Think open source is unsophisticated? Think again. Take a look at the lengths the WordPress team went to in order to redesign the user interface.

To make sure users get a better interface, WordPress engaged the Ball State University’s Center for Media Design, Insight and Research (CMD, blessedly, for short).

CMD conducted eye-tracking studies, usability surveys, and other research to guide WordPress’s complete redesign of the user interface. You can even check out a detailed report of their findings (PDF).

Usability Testing Report: 2.5 and Crazyhorse | WordPress Blog

Hosting provider? Check. Website? Check. Advertising plan? Check. Now it is time to talk more advanced online marketing: blogs and social networking.

Starting a blog or participating in an online social network is more advanced in the sense that both require more time and a bit more comfort with online interaction. But blogging and social networking also offer new, more direct ways to reach potential clients.

A static website is just a fancy billboard or calling card. But a blog or a social network profile allow you to meet your clients before they pick up the phone to call or walk into your office. You can establish your ethos with people you have not yet met, so that when they have a legal problem, they are not calling a stranger, but someone they already know.

Many lawyers, however, seem afraid to say anything online (or in public) for fear that it will come back to haunt them. To this I have two pieces of advice: (1) stop saying things that might come back to haunt you; and (2) get over it. If you cannot get over it, then blogs and social networking are not for you.

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WordPress.org 2.5 was released a few days ago, and it contains a number of changes. Some good, some bad. For example, the new Dashboard is nice, but the new image insertion is terrible, and the new Write Post page has become an experience on scrolling on and on to find even frequently-used options like categories and tags.

If you use WordPress.org for blogging or your homepage, you will doubtless notice the changes, as well.

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Okay, so you are comfortable with online privacy issues, you have spent some time on Wikipedia and Google learning about the “geek stuff,” and now you want to get going and market your law firm online. Obviously, you want to start with square one: a website. And a website is the logical next step in online marketing, so let’s get to it.

When I say “static website,” I mean a normal website: a set of web pages with content that rarely changes, and could be described accurately as a sort of dynamic business card and resume rolled into one. Many people will throw in a brochure-y article or two, but the bottom line is that a static website rarely changes. (A “dynamic website,” by contrast, could be a blog, wiki, or other frequently-updated website.)

A static website is online marketing 101. Every firm should have one, almost without exception. Most Americans have internet access in one form or another. Many will get referrals to more than one lawyer, who they will try to find online. The ones they find will get phone calls. The others probably will not.

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I decided the blog could use an updated look. I prefer simple themes, so I adapted “Limau Orange” by Bob Jiwakacau, former owner of blogohblog.com. It still looks fairly clean, allows smooth ad integration, and allows me to use some cool WordPress widgets like the tag cloud in the right sidebar. Let me know what you think in the comments.