We wanted clear answers to a few big questions: How does AEO actually work? How can law firms improve their visibility in ChatGPT and other answer engines? And how can marketers measure success in a meaningful way?

About Danny Tessler 

Danny works on answer engine optimization (AEO) strategy and product development at HubSpot, following HubSpot’s acquisition of XFunnel in December 2025.

Before AEO had a name, Danny and the XFunnel team were rigorously exploring a simple question: when someone asks an AI tool like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity for a recommendation, why does one brand show up instead of another?

Danny and his colleagues have developed industry-leading tools designed to help brands navigate the rapidly evolving AEO landscape and measure their impact with greater precision.

Said simply, traditional SEO focuses on ranking your website highly in search results to drive clicks.

But AEO focuses on getting your brand mentioned within the AI-generated answer itself, even if users never click through to your site. And success with AEO is measured by brand mentions, citations, and how accurately AI represents your brand. Not just by traffic.

When comparing a regular Google search to, say, ChatGPT, the tools are very different, so naturally, people use them differently. A typical Google search is usually just 3 or 4 words, something like “best sushi in Milwaukee.”

AI Answer Engines have changed that. With AI, people ask much longer questions, often 25 to 30 words, and then keep going with follow-up questions in a back-and-forth way.

As a result, those queries become much more specific to the person asking, their situation, and what they actually need.

Great question. The way we think about measurement is pretty simple. We look at visibility, citations, and accuracy. For example:

• When users perform a relevant query, are you even mentioned?
• Are you showing up in the sources the AI is referencing in its citations?
• When you do appear, is the description correct?

Here’s an important thing to know: you can’t judge the results from one run.

These systems are probabilistic, so you never get the exact same response twice. That’s why we track results over time and look at trends across weeks or months.

One metric that we focus on is “citation influence rate.” If a prompt returns 10 citations and your brand shows up in 1 of them, that’s a 10 percent influence rate. This is important because, as that number climbs, the likelihood of your brand being mentioned in the response climbs with it.

Your website matters a lot, and it’s usually the easiest place to start optimizing because you control it. But it’s only one input.

These systems pull from a lot of places: blogs, directories, industry publications, social media, video, and third-party coverage. And they’re looking for agreement across sources.

So, if the story about your firm only lives on your website, you’re making it harder for the model to gain confidence.

For maximum visibility on the AI Answer engines, you want the same crystal-clear messages to be echoed across all the places AI reads and cites.

But without thoughtful preparation, even the strongest teams can stumble. That’s why Great Jakes created the Website Redesign Workbook: to help dramatically improve your odds of success.

What’s Inside

The workbook is organized into 15 questions designed to spark the right conversations early. For example:

• Can your firm clearly articulate what makes it different?
• Does your budget include the “extras”?
• What integrations will the new site require?
• Are your attorney bios written with AI in mind?

Why This Matters

You don’t need perfect answers to every question immediately. However, by considering these topics early, you’ll position your firm for a smoother, more strategic, and faster redesign process.

Download the PDF and use it to guide your internal kickoff conversations. If you'd like to talk through any of the questions, compare notes, or discuss the conclusions your firm is reaching, feel free to reach out to Robert Algeri at ralgeri@greatjakes.com.

The Carousel Conundrum

A law firm homepage carousel typically features five to eight slides, each with a different marketing message. One slide might promote “Innovative Thinking,” another might tout “Worldwide Reach,” and another “Diversity.” The result is a jumble of divergent messages.  

So why are carousels so common? Because they’re the easy way to avoid political problems.

In a perfect world, a firm would choose one clear, meaningful message and build the homepage around it. But landing on a single message is hard, especially in consensus-driven law firms serving dozens of practices and industries.

To sidestep difficult (and often politically sensitive) messaging decisions, firms default to a carousel. It’s a solution that allows everyone to be represented: add another slide, satisfy another stakeholder.

The problem is, carousels don’t work.

