Few subjects are discussed more in legal marketing settings than “steamy ideas” for boosting your law firm’s site. Look it up on the internet. You’ll find more advice than you’ll ever be able to process. More significant technology trends, culture, and user behavior, on the other hand, are having a significant influence on businesses and are not being discussed nearly as often as they should be. The sooner you confront these patterns, the better. Consider the list of new dos and don’ts collected here as you evaluate your online presence and make changes.
Do’s
Crosslink Resources
For almost 15 years, properly labeling material with reciprocal links has been a recommended practice and with good cause. Crosslinks enable a website user to jump from one topic to another without returning to the directory or using the search feature. This technique encourages the type of engaged interaction you seek while also improving SEO. Prospective customers are less likely to find and absorb the material that makes the best argument for why they should hire you if you don’t have the proper structure and crosslinked layout in place.
Take Security Seriously
A legal company website that did not keep any private information and was not connected to your office network in any manner used to be unconcerned. Those days are gone, and few companies, especially smaller ones, are aware of the various ways their websites might be exploited against them. Defeating hacker tactics necessitates continual monitoring and clear and prompt response and prevention if the worst happens. Although you are all aware of worldwide Internet security issues, there has been shockingly little response. Law companies have been adequately informed over many years that their accessibility to extremely classified info and sector reputation for weak security makes them an easy target.
You’ve probably heard the word “reasonable measures” a lot when it comes to protecting sensitive information; keep in mind that the duties and actions connected with “reasonable” are expanding all the time.
Begin To Care
The standard law firm webpage in 2015 still has a lot of learning to do in terms of quality. There is just no justification for this anymore, given the abundance of creative and technological resources available today, many of which are available at a meager cost. But here’s the thing: you have to be concerned about your internet reputation. The service, quality of work, and outcomes you give customers should always be at the center of your reputation. However, the internet is now the primary means of disseminating that reputation. Ignoring this will only sabotage your efforts to turn previous achievements into future possibilities.
Don’ts
Don’t Send It in From Your Phone
It’s no longer news that every legal firm’s website should be entirely mobile-friendly. However, all too frequently, law firms do not devote the time and resources necessary to ensure that their mobile presence provides a positive experience for guests. Completing Google’s binary evaluation should be a side effect of your mobile presence effort, not the objective. The objective is to keep visitors engaged by making your content simple to locate and consume for mobile users. Navigation should be touch-responsive, pages should load quickly, the text should be simple to read, and relevant material should be provided right away. Everything you can find or do on your webpage on a laptop should be available on a mobile device and explicitly suited for that mode.
Assuming That Open Source Is a Cure-All
Open-source site frameworks are a popular approach to create a low-cost website rapidly. It’s critical to recognize and evaluate the drawbacks, like with everything. For starters, a law firm website is not made up of an out-of-the-box open-source webpage with a few standard extensions and a lovely theme. A decent law firm website will include various content kinds, each with its own set of data points and terminology. To be effective, this material must be indexed, relationally crosslinked, presented distinctively, accessible, and searchable in ways appropriate to a law firm’s intended audience.
Don’t Let Your Superior Judgment Be Stifled
The number of items you should do to stay top-of-mind in the marketplace seems to be growing at an exponential rate. As a result, you could be tempted to hire a vendor that claims to take care of everything while also redesigning your website. It’s exorbitantly priced, but they say you won’t have to do anything.
In truth, a reputable company offering internet marketing services will teach you about the process rather than hide you from it. Most internet marketing relies on the development of relevant, high-quality content, and your participation is required. Picking the right provider is critical since you must be an active participant in the process.
Do you have all of these elements on your legal firm’s website? Which ones aren’t there? Take a look at your law firm’s website and see what measures you can take to make it more successful and user-friendly. Then put those modifications in place, track and analyze your law firm’s website statistics, and savor the advantages of a new, modern website.