Websites and why HIP replacements are overdue
Is your firm’s web site still offering home information packs? A pat on the back if not. But I see a lot of firms’ websites, and I’m still coming across many that have not been updated since the demise of HIPs several months ago.
I’m sure if it were a sign outside the office building, or a leaflet in reception, it would have gone the day of the announcement. If the web is seen as offering solicitors the prospect of future business success, why are web sites managed so haphazardly?
Underlying this observation is the continuing problem of turning marketing management into action. Many aspects of marketing management are left to partners or staff with only occasional reporting responsibilities. Often firms just hand their websites, newsletters or promotions over to a supplier to sort out for them, in the hope that will solve the marketing question.
While I would encourage firms to use outside help for things like marketing, IT and HR, there remains a need for the firm to actively manage these essential parts of their business.
For marketing, web sites and promotions, the standard business decision of ‘make or buy’ presumes that the firm understands what it is they need.
Since making your own website is no longer a sensible option, you need to understand questions like: why do you have a website? What is it intended to do and what return on the investment do you expect?
Most importantly, given the current and future competitors in the legal services market, is the question, how does this website help our current and future clients gain the benefits of our services? With answers to these and other questions you are more likely to get a useful and effective website. Without that thinking you’re likely to get what the website company wants to sell you.
Taking that ‘customer view’ is an essential part of planning, making, delivering a website alongside most of the maintenance. This is where a good website firm can help you.
However, you also need to think of how the website will be integrated with the fee-earners in your firm. Spending a lot of money on SEO (search engine optimisation) and PPC (pay per click) advertising will be mostly wasted if the enquiries it generates are not easily picked-up by the fee-earners or staff that can turn them into paying clients.
Your firm’s website can perform many useful and often vital promotional function, be sure it’s kept up-to-date. Remember that in this arena, your competitors are just a click or two away and there’ll be a lot more of them soon.
- For more In Business blogs go to http://lawgazette.co.uk/blogs/inbusiness
Comments
Out Of Date Websites And A Checklist Of What You Want
Most lawyer websites either do not position well on search engines or are so boring they make my heart stop!
They do not give potential clients any reason to trust the company, never mind get in touch.
The way to get to the front page of Google is by having;
Search engine friendly website (Google robots have to love it!)
Great, relevant and fresh content,(Google robots find this sexy!)
Inbound links from quality websites (Google counts this as a vote for you!
These are the essentials you need from your website.
The ability to update and edit content instantly, without actually calling you webmaster or outside source
The ability to add additional web pages (not just blog) to jump on breaking news fast
You must be able to shoot, add and to upload video to your site on your own from your desktop
The ability to send an email newsletter to clients without calling your webmaster
Upload the content from the newsletter to your site
The ability to know the exact search terms your prospective clients used to find you on the Internet and the key words consumers are actually using to find you
The ability to have the full contact information that you have collected from the web which can automatically be added to your email newsletter list
The ability to actually convert visitors to clients
An "irresistible offer" that will provoke prospects to raise their hand and say "I'm interested, let's start the conversation."
This checklist can be used to ensure you get a website/s that deliver high Google rankings and leads.
And the more self sufficient you are the less it will cost and the more effective it will be. If all staff spent just 15 minutes a week helping to update the website that’s 7 or 8 articles a week which Google and clients will love. (And it takes care of your email newsletter too).
It’s a relatively small time and financial commitment to have a great website once it is set up.
But without it you will be vulnerable to the competition.
If you want a website that gets you on the first page of Google and gets you leads.........make sure you get the right advice.
*Some lawyers have several websites. They create them for individual niches such as personal injury. This can be an effective strategy, providing they are all on the first page of results of search engines for relevant terms.
Multiple websites do not necessarily have to cost a lot more than doing one website. So you can set up a website for different parts of your business such as charitylaw.com or industrialcompensation.com.
95% of us seem completely incapable of basic Web marketing
Boyd's list of what solicitors need to do is spot on. However if solicitors can't even manage to take all mention of HIP's from their website, there's little chance that they will even start to tackle Boyd's excellent and practical list. 95% of the profession seem to be completely incapable of managing even basic Web marketing.
What solicitors need to do
It seems cheesy, but I have to mention that virtually everything Boyd has mentioned that a website should do is done by the legalrss.co.uk sites and the cost is a few pounds a day.
The one big disagreement I'd have with him is the idea that you can create any quality content worth reading by having people give 15 minutes to it. Quality content is VERY hard to do, especially if you want consistent style (which is very important - you only notice this when it's not there) and takes a LOT of time. We typically edit every article we create six times - because your content reflects your brand values to the reader.
My other misgiving is that I am sure the argument about SEO is much less compelling than using the web for networking: see my recent article 'The Google Myth' in the NLJ for more on that. For most firms I am convinced SEO is a poor investment.
What solicitors need to do
It seems cheesy, but I have to mention that virtually everything Boyd has mentioned that a website should do is done by the legalrss.co.uk sites and the cost is a few pounds a day.
The one big disagreement I'd have with him is the idea that you can create any quality content worth reading by having people give 15 minutes to it. Quality content is VERY hard to do, especially if you want consistent style (which is very important - you only notice this when it's not there) and takes a LOT of time. We typically edit every article we create six times - because your content reflects your brand values to the reader.
My other misgiving is that I am sure the argument about SEO is much less compelling than using the web for networking: see my recent article 'The Google Myth' in the NLJ for more on that. For most firms I am convinced SEO is a poor investment.
Out of date Websites
Mr Boyds checklist omits a vital element - namely the inclusion of interactive product/content.
Modern interactive technologies, such as our own, illustrate the dynamic nature of interactive products now available.
Interactive content works for both the client and the firm 24/7. This goes some way to answering the perennial question: "so we now have a website, and have spent a lot in acheiving same, but what on earth do we do with it?"
ABS's Law firm Marketing is a Must To Survive
A character in William Shakespeare’s Henry The Sixth, Part II famously said, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Though that sentiment has undoubtedly been echoed countless times in the centuries since the Bard of Avon penned the line (or perhaps did not, depending upon the scholarly theories to which one subscribes), solicitors are one of life’s necessities. However, finding the right one is not always easy for people urgently in need of legal assistance; conversely, it can also be difficult at times for solicitors or law firms to acquire new clients.
Law firms need to embrace new technologies and out of the box thinking. Enter the comparison websites, specifically i compare solicitors. With only a one off annual payment for subscription.
Solicitors will need embrace these new ways of marketing or be left behind on the shelf.
The legal profession is changing as never before; the Legal Services Act is ushering in alternative business structures (ABS’s) for solicitors, such as the Legal Disciplinary Partnership (LDP). More new structures will become available in 2011. Under the provisions of the Legal Services Act supermarkets and banks will be able to offer cut-price legal advice on services such as home purchases and small claims. Large legal firms will also have the right to take on areas such as accountancy and financial services, allowing them to expand their businesses across Europe. It is indeed a brave new world for the legal profession.
Says Mr. Mahoney, owner of icompare solicitors “We believe iCompareSolicitors will have a profound impact on the legal industry by bringing clarity to both clients and solicitors. It will also assist in cleaning up the industry. Our most important goal is to provide every citizen in the UK with access to justice.”
It would seem, then, that notwithstanding the suggestion of the Bard’s character, the future lies not in killing all the solicitors, but rather in doing away with old and sometimes dicey methods of shopping for a good one.