When's the Last Time Your Fingers Did the Walking?

For years, lawyers and the yellow pages went hand in hand.  Open up any variation of the telephone book and you will surely  find a multitude of grinning attorneys inquiring if you had recently suffered any sort of calamitous injury.  Of course, times have changed.  I couldn't tell you the last time I "let my fingers do the walking."   These days, I only use the yellow pages as booster seats for vertically challenged clients.  I have also been know to use phone books to beat down non-paying clients.  If television cop dramas have taught me anything, using this method avoids bruising.  But I digress.....

If you're reading this post, chances are you get most of your information from the internet. You're not alone.  It is estimated over two thirds of prospective clients now search for legal help online.  Nevertheless, many attorneys don't put any effort in their website design.  Maybe you're a small firm and you let your computer friendly kid design your site. Maybe it's not in the budget or you simply do not think it's necessary. Or perhaps your practice relies on referrals.  What do you need a website for?  

You shouldn't think of your website as just an online brochure.  It's your opportunity to put yourself on equal footing with other firms.  Is your site interesting?  If you viewed your website, would you hire you?  What kind of information does your site provide?   It can also be used as a way to retain your clients.  Is your website a resource for your clients?  Can they easily contact you, find directions to your office or even check on their matters?  What kind of image are you portraying?  How does it stack up with your competitor's site?  Is your web address easy to remember?  How does it look when viewed on various browsers or a smart phone?

Of course, if you're a solo practitioner, hiring someone to design a fancy website may not be an option.  If this is the case, may I suggest you check out wix.com.  Wix is a flash website building page that came on the scene in 2005.  Six years later, I finally stumbled across it.  After creating a "practice site" on Wix, I finally realized how homemade our current law firm site appeared. 

With the use of the site's drag and drop features and pre-made templates, Wix has made it incredibly easy to design a professional looking website.  The best part is that you do not need a background in computer science and you can try it out for free.   It is very easy to add a myriad of effects including video.  You can use the free wix domain address or you can upgrade to use your own domain. Wix offers plans that start around five dollars a month. 


With my own firm's site, I was able to easily transfer my domain name from my previous provider.  In case you're curious, you can view my own efforts with Wix at www.ptblegal.com  As always, we encourage your comments or maybe concerns.  (For example - What self respecting attorney would post a photo of himself sitting at a piano?)