With all the law firm web design options out there, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. While you want to choose a law firm web design solution that is effective, you probably don't want to spend the next 10 years paying for your law firm website. Here are 5 of the most common law firm web design mistakes to avoid:
Unfortunately, even with all the information available online regarding content management systems (CMS), many law firm web design consultants still fail to implement a CMS for their clients. Without a proper CMS solution, updating and changing your law firm website will be prohibitively difficult. The good news is that there are several CMS options, many of which are free. Bottom line: you must find a law firm web design professional that will build your website on a CMS.
While many CMS solutions, like WordPress, are excellent in terms of architecture, others can be almost as bad as a poorly hard coded site. The easiest way to avoid such problems, in my opinion, is simply to use WordPress. However, if you decide to go another direction, make sure that your permalinks reflect your post titles (at the very least). Bottom line: Make sure your law firm web design company considers site architecture.
Whether you choose to design your law firm website with an embedded legal blog, or create an independent blog, any law firm web design project should implement social media and networking functions. Social signals will play a significant role in terms of publicity for your firm online. Be sure to ask your law firm web design team about integrating social components like twitter, facebook, and linkedin. Your ability to get found online will depend, to a large extent, on your ability to publicize your content through various social channels. No matter how you execute it, having a legal blog and website content strategy is absolutely critical to success. Bottom line: You can't afford to omit social functionality.
While law firm web design usability issues have steadily declined, they're still a big problem. Luckily, there are a lot of excellent usability resources available online. Here's a usability article that covers some of the basics. The key to usability is testing. While there are some general guidelines and conventions, the truth is that users of your website will reveal preferences that you will only be able to recognize through thorough testing. Bottom line: Make website usability a top priority in your law firm web design project.
Any law firm web design project should make content the highest priority. Law firm websites that don't spend time developing useful content fail. It's really that simple. The more helpful, informative, interesting, and beneficial your content is to your users, the more success you will have in converting website visitors into clients, as well as, increasing your visibility in search engines and other places on the web. Bottom line: Make website content your utmost priority.
While this article touches on some of the most common and troublesome law firm web design mistakes, there are many others that should be carefully considered. While I encourage legal professionals to be engaged in their design and implementation process, there is usually a great benefit to consulting with a law firm Internet marketing professional, even at the design and development stage.
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Law Firm Websites Done RightThis guide gives you some simple and tangible considerations that should be on your mind when you’re setting up your law firm’s website including:
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And how much time should they spend doing it? I recently had the privilege of chatting with Tyson, Jim, and Conrad for an upcoming episode of The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. If you're not familiar with The Maximum Lawyer community, you should definitely check it out. Jim asked a really great question about who should do […]
