Kiefer Likens
All work

005 — Web · Content Architecture · SEO

Two hundred and fifty-seven pages, one qualifying question.

Client
MSM Advisors, LLC
Industry
Certified public accountants and business advisors
Engagement
Client work
Status
Pre-launch
Role
Art Direction, Information Architecture, Design System
Stack
Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Static generation, JSON-LD

Deployment note — Build is on a preview URL. The firm’s production domain currently still serves their previous WordPress site.

MSM Advisors homepage: navy and gold professional layout with the headline ‘MSM Advisors, your trusted partner’.
Homepage — service pillars and credential row

02

Problem

A CPA firm that has published the same founding year since 1991, on aging infrastructure, trying to win local search across an entire metropolitan county without opening an office in each town. The firm also had the opposite of a lead problem: too many inquiries from businesses too small to serve profitably, each one costing a partner an hour to decline politely.

03

Insight

Volume was never the objective. A firm like this needs fewer, better-qualified conversations — so the architecture had to do two jobs at once: cast wide enough to be found in every municipality, and narrow enough at the point of contact to filter. The revenue threshold is stated twice on the consultation path, on purpose. Telling people not to call you is a conversion feature.

04

Direction

Institutional, but not the default corporate blue. Deep navy with a gold accent, and a characterful variable serif against a neutral sans — the one real risk in the palette, and the thing that keeps a buttoned-up firm from reading as cold. Photography is minimal and genuine: the actual team, the actual credential badges.

05

Execution

Two hundred and fifty-seven routes: three service pillars with four to five children each, multiplied across twelve-plus municipalities, plus team, testimonials, awards, a client resource hub, fillable worksheets, and a referral program. A pricing page that communicates a flat monthly subscription model and transparency while deliberately publishing no prices — because for advisory work, a number without a scope is a misrepresentation.

06

System

Statically generated with a structured-data layer covering the organization, its address and hours, and a FAQ set. The service-by-location matrix is generated from typed data rather than hand-authored, so a new municipality is a data entry and not a build.

07 — Evidence

Each figure is labeled with where it came from — observed in the build, published by the client, or published by a partner. Nothing here is an unsourced performance claim.

  • Routes

    257

    Observed in build

  • Municipalities covered

    12+

    Observed in build

  • Years in practice

    30+

    Published by client

  • Business clients

    120+

    Published by client

The firm’s own published figures appear on the site: 120+ business clients, 30+ years, 340+ engagements completed. Those are the client’s numbers about their practice, not results attributable to this build.

08 — Reflection

Reflection

Two of the five statistics in that row are “100% Tailored service” and “100% Client-focused”, which are not statistics. They are padding, and they cheapen the three real numbers standing next to them. I would cut the row to three. A short row of true things beats a full row that makes a reader start discounting.