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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?

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2013 AmLaw 100 Websites : Ten Foundational Best Practices Research

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  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

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