX was involved in the development of Supre's first Adobe Flash eCommerce websites in Australia. Secure socket layers within DDX FlashCMS enable secure transactions and protection of sensitive information. More recently, DDX has created a very successful Adobe Flash website with eCommerce capabilities for UK fashion client, Brittique.

'Through Adobe Flash, we can create the most exciting interactive websites and rich internet applications and through DDX FlashCMS we can provide organisations with valuable information about customer profiles as well as allowing companies to make financial transactions through their websites,' says Sasha Merzliakov.

'Organisations can now gather information from eCommerce transactions, or from using Google's AdWords advertisements and, using the sophisticated analysis available from Google Analytics, they can tailor their sites to customer preferences and ensure the best dollar return on online marketing and advertising investment.'