Integrity Marketing

Go Mobile or Go Home (Without Directions)

How many of you have a mobile device that you use on a regular basis? If you aren’t sure what that means, a mobile device is basically any type of handheld computing device, including smartphones and tablets of some sort (i.e. your iPhone or iPad, or similar model from a different manufacturer).

I personally use my smartphone all day, whether I’m checking emails, checking/updating Social Media, reading scripture, taking photos of my kids, or planning my next meal on Pinterest. I use my tablet to help entertain the kids from time to time with games, movies and music (guilty as charged, but I do limit their use and access). Mobile devices have become part of our daily lives, online or not. Anyone else get that occasional tingly thumb from scrolling their screens? No? Ok, maybe that’s just me.

Studies show that between 15%-50% of web visitors access websites on a mobile device on any given day. That number is growing, and business owners are taking notice. As the web is becoming easier to access on the go, mobile marketing is rapidly becoming a priority among marketers and business owners alike.

So what does this mean for your law firm? Do people really need to access your firm’s website on their mobile device?

It’s not like your law firm is the city movie theater or local Target store, so I understand the hesitation some attorneys have with adding a mobile website to their marketing toolbox. But I will tell you that the one sure thing people WILL go to your website for is this: DIRECTIONS. Or really, contact information in general (i.e. your phone number, address, and hours of operation). I’m sure you know the scenario: you have an appointment, forgot to look up directions, and reach for your smartphone to assist you in getting to your destination.  And how frustrating is it when you pull up the website on your device and you can’t locate the phone number or address b/c it’s NOT mobile?! Ugh!

Save your clients the hassle and go mobile with your site. IMS will create your mobile site to be branded just like your regular website with easier access for prospects, clients, and referring professionals to find you on the web. We not only build the mobile website, but we maintain it and synchronize it with your desktop website, which means that when we make changes to your main website (such as new content, newsletters, workshop dates, etc) we manage how those changes sync to your mobile site, so your mobile site stays current without you ever having to lift a finger!

All IMS websites are mobile accessible -- which means they can be viewed on mobile devices, but accessible is not the same as optimized. A mobile website is optimized for mobile viewing, which means your viewers will not be forced to squint and scroll to read content on your site. Also, mobile websites feature one-click calling, one-click emailing, and one-click maps with driving directions.

We track and report every performance aspect of your Essential® marketing system, including your mobile website. I pulled a sampling of last month's stats from three of our clients to see how their mobile sites performed: 

Mobile Stats	Client 1	Client 2	Client 3
Page Views	90	193	196
Click to Map	1	2	3
Click to Email	2		2
Form Submissions		2	2
Click to Call	8	10	12

This clearly shows that valuable clients, referral sources and prospects are being generated directly from the mobile website. The whole idea behind having a web presence is to draw visitors in, make them feel comfortable, and create a user-friendly experience.

Here is a short video on our Optimized Mobile Websites for attorneys.

 

Is Your Law Firm Website Designed to Sell?

In the popular HGTV series, Designed to Sell, professional designers show "how to turn a tired house into a showpiece by giving sellers a $2,000 budget and a team of experts to transform their house into the hottest property on the block."

If you've ever watched the show, you know that the "tired house" is seldom the designers' biggest challenge. In fact, the designers can walk into a house and within a few minutes know exactly what needs to be done to get the house sold. They spend most of the rest of the show arguing with the owners. Even though the house has gone unsold for months, even though there are NO offers on the table, the owners seem convinced that shag carpet is coming back, small rooms are cozy, and red walls are all the rage.

It's only human nature. We think that we are "normal," and that most other people see things pretty much the way we do. If we like red walls, we think most other "normal" people will, too. The problem is, when it comes to selling, we are wrong.

Why? Because in the buyer-seller dance, we are thinking like sellers ... and the buyers are thinking like ... well ... buyers. And there are huge differences between these two mindsets. Perhaps the widest chasm between buyer and seller is comfort zone. Sellers are very comfortable, they reside in the familiar. Their feet are on terra firma. Buyers, on the other hand, are quite uncomfortable. They are leaving their comfort zone, nothing is familiar, and the risks are high.

