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Law firm website design might seem like a dark art to many attorneys, but starting a website is relatively easy with the wealth of low-cost and free web hosting companies and web builder packages now available online. Whilst time-poor law firms and individuals may need to use professional web design services costing thousands of dollars, those with the time and dedication can have fun building their own websites and save a small fortune along the way. Create Your Own Website Using a Blog A blog is just a website under a different guise using frequent updates which are often hot topics in the news. Popular blogging sites are Wordpress.com and Blogger.com where anyone can set up a blog and domain name for free. Users have access to a variety of templates with different options to customize their blogs and, using simple cut and paste tools, they can quickly set up a site then just type away to create the content. The downside of using free blogging software is the limitation on domain name which always carries the name of the host site e.g. site name at wordpress.com plus the fact that free blogs don’t allow users to use advertising like Google Adsense on the site. Start a Website Using a Free Web Hosting Company Law firms needing a low-cost information website for marketing purposes may want to consider free web hosting companies like Yola.com. These web design companies make it easy for the novice attorney to start a website using customizable templates and drag and drop tools to place text and graphics within a variety of one, two or three column layouts. Graphics can be uploaded and contact forms and various other options added for a user-friendly simple website. Yola even allows advert and affiliate link placement so users can monetize their sites if desired. It is advisable to purchase a personalized domain name for around $10 which is best done through the chosen web hosting company as additional charges are incurred to transfer a domain name from one host to another. Use Yahoo Sitebuilder to Build a Website Many start-up law firms use Yahoo Sitebuilder to quickly build a lawyer website using their own domain name. With a variety of templates to choose from, simply select a design, choose a layout, determine the number and names of pages, enter text, add a logo and photos if required then build the site. Yahoos Sitebuilder tools are free and although web hosting costs from $8.96 per month, many users prefer the simple set-up where you effectively fill in pre-defined boxes according to template layout rather than having to drag and drop text and graphics to obtain the required layout. |