Why Carousels Fail

Study after study shows that messages delivered via carousel fail to connect with visitors. Here are just a few of the reasons why:

• Too Many Messages – People remember marketing messages only when they encounter them repeatedly. That’s why successful consumer brands keep strong taglines for decades. For example, “Breakfast of Champions” has been used since 1927, and “Good to the last drop” for over 100 years. Carousels make it difficult for any single message to be seen often enough to stick in the audience’s mind.
• Irrelevant Messaging – Homepage carousels are often used to appease vocal stakeholders who insist their niche message appears on the homepage. While this may address internal politics, it fails to serve the intended audience. Furthermore, a niche message is unlikely to reach its target viewers. For instance, if a message applies to just 5% of your website traffic and is shown to only 1 out of 7 visitors, the odds that the right person sees it drop to less than 1%.
• Rotating Content Is Ignored – Many message carousels are set to auto-rotate, and research by website usability expert Jakob Nielsen shows this is especially problematic. Messages often rotate away while users are still reading them, causing frustration and a sense of lost control. Neuroscience research also indicates that motion on a page draws attention away from the text, making it harder for people to absorb the intended message.
• Looks Like an Advertisement – Usability research shows that many website visitors view homepage carousels as advertisements. Studies also reveal that users have learned to ignore anything resembling an ad, a phenomenon known as "banner blindness."
• Technical, SEO, and Accessibility Issues – Carousels often add heavy imagery, extra scripts, and layout shifts that slow down the homepage and can negatively affect Core Web Vitals. That performance hit can undermine search visibility and introduce issues with compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Exception

There’s one scenario where a homepage carousel can actually work: when every slide reinforces a single, consistent through-theme. If the theme is “We Get Results,” for example, each slide should highlight a specific, credible outcome, such as case wins, deals closed, risks avoided, or value delivered.

A good example is our client, Kegler Brown. Their through-theme is “We’re On It,” a simple line that signals the firm’s proactive, get-it-done mindset. On the homepage, “We’re On It” stays visible while supporting messages rotate in, such as:

• “Protecting Your Brand. We’re On It.”
• “Launching Your Startup. We’re On It.”
• “Negotiating Your Deal. We’re On It.”
• “Selling Your Company. We’re On It.”

Kegler’s carousel implementation is effective because it effectively sends a single overarching message: We’re On It.  The law firm Hill Ward Henderson uses a similar technique. Their through-theme is “Sense” which remains persistent on their homepage while a series of descriptive messages animate in. Check it out.

Alternatives to a Carousel

Given the compelling evidence that carousels often underperform (especially when the slides don’t share a clear through-theme), you may want to abandon the concept entirely. Instead, consider these more effective alternatives:

Alternative 1: A Single Hero Message

Lead with one clear headline that crisply communicates what makes your firm different. If your firm can align on a message that’s both compelling and true, as Sussman Godfrey has, this is the most effective route.

Alternative 2: Choose Your Own Path

Identify the firm’s 3–6 core service offerings and invite visitors to choose one directly from the homepage (as Patterson Belknap has). From there, visitors can be directed to a focused landing page with a headline and message tailored to that audience. For more about this approach, read our recent article Website Trend: Highlighting Core Practice Areas.

Alternative 3: Silent Positioning

Silent positioning works well for firms that want to avoid the turf wars that can come with choosing a single topline message. Instead of declaring what makes you different, you express it through thoughtful design, imagery, and carefully curated content. It’s a “show, don’t tell” approach embraced by lots of larger firms, like Skadden. Our article Market Positioning for Law Firms: Part 2 explores the silent positioning approach in more detail.

There are lots of ways to communicate your message, and some are more effective than others. If you’d like to discuss what approach would make the most sense for your firm, feel free to reach out. We're always glad to share best practices and lessons we've learned.

Studies show that even slight delays, navigability issues, or usability hiccups can make your firm appear less modern, less reliable, or more challenging to work with.

In today’s legal market, where clients often choose counsel without ever meeting in person, your website is the primary expression of your firm’s brand. And the quality of the entire digital experience, including speed, clarity, and navigability, influences how your firm is perceived.

Navigability: A Brand Signal

Website navigation isn’t just a technical exercise. It’s a powerful tool for brand engagement.

Overly complex menus, dead ends, and disjointed click paths frustrate visitors and kill engagement. However, intuitive navigation can guide users toward your firm’s strengths. It also communicates efficiency and clarity, qualities prospective clients expect from trusted legal counsel.

