1 / 36

2013 AmLaw 100 Websites : Ten Foundational Best Practices Research

Prepared for the ILTA Webinar. 2013 AmLaw 100 Websites : Ten Foundational Best Practices Research. April 30, 2014. FBPs Break Down into 3 Major Categories. Strategy Communicating your message – strategy, brand and first impression / who are you and why should I care?

rashad
Download Presentation

2013 AmLaw 100 Websites : Ten Foundational Best Practices Research

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Prepared for the ILTA Webinar 2013 AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices Research April 30, 2014

  2. FBPs Break Down into 3 Major Categories • Strategy • Communicating your message – strategy, brand and first impression / who are you and why should I care? • Site optimization and online awareness – site and content optimized/SEO strategy • Content • Lawyer biographies – relevant, current, SEO and human friendly • Content (other than bios) – visitor/client focused, current and compelling. Multimedia • Site “hygiene” and usability– browser compatibility, visitor page tools, spelling, nothing broken

  3. FBPs Break Down into 3 Major Categories • Features and Functionality • Graphics and design – bold branding design, strong imagery, consistency, legibility, HTML5 instead of Flash • Navigation– intuitive, descriptive and one-click • Interactivity and social outreach – dynamic, interactive and Web 2.0, leveraging all Internet content • Site search – relevant, multiple search tools and easy finding • Mobility– specially designed mobile site; intuitive, device-specific user interface, interactive map and location features

  4. Foundational Best Practice #1 Communicating your Message • Clear and differentiating positioning strategy – 39.1 • Practice and industry focus are apparent – 81.2 • Geographic reach is apparent (1 office or 40) – 98.3 • Contact information is clear and easy to find - 93 • Site features or links to foreign language translations – 47.8

  5. Foundational Best Practice #1 AmLaw 100 Average: 72.6 – Barely Good

  6. Wsgr.com – 1 of 7 to Score 100

  7. Foundational Best Practice #2 Graphics and Design • Bold, branded layout style, grid and use of white space - 83 • The site uses CSS@FONT-FACE web fonts to further branding design - 73 • Strong imagery reinforces the brand and is fresh and unique. It effectively advances the story about what the firm does - 76 • Site makes good use of HTML5 instead of FLASH - 73 • Site is optimized for = or > than 1024 pixel screen resolution - 80

  8. Foundational Best Practice #2 AmLaw 100 Average: 77 – Good

  9. Goodwinprocter.com – Winner for FBP 2

  10. Foundational Best Practice #3 Navigation • Global and local nav styles are consistent – visitor doesn’t have to relearn new styles throughout the site – 93.8 • Global nav uses mega-menus/cascading nav that gives visitors 1-click access – 34.6 • Easy to navigate across multiple devices – smart phones, tablets, desktops – 67.6 • Cross-linking promotes horizontal travel from one section of the site to the next – 87.7

  11. Foundational Best Practice #3 AmLaw 100 Average: 70.9 – Fair

  12. Kramerlevin.com - #1 in Navigation

  13. Foundational Best Practice #4 Lawyer Bios • First 150 characters of the bio are current, compelling and relevant for SEO benefit – 77 • Overview paragraph – first 2-3 sentences are descriptive of the work the lawyer does and the types of clients the lawyer represents – 84 • Bio does not use Mr. or Ms. Lastname throughout – it uses the lawyer’s first or nickname – 35 • Current photos that convey personality – 87 • Full contact info is easy to find and links to v-card – 99 • Bio includes links to social media profiles and pages – 32 • Bios list and crosslink to practices/ industries, articles/ news/ events - 84 • Bios include detailed experience and matter lists – 74 • The page technology supports elegant content organization that enables visitors to quickly scan and access what they want? (e.g., Ajax, jquery, javascript) – 93 • Associates have full biographies – 88

