Digital Marketing, Web Design
10 Signs Your Law Firm’s Website Needs a Redesign
Your prospective clients are more web-savvy than ever, reading reviews and comparing you to all the other firms in the search results. How does your firm’s website stack up?
A well-designed website is your firm’s chance to immediately establish credibility. A new website should be about more than aesthetics; it’s a chance to improve client experience and demonstrate a forward-thinking mentality with features such as online appointment scheduling, secure client portals, and live chat functionality.
Is it time for a change to your website? Here are 10 signs that your law firm site needs a refresh:
1. You can’t remember the last time it was updated.
Many attorneys believe their website is a one-and-done project that won’t need to be refreshed or updated for a while. However, leaving your site untouched can lead to issues down the line as it becomes less effective at driving new business. Eventually, it will require significant effort from a web designer when you do update the design.
Your website needs consistent maintenance, both in terms of design and copy. When new design trends or functionality start to arise, you can be an early adopter. Consistent maintenance can eliminate major redesigns in the future and ensures your website is an effective marketing vehicle.
2. It’s not optimized for mobile.
Today, more than half of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. That means most people use their phones as their primary search tool, so putting mobile first can’t be ignored. Google even crawls your mobile site over the desktop version, so there is also a significant SEO impact on your law firms’ site when you focus on mobile.
Your firm’s site needs a layout and functionality that lends itself to a phone. This means clear menus, eliminating large walls of text, images that fit into the frame, and easy navigation.
If you’ve ever tried to use a website on your phone that wasn’t mobile-optimized, you know how frustrating it is. If it is hard to use or read your website on a phone, it’s time for a mobile-friendly update.
3. It’s slow to load.
People have short attention spans. In fact, nearly half of users will abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Visitors will become frustrated if your firm’s website doesn’t load quickly, especially on a phone. You may hemorrhage potential clients who leave your website in favor of a competitor’s.
When designing a law firm website, aesthetics aren’t the only thing that matters. How quickly your pages load makes a significant difference in bringing in new cases. In addition, page speed is continually an important Google ranking factor.
You can test your site’s page speed here. If your site currently loads slowly, it might be time for a website rebuild to address the issues and speed up your site load time.
4. Your last blog post is years old.
Maintaining a legal blog is a crucial component of your firm’s SEO and content strategy. If you’re posting inconsistently or haven’t published a new post in years, consider rethinking your approach.
Aside from blogs being your chance to showcase your legal expertise, not updating your blog can make your site feel stale. A current blog section with engaging titles, images, and relevant topics presents you as an authority, capable of getting a client their desired result.
5. The pages share outdated information.
Laws change, and law firms change, too. You may hire new attorneys or some may no longer be there. You may move offices or open a new location. Your practice areas could also expand. As these things change, your website information must be brought up to date.
If your website has outdated information, it’s time not only to refresh your content but to create a new process for ensuring your website stays current. Re-evaluate your content regularly and make any needed updates promptly.
6. It doesn’t grab a visitor’s attention.
Pretend you are a prospective client. Open your website and give it a few seconds. What is your initial impression? Did you get a feel for the business and what being a client would feel like? When it comes to website design, you only have seconds to grab a user’s attention and convince them to learn more.
If the first look at your homepage isn’t compelling or unique, you may want to reevaluate. Bio images and other visual elements should be welcoming and project the message you want to convey. A website designer will know how to use text, color, photography, and video to command your firm’s potential clients’ attention.
7. It doesn’t maximize conversions.
At its core, your website functions to attract new clients and compel them to call your firm. An effective design is centered around this goal.
Today, it’s the norm for consumers to use the internet to research a product or service before making a decision, especially when it comes to reading attorney reviews. With this in mind, your site needs to be more than a digital brochure. It’s a sales vehicle that also plays a crucial role in the intake process.
For most law firms, a conversion occurs when a visitor performs some action, like calling the number or filling out a form. Modern web design does this in a visually appealing way. Mobile visitors should be able to click to call your firm easily, and contact forms should be simple to access but not overbearing.
8. Your key web metrics are trending down.
One of the best ways to understand if your website needs to be updated is to review key performance indicators . These metrics help you keep a pulse on your website’s performance and provide valuable insights into how visitors are interacting with your site. Are people calling your firm from the number listed on your website? How is your site ranking compared to your competitors? Is your web traffic stagnant or lower than usual?
If you’re reviewing these metrics regularly, you’ll start to see areas where your website needs improvement. When web traffic has stalled out or started to decline, your SEO performance is likely falling. If your conversion rate is low, it probably signals the need for design improvements.
9. It doesn’t match your marketing efforts.
Creating a modern website design is a strong first step in generating new business for your law firm. But when paired with other digital marketing tactics such as SEO or PPC campaigns, your website can be one of your most powerful tools to attract potential clients.
A visually appealing, easy-to-navigate website should enhance the impact of your marketing efforts so that the leads you drive through PPC or organic searches are met with a seamless and engaging user experience. Presenting a fresh and dynamic online presence can make a difference to those researching and forming an opinion about your law firm.
10. It can’t scale to match your firm’s growth.
Ultimately, your law firm’s website should have a structure supporting your short-to-medium term growth goals. If your site started out on a prebuilt theme or template, you’ll eventually run into limitations on how many office locations or content pages can be added. Once you hit that ceiling, you could face functional issues such as slow page speed that might require a costly overhaul. You might run into similar structural issues if your site was created by one person but has been managed by multiple people or organizations over time.
When considering a site redesign, think through how your firm might evolve over the next five years. Will your current website still reflect your business then? If the answer is no, it might be more efficient to consider a redesign so the site structure and content strategy is done correctly at the outset and it’s easier to make changes later on.
Ready for a Website Redesign? Postali Can Help
If you’re not bragging about your website, it’s essential to find a web designer who can help. An established and experienced legal marketing agency like Postali will know how to translate your firm’s unique story into a visually appealing, modern website you’re excited to show off.
If you’re considering a redesign of your legal website, we’d love to discuss how Postali can help.
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