Combs Waterkotte grew from a one-attorney St. Louis criminal defense practice into a multi-market law firm with six locations and more than 20 attorneys and staff.
The project was not just a law firm redesign. The firm needed accurate business information, stronger local visibility, content that matched criminal-defense searches, paid and organic landing paths, and systems that could support more markets and more prospective clients.
Web Design & Company rebuilt the search strategy, content foundation, local SEO, paid search support, intake paths, website, brand, and operational systems around that expansion.
Services
- Local SEO
- Content Writing
- Paid Search
- Web Design
- Web Development
- Branding
The Search Problem
Fixing visibility before scaling the firm
Chris Combs came to WDAC after previous marketing agencies left the firm with inconsistent business information, weak local visibility, thin and duplicated website content, and an underperforming Google Business Profile.
Prospective clients were searching by legal issue, location, and urgency, but the firm's digital presence did not yet give those searches enough accurate, locally relevant destinations. Before the website could support expansion, the search foundation had to be repaired.
WDAC prioritized the pieces that determine whether a local legal practice can be found and trusted online: accurate citations, stronger directory presence, better local SEO, useful service and location content, paid search support, and a website structure that could connect searchers with intake.
Local SEO + Content Foundation
Putting citations, directories, and legal content at the center
The project was not a redesign followed by SEO. Search visibility, content, citations, paid support, and website architecture had to work together from the beginning.
WDAC corrected inaccurate business citations, strengthened the firm's presence across legal directories, improved local SEO, and built more locally relevant content around the criminal-defense matters and markets the firm served.
That work gave the firm more accurate ways to match criminal-defense searches with relevant information, attorney context, and the next step for the visitor's market.
Local accuracy
Citations and business information were cleaned up so the firm could present a more consistent local presence.
Legal directories
Directory and authority work supported the firm's visibility in a competitive legal category.
Service content
Local and practice-area content gave searchers more specific destinations than a generic law-firm website.
Market Coverage
Building service-area visibility into the page strategy
As Combs Waterkotte expanded beyond its original Clayton office, the site had to support more than one local market without losing local relevance.
The website architecture evolved around multiple regional markets, criminal-defense services, attorneys, and intake options tied to the market where a visitor entered. New service, location, and landing-page paths gave organic and paid traffic clearer destinations.
Combs Waterkotte expanded into six locations serving St. Louis, Kansas City, Southern Illinois, and Chicago while also pursuing federal criminal defense work beyond its original market. The digital platform needed enough flexibility to support that growing footprint.
Search-to-Intake Website
Turning paid and organic traffic into clearer intake paths
The redesigned site made attorneys, criminal-defense services, locations, and intake options easier to reach from the path a visitor used to enter the site.
Advanced intake forms supported different case types, helping the website do more than present information. It created a clearer path from legal search intent to a useful conversation with the firm.
The design and development work mattered because it gave the search strategy practical destinations: market pages, service pages, landing pages, and forms that could support real client inquiries.
Landing paths
Paid and organic campaigns had more relevant destinations for services and markets.
Intake support
Forms helped organize prospective clients by case type and need.
Website alignment
The website structure supported search visibility instead of sitting apart from it.
Brand + Operations
Supporting the search platform with brand and internal systems
When Chris Combs partnered with Steve Waterkotte, the firm needed a brand and digital platform that reflected what the business was becoming.
WDAC led the Combs Waterkotte rebrand, including the visual identity, brand guidelines, photography, staff video, website design, and supporting business materials. Those elements gave the growing firm a more consistent presence across the website, marketing materials, and physical office environment.
Development work supported the operation behind the marketing. WDAC built custom API connections between MyCase, REJIS, and internal staff workflows to improve case organization and reduce unnecessary manual work as lead volume and service coverage grew.
What the Work Enabled
A stronger platform for local presence and market expansion
The finished platform connected local SEO, citations, legal content, paid search support, service-area pages, intake paths, brand, and operational systems around a firm that was expanding into more markets.
As the firm added attorneys, services, locations, and lead volume, the website gave Combs Waterkotte a more flexible structure for broader service coverage, accurate business information, and the internal workflows needed to keep more prospective clients organized.
6 locations across Missouri and Illinois. 20+ team members across attorneys, paralegals, and support staff.
Explore the finished website
See the project in context
The finished site gives a growing criminal defense firm a stronger platform for local visibility, content coverage, paid and organic landing paths, intake organization, accurate business information, and continued expansion into new markets.