How many times have you heard a friend or business associate rave about the web site that they are going to have built for their firm with all of the “latest bells and whistles”? Even worse, how often have you visited one of those sites that had so many “cool” effects that it drove you away?
Often, there is music that you can’t turn off, irrelevant Flash intros that are way too long, graphics in place of text and navigation that is designed to be cute rather than functional. Most of these “special effects” should be left for video gaming and nowadays everyone wants instant gratification on the web.
The fact is, that it isn’t creative if it doesn’t sell. The questions that you should be asking yourself are what will this site do to promote the image of my firm and help educate clients and potential clients? Will anyone be able to find me on the web if they are searching for an attorney? Is my site consistent with my unique brand?
Only the bells and whistles that work in the background to make your site work effectively for search engine optimization; capturing data and making the user’s experience memorable are worth the cost.
Driving prospects to your site and getting them to submit their contact info. Now that’s creative.
Contributor: CEPAC – Law Firm Marketing Firm
