Back in the day, a law firm’s image and reputation relied heavily on the ‘pavement appeal’ of their offices. As with most bricks and mortar businesses, a lot of time, effort and money is invested in creating appealing yet professional offices that represent the company’s brand and personality.
This is still relevant today, however, in the online world, the focus on brand and company image has shifted towards the company’s online presence. This makes total sense considering almost 60% of total growth in Australia, particularly in areas like retail, over the 12 months to May 2018 is from online transactions, according to Macquarie’s calculation.
Yet despite this massive growth in consumer shopping behaviour, many laws firms have not made the mindset-shift towards paying adequate attention to their websites.
It’s likely that the volume of traffic visiting your website is significantly higher than the number of clients you have visiting your physical offices. To make the grade these days, a website must not only be visually compelling and user-friendly but must also reflect current trends and offer content that is fresh and rich in value.
No matter the size of your practice, paying attention to your website and conducting regular website reviews will help you determine whether your law firm website makes the grade for today’s high-demanding visitors.
5 Reasons For Law Firms To Be Concerned About A Website’s Effectiveness
Building trust
First impressions are often lasting impressions, impacting the reputation of your law firm.
If your website portrays an image of times-gone-by, it’s likely your visitors will seek legal assistance elsewhere as they will believe your practice is out-of-date with modern-world solutions.
Regular website audits aim to keep your website looking fresh and keeping with the times (yes, unfortunately images of scales and law books are so old-school!).
A modern and appealing website design goes a long way to encouraging visitors to stay on your website and read your content. The more time they spend reading your valuable content, the greater their trust in you and the more likely they will engage with you for your services
SEO penalties
If your website is not technically designed to meet search engine performance requirements, it will be penalised by search engines accordingly, resulting in decreased search engine rankings.
Regular effective website audits will identify such issues and remedy them before they negatively impact your ranking and ultimately your business potential
Website security
Never underestimate the importance of securing your website. Increasingly visitors are abandoning websites that are not adequately secured.
With cybercrime rapidly on the increase, identifying security vulnerabilities as soon as possible can prevent sensitive information getting into the wrong hands, protecting your website and giving your visitors peace of mind that you take their personal information seriously. Keeping current with security trends has become a basic necessity in retaining your existing customers and attracting new ones
User experience
Websites that aren’t reviewed regularly often fall-out-of-favour with visitors as they become cumbersome to use. Navigation may not work as effectively as it should, images are often out-of-date and no longer depict a modern-world environment, page load speeds are incredibly slow, and the overall functionality of the website is no longer as smooth as it should be.
You only have a few seconds to impress your visitors so it’s important that your law firm’s website maximises this opportunity by providing an experience worthy of their time
Content effectiveness
Regular website audits identify the relevance and quality of your content. Not only do customers quickly abandon unattractive websites but also those whose information is irrelevant and obsolete. A compelling feature of the online world is the ability to quickly gain access to accurate and valuable information. So, if your law firm’s website is not delivering upon this expectation you can bet your bottom-dollar that you’re driving visitors to your competitors.
Remember that what may have worked before, may not be as effective today. Caring about the content and conducting regular website audits is paramount to your law firm’s online strategy and it’s therefore important that you partner with an expert in the field.
When done correctly, regular in-depth audits involve a combination of manual analysis and automated monitoring to fine-tune your website for optimised performance and increased online effectiveness. This in turn exploits your online marketing efforts, solidifies your brand awareness and strengthens your practice’s reputation.
If any of this seems a bit daunting, or you would prefer an objective, expert opinion, Lift Legal are specialists in delivering effective law firm marketing strategies. Besides having technical web development skills to accurately identify website performance improvements, we also have the expertise and technology to implement the identified changes. We only work with law firms and our knowledge and proficiency in the legal industry and specialist online marketing solutions combine to enrich your law firm’s brand image and website effectiveness – resulting in a handsome return on investment.
Law firm’s that do not undertake regular website audits are leaving money on the table. So, protect your reputation, stop being the “laughing stock of the town” and become the “talk of the town” today. If you would like a free copy of our new 3-step Guide to maintaining a high-performing website that attracts and retains customers, which we are launching next week, click the button below to register.
About the author
Brian Hicks
Brian has more than twenty years’ experience in marketing and management across diverse industries including legal, real estate, tourism and technology. Brian lives in Sydney with his wife and two daughters.
