In some ways, my stengths – I love to tinker with eletronics, am Internet savvy, know a little about marketing – are my weaknesses: I like to do things myself, or at least like to fully understand exactly what someone working for me is doing so that I could take it over if need be.
Witness my web performance. I’m doing pretty well right now, with top rankings on Google etc. I’ve done that largely because the competition is so miserable. But what I really want to do is lay waste to the competition: to succeed in ways that don’t depend on them being incompetent.
I also want to convert every single visitor into a client. I want to build all the important relationships as well as can be done on the web, and close the deal on the phone.
I feel the press of time for two reasons. I’m in my mid-30s, and have certain financial and personal goals that require me to figure this all out… soon! and then keep moving on and figuring other things out!
Second, I think the legal profession is going to be awash in smart, hungry lawyers who had planned to take a firm job, but now find that firms are imploding around them. These people are going to eat my lunch if I don’t catch it first.
Anyhow, onto the mundane. I sort of like the overall look of my Raleigh criminal lawyer website. But I suspect that just cause it looks slick, doesn’t mean it’s getting the selling job done.
With my Raleigh bankruptcy practice, I’m sort of am heading in a Thesis/Headway direction, with a more robust, less graphically designed theme, that, by all accounts, better for SEO and flexibility reasons.
In addition, I suspect that that flexibility will allow me to do a better job of pulling in visitors, 77 percent of them bounce on the first page.
Thoughts?
Chris Johnson says:
some perspective: 77% bounce is acceptable for most sites. it means “23% engagement.” Thesis is cool because with open hook you can put stuff everywhere. You can use scripts in loads of different places.
you CAN get a bounce rate lower, but in stead focus on the 23% that are sticking around and looking for more stuff. Are they repeats?
also, check against server logs once a month or so, sometimes analytics gets wierd/funky.
March 16, 2010 — 11:43 am
Jim Klein says:
Hi, Damon. Since you asked, I’ll answer.
Your opening red star is chasing people away. It screams, “I’m exactly the same as the other 50 lawyers whose ads you watched all day on TV while you tried to figure out what you’re going to do with your life.”
Since you post here, I trust that’s not the case and judging from your content, which I thought was fine, I’m confident you can make that clear.
Now some might have a problem with the yellow star creating cognitive dischord with “caring” and “lawyer” together, but I personally think the bigger problem there is that anyone with half a wit is looking for a lawyer to be a barracuda to fight for them and not a kitty-cat to sit on their lap and give them sympathy. At least I was, the one time I shelled out money for serious counsel several years ago. I mean, it’s nice if you really care, but that in itself is getting cheaper by the minute…there’s even an argument that it has /negative/ value!
You sure couldn’t have asked for a better environment, so congratulations on that. Hope this helps.
March 16, 2010 — 11:49 am
Sean Purcell says:
I like them both, although my taste runs toward the latter site (Raleigh bankruptcy). That’s one of the problems with this stuff though isn’t it? It doesn’t matter what I like, unless of course I’m a criminal or contemplating bankruptcy. Just as your site shouldn’t be based on what you like. Having said that, I wonder about the flash pictures on the Raleigh criminal lawyer site: judge’s bench, cop in the mirror, DRUGS… who is your main visitor here, actual clients or their families? If it’s families I would definitely think about pictures showing more happy outcomes rather than negative effects. Same game the bail bondsmen use: happy (upscale!) families hugging after being freed from the (obviously) false charges. You get the idea. Maybe a picture of a triumphant client shaking your hand. Hey, why not? You’re the rock star here: put your face up there and let the families know who’s about to be their hero.
One last (picky) thought: you’re missing the word “in” between “lawyer” and “Raleigh” in the lower right box of the Raleigh criminal lawyer site.
March 16, 2010 — 3:00 pm
John Kalinowski says:
Damon – I built our site with the Thesis theme, and I’m not a website or SEO expert by any stretch. I’ve been very happy with it, and so far it’s working for us, even though I’m sure I’ve made (and continue to make) a lot of mistakes. Very happy so far with Thesis.
March 16, 2010 — 3:49 pm
Robert Worthington says:
damon, have an instant chat available on the main page. Go to http://www.realestatewebmasters.com between the hours of 8 and 5 pst and you will see what I mean. That’s conversion times 10. Reply back with your thoughts.
March 16, 2010 — 5:08 pm
Joe dallorso says:
Maybe you need a dog on your site. Possibly a bulldog or something tenacious 🙂
On a more serious note I think bounce rates are more about e commerce sites. If you have a web site with a lot of info that has some age to it or a blog you’re bound to get hits that are just irrelevant. I get found regarding fishing because I have links to Florida guides & fishing peers. The more info you provide the sticky your site but I think in the long run you get a certain bounce because of it too.
March 17, 2010 — 7:40 am
Jim Klein says:
“Maybe you need a dog on your site. Possibly a bulldog or something tenacious :)”
I like it! Throw in a couple bank buildings dripping from its jaws, and records may be broken. OTOH it might not play too well with the Bar.
How about, “Do you want to eat or be eaten?” Just gotta get into the soul of the buyer, that’s all.
March 17, 2010 — 8:07 pm
Taylor says:
Making every visitors to clients would be a dream for every people in business. It is nice to see you giving importance for many factors like theme, seo and all that stuffs that can really help you excel and achieve success.
My best wishes to you.
March 17, 2010 — 11:36 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
Couple observations: When viewed with Internet Explorer, the header image and the navigation bar of the DWI site are kind of closely scrunched together. In Firefox, they look fine.
I also think I would like the DWI site better if the rotating images were in a box above the right sidebar instead of above the main content column. Somehow, they just don’t seem right over the main content column.
And regardless of where the rotating image box is placed, I think it needs a little more height. The long in width, short in height rectangular shape seems uncomfortable. Must be my Old Skool Golden Ratio Thinking and all that. 🙂
March 18, 2010 — 6:47 am
Bill Hernandez says:
The main problem with themes that I have found out through the internet is how they react and show up in different browsers. For example firefox sometimes skews things to different sides of the pages depending on the coding and layout of your website. Google chrome is a new up and coming browser and still doesn’t have the full capabilities to show ever website and what they are capable of.
March 19, 2010 — 11:44 am