I spend a lot of time here writing about design, branding, etc. At Marketing Catalyst, you can read posts from someone who has just gone through the law firm rebranding process.

On his blog, Bruce Allen discusses:

• What’s in a Font?- Insight into picking the right typeface to convey the right “feel” of a firm.
• Selecting a Color for the Brand of the Firm- Picking a color for your firm’s logo takes more than you’d think.
• Is Printed Collateral Dead?- Should firms bother with printed material?
• Is Humor Part of Your Firm Culture?- Looking at some nontraditional firms and how they use humor.
• Building My Own Photo Library- The process of photographing attorneys- and making them look good!
• Reasons for an Internal Brand Campaign- Looking at law firm marketing from the inside out.

This site is an excellent resource for anyone interested in how and why law firms make their marketing and branding decisions.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I don’t know how I missed this.

There’s an article entitled “What Does Your Web Site Say About You?: A law firm’s online presence should inspire a potential client’s confidence” at SmallFirmBusiness.com, part of Law.com’s network. The article is written by Margot Teleki, president of a commercial writing/marketing company.

When called upon to write for a web site for a law firm, Teleki looked around at law firm web sites and found that attorney sites are written from the firm’s perspective, not from the client’s. Instead of saying how the firm could solve the prospect’s problem, law firms are just talking about how they view themselves.

Perspective is important.

One thing that separates legal services from any other product or service is need. [okay, that's not true....people need medical products and services too. Oh, and food.] A client has a need for legal services; they’re not just browsing around looking for an impulse buy at the mall.

So, what does this have to do with law firm web sites? Well, I’ll let the author say it:

If you look for an attorney the way many of us do today, you’ll first ask your friends for referrals, then look up the recommended firm on the Web site. That Web site must offer information, confidence and comfort to a potential client. A client in trouble — either an individual or a corporation — needs to be assured that the chosen law firm will give him aggressive advocacy and have the right skill set to win a case. He wants to be assured that his attorney will fight for his rights — and win! He wants to feel assured that he is of primary interest to his attorney — not just another case on the block.

Now picture this: a client has just hired your firm to take his case. Now he’s going to the web site.

Does your site reassure him? Does it say “You’ve made the right choice?”

Popularity: 10% [?]

Inspired by Derek Powazek’s great article on A List Apart, I decided to come up with a checklist specific to law firm web site home pages. The original article is a very good one, but it is geared toward membership sites (sites where you need to log in to access user-specific data). I thought it would be useful to come up with something specific to law firm sites.

1. Goal: Tell the visitor what the site is all about.

• Tell the new visitor what the site will offer them
• Tell the new visitor who you are

Design Solutions:

• Use a short phrase to describe who you are and what you do
• Put that short phrase on the top of the page
• Link to a more wordy page that better describes you

When a new visitor comes to a site, they ask “What is this?” You need to tell them who you are and what you do immediately. Users make a decision whether to stay or go in the blink of an eye:

“In just a brief one-twentieth of a second — less than half the time it takes to blink — people make aesthetic judgments that influence the rest of their experience with an Internet site.

The study was published in the latest issue of the Behaviour and Information Technology journal.”

2. Goal: Don’t Make Obstacles for Repeat Visitors

• Make it easy for repeat visitors to find the info they’re looking for
• Don’t treat every visitor like a stranger

Design Solutions:

• Make navigation clear and easy
• Allow one-click access to popular pages
• If possible, put targeted repeat visitor content on the home page

Repeat visitors already know who you are and what you do. Your home page should allow them to easily get the information they’re looking for without having to scroll through “getting-to-know-you” content.

Think of this in terms of interpersonal communications. The first time you meet someone, you introduce yourself, maybe shake hands, and have small talk. Every subsequent meeting is different. You already know the person’s name and who they are, so there’s no need to introduce yourself again.

Imagine if every time you wanted to talk to a co-worker, you had to introduce yourself again and shake hands before talking. That would get annoying pretty quickly.

