<b>Technology In Marketing: </b> Time to Upgrade Your Firm's Web Site?

Web sites have become an essential component of the marketing efforts of law firms ' from the AmLaw 200 all the way down to the solo practitioner. Web sites offer clients, prospects, the media and other target audiences a central repository of information about a firm not readily accessible from any other source, including attorney bios, practice area descriptions, publications and firm news. Smart firms make sure that the address for their Web sites appears on everything from letterhead to business cards to e-mail signature lines.

However, despite their importance, many law firm Web sites are outdated ' having been designed, developed and launched several years ago when Web technologies were far less advanced than they are today. As a result, many law firms are not taking advantage of new technologies that could simplify site maintenance, improve the 'user experience' of site visitors, and more effectively promote the firm's expertise.

While there is no rule of thumb as to how often a law firm site should be upgraded, at a minimum a law firm should periodically perform a site audit once a year ' either internally or with an outside vendor ' to determine in what areas the site might be falling short, and whether newly available technologies can help the firm achieve a greater ROI from its Web presence.

This article reviews some new technologies that firms should consider when evaluating whether their Web site is in need of a functional upgrade.

Content Management Software

In the early days of the Internet, when a law firm needed to modify their Web site post-launch, they had to call the programmer who developed the site to make the change. Such changes might include the addition or deletion of the bio and photo for an attorney recently hired or departed, the publication of a new article, or a breaking piece of firm news.

These days, no firm should have to call a programmer to make such basic site changes. If your firm finds itself in this position, it is definitely time for a site upgrade. Specifically, there now exists what is known as content management software (CMS) that allows firm administrators with no technical background whatsoever to easily and instantly add or delete site content on their own, without any technical assistance; including such tasks as uploading photos and documents or creating hyperlinks.

The advantages of a CMS in terms of maintaining the quality and timeliness of site content can't be stressed enough. Sites that can't be updated with a CMS don't get updated frequently because it is typically a pain to call the programmer and walk him or her through the changes that need to be made, and then to proof the changes for accuracy. The result is a stale site that is an anathema to the search engines and unappealing to visitors. In certain cases, stale content can even potentially lead to liability, such as if a firm keeps very old articles on the site discussing old legislation that has since been repealed, or old cases that have since been reversed.

In contrast, because CMS software allows firms to make site edits in-house on a self-service basis, the site is updated much more frequently. The result is a constant stream of fresh content that gets noticed by search engines and will be appreciated by visitors.

Additionally, while the license of CMS software costs substantially more than standard site hosting, a firm will typically realize savings fairly quickly by cutting out the hourly fees it might otherwise pay a programmer to make site changes. Instead, the firm can limit a Web site vendor's work to projects that truly require complex programming.

Improved Site Navigation

One issue a periodic Web site audit will uncover is poor site navigation. Ask yourself these questions:

• Can visitors quickly find the information they need to decide if your law firm has the expertise to meet their needs?
• Does site navigation conform to 'directional norms,' so that key sections of the site are where visitors expect them to be?
• Is the overall navigation of the site intuitive?

If the answer to these questions is 'no' or 'not sure,' then the site navigation is probably in need of an update.

In particular, optimal navigation for a law firm Web site will be achieved when related content is displayed together. For example, if a visitor comes to an attorney bio page on a law firm Web site, the visitor should be able to quickly find links on that page to, among other things: 1) practice areas in which the attorney is involved; 2) articles the attorney has written; and 3) client success stories in which the attorney was involved.

By the same token, a visitor checking out a practice area page should see links to, among other things: 1) bios for all attorneys in that practice area; 2) client success stories achieved by that practice area; and 3) articles generated by attorneys in that practice area.

The impact of displaying related content together on the same page is that a client can quickly confirm the expertise of a particular attorney or practice group at the firm by quickly navigating to site content that establishes such expertise (eg, articles, success stories). In contrast, if related content is not displayed together, a prospective client may find it too time-consuming to locate the content demonstrating a particular attorney's or practice group's expertise, and just leave the site without being adequately impressed.

Improved Content Distribution

A Web site is analogous to a retail store. Much as a store sits in a fixed location waiting for customer traffic, so too a Web site resides at a fixed location in cyberspace waiting for traffic. So it follows that just as a retail store engages in proactive advertising to make consumers aware of the products and services it has to offer, a law firm will want to take proactive steps to distribute samples of its online content (eg, articles, news) as broadly as possible in order to promote its expertise, to entice traffic back to the site, and to generate leads.

New technologies are now available to distribute a firm's site content to a broader audience of potential clients than was previously possible. Consi-der how many of these technologies your firm's Web site employs.

E-mail newsletters

Does your firm's Web site offer visitors the opportunity to sign up for e-mail newsletters or alerts? E-mail newsletters and alerts are a great way to proactively distribute 'teaser' content to clients about new decisions, legislation and regulations, with 'read more' links that take readers back to full articles on the firm's site. The most tech-savvy firms track what their subscribers are reading so they can identify potential business-development opportunities based on demonstrated client interests.

RSS

Commonly associated with blogs, RSS is a new technology that allows individuals to keep track of new content added to multiple Web sites without actually visiting those Web sites. Often identified by little orange icons labeled 'XML,' RSS feeds make it much easier for prospective clients and media professionals to keep track of news items, alerts or other fresh content that has been added to your Web site.

Podcasts

Podcasts are essentially online audio broadcasts. Adding a podcast center to your Web site adds value for visitors who prefer to obtain information in an audio format. Podcasts can also substantially broaden the distribution of the firm's content through inclusion of the firm's podcasts in directories such as iTunes, and ultimately on iPods and other portable media players that lawyers carry with them in increasing numbers.

In sum, your firm's Web site is an extremely valuable marketing asset. Make sure the technology running it doesn't fall behind the times.