Supported by Academic Research

Decades of academic research show a clear, measurable connection between website navigability and brand perception. One controlled experiment found that nearly 70% of a website’s impact is shaped by a site’s navigability and ease of use.

Another study of website visitors found that usability-related qualities, such as clarity, navigation, and content organization, account for 79% of user satisfaction, 68% of user trust, and 83% of user loyalty. 

Together, these studies (among many others) make one point unmistakably clear: user experience is one of the most powerful drivers of how a firm is perceived and remembered.

Speed: A Credibility Test

A slow-loading website immediately raises doubts among users. For law firms, where the perception of trust and professionalism is everything, speed becomes a critical component of brand image.

Studies show that if a website takes just a few seconds longer to load, users describe that website as “unprofessional” and “hard to trust.” If the website is sped up, the negative descriptors go away. In other words, pageload speed alone can shape brand perception.

Research also shows that perceived performance (i.e., how fast a site feels) is just as influential on brand perception as raw load times. This highlights the value of modern front-end technologies, such as ReactJS, that can deliver seamless, animated page transitions. These touches, which make a website feel faster and smoother, can help communicate precision, polish, and modernity.

Below are the essential components of a high-performing website. Each one is increasingly standard among today’s most sophisticated brands (including Netflix, McKinsey, and, yes, forward-thinking law firms).

• Headless CMS Architecture. Most law firm websites still rely on a traditional “coupled” server architecture in which the CMS and website reside on the same server. If you want a faster, more reliable, and more secure website, consider a "headless" CMS architecture that decouples the website's CMS from its front end.
• Modern Front End Technology. For the fastest, smoothest user experience, build your site with a modern front-end framework like ReactJS. This technology—used by major platforms such as Netflix and The New York Times (and Great Jakes)—meets Google’s page-speed requirements, strengthens SEO performance, and aligns with today’s user expectations for speed and fluidity.
• Global CDNs. Top-tier websites rely on enterprise-grade content delivery networks (CDNs), such as Cloudflare, to deliver cached content from the data center closest to each user. This cuts load times to a fraction of a second, regardless of whether your visitor is in New York, London, or Singapore.  Without this infrastructure, even the best-designed law firm website could feel sluggish.

A high-performing website isn’t just more pleasant to use; it’s measurably more effective in several respects:

• Visibility. Faster sites rank higher in Google and are favored by AI-driven answer engines, like ChatGPT.
• Engagement. Fast, seamless navigation keeps visitors exploring and consuming your thought leadership content.
• Conversion. Numerous studies (like this and this) show that higher-performing websites convert more prospective customers.

Ultimately, performance amplifies every other brand investment you’ve made, including design, positioning, messaging, and thought leadership. A sluggish site can undermine them all.

If your firm is planning a redesign, make performance a central priority. Your prospective clients will notice the difference.

In this scenario, why does the AI repeatedly quote the work of some lawyers, while others remain practically invisible?

The difference isn’t luck. It’s market positioning.

AI Rewards Specificity

In the era of AI, a narrowly focused attorney bio isn’t just clever branding; it’s the key to visibility. Bios that position a lawyer broadly, for example, as a “defense litigator” or “corporate lawyer,” get ignored. On the other hand, bios that are clearly focused on a precise niche (e.g., a securities lawyer serving venture-backed startups) are magnets for attention from the AI answer engines.

Why? Because AI rewards specificity. Attorneys who have carved out a niche naturally include language that is more precise and more likely to mirror client queries. So, when someone asks AI about “the pros and cons of a SPAC versus a traditional IPO,” the SPAC-focused lawyer has a massive advantage over a generic securities lawyer.

Topical Authority Matters

And it’s not just about keywords—topical authority matters. When an attorney consistently publishes focused, high-quality content on a specific subject, it signals to AI engines that the lawyer is a true expert. This credibility is what prompts AI to surface their name and insights in its answers.

Three Steps to Achieve Narrow Positioning

Narrow positioning isn’t just about improving visibility in AI searches; it has the potential to change the economics of your practice. For example, niche-focused attorneys

• Know precisely what clients to target, which makes marketing and business development much simpler.
• Are more memorable and authoritative, allowing them to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
• Command higher fees by attracting premium clients from around the world.

