A website acts as your law firm’s online calling card, a one-stop shop where customers can learn the basics about your firm without even making a phone call. But that’s not the sum total of what your website can do. Your website is an opportunity to generate leads, build trust with clients, and create a positive experience working with your firm.
Yet not all websites are equal. A website that dates back to the Dot-Com Era won’t provide your law firm the same value as a polished, new site. Here are five ways a new, professional website can help you bring in new clients, build your firm’s reputation, and increase profits.
1. Create a home base for lead generation campaigns
A lead generation campaign is a strategic marketing activity that attorneys can deploy to attract and capture potential clients’ interest in a service, ultimately generating leads for the firm. These campaigns can come in many shapes and sizes, but they generally work in this order:
- A potential client discovers your firm through one of your marketing channels (e.g., social media, paid advertising, attorney listing, etc.)
- That visitor then clicks on a call-to-action (CTA)
- That CTA takes your visitor to a landing page, a web page intended to capture lead information in exchange for an offer (e.g., consultation, downloadable eBook, webinar, etc.)
- They complete a form in exchange for the offer
If you’re still relying on an older website to generate leads, you may miss out on potential opportunities. A new website can incorporate modern lead generation tools more easily, such as chatbots or opt-in forms, helping convert visitors into clients.
2. Showcase expertise and credibility with valuable content
People often need legal services during difficult moments, whether it be a divorce, personal injury, or a business contract gone awry. They want the most qualified and trustworthy lawyers to handle their cases.
Yet does your website contain up-to-date legal information? Does it reflect your most recent wins?
If not, then you may struggle to gain the trust of potential clients.
Website content is the simplest way to showcase your law firm’s credibility, and there are numerous ways you can take your content from outdated to current:
- Build practice pages that explain your key practice areas and how you serve your clients
- Create blog posts to cover common issues that come up in consultations
- Develop robust FAQ pages to answer questions for clients before they even ask
3. Make your law firm easier to find with SEO
While word of mouth can go a long way for a law firm, some potential clients will still look to Google to help weigh in on the final decision. Ensure that your law firm can be found with local SEO (search engine optimization).
In a nutshell, SEO is the process of using the right keywords to make your website easier to find on the internet. There are more technical aspects to SEO as well, such as:
- Fast page-loading speeds to ensure visitors don’t leave the website
- Mobile optimization so that the website works just as well on a phone as it does on a desktop computer
- Website hosting with SSL security to ensure client data is safe
- A user-experience (UX) design so that it’s easy for clients to navigate the website
But you’re not a marketer—you’re a lawyer. You don’t have time to worry about SEO or the latest algorithmic update. That’s where working with a legal-specific website provider like Tabs3 Websites can be helpful. Tabs3 Websites offers all of the above as part of our turnkey website solution, so potential clients can find your firm quickly.
4. Elevate the client experience with convenience tools
Growing your firm means bringing in new clients, but it also requires retaining them.
One of the best ways to retain clients is to make it easy to work with your law firm. Clients expect to be able to pay with credit cards, communicate with your firm in their preferred manner, and access documents anytime. The good news is that there are lots of options for adding convenient features to your site.
Client portals
A client portal is a place where clients can log in and review important documents, access billing history, and pay online.
While client portals are a useful convenience tool, it’s easy for access to get lost in your client’s inbox. But when you add a link to your website, they’ll always be able to find it (and the information they’re looking for).
Online payment
Fewer and fewer clients today want to send checks by mail. Instead, they prefer to settle invoices by using online payment options.
While you can (and should) send payment links with electronic invoices, you can also boost convenience for your clients by adding payment links to your website, so they can pay with their preferred methods such as e-check, credit cards, or debit cards.
When choosing a payment processor, look for one that’s designed for the legal industry so you can avoid compliance issues. Ideally, your payment processor should also completely integrate with your legal practice management and legal accounting software so you can create a seamless ecosystem for running your firm.
Client intake forms
Bringing on new clients is exciting, but it’s also a lot of work. You can make the process smoother, though, when you invest in legal client relationship management (CRM) software to facilitate client intake.
Your legal CRM can be used in combination with your website to gather relevant information for cases. You can share user-friendly forms that guide new clients through important questions by using logic-based conditioning. This allows your firm to speed up intake, get results for your clients faster, and reduce work for your administrative staff.
5. Provide insight into user behavior with analytics
If you’re struggling to convert clients, you may need to understand more about their decision-making process. Website analytics give you a glimpse into what’s working and what’s not with your lead generation strategies. For optimal results, track metrics that align with your law firm’s goals.
Common metrics for law firms to follow include:
- Bounce rate: the number of people leaving your website after looking at a single page
- Average page time: how long someone spends on each page
- Total traffic: the number of people who visit your website monthly
- Page views: how many views each page receives in a set time
- Conversions: how many people complete a specific action, such as signing up for the newsletter or filling out a contact form
Increase your law firm’s reach with a turnkey solution from Tabs3 Websites
Grow your practice without working excessive, non-billable hours with the turnkey website solution from Tabs3 Websites. Tabs3 specifically designs websites for law firms, offering a blend of expert design, compelling content, and top-tier technical support.
Schedule a demo to see how Tabs3 can create a sleek, all-in-one website for your law firm at an affordable price.
