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June 7, 2020June 4, 2020

How do I create backlinks for my lawyer website?

Serious professional female advisor consulting client on creating backlinks for her lawyer website

For many, SEO is a complicated notion, and backlinks are the hardest part of it. However, it’s a very simple concept that can give your lawyer website an invaluable boost and could help your site rank better on search engines. This means more people will see your site; and the more people who see it, the more clients you will get!

Before you work on getting people onto your site, you need to make sure that you have a stylish and professional website for them to visit – studies have shown that around three quarters of web visitors judge a site’s credibility within 3.42 seconds. If you’re worried your design skills aren’t up to scratch, try Go Sitebuilder; our website builder has beautiful ready-made templates designed for your industry, so you can have a great web design up and running in moments.

What are backlinks?

Backlinks are part of an off-site SEO link-building strategy. The basic idea behind it is building a reputation for your lawyer website; the more people who link back to your site from theirs, the more valuable Google thinks your website is.

It’s not just good for SEO; as an example, if a blogger writes an article on “The best online law firms” and cites your website as one of the best, this is good for your reputation and will bring more people onto your site, as well as boosting your Google ranking.

One of the most important things to remember is that your backlinks have to be from related, high-authority sites. In previous years, people would use “link farms” where they would pay a provider to get other sites to link back to their site, but they were generally unrelated, low-authority sites. This used to work, but Google’s algorithm has since updated and now realises when link farming is taking place and penalises you for it.

Creating backlinks is an invaluable part of your SEO strategy. It might take a bit of work, but it is definitely worth it.

First backlink steps: online legal directories and social media

These aren’t the highest authority sites, but they are directly related to your field, and will give you some quick and easy backlinks.

Online legal directories such as FindLaw UK, Find a Solicitor and Infolaw are just a few directories you can get backlinks from; just contact them with your details and as long as you meet their requirements they will mention you and your lawyer website on their platform.

Social media marketing is becoming an invaluable tool for businesses across all industries, so make sure you have profiles on all relevant social media, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Linkedin. Put your website domain in the profile for each social media, and you’ve already created your own simple backlinks!

Create valuable, shareable content

Don’t rush your content creation! If you spend the time to write a long-form, evergreen article that is genuinely useful to your audience, then you are much more likely to get shares and people linking back to it. A guide on how to hire a lawyer, or what paperwork you’ll need for certain situations will be useful for many readers and will retain its value for a long time.

This may mean writing 3000-word blogs, or curating stylish infographics (you can use a free tool like Canva), and then share it on your social media and send it to your contacts in case they want to share it as well.

Guest blogging

This is where you write content for free for another website, but they publish your name and website domain along with your blog, to create another backlink and bring more people to your site. This is time consuming, but it can be very valuable if you choose the right websites to contact.

You can also do a similar thing by presenting yourself as a resource. Contact podcasters, your old university or the HARO network (a resource that connects journalists with useful people to interview), and offer your services as a legal professional. Each time you are mentioned on a podcast or a relevant online site, you’re creating another organic, high-authority backlink to your lawyer website.

Be a resource on forums

There are often questions posted on forums like Quora that are asking for legal advice. By searching for questions relevant to your field, you can present yourself as an expert and answer them, giving a link to your website in the answer in case they want more information. This is providing useful, valuable information for a potential client and giving you a backlink!

Look for blog communities around lawyer and attorney issues and get involved; the more active you are on the internet, the more opportunities you will have to link back to your site and build authority for your lawyer website.

The most important part of building backlinks is having a beautiful website to link to! At Go Sitebuilder, we know you’re busy with your law firm, so we’ve made it as easy and quick as possible for you to get a functional website online. Try our 14-day free trial today to see what we can offer you!

June 6, 2020June 4, 2020

What is the best ‘new media’ way for lawyers to market themselves?

Businessman, Men, Laptop, Computer, Document researching how lawyers market themselves

The internet offers an endless bucket of opportunities when it comes to marketing. Considering that 71% of adults with internet access use social media, this is a great platform to utilise to make yourself stand from the crowd as a lawyer. Blogging, making videos and optimising your content is another great way to use media to your advantage.

Of course, if you’re hoping to expand your presence online, you’ll need to build a website before you can begin: Go Sitebuilder is a great site builder to use if you want an easy to use website builder with high quality results.