With every step an attorney takes toward narrowing their focus, they reduce the number of competitors clients perceive as viable alternatives.

So, how does an attorney reshape their bio to be niche-focused? It starts with these three steps.

1. Pick a niche. Ideally, a single service for a single client type. The narrower, the better.
    
2. State it clearly. The first sentence of a bio should function like a positioning statement. Skip the puffery. Clients, and AI, reward you for being clear and direct.
    
3. Substantiate your claim of expertise. It’s not enough to simply state that you’re an authority; you need to demonstrate it. For your bio to serve as a living portfolio of reputation-building content, it should feature articles, blog posts, case studies, presentations, videos, and testimonials. The aim is to elevate it from a static resumé into a dynamic hub of authority that proves your credibility at a glance.

The Website Infrastructure behind AI Visibility

Of course, positioning alone isn’t enough. Your bio has to live on a website that can support AI visibility. As our friend and SEO expert Joe Giovonoli says, “When it comes to AI optimization, the fundamentals of SEO remain the foundation. When your site is technically sound, your content clear, and your authority signals strong, you are already preparing for GEO, AEO, and AIO.” To achieve this,

1. Ensure that the site is “Google-ready.” This is about having a website that is easily accessible by Google. For example, fast page loading is essential, and technologies like React.js can help achieve it. Canonical URLs prevent duplicate content penalties, and semantic HTML enables AI engines to understand what matters most. Also, an XML sitemap makes content easier for search bots to discover and prioritize. And strong SEO controls over page titles, slugs, and meta descriptions directly influence what both Google and AI search results display.
    
2. Schema.org markup is critical. Schema markup structures data in a way that Google (or AI) can understand it. For example, Schema markup will make clear that a particular attorney authored an article. This added precision yields much greater visibility in Google and AI answer engines.
    
3. Engaging content formats are helpful. As always, clear, authoritative, and well-structured content is the key to SEO success. To enable this, your site should seamlessly support a mix of engaging formats, from FAQs and information graphics to videos, that reinforce and amplify their subject-matter authority.
    
4. Embrace content teasing. A well-optimized website should include strategic content-teasing tools on the bios (among other places). These tools spotlight your most current and compelling pieces, such as articles, blog posts, and case studies, that reinforce an attorney’s niche expertise, positioning them as a trusted authority in the eyes of both potential clients and AI-driven search engines.

In short, positioning plus a proper website infrastructure equals visibility. Firms that invest in both are far better positioned to stand out and get found.

The Bottom Line

In today’s AI-driven marketplace, being broadly positioned is a recipe for invisibility. However, attorneys who stake their claim on narrow ground and support their market positioning with thought leadership and success stories are more likely to be noticed and achieve success with marketing. Combine that focus with a technically sound, AI-friendly website, and you’ll do more than build a presence; you’ll become discoverable.

• Frito-Lay’s “Flamin’ Hot” line of snacks was specifically designed to capture the expanding Latino market in the U.S.
• Dyson’s Airwrap curler is a product that’s perfect for TikTok demonstrations.
• Lululemon is a catchy name for a product that’s precisely in tune with the cultural moment.

What if law firms were conceived the same way—with marketability as their guiding principle?

Our Dream Client
Enter Sharp & Savvy—our fictional dream client. It’s a firm that has been carefully and deliberately designed to stand out. Every element of its brand, positioning, and service delivery has been crafted to capture attention, differentiate in a crowded marketplace, and support sustained growth. 

But is such a firm possible? We think so. And here’s what it would look like:

• It’s well-positioned. Sharp & Savvy has vastly reduced the number of firms that can viably compete against it. Like many well-positioned businesses, it’s focused exclusively on a single market—for instance, venture-backed technology startups. And each of its practice areas is carefully built to support its firm-wide positioning.

  For example, its Financing practice area has deep ties to the venture capital community. And its IP practice is focused on technology matters unique to the startup community. Why? Because the authority that comes with this type of focus is tremendous. It tells clients, “We get your industry. We live and breathe it. We’ve got a deep bench of experts to help you.”
   

