Leo and I started this practice back in February 2012. When we first started, we had a free website that Leo made using Weebly. Despite lack of a sophisticated website, our practice grew fairly quickly. A few months ago we evenΒ expanded our physical offices and built a conference room.
Conference room built, files organized, and things going well, we decided it was finally time to revamp the website. Note that the website was not a cause, but more of an effect.
Will it get us new clients? Probably not. Will it infuse our practice with awesome? Doubtful. Is it cool? Well, decide for yourself.Β Here it is:
So… what did we look for?Β Perhaps search engine optimization? Someone to tell the world that we’re “aggressive, caring, passionate zealous advocates?” A way to list hundreds, no thousands, of practice areas? Perhaps LexisNexis to guarantee us bajillions of page views, analytics, and all kind of other stuff? The awesomeness of Scorpion Design?
No.
We decided to stay local, and keep it simple. On the local end, we used Fishtown’s own Beth Blinebury Design. Not only is Beth incredibly talented and has good taste in beer, but it makes sense for The Fishtown Lawyers to utilize as much local talent as possible, whenever possible. We also liked Beth’s story about starting her business as a hobby, and it evolving into full time work. The sketches were designed by Fishtown’s own Jeffro Kilpatrick.
In terms of design, we wanted a website that looked professional, but we certainly don’t want to wear hot pants on the boulevard. Rather than hire a marketeer who would increase our Google results, or spam every blog in the country, the goal was a professional website that matches both our personalities and ethical standards. I think Beth delivered.
Ok, so what’s my point?Β PerhapsΒ Eric Turkewitz said it best last week:
I am here to announce that the best attorney marketing β other than the obvious one of doing a good job for Β your clients, who in turn refer you to others, a tactic that seems to get overlooked by the marketeers β is the tactic that is close to home. Do something in your community. There are approximately one gazillion ways to do this.
We decided to keep our website in the community, rather than focus on all the bells and whistles. I’m pleased with the result.
And maybe, just maybe, personal relationships continue to be more important than how awesome you look on the web.
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Very nice web design!
Thanks!
Nice. I prefer minimal designs. Too many people see a need to over-pack their sites.
I LIKE FLASH. MOAR FLASH!!!11
Oh and videos. Tons and tons of videos.
You don’t have to be all defensive. Your new website looks nice. It makes you guys look good. (You should have her do your blog, too.)
Maybe we’ll revamp the blog at some point. We meant to, but it’s slipped through the cracks. Not a huge priority.
We are doing this. Alert Leo!
YES! We are planning on revamping the awesome Philly Law Blog with the same design (plus some tweaks here and there).
Looks slick!
I’d refer cases to you guys, but the website needs a few things before I do.
1. The pictures (drawings) are too whimsical. You need to be serious. Very serious. Consider folding your arms. That works for a lot of lawyers. You also need to have a look on your face that says “I ate at a questionable Mexican restaurant last night followed by gorging myself on cheese before bed. This morning, I drank a double helping of Metamucil.” You’ve seen that face.
2. Where are the shelves full of law books? How about the scales of justice? Picture of a courtroom? Pillars? Granite steps? Because you do not have those, nobody will believe you are lawyers.
3. Don’t be so quick to dismiss videos. You should have one. You should talk about how passionate you are. Passionate, passionate, passionate. Make it look like you’re being interviewed by some media bigwig.
4. Where’s the animation of a pen jumping off the page, ready to stab opposing parties and their counsel in the eye?
5. An animated GIF would take the site to the next level. It doesn’t even have to be law-related. Remember Borat’s swimming suit? Yep.
Aside from that, your site is marvelous.
Great site guys, congrats, but I must agree with Eric – #4 is a MUST. Congrats.
Swordplay. I wanted swordplay. You know, old-fashioned broadswords that thwak and thrum and slice and dice.
Wait that last is ginsu knives. I know samurai swords! Or scimitars!
Forget this affable Fishtown Lawyers stuff. You want to be the masters of the City of Brotherly Jihad.
I want to reply with Gamso below about swordplay. Everything is better with swords. But since there isn’t any reply to Gamso, I can’t do this. It makes me sad.
My $0.04:
1. Do you plan on having one or more separate pages per practice area? I think that would be helpful. For example, you say you work in the area of “Employment Law”. This could be anything – plaintiff-side, defendant-side, discrimination/harassment, wage/hour, contracts, severance agreements, some of the above, all of the above, etc.
2. The “logoatee” is eye-catching and interesting, but it somewhat limits your facial hair choices, no?
3. “World headquarters” – I’d lose this. I realize you’re trying to be cute/clever but I think it’s a bit much. While probably not misleading in the disciplinary rule sense, I think it’s a bit too cavalier for this context. Plus, I assume you acquired Green Scottfield’s permission to use it; otherwise, you may have a lawsuit on your hands.
4. I think Avvo Ratings and Superlawyer whatever are pointless and should go.
Otherwise looks good. Congrats.
I remember when my World Headquarters was the 51st Floor of the Woolworth Building. It was my favorite part of the website. Having seen the Fishtown Lawyers conference room with my own eyes, I have no doubt that it is their world headquarters.
Party on, Garth.
Site looks awesome – love the local vibe.