Your website is often the first impression potential clients get of your law firm, and we all know how important first impressions are. From something as simple as updating your content to a complete brand overhaul, there are many updates that can give your website the boost it needs.

If you’ve been wondering if your website is outdated, there are some signs that you can look for that indicate that your website could use a refresh. This article will discuss six signs that indicate you might need to update your website.

1. Your Content is Outdated

If visitors to your website see posts or a copyright from 2000, and nothing since then, they will likely leave your page. Outdated information makes a bad impression on visitors and can even lead them to believe that your law firm is no longer in business.

Ensuring that you provide updated, relevant content is a key factor in attracting and converting visitors to your website. Consistently creating new pages (loaded with organically placed keywords), such as adding new blogs, can attract potential clients to your page and keep your existing audience up to date on important legal topics.

2. Decrease in Visitors

Getting more visitors to your website is vital in increasing your conversion rate. So if you’ve noticed that you’re still getting some leads from your website, but not as many as you have historically, it may be time for an update.

Google is one of the best places to get organic traffic to your website. But making sure your website shows high in search engine results pages (SERP) takes some work. One of the elements that factor into search engine rankings is SEO (search engine optimization).

SEO makes your website more visible to users, meaning more traffic and more opportunities to convert visitors into clients. Here are some essential elements of SEO marketing.

• • Keywords that are well-researched, carefully chosen, and that your ideal client will be searching for is crucial.

• Content should be interesting, educational, and relevant and can be presented in the form of website content, blogs, podcasts, videos, “How-to” guides, and social media posts, to name a few.

• Off-Page SEO is just that, optimization that occurs off of your website. Quality backlinks (links to external websites) let search engines know that your website is high-quality and valuable, which builds authority.

• Local SEO has become increasingly important since more people use mobile devices for internet searches. Using local keywords, claiming directory listing, and creating pages on Google Maps and Google My Business local directories are some examples of local SEO best practices.

3. Decrease in Leads

Web design has evolved through the years, bringing websites from more of a digital brochure explaining the services you offer, to what could be one of the most significant sales and marketing tools for your law firm.

Generating leads from your page typically starts with a CTA (call-to-action) located on one of your pages or in a blog post. The CTA will then lead them to a landing page which is used to collect their contact information. After they complete the form, they are redirected to a thank you page.

While it may sound simple to put a “Click Here” button on your page and wait for the leads to roll in, you need to take a more strategic approach to optimize your website for lead generation. For example, are the leads you are getting coming from an email campaign? Social media engagement? Live chat from your website? Blog posts?

When you learn where your leads are coming from, you can focus on those pages to make sure you are doing everything possible to generate user interest on that page. Then, after you have optimized those pages, evaluate the performance of these lead generators regularly to ensure they are still effective.

4. Slow Load Times

In today’s day and age, people won’t wait around for a website to load. If your page loads too slowly, they will head to the next law firm with a faster website.

A page that loads within two seconds has a 9% average bounce rate; if the load time increases to five seconds, it can increase your bounce rate to 38%! Web speed is a significant factor in the user experience, especially for first-time visitors.

5. Your Website Isn’t Mobile-Friendly

Over 4.32 billion people access the internet on mobile devices, and that number will continue to increase. That being said, if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you could miss out on many potential clients. But what does it mean to have a mobile-friendly website?

It has to do with the interface. If you haven’t optimized your website for mobile use, it can make it hard to read on a mobile device. It could require users to pinch or zoom in on the screen to read the text, leading to a frustrated user who leaves your website. If you’d like to check how mobile-friendly your website is, you can use Google’s “Mobile-Friendly” test.

6. Unappealing Design/Layout

Research has shown that users form an opinion about a website in as little as 50 milliseconds. So, if the design and layout of your website aren’t appealing, you could quickly deter potential clients.

Your website is essentially your online office, so you want to impress people with how you present your law firm. With such a small window of time to make an excellent first impression, an unappealing design will work against you.

Avoid having too much text on your page. While you want to ensure that you provide users with quality content, too much text can be off putting. White space on your page allows people to rest their eyes and avoid being overwhelmed with text.

Let Conroy Creative Counsel Get Your Website Up to Speed!

A well-designed, professional website can be your best sales tool. And although an outdated website is better than not having a website at all, you may be missing out on potential clients if you fail to keep your website updated. Therefore, if you can relate to any of the above regarding your law firm’s website, it may be time to consider a redesign or at least an update.

At Conroy Creative Counsel, we help growth-minded law firms expand their reach online with impactful designs and effective digital marketing tactics. As a result, we can leverage the power of marketing to help you grow your law firm.

Contact us today so we can discuss your goals and create a plan to help you reach those goals.