Attorney Website Design

For years, Adobe Flash has been the leading technology used by web developers to incorporate movement into the graphics of a website. Despite its popularity, Flash animation has been widely criticized. Many argue that it should be avoided for two main reasons: 1) when not properly implemented, Flash animation can be detrimental to SEO and 2) Apple does not allow Flash to run on iOS, the operating system which runs on the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Apple TV.

Adding photos to the content area of your website can be a great way to enhance your site’s appearance while giving it a more customized feel. Many content management systems, like our own Site Manager, allow site administrators to add photos directly to the site. With the ability to add photos, come many questions. What’s the best size for photos on the site? Should they be cropped? Should I apply any effects to the photo (sepia looks pretty cool, right)? In this post, we’ll explore some photo basics and best practices for adding photos to your law firm’s site.

Over the past week, people all along the East Coast felt the negative effects of Hurricane Sandy. With high winds and surging sea levels, this “Frankenstorm” caused severe damage to millions of homes and businesses.

Every day we’re contacted by prospective clients.  Many ask the same questions like how well do your clients rank with Google? How long is the development process?  How extensive is your content management system? One consideration which is far too often overlooked when selecting a website provider is loading time. How quickly does the server respond when a visitor arrives at a new site?

A slow loading time can be harmful in a number of ways.

We meet a lot of attorneys at conferences and networking events. Of course, the topic of their firms’ websites always comes up. The most common reaction we hear from lawyers is “I have a website but it could be better.” After digging a little deeper, we often find out why it could be better. Often the graphics just aren’t great, the content was never completed, the site is outdated or it looks nice but it just isn’t bringing in business. In an effort to help attorneys better understand the potential of their marketing efforts, we’re pleased to offer free, no-obligation website assessments.

During your many trips around the web, you’ve likely encountered “live chat” on a site. Usually it comes in the form of a small pop up window with a message along the lines of “Hi. I’m Sarah. Can I help answer any questions for you today?”

The main goal of this feature is to encourage interaction with visitors before they jump off of the site. This tool allows the web user to make contact in the most non-committal manner; after all, they don’t have to pick up the phone or submit a contact form. Heck, they don’t even have to give you a name and they get an instant response.

Even though we're all about technology here at Amicus Creative, we have to admit that tech terms can be confusing. There are lots of them and when developing a website, many lawyers face the difficult task of familiarizing themselves with all of the basics of domains, websites, DNS hosting and email. To save attorneys time, we thought we'd create a little cheat sheet of key terms and how they are all connected when it comes to your law firm's website.

Lawyers tend to love justification of text. Simply explained, full justification is a type of formatting which adds spacing between words (and even within words) so that the text fills the entire line, creating a clean left and right edge to any block of text.  Since full text justification is common in pleadings and briefs, it should come as no surprise then that many of the law firms that we work with ask us to justify the text on their website. While it may be common in some legal briefs and memorandums, text justification should be avoided at all costs on your law firm’s website.

With 1 in 10 internet users now using their mobile devices to surf the web, it’s absolutely critical that all law practices have a site that can be easily accessed on the small screen of a smart phone or tablet. Amicus Creative Media is pleased to offer mobile website development for all law firms to ensure that they are effectively engaging visitors across all devices.  

The mobile websites that we develop contain all of the same information as the firm’s main site but the structure will be different allowing site visitors on a mobile device to more easily move around it. Just as with all main sites we create, our mobile sites will be dynamic so any changes made through the Site Manager account will be instantly reflected on the mobile website. Firms won’t need a second domain name for the mobile site; in fact, we’ve developed a system that is smart enough to detect what device a site visitor is using and will load the correct version of the site that has been optimized for their device. You can see an example of how this functions by visiting www.fredcohenlaw.com. First visit the site from your PC. Then try from your smart phone—same site, just a slightly different layout for optimal visitor experience.

All of our mobile sites are optimized for the smaller screens of mobile devices and boast the following benefits:

• Faster loading times
• Ease of navigation through content
• Intuitive functionality for mobile device operators
• Effortless contact with the firm through a quick link menu which features one touch contact and share buttons.

Contact us to learn more about this exciting new development.

If you’re a regular reader, you know how we feel about content; we love it! We encourage law firms to add as much content to their websites, as often as possible, to create an effective online presence. Our love does have some limits though. Sometimes, there really is just too much content on one page. We often find this on the home page. Firms attempt to combine a firm profile, information on multiple practice areas and contact information all on one page—very often the first page that a visitor sees when they land on the site. And while this information is pertinent, guess what happens when visitors see so much information?

Every website has a navigation menu. For most law firms, this menu includes a home “button” and direct links to pages highlighting the firms’ practice areas, office locations and attorney profiles. And while it is a critical component of the site, it is not one that is often carefully analyzed by firms when they set out to create a new website.

To ensure that website visitors have a good experience and are able to easily locate information on your firm, it’s important that you consider the following options when designing your website: