Law firms urged to make web presence a priority

08 May 2003

Law firms are trailing behind their professional services peers when it comes to creating an informative and impactful online presence, according to research conducted by leading brand development consultancy and online expert, Rufus Leonard.

Rufus Leonard has conducted a benchmarking study comparing the top legal firm websites with the top management consultancy and investment bank sites. The study covered four key areas: brand/design; content; usability; and functionality and concluded that the area in which law firms consistently failed to impress was in their online brand expression.

Results show that legal sites disappoint overall. Out of a possible maximum score of 36, the average score for legal web sites was 18.6 versus 23.4 for investment banks and 21.8 for management consultancies.

Andrew Pinkess, Director of Strategy at Rufus Leonard, warns legal firms that their online image may be at odds with their overall brand image:
‘For an international law firm, reputation and image are everything. Most law firms invest in expensive, modern offices and high quality marketing and communications collateral, but their online presence tends not to be regarded as a priority, often resulting in poor design and outdated content. Given that the majority of prospective clients will access a law firm’s website at some point during the qualification process, it is essential to ensure that the site upholds the company’s image instead of eroding its brand equity. We believe there is a strong and immediate case for law firms to re-evaluate the importance of their web presence.’

Rufus Leonard has created the following six top tips to assist law firms in improving their online image and reputation:
• Express yourself – be more confident and expressive in the design of your website. Use imagery, colour and visual elements to communicate size, global reach and stature. Build a dedicated image library that is contemporary and inspiring
• Key messages – generate a set of key messages that have been signed off by all key stakeholders. The messages should describe your business and what makes you stand out from the competition and should be qualified with key facts and statistics
• Write for the web – generate copy specifically tailored for the web and allow for the screen layout of the site. Ensure longer reports are available for download in printer-friendly formats
• Segment your audiences – think about each of your audiences and consider the needs of each segment which may lead you to organise your site around these groups
• Measure your progress – monitor your success by developing a web measurement framework using competitor benchmarking, web statistics and an online survey to track performance
• Keep your site up to date - don't build a great site and then let it become dated, ensure that a process is in place to regularly update and refresh your website content

Most companies choose to outsource website development to a specialist web agency as this not only gives them access to the latest thinking online, but also offers a cross-resource team where marketing strategy, design and IT resources work closely together to make sure text and imagery work in harmony and technical constraints can be anticipated at an early stage of the process.