Digital White Papers

41 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER MARKETING TECHNOLOGY SEO and Web Design Best Practices Web Design Marketing oen takes the wheel when considering a website (re) design. However, marketers get caught up in branding and design aesthetics when an equally, or as the technologist might say, more important aspect of web design is the functionality of the site. Functionality and aesthetics should not live separately of each other. They both play a role in the user experience and usability of a website. So what is the legal marketer to do? Design for Marketing vs Design for Functionality A new user visits a website for the first time. They are impressed with the flashy logo animation. They see a fun video that tells them a lile bit about your firm. They learn the navigation menu to reach the pages of content they desire. They are impressed with your law firm because they are impressed with the website's sleek design aesthetics and user experience. That same user returns for their 5th, 10th, 50th visit. They have goen over the flashy design and, dare we say, hindrances, which slow down the load time of the website such as a lengthy, background stock video. On this visit, they simply want to navigate from point A to point B (or even beer, straight from search results to point B). This accessibility and usability which allows the user to navigate efficiently to their preferred end results is the focus of your web design functionality. A E S T H E T I C S Considering the example above, there is value in a great first impression (and second, third, fourth, etc.). When we perceive the aesthetics as beautiful or inviting, we feel a deeper connection and pleasure from the design. Good aesthetic design is perceived as more usable and valuable, making it an important aspect of web design. However, there is eventually a tipping point where a site user simply wants to accomplish the task at hand. Generally speaking, in the legal industry that task is finding the appropriate piece of content whether it be an aorney bio, a speaking engagement listing, or a practice group's recent alert/newsleer. So how much emphasis should you be making on the aesthetics? The legal industry has started to catch up to the latest trends in web design, so a large size firm might consider investing fairly heavily in a snazzy layout, an animated logo, automatic video playback on critical, high-traffic pages and as deep as 3rd level pages (example being navigating from homepage > practice areas and industries navigation page > individual practice page), and any other number of bells and whistles that might engage and impress a visitor. Small to medium size firms might choose to only make major web design enhancements on entry level homepages and perhaps their critical, high-traffic pages, ultimately saving on design costs. F U N C T I O N A L I T Y If you haven't been focusing on the Functionality of your website, you will likely miss a critical aspect of your web design. Functionality is important for two very clear reasons: Making the user experience and navigation seamless, intuitive and easy. Making the site crawlers able to access, read and map the navigation easily. 1 2 WALTER D. MCCORKLE Walter D. McCorkle is a Marketing Technology Coordinator at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. He works closely with the firm's attorneys and business development team to manage the content flow through the firm's various communication channels. He oversees firm website activity and website content to promote the firm brand and its over 500 attorneys. He develops blog strategies and websites, and manages the firm's ten current blogs. Walter executes communication strategies through the firm's social media accounts, and conducts social media best practices presentations for the firm's attorneys. His overall role is to utilize Bradley's marketing technology stack to distribute content and position the firm and its attorneys as thought leaders. You can reach Walter at wmccorkle@bradley.com.

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