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The verdict is in. Open the envelope please. The
2004 IMA (Internet Marketing Attorney) awards for
the best law firm Web sites were released on June 7,
2004. The top winner. . . ? This year it was a tie between
previous perennial powerhouses Faegre
& Benson, Kilpatrick
Stockton, and Morrison
& Foerster, all achieving a score of 46 out
of a possible 50 points. Bullivant
Houser followed close behind with a score of 45
points as did my law firm, Holland
& Hart, with 44 points.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
IMA was the brainchild of Micah Buchdahl, who started
the reviews in 2001 on his Internet
Marketing Attorney Web site. Micah is an attorney
who works with law firms on marketing initiatives and
the current Chair of the Law Practice Management Section
Practice Marketing Core Group. A man with a varied background,
he has practiced law, acted as a mediator and arbitrator,
and served as in-house counsel for sports organizations
like the Philadelphia Flyers. He also did big-time marketing
and PR for the National Hockey League and the Indoor
Soccer League and was a journalist before that. Now
he works with law firms to help with marketing development.
The IMA awards are based on five criteria: design,
content, usability, interactivity and a catchall called
intangibles. While clearly that is a large subjective
flavor to these rankings, Micah has reviewed thousands
of sites over the last four years and he spends a substantial
amount of time with each Web site. This year he added
new categories for small/mid-size firms and international
firms.
So why did some firms make the top of the list? Micah’s
comments about the top five provide some guidance (and
a little fun, if irreverence):
Not everyone loves Faegre.com like IMA. I have heard
that it is too crowded and too cumbersome, which at
times, is true. However, the key to long-term Web success
is doing it long-term and doing it well over the long
haul. The Web site has so much information (and timely
quality data, not a scroll down circus of brochure babble)
that a client or other interested party would be hard-pressed
not to return often for more. And the beautiful thing
is that, like McGuireWoods, e-mail newsletters will
bring you timely reminders that there is so much to
learn from the Faegre squad. So many Web developers
and law firms have chased this firm’s online model
for years, without catching them. Because, in the end,
it is not really the Web site itself that makes you
great, it is the people doing the (legal) work and the
marketing team getting it out for others to see. Many
law firms try to find shortcuts for Web success—buying
online sponsorships, having others write materials for
you, getting third-party content feeds—and wonder
why they never catch up. The best thing IMA can say
about Faegre.com is that I visit it often during the
year for news and information, not just at review time.
Sometimes when surfing through the “250,”
I hit a stretch where every firm Web site seems better
than the last. Which is what is happening on this April
day. The design and colors work. The information is
current and plentiful. The press room is excellent.
I loved the search functionality. Spent some time in
the “video vault”. Excellent office pages.
There is an alumni site, extranets, the ability to customize
the home page…loved the “get news”
under “contacts.” Some sites just scream
IMA Platinum. Rather than read my thoughts, surf through
on your own. The site is totally classy.
Not the very prettiest, just one of the very best.
Not a year goes by that a return to mofo.com does not
yield something new for the end-user. This year, the
firm offers up a “webinars” section to compliment
everything else. And in the timeliness category, the
home page points to a special handbook for victims of
the California wildfires. And in the “fix what
IMA criticized last year category”, the site has
added the related content components to enhance the
practice/industry (and other) pages. Never one to sit
on their laurels, the mofo.com team is on the ball again.
So many firms love to say how they are cool, different,
diverse, with it, etc. (almost none of them are!!!)—MoFo
is what so many firms claim to be. WILL ALWAYS LOVE…the
firm’s marketing savvy, the outstanding home page,
the MoFonics, Talk Radio, the overall Web site.
Bully for Bullivant! One of the only Web sites that
comes with a virtual “my assistant” to help
me keep track of my comings and goings with the firm.
This Web site has a plethora of outstanding pieces.
The “other Bullivant sites” combine the
same style and set up, with information for specifically-targeted
audiences—recruiting, media, alumni, and extranets.
You know things are set up well when you are trying
to find something to complain about. Everything was
current. And there are lots of areas to keep up-to-date.
You have sites that are brochures, others for recruiting,
and others that just try to provide a “presence”
for a firm. The bullivant.com site does everything for
every end-user…well!
The only way this IMA platinum site could have lost
points is if (a) someone screwed up something that was
working well; or (b) the updating team took an extended
holiday. This version of H&H online was new last
year, building on a history of being ahead of the technology
and marketing games. Everything is where it needs to
be, from strong sister sites to events and registration;
from the latest and greatest to employment opportunities.
If I wanted to nit-pick, a few areas like “offices”
might offer a few more tidbits. HOWEVER…I have
had a sneak peek at yet another new and improved version
of H&H online, and they are sharpening the tools
even more, and improving on the few shortcomings. I’ve
added two intangible points for what most will see any
day now.
To be fair, Micah was not the first to conduct law-firm
reviews. Eric Heels and Rick Klau started reviewing
law firm Web sites in the mid-nineties through their
now defunct (I believe) Red Street consulting site.
I am sure there were others following that path as well.
Today, IMA provides the leading law firm Web site
reviews. Micah reports that he receives over 1,000 nominations
for inclusion in his companion Nifty 50 list and some
complaints regarding his conclusions. The fact that
IMA does not take advertising or vendor affiliations
adds to his credibility and gives his conclusions, even
if you disagree with them, extra weight. At the least,
the Web site provides a great primer about what to,
and what not to, do with your law firm Web site.
Enjoy the site. http://www.internetmarketingattorney.com/reviews.htm
John C. Tredennick, Jr. (jtredennick@caseshare.com)
is a partner at Holland & Hart and CEO of CaseShare
Systems, an Internet company building paperless systems
for the legal and business communities. He is also the
Editor-in-Chief of Law Practice Today.
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