We expect to build on our continuing success in this sector with our new clients by developing barristers websites that rank highly in the natural search engine listings and ultimately generate a measurable return on investment.

For more information around the online projects Tela have completed for barristers chambers please contact our Head of New Business, Tim Sheed: tim@tela.co.uk / 0870 870 6789

After inviting some of the 100 strong crowd to “sit on the floor at the front so those at the back can see” (how Google-esque!) the towering figure of Pierre (which as towering even though he remained seated throughout his talk) launched into Googles best practices for Smart Phone websites.

It was a techies wet dream as during and after each slide he allowed question after question to be fired off at him until the audience had satisfied its thirst for knowledge. Each point was answered concisely following some gentle (actually, sometimes not so gentle!) probing from Pierre.

We had been chatting to Pierre before the event and were quite chuffed to stumble on an analogy which he used in his talk. Tim was discussing Tela’s approach to formulating a strategy before developing a new website. Telas approach has always been to put a strategy in place at the start of a project which focuses on the business objectives of the website and also the needs of the user. This strategy should cover the website structure and design, page structure, keyword strategy, content strategy and all elements of a website and the wider online marketing.

Pierre’s analogy was:

“It’s like opening a restaurant without having an oven”

If the building blocks are not put in place at the start of a project you are at best, opening yourself up to problems in the future and at worst, setting yourself up for failure. Worst of all is to not plan at all which unfortunately is still an issue we see with many websites.

With the amount of analytical tools (some of the best are free) there is no excuse for second guessing what your clients want from your website. There is no excuse for not having a stats package plugged into the website!

Armed with this knowledge it should be straight forward to plan a website around the needs of it’s users and this being said, should in turn be viewed in a favorable light by Google.

The most refreshing part of the evening came after the talk when Pierre summed up the two most important questions to ask of every page of content on your website:

1. Do we know what the user is searching for to find the page they landed on?
2. Are we returning the best possible content related to that search?

Get the basics right. A transparent strategy that focuses on the user as oppose to focusing on rankings is, in Googles eyes, the best way to build a solid foundation for success with your website.

Oh, and another word of advice, whatever you do, don’t try to talk to Pierre Far about rankings (“it’s not about rankings….”)!

We have also right worked extensively in the recruitment sector with clients including Hays, CV Library and BNP Paribas. Having integrated a large number of our own recruitment clients with the Broadbean system, recent years have seen the rise of WordPress being used as a solid, low cost technology for recruitment websites.

Broadbean WordPress Plugin

WordPress recruitment websites are quick to set up and if clients want to extend the level of functionality, WordPress plugins that complete specific tasks can be bought and installed.

How it works

The basic functionality allows the administrator to setup and configure the plugin in under 5 min. Once installed the site will be ready to accept job feeds from Broadbean and allow users to view and search them. The application process is managed by Broadbean, users are directed to an aplitrak application form.

We have also develop other bespoke functionality for the plugin, which is more tailored to specific client requirements.

Why we developed it

We’ve worked on a number of Broadbean integrations last year which led us to develop a WordPress recruitment plugin which can be used to integrate the feed of jobs from the Broadbean system into the WordPress recruitment website.

The plugin has already proven successful by saving the Broadbean technical team development time that would previously have been spent setting up each feed and completing each integration on an individual basis. The plugin makes WordPress recruitment websites easier and quicker than ever for simple Broadbean integrations

A typical pitch for a barristers website design and build project will involve Clerks, someone representing marketing, a few barristers and depending on the size and structure of the chambers, a variety of people from the Chief Executive, Finance Director or Head of Chambers.

An element which is consistent with each pitch is that a huge amount of time and planning goes into choosing the right company to complete the initial design and build of the barristers website. However, even the best laid plans go to waste if a strategy for the ongoing online marketing isn’t implemented following launch. It is after the barristers website is live that the chambers who appear at the top of the natural search engine listings really up their game.

Long gone are the days where an organisation sticks a website online ‘because everyone else has got one’ (a good few chambers are taking the same approach with social media at the moment but that’s another story). A website for a barristers chambers should be an organic product that achieves business objectives set out at the start of the project. These goals should generate income for the chambers as well as raising their profile.

