WORDPRESS FOR LAWYERS

Transcription

1 WORDPRESS FOR LAWYERS SETTING UP YOUR FIRM WEBSITE Evan Scheingross Slides at evanwebdesign.com/wordpress-for-lawyers/

2 WHY I M QUALIFIED TO TALK TO YOU: Built my first website in years of professional experience Using WordPress since 2006 Designed, developed, or consulted on over 50 legal websites My dad is a lawyer

3 PURPOSE OF TODAY S PRESENTATION Learn what makes a good website. Understand what you can accomplish on your own without professional help. Learn how to set up and edit your own website using WordPress. Provide awesome advice you will have a hard time finding anywhere else.

4 BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

5 WEBSITE GOALS IF YOU DON T HAVE THEM, DON T START! What do you want to accomplish with your website? Professional validation: when people Google your name, what do they find? Increased business / lead generation Professional networking / collaboration Start with a small, realistic goal. Websites can (and should) grow over time. You re not publishing a book. Identify wants vs. needs. What s most important when first getting your website online?

6 KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO ON YOUR OWN DO-IT-YOURSELF Smaller websites Generic design Basic features and functionality HIRE HELP Larger websites Custom design High tech or custom functionality Be realistic in what you can accomplish on your own! Know when to hire a professional.

7 KNOW WHAT MAKES A GOOD WEBSITE Content (is king) Strive to make your website a unique, helpful, and informative resource for your visitors. Ease of use Make your content easy to read and navigate on screens of all sizes. Know your audience What type of content and imagery will resonate with your target demographic? Put yourself in your visitors shoes. Size does not always matter Websites can be simple and beautiful. Often times less is more on the web.

8 BUILDING YOUR OWN WEBSITE

9 WHAT YOU WILL NEED 1. Domain Name - $10-20/year Godaddy.com, namecheap.com, hover.com Use a.com domain name. It avoids potential confusion. Avoid long domains. Shorter is better. 2. Website Hosting - $5-30/month Good: Blue Host Better: Media Temple Best: WP Engine 3. WordPress FREE! It s a CMS content management system. Easy to learn, difficult to master. It s future-proof, flexible, and widely-supported. Easy to pass off to a professional. Powers 20% of the web.

10 LET S DO IT!

11 UPDATE DNS SETTINGS FOR YOUR DOMAIN NAME These settings tell your domain name to point to your web server. Call your domain name registrar if you need help. Blue Host: Media Temple: +Temple%27s+DNS%7B47%7DNameserver+information WP Engine:

12 DNS SETTINGS CONT

13 INSTALL WORDPRESS Media Temple offers a 1-click install tool: +install+wordpress+using+the+1-click+applications+tool %3F Blue Host has a 1-click install tool: WordPress comes preinstalled with WP Engine Call your web host if you need help!

14 LET S LEARN WORDPRESS!

15 WORDPRESS LINKS & RECOMMENDATIONS Free WordPress themes: Premium WordPress themes: Free WordPress plugins: The absolute best contact form plugin: Make easy backups of your website files and database:

16 QUICK BUT IMPORTANT TIPS

17 SOCIAL MEDIA Pay attention at the next presentation. Only do it if you can be active. (Don t abandon it.) Link to it from your website Use social media platforms to direct people to your website. You can reach different people through different mediums.

18 STAT TRACKING IT S IMPORTANT Data = Knowledge Knowledge = Power USE GOOGLE ANALYTICS USE THE WP GOOGLE ANALYTICS PLUGIN

19 SECURITY Getting hacked does happen. Keep your WP installation and all plugins up to date. Use a strong password. Seriously. It sucks, but do it!

20 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) Don t worry about it too much in the beginning. There are no shortcuts to success. Write good, original, informative content. Update regularly. Increase the size of your website over time. Target geographically. List your physical address. Check out this article with advice from Matt Cutts: You ll be standing on solid ground for a future SEO campaign.

21 QUESTIONS?

22 THANK YOU! Evan Scheingross Slides at evanwebdesign.com/wordpress-for-lawyers/