The pros on Designed to Sell understand this. They are trained to think like buyers. They want to make the house feel comfortable, familiar and low-risk. It's what they do. And, at the end of the episode, they are always right.

The professional designers here at Integrity Marketing approach your website design much the same way. In fact, we probably should develop a Designed to Sell video featuring our designers working to turn tired websites in the hottest properties on the web! We could show them encouraging clients to de-clutter, streamline, and coordinate. In fact, here are five top "secrets" from Designed to Sell that apply just as well to your website design as to that tired, un-sellable house:

1. De-clutter -- open spaces are inviting!
2. Clean lines = dollar signs!
3. Update your content to keep your buyers' interest
4. Appeal to the senses -- you can't add aroma to your website, but you can add video!
5. Color, appropriately applied, adds curb appeal -- and makes people want to come inside!

Finally, take a tip from the pros at Designed to Sell, and learn to trust your designer. They probably sell as many houses -- or build as many websites -- in a week as the average person does in a lifetime!

Law Firm Web Design: Responsive or Responsible?

By Alyssa Mahlberg,
Graphic Designer

Responsive Web Design, if you haven’t heard of it, is one of the latest trends in web technology. It is a special way of coding a website so that the images, elements, text and buttons on the page adjust and rearrange themselves with the resizing of a browser window. Simply stated, it is a web development technique that attempts to optimize a single website for all different screen sizes, including desktop screen, tablet or mobile device.

Now, this sounds like, and is a powerful development strategy for some situations. But is it the best option for your estate planning website? I don’t think so, not yet, and I’ll tell you why.

Because Responsive Web Design means designing one website for a huge variety of screen sizes, it often means that the designer must be constantly compromising. Elements that should be featured first and foremost on a law firm’s mobile site, like a tap to call button, are pretty useless for someone using a desktop computer, and complex imagery and information like a large header slider is a powerful feature for a desktop website, but not worth as much space on a mobile device.

At IMS, we prefer Responsible Design -- design that recognizes users approach websites differently depending on the device they are using. The desktop websites designed at IMS are strategically planned out, designed and are full of useful information for viewers. We’re not interested in compromising this powerful user experience for our desktop browsers, so how do we overcome the obstacle of reaching people searching on a mobile device?

The statistics regarding mobile browsing behavior are too strong to ignore. For example, it has been found that 62% of mobile users who visit a mobile unfriendly site will click away and go to a competitor’s site. So, to our essential attorneys, we offer a mobile website, designed specifically for mobile phones that complements the desktop website, but is simpler and optimized for a seamless mobile user experience.

For more information on mobile vs. desktop website design check out this previous blogpost (http://blog.estateplanningpartners.com/2012/10/design-for-mobile-websites-vs-desktop-websites-.html).  Our mobile sites are designed with the mobile browser and screen size specifically in mind, as opposed to Responsive Website Designs, where the mobile user is just another consideration.

Related articles

Law Firm Website Slider Design

Photo-Taking Tips to Get Your Law Firm's Website Live

By April Leabo, Production Manager
Customer Service

Getting your estate planning or elder law web site live is one of the main goals when you engage in your Essential Solution® marketing system. Don't let an old photo -- or no photo -- be a road block to getting your new marketing system running and working for you. We always recommend including personal photos of yourself and your team to give your web site that personable feel. It allows the end-user to meet and get to know you before scheduling the initial consultation.

So what can you do if you don't have a recent professional photo? You may use your digital camera to take your own. Here are some tips to help you take the best possible photo to submit for your web site. You can always submit your professionally-developed photos at a later date. 

• Natural light is best: get outside or open the shades and let the sun shine in.
• Do not stand with your back against the wall -- this is not a mug shot and the shadows created are not pleasing.
• Take vertical photos by turning your camera with the flash on top.
• Be aware of plants, artwork and photo frames that may be behind you, once the image is cropped, a palm frond sticking out of your ear may not be the look you are going for.
• Avoid zooming, if possible. Rather than zooming, just take a step forward.
• Do not edit, crop or resize your photo. Send the original file(s) and your IMS Team will crop them all so they have the same appearance for size and depth.
• Be sure to indicate who is in what photo.
• When you send your photo attachment, do not allow your email program to reduce the file size.
• And finally, don't send in low quality photos. If you think the photo looks blurry or grainy, that's because it is and we will not be able to use it. Just try again and try changing your light source.

