New year, new look

Well, I know I have mentioned it in a previous piece, but it is here - it has arrived! While children looked to the skies for Santa last month, I was looking to my computer screen equally full of anticipation and excitement and my Christmas present was, indeed, delivered - the brand new website for our firm, Eric Robinson Solicitors.

After months of budgeting, planning, looking at designs, coordinating content and pictures, attending meetings, proofing and approving mock-ups, we celebrated our brand new online presence at www.ericrobinson.co.uk just before the Christmas break.

Like all sites, it will always be a work in progress, but I am happy to share some of the key features that we felt were important when making decisions about how we wanted to be perceived online.

Visual presentation

First of all, there was the imagery. We decided to choose landscape shots taken from recognisable landmarks in our local community of Southampton. If you look at the pages for our five branches, we have either used a photo of our offices or a well-known place nearby. We felt this would visually ground us in and demonstrate a commitment to the catchment area of the people we serve. In order to create more modern and interesting images, we combined photography with illustration to give uniqueness and individuality to what we were doing.

Aside from the imagery, our main intention was to present information clearly. We decided distinct tabs laid horizontally along the top of the page with drop-down menus gave the most logical sequence and easiest navigation to information that would appear below in a black font on a clean, white background. In early pages, text was minimal so as not to overwhelm users and guide them to more detailed information in later pages.

The division of services between commercial and private client are as you would expect, but we made the decision to go into detail about what it is like to work at the firm in our 'careers' section. I believe that firms that are open about their culture and ethos, and demonstrate how they value and support their staff, make a better impression on all stakeholders.

Personal touch

We have embraced the various methods of 24/7 communication that modern society expects with an online call-back function, personal emails and direct dials for individual members of staff, and the facility to pay for our services online. We also have little touches such as the 'jargon buster', which we will be developing over the forthcoming months, because we want to demonstrate our approachability.

Once you have the information, the other key ingredient to any website from a professional services company is its people. We did a photo shoot which is modern, unusually lit and - this is important - can easily be replicated as new members of staff join us. (In a lot of firm websites, you can tell in which wave staff joined the firm from their pictures; you can't reshoot your entire staff every time there is a new hiring.)

We have also ventured into the world of social media - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, and I am looking forward to reporting back to you about how we get on with these communication channels we haven't tried before. The one outlet that does seem to have attracted some early interest and comment is our YouTube channel where, we have put videos of clients as visual case studies, in addition to the written testimonials about our service.

Please do feel free to have a look around our website and let me know what you think.

Action plan: Creating a firm website

• Set an agreed budget. The question ‘how much does a website cost?’ is the technological equivalent of ‘how long is a piece of string?’
• Get the right provider. If embarking on a new relationship, get references and look at previous work; you can always ask companies to pitch
• Content. A website is a tool for people to learn about your firm and what you offer, so what do you want to show them? What do you want them to know? Do you have clients that will support what you say?
• Communication. The other use of a website is for you to begin a conversation that will hopefully lead to a relationship. Who are your audience? What communication channels are best? What do you want to be saying through them?
• Image. A website is very visual. You need it to be attractive, clear and evoke an ethos, character and identity that represent how you want to be perceived.
• Plan. Allow plenty of time, as you will inevitably be involving the majority of the people in your business in one way or another.
• Gather opinion. Once you have a draft for your website, show it to your friends, clients and associates. Ask them what they think and what they think it says about your firm.