However, luckily for you, most lawyers don’t utilise the internet properly. Developing your media marketing strategy might not seem that important, but it can completely change the way that potential clients view your services as a lawyer. We go through some of the best ways lawyers can use media to market themselves.

Share your knowledge

When marketing your services as a lawyer, you obviously need to show that you’re incredibly knowledgeable in your field of work – after all, no one wants a dodgy lawyer. One of the ways you showcase this is by providing informative resources which people can access for free.

Perhaps you choose to record a podcast, where you share your thoughts on issues within a certain area of law, or maybe you write a blog explaining a particularly complicated area of law.

A great way to reach out to a new market is by making videos on Youtube – however, even if you want to be informative, it’s important that you don’t overload your viewers with endless facts. Considering that most people lose interest within a video after watching it for two minutes, you’ll want to keep it on the shorter side. That being said, it’s important to not compromise on quality: try uploading videos which vary in length so that you can be as informative as possible, without boring your audience.

Add a personal element

Building a relationship with your audience is one of the most important aspects to consider within your media marketing strategy. As a lawyer, it is easy to be perceived as a straight-faced, serious person, who only has time for paperwork and court cases. Although this might be true on the odd occasion, this isn’t a good way to build a relationship between yourself and your client. By adding a personal element into your firm, you can show that you’re just as interested in building a relationship with a client, as you are with winning the case.

Social media is a great way to give off this impression: platforms such as Instagram give you the freedom to post images which are slightly more human. For example, whilst the photo might not be professional enough to showcase on the website you’ve built, it could feature on your Instagram, making your law firm engaging by showing a more human side.

If you wanted to get really creative, you could turn to Tik Tok to market your law firm. Whilst this would have to be done tactfully, Tik Tok has a huge potential audience to target; in 2019, it was downloaded 738 million times. And, as it is a relatively modern app to emerge, it has yet to become saturated with other firms and businesses.

Don’t overlook SEO

Although you may have a successful media marketing campaign, producing top-quality content and getting as creative as possible, you must make sure you optimise your content for SEO so that Google’s algorithms can rank you on its search engine results page.

Whilst this might sound daunting, SEO can be as simple as putting in commonly searched for keywords in the title of your Youtube video, or writing a blog about a popularly Googled question which relates to your field of work. What is the best ‘new media’ way for lawyers to market themselves?

A good way to work out what type of content ranks highly is by searching these questions yourself on Google. See what type of content comes up first, and then try to structure any future content you produce in a similar way. For example, if a lawyer has released a video covering how to survive a law degree, then take inspiration from this but make it unique to you – share your own advice or your own story to really set your content apart from others.

Of course, you’ll also want to link social media platforms to your website – any content you’ve publicised on your social media should be linked back to your website so that people can learn more about your legal services. Our website builder already has this feature built in, so site visitors can follow your social media accounts within a few clicks.

Our website builder also offers ready to go web designs so that you can build a website with a professional, attractive look, quickly and hassle-free . Go Sitebuilder is incredibly easy to use, but never compromises on quality – why not try it today, with our 14-day free trial?

June 5, 2020June 4, 2020

What are the best photography website designs?

Female photographer in front of waterfall - Iceland thinking of the best photography website designs

Designing a website for a photography business can be an exciting process; there are so many options in terms of layout, design and types of content that you could include.

Building the right website for your business can be difficult, and with so many options you may fall into some bad web design habits, such as creating an overcrowded website. However, at Go SiteBuilder our ready made templates are designed to guide you every step of the way to help you create a professional and stylish website.

In a creative industry such as photography, showing creativity and flair in your web design is incredibly important. Without a well-conceived web design visitors may be discouraged from using your services or browsing through your work. Creating a website that displays your photographs beautifully and gives the visitors all the relevant information is vital.

Key aspects to consider:

Web design can be confusing and overwhelming, especially if this is the first website you have designed. When designing a website, there are some key elements which you must think about before designing your website. The best photography businesses carefully consider these key components when designing their websites:

Web design – does your web design really reflect your business and your aesthetic?
Layout – is your website easy to use and navigate?
Portraying your business model – does your website show what kind of photography you offer?
Showing your work – what type of gallery layout do you want? For more inspiration read our blog on how to create a photo gallery.

For more information on what to include in your website check out our blog on what features you should include in your photography website. Below we are going to give some examples of the best examples of photography websites in different styles to help you design the best website for your business.