Get Your Marketing on the Fast Track by joining us at our Spring Retreat scheduled for March 13! Check out the agenda for more information.

Keeping Your Law Firm Website Updated

By Dana Alley, Personal Account Manager
SEO Specialist

If you find this tutorial helpful, be sure to attend our IMS Spring Workshop, where I will be teaching several hands-on Instant Implementation classes!

A properly managed website is updated on a monthly basis. Integrity Marketing helps out Essential Attorneys™ by updating your website with a monthly article. We do this automatically, but it’s a smart idea to make sure that your website reflects the activities at your law firm as well. Regular updates can also increase your search engine ranking!

Here are some areas of your website you can keep updated:

1. Workshops
   Send us your schedule exactly how you would like it posted on the website. If you have a PDF flyer, you can send that as well.
2. Staff Members
   Send us new staff photos, tiles, and biographies. Keep old staff bios updated on a regular basis.
3. Seasonal Messages  / Events / Specials
   Your home page is a great location to insert seasonal messages, or special law firm events.
4. Other text edits on web pages.
   Ex: About Us, Home Page, Practice Areas, etc.

How to Submit Edits the Right Way

When it comes to submitting changes, the “Track Changes” feature is the best and easiest way for everyone*.

1. Open MS Word.
2. In your internet browser, go to the web page you wish to edit.
3. Copy and Paste the entire body text to the MS Word Document.
4. In MS Word, Under the Review tab, click on Track Changes and turn it on. There might be a drop-down for you to select.
5. As you start making changes to the document, they should turn blue or red.
6. Finish making your changes – Save – and then send the attached in an email to me.

*Please note, when submitting a new workshop date, it’s not necessary to use track changes. However, if you are editing old text or material on the page, please do use Track Changes for that.

Preparing for Your Law Firm Website Design Consultation

By Alyssa Mahlberg,
Graphic Designer

If you are thinking about a website redesign, rebranding your law firm or are a new client and have a design consult with James, before you meet, you may want to do some research so you can have an idea of the look and feel you want for your law firm website or branding.

We work with lots of different attorneys who vary in many ways. Some come in with well-established brand identities and a clear idea of what they want, others may know what they want, but don't know the terminology to communicate their vision for their marketing. Sometimes we have attorneys who genuinely don't have strong preferences and leave the design mostly to our discretion. Whichever kind of client you may be, if you have adequately prepared for your consult, the road to getting the marketing design that you envision will certainly smoother.

Here are some excellent ways to prepare for your design consult:

• Check out our design portfolio. You can find our past work online at http://www.integritymarketingsolutions.com/portfolio/. By looking through the websites we have already done, you can pick out the structure, look and feel or the technology you would like to have on your site. As you browse through our current client's websites, some things to look for include:

     

 - Header design: do you like floating or fixed headers? Smaller or larger? Image-heavy or simplistic?

     

 - Navigation: Our designs include horizontal and vertical navigations. You may also want to think about the areas of your site that you think are most important to display here.

    
- The home page: Our most current sites typically include a slider, which rotates different pictures, headlines and small snippets of information that link. Another option is to just use an image slideshow, which just rotates images and leaves the focus to other areas of your homepage, like your welcome message. 

Whatever decisions you end up making, browsing through our online portfolio can give you a great idea of the designs that previous attorneys have requested and also the technology that we are already capable of, though we are always willing to give new digital developments a try!

• Research websites of competitors in your area, as well as current design and web design trends. Gizmodo, a gadget and technology website, recently published a list of predicted design trends for 2013. Some of these are: flat and minimalist design, simple, mobile-friendly navigation and design and new & riskier colors (branching outside of blues and navys). You can read the full list here: http://gizmodo.com/5974821/13-design-trends-for-2013 .