• It’s not bound by geography. Sharp & Savvy understands that clients are willing to hire a lawyer located halfway around the world—as long as that attorney can demonstrate specialized expertise that is not available locally. As a result, Sharp & Savvy encourages each of its attorneys to become the world’s leading expert in a highly specialized and lucrative niche.
   
• It invests in attorney bios. At Sharp & Savvy, attorney bios aren’t just resumés—they’re powerful marketing tools. Each one is carefully written to position the attorney as a go-to expert in a specific niche, backed up by a rich collection of reputation-enhancing content like articles, blog posts, and case studies.

  Because every attorney’s growth strategy is different, the firm uses a flexible bio format that can adapt to individual needs. For some, that might mean tabs showcasing multiple areas of expertise. For others, it could include personal stories and photos to create a strong emotional connection with potential clients.
   

• It has a culture of thought leadership. Sharp & Savvy doesn’t just hire great lawyers—it hires thought leaders. Sharp & Savvy’s goal is to create an idea factory because the firm realizes that attorneys that write and think about cutting-edge legal issues are better able to serve their clients. The firm also realizes that disseminating those ideas helps build the firm’s brand and ultimately brings in more work.
   
• It elevates marketers—and pays them more. In a fantastic Mad Men-themed blog post, legal marketing dynamo Heather Morse wrote about how law firms need an account executive like “Pete.” On Mad Men, Pete acts as the bridge between the client and the creative team. He keeps clients excited—and wanting more. Sharp & Savvy takes a similar approach. It hires biz dev people who are as smart and (differently) talented as its attorneys and pays them as well as its legal talent. Why? It frees attorneys to serve clients and create compelling thought leadership.
   
• It spends more on marketing. Sharp & Savvy thinks of itself as a B2B company. And, like most B2B enterprises, it spends 7-10% of its gross revenue on marketing and business development. That puts it ahead of most law firms, which in 2023 were reported to spend 1% to 2% on average (which was down from the 2% to 3% in the pre-COVID times) of gross revenue on marketing and business development.
   
• Leadership leads by example. The firm’s senior partners (and other firm leaders) don’t just talk about the importance of marketing. They demonstrate it regularly. They’re proactively writing, speaking, or leading events. They prioritize this in their schedules, and the firm’s culture supports these activities.
   
• It’s a lead-generation machine. The goal of Sharp & Savvy is to create a lead-generation machine. Its leaders seek to build a brand and a marketing apparatus that transcend any single attorney. They are accumulating knowledge and expertise and creating business processes that are institutional assets. And along the way, they are radically reducing their dependence on traditional lawyer-rainmakers. They don’t want to live or die on the fortunes of rainmakers who could easily walk out the door and take their clients with them.

Could Your Firm Be “Sharp & Savvy”?

Sharp & Savvy is a fictional firm—an idealized example of marketability. While achieving this is not easy, a key first step involves establishing a thoughtful, well-defined market positioning.

For many law firms, developing clear market positioning is no small task. This is especially true for firms offering hundreds of services to a wide range of clients. So, how can you do it effectively?

Our recent article “Breaking the Mold for Law Firm Websites” explores how firms can leverage Silent Positioning—a powerful way to differentiate your firm without sparking internal controversy. We also share additional strategies for standing out in today’s crowded legal marketplace.

In Part 1 of this series, we introduced the “strategy-first approach”—a method that aligns stakeholders around a shared vision and lays the groundwork for a smoother, more successful design process.

In this follow-up (Part 2), we reveal what a modern design process actually looks like. Hint: it doesn’t involve presenting three finished mockups and asking you to choose one.

Instead, today’s best design processes are collaborative and iterative—like a guided journey that an agency and its client take together. Along the way, firms are invited to weigh in at a series of checkpoints, shaping the work as it evolves. The result? A final design that doesn’t feel like a surprise. It feels inevitable.

Below are the three key steps to a collaborative and iterative creative process.

1. Creative References

Before beginning any design work, we recommend that you learn about the stakeholders’ aesthetic preferences by discussing a series of design references (from other companies). Each reference should be carefully selected to illustrate a specific design choice (color, photography, iconography, etc.). Some references will get a positive reaction, while others will be dismissed. Either response is fine, as long as it’s part of a productive discussion.