Landscape Photography Website: Colin Prior Photography

Source: Colin Prior

This website is a stunning example of how great web design can show your photographs in their best light. The large header photograph is part of a slideshow that changes between equally beautiful landscape pictures. The layout is simple yet effective, with a clean minimalist aesthetic allowing the photographs to shine.

Portrait Photography: Joe McNally

Source: Joe McNally Photography

This photography website clearly shows the type of photography that the company specialises in. There is a range of photographs on the homepage, immediately exposing visitors to the photographers style. The sidebar menu shows the various styles of photography that they specialise in. Although this layout may not be an option with many website builders, there are more simple ways to achieve the same look. For example using a collection of photographs in a gallery on your homepage will give a similar effect.

Fashion Photography: The Fashion Camera

Source: The Fashion Camera

This fashion photographer has taken a slightly different approach to her website, by focusing on her personal connection to her work. This creates a connection between the visitor and the website owner. Certainly not a strategy every business may want to use but for this type of photography using your point of view can be useful. The muted colours and font create a stylish website with an effective design and layout.

Art/Concept Photography: Shaw and Shaw

Source: Shaw and Shaw Photography

Shaw and Shaw’s photography website is a great example of how colours and unique design can elevate a website. This is particularly effective in this photography style of art or concept work, where aesthetic is so important. The multicolored menu draws the eye but doesn’t detract from the photograph above. The website mostly operates on a slideshow with a page of information at the end. Although not the most informative, the unique elements of this website make it memorable and successful.

Wedding Photography: Holly Rose Weddings

wedding photography site homepage with married couple

Source: Holly Rose Weddings

The design for this wedding photography website is very effective. The colour scheme is muted and the design is minimalist. These soft design decisions create a beautiful wedding website which ties in with the photo shoot chosen as the header. The menu is simple and easy to navigate as a header menu.

If you’re ready to build an amazing website for your photography business, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of features, including multiple gallery options our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

June 4, 2020June 3, 2020

What is the difference between offline and online business?

Female Inventory Manager Shows Digital Tablet Information on difference between offline and online business

You might think the difference between online and offline businesses is obvious, but if you’re starting a new business or looking to move your business from one to another, it’s important to understand the opportunities and possible pitfalls of each one.

In 2020, an offline business doesn’t mean a business that doesn’t have a website; on the contrary, it’s crucial for all businesses (online or offline) to have a functioning website that acts as a marketing tool. This helps you gain more visibility and attract more customers to your business. Try a simple website builder like Go Sitebuilder; you can have a website up and running in minutes just by uploading your images and content into our ready made professional web designs.

There are some businesses that thrive online and others that can only really be carried out on an offline basis, so let’s have a look at the differences between them.

Online Business

An online business is one that carries out its services entirely online and gets its revenue from selling products and services that are either digital or shipped to the customer’s home.

Always open

An online business doesn’t adhere to opening hours, which means that customers can browse their products or services at any time. According to Workarea ecommerce research, the primetime for online shopping starts at 8 p.m. when the majority of physical shops are already closed.

Less expensive to establish and operate

Setting up an online business does require some capital, but only the amount you need to pay for a good quality website builder with an ecommerce platform. As it is always online and can take payments autonomously, you don’t need to hire extra staff to supervise the website.

Harder to gain trust and reputation

Competition is fierce in the ecommerce business world, and you need to find a way to stand out to your customers and persuade them that your products or services are superior. This means you need much more detailed product descriptions and multiple high quality product photos. It’s also vital to include reviews and testimonials so that potential customers can see that others have been happy with your services.

Growth opportunities

If you start your online business on a small local scale and it picks up traction quickly, growing your business can be fast and efficient. If you are online then you automatically have a global reach, so just by offering worldwide delivery you can exponentially increase your target audience.

Offline Business

An offline business either sells physical products in a store, or services that are limited to a geographical location. An electrician or a plumber, for example, has to travel to visit their customers’ homes in person, rather than offering online services.

Limited hours

A physical store will be limited to their opening hours, and will not be able to sell their products outside of this time, in the same way an electrician will have specific working hours. This limits the amount of revenue you can receive in a given time frame.

Easier to persuade customers to buy

Once you have a customer in your shop, you are much more likely to get them to buy something, in comparison to having a visitor searching on an ecommerce website. Sales are much easier to achieve with face to face interaction, and you are also helped by the fact the customer can physically touch and hold your product.

The way you interact with your customers will also help you gain a good reputation; if you are helpful and friendly, people are more likely to recommend you to others.

