Need a Firm Website? Build one FREE with OfficeLive.com!

~by James A. Zitesman
Columbus Bar Real Property Committee Chair

I have had a website for my legal practice for many years. I always created and maintained it myself. My site was hosted by a company for several years with no problems until one day when my email was not getting through. Anyone who has experienced email interruption can tell you how distressing that can be. I called tech support, only to be put on hold for 90 minutes. Once I got through, I found a language barrier with the person on the other side of the world trying to figure out what was wrong with their email server.

Having wasted too much time, I decided to look for a more reliable service provider. After scouring the web with Google searches and looking at many different providers, I wondered whether the big guy, Microsoft, offered web hosting. I thought that if Microsoft offered web hosting it would probably be reliable. That is when I found OfficeLive.com. My search was over.

OfficeLive.com is part of Microsoft. OfficeLive.com offers web hosting for free. Yes, that is what I said, free. There is a charge for the domain registration. I have my own domain name, www.zitesman.com. The email is handled through Hotmail. Email is free, however, you may want to consider paying the $19 per year charge for email without ads. You can set up several email accounts, up to 110, each with 10GB of storage (please bear in mind that Microsoft seems to change these numbers from time to time, generally upward, and that the writer of this article is providing what is believed to be accurate as of the date of the writing of this article).

The web hosting offers templates for websites, so you can easily design and maintain a website from anywhere, all you need to do is to log on. You can use easy to customize templates provided for free, or you can upload your own web pages. The templates are easy to use and allow you to insert pre-programmed modules for maps and directions, contact page with an online fill-in form, one for weather, and several more.

There are complete statistics for the usage of the site including keywords, page usage, and visitors. There are plenty of tips and tricks throughout the site. When I need tech support, I found the 800 number to be staffed here in the United States and answered in a few rings. I recently had a question about the time settings in Hotmail. Within 3 minutes, I had the question answered and was off the phone.

While OfficeLive.com is loaded with a plethora of features, one of the really useful features for attorneys on the go is the Office Live Workspace. This enables you to upload documents, including PDF and jpg files, to the workspace. By logging on from any computer, you instantly have access to those files. Again, this feature is free. There is also a feature which lets you share files with others.

With all the companies out there telling us that we need to spend hundreds of dollars each month in order to have a website, I suggest you take a look at what Microsoft has to offer for free. It might be just what you are looking for, too.

Note from the editor: Jamie found the process of creating his website to be quite easy. If there are Columbus Bar members who need a firm site but don't feel like they have the skills or time to create their own site, they can take advantage of the Columbus Bar basic website package offered through Blue Laser design. The member pricing provides a basic but custom-designed website for $970 with no hosting fees for the first year. Click here to review the details.

DISCLAIMER: The CBA provides links to various sources of information in Columbus Bar News Bytes eNewsletter purely for the convenience of readers. The opinions expressed by the authors are their own, and the CBA is not responsible for reliance on any such information.