• Do you have a logo? If you do, make sure you have a high-resolution or vector file that you can send to us, as it is the easiest for us to work with. If you don't have a logo, ask James about having IMS design a logo for you.

• What do you have in mind for the colors in your law firm marketing? If you already have a color palette associated with your brand, make sure we know what those are, or see some of your previous marketing materials before we begin your design. If you haven't set a color palette, think about that before you meet with James. Check out my post about choosing your law firm's colors based on color psychology (http://blog.estateplanningpartners.com/2012/10/brand-color-psychology-in-legal-marketing.html). Then a great resource to use is Colour Lovers, (http://www.colourlovers.com/) here you can browse thousands of color palettes and send us one that you like.

At IMS, we will work with you to get a design that you will love, but with more preparation, we are able to get a more clear idea of what you envision and the process will be quicker and more satisfying. 

Choosing a Domain Name for your Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm

By April Leabo, Production Manager
Customer Service

Choosing the right domain name for your estate planning, elder law or business law firm is a very important step in getting your law firm on the World Wide Web. There are several factors to consider before registering your domain name, such as …

Is it available?
How do you know if the domain name you like is available? You do a simple WhoIs search to check. And don't worry; your IMS Team is here to assist you with that.

Does it make sense?
Does the domain name reflect well on your estate planning or elder law firm's branding and / or legal practice areas? No inside jokes allowed! A domain that has a great college story behind it may not be the best choice for your current professional legal services.

How does it sound when spoken?
Say it out loud! How does it sound? How does it sound when you hear your staff saying it? You are going to be repeating this domain over and over again to promote your estate planning web site. It should sound good and be easy to pronounce. If someone says "Huh?" or "What?" over and over in response to your spoken web site address, then perhaps you should reconsider.

Is it easy to remember and type?
Remember to KISS it. Don't over complicate your domain to the point that it's hard for your end-user to remember it and even harder to type it. You don't want to cause frustration or lose a viewer because your domain is too long or difficult to type.

An extension of the above and with many factors to consider, it has to look good in print. If your domain is extensively long, it may not look that good when printed. You'll notice there is a tendency for your domain to break (to the next line) in copy where it appears.

You'll also want to consider ad spaces. If your domain is going to appear in an ad space and it has to be reduced to 5 pt to get it to fit, it's probably not going to be seen as much as the ad below where the domain is in 10 pt. Also keep in mind whether or not it look right if it's printed in all lower case? Sometimes we rely on a domain being easily read with strategically placed capitol letters, it should also be easy to when it's in all lower case. Tripple mmm's and lll's come to mind.

Could your domain possibly be misinterpreted? You'll really need to give it a good look and make sure you avoid the hazards found in some of these unintentionally inappropriate domains. [Really, check it out for a laugh and know your IMS Team is here to help you avoid such mishaps. If they had only checked to see if their domain looked good in all lower case letters, they may have avoided this altogether!]

Dressing Up the Typography on Your Law Firm Website

By Alyssa Mahlberg,
Graphic Designer

One of the most exciting recent developments in online typography is the addition and universal browser acceptance of webfonts. Before webfonts, the safest typefaces to use on the web were Arial/Helvetica, Times New Roman/Times and Courier New/Courier. The world wide web accepted other fonts, such as Palatino, Verdana, Georgia and Trebuchet (the typeface that you are reading right this moment), but even with these fonts you ran a risk of a webpage not appearing the way you intended. 

For example, Palatino is a serif typeface (similar to Georgia) that is installed on most Macintosh operating systems, but only on some Windows operating systems. If a web designer designs a website using Palatino, he or she may be banking on that font being used. If a visitor using a computer that does not have Palatino installed, a default font could be used which could throw off the design or even the intended layout of the site. 

Now, this may sound like a very minor designer's catastrophe that "regular people" would never notice, and it may be. However, on a business website, everything should look polished and professional. The best way to achieve a polished and professional website is to have control over all of the design elements including typography. Typography is one of the most important design elements of your law firm website because content is a key part of your webpage, considering your visitors aren't coming to your website to view images or play games, but find and read information. 

