5 Reasons Why Your Law Firm’s Website Fails to Attract Clients

When you’re designing a website there are a lot of folks who focus on the wrong things. Spending days agonizing over the exact size of the logo or the differences between red #650d0d and red #600e0e. These small tweaks may make a difference to a brand like Coca Cola that is already dominating the marketing and has $4,320,000,000 yearly to spend on advertising, but what if you only have 0.0000046% of that (about $20k)?

A website can be an extremely powerful tool for generating massive success in your businesses. A well written, well designed website acts as a 24/7 salesperson. A poorly designed website doesn’t just not help you, it can turn off your clients making them run to your competitors. Trying to figure out what matters when designing your site can be overwhelming. A good place to start is with these tips.

Without further ado, here are the 5 reasons your law firm fails to attract clients…

1. Ignoring Performance and Neglecting Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO optimization is crucial for law firms aiming to enhance their online visibility and attract more clients. A website optimized for search engines elevates your firm in search results, directly connecting you with potential clients seeking legal assistance. By focusing on SEO, your content becomes more discoverable, reaching individuals precisely when they need your expertise. This targeted visibility not only boosts your firm's online presence but does so in a cost-effective manner, reducing customer acquisition costs. Investing in SEO is investing in the growth and future of your law firm, ensuring you remain a step ahead in the competitive digital landscape. Learn how SEO can transform your firm's online strategy.

2. Ignoring Online Reputation Management (ORM)

Online Reputation Management (ORM) is about taking control of conversation about your firm online by monitoring online feedback and engaging with it constructively — responding to reviews, updating your website with fresh, engaging content, and showcasing your expertise on social media platforms. It ensures that when clients search for you online, they find positive reviews, successful case outcomes, and professional accomplishments instead of negative comments or unsatisfied clients.

For solo practitioners and small firms, effective ORM can transform your online presence from a liability into your most valuable asset, drawing in clients who trust in your expertise before they've even met you.

Improving your ORM begins with actively monitoring your digital footprint. Set up alerts for mentions of your law firm and regularly review sites where clients might leave feedback including your Google Business Profile, Trustpilot, Yelp, and Lawyers.com. I go into more detail on how to take control of these accounts, set them up properly, and respond to reviews constructively in this complete law firm ORM guide.

3. Poor User Experience (UX)

Imagine you walk into Best Buy with every intention of buying a laptop. The salesperson instead of explaining how different laptops would suit your needs, shows you a random selection of smartphones, cameras, and even television sets. They bombard you with technical specifications that you don’t understand. Instead of guiding you smoothly to the laptops, they confuse you, lead you in circles, or, worse, make it so frustrating that you decide to leave without making any purchase.

This salesperson fails to recognize the importance of understanding the customer's needs, making the shopping experience pleasant, or providing easy paths to fulfillment. Just like this inept salesperson, a website with poor UX overlooks the importance of a seamless, intuitive, and satisfying online journey. It disregards the user's needs for easy navigation and quick access to relevant information, leading to dissatisfaction and lost opportunities.

By focusing on enhancing UX, a website can significantly improve customer satisfaction, engagement, and ultimately, conversion rates.

If you want to frustrate visitors and drive them away, complicated navigation, slow load times, and designs that are unusable on phones will do the trick.

UX encompasses many parts of your design that come together to create the full experience. I go into more detail on how to fix UX mistakes in this guide.

4. Lack of Quality Content

Content is the vehicle that drives your clients from awareness to purchase. Content establishes your authority in your field. Poorly written, outdated, or sparse content can harm your credibility.

Good website content is not just a matter of putting words on a page; it's about creating a strategic asset that aligns with the broader goals of your law firm.

Unfortunately, many solo practitioners and small law firms miss the mark by failing to understand how their content fits into a larger strategy. Content creation is an investment, both in time and resources, and should be approached with a clear purpose in mind.

I've observed attorneys missing the mark on content marketing in several ways — Sharing personal anecdotes or discussing legal topics without a cohesive theme or connection to their legal practice, overlooking the potential to tie these stories back to their expertise and services. This represents a significant missed opportunity. Haphazardly sharing information about a specific part of the law, without providing the reader any context on what they should do with this information. Posting inconsistently without a clear plan.

These mistakes represent wasted time, energy, money, and potential!

The solution lies in performing keyword and market research to identify content gaps and creating a structured plan to address these gaps. This approach not only clarifies where potential clients might be lost on your website but also guides them through their journey from initial awareness to making a decision. Within this plan, there is plenty of room to inject your personal flare (i.e. your personal brand) — clients want to know there is a real person on the other side of the computer!

Effective content marketing transcends mere information dissemination; it's about building trust, establishing expertise, and guiding clients through their legal journey with clarity and assurance. By avoiding these common mistakes and focusing on strategic, client-centered content creation, law firms can significantly enhance their online presence and client acquisition.

I go into great detail about creating valuable content that drives results in this guide. 5. Lack of Clear Branding and Messaging Would you book a cardiac catheterization with a general practitioner? I should hope not. So why should someone book a consultation on divorce with an attorney who doesn’t clearly convey that specialization on their website?

Messaging is very important when it comes to small firms and solo practices. Creating a story around your brand is crucial for marketing success. Your website should clearly convey: Who you are. Your credentials, how and why you are here now doing what you’re doing, what inspires you, etc. What you will do for your potential client. What you have done for clients in the past, case studies, testimonials, success stories, etc. Also include specifics on what it looks like to work with you including timelines for specific cases, when clients can expect to hear from you, etc. How you will do that better than your competition. What about your background makes you the most qualified to do what you do? Share the first hand experiences that drew you to your practice. Explain what your practice does that no other practice does.

You cannot make everyone happy. And by trying you make no one happy!

Determining your firm’s branding and messaging can seem amorphous and daunting, but it can really be as simple as asking yourself the questions above and weaving them into your firm’s story. The goal is to produce a narrative unique to you that can be woven through your website. This brand story will act as honey to the clients you can best serve and vinegar to the clients you don’t want.

Get a Free Website Assessment

A great website can transform your law firm’s visibility and client engagement. However, with a practice to run and without experience in web design that converts, many attorneys neglect their website.

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