Best Legal Web site of 2012 to be Named by Web Marketing Association in 16th Annual WebAward Competition

HARTFORD, Conn., April 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Web Marketing Association announces the call for entries for its 16th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at www.webaward.org. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including legal websites, based on the seven criteria of a successful web site. The deadline for legal websites to enter to be judged is May 31, 2012.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110322/NY68948LOGO  )

"The legal industry is very competitive when it comes to Web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their online efforts," said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. "Not surprisingly, legal websites are not known for taking risks – it's the way their industry is. They score well in terms of ease of use, design and content, but past judges have noted they would like to see more use of technology and innovation."

Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry in the legal category is judged against other legal entries and then against an overall standard of excellence.

All legal entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward's professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Winners of a WebAward in the legal category will also receive:

• Handsome statue or certificate of achievement
• Increased visibility for their company
• Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
• Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
• Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

Each year the Web Marketing Association names the Best Legal Website based on the scores submitted by the competition judges. Recent winners of the Best Legal Web site include:

2011 – Clark/Nikdel/Powell for Peterson & Myers Website
2010 – WilmerHale for WilmerHale Careers
2009 – Thomson-FindLaw for Law Offices of Lisa L. Maki
2008 - The Attorney Store for GETLEGAL.COM
2007 - carbonhouse, inc. for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
2006 - Thomson-FindLaw for Yanowitch Law, P.A.
2005 - Frost Brown Todd LLC for Frost Brown Todd LLC Attorneys at Law
2004 - Saturno Design LLC for Pierce Atwood – Attorneys at Law
2003 - Pepper Hamilton LLP for www.pepperlaw.com
2002 - Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP for Lanepowell.com

The 2012 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: BGT Partners, PR Newswire, Burst Media, MycroBurst, EContent Magazine, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, Internet World UK, SES Conferences, Webmaster Radio, and Website Magazine. The Web Marketing Association thanks these companies for their commitment to the entire online marketing community.

About the WebAwards
The Web Marketing Association was founded in 1997 to help define the standard of excellence for online marketing. Our internationally known award programs, such as WebAward Competition for Website Development, Internet Advertising Competition and the new MobileWebAwards, recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing the most effective online marketing programs on the Internet today.  Entrants benefit from assessment of their marketing efforts by a professional judging panel and the marketing opportunities presented by being recognized as an award-winning web developer.

SOURCE Web Marketing Association