| | 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, and scams out there in cyberspace. How does one take advantage of the real opportunities while avoiding the downsides?
The simple answer is to be careful; be very careful! Most important, investigate & verify. Below are some common Internet scams pulled over on attorneys:
Big 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 critical components of a proper website are your own top level domain name, a properly designed site and dependable hosting for your site.
A. Purchase 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 said 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 need a place to host it. First check for an uptime guarantee. I suggest you do NOT even pay attention to 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, monthly data transfer, statistics package for analyzing your site’s traffic, the number of email accounts available, and if you want a dedicated IP.
I would recommend for most single practices and small firms a basic package that includes 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 run about $5.50 per month when paid on an annual basis.
C. Site Design – Again, the cost heavily relies on the site’s size requirements and design features. For the vast majority of single practitioners and small firms, the cost here should run approximately $400 to $600.
Site Maintenance – This should be very small for most. Contact your local Junior college for affordable assistance or if you are a hands-on person, look into Microsoft’s FrontPage. This is a very well-liked program with probably any element you’ll need. Knowledge of HTML, the basic programming language of Internet websites, is not required.
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
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