Digital Marketing: 10 steps for making the most of a law firm’s website

By Kevin Vermeulen

A website is obviously a law firm’s most important digital marketing asset.

Yet far too many firms fail to treat their site as the essential tool it is, ignoring basic optimization techniques that would go a long way towards improving both lead generation and ROI.

So how can legal marketers make the most of their firm’s website?

The path to improved lead generation begins with these 10 proven steps.

Focus on the basics

Even the most tried and true optimization tactics aren’t going to deliver if the fundamentals aren’t in place. Before they even begin optimizing their website for lead generation, digital marketers need to get back to basics and ensure the firm’s website is:

• Mobile-friendly: With more than half of the world’s consumers now using smartphones and other mobile devices, they’re increasingly unlikely to engage with any website that isn’t optimized for mobile.
• Optimal load time: Today’s internet users have no patience for slow websites and will quickly move on from any page that takes too long to load.
• Attractive design: A website is often where legal consumers form their first impression. Many will click away from any site that isn’t clean and aesthetically pleasing.

How are existing lead generators performing?

Once the basics have been addressed, firms need to get a handle on how well their existing lead generators perform. By using Website Grader or a similar tool to compare the content and make-up of their best-performing pages against their lower-achieving counterparts, marketing teams will be better able to identify areas where poor performers can be improved.

Include forms to high-traffic pages

Identifying a site’s best-performing pages also presents an opportunity to add lead-generation forms to those already bringing in the most traffic. Providing users with well-designed, easy-to-use forms allows firms to collect email addresses and other data needed to nurture promising leads through the marketing funnel.

Understand the lead-generation process 

Marketers must have a firm grasp of the lead-generation process. To better align content and offers across the marketing funnel, it’s essential to become attuned to the comprehensive conversion path potential clients take along their buyer’s journey. If prospects are dropping at a certain point in the process, A/B testing of landing pages and other assets can provide insight for improving that specific step.

Keep the homepage CTA simple

Because the homepage is at the top of the marketing funnel, its call-to-action shouldn’t ask users to invest in long-form content or download a lead magnet —–that comes later. Instead, the CTA should be simple and straightforward, as illustrated by the following examples:

• Subscribe to updates
• Sign up for our newsletter/blog
• Visit our resource page
• Live chat with our experts

Get personal with other CTAs

While a basic CTA is important for the homepage, law firm’s can, and should, get personal with the call-to-actions that appear on their other pages. Personalized CTAs are more likely to drive engagement because they ensure page visitors see unique images, buttons, and options that align with their specific interests. In fact, according to HubSpot, personalized calls-to-actions convert 20 percent better than more generic versions.

Focus on long-term blogs

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial to lead-generation efforts, and blogging is vital to SEO. Long-form blogs contribute to a website’s page authority when firms want to rank for a particular topic. Organic visitors researching solutions to their legal problems will appreciate blogs that offer as much information as possible.

‘Chat’ with website visitors

Law firms that aren’t leveraging a live chat feature for lead generation are missing out on an excellent opportunity to capture new leads. Live chat is becoming more popular with consumers, and the technology that enables these features has grown increasingly sophisticated. Firms can even direct their chat feature toward high-traffic pages or pages where visitors spend most of their time.

Test, test and test again

Marketers can’t ignore AB testing when optimizing for lead generation. Testing various versions of a landing page’s layout, color, and placement of buttons, images, text, and even the CTA can significantly improve click-through rates.

Follow-up is crucial

Even a high-quality lead is worthless if firms don’t make the effort to guide those leads through the marketing funnel. Once a potential client completes a lead generation form, steps should be taken to provide prospects with valuable content matching their interest. A robust email nurturing campaign that accounts for each stage in the journey from prospect to client is essential.

A website can be a powerful digital marketing tool, provided it’s treated that way.

Law firms that make the effort to optimize their sites for lead generation are far more likely to achieve the engagement, conversions and ROI required for business development success.

Kevin J. Vermeulen is a partner in Good2BSocial LLC, a digital marketing agency that focuses on law firms and companies in the legal industry. He can be reached at [email protected]