Located in my neck of the woods, I’ve seen the billboards, now I’ve seen the web site. What consumer among us has never cried out the need for help with a lemon? A well-marketed effort, complete with some bells, whistles and the data you need to see. Not to mention the domain name that so many would kill for. Bright and creative.
A different, hipper approach to presenting employee benefits law. For those that want a law firm web site that does not look like another law firm web site, this is a good sample. Some very user-friendly pieces like the glossary and “browse by topics” helps them help you. The “Can We Help You” is cute in a good way, with some unique graphics that helped wake me from a clip art coma. Clever, colorful and informative—all at the same time.
For some firms it is bad luck or timing, in other cases they now know there are site access problems. On the first day I tried to view this site, it gave me an error page. On the second day, I got two pages in before hitting an error. Meanwhile, the firm’s well-done packaginglaw.com site was working just fine. The Packaging law site is a good textbook example of creating an added-value sister site for a particular area of practice or expertise within the firm. The problems with accessing the firm’s main site is a mystery, but I’ll assume it was a fluke. The site does a great job setting out credentials, with perfect little interactive add-ons that are the difference between getting it in hard copy and using it via the web. For a mid-size firm, this could be used as a textbook example of how to organize and present you. There is no need for much in terms of graphics and design if you get everything into the right spot.
I’m not exactly sure how to describe Patrick Russell, his practice or his web sites. Suffice it to say that he is obviously “into the web” with a myriad of web sites, one of which is the law firm listed here. But, there is also miamilawyer1.com, floridalawyer1.com, Miami-lawyer.net among others. He also has a site with lawyers.com, and listings out the gazoo. Check it out for yourself. Lots of cool links and information. He could probably move it all into some sort of Russell/Miami/Florida law portal of some kind. The weakness in his efforts is that he did not capture a really strong URL. That would be the cherry on the cake for his efforts.
As many firms have shown, you do not need to have hundreds of lawyers and a huge marketing department to succeed on the web. If anything, the mid-size firms often do it much better. Less offices and fewer lawyers means less politics and fewer meetings diluting well-conceived business development plans. Brouse online looks no different than similar Ohio firms of greater girth. Standout components include rep clients, practice areas and updated news. A little too rich on the design.
