Website Do's and Don'ts for Bail Professionals

• December 01, 2008
• by Collateral Staff

[caption id="attachment_229" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Your website isn't about you - it's about your customers."][/caption]

Most bail professionals today have websites. There is simply no better way to ensure that customers online can find you and to ensure that you have a space for attracting customers. That said, not every website markets bail professionals at the same quality. In fact, it's likely that poorly designed websites will cost your bail business. Customers often are reluctant to do business with a company that has a poor website.

We have spent countless hours looking at, consulting on and building bail-related websites. Over the years we have compiled an internal checklist of website do's and don'ts. The article below summarizes what we feel you should and should not be doing on a retail bail website.

Website Do's
If you want a website that gets great results, you should consider the following:

A Professional Site.
Viewers will see your website as a reflection of your company, so it's important to have a site that puts your best foot forward. Unprofessional language, anecdotes, political banners or statements, and family photos do not belong on your business website. Although you may know someone who knows basic web design, your business site is too important to entrust to anyone but a professional. Investing in a professional web designer can continuously pay for itself in increased profits.

A Phone Number on Top of Every Page.
The primary goal of your website is to get your potential clients to pick up the phone and call you. Putting your phone number in the same place on the top of every page is going to dramatically increase the chances of this. Search engines will index every page of your site, so you don't know which page your customers will be "landing" on if they come in via Google or Yahoo. Whether they end up on your contact page, home page or any other page you want to make it easy for them to call you.

Useful Content.
Your website is really not about you - it is all about the viewer, who just happens to be your potential customer. Creating content that is useful and interesting to viewers will keep your viewers coming back. It also will attract more visitors to your site and lend you credibility in the search engines. Start by building pages about "The Bail Process" or include a list of jails in your areas of coverage. Over time, use your expertise to come up with more topics to cover. Update your content regularly, since new content will encourage readers and the search engines to come back.

A Reason to Call.
Motivate the viewer to call you by explaining the benefits of your agency. You might want to point out that you make the bail process easy or that your staff is courteous. Be sure to empathize with your viewer by pointing out that sometimes bad things happen to good people. People looking for bail professionals often are in a difficult position and some sympathy is much appreciated. Along these lines, you probably don't want to include images of someone behind bars or any imagery that is going to make light of the situation.

A Well-Designed Space.
Good design means a website that is not cluttered and is easy to navigate. Keep it simple. When it comes to building a site, keep in mind the old adage: "Less is More." Finding good designers can be a challenge. We recommend posting an ad on sites like Craigslist.org or contacting local art or design schools. Additionally, some web hosting companies (such as RedHatDomains.com) have free templates that take all the guesswork out of design and allow you use templates that have been proven to work.

Website Don'ts
We've seen it all. We've seen great sites and we have seen really bad sites in the bail industry. Based upon our experiences, we suggest you DO NOT do any of the following:

Don't Have Too Many Images.
Some search engines cannot read images and almost all images slow download time. Stick to a few images that are relevant to your site and keep them at a reasonable size.

Don't Have Irrelevant Content.
Don't include information that doesn't help the reader. Your kids are cute and its really cool that you got a new Harley, but its not relevant to your readers. Include just enough information to motivate the reader to give you a call. This means that you should describe the process, give some sense of your rates, and demonstrate that you are a trusted professional.

Don't Confuse Your Readers.
Look over your website and make sure that everything is consistent. Don't give a different phone number and address on each page. Make sure that the design of each page within your site has a similar look and feel. You want potential customers to know they are on the same website regardless of the page they navigate to within the site.

Don't Add Music to Your Site.
Some of your customer may have to view your website at work. You don't want to suddenly embarrass them by having a loud song play. Music also slows download time and can be annoying or distracting to readers. Music on sites is generally unprofessional.

Flash Intros.
Flash intros add nothing to your content and can actually fail to load properly on some browsers. Plus, some Internet surfers find them annoying. The same can be said of animation on your website.

Your clients come to your website for information, not entertainment. Erring on the side of professional and clean, and providing useful content are the best ways to make your site works.