Easier to tap into local demand

If you are opening an offline business in your area, you understand exactly what people need and what the gap in the market is. If you are providing products or services that weren’t previously available in the area, then you are likely to start seeing revenue immediately, whereas it can take longer for an online business to gain a loyal following.

More expensive to set up and run

If you have a physical store, then you will have to factor in the price of renting and insuring a space, as well as paying for running costs such as utilities and staff salaries. If you visit other people’s houses to provide a service, then you will have to pay for your own transport. This can significantly add up, and you might have to raise your prices in order to ensure your offline business turns a profit.

Choosing whether to run an online or offline business depends on the amount of capital you have to start your company, and the type of product or service you provide. Regardless of which one you choose, you will need a website to either function as your online business, or to market and provide visibility for your offline business.

Go Sitebuilder is a simple website builder with ready to go templates tailored to your industry. We have an integrated ecommerce platform that allows you to easily sell your products with no limitations, and our responsive design means that potential customers can visit your website from any device. Try our 14-day free trial today and see where a website can take your business.

June 3, 2020June 3, 2020

How do you design a website layout?

You might think you need to be a professional graphic designer to build a site with an eye catching and unique web design. However, nowadays this is simply not the case; there are numerous website builders out there which offer ready to go sites and pre-made web designs so that you can build a site which looks great, but doesn’t take up endless amounts of time.

That being said, whilst website builders do all the tricky stuff for you, you still need to have some sort of plan to ensure your web layout looks smooth and site users can navigate themselves around easily. We’ve put together a list to make the web design process all the simpler, so that you can build a website that looks like it was designed by an expert!

Stick to simple

Not only does a minimalist web design look smooth and sophisticated, but there is also a scientific theory behind it in the form of Hick’s law. According to this law of attraction, the more decisions people are forced to make on your site, the longer they take to make a decision.

So, if you have multiple images of your products on the landing page of your site, you might confuse users as they won’t immediately know which product they prefer. Whilst this does keep people on your site for longer, it can also frustrate them and cause them to delay their decision over whether or not they want to explore your products or services further, leading to a potential decline in site conversions.

Instead, when building your website, use the best picture you have to either characterise your site, or to show off your best selling product; this will engage site traffic and capture their interest.

Don’t ignore negative space

Yes, it’s important to keep your web design simple. However, this doesn’t mean that you should ignore any negative space (space which isn’t filled with a picture or text). Blank spaces between different sections on your web pages are important, as they help to direct the attention of site visitors to the key messages you want to get across, and they also prevent the overcrowding of your web design.

Instead of simply using negative space as a way to break up different components of your web design, use it as a way to boost conversions. Focus negative space around a call to action to prompt users to consider purchasing your products or enquiring into your services. Google’s homepage is a great example of this: there’s little clutter, and you know exactly what to do.

Focus on a colour scheme

The methodology of choosing a colour scheme isn’t as black and white as it might seem: colours can evoke emotions and trigger memories. This is key for your brand: to keep your image as a brand memorable, a strong colour scheme is important, as it means customers are more likely to associate a colour with your business.

When building your website, picking an appealing colour scheme is also paramount to keep potential customers onto your site. According to Mallee Blue Media, 85% of shoppers claim that colour plays a big role in their buying decisions: choosing colours which clash, or aren’t visually appealing, can cause site visitors to leave your website as they aren’t attracted to your web design.

Although website builders offer customisable colour palettes for you to choose from when building your site, don’t just pick the prettiest colour, close your eyes and hope for the best. Conduct market research into your target market: see what colours they’re most likely to associate with your brand. Below are some businesses which have effectively utilised colour to correlate with their brand.

Responsive works best

Building a website with a responsive web design is crucial in keeping site traffic on your site: as most people now visit a website on their mobiles, you’ll need to make sure your website is easy to navigate around on any device. Not only does a responsive website increase chances of conversions, but it’s also important for SEO.

Considering that site traffic from mobile devices is five times more likely to bounce-off your site if it isn’t responsive, this could negatively impact your ranking on Google’s search engines. If people are clicking off your site at a rapid speed, this could tell Google’s algorithms that your site is of low-value, meaning Google ranks you lower on its search engine results page.

Luckily, some website builders will offer a responsive website so that traffic to your website can access your page from any device. With Go Sitebuilder, this is included in our package, along with all the other necessary features for you to build your own website at a bargain price, but with premium results. We believe quality shouldn’t be overcomplicated, which is why our simple ready to go sites are perfect for those who want to build a website in a few clicks.

