A firm’s conversion percentage will often rest on the ability of the homepage to capture a visitor’s attention.  Without an inviting and informational homepage, visitors will be quick to hit the “Back” button and move on to the next website until they find a firm that fits their needs.  As such, there are a few things your can do to improve that first impression and attract more clients.

First, always be sure to display your firm’s contact information prominently on the home page.  This may seem elementary, but many attorneys make a critical mistake in not displaying their contact information up front and in plain view.  [...]]]> Most web marketing efforts are geared toward drawing traffic to your firm’s website.  Often overlooked (and more cost-effective), are techniques to convert more of your site’s existing visitors into paying clients.

A firm’s conversion percentage will often rest on the ability of the homepage to capture a visitor’s attention.  Without an inviting and informational homepage, visitors will be quick to hit the “Back” button and move on to the next website until they find a firm that fits their needs.  As such, there are a few things your can do to improve that first impression and attract more clients.

First, always be sure to display your firm’s contact information prominently on the home page.  This may seem elementary, but many attorneys make a critical mistake in not displaying their contact information up front and in plain view.  In a world where obtaining information quickly is essential, the extra steps necessary to gather the correct contact information may be enough to turn potential clients away from a firm.

Next, websites should take advantage of stylistic options to enliven content and emphasize points of interest.  Web users have notoriously short attention-spans and will rarely spend their time reading an entire block of text, instead skimming the surface of pages, potentially skipping over important pieces of information.  By bolding or italicizing certain words or phrases, your site can break up large blocks of monotonous text and draw visitors’ attention to important ideas.  Grouping lists using bullet points is another effective way of emphasizing individual portions of text and attracting the reader’s eye.

Finally, be sure to take full advantage of your achievements and existing reputation.  Logos for awards and honors should be prominently displayed on your home page.  Depending on your practice, it may be also be worthwhile to include testimonials from previous clients.  These forms of third-party validation are useful in setting your firm apart, and communicating the reputation which may otherwise be buried in the more remote pages of your website.

As always, any updates to your firm’s website should be made in line with your overall marketing strategy.   Keeping that in mind, the tips discussed above can be instrumental in helping your website maximize its current traffic — and turn prospective clients into paying ones

The written content on your website is the first impression visitors have of you and your practice.   When your site is intended to attract new clients, or help you retain the clients you already have, it is critical that the content on that site paint you and your firm in the best possible light.  Think for a minute about the ways that you form an opinion about an organization, publication, or blog based on the content you find when visiting the site.  Obvious typos or poor grammar are immediately noticeable — [...]]]> In an earlier entry, we discussed the importance of continually updating the content on your website to attract attention from major search engines such as Google, which in turn can drive more traffic to your site.  But what will visitors find once they arrive there?

The written content on your website is the first impression visitors have of you and your practice.   When your site is intended to attract new clients, or help you retain the clients you already have, it is critical that the content on that site paint you and your firm in the best possible light.  Think for a minute about the ways that you form an opinion about an organization, publication, or blog based on the content you find when visiting the site.  Obvious typos or poor grammar are immediately noticeable — but less-glaring problems stick out as well.  Poor structure and organization, circular logic, unsupported claims, or even something as seemingly trivial as the overuse of exclamation points can quickly destroy a reader’s confidence.  Lackluster writing sends an instant signal that the site is unprofessional, or contains info that is not to be trusted.  On the other hand, a well-researched, skillfully-written website can do more than just make your practice look good – it can help turn a casual visitor into a paying client.  It’s obvious that the content should be well-written and free from careless errors, but it’s equally important that your site demonstrate a legally accurate and stylistically authoritative tone that tells potential clients and fellow attorneys that your law firm should be taken seriously.

The trouble with legal website content is that truly compelling copy requires the hand of a talented writer with an in-depth understanding of the law.  For this reason, few web development companies emphasize the importance of original written content – indeed, many do not even offer original content.  The few web development companies that do handle content often rely on “canned” content – generic language that is used and re-used, instead of being custom-written from scratch specifically for the client.  At NextClient, each of our talented writers is also a licensed attorney, giving them an immediate familiarity with the law that allows them to zero in on a unique approach to building a new custom content package, tailored to the specific needs of every client we take on.  Often, as potential new sources of business arise, our clients will ask our team to establish blogs and satellite sites that will supplement their main website.  In addition, we continually work with long-term clients to add new content to their existing site, including news items, notable achievements, and significant case results that will keep their content fresh – and compelling – for years to come.

For most law firms, the most difficult part of making a website work is implementing an effective strategy for generating visitors who will potentially become clients.  Until recently, much of the talk in this area has focused on search engine optimization, or SEO for short.  SEO encompasses the breadth of processes undertaken for the purpose of raising a website’s rankings in search engines.  Given that 85% of individuals utilize search engines online, it is easy to see the importance of a high page ranking.  Highly-ranked websites will [...]]]> Picture this: your firm has just spent months going back and forth with a team of web designers trying to create a website.  After many hours of labor, you finally have a product that has some marketing power, but there’s a problem – the site isn’t getting any visitors.

For most law firms, the most difficult part of making a website work is implementing an effective strategy for generating visitors who will potentially become clients.  Until recently, much of the talk in this area has focused on search engine optimization, or SEO for short.  SEO encompasses the breadth of processes undertaken for the purpose of raising a website’s rankings in search engines.  Given that 85% of individuals utilize search engines online, it is easy to see the importance of a high page ranking.  Highly-ranked websites will undoubtedly receive more visitors, and it follows that more visitors will translate into more clients.

