Thanks to the increased focus on online platforms and digital solutions during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, having an innovative, engaging website has never been more critical for law firms of all sizes. The buck doesn’t stop at simply having a quality website, however. Rapid changes in the digital marketing space, as well as consumer behaviour and taste, mean that you need to continually develop and adapt your website to match these changes.
In today’s climate, it is absolutely necessary to have a website that is optimized for mobile usage. While people do still use traditional websites on laptops and desktops to explore the services that they need, