I asked how much it would be to have a professional law firm website set up and it was in the range of $2,400. Crazy. I figured I could set up a cheap one myself in HTML, but it turns out most web service providers have built-in templates and I used it to make this site:

http://lukejacksonlaw.com

Only a couple of snafus emerged. The site looked great in Firefox, but when I tried in crappy IE the frames cut off the text. I managed to fix that by using tables, but I'd appreciate it if people out there could look at it and make sure it appears solid on various browsers and screen resolutions. Also: anyone know how to do search engine optimization or Google Adwords? Thanks for any input!

Why should we? Who are you? How do you differ from someone trying to harvest clicks or something?

quote:

Originally posted by satyriasis:
Only a couple of snafus emerged. The site looked great in Firefox, but when I tried in crappy IE the frames cut off the text. I managed to fix that by using tables, but I'd appreciate it if people out there could look at it and make sure it appears solid on various browsers and screen resolutions.

If it looks alright in FF, you can generally count on it looking ok everywhere except IE. IE uses a really messed up box model.

Thanks for the response. Now I just have to figure out if SEO is for real or BS, and if real, how to do it.

quote:

Originally posted by satyriasis:
I asked how much it would be to have a professional law firm website set up and it was in the range of $2,400. Crazy.

Yeah, charging those kinds of prices is only OK if you're a lawyer. God forbid somebody else should try to make a profit.

Ah, Belg. Excellent.

quote:

How do you differ from someone trying to harvest clicks or something?

satyriasis is taller.

the site seems to work well for me in Chrome. Basic with stock photos but that is really all you need. You might want to considered having a few real pics taken of the office or building rather that stock photos of skylines and gavels.

A few things that caught my eye.

quote:

results-oriented approach to litigation have brought his clients favorable jury verdicts and substantial settlements since. Mr. Jackson understands that the law can be confusing and distressing to those unfamiliar with litigation, and can help you negotiate these troubled waters to a satisfying resolution.
The Law Offices of Luke Jackson are centrally located in the Equitable Plaza in the mid-Wilshire Koreatown district of Los Angeles.
Mr. Jackson has experience in all areas of law, particularly civil, criminal, immigration and bankruptcy matters.
He is available for free consultations concerning your matter at all times either in-person

the overuse of hyphenated words is a little odd. You'd have to ask one of the grammar gurus here but I am not sure if you really need to hyphenate these words anyway.

Also

quote:

lukedjackson@gmail.com

the lack of a domain usually screams amateur to me. You should be able to set up an email with your domain name rather than a gmail account. Sorry but that sounds more professional to me.

Sorry for the critique if it is not welcome, I know you were asking about the site itself but these things all caught my eye.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.

OH LORDY JESUS FUCK DIRECT FLASH.

Wait.

OH JESUS LORDY FUCK HORIZON!!!

Sorry, but that is the worst law firm website I have ever seen, and I have seen many.

It looks like a 12 year olds blog page on MySpace.

Fail.

Seriously half assed.
The typography isn't kerned,
the fonts suck,
the layout is annoying at best, and confusing in terms of line of sight.

Have you studied any design?

Boo!

Well of course, of that $2400, $200 was to build the site and the remaining $2200 for the hours of swearing at and wrestling with stinking IE to try to make it work...

quote:

Originally posted by editengine:

quote:

results-oriented approach to litigation have brought his clients favorable jury verdicts and substantial settlements since. Mr. Jackson understands that the law can be confusing and distressing to those unfamiliar with litigation, and can help you negotiate these troubled waters to a satisfying resolution.
The Law Offices of Luke Jackson are centrally located in the Equitable Plaza in the mid-Wilshire Koreatown district of Los Angeles.
Mr. Jackson has experience in all areas of law, particularly civil, criminal, immigration and bankruptcy matters.
He is available for free consultations concerning your matter at all times either in-person

the overuse of hyphenated words is a little odd. You'd have to ask one of the grammar gurus here but I am not sure if you really need to hyphenate these words anyway.

"In person" is two words and should not be hyphenated. "Results-oriented" is horrible, Dilbert-esque, double-plus-ungood business-speak, but maybe that's what you're aiming for.

If you like using gmail, set up your domain with Google Apps.

That way you could have luke@lukejacksonlaw.com, or some such.

jesus boog, we were trying to be supportive.

Look nobody is going to think they are hiring an LA Law (wow does THAT date me or what?) type firm here but it does convey the basic information you need to hang a shingle. It is like my old boss at the Band of America call center said when we asked about all the noise on the floor that the customers could hear. "Well," he said,"they know this is a call center so lets not try to pretend we are something we are not."

Look. Lawyers are allowed to advertize now and doing so has lost much of its stigma. So why not take advantage of it? Sell yourself! False advertize! You're a goddam lawyer! You can get away with it!

- Use a photo of Abraham Lincoln instead of yourself!

- "If I don't win your case, I'll kill myself!"

- "Every judge in California is in our pocket! We own them!"

- "I've never lost a case! Never!"

- "We represent Barack Obama!"

- "Jesus! We represent Jesus Christ! Don't you want the same lawyer as Jesus Christ? Fuck!"

YES!

A parody/satire website would work better than what you have.