Creative references also allow you to educate stakeholders on modern design trends, which can sometimes move a project in unexpected directions. For example, the color chartreuse is probably a non-starter for most law firms. However, that can change if you show an example of a respected organization (e.g., Hogan Lovells) using it well.

2. Moodboard

Before diving into Concept Designs, we introduce an important intermediate step: the moodboard.

A moodboard is a curated collage of visual elements—colors, typography, photography, and other design cues—that suggest a creative direction. Its purpose is to give stakeholders a sense of the proposed look and feel before anything is fully designed.

The moodboard is intentionally rough and unfinished. This signals to stakeholders that what they’re seeing is early-stage—open to input, not set in stone. If something doesn’t resonate, that’s okay. The goal is to spark discussion and shape the direction together.

In addition to gathering feedback, the moodboard serves another important role: gently expanding creative horizons. Lawyers, in particular, may have traditional ideas about design. A moodboard can introduce fresh or unexpected concepts in a way that feels exploratory rather than confrontational—making it easier for new ideas to gain traction.

3. Concept Design

Once the moodboard is approved, we move on to developing a single design concept—directly informed by the creative direction established earlier. This concept typically includes key page types such as the homepage, an attorney bio, and one or two representative content pages.

Because stakeholders have already been engaged throughout the process—with multiple check-ins and opportunities for input—the concept presentation should never feel like a dramatic reveal.

By this stage, everyone knows what’s coming. The final design should feel natural, expected—even inevitable. And that will enable quick approvals.

Write It All Down

For law firms, it’s critical that all decisions be meticulously recorded.  Why?  Because it’s likely that, at some point, a senior partner (not previously involved in the project) will suddenly demand to know what’s going on. 

That person will ask, “What were you thinking when that decision was made?!”

The thump of a hefty, well-prepared strategy document landing on a conference table will help assuage that person's concerns.  Sufficient documentation will demonstrate that the design decisions made were not arbitrary or based on personal preferences but rather the result of a carefully considered strategy. 

Conclusion

If you want to avoid a trainwreck in your law firm's next website or brand design project, it’s imperative to (a) establish clear goals from the outset, and (b) embrace a process that incorporates multiple touchpoints with stakeholders.

By doing so, you’ll be able to minimize surprises and diminish potential conflicts. Furthermore, by grounding the project in strategy, personal preferences are pushed aside in favor of objective, goal-driven decisions.

This method not only produces a cohesive, impactful design but also empowers stakeholders to feel invested in the final outcome.

• They’re very expensive. So, there’s a lot at stake.
• It’s public. Everybody will see it, and everyone will judge the finished product.
• It’s creative. And it’s being supervised by non-creative people (lawyers). 

Adding further complexity, the new design must also reflect the essence of the entire firm. For law firms that offer scores of services across dozens of industries, achieving this kind of broad consensus is no small challenge. 

Strategies for a Stress-free Project

So, with all the challenges that must be addressed, how can a firm prevent a project from going wrong? 

After nearly 25 years in the world of legal marketing, we’ve learned (through trial and error) that a strategy-first approach is the essential first step to a successful, stress-free branding project.

A strategy-first approach ensures that the project runs smoothly by eliminating the notion that any of the creative decisions might be arbitrary or based on personal preference. It doesn't matter if someone dislikes the color yellow, as long as that shade of yellow supports the agreed-upon objectives.

So, what does a strategy-first creative process look like? Below are the critical steps that help ensure success. 

1. Identify Key Messages

This is the most crucial step in any website design or branding project, as it sets the stage for everything that comes next. 

We recommend that you conduct a "brand assessment" to understand the key messages you need to communicate. The brand assessment exercise aims to answer one fundamental question: What makes the firm (as a whole) remarkable? 

During the brand assessment, you need to push beyond the basic characteristics that could be applied to any firm (e.g., "we’re smart, trustworthy, and client-focused") and focus on what makes your firm unique when compared to competitors.

For example, your firm may have a unique geographic or industry focus. Another firm may have core services it would like to highlight or a specific type of client it aims to work with.