  14. Foundational Best Practice #4 AmLaw 100 Average: 75.3 – Good

  15. Jones Day Bios Scored 100

  16. Foundational Best Practice #5 Content (Other than Bios) • Visitor-focused has consistent language use and is specific - 77 • Content is organized intuitively, by services and expertise clients buy, not how the firm is organized - 63 • Practices and industries are broken out separately. Geographic regions is a bonus option - 58 • Descriptions include experience specifics, including client names or descriptions of clients - 68 • Video and multimedia content is available, and is relevant and current - 37 • News/press pages are current and written for maximum PR benefit - 78 • Publications / articles / events are well organized and are easily sorted by topic and author / speaker - 75 • Site has a statement of core values - 55 • Site illustrates firm’s commitment to diversity - 95 • Charitable and civic commitment is described and evident - 81 • Pro bono commitment is described in detail, highlighting stories and specific matters - 91

  17. Foundational Best Practice #5 AmLaw 100 Average: 70.6 – Fair

  18. Sutherland Practice Descriptions - InfoGraphics

  19. Foundational Best Practice #6 Interactivity and Social Outreach • Client extranet is offered and accessible - 43 • RSS feeds throughout the site - 61 • Alumni center or link to alumni page on LinkedIn or Facebook - 63 • Newsletter subscribe feature and other info sign-up - 64 • Links to firm/lawyer blogs on home page, bio, practice and other relevant pages - 51 • Offers educational Webinars and podcasts - 48 • The site links to social media sites and has an active and current presence on these sites - 51 • Share functionality is present throughout the site - 34

  20. Foundational Best Practice #6 AmLaw 100 Average: 52 – Barely Fair

  21. Barnesthornburg.com – Scored 100

  22. Foundational Best Practice #7 Site Search • Site offers full-site keyword search - 100 • Advanced search link appears on all pages and enables visitors to narrow or refine the search in multiple ways – 16 • Search results are clear and well organized: Most relevant categories appear first – 59 • Utilizes modern search technology features: type-ahead / predictive, “did you mean,” highlighting of search terms in annotated results, exact phrase – 16 • Site offers multiple searches, including detailed lawyer search, news /publications / articles / events searches, law school alumni search in careers – 82 • Site offers a separate experience search – 24

  23. Foundational Best Practice #7 AmLaw 100 Average: 49.2 – Poor

  24. Cozen.com – Top Scorer in Site Search

  25. Foundational Best Practice #8 Site Optimization and Online Awareness • Online Awareness: backlinks, link popularity and PageRank for landing and details pages – 72 • Strong, properly structured HTML content on the home page and interior (H1, H2, H3 etc. for headings and subheadings, doc type, no image-based navigation or other text, etc.) – 67 • Data feeds from external sources (blogs, social media, videos, etc.) – 28 • HTML sitemaps are present and include all pages organized hierarchically – 77 • Smart URLS with appropriate syntax used in all sections - 64 • Metatags, page titles, keywords and meta-description are correctly used and placed, and utilized throughout site - 38 • Images have alt tags that provide alternative text when images can’t be displayed – 36

  26. Foundational Best Practice #8 AmLaw 100 Average: 54.5 – Fair

  27. MoFo.com ranked “Good” in SEO

  28. Foundational Best Practice #9 Mobility • Does the firm have a true mobile site? – 34.5

  29. Foundational Best Practice #9 AmLaw 100 Average: 34.5 – Poor

  30. QuinnEmanuel.com – Mobile Scored 100

  31. Foundational Best Practice #10 Site “Hygiene” and Usability • Site perfectly functions on all modern browsers – IE7 and newer, Chrome, Safari and Firefox – 88 • Ability to collect and bind PDFs together – 11 • No error pages are found on spot check – 99 • No broken links or images are evident with spot check – 97 • Pages print and email easily – 81 • Site offers dynamic print to PDF option on most pages – 53 • Copy and content have been checked for spelling and grammar – 87

  32. Foundational Best Practice #10 AmLaw 100 Average: 73.7 – Good

  33. WilsonElser.com – 1 of 5 Firms to Score 100

  34. 2013 AmLaw 100 Websites – Total Scores Totals based on 99 firms

  35. 2013 AmLaw 100 Websites – Top 25 Firms

  36. Content Pilot Contact • Thank you! Deborah McMurray Content Pilot LLC mcmurray@contentpilot.net 214.351.9690 Law Firm 4.0 Blog Twitter: @contentpilot

More Related