Marketing Tips: Design and Site Usability

Accessible Web design dramatically increases the likelihood that someone will bookmark your site for future visits, mention you to friends or subscribe to your blog feed and/or newsletters.

For high-flying criminal defense attorneys and accident lawyers alike, booking new clients through online marketing is a three-step process. The first step is getting people interested in your service, which you do through traditional outreach both online and offline. The second step is getting people to visit your website, which you do through search-based marketing techniques. The third and final step is getting people to contact you directly. If they are turned off by your website, that will never happen.

Tips for great site design

Web design is a full-time profession, and first and foremost, you should hire someone talented and design-savvy. That being said, you still need to take a proactive role in your website’s design. Any site is only as good as the instruction and guidance you give your Web designer. You will also need to maintain the site when the designer is done.

• Write good content. Make sure it’s spell-checked and properly edited. Involve your readers with phrases like, “what do you think?” If you can’t write interesting stories, hire a professional to ghostwrite your blog for you.
• Have your site’s design focus on a strong visitor experience rather than maximized Web traffic.
• Keep your site interactive. People keep coming back if they know they can interact with you and with one another on blogs, forums and comments.
• As a caveat to the above tip, implement powerful spam filters to keep out advertisers and linkbait spammers. Nothing is more antithetical to an online community than spam.
• If your website is largely based on content, which most legal websites are, decide on an update schedule and stick to it like clockwork. Regularity will keep people listening to your feeds and coming back for the next post.

Good design is about making visitors feel at home and excited to be searching around your site. It is open without being overwhelming, and it is visually pleasing without distracting from the content. Get second opinions, find a designer whose work you feel matches your needs, and get started on your website design today!