Our 14-day free trial lets you explore all we have to offer and more, completely obligation-free – try it today!

June 2, 2020May 29, 2020

How do I attract customers to my website?

Shot of happy and successful business colleagues giving high five in office after attracting customers to their website

Every burgeoning business needs an online presence. Bringing your business online means you can massively grow your potential customer base, as well as giving you the opportunity to stand out amongst your competitors with a slick website. Already got your website made? Then you’re halfway there! The next step is attracting customers to your site, and we have some useful tips for you on how to do just that.

Not got your website made yet? Visit our site builder here and get started!

Design the perfect site

One of the most important aspects of your website will be the web design. A well laid-out, easy to navigate online store demonstrates professionalism and reliability to your visitors. You don’t have to be a web design pro to help your online business flourish. Go Sitebuilder boasts a huge library of website designs that help you easily build your website exactly the way you want it.

High quality descriptions of your product will also convey professionalism to potential customers visiting your eCommerce site. Sprinkle some key words and phrases that people would search for in your product descriptions to ensure that visitors stumble upon your website.

Product photos are just as important as product descriptions; professional-looking photos of your products show a degree of credibility to your online store’s visitors. Make sure they show all aspects of your product and that you have at least two or three images for each one.

When creating a website for your business, it is important to create a domain name that reflects your brand. Ideally, you want your domain to match the name of your company. This reinforces your brand and makes it easier for customers to find you and return to your online store.

Understand the power of social media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. The list of possible social media platforms available is exhaustive. Share a link to your new website across all of your personal social media accounts to increase traffic to your store. Networking on LinkedIn, at both a personal and company level, will also be a valuable tool in promoting your business.

Don’t just rely on personal accounts, as it can look unprofessional. Create social media accounts for your business as well – social media is a great way for your business to interact with potential customers online. Maintaining a regular flow of updates helps to keep followers informed about your business, as well as bringing a sense of personality and approachability to your brand. As many as 80% of users on Instagram alone follow at least one business, so this is a channel you should definitely be exploring.

For each of your business social media accounts, make sure you have a link to your website in your bio, as well as sharing it in individual posts. That way, every time someone visits your page, they will always see a link to your eCommerce site first.

As well as helping your customers stay abreast of your business, social media is a great tool for learning about your customers. Using analytics (usually built into the platform) to stay informed of your customer base’s interests, demographics and what time they are online, can help you to create content valuable to them at times they’re most likely to see it.

A blog is a great platform to allow customers to keep up to date with any news or updates from your business. Sharing a link to your online store throughout your blog is an absolute must if you want to drive up clicks. Remember to keep up a steady stream of updates in order to build a bigger following. With Go Sitebuilder’s fully integrated blog platform you can get started on yours right away.

Promote your business everywhere

A bulletproof way of ensuring people hear about your new online business is to tell them about it. Simple, right? Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone who’ll listen. As long as you keep talking about your online store, people will keep hearing about it.

Post in local groups to get your website in front of a relevant audience. Most towns and communities have dedicated Facebook groups for their residents to post in. Utilise these to keep everyone in your area informed about your business.

If you’re using Facebook as part of your social media strategy, then you can reach potential customers through Facebook’s targeted advertising, where adverts for your website will appear in front of your target audience. You can apply the same principle to Instagram, who are also under the Facebook umbrella, but you’ll have to do some research to work out who is more likely to buy your products.

For local businesses, registering your business with Google Places is really handy as it means it can be found more easily with Google searches, as well as ensuring it appears on Google Maps. Yahoo! and Bing have similar business databases which are also well worth signing up to.

The only thing left to do…

…is get your website started! We hope you’ve found this blog helpful. Make sure to let everyone know that your website is up and running and your online business will be flying!

Get your website set up now – Register for a 14 day trial today and see how our website builder can help you create a beautiful, professional blog hassle-free.

June 1, 2020May 29, 2020

What are the most important elements of an amateur sports club website?

People doing yoga stretching to be added to a sports club website using Go Sitebuilder

Designing a website for an amateur sports club can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. With so many different website builders offering a range of features, figuring out what you need for your sports club can be difficult. At Go Sitebuilder we aim to make website building as simple as possible, by having an easy-to-use interface and giving helpful hints and tips in our blog.