As part of the brand assessment, we also suggest identifying any misperceptions or possible negative perceptions that may exist in the marketplace. This can be very helpful, as it can align stakeholders behind a common communication goal (e.g., changing a specific negative perception of the firm).

Once you have a list of key messages, you should share it with your project stakeholders and allow them to weigh in before proceeding to the next step.

2. Write Project Objectives

With the results of the brand assessment in mind, begin writing a list of key project objectives. Start by asking: What are the most critical things this website needs to accomplish? Be as specific as you can. 

A typical list of project objectives would include a series of bullet points like this:

• Position the firm as a nationwide law firm that can handle complex matters for Fortune 500 companies from coast to coast.
• Demonstrate the firm’s expertise in serving six key industries.
• Communicate that the firm is a nurturing and equitable workplace that attracts top talent and empowers people from diverse backgrounds to thrive.

Again, we recommend having your key stakeholders review the objectives, as their feedback about this will inform all future steps.

3. Develop Recommendations

With the project objectives in hand, you’ll be able to draft strategic recommendations. Obviously, the recommendations should all stem from the objectives. For example:

• If your objective was to dispel a misconception that the firm was old-fashioned, you might recommend that the website’s homepage include a slick page load animation and modern-looking imagery.
   
• If your objective was to dispel the misperception that your firm is a “boys club” and appeal to a more diverse group of clients and prospective employees, you might recommend that the firm modernize its old-school blue-on-blue color scheme.
   
• Suppose another objective was to re-position your firm as national (as opposed to the regional firm that you were a decade ago). In that case, you might recommend that the website’s homepage include an interactive map illustrating the firm’s geographic footprint.

In addition to writing your objectives, we find it helpful to illustrate them. Creating preliminary wireframe diagrams of key site pages allows your stakeholders to visualize how the recommendations will manifest on the website. It also lets you ease your colleagues into critical aspects of the site’s design, such as how the navigation will work and what information blocks will be included on the homepage.

The Next Step: Design

A strategy-first approach sets the stage for a smooth design phase. By clarifying goals and providing detailed recommendations upfront, all stakeholders know exactly what needs to be designed—and why. With a shared vision in place, the design process becomes far less stressful, avoiding the confusion and conflict that often arise when visuals are introduced.

So, what does a drama-free design phase look like? We get into that in Part 2. Stay tuned.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Dion to discuss how law firm bios have evolved throughout his career and where they are headed. Dion also shared his insights on how to create a compelling biography, and what bio functionalities are essential for every law firm. 

In the past, most law firm business development was local, often conducted over dinner and drinks. Those days are over. Thanks to better communication technologies, like websites, social media, and Zoom calls, geography has become practically irrelevant when it comes to hiring lawyers. 

In short, companies are willing to hire lawyers thousands of miles away as long as they have the exact right skills and experience. So, legal marketing is now about connecting with people you may never meet face to face. Now, the game is mostly about demonstrating specialized expertise.

Attorney bios are infinitely more important today. Back in the old days, bios were often an afterthought. Lawyers would print them out and hand them to prospective clients after a face-to-face meeting.

In today’s world, an attorney’s website bio is the first (and sometimes, the only) place people turn to get information about them. With this added importance, the expectations for bios have become substantially greater.

Now, people expect bios to be much more than just a resume. They expect a complete compendium of a lawyer's qualifications, including substantiating materials like case studies, articles, presentations, and videos. As a result, bios are so much more robust than ever before.

As bios grew and traffic increased, we realized that the one-size-fits-all template that law firms had used needed to be rethought. That led us to develop the Attorney Microsite approach.

Our philosophy is that successful bios are those that foster meaningful visitor engagement. So, we designed the Attorney Microsite to maximize engagement.

The Attorney Microsite is a highly flexible bio format that treats each attorney's bio like a small, multi-page website that fits seamlessly within the firm’s larger website. Each attorney’s bio can be configured to have any number of pages and display any content needed to appeal to a particular lawyer’s targeted niche.

The introduction of this bio format is a huge leap forward from the rigid, static one-page bios that are common on so many law firm websites. The system's versatility means that marketers can say, “Yes! We can make that happen” when attorneys request unique or oddball content be added to their bios.

