2010 AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices Research Results ILTA Webinar – By Deborah McMurray, CEO/Strategy Architect Content Pilot LLC

Why Foundational Best Practices? Launched Amlaw 100 research in 2005 Firms were spending millions... and visitors weren’t any happier 2005, 2006, 2007 and now again in 2010 Certain of the Ten Foundational Best Practices have evolved in the last 5 years The Web industry has changed Visitor expectations of websites are much higher Buyers of legal services have told us what they want from a law firm website The 2010 list reflects these changes – and into 2011

2010 Ten Foundational Best Practices The 2010 list: 1. Communicating your message 2. Graphics and design 3. Navigation 4. Lawyer biographies 5. Narrative content

2010 Ten Foundational Best Practices The 2010 list, continued: 6. Web site interactivity and outreach 7. Site search 8. Site optimization for online awareness 9. Firm citizenship 10. Site “hygiene”

Foundational Best Practice #1 Communicating your message  Logo, firm name and strategy copy stand out  Practice and industry focus is apparent  Geographic reach is apparent (one office/40 offices)  Contact info is clear and easy to find  Site features (if consistent with strategy/brand): Links to foreign language translations Personalization if it supports strategy

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #1 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 80.1 Good

Foundational Best Practice #2 Graphics and Design  Web site uses consistent graphics/colors/imagery that adhere to clearly established design style  Typography is legible, uniform, Web compatible and complements the overall Web site design  Layout is effective in its use of page real estate  Site is compatible with mobile devices  Site is compatible with most popular browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, AOL)

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #2 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 87.2 Excellent

Foundational Best Practice #3 Navigation  Home/global navigation is obvious and allows visitors to find what they want in 1-2 clicks  Global and local navigation styles are consistent— visitors don’t have to relearn navigation in different parts of the site  Cross-linking promotes easy horizontal travel from one section of the site to another (bios to practices to articles to news, etc.)  Logo on each interior page has a consistent location and anchors the site by linking back to the home page

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #3 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 86.5 Excellent

Foundational Best Practice #4 Lawyer biographies  First 2-3 sentences of the bio are current, compelling and relevant to lawyer’s practice (visitor and SEO benefit)  Bio is SEO friendly (think how humans search for people)  Current photos—ones that show personality and support messaging  Full contact info is easy to find and links to v-card  Includes links to social media profiles and pages  Bios list and link to practices/industries, articles/news/events  Bios include deals/cases info that is the most relevant to the practice  Bio design provides for listing most recent deals/cases, pubs and presentations, with a link to >>view all

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #4 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 65.5 Fair

Foundational Best Practice #5 Narrative Content PRACTICE AND INDUSTRY DESCRIPTIONS  Visitor/client-focused content has consistent language use and is specific  Content is organized intuitively, by services and expertise clients buy, not how the firm is organized  Practices and industries are broken out separately. Add geographic regions as a third option  Descriptions include specifics of deals/cases including client names or descriptions of clients  Cross-linking to other sections of the site is maximized

Foundational Best Practice #5 Narrative Content, continued NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS  Media contact is clear and easy to find throughout the site  News/press pages are maximized for PR benefit and use by journalists  Headline news populates the home page (SEO benefit)  Sections include “subscribe” features for firm publications

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #5 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 70.4 Good

Foundational Best Practice #6 Web site interactivity and outreach  Client extranet is offered and accessible  RSS feeds throughout the site  Alumni center  Newsletter and other info sign-up  Links to firm/lawyer blogs on bio, practice and other relevant pages  Offers educational Webinars and podcasts  Effectively uses LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter on careers or other pages  Effectively uses video to further key messaging

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #6 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 39.5 Poor

Foundational Best Practice #7 Site search  Site offers full-site keyword search and advanced search option throughout the site  Advanced search enables visitors to narrow or refine the search in multiple ways  Search results are clear and well organized Most relevant results appear first Annotated search results show the context of the search term  Site offers multiple searches, including detailed lawyer search and news/publications/articles/events searches  Separate experience/deals/cases search  Law school alumni search in careers

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #7 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 51.9 Fair

Foundational Best Practice #8 Site optimization for online search  Metatags, keywords, page title and meta descriptions are correctly used/placed  Page titles are optimized  Images have alt tags that provide alternative text when images can’t be displayed  What is the site’s online awareness—comparative analysis of: Google® PageRank Number of pages indexed by Google Link popularity

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #8 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 61.2 Fair

More about Foundational Best Practice #8 Site optimization for online search – Firms failed in the following areas: No meta-descriptions or keywords on any pages but the home page, or the meta-content was very weak (not descriptive enough) No alt-tags on lawyer bios Every site had source code in it for alt-tags on images, but few utilized the resource to optimize it No html content on the home page (such as not including cross-links or an expanded footer) If the domain changed (because of a merger), low SEO scores – PageRank very low and few indexed pages

Foundational Best Practice #9 Firm citizenship  Site has a statement of core values  Site illustrates firm’s commitment to sustainability  Site illustrates firm’s commitment to diversity  Charitable and civic commitment is described and evident  Pro bono commitment is described in detail, highlighting stories and specific matters

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #9 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 64.1 Fair

Foundational Best Practice #10 Site “hygiene”  Includes up-to-date copyright  No error pages are found  No broken links or images appear during a spot check  Pages print and easily  Most pages include dynamic “print to PDF” option  Copy and content have been checked for spelling and grammar

Amlaw Foundational Best Practice #10 Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 77.7 Good

2010 Amlaw 100 TOTAL Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 68.4 Fair

2010 Amlaw 100 Top 25 Excellent – Good – Fair – Poor – Unacceptable – 0-25

2007 Amlaw 100 TOTAL Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 71.2 Good

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