Website Essentials

The foundation of your Internet strategy is your website. There are websites that are little more than a "web page" and there are websites that feature the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica. There are sites with no functionality at all, and there are super stores like Amazon.com that feature a large degree of interaction. But there a few basics you should remember in having your site designed.

* First, make sure the site is user-friendly. What does that mean? It means that a visitor to the site ought to be able to find what he or she is looking for without too much trouble. If visitors do not know what they're looking for, the site should lead them easily and naturally to what you would like them to see. It should be easy to read with large type and plenty of space around the text and pictures.

* Your site should be graphically attractive. Since your product (legal strategies) is invisible, the package is the product. The "look and feel" of your site should reflect the sophisticated work you do. It should not look like a "do it yourself" job. That means you should probably hire a professional designer.

* Your site should be content-rich. Studies show that nothing nothing is more important than the quality of the content visitors will find on your site. Is your information useful, timely, interesting, well-written? If not, hire a professional copywriter. And don't forget to have plenty of links to related sites (for example, the AARP site might be useful to your visitors, and of course, ElderLawAnswers.com).

* Your site should be frequently updated. Surveys have shown that the Internet is littered with millions of "abandoned" websites created and then never added to nor modified. The information contained in these sites is outdated and useless. Worse yet, the sites are embarrassing. If your site has a section on "Upcoming Events" that happened three years ago, it creates the same impression as having cobwebs on your office doorframes.

* In addition, your site should be constructed to be "search-engine friendly." There will be much more on search engines below, but it is important that the person or firm that builds your site understand how search engines work, and creates a site that, at the very least, avoids search engine "no-no's." As a simple example, search engines will not recognize text that exists within a Flash file. So, that fancy animation that slides the name of your firm across the screen? It's invisible to the search engines, and thus invisible to the potential clients trying to find you. There are many more search engine dos and don'ts, and any competent website firm will know them.

* Finally, your website must contain a call to action. It is not enough that someone visits your site. You want them to take action, and you must invite them to do so. Most sites feature a page entitled "contact us" and that's fine, but it will work even better with an offer, like: Call us and schedule a free consultation; or Call us and register for our upcoming seminar; or Call us and get a free copy of our whitepaper (as you may have done to be reading this).

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By: Mark Merenda

This white paper is based on a presentation I gave with Harry Margolis of ElderLawAnswers in July 2005 to the New York State Bar Elder Law Section summer meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The manuscript was also reviewed by Zach Katkin, internet specialist at Unique ID; Kevin O'Keefe of lexBlog , Larry Bodine of LawMarketing Portal; Matt Homann of the [non]billable hour ; and Rick Law of LawElderLaw. I thank them for their suggestions, but absolve them of responsibility for any errors.

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