Many of our clients are coming to us with questions about how to make their attorney web design more search engine friendly.  Then, in the same breath, the client wants to add lots of flash to the site and dozens of pictures.  These two requests are not compatible, but they are things that we can work with if we do it right.

First, why do people want flash?  It’s glitzy, it looks (more or less nowadays) high-tech, and it’s pretty.  Some web users, particularly those that don’t use the Internet often, love to see these flash movies.  Admittedly, they do give your site a little pizzazz.  However, they also take a long time to load (because the flash movie files are large) and they can be distracting.  So, how do we add flash to a search engine friendly site?  We make it one small element of the site rather than the whole page.  One example of a site that has a smaller flash element is the Gough personal injury law firm in New Jersey.  

When it comes to adding pictures, we realize that a picture can speak a thousand words.  However, as with Flash, it can also make the page take a long time to load and it can be distracting.  You don’t want so many photos that you don’t have room for text.  How do we reconcile images with a search engine friendly attorney web design?  Choose a few great images that explain your point (less is more) and make sure to explain why they are there.  Now, I don’t mean draw a big arrow to the photo.  Instead, add a caption or an alt tag (if you scroll over a picture and it has a box of text that comes up to explain what the photo is of, it uses an alt tag).  Alt tags are also great for optimization.  You want to be descriptive so that, if someone searches for that term and wants a picture of it (from Google Images, for example), it will come up. 

Your lawyer web design can be great-looking and provide great information, but it must be search engine friendly.    Feel free to contact our law firm marketing consultants for a quick analysis of your site.