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Website Critique   URGENT - Need Help Fast!  
 
This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
Website Comments Requested...
Posted By: telemoxie on 9/13/2006 3:40 PM (CST) 1000 Points
I've been asked to provide suggestions for to improve a web site, and so I'm hoping my marketingprofs buddies can help me out. This is a site for a law firm which has works in a number of areas, but specializes in collecting "unpaid sales commissions", and in negotiating agreements for sales reps.

The web site is www.morrisfischerlaw.com All suggestions and comments are appreciated.

The attorney has a website development company under contract to upgrade the site - and I'll be forwarding a link to this question to the attorney tomorrow... Thanks in advance.

Posted by: BigJoe Accepted Answer
9/13/2006 4:30 PM (CST)
I might retake the photo of the team. The person 2nd from the left looks like they don't want to be there.

Second, decide which customer segment is most likely to come across your website and cater to them. If I was a sales rep looking for representation to receive unpaid commission I would not want to read about the firm's experience in divorce or criminal law. Maybe add some case studies to highlight the firm's ability to collect unpaid commisions.
 
Posted by: Frank Hurtte Accepted Answer
9/13/2006 5:28 PM (CST)
great site.. but if sales representation and commission issues are their specialty... I would eliminate the divorce family, estate etc from this site. I understand they do all of them but, if need be I would rather see them with another whole website catering to this aspect of their business.

I would also do something to bring the commissions and sales company advice to the forfront
 
Posted by: KKW* Accepted Answer
9/13/2006 7:02 PM (CST)
On a super tactical level, consider deleting "the law firm of" from the header. Attorneys at law really says it all.

The MD service area--particularly given the focus you mention on sales issues--is critical. But it takes a long time to figure out where the firm does business.

I do agree with previous posts as too changing the focus to the core business. If they cannot do two separate sites, consider using a link for "individuals."

Does the on-line intake form generate actionable leads? (I'm unfamiliar with the web efficacy for law firm leads.) If it does, great. If it's at all questionable, kill it or bury it deeper in the site. It feels a little 1-800-Lawyer right now. There seem to be too many different ways/forms to make contact.

Similarly, I don't know if Visa/MC acceptance needs to be on the homepage.

Is it common practice to list "support staff" bios? I get the importance of the staff--obviously--but when I hire a lawyer, I want the illusion that the lawyer will personally oversee all of the work.

The "testimonials" page is a little worrisome. It's great that your clients are mostly willing to let you use their names, but I'd like to see a stronger privacy statement than the existing "by request" statement.

Design-wise, make sure images are more carefully chosen. (For example, while the columns say "courthouse" to me, they say judge, not lawyer.) There's a way to do "family-oriented" law firm without over-doing the visual focal points. As another colleague mentioned, either eliminate of the photo on the first page or have it professionally styled and shot.

Last but not least, given the strong emphasis on discrimination claims and such, make sure the site or a version of it is absolutely ADA compliant.

Hope this isn't too much information!
 
Posted by: kaustubh.s* Accepted Answer
9/14/2006 12:59 AM (CST)
In my opinion even if its specializes in collecting unpaid sales commissions, and in negotiating agreements for sales reps, there is no point of excluding criminal/divorce/family law. It can be more emphasized on the speciality by adding case studies or talking more about their speciality. But even if they get cases of family/criminal that brings more bucks to their account, there is no harm of displaying these sections on the website.

Overall site is good but I would like to suggest to include Morris Fischer Firm news also apart from Legal news. It would make the Firm's picture more clear to Clients.
 
Posted by: KathySmithFilms* Accepted Answer
9/14/2006 1:51 AM (CST)
http://pldlawyers.com/default.htm

http://www.msk.com/home.asp

Above are two sites I found that are in my city that look professional for a couple of different choices depending on the need and budget.

On the Morris E. Fischer site, the Attorneys need a new photo session. The gentlemen sitting down appears to have more altitude over the other 3 but the beard isn't attractive professionally (he would be very handsome without it). The gentleman on the left and right are being the part and I would want them to rep me. The gentlemen in the back has an ethics presence but the tie & glasses need fine tuned.

I agree with the above bringing the product to the forefront and give any conflicting product a separate page or routing.

Use the typeface that surveys out to be readable but expensive in appearance to match the upgrade and class of the players and their talents. Use success stories or testimonials 3-4 good ones that validate the firm so the viewer preceives he's in the right court.
Biz of the Biz
 
Posted by: panfred* Accepted Answer
9/14/2006 3:24 AM (CST)
I agree with prev comments, photo has to be changed, also rethink "Tell us about your legal matter. Fill out an on-line intake form." presentation, I will use here some graphics visualisation. Maybe additionally put in topics: diverse, family law etc - descriptions about curious cases or special situations when someone can contact You.. Also statistics in this areas will be nice, for example: 45% people are discriminating in their jobs on different levels - check are You in this 45%?

But web looks very serious and built respect which is good feeling in law firm website.

Greetings,

Panfred
 
Posted by: Tatyiana Accepted Answer
9/14/2006 6:43 AM (CST)
Definitely get rid of that photo! There is nothing inviting and engaging about it. Both of which I am assuming is the reason they put it on the site to begin with.

remove all of the >> they are a distraction. Home pages should be about less and very crisp.

The content is not bad. I just don't get a flavor of why you are any different than 99% of the rest. If you want to different - communicate different! I would actually probably try to be less conventional and do a major design treatment to the website.
 