Web sites have become an essential component of the marketing efforts of law firms ' from the AmLaw 200 all the way down to the solo practitioner. Web sites offer clients, prospects, the media and other target audiences a central repository of information about a firm not readily accessible from any other source, including attorney bios, practice area descriptions, publications and firm news. Smart firms make sure that the address for their Web sites appears on everything from letterhead to business cards to e-mail signature lines.

However, despite their importance, many law firm Web sites are outdated ' having been designed, developed and launched several years ago when Web technologies were far less advanced than they are today. As a result, many law firms are not taking advantage of new technologies that could simplify site maintenance, improve the 'user experience' of site visitors, and more effectively promote the firm's expertise.

While there is no rule of thumb as to how often a law firm site should be upgraded, at a minimum a law firm should periodically perform a site audit once a year ' either internally or with an outside vendor ' to determine in what areas the site might be falling short, and whether newly available technologies can help the firm achieve a greater ROI from its Web presence.

This article reviews some new technologies that firms should consider when evaluating whether their Web site is in need of a functional upgrade.

Content Management Software

In the early days of the Internet, when a law firm needed to modify their Web site post-launch, they had to call the programmer who developed the site to make the change. Such changes might include the addition or deletion of the bio and photo for an attorney recently hired or departed, the publication of a new article, or a breaking piece of firm news.

These days, no firm should have to call a programmer to make such basic site changes. If your firm finds itself in this position, it is definitely time for a site upgrade. Specifically, there now exists what is known as content management software (CMS) that allows firm administrators with no technical background whatsoever to easily and instantly add or delete site content on their own, without any technical assistance; including such tasks as uploading photos and documents or creating hyperlinks.

The advantages of a CMS in terms of maintaining the quality and timeliness of site content can't be stressed enough. Sites that can't be updated with a CMS don't get updated frequently because it is typically a pain to call the programmer and walk him or her through the changes that need to be made, and then to proof the changes for accuracy. The result is a stale site that is an anathema to the search engines and unappealing to visitors. In certain cases, stale content can even potentially lead to liability, such as if a firm keeps very old articles on the site discussing old legislation that has since been repealed, or old cases that have since been reversed.

In contrast, because CMS software allows firms to make site edits in-house on a self-service basis, the site is updated much more frequently. The result is a constant stream of fresh content that gets noticed by search engines and will be appreciated by visitors.

Additionally, while the license of CMS software costs substantially more than standard site hosting, a firm will typically realize savings fairly quickly by cutting out the hourly fees it might otherwise pay a programmer to make site changes. Instead, the firm can limit a Web site vendor's work to projects that truly require complex programming.

Improved Site Navigation

One issue a periodic Web site audit will uncover is poor site navigation. Ask yourself these questions:

• Can visitors quickly find the information they need to decide if your law firm has the expertise to meet their needs?
• Does site navigation conform to 'directional norms,' so that key sections of the site are where visitors expect them to be?
• Is the overall navigation of the site intuitive?

If the answer to these questions is 'no' or 'not sure,' then the site navigation is probably in need of an update.

In particular, optimal navigation for a law firm Web site will be achieved when related content is displayed together. For example, if a visitor comes to an attorney bio page on a law firm Web site, the visitor should be able to quickly find links on that page to, among other things: 1) practice areas in which the attorney is involved; 2) articles the attorney has written; and 3) client success stories in which the attorney was involved.

By the same token, a visitor checking out a practice area page should see links to, among other things: 1) bios for all attorneys in that practice area; 2) client success stories achieved by that practice area; and 3) articles generated by attorneys in that practice area.

The impact of displaying related content together on the same page is that a client can quickly confirm the expertise of a particular attorney or practice group at the firm by quickly navigating to site content that establishes such expertise (eg, articles, success stories). In contrast, if related content is not displayed together, a prospective client may find it too time-consuming to locate the content demonstrating a particular attorney's or practice group's expertise, and just leave the site without being adequately impressed.

Improved Content Distribution

A Web site is analogous to a retail store. Much as a store sits in a fixed location waiting for customer traffic, so too a Web site resides at a fixed location in cyberspace waiting for traffic. So it follows that just as a retail store engages in proactive advertising to make consumers aware of the products and services it has to offer, a law firm will want to take proactive steps to distribute samples of its online content (eg, articles, news) as broadly as possible in order to promote its expertise, to entice traffic back to the site, and to generate leads.

New technologies are now available to distribute a firm's site content to a broader audience of potential clients than was previously possible. Consi-der how many of these technologies your firm's Web site employs.

E-mail newsletters

Does your firm's Web site offer visitors the opportunity to sign up for e-mail newsletters or alerts? E-mail newsletters and alerts are a great way to proactively distribute 'teaser' content to clients about new decisions, legislation and regulations, with 'read more' links that take readers back to full articles on the firm's site. The most tech-savvy firms track what their subscribers are reading so they can identify potential business-development opportunities based on demonstrated client interests.

RSS

Commonly associated with blogs, RSS is a new technology that allows individuals to keep track of new content added to multiple Web sites without actually visiting those Web sites. Often identified by little orange icons labeled 'XML,' RSS feeds make it much easier for prospective clients and media professionals to keep track of news items, alerts or other fresh content that has been added to your Web site.

Podcasts

Podcasts are essentially online audio broadcasts. Adding a podcast center to your Web site adds value for visitors who prefer to obtain information in an audio format. Podcasts can also substantially broaden the distribution of the firm's content through inclusion of the firm's podcasts in directories such as iTunes, and ultimately on iPods and other portable media players that lawyers carry with them in increasing numbers.

In sum, your firm's Web site is an extremely valuable marketing asset. Make sure the technology running it doesn't fall behind the times.