3 Signs Your Law Firm Website Needs to be Updated
You’ve been considering a website redesign for your law firm for a while, but you just haven’t made your move. You probably think it will cost way too much or take too much of your time. Not true, instead what it’s really doing is costing you new business.
When was the last time you took a long hard look at your Law Firm’s website?
Potential clients are visiting daily; if your site's design is not clean and easy to navigate they will abandon it quicker than it took to Google law firms. According to Google 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they’ve had trouble accessing, and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead. (McKinsey & Company)
1. Mobile-friendly = client friendly
People are five times more likely to leave a website that isn’t mobile-friendly. Your site may be able to be viewed on a smart phone, but is it really mobile-friendly? While creating a site with mobile-friendly features – like tap-friendly buttons – isn’t difficult, your current site layout may be preventing visitors from calling, buying or learning more about what you offer.
2. User Experience: How enjoyable is interacting with your website for actual users?
If you're truly trying to accomplish something with your law firm’s website (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, etc.), you will need to focus on more than just how your website looks.
In competitive Google search terms like Lawyers, Attorneys and Legal Help, you need to make sure your website's design is optimized for a positive user experience. If not, a user will be on to the next site.
User experience isn't just about the design of the site. It considers areas such as:
- Having a clean and uncluttered layout
- Easy to follow navigation
- Page speed & load times
- Consistent message & design
- Easy-to-digest bullets (people don’t want to read a novel)
- Well-placed calls to action
- Responsive & Mobile-Friendly
3. Content is still "King" when it comes to Google.
Writing great content is a skill. Adding “filler content” about changes in the law or within your firm is considered content, but is it great? Write what clients and visitors want to know. They don’t want to read a legal brief, they want to learn (in plain language) how to deal with legal issues.
New fresh content is also rewarded by Google in the form of higher search rankings (what we call organic SEO), resulting in a positive impact on your law firm’s website.
Here are some tips that will lead to great content:
- Be original, don’t rehash old articles, keep it light and informative.
- Write attention-grabbing headlines. 80% of readers will only read your headline and only 20% will continue reading your content.
- Visitors are coming to your site because they have legal questions. Provide answers in simple language.
- Make your content thought provoking. Give them something to think about so they will come back for more.
- Make your content visually appealing with images or videos. (YouTube is the second largest search engine).
- The easiest way to keep adding new content to your site is to keep a Blog.
The only comment you should hear about your website is: "Your law firm’s website answered my questions, I’d like to hire you!”
So there you have it. Three simple ways to tell if your law firm's website needs to be updated. We usually check about twenty things when analyzing a client's website, but of course we won't share all of them here!
If you are still unsure if you need to upgrade, ask us. We’ll give you an honest evaluation of your current website and provide you with recommendations for achieving the online success your law firm deserves. Contact Paul Kennedy to review your site.