Wilmington attorneys Mitch Baker and Troy Slaughter have created a new website for their firm.

The site, bakerandslaughter.com, is flash as well as substance. The design features an animated photo slideshow that presents both attorneys and the approach of the firm. Professional photography makes a world of difference. The site is also a deep and well-organized law library of only original and topical material. As "attorneys to the attorneys," Baker and Slaughter provide current material in a special section of the site geared toward attorneys. Another section addresses the public. A client section is also available, as well as a Hot Topics area that addresses up-to-the-minute developments in ongoing cases.

This Leland community is a development of Pyramid Homes. The company serves buyers in Brunswick and New Hanover counties, and all of Southeastern North Carolina. The website is fully editable by the client to allow for new listings, news, links and other current information. An interesting use of the news feature is Meet Your Neighbors. It profiles several of the families in Windsor Park. Go to windsorparknc.com to take a look.

The rise of social networking has, in my observation, caused some confusion among smaller businesses about the need to make direct sales calls. I'm talking here about the time investment of identifying prospects and then calling them on the phone or visiting them in person to offer your services. Large corporations, like IBM, have not abandoned or even diminished their direct sales efforts just because Twitter and Facebook are on the rise. But smaller companies are.

Most salespeople have to face some level of call reluctance. Sales trainer Brian Tracy says the average salesperson comes in to work, drinks some coffee, shuffles business cards, does paperwork, makes a couple of calls from 10 to 11, then tells themselves: "Well, I don't want to bother people at lunchtime" and then they go to lunch themselves. When they come back, at 1:30 or so, they might make a few calls, until 3:30 or 4. They figure most people are wrapping up their day, so they start to wrap up. In other words, any excuse NOT to do the thing that actually makes them and their companies money.

Ben Deaver of Deaver & Deaver, PLLC, is known locally for his success in the legal areas of personal injury, civil litigation, and criminal defense. His extensive experience as an insurance adjustor and his aggressive representation and litigation skills have led to numerous recoveries which speak volumes about the prosperity of his firm. There's no doubt that Ben Deaver is one of Wilmington's top personal injury and criminal defense lawyers.

But let's cut the schmaltz and get real for a moment. Who, exactly, IS that accomplished attorney in the video on the home page of DeaverLawFirm.com? What's he like outside the courtroom, around the office when clients aren't around, and at home? Allow me to clue you in: his nickname says it all.

"The Deav"

Friends, family and colleagues have, for many years, lovingly referred to Ben as "The Deav." An obvious play on words, "The Deav" is both short for Deaver and "the deviant." Now, some would associate the term

• It's moving. If you watch people watching a video website, you see that they stay focused on the screen longer and more intently than with an ordinary site. It's why Flash animation was popular five years

Here are four more things you can do to make your website work for you - and make you (more) money:

1. Use testimonial quotes. Many of the websites we create include an editable database that allows you to add quotes from happy customers. Over the course of a few months, you'd be surprised how many times you'll get the random