Whether you are building a website for a football club or a boxing school, showcasing your best assets is vital in attracting new talent and sponsorship. In the UK there are over 6,000 amateur sports clubs, which means whatever sport you are working in, there is plenty of competition around you. In this blog we are going to talk you through the most important elements of a sports club website. If you use clever web design and a great website builder you can create the best website for your sports club.

Clear Information

This may seem obvious but ensuring your website shows all key information is vital to attracting visitors. All information regarding your club should be easy to find on your website, for more help with navigation tips, check out our blog on why navigation is so important. Your website should also be up to date with all recent news and events.

Make sure you include contact information, location (whether this is your offices or where you train) and office hours. Additionally, as there are specific types of sports clubs and levels for different sports, including detailed information is also important. Consider the following questions when writing about your sports club:

What level do you play/train at?
Is there a specific age group you are targeting?
Do you have any special awards or trainers that you can mention?
Mention the type of club and ethos you have. For example, are you more focused on development or competitions?

Photographs and Videos

Your main selling point is how good your team/players are at their sport, so make sure you show them off! Have a range of photographs showing members at their best. If you have photographs from events such as regional matches or tournaments include them, especially if a member or team was placed top in the competition.

Depending on the type of club and your ethos, consider including photographs from more social gatherings. Many new members will look for the spirit of the community they are looking to join, so whether your socials are a curry night or an awards ceremony at the end of the year, ensure to include photographs of them.

Team or Coaches page

Whether you have a team or coaches page is dependent on whether the focus of your sports club is on the performance of your team or the development led by your coaches. Having this page is a great way to show visitors the people involved in your club. This personal touch to your website is great in making your community feel more involved in your activities. Ensure you include photographs of your team or coaches, so that visitors can connect more with your website.

Recent News and Matches

If you want fans to stay updated on your team, having a news page is vital. Including a range of news stories about your club will ensure that visitors stay engaged with your website. Consider the following topics when writing news bulletins:

Recent matches or competitions and their outcomes
League table updates
New player/team member/coach updates
Tips and advice on how to get involved
News about training sessions or community activities
Fundraising events or targets
Updates on alumni if they go on to be more successful in the sport

With many website builders, visitors can leave a comment on your news stories. This is a great way of keeping fans feeling engaged with your news and getting a feel for their opinion on developments in your sports club. Keeping visitor engagement up is seen to have positive effects for your website and your business. One study showed that if visitors are encouraged to engage with a website, it fosters the idea of a partial owning of the product and therefore an increased attachment to the product.

Eye Catching Web Design

As with any website, having effective website design is key in creating a standout website. Make sure you think about aspects such as colour, font and layout when designing your site. The design you choose should reflect the type of club you are and be easy for visitors to use. For more inspiration take a look at our blog on the best designed football websites.

If you need a great website builder for your sports club, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range features, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

May 31, 2020May 29, 2020

How Can Law Firms Make Their Website Elements More Engaging?

People want professionalism, accuracy, and consistency from the law firm that they’re going to trust to handle their legal affairs. This means that a polished, informative layout is all the more important for law firms’ websites than the average personal platform. An engaging site that reflects the quality of your service is key. You already know that you’re going to be giving your clients excellent legal advice, but they don’t!

We know that lawyers are usually busy with cases – they don’t have the time to spend hours building their own website from scratch. But by using a website builder such as Go Sitebuilder, with simple to use features and ready-to-go templates, you can quickly create a professional website that suits your branding.

If your website is the first part of your firm that clients see, you’re going to want it to convey your credibility, solid expertise, and importantly, stand out from competitors. Creating an engaging website is crucial to this, and making some small changes to make your website more effective should not be overlooked.

Choose a website builder that can handle web design

Aside from ensuring that your content is accurate and free from typos, one of the most important (and easy!) ways to improve a lawyer’s website is to turn your thoughts to your web design and make your website elements more eye-catching. This is simple to do with the help of a website builder that can handle the trickier aspects of web design like Go Sitebuilder, which lets you use different elements to highlight important aspects of your page. You’ll be able to create a striking website with infographics, images, and videos to suit your needs, with no prior design or coding experience required.

Use infographics to complement your legal advice

Including legal advice on your website is a good idea that can be useful for potential clients, and shows that you want to help inform the public. For example, using facts and figures in an infographic to highlight a legal fact, such as the number of people that could be accessing a given legal service, will jump out to people visiting your page and may resonate with potential clients, highlighting the relevance of your firm to their legal needs.

