Whose website is it anyway?

By Bob Schwartz, CRS, GRI ©2007 Promotions Unlimited All rights reserved.

Everyone knows the Internet is like the Wild West. There are schemes, scams and suckers out there in cyberspace. How does one take advantage of the real opportunities while avoiding the pitfalls?

The simple answer is to be careful; be very careful! Most important, investigate & verify. Below are some common Internet scams used on attorneys:

Large practice or sole practioner, you should have a website. Your website should be promoted in your ads, on your letterhead, and on business cards. The essential components of a proper website are your own top level domain name, a properly designed site and dependable hosting for your site.

A. Spend on your own top level domain name. For example, a top level domain is www.sanddiegolawyerforyou.com . Domains such as www.sandiegolawyerforyou.com/bob-schwartz.htm , and www.websitetrafficbuilders/law/bob-schwartz.htm are an examples of sub-domains. Sub-domains are part of top-level domains and are sometimes offered free as an enticement to purchase other services. The issue with sub-domains is that you are not the owner of the domain and any advertising or promotion you do for the subdomain, mostly benefits the top-level domain. The same can also be true for “free” domain package deals. The proper way to secure a top level is to first check availability, and then register the name (URL) for at least three to five years!

B. Domain Hosting – Now that you have your own domain name you will need a place to host it. First, you should check for an uptime guarantee. I recommend you do NOT even think about a hosting plan that does not guarantee at least 99.9% uptime! The cost here depends on a number of factors, the most important of which are the amount of space you need for your site and some extra for future growth, the number of email accounts available, statistics package for analyzing your site’s traffic, monthly data transfer, and if you want a dedicated IP.

I would suggest for most independent practices and small firms a basic package that offers approximately 500 MB of disk space, 25 GB data transfer, five email accounts and a good statistics package. The cost for such a plan should typically go for about $5.50 per month when paid on an annual basis.

C. Website Design – Again, the cost greatly relies on the site’s size requirements and design features. For the vast majority of single practitioners and small firms, the cost here should go for approximately $400 to $600.

Site Maintenance – This should be very minimal for most. Contact your local Junior college for affordable help or if you are a hands-on person, look into Microsoft’s FrontPage. This is a very well-known program with probably any element you’ll need. Knowledge of HTML, the basic programming language of Internet websites, is not needed.

Copyright 2007 Promotions Unlimited. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Schwartz, is the founder of Promotions Unlimited (search engine optimization) a Internet legal directory (CA, TX & Las Vegas) publisher and search engine placement technology analyst. You can contact Bob via e-mail at seo711@gmail.com or visit his San Diego legal directory at: www.sandiegolawyerforyou.com