Evaluating Your Firm’s Web Presence Index™ Score

We believe the Muzeview Web Presence Index™ is an important and useful indicator of the strength of a firm’s web presence. The index can act as a rallying point for an ongoing process of objective setting, marketing activity and measurement and analysis of marketing results.

Firms should develop and measure their web presence in the context of their overall business strategy and sales and marketing goals. As Cravath, Swaine & Moore refreshingly state on their website “we are not, and never will be the largest firm measured by number of offices or lawyers. Our goal is to be the firm of choice for clients with respect to their most challenging legal issues, most significant business transactions and most critical disputes.” No doubt Cravath’s discreet web presence is in part a reflection of its goals, client relationship model and heritage.

Key aspects of measuring and developing a firm’s web presence include:

1. Size Isn’t everything. Some of the metrics used in our index naturally result in scores for larger and more broadly based firms. Niche and smaller firms should evaluate their index relative to their primary competitors and firms of a similar size. For niche firms or smaller firms it may be more important to focus on metrics such as stickiness or search results relative to certain specific disciplines.
2. Content Is King: Content (and expertise) is at the heart of an effective web presence strategy for a professional services firm. Current and prospective clients will only visit and spend time on your site if it has relevant insightful and informative content about the firm, its expertise and insights. Compelling thought leadership is critical to the development of a site that is more than a digital brochure. Such content also stimulates and engages visitors and — equally important — provides the source material that is referenced in online business media, social media and search results.
3. Integrate Online with Offline: Online is increasingly important but will never be the whole deal. Firms are clearly recognizing the rising importance of online activity to the marketing and recruitment efforts but the majority of client and recruitment interaction will still likely take place face to face or by phone. Rather than focusing on increasing their web presence as an end to itself, firms should seek to focus on the aspects of their online activities that complement and enhance their offline activities. For example rather than just increasing website “stickiness” find ways to engage with website visitors that might enable you to capture contact details, initiate two way communication and generate a face to face meeting.
4. Measure the End to End Process: Ultimately a firm’s online presence adds value if it contributes to revenue generation with both new and existing clients and helps attract talent. Firms should develop metrics for the end to end sales and recruitment processes that combine both online and offline measures. Measuring online lead generation without also measuring (and comparing) offline lead generation and which channels result in the best lead conversion rates is a missed opportunity to understand the end to end sales process.
5. Understand & Improve: Only through measuring and analyzing can firms successfully adjust their marketing and recruitment strategies and tactics to deliver stronger sales and talent pipelines and increase ROI. Firms must seek answers to questions such as:
   • Which of the following online components most contribute to developing new contacts and lead generation – social media presence, website stickiness, or search engine optimization?
   • How does online media coverage contribute to brand recognition and awareness?
   • Does the thought leadership material on our website enhance or diminish potential recruits’ perception about the quality of thinking in our firm?

Armed with answers to these questions, firms can adapt their prioritization or focus on improving execution in key aspects of their marketing and recruitment activities. This measurement, understanding and improvement approach is however a never-ending quest for better results. Changing market conditions, competitor activity, new technologies, evolving culture and behaviors mean that what worked last year or even last week may not be the right approach for today. Such an environment offers opportunities not just for improvement but for innovation.

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