The Gazette’s LinkedIn group is having a useful discussion centred around the launch of Shoosmiths Access Legal website. The responses mainly look at whether or how other solicitors should emulate Shoosmiths’ approach. What’s occasionally difficult to pick out is the real value clients will receive from websites and web-based services. While we see the website and the offers it makes, what we don’t see is the other side of promotions.

Although I haven’t spoken to Shoosmiths, from Marketlaw’s experience, I would suggest there is a lot of other activity that we are not seeing. While preparing a new website one of the first questions to consider is, who is it aimed at and how do we want them to use it? That helps design the site, but there is still one essential activity still to do. Telling the people you designed the website for that it’s there and the benefits to them of using it. And in a suitable manner, keep reminding them that it’s there to help them, 24 hours a day.

Websites and online services raise many questions and issues for solicitors. One point firms need to decide is if their website is primarily to retain or gain clients. For many firms it’s a mixture of the two, but the emphasis is important in deciding how the website is then promoted.

To gain clients requires effort and expenses that includes fighting for position on search engine rankings, competing against the many websites already out there and setting up your firm to take the incoming enquiry volumes (should they materialise).

To retain clients means looking at how you can help the people you already know by reinforcing their view that your firm is ‘their solicitor’; promoting the benefits of and how easy it is for the clients to get immediate help via the website.

Both approaches are there to capture client enquiries. The question to ask is not how good the website looks or what is does, but how good the promotion of it is to the people that you want to use it. Ask the person responsible for your website how the promotion is going and to which groups of potential clients.