Graphics can also be a great way to showcase personal testimonials to the quality of your service and references from large companies that you have helped in the past. This will add to the reputability that you convey to prospective clients, and give them confidence in the services that you can provide. In fact, law firm marketing company The Modern Firm’s research shows that the testimonials page is the most clicked on part of any law website. Big names and complimentary remarks can stand out much more effectively in a nice graphic, so make sure to include them on your website.

Use images for trust and credibility

Include photos of the practicing paralegals, lawyers, and partners at your firm to add an approachable touch to your website. People value transparency from their law firm and want to know what they’re getting. By including a ‘who we are’ or ‘meet the lawyers’ page, you’re letting your clients put a friendly face to a name.

You’re inevitably going to be meeting your clients face-to-face. By showing the lawyers working at your firm, their qualifications and areas of expertise, not only will clients get an idea of who may be the best person to handle their case, they’ll know who to expect when they walk into the office for their consultation. People are attracted to companies with a human touch. Show your clients who you are, stand out from competitors, and let them envision working with you!

Add videos to inform and explain

By adding a video to your website, you can take this personal touch even further. Hearing you explain your services or the steps within a legal process can instil confidence in potential clients like nothing else! A well-edited, professional video showing your team articulating themselves clearly on relevant topics, thus evidencing a thorough grasp of their areas of legal expertise will make a client’s decision to work with you easier. It may even be able to answer some of their questions before they make the call or step into your office. This kind of video content can result in people staying on your website for 60% longer than if you had no video content at all, so it’s a good idea to invest some time in this area.

A variety of informative videos, and infographics can give potential clients a greater understanding of the legal process, provide clarity on their concerns and influence how they approach you, ultimately making your job easier. Whether you’re an established firm, just starting out, or if you are thinking about making the move to becoming a freelance lawyer, having a website is proven to be a powerful business tool.

Have a look at our blog on why lawyers need a website to read more about the benefits – or why not register for a 14-day free trial with Go Sitebuilder, and see how our features can make your professional legal website the most appealing on the web!

May 30, 2020May 29, 2020

What are the best restaurant websites for design inspiration?

Customers inside a restaurant discussing the best restaurant websites designs

Having a strong website design is key for all online businesses – considering that 38% of people will be put off a website if the content is unattractive, it is vital that your site design is aesthetic so you capture the visitor’s interest. This is even more crucial for restaurants: if your website isn’t visually appealing, then the user is more likely to form a negative impression of your restaurant, which means they probably won’t want to visit your establishment.

Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that you have to have the skills of a top website designer to build a website that reels visitors in. We’ve broken down some of the best ways to build your own website for your restaurant, so that you can get some design inspiration.

Strong colour pattern

Source: Between The Bread

This restaurant has used bright, bold colours of its foods, and displayed them on a contrasting background. By using colours that pack a punch, the visitor is immediately drawn to whatever you want them to see first – in this case it’s the food! Using a variation of colours means your landing page stands out, meaning your website is more likely to stick in the minds’ of those who visit your site. However, it is important not to overload your website with colour, as this can lead to confusion: this restaurant has focused on reds, yellows and greens, telling the visitor that they can expect vibrant, colourful foods.

Focus on font

Source: Whitmans New York

Whilst a picture might speak a thousand words, the type of font you use also sends out a certain message. Here the casual, relaxed font suggests that this restaurant has more of a laid back atmosphere – the flavours are bold, but the establishment has a more chilled vibe.

Informative

Source: Pastaria

Providing key information on your business, which can be clearly seen, is essential when you build your own website. According to KoMarketing, 44% of website visitors will leave a site if there aren’t any contact details. Providing the site users with contact information that they can clearly see, and giving them an option to contact you to make queries or reservations is essential. Considering that most people will make a booking with your restaurant either by phone or online, it is key that you make this process for them as easy as possible.

High quality images

Source: Catch

Using a high quality image, which isn’t blurred or poorly lit, shows just how professional your restaurant is. Considering that high quality images are a crucial factor in helping to sell your product – or restaurant – the best way you can create a good impression on someone is by using images which have been professionally taken. It’s important not to overcrowd your site with images too – just like this restaurant has done, keep things simple to achieve a sleek, attractive finish to your website design.

