Chapter 1: The Intendance ‘2007 Fast Fifty’ report –
learn from the best and worst solicitors websites

For the sixth year, Intendance’s Research division has published its annual investigation into online best practice for law firms, setting the benchmark for the sector. The latest report – ‘Intendance Fast Fifty Solicitors’ Websites 2007: Who is Winning and Why?’ - compares the websites of the fifty fastest-growing law firms in UK (by turnover, from ‘The Lawyer’ UK Top 100 firms), assessing website content, usability, design and marketing effectiveness.

In this article we outline briefly a few of the components that constitute a high-scoring website. A sampler of the report may be downloaded here. The full report is available at a discount to members of Intendance Research, or can be purchased direct at the full price using the report order form.

Content

Recognising that website content is a major differentiator, this category is concerned with the scope of information made available to the visitor, its currency and, where applicable, the ability to download the information for offline use.

The basic elements of a good website include:

• A brief description of the firm, its practice areas and the sectors in which it specialises (backed up by testimonials)
• Partner listings, including biographies, good quality photographs and cross referencing to contact information, practice areas, deals and publications
• General contact details including a printable map with directions
• Articles, publications and marketing materials
• Recruitment information
• Policies
• Legal statements and other information to comply with the EC E-commerce Directive and Companies Act

To further differentiate the firm, high-scoring firms enhance their websites by including such features as:

• Interactive content delivery mechanisms (e.g. RSS, Podcasting and blogs)
• Clear policy information - evidenced where appropriate - covering CSR, CRM, Diversity etc
• Enhanced trainee recruitment content, including dedicated microsites that make good use of new technologies

Usability

Usability – and with it closely associated Accessibility – principally concerns the ease and means by which a visitor can access website content. The greater the scope of a website and, by definition, the number of pages it contains, the more usability issues will come into play.

Amongst other reasons, lower scoring firms fall down because:

• Their website cannot easily be found using a search engine
• Their website navigation is not sufficiently intuitive
• The hierarchy of content is not sufficiently clear
• Their site is not fully Accessible

Those firms that have scored highly provide users with a highly-usable site that allows easy access to information via search engines and within the website.

Design

Design is synonymous with the presentation of the website content. Sympathetic graphic design – sympathetic in terms of enhancing the visitors’ experience – is paramount and the appropriate use of colour and space are the building blocks of good design.

High-scoring websites use design to enhance the visitor’s experience, not tarnish it, by ensuring:

• The site is uncluttered and not over-powered by the design
• Design enhances the user’s perception of the firm
• Gimmicks - such as animated introductions and soundtracks - are avoided
• The design gives the website ‘pace’ through the use of subtle style variations

Marketing

Through the use of effective design the brand values of the firm are projected and the correct positioning of the firm is achieved. Therefore, as an extension of an assessment of the quality of a website’s design, the effectiveness of the website as a communicator of the firm’s brand values and positioning should be considered.

Where firms go wrong is in communication of conflicting – or just inappropriate – marketing messages through their website that leave the visitor uninspired and able to recall little of the website in their mind. In a competitive marketplace effective differentiation is paramount and, using the analogy of the shop window, visitors will be deterred by a website that is poorly presented.

Remember that a client might look at a website for just a few seconds, so your website has only this time to convey the right impression. Firms which have not yet grasped this fundamental rule may also have overlooked the fact that a competitor’s website is just one-click away…

Intendance Systems is a leader in designing and developing websites for the legal profession. For further information about any of the above please contact us on telephone number +44 208 871 1330 or email charleslouis.moreau@intendance.com

Download the PDF version of this article here