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April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Session Title
Presenters{Name}{Name}
April 11-13, 2011April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.comwww.techshow.com
PRESENTED BY THE
Website 101: Build and Website 101: Build and RebuildRebuild
PresentersPresentersCourtney Ward-ReichardCourtney Ward-Reichard
Steve MatthewsSteve Matthews
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Overview: Website Build & Rebuild
• Domain Name Decisions• Website Hosting• Content Management Decisions• Planning and Outsourcing• Design Best Practices
• Content Best Practices
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Domain Names
How to choose your URL?– Shorter names are easier to remember
• Less Named Partners – 1 or 2• Shorter Acronyms• Keyword-driven domains
– .COM domains continue to dominate• When clients guess: they guess .com• Lock down .NET & .ORG
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Keyword Domains
Example: texastaxattorneys.com
Pros:– Strong factor in Google Searches– Good match for firms that limit their practice areas
ex. boutiques, solo and small firms– Well suited to blogs and microsites
Cons:– Not a great fit for mid-sized and larger firms – at
least not as its principal website– Need to acquire from third party? $$$
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
The Firm Name Changes: Must your domain?
Be proactive: plan for this day!– Less Partners represented in the firm domain
reduces the risk.
Avoid changing domains if at all possible– Domain Age is a weighted factor in Google
Searches– 301 Redirects (mapping from old domain to new
domain) will help, but is an inexact science.
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
How to change domains properly
Use Google Webmaster Tools – Register both the old and new domains
– Use the Domain redirect feature
Old domain: – Use an .htaccess file to map ALL pages to their location
on the new domain (301 Permanent Redirects).
– Redirect this domain for at least one year.
New domain: – Register a site map file with GW Tools
– Boost the temporary crawl rate in GW Tools
– Goal: get these pages indexed fast!
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Website Hosting
Hosting companies rent you an online home.
Hosting industry is very competitive– Most people who writes about website hosting
have a financial stake. – Ask friends or colleagues for referrals– Check out support forums for ‘clues’
Most law firms host on shared hosting plans– Means sharing that computer with up to
200 different websites– Moving web hosts is not a big hurdle.
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Factors for Choosing a Host
Emergency SupportWho picks up the phone when your website is down?
Multiple domain supportCan you host more than one website for the same price?
Bandwidth or Storage RestrictionsAny restrictions in traffic and data storage?
C-panel AccessMakes support far less technical. Great for DIY websites!
Data backupsHow often? How many locations?
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Required Building Block– CMS Separates Content from Design – website
development becomes modular:• Content is isolated in its own database;• Design is isolated into a small set of standardized templates;• New functionality is isolated in module plugins.
• Editing or creating new content is instant• Easier to move, back-up, and re-design your website in
the future!
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Comparing CMS Products
• Big 3: Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla– Percentage of installed CMS products:
• Wordpress (55%)• Joomla (11%)• Drupal (6.1%)
• All three are primarily built for Linux (a.k.a. Lamp Stack)• All have a large developer support community
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
CMS Template Development
Theme Templates - Build or Buy– Cost effective tactic for DIY web design
– Each CMS has a community of designers producing free and low cost templates.
– Experiment with free, but pay for premium!• Premium themes average $75-150. Great value.
Find the CMS “Theme Gardens”– Wordpress: http://www.themegarden.com
– Drupal: http://themegarden.org/drupal6
– Joomla: http://www.templateplaza.com/
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
CMS & Website Security
Open Source CMS software are a starting framework:– Drupal: Limit the ability to create new accounts
– Joomla: Reduce access privileges for users
– WordPress: Limit login attempts; relocate the login page
• Use complex passwords• Deny Search Engines from indexing the Administration
pages (robots.txt)• Register your website with Google Webmaster Tools
– Warns of any kind of malware problems
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Website Content
Three Goals:
• Easy to Navigate
• Expresses Who You Are
• Attracts Clients You Seek
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
The Creative Brief
• Strategic plan
• All levels of personnel
• All stages of the project
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Who is Your Audience?
• Solo practitioner?
• Plaintiff or defense?
• Criminal or civil?
• Specialized or general?
• Individual or corporate?
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
The Brand
Distinguish yourself….
…but remain true to who you are.
BRANDS ARE NOT ASPIRATIONAL!
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Working with Vendors
• Determine appropriate level
• Clarify:– scope of work– costs– responsibility to provide information
for design and content
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Best Practices: Size
• Need to design for small and large monitors:– Design core fits small screen PLUS– Background space strategy
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Best Practices: URLs
• Why?– search engines– keep navigation simple
• Use a re-write module:
http://www.firmwebsite.com/office_detail.aspx?Id=10001
http://www.firmwebsite.com/offices/chicago/
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Best Practices: Photos
• Uniform
• Professional
• Approachable
• Recent!
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
More Best Practices
• Color contrast
• Law firm logo
• White space: more is better
• Text navigation
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Best Practices: Browsers
• Expansion of Browsers
• Mobile and Tablet Use
• Cross-browser Testing
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
What to Avoid
Flash Animations– Incompatible with iPhone and iPad– Invisible to search engines
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
What to Avoid
Background Audio– It’s annoying!– Increases “bounce”– Does the user want this?
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
What to Avoid
Video Overlays– uninteresting when repeated– annoying
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
What to Avoid
Pop-Up Windows
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
What to Avoid
Scaled Images– Re-size in vector graphics
applications, not the browser– Preserves crisp images
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Content!
• Last stage of the design process – and the one that takes the longest
• Careful planning and adequate resources are critical!
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Contact Information
• Call to action – who is the best person to answer my questions?
• Include email addresses
• Include v-card link
• Include social media and blog links
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Indexes: Homepage or Secondary?
• Challenge for larger websites
• What can be moved?– Practice-based publications– Practice sub-groups– List of offices
• Goal: flat architecture and avoiding over-classification
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Keep it Fresh!
• Dynamic content is critical…– search engines– return visitors
• …and you need a plan:– latest publications and firm news– blog posts– Twitter stream
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
Questions?
Steve Matthewssteve@stemlegal.com
Courtney Ward-Reichardcward@nilanjohnson.com
April 11-13, 2011www.techshow.com
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