Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/37773
update content, define “best bets” or create synonyms to help ensure visitors can find relevant content on your website. FAST Search Server 2010 is worth considering, but often is overkill for typical law firm publishing scenarios. The scalability and query performance enhancements that make FAST a compelling option for public ecommerce sites and intranet search scenarios far exceed the needs of most simple publishing websites. SharePoint Search can scale to support sub-second query responses with a corpus of 100 million documents; whereas FAST can scale to provide similar query responses with a corpus of 500 million documents. It is a safe bet Top Tips for Your Website Redesign Understand your goals for the website. Before thinking about your technology platform, you should understand what your firm wants to achieve through the website. Your objectives may include making it easy for prospects and clients to learn about your people and services; building your firm’s reputation as a thought- leader in particular areas; or generating new business. Similarly, you want to understand why visitors come to your website. Your visitors likely want to easily find specific attorney bios and learn about your service offerings. While this may seem obvious, identifying these objectives can help to keep your website project on focus. Regardless of the underlying technology or a cutting-edge design, if visitors cannot readily find information they need, then your website is not providing value to them or to your business. Assess the trade-offs of a single platform versus best-of-breed. During a Web content management 46 Portal Platforms ILTA White Paper system evaluation, SharePoint is frequently compared to other top-rated dedicated WCM systems. As you would expect, the best-of-breed Web content management platforms may have more advanced features and bells-and- whistles than SharePoint in some areas, including built-in advanced analytics, e-marketing features, and a streamlined authoring experience. This is where it is valuable to clearly understand your “must-have” requirements versus your “nice-to-haves.” Many of the large WCM systems are geared toward larger businesses with highly complex content management needs, such as high-volume content publishing houses, businesses that operate a large number of distinct websites, or e-commerce businesses who track behavior to create online buyer profiles. Many of these platforms could meet your publishing needs, but may also come with features that you won’t use and that add unnecessary complexity. If you are already using SharePoint in your firm, then you are able to benefit from leveraging existing hardware and licensing to support portions of your Web