Download - Basics - Setting up a WordPress Site
WordPress for Lawyers
Building a Website for your Law Firm
North Carolina Bar Association
Presenter
Jennifer EllisLowenthal & Abrams, PC
&
Jennifer Ellis, JD
@jle_jd
www.LowenthalAbrams.com
www.jlellis.net
Copyright Jennifer Ellis, 2014. All rights reserved.
About Jennifer Ellis
• Legal Malpractice & Ethics Attorney• Also Manage Online Presence for Lowenthal &
Abrams, PC in Philadelphia
• Consultant – Online Marketing for Lawyers• Jennifer Ellis, JD
• Author• WordPress in One Hour for Lawyers
• Available on ABA’s Website
Today’s Seminar
• Choosing a domain name
• Picking a host
• Installing software
• Setting up the basics
• Design
• Choosing plugins
• Adding widgets
• Creating and editing a page
• Creating and editing a post
• Adding media
• Updating software
• Security
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Ethics
You Can’t Build a Website in an Hour
• But you can create one in• A weekend
• A week
• A month
• Websites are a continuing project• Keep adding content
• Examine results
• Improve
• Repeat
Why WordPress?
• Easy to install
• Easy to use
• Easy to update
• Great functionality through plug-ins
• Free software
• Supportive community
• Excellent for SEO
Choose a Domain Name
• Your address on the web• Choose carefully
• Branding• First thing people see
• Creates a sense of who you are
• Email address
• Relate to your firm
• Easy to type
• Not too long
• No dashes
• No numbers
Think Through Your Branding
• Firm’s Name?• Initials?
• Law or Lawfirm at the end?
• Area of practice?
• Geographic area?
• Hard to find good names• Be creative
• Use .com
Ask Others to Look
• Bad Examples• whorepresents.com
• WhoRepresents or WhorePresents
• speedofart.com
• SpeedOfArt or SpeedoFart
• therapistinabox.com
• Therapist in a Box or TheRapistInABox
See if the Name is Available
Not Available?
• Add law, lawfirm or lawyers?
• Consider other options
• Be careful about adding S or ing• Especially bad if the other site is a law firm
• Domain available for sale from the owner?• Check for cost
Choose Webhost
• Reliable
• Able to handle WordPress
• One click installation
• Recommend• Web Synthesis
• Bluehost
• HostGator
Purchase Hosting Plan
• Don’t choose the lowest plan.
• Choose an appropriate plan• Business Level
• WordPress specific (if available)
• But….see discussion on Sucuri & CloudProxy
• The lowest level is fine for Web Synthesis
• Note, can register your domain on Bluehost or HostGator.• Not on Web Synthesis
Point DNS
• What is a DNS?• Domain Name Server
• Domain Name System
• Connects IP address and domain name
• Type in domain name, sends it to the right location
• Like a phone book or a map for the Web
Using Same Registrar & Host?
• Will not need to point the DNS
• It should automatically work
• Less secure to use both in the same place
Different Registrar & Host
• Required to point DNS to the correct location
• The steps vary based on your registrar and host
• Sometimes change Name Servers
• Sometimes change IP Address
• Get information from Host
• More secure
Warning – Email!
• Make sure you do not mess up your email when you change your DNS!
• If in doubt, ASK!
Installing WordPress
Setting Up the Basics
• Click on Settings and Access• General
• Writing
• Reading
• Discussion
• Permalinks
General
Writing
Reading
Discussion
Permalinks
Website Appearance
• Theme• Complete website design
• Modifiable • Coding
• Internal options
Finding Themes
• Within WordPress• Free
• External sites• Various prices
• Framework themes• Basic underlying framework
• Theme over the framework
• Hire website designer
Within WordPress
Preview
Install External Theme
Modify Theme
Options Vary
Plugins & Widgets
• Add functionality
• Plugins• Back end
• Widgets• Front end
• Often work together
Recommended Plugins
• Yoast WordPress SEO – SEO
• Askimet – Comment Spam
• Acurax Social Icons – Social Media Icons
• Disable Comments – Hides Comment Box on Pages
• Display Widgets – Controls Where Widgets Appear
• Gravity Forms – Contact Box
• Jetpack – Numerous Tools (including statistics)
• W3 Total Cache – Speeds Up Site
• Advanced Image Styles (control aspects of image appearance)
Using Widgets
Drag to Location
Enter Data (If Needed)
Result
Plugins with Widgets
PLUGINWIDGET
RESULT
Important – Updates!
• WordPress = Microsoft of Web• Common malware attack target
• Update plugins and software as required
• Use security• Sucuri Malware Scanner ($89/year)
• Plugin and external scanning service
• Sucuri Cloud Proxy ($9.99/month)
• Sucuri included with Web Synthesis
Updates
Content
• Pages
• Posts
• Media
Editing
Media
Gallery
Upload
URL
Edit Media - Add Advanced Image Plugin
SEO
• Content matters• What will bring clients?
• What questions are they asking?• Answer the questions
• Good links from other sites• Encourage linking with good content
• Write for sites with follow me links• Follow me = recognized by Google as
providing link “juice”
• No follow = no link “juice”
SEO Tools• Yoast – WordPress Plugin
• On site SEO analysis
• Moz – External Help • http://moz.com
• Education
• Analysis
• Comparison
• ahrefs – Linking Analysis• https://ahrefs.com/
Yoast
• Provides tools to analyze each page and post
• Helps with Sitemaps
• Other tools as well
Yoast
Yoast
ahrefs
Provides detailed information about links
Moz
Analyze your site against others for key words and other information
Choose your key words
Compare Competitors
Google Analytics
• http://analytics.google.com
• Numbers
• Location
• Pages
• Bounce rate
• Mobile versus desktop
Google Webmaster Tools
• http://webmaster.google.com
• Informs if problems with site
• Provide Google with sitemap
• Information about Google searches
Ethics Rules 7.1 et seq.
• Marketing rules apply• Use appropriate disclaimers for your jurisdiction
• Do not share detailed information about clients without permission• Appropriate disclaimer – past results do not guarantee future outcome
• Beware providing specific legal advice• General, educational information
Questions?
• Feel free to contact me
• Twitter: @jle_jd
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/jle.jd