Appetising

Source: Lemonade

Of course, as a restaurant, if there’s one thing you want to get right, it’s how you present the food that you sell. People will want to come to your restaurant if you prove to them that you can serve them dishes which look great, and taste even better. As they obviously can’t sample the food by looking at your online business, they have to sample it with their eyes instead – capturing your tastiest dishes in a way that shows them off in all their glory will push people to make a reservation with you.

Less is more

Source: Foster Juice Co.

As you can probably see so far, these restaurants have stuck to a simplistic style of website design. Whilst some have taken the less is more approach more seriously than others, it is clear that these site designs have avoided overcrowding the landing page with multiple different pictures or crazy colour schemes. Instead, they’ve allowed the colours to bounce off each other to create a visually appealing effect. By holding back on wild, clashing colours and over the top images, you can build a website which delivers a pleasant site user experience.

Atmosphere of the restaurant

Source: El Burro

What kind of dining experience can your customers expect? When searching for a restaurant, people normally type in words that describe the type of restaurant they want to visit. Your website design must reflect the atmosphere of your restaurant, so that the user has some idea as to what kind of experience you are offering – here the bold, bright colours and rustic looking foods of this restaurant’s website design suggests they are a more casual establishment.

Welcoming

Most importantly, your website should be welcoming! You want to create a positive image of your restaurant which sticks in the minds of site users. With Go Sitebuilder’s ready to go site, creating a captivating website design couldn’t be more simple. Or, if you find yourself completely pushed for time when you’re first building your website, why not browse our free stock photo gallery, so that you can use professional photos, completely free of charge?

Try Go Sitebuilder today; our free 14-day trial gives you the ultimate freedom to design the perfect website for your restaurant!

May 29, 2020May 29, 2020

How do you introduce a current website to social media?

Happy smiling black woman using smart phone. Thinking about how she can introduce a current website to social media

So you’ve already set up an amazing website but are yet to connect your website to your social media. Creating an integrated online presence for your business will drastically improve interaction with your business, on your website and on your social media platforms.

The most important aspect of integrating your online presence is to ensure you have a strong website. Using a website builder such as Go SiteBuilder can be a really useful way to ensure that you have stunning web design and an effective layout. Make sure all pages of your website are finished and you have added all the information you need to before you start to introduce it to your social media.

Use your social media presence

If you already have a strong social media presence then introducing your website to potential new customers is much easier. A strong social media presence is indicated by a high number of followers and engagement levels (i.e. followers like and comment on your posts). If you have a strong social media presence there is a higher chance that followers and others will visit your website once you integrate it into your social media platforms.

However, if you do not have a strong social media presence already there are some ways you can easily improve it. Social media is extremely important in growing your business; with over 3.48 billion users across social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, creating a presence is vital to access such a large market.

Ensure you have social media accounts across multiple platforms, whether you pick two or all social media platforms. Think about what you post and how often you post, as this will increase engagement. For more tips check out our blog on how to create a social media marketing strategy.

Ensure you link your website correctly

This seems like an obvious step but many social media platforms fail to put the correct links in the right places for their website. Your website’s homepage should be linked in your ‘bio’ or ‘profile’ depending on the social media platform. Remember that on Instagram you can’t add links to separate posts, so you need to make sure the link is in your bio.

If you make a post about a specific part of your website, for example your gallery page, make sure you put a link to your gallery page in the description. Although this will not appear as a hyperlink on some social media platforms, having the link is still very important as users can copy it and find the page your post is about.

Launch your website

Even though your website already exists, having some kind of recognition on your social media is really important. You may wish to launch your website as if you have just published, if so check out our post on how to launch a new website on social media. However, if you want to create more of an integrated ‘soft launch’ to your website, this can be done in a number of ways, for example:

A post dedicated to each section of your website – include screenshots of your website
Reviews of your website/comments on your website
Tips on what website builder you used or how you created your website
Showing any new changes you have made to your website

Promote your website

Introducing a website to social media can be difficult, especially if you do not have a large social media presence. There are a variety of ways to promote your website. The easiest way is to ensure you use hashtags and location tags to your advantage. This means following trending hashtags and adding them to your posts when relevant. By using trending hashtags you increase the chance that social media users will see your posts.

Location tags are a little different as they do not work for every business. However, for businesses such as photography, travel or fashion they can be a great way to promote your posts. This is most useful on Instagram, but can be used on other platforms. Users search for a location to see posts relating to an event in that area. Therefore, if your post is featured among others in this location tag then more people will see your posts.

If you’re ready to build an amazing website for your business, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of features, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!