With such a seemingly rosy upside to distract them, few people take into account the full cost of search engine optimization.  The SEO industry has enjoyed a period of significant growth in the past few years, but there is still only one Google, one Yahoo!, and one Bing, and competition for desirable keywords has never been more intense.  Today, the same SEO metrics that would have had a website ranked #1 in the past may not even place the same website on the first page.  This influx in competition has made search engine optimization an expensive endeavor.

Thankfully, search engine rankings don’t hold a monopoly on internet traffic generation.  Firms now have a wide variety of tools at their disposal to gain exposure for their website, many of which provide greater flexibility in reaching a target audience while minimizing cost.  Social networking sites, including Twitter and Facebook, have been hailed as the models of the Web 2.0 world.  Web 2.0 sites are characterized by interaction among users and the real-time sharing of information, which, when used correctly, can be a very effective strategy in generating web traffic.  When the user consents to the virtual relationship (accepting a Facebook friend or “following” an account on Twitter), the user “opts-in” to receiving messages sent by the firm.  A developed social network presence gives a firm access to a targeted audience of individuals almost in real-time.  Furthermore, these sites allow users the ability to easily forward content to their network, which can then in turn be forwarded again and again.

Another emerging trend is the cost-per-action model of advertising.  Broken down into cost-per-impression and cost-per-click, the cost-per-action model gives firms previously unparalleled control over who sees their ad and how much they pay to place themselves in front of an audience.  Based on the particular cost-per-action model that is chosen, the firm sets the maximum cost that they’re willing to pay for each potential visitor.  All major search engines offer cost-per-click advertising.  Google has its Adsense network; Yahoo! offers the Yahoo! Publisher Network.  Facebook even provides its own cost-per-click advertisements.  On Adsense and Facebook, the paid advertisements appear to the right of the page content.  Networks allow advertisers to control parameters which will limit to whom they show the advertisement.  For instance, Facebook allows advertisers to include individuals who have particular phrases in their profile (including geographic locations).  In this way, a firm is afforded maximum flexibility in deploying their advertising budget.

Technology on the web is developing faster than ever.  Different features are being created every day to improve our ability to reach our target audience.  In the future, some technology will become obsolete and fall by the wayside, while new technology will emerge in its place, providing continuously more effective – and more cost-effective – methods of generating web traffic and bringing in new clients.

Custom Web Design – What You Want, the Way You Want It

With a custom-designed website, you control the look and feel of your website, instead of being forced to work around a prefabricated template that may not let you do what you want to do.  You are not limited to the template’s architecture but can create and insert the elements [...]]]> When choosing to create a website, an entire range of options are available, from off-the-shelf do-it-yourself templates to custom designs built from the ground up.  In between are hybrids that enable you to select from a gallery of designs and customize the content to meet your needs.   Are there significant differences between doing it yourself versus having a managed website, or between using a template versus a custom web design?  Which method is right for you?

Custom Web Design – What You Want, the Way You Want It

With a custom-designed website, you control the look and feel of your website, instead of being forced to work around a prefabricated template that may not let you do what you want to do.  You are not limited to the template’s architecture but can create and insert the elements you want to have where you want to have them.  Our Custom WebShop™ service takes full advantage of Web 2.0 design elements, achieving a higher level of freedom in website design than ever before.  If you can imagine it, we can create it.

Our Custom WebShop™ team works directly with you to develop the look and feel of your website.  Our team of attorney writers works closely with you to understand the specifics of your practice and communicate those facts in an engaging way that attracts and keeps potential clients on your website until they are ready to contact your firm.

Template Design – An Economical Choice for Return on Investment

A template website offers the advantage of maximum affordability.  Unfortunately, the limitation of choices and the inability to customize or tweak most designs can be frustrating to attorneys and law firm administrators who understand the importance of expressing their firm’s individuality in an increasingly crowded and expanding Internet realm.  Also, many companies do little more than host your site and cannot advise you on the kind of decisions you need to make to create an effective website.

To meet your needs in the most cost-effective manner, we created Custom WebExpress™.  Through this service, the client begins by selecting a layout from an extensive gallery of hundreds of choices created by our in-house design team.  The client then adds elements to make the design their own, changing color schemes, and inserting their own firm logo, photos, or other graphic elements.

A Company That Meets Your Needs When You Need Them

At NextClient, we understand that different options may be right for you at different times in the life of your law firm.  We offer a variety of choices to meet your present needs, whatever they may be.  The first step is to call and visit with one of our design professionals.  Let us create a solution that fits your budget and meets your needs for client recruitment, retention and referral.

For example, you may have an interesting article or description on your website about one of your main practice areas.  This content can be linked to a Facebook “Like” button, so [...]]]> You may be familiar by now with social networking services such as Facebook.  You may use it to keep in touch with your friends and let them know what you are doing, or to reconnect with old friends who have moved away or lost touch.  Maybe you have reconnected or met new people through the Facebook page of a friend or business associate.  If you stop to think for a moment about the power of Facebook to bring people together, you will soon realize the power that integrating such tools into your law firm website can bring to your overall marketing and client recruitment strategies.

For example, you may have an interesting article or description on your website about one of your main practice areas.  This content can be linked to a Facebook “Like” button, so with one click a reader can indicate that he or she likes your content.  This fact will immediately be reflected on the reader’s own Facebook page, and that reader’s entire network of friends will now have a link to your website.  If anyone of those friends follows the link and also “likes” your page, the whole process will start all over again, this time with a new network of people – and potential clients – who will have the opportunity to view your webpage.

You don’t need to reach the entire network of 500 million Facebook users in order to derive benefits from linking social media to your website – imagine what just a few dozen word of mouth referrals in your local area can do for you.  Contact the web specialists at NextClient to discuss how to integrate social networking services into your law firm website.