Seventy-two percent of people searching for an attorney begin with an online search engine. Eighty-two percent have no particular attorney in mind when they begin looking. And 86 percent of searches end with a peek at the attorney’s website and a decision to move forward with their services. The fight for clients begins (and often ends) online. There are far more than 100 searches for lawyers each month in Los Angeles alone.
Enter Webstyle Inc., a full-service marketing and Web development company that originated in Europe with a unique approach to providing creative solutions for attorneys and other business leaders. CEO Marcel Weymann and COO Konstantin Graf recently set up an office in downtown Los Angeles and are determined to find the same level of success in the United States as they found back home.
With that goal in mind, the two have found their niche with the legal community.
“We want our clients to know that we work with them to achieve their business goals. It’s a collaborative effort,” Graf says. “We’ve found that attorneys, in particular, are in need of our services to achieve their business goals.”
Established 15 years ago, Webstyle is equipped with 600 employees to provide a step-by-step process, which is imperative to understand in conceptualizing their unique approach. The collaborative effort is simply allowing the clients complete oversight of their product — whether they are heavily involved or not involved at all in the process — while the Webstyle team works to complete the product.
They use a three-pronged approach to each of their projects. “We want to make sure that consumers can find you,” Weymann says. “And, when they find you, we want the website to be effective in converting them to contact you. Beyond the website, we focus on online reputation management. We need these three pillars to be effective for our clients.”
“We cover the whole online management so you can focus on running your practice,” Graf adds.
Once a client decides to move forward, a media adviser sits down with them for three hours to discuss the structure, the design and the details they envision with their website.
“All meetings are face-to-face,” Graf says. “We don’t discuss these details over the phone as it can lead to misconception and miscommunications of the client’s vision. We want to make sure we’re bringing that vision to life and in-person meetings lead to better communication of that vision.”
“Essentially, during this stage, the media adviser works to conceptualize the brand and vision of the client while maintaining the authenticity of their service. We also take pictures and videos if necessary during this meeting as most clients do not have high resolution photos or interactive video available,” Weymann continues.
Once the media adviser has a conception of the client’s needs, the Web designers step in to draft a look for the website. As soon as the client signs off on the responsive design, the online editors take over.
“Our editors ensure the content is SEO friendly, so the website is findable,” Graf says. “Beyond that, they focus on creating content that will connect with the ideal client and compel them to act on the website’s message to contact the attorney.”
After the website is complete, Webstyle’s team creates business listings for the firm on Google and other platforms to increase the findability of the firm. “From start to finish, this process takes around four weeks,” Weymann says, “depending on the client’s needs, which we believe is very competitive in the marketplace. We want the process to be clean and focused to ensure we’re providing a quick and effective solution.”
While they provide a quick turnaround, Graf emphasizes that each website is built from scratch based on the needs of the firm.
“Before we launch the website, we offer a tutorial on the backend tools and the analytics,” Weymann says. “This helps the attorneys understand the tools available to monitor the productivity of the site and the responsiveness of their clients.”
Webstyle is full service. Once the website has been launched, Webstyle constantly works on the findability and can update and adapt the website to the customer’s wishes. An outdated website can’t rank high on search engines and will never convert website visitors into clients. Therefore, Webstyle has chosen a consultative approach and has regular faceto- face meetings with their customers to ensure the success of the online presence. They are available to consult with clients even after the project is complete if it becomes apparent changes are needed or questions need to be addressed.
“The online market for our clients is huge. They just need the right partner to grow their business,” Weymann says.
The company’s success in Europe is a clear indication of their future here in Los Angeles. With a list of more than 25,000 customers overseas, it is easy to see that Webstyle is focused on building relationships, continually offering support once a project is complete.
The fun and casual office culture is staffed by an incredibly knowledgeable team focused on meeting client goals.
“Our goal is to deliver high service quality to build long-lasting relationships with customers so we can grow our business as they grow their firms,” Weymann says.
Loving their office space in the Gas Tower with a view of the industrious downtown cityscape, Weymann and Graf are looking forward to the future of the business. The two already have their sights set on opening a second location in New York City next year. Eventually, they hope to have locations established nationwide, including Chicago, Denver and Miami.