Because it’s crafted more like a little website than a traditional bio, the Attorney Microsite is a much bigger marketing platform than the traditional one-page bio. It also has highly flexible, drag-and-drop CMS controls that allow you to customize a bio to have the precise message and substantiating information that an attorney’s target market wants to see.

For example, say a litigator has two distinct aspects of their practice: real estate litigation and environmental litigation. Within that lawyer’s bio, separate tabs for each specialty could be deployed, making it easier for visitors to understand their specific experience and expertise in each area. 

We’ve seen attorneys use this functionality to highlight their pro bono work, out-of-the-office activities, and even share information in foreign languages. The flexibility is unparalleled.

At first, we assumed that the youngest, most internet-savvy attorneys would be the first adopters. But it was actually the older, more experienced lawyers who intuitively got it. They understood what additional information needed to be conveyed. 

For example, one of the early microsite enthusiasts was a trusts and estates lawyer who believed making a personal connection with her prospective clients was the key to business development. So, she included a “Beyond the Office” tab featuring photos of her family travelling the world. It included a photo of her with an elephant on safari, which was just wild to see.

There’s definitely greater user engagement. On average, we found that page views increase by 25% when firms adopt Attorney Microsites. In cases where attorneys had lots of compelling content to share—like articles, case studies, and blog posts—they received much more traffic. In some cases, we recorded well over 100% increases in page views.

Algorithm-driven content teasing is at the very top of my list. A law firm’s best reputation-enhancing content (e.g., blog posts, articles, or case studies) is often buried deep within the website. Algorithm-driven content teasing solves this problem by automatically teasing your best, most relevant content on the bios. This keeps visitors engaged. In my opinion, this feature is a game-changer.

Also, sidebar teasing is a very powerful way to engage visitors. A well-built bio should allow you to manage this space so that you can draw attention to the most important information with call-outs, photos, videos, and content teasers. A great example of a bio that takes advantage of sidebar widgets is Judith Poller, an attorney at Pryor Cashman.

Bio formats are evolving. For ages, multi-page bios have used a horizontal navigation structure. While this format works great, one downside is that it requires users to actively click from one tab to another to see additional information. 

To reduce the number of clicks, we recently introduced a vertical navigation format that stacks the various bio tabs. To see all of an attorney’s content, you can simply scroll the page. Not only does this new format reduce the number of clicks, but it also increases user engagement. Additionally, we’ve found that people like the novelty of a new format.

In my experience, keys to an effective bio include:

• A clear, focused message.
  Attorneys should declare themselves to be the authority in a specific niche of the law.

• Substantiation. 
  Lawyers need to back up their claims of expertise with specific examples. High-quality content that clearly speaks to your message is a must. Case studies are great. And thought leadership is even better. A well-produced video is always great to include.

• Lead generation.
  Drive visitors to download a whitepaper or sign up for a newsletter right from the bio. This is a great way to nurture and engage prospective clients.

Yes. Don’t be afraid to use pictures! Content on law firm bios is often text-heavy and thus can appear gray and boring-looking. So, keep visitors engaged by adding some teaser photos. Or infographics. Or pull quotes. Anything to add visual relief. It’s worth the investment.

Lastly, I can’t help but touch on engagement again. That’s the goal. The best bios make finding and consuming an attorney’s reputation-enhancing content easy. Therefore, it’s vital that your website’s functionality and design foster that. A bio that engages visitors is a bio that successfully develops business.

It’s not uncommon to see a law firm’s graphic identity become stagnant for decades—and then, *BOOM*—an entirely new look is unveiled that bears no resemblance to the previous one. This is almost always a mistake, as it causes tremendous brand confusion. 

During this presentation, we examine why the most enduring brands in the world (think: Apple, Shell, Coca-Cola) never reinvent their graphic identities. Instead, they evolve them.

Additionally, we explore

• Examples of how the biggest brands in the world make incremental changes to their graphic identities
• Examples of how law firms have successfully evolved their logos over time
• Cautionary tales of failed redesigns, inside and outside the legal industry
• How to determine when an evolution doesn’t make sense—and when a complete visual brand redesign is justified
   

To watch the entire presentation, click on the video below.