2010 AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten
Foundational Best Practices
Research Results
ILTA Webinar – 12.16.10
By Deborah McMurray, CEO/Strategy Architect
Content Pilot LLC
Why Foundational Best Practices?
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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 100 - 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 100 - 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 100 - 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 100 - 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 100 - 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 100 - 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 100 - 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 100 - 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 100 - 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 email easily
 Most pages include dynamic “print to PDF” option
 Copy and content have been checked for spelling and
grammar
Amlaw 100 - 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 – 86-100
Good – 71-85
Fair – 51-70
Poor – 26-50
Unacceptable – 0-25
2007 Amlaw 100 TOTAL
Avg. score of AmLaw 100 – 71.2 Good
Deborah McMurray
[email protected]
214.351.9690
Contentpilot.net
Law Firm 4.0 Blog