Now put yourself in your current clients’ shoes. What information are you looking for? Some examples:

• Attorney Profiles and email addresses
• New articles and bulletins
• Directions
• A phone number

3. Goal: Look Alive

• Show that your firm is active
• Show off your expertise

Design Solutions:

• Place firm news items prominently on the home page
• Link to events and activities
• Link to recent publications and articles

Your attorneys don’t just sit behind a desk all day, they’re out there doing things. They write articles, they speak at seminars, they win awards, and they do interviews. Don’t be modest: let your visitors know what you’re doing!

4. Goal: Show Your Area of Expertise

• Tell visitors what areas of law your firm covers
• Show the industries you’ve covered

Design Solutions:

• List Representative Client Industries
• List Practice Areas

When a prospective client visits your site, they want to know if your firm can do the work. Answer that question right away.

5. Goal: Make Navigation Clear and Easy

• Get visitors to their information
• Meet navigation expectations

Design Solutions:

• Use “big buckets” for categorizations
• Categorize pages under appropriate headings
• Add a search function

The key for any visitor (new or repeat) is to make navigation simple. Get them to their information.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I talk a lot about logos and design, so I was surprised to see a lot of discussion on how little legal commentators think the logos and “look” matter.

On “What About Clients”, Dan Hull writes “Law Firm Logos are Goofy, Useless, and a Waste of Time and Money.” In the article, Hull goes on to say that “quality service and not logos should be the main event” and “if you don’t have a logo, don’t bother to develop one.”

If your firm is the only one in a market, then maybe I agree. Let’s say you have a firm that specializes in Chimney Sweeping Law. That’s all your firm handles, and there isn’t another firm on earth that does. Then, I’d say you shouldn’t even bother with a logo. Since you’re the only one around, you really don’t have to worry about recognition. In fact, if you don’t have a web site, don’t bother developing a pretty one. Instead, on a white background, just have this:

“This is the site of Soot & Sweep, LLP. Call us at 1-800-CHIMNEY”

Then you’re done.

But if you’re in any other industry, chances are you have lots of competition. And when you have a lot of competition, you need to set your firm apart.

I’m not saying logos are the answer. I doubt there has ever been a time when a client looking for legal services and selects a firm by looking at logos alone.

Instead, logos are just another way to be recognized. Only after a prospect has learned about your firm (and others) would a logo help. It is something that sticks in the back of their mind, associating something visual with a level of service.

Though we might not want to admit it, design is important in our purchasing decisions. While we don’t buy a product or service because we really love a logo, we may surely decide not to buy if we perceive a company to be unprofessional.

Think of a prospect looking for legal services that does not already have a lead. They do some research and Google searches, and get a list of firms that can do the work. They go to one site and see a professionally designed site that projects a feeling of expertise. They go to the next and see this:

My feeling is that if you have great service, you should have great presentation as well. You don’t have to spend a lot of time and money to get that.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The great Kevin O’Keefe at LexBlog points to an article by Frederick L. Faulkner on “Practical Web Strategies for Attorneys.” The article points out what changes attorney sites could make, organized by the amount of effort it takes to accomplish each.

Simple changes have huge impact sometimes.  Take for example, this page offering San Diego living trust attorney services. I fired off a quick message that inspired these quick (and obvious to them in retrospect I’m sure) improvements:

• Place a brief general inquiry form in the left sidebar.  **I would have preferred it to be a little shorter so it was totally above the fold even in small browser windows. Still, the lead form on every page nearly always improves conversion rate.
• The right margin tends to be the place people look right before leaving the site. So, in order to salvage a visitor on his way out place a special offer or simple call to action. In this case they opted for an easy “click to ask” button. I think it was well done and provides motivation to those visitors who don’t have much energy to commit.

Create your list of site improvements and re-order into action items. Start picking them off the list and the response should be a rewarding one as conversions improve and rankings go up!

Popularity: 10% [?]

I saw a post today on AdRants about a really bad law firm site for Warwick Seltz. They specialize in pizza law. Their tagline? “If you’ve had bad pizza, we’d like to meetz ya.”

It’s a great marketing campaign centered around the ficticious firm.

Popularity: 11% [?]