Webfonts opened up a whole new world for designers and typographers on the web. Basically, webfonts eliminate the need to have a font installed in order to view it on a webpage. In other words, your website can now display any font you wish (within licensing restrictions). Included in the long list of available free webfonts, are several of the fonts from Hongkiat's list of designers' top ten all-time favorite fonts.

At IMS, we have been implementing this new web design technique on most of our new websites. Webfonts really give your website a fresh, original and professional look. To see some webfonts in use, see the website for Nickerson Law Group (http://www.estateplanningaustintexas.com), a site we designed for Essential Attorney Julia Nickerson -- or check out our brand new IMS company website (http://www.integritymarketingsolutions.com).  

What Gets Measured Gets Done!

It's 3:30 in the afternoon and I have only logged a measly 2,542 steps.Which means I have 7,458 to go to reach my daily goal of 10,000. Which means I'm going to have to get a "move on" to make it.

By this time yesterday, I had already logged nearly 12,000 steps.

Of course, yesterday looked a LOT different. Yesterday started out with a 2-mile run, followed by a 20-minute walk. 7,000 steps before 10 a.m.

Today, on the other hand, is a Monday. I stumbled out of bed, poured some coffee, showered and dressed then hopped in the car and drove into the office ... where I fired up my computer and sat down ... and have been sitting ever since.

Not much different than the 100 Monday work days before.

Except ...

Except today I am wearing a little gadget called a fitbit, which tracks my steps. Think of it as a pedometer on steroids. Because of fitbit, I now KNOW that I am sedentary (as in, not "stepping") for more than 8 hours most days; that I typically fall woefully short of the recommended 10,000 daily steps for good health; and that I can change all of this with approximately an hour's worth of exercise daily.

As a result, I took 72,459 steps last week, exceeding my weekly goal by four percent. I climbed 88 flights of stairs and traveled a self-propelled 31.27 miles!

Sadly, however, when I stepped on the scale this morning, I still had not achieved my goal weight.

Now -- you may be snickering at that comment, since we all know that one week of good behavior does not undo the damage of years of a sedentary lifestyle. No one REALLY expects to lose a pound a day, or 25 lbs in a week (unless you're on reality TV). Intellectually, we all know that it takes TIME to lose weight, lower your blood pressure, and reap the other good health benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The most important thing is that I am now tracking my diet and exercise in real, measurable ways that impact my behavior.

So it is with The Essential Solution®. We track every aspect of your Essential marketing system and deliver a monthly performance report, full of valuable feedback. We track things like number of blog postings, your website's rank on Google, unique visitors, and email distribution. We know that by watching these (and more) statistics, we can accurately predict results, even before they materialize.

Just as I know that increasing my activity level while decreasing my caloric intake WILL result in weight loss ... even when the scale refuses to budge.

The trick is to focus on the behaviors that lead to success. Measuring those behaviors is proven to be one of the most effective ways of changing them; as the adage goes: "What gets measured gets done."

Don't let yourself fall into a panic if your results are not as rapid or astounding as you had hoped. Watch the numbers, keep doing the right things right and you will achieve success.

As for me, I'm going to shut down my computer, lace up my running shoes, and get started on those 7,458 steps!

Free Webinar: Anatomy of a Website Design

Jim Collins wrote that Good is the Enemy of Great. To the extent that "good" becomes "good enough," and lulls us into a false sense of security -- I believe he is right. And it was with this in mind that we undertook the re-design of Kyle Krull's website! For those of you who do not know him, Kyle Krull is an estate planning attorney, just like you. He also happens to be the President of Integrity Marketing Solutions.

We launched a new website for him two years ago. That website has achieved some remarkable results for him: Page One Google rankings for all his key search terms, and high-volume traffic sending a steady stream of new clients to his office. It was good. Very good.

But it was also two years old, the equivalent of several lifetimes in "internet years."

Join us for a free webinar next weekand get the Grand Tour to find out what's new, what's old, and what might work for you!

Title:     The Grand Tour of What's New in Kyle's Website
Date:    Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Time:   12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/288403162