Posted by: telemoxie Author Response
9/14/2006 7:06 AM (CST)
Great comments so far. Thank you very much. Please keep them coming.

By the way, for anyone interested in web sites for attorneys, and looking for example sites and best practices... here is a link to one reviewer's "nifty 50" attorney web sites:

http://www.internetmarketingattorney.com/nifty_2006.htm
 
Posted by: skoobie99 Accepted Answer
9/14/2006 9:35 AM (CST)
telemoxie,

There's a certain "heaviness" to the site, which is expected for a law firm, I guess, but which I still find to be an irritant of sorts.

The picture of the team does not raise the "stock" of any of the partners, I would suggest a professional photo and ideally, individual "head shots" of the partners. Also, I see no good reason to have the picture of the partners on the home page - seems more appropriate for an 'About Us' page along with one or two sentence bios.

I still think there's a need for presenting a "warmer" image. Reading some of the 'Testimonials' helped, however a more casual visitor may leave the site before they get that far.

Hope this helps,
John
 
Posted by: darcy.moen Accepted Answer
9/14/2006 9:36 AM (CST)
I would replace the picture with a picture of the one who the firm is named for. Why? Because lawysers come and go, and one will be updating the photo from time to time. Good for the web designer...bad for the client. Odds are, the principal will not be leaving the firm.

You might want to lose the technical jargon in-take form. It would perhaps sound better if you had a slightly commercial or sales like phrase

Tell us about your legal problem - free initial consultation

Do make sure this form is in line with the ethics and advertising guidelines of the bar and legal association.

If the initial consultation is not free, then list the fee.

I think the menu navagation needs a little more thought. Navigating the page is a bit....'funky'. Its all herky-jerky with a little here, a little there. Its needs some cohesive-ness. The flow just isn't there. Granted, there is a lot in the offering by this firm, but I think more time needs to be spent figuring out a slightly better way of manuevering the pages. You might want to think about some dhtml drop downs or something. Sorry, I don't have an answer for you at this time how to change it...but what is on there now just doesn't fit. The menues are leaving me with the impression that the thoughts are jumbled...not the 'organized and attention to detail' impression you would want to project, right? I think its the left nav going down that is throwing it off on the front page.....it works well on the others. Ah, its the less pictures thing that causes the visual clutter!

Hope this helps.

Darcy Moen
Customer Loyalty Network
 
Posted by: Focus Fields Accepted Answer
9/14/2006 10:30 PM (CST)
Just from a creative standpoint, yes, the picture of the group must go. Sorry to say, but not the most attractive group and, yes, people care about this. Many, many studies have demonstrated a "attractiveness bias" in that more attractive people tend to be more trusted and overall more successful (if anyone cares you can look up information on this by Googling the term). In addition, and perhaps most important to your site, attractive people tend to get hired after face to face interviews versus unattractive people at a staggering rate. It may not be fair, but little in life is.

If the main thing that these guys do is winning commissions for sales reps (and the like), you obviously need this clearly reflected. I would absolutely recommend that they embrace this niche and put themselves out to the world as the experts in this area. However, much responsibility comes with being an expert. People want to know your opinions and where you stand on issues. No problem. Give them some content on this site about this issue. How does a sales person know when they've been taken advantage of? What should they try first? What things should people watch out for? Post some information that is useful to the world and let people find it (search engine friendly). Since your guys have radio faces, what about a few podcast with this information or a blog? Give the site something people care about. If you are the experts don't just say it, show it.

JMR for Focus Fields
 
Posted by: KSA Accepted Answer
9/15/2006 7:03 AM (CST)
Telemoxie,

I think you can categorize the things that need to be done.

Design - the design does need to be updated as mentioned previously.

Copy/Content - All the copy needs to be written from an SEO friendly marketing perspective. And, the home page should make it clear very quickly what the firm does. At the top where it says: "Contact our office today to schedule a consultation with a member of our exceptional legal team. We look forward to speaking with you about your individual legal situation.", that should be a summary of the firm's capabilities. There is very little in terms of benefits or client-focused content.

I agree that "intake form" is jargon. And, looking at the forms, they ask for way too much information for a first-time contact.

Navigation - In my opinion, the navigation is pretty bad. Many pages are buried multiple clicks into the site. If a visitor wanted to return to a particular page, it would be very difficult to find what they're looking for.

I don't think it's a problem addressing all the areas of practice on one site. And, you could use the navigation to help speak to each constituency. The navigation could be organized by practice area.

SEO - The on-page set up is not SEO-friendly. Lots of work needs to be done to select keywords, then set up page titles, meta tags and content accordingly.

Actually, just starting over would probably be a great idea! Good luck with it.

Kathleen
 
Posted by: jpoyer Accepted Answer
9/15/2006 2:42 PM (CST)
I think Kathleen has said it all. Esp. re: the navigation. Don't add things to a simple site design, re-create the site to accomodate your additions.

The one thing I would add is to highlight your tagline better on your home page and throughout. Right now it is "buried" in your photo caption. I didn't even see it until I looked at your intake form and read it at the bottom. Ohhhh, that must be the tagline. It's good. So when I went to look for it elsewhere, it just wasn't as prominent as I would expect. Consider adding it to your header graphic, which is on all the pages.

Best Wishes,

Jennifer
XPRT Creative
 
Posted by: Bob.DeStefano Accepted Answer
9/19/2006 1:42 PM (CST)
Also, take a look at the legal category on the following Website for some examples of excellent Websites for law firms:

http://www.webaward.org/winners.asp
 


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