Being of a geekish nature I have been following the development and launch of Windows Phone 7. Regular readers will know that I am a bit of an Apple-phile and will probably expect me to be critical of Microsoft, (or even Android). But I am not because I believe that competition breeds innovation and I want all suppliers in the market to innovate.

If Microsoft and Google Android are pushing Steve Jobs then that is good for me…I get an even better operating system.

What makes Windows Phone 7 really interesting to me is that it has started to bring in a culture to Microsoft that has been lacking for some time. Windows Phone 7 is a customer-centric solution rather than one based upon the enterprise or corporate market. What this demonstrates to me is that consumer, (you and me), pestering…“this is what I like, this is what I want”…is driving the development. This is a change in emphasis from the supplier delivery of “this is what we are going to give you and you better get in line and use it because we say so. Sure it’s nice to hear what you want but yardy yardy…”

So why is this relevant to law firms generally and their websites specifically?

It is relevant because your website should be positioned as being completely and totally focused on the client/customer/consumer…I mean..what other use could it possibly have? It is not there to self promote. It is there to solve.

The world is changing. The market and consumers are liberated and they are using tools to find and solve but they still need people to refine and make those solutions precise to fit their needs. In the legal space they are starting to use online tools, (Google search etc) to solve but they need the solicitor to help them refine that solution to their need. This is great news for you.

As Dorothy said to Toto in The Wizard of Oz, “I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow”

Maybe you need to decide if you are a helpful witch or an unhelpful solicitor…and when you have decided that then you can use your website to broadcast that message.

Humans like help, humans like being helpful, humans recognise helpful people. A law firm’s website should drive the client to a conversation with the solicitor. That is where the value is for the client, that is the comfort zone for the solicitor and that is where you can start to deploy an array of online and offline tools matched to the clients need.

But here’s the key…you don’t use your website to broadcast about you, in disengaging, aloof language. You use your website to transmit solutions in exciting, engaging, solving language. And you know what, with a bit of creativity, with a bit of understanding of the consumers need, you could really start to make hay whilst the digital sun shines…not that I think that it is going back in any time soon.

Here’s something to think about. Two questions:

• What does the web mean to you the individual?

I suspect it will be to find, to discover, to evaluate, to check etc.

Now let me ask you another question.

• What does the web mean to your firm?

To be found and when found, to create a comfortable solving environment which encourages the user to become a client.

In other words they are not the same. The individual has a problem and wants to solve it and for many of them the web is a great place to start. The law firm has the solution and want to help people solve. So to succeed your solutions have to dovetail into their problems and vice versa.

The client is the seeker, you are the solver.

But law firms, in the main, do not position their websites to do this. (Can we just park the delusion that you think you do – in the main you don’t – and I will cover that off in a later post). That click from Google to your site is as important as the SEO that got them there. Why? Because if they don’t arrive at a site that is relevant and easy to navigate then they will click and go. This is why the ‘back’ button on a browser is the most used click…bad navigation, bad experience…adios!

So the website is dead for many law firms. But I also say long live the website because the good news is that it maybe dead, but it can be resuscitated; I would like to start a discussion about how that can happen.

Over the next few weeks I want to explore with you a number of themes through this site to help you realise and release the real power of your website. Feel free to join me in this journey, add your thoughts because you are very much part of the solution. I may be right, I may be wrong but I reckon if we share together we will solve.

I intend to tick off all the things that you may have concerns over and I want you to add your concerns. If you tell me them I will work with you to solve them.

I will explore things such as engagement principles, SEO, e-commerce, using online tools to capture clients before your competitors do, real proper ROI-type social media, how to answer that most asked client question…”How much is that document in the window?”

Are you ready?