Every element of the barristers website can be monitored and refined to reach these goals. Chambers no longer need to second guess whether a website is doing a good job ‘because someone mentioned to me that they liked our website during a phone call’, they should know it is doing a good job because £500,000.00 worth of business was generated from ‘keyword X’ in the last 12 months.

This process takes time and effort from both the website/marketing agency and the team involved at the barristers chambers but we have seen the results make a huge difference to the new business enquiries chambers receive.

We have promoted barristers websites to the first page of Google for general keyword strings such as ‘barristers chambers’, ‘find a barrister’ and ‘direct access to barristers’ and also practice area specific keyword strings such as ‘employment barristers’ and ‘commercial barristers’. These are the barristers chambers that have followed our advise by investing the time and a relatively small amount of money into the ongoing marketing of the website. By no coincidence, these same chambers are the ones that have taken a proactive approach to their online marketing after launch.

While online technologies have been embraced by chambers in recent years, the message of ongoing monitoring, and marketing to achieve the best possible returns for barristers websites still has a long way to go.

Marks talk focused on the power of social media and the extent to which ‘normal’ social media users can become power influencers, which makes them attractive prospects to brands who use them as routes to market.

Recent studies show that social recommendations are many times more likely to turn into a conversion when compared to traditional online advertising methods. With this in mind, some well known companies are now buttering up these power influencers in order to gain positive reviews and a buzz around their products and services. With top influences creating on average more than 30 pieces of positive content in response to a single post, it’s hardly surprising!

The talk was focused around Klout, a tool for measuring influence based on your ability to drive action through your social networks. Every time you create content or engage with someone online, you directly or indirectly influence others. The Klout Score uses data from social networks in order to measure how many people you influence, how much you influence them and the over all influence of your network.

By engaging with more people online and creating and sharing more content, the higher your Klout score will become. Anyone with a score of 50+ is ranked in the top 5% of online influencers.

A new development in the world of social media was that CRM systems such as SalesForce are now integrated with Klout, so companies who hold your details are now able to rank you alongside your peers when interacting with you. Imagine two people have made a complaint about a company via Twitter. The first person has a Klout score of 5, the second has a Klout score of 50. Which one is the company going to respond to first?

There have been more instances recently of social media agencies advising large clients to “do nothing” in response to negative posts being distributed online. Using tools like Klout, it is now possible to gage the influence (and subsequently the potential damage) of a series of negative posts which could have less of a reach and impact than, for example, a press conference by the company clarifying their position on the subject.

The press conference would have more potential to draw attention to the situation and influence than a series of people distributing the content with low levels of influence.

Mark has also contributed an interesting quick fire list of points to a Mashabe article (http://mashable.com/2011/12/20/how-to-increase-klout-score/) which sums up quite nicely how to increase your Klout score, and while doing so, your social influence:

1. Build a network. The key to increasing a Klout score is similar to finding success on the social web in general: Build a targeted, engaged network of people who would be legitimately interested in you and your content.
2. Create meaningful content. Adopt a strategy to create or aggregate meaningful content that your network loves to share with others. Provide links!
3. Engage. Actively engage with others in a helpful and authentic way. Ask questions, answer questions and create a dialogue with your followers.
4. Don’t scheme. Any gaming behaviors that fall outside the basic strategies will eventually catch up to you. For example, specifically targeting conversations with high Klout influencers will probably be more annoying than successful. If you keep focused on your network strategy and your content strategy, you’ll succeed.
5. Interact with everyone. Don’t be afraid to interact with Klout users with lower scores – it won’t hurt your own score. In fact, it helps build their score and in turn makes you more of an influencer.
6. Keep at it. Don’t be discouraged by your score. It’s more important to just enjoy your social media experience and let the chips fall where they may.

With content creation and author influence ranked as an ever increasingly important factor in Googles search algorithm, it is very likely that the links (link backs) including the influence of the original authors and those distributing the content will become an ever increasingly important tool in the SEO race.

So, we’re off to start working on upping our Klout scores to above 50. We reckon that anyone with this much online ‘klout’ soon be raking in the cash as the big money corporate SEO budgets inevitably come calling!

We have collated this showcase of legal firm websites to get an idea of current law firm trends on the web. Have fun!

The following companies are in the UK law firm top 20 list on Wikipedia.

Clifford Chance

Defiantly one of the most visually appealing sites in the showcase. The big boys are certainly setting the mark. Clean geometric design, clear messaging and structure, simple yet engaging interactive features.

Linklaters

Ok so Linklaters have taken a standard corporate feel. Simple effective navigation, good prioritisation of key areas, clean layout, neutral business people imagery.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Run of the mill corporate law site. Clean, blue and simple. The key areas practice areas, sectors and people are visible on the home page dashboard.

Allen & Overy

The one to work for, setting the mark in a lot of legal sectors. The site is still performing well even though it has been around for quite some time. Transparent positioning statement in the header, simple navigation, strong insight focus, clear highlighting of the deals and news.

DLA Piper International

An extremely successful firm with a site which tries to get their scope across. The information is there and is presented clearly.

Lovells

Lovells has worked hard on their brand and it shows. Modern fresh feel, Good positioning of key deals, clear navigation and decent prioritisation of content. They are playing heavily on the quality and scale of their work and include strong imagery.

Herbert Smith

Header area is simple and clear with a nice brand. The imagery is a bit generic and could do with some clear transparent positioning. The globe could be altered to give more of an international feel.

Slaughter and May

Oozes class. Simple modest feel.

Eversheds

Effective use of white space. Good positioning statements in the banner. Nice use of push points in the right hand column.

Norton Rose

Clear positioning statement in and below the banner area. Priority placement of people search. Map displaying international scope.

Ashurst

Nice logo, simple layout. Standard use of stock imagery but over all appealing.

Simmons & Simmons

Clean brand, Good positioning, vibrant use of colour. Lots of push points pulling users through to the key areas which may be diluting some hooks.

CMS Cameron McKenna

Good structure and content. Light feel, text heavy.

Pinsent Masons

Nice logo and a clear international scope. Transparent positioning, text heavy.

Bird & Bird

Simple clean good use of imagery and clear transparent positioning. Similar to Norton Rose and a few others. Good positioning of the people search and key notifications.

Clyde & Co

Traditional city firm with imagery to match. Clean layout.

Berwin Leighton Paisner

Clean navigation and good positioning in the banner. Clear push points. Looking pretty good.

Taylor Wessing

The light green / pastel feel of the Taylor Wessing site gives it a medical feel. Not sure if this is intended? Nice clean structure and top level navigation is spot on: sectors, practice areas, reach & people. Clear notification for news. Good hooks below banner area with interesting and current themes.

SJ Berwin

The page has clear navigation and transparent positioning. There may be too much priority given to the images slide show and the initial world looks a little dated.

Addleshaw Goddard

Clean, clear navigation, good branding although could require some transparent positioning statement.

Conclusion

The law firms above have focussed on 5 key areas, some with different levels of prioritisation:

• Brand
• Positioning and scope
• Industry and company insights and idea based approach
• Practice areas and sectors
• People

Brand

Clean simple branding across the board portraying efficiency and professionalism.

Positioning and scope

Transparency is key in a service industry. The majority of law forms display it very clearly but in an industry which is used to dealing with large amounts of information sites can easily get text heavy. The majority of users will just scan the home page so it is better to tell them what you are as quickly and clearly as possible.

Industry / company insights and idea based approach

Industry and company insights project an active and knowledgeable brand to users, effectively increasing the standard of the firms offerings.

The presentation of creative / ideas based approached seems to be quite popular. This is probably to push the brand away from the general sterile perception of the law industry as a whole.

Practice areas and sectors

Clear offerings are key and giving users an idea of what you could do in their sector is extremely important. Generally there are a lot of practice areas and sectors and each firm labels and groups them differently. It is crucial for them to be transparent and as clear as possible, which is not always the case.

People

Essentially the people who form a company are a key part of the site and statistically can rank amongst the most visited areas. It is important to make them as accessible as possible and to display the profile data clearly and simply.

It is good to make sure the profiles information is continued throughout the site and easily accessible through related content such as insights, practice areas and sectors.