Great Jakes. Great Scott!

The Daily Planet’s Perry White used to exclaim “Great Scott!” whenever he was surprised or amazed, by Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Superman. I was amazed while talking to Robert Algeri of Great Jakes yesterday.

#1: Robert had called to ask me my opinion of a new idea in Web sites that his company was starting to introduce. He had listened in to my Twitter stream, looked at my LinkedIn profile, checked out the blog, seen what I was up to at my law firm. Made him think well of me. Reputation development through social media. Amazing.

#2: Robert’s company has reimagined the legal Web site at the most personal level: the reputation of the lawyer. What does a visitor want to know about a lawyer, what are the characteristics of experience and skill that persuade action for further communication, what are the conversation starters? Some commonalities? Yes. Some unique identifiers? Yes. How can these be organized for complete transparency and customization? Great Jakes calls it the Rainmaker Focused Web site. Amazing.

In truth, there’s nothing you can do to the facts of a lawyer’s background that has not already been done. Cases, articles, testimonials, social media, yadda, yadda. Here is the Great Jakes breakthrough: every lawyer can assume the rainmaker mantle. Because the styling of the Great Jakes site allows for every part of a lawyer’s reputational array, whether deep and bet-the-company, or niched and long tail, to be conveniently accessed and effectively displayed.

No more “my resume trumps your resume” battles on length and complexity. Each lawyer becomes their own Web site, in essence. And each can display what makes them unique, without compromising the brand message of the overall Web appearance of the firm.

Great scott! What would your lawyers say to their own Web site?