McCune Law Group: Website Redesign and Domain Move

boltA notable problem

When a law firm changes its name and its web address, the old address carries years of reputation with search engines. If the move is careless, that reputation is lost and inquiries dry up for months. In this case the layout of the site was changing too, so old pages could not simply be pointed at pages with the same name.

There was a second, quieter problem inside the firm. Website inquiries had to end up in two different tools, Litify and Lead Docket, and each one expects its own field layout and its own way of proving who is calling it. Without a bridge, someone has to copy details across by hand.

buildWhat I did

• I redesigned the firm’s main website so that it fits the new brand rather than carrying over the old look.
• I planned the move to the new domain page by page: every address on the old site was matched to its closest new page, and the old addresses forward visitors there automatically.
• I built the redirect map alone, with no one else supplying the list of old pages.
• I carried the structure of the site across to the new domain, checking that nothing important was left without a destination.
• I built a custom WordPress plugin for the contact forms. A person fills in a form once, and the plugin forwards that one entry on to Litify and also to Lead Docket.
• For each of the two tools I wrote a separate mapping, because the same answer, such as a phone number or a type of case, has to sit in a different place in each one.
• I also wrote separate sign-in handling for each tool, so the plugin proves its identity to each system in the way that system requires.

check_circleThe result

The move did not hurt the firm’s search performance or domain authority. New leads arrive in both case systems straight from the website, so nobody has to export, import or retype them. The firm kept the reputation its old address had earned and gained a site that matches its new name.

widgetsTools I used, in plain words