Your Website is Your Calling Card

There is no way around it: having a website is an absolute must for any law firm. There is no substitute, and no matter how strong your following is on social media, your website remains the single most integral point of contact for your clients. It is a way for them to discover more about you, what you have to offer, and how to get in touch. That said, just having a website is not enough: it’s got to effectively convert your visitors into customers, because without them, you might as well not be in business at all.

Some lawyers may say that they don’t see the value in having a website as they don’t get a lot of business from it, but it’s what’s missing on the website that is the problem, not the concept.

Regardless of what your philosophy is, modifying your site into a converting machine is not difficult, and it will likely deliver results pretty quickly. Here are some website conversion tips to help get you started:

Your Contact Information Should be Easy to Find

Think of your business card. On it, you’ll find a myriad of ways in which a potential customer can get in touch with you – your office phone number, your mobile, email, and your web address, maybe your social pages too. Your website needs to feature this information also. It should be clearly accessible on every page, preferably in the footer, plus you should have a contact page with a form where clients can leave a more detailed message if they prefer. Some websites also include a map module that shows where your office is located, but that is entirely up to you. The important thing is that the contact info should be more than just a button buried on a page – it should be easy to find and on every page. Don’t make people hunt for it, because in the time that takes, they may go elsewhere.

Calls-To-Action, or CTAs

A CTA is a very important component of a converting website. If you tell people what to do, in all likelihood, they will do it. A CTA is not a contact button, or a separate page – it is literally a command, peppered into the site’s content, encouraging people to pick up the phone, fill out the contact form, email you for more information, or something similar. You should be placing CTAs at the end of every article you post, and on every content page. If you don’t, they will probably get the info they need from your post, then click away to a search engine to continue browsing for another lawyer. Don’t just expect people to do something of their own volition: making a suggestion goes a long way to getting results. So, close every article with something like “Call today for your free consultation,” or maybe “Get started planning your will today.” You can play around with the commands to see which ones get the most action, but the more the better. For instance, image-based CTAs can multiply your conversions by two or three times over simple text. You should also include social media buttons in your CTA strategy, as it’s a great way to source new clients. You might hate it, or think it’s a waste of time, but it’s a valuable tool and quite necessary, even for law firms. You give them some info, then tell them to call, email, click-to-chat, or connect to your Facebook/Twitter/IG page for more. Hook them, and then reel them in. That’s what a CTA does.

Start Blogging

Blog posts are a really great way to convert your website visitors into customers. What’s that you say? You don’t have a blog? If you don’t think having a blog is important, think again. Your blog can be one of your biggest assets. The concept is simple: you just can’t have a website that is only about sales, services, and you – you need to talk the walk. You need to convince people that you actually know what you’re talking about, and a blog is the single best way you can accomplish this. If you need some more convincing, consider these points:

1. A blog based on actionable advice will drive traffic to your website
2. A blog will position you as a subject-matter expert, and people will come back to get more of your awesome information
3. A blog will supply you with content that you can then share on your social media platforms, which will drive traffic back to your website
4. An engaging blog will encourage others to link back to your site
5. The more fresh, unique content you post on your site, the higher your search engine rankings will go

On your blog page, your sidebar (or footer) can contain all of your contact info, a signup box for your newsletter or blog, and of course you’re going to have a CTA at the end of each post. Make that CTA into an image CTA and watch the leads pour in.

A note about blogging though – try to write them yourself, or have somebody write them for you. You can get ideas from other sites, but plagiarism on the web is the SEO kiss of death, as search engines will penalize you for duplicate content. We’ll leave the SEO discussion for another day, but keep in mind that you probably have a lot of great information locked up in that brain of yours – so let some of it fly. You might be pleasantly surprised at the response.

Conclusion

If we have resolved that having a website is an absolute essential tool in your marketing strategy, we can also conclude that it must be set up to convert. Look at any major, successful law firm’s website and take a page from their book. It’s not limited to law firms, either – this is online marketing 101. Modifying your website into a converting machine is not difficult: make sure it’s easy to find your contact info, and use a variety of CTA buttons to encourage people to reach out. Start posting useful, helpful articles on your blog, and share these on your social media pages to drive traffic. Start with these simple concepts, and your business is guaranteed to improve.