Professional Services Firms: Build Your Client Base with Time-Honored Web Site Best Practices

Photo adapted from “Business Photography — Man Taking Notes” by Mark Lord (Flickr, Creative Commons).

Let’s discuss web site features that all professional services firms should have, at a minimum. I’m talking mostly about law firms and CPA firms here, but this will certainly also apply (largely) to others within the more broad “professional services” category. This topic is somewhat near and dear to me, as the bulk of my corporate career was spent working with lawyers and CPAs.

Let’s take a look at a list of must-have web site elements for these firms. Then, below, I’ll discuss my rationale for including these items.

Essentials: The Most Important Web Site Elements

• A friendly, engaging home page as a front to your modern-looking, “responsive” (renders well on all devices) web site.
• An about us page with a company history
• Service specifications and industry qualifications
  (well-developed and on-point)
• Team member bios / staff bios
  (pics, full CVs, etc.)
• Contact information and an inquiry form
• An audience-building strategy (e.g., data capture / list building / autoresponders, newsletters, blogging, etc.)
• SEO infrastructure and strategy