Taking the time to optimize the website for your law firm is one of the most cost-effective ways to attract new business—organically.
According to a survey conducted by FindLaw, 38% of respondents stated they turn toward the internet to further research or discover the right law firm. For law firms who rely on referrals, this is important to note as your prospective referrals may be searching for you online.
Businesses that have an actively managed website receive 67% more leads per month*.
An intelligently prepared website will work for your law firm around the clock, generating new opportunities even when your office isn’t open. By implementing the six inbound marketing tips listed below, you can ensure that your website works at its highest potential in helping your business succeed.
1. Clearly Organize Your Content to Explain How You Can Help
Approach how you discuss the services you provide with empathy. This means everything should be written from the “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM) perspective. Your content should be formatted in a way that is clear for visitors to evaluate if this is the right decision for them. An example of this is “Our goal is to help (type of client) going through (challenge) to achieve (goal).” Avoid phrases that start with, “Our law firm will…” or “We help you…” Essentially your content (especially headlines and subheads) should speak for itself, providing clients with comfort in your expertise to make the right decision.
2. Include a Call to Action on Every Page
A call to action (or CTA) is a concise statement, graphic statement, form, or banner that prompts your website visitor to act. It is essentially pointing your visitor in the direction of what to do next. As a law firm, your ultimate goal from a CTA is to encourage visitors to contact you. A CTA should be included on every page of your website.
Examples of effective CTAs include:
- “To have a conversation with a property tax appeal attorney, call us at XXX.XXX.XXXX.”
- “If interested in learning more about divorce settlement services, call XXX.XXX.XXXX now.”
- “Complete this simple form to schedule a time to talk.”
- “To speak with a family law attorney, contact us [button].”
- Adding a “Chat Now” feature that allows a prospect who is ready to get started be able to ask questions.
A properly programmed website can also hide CTAs that state “Call us now” when it is no longer business hours. This way your CTAs are more tailored to when someone may be available to chat with a prospective client.
3. Regularly Develop Fresh New Content
The benefits of having a regularly managed website are endless. Your law firm should be developing new content regularly, ideally once or more per week, that is informative to your prospective clients. If you are not creating new content, you can start with just one new item per month, assign four individuals one week per month, or hire a team like Trillion to prepare new content throughout the month.
Start by creating content that answers your top 20 most important and common questions asked by prospective clients. The answers should provide all of the pros and cons to consider and how you can advise an individual throughout the process—and afterward. Also, the content needs to be “searchable.” After your top 20 questions and answers are created, you can get more granular and specific about things. The goal is to create more organic opportunities, build your website’s authority and credibility, and prove to Google that the website is actively managed and provides relevant content information on your law firm’s services.
4. Highlight Specific Attorneys
Start calling attention to a distinct lawyer or attorneys at your law firm who are experts in a particular legal area when you’re producing content. A few important details to be mindful of when you’re including this are:
- Always be targeted with your approach and never speak about more than one service or issue.
- It’s worthwhile, from a marketing standpoint, to mention a specific attorney’s involvement in any winning cases or notable awards as long as it is sensitive to case details and pertinent.
The point of highlighting these accolades is to show the prospective client your ability to handle various situations rather than relishing your firm’s success. This, in the end, will prove to be more valuable to your clients during their relevant circumstance.
5. Be Clear About the Geographic Area You Service
Are you most known in a specific geographic area such as cities or states? It’s essential to be clear about the area you area for several reasons:
- It will save you time: identifying the area you have expertise in will filter out inquiries that are not appropriate for your business.
- It will help your search engine optimization (SEO): Identifying certain cities or states on your website can increase your page rank when your potential customers search for services in the appropriate area.
6. Provide an Easy-to-Complete Form to Help Visitors Schedule Appointments
It’s a good idea to provide several ways for clients (and potential clients) to contact your firm. Whether you add an appointment scheduler or contact form (or both), they allow your clients to fill out the form at their leisure (or in the middle of the night when you may not be picking up the phone). Keep your form simple by asking for their name, email, and phone number. You want to collect just enough information so that you can respond to their request. Including additional required information will progressively reduce the odds that someone will complete the form. Above your form and in your submission confirmation, email back to the customer, including a time frame for when they can expect to hear back from you (e.g., 3-5 hours or within one business day).
Your Law Firm Should Work Smarter, Not Harder
Is your law firm’s website utilizing all of the tools we outlined above? If not, the website marketing experts at Trillion can help create a highly effective, lead-generating website to help bring new opportunities to your legal team. Give us a call at 908.219.4703 or complete our contact form, and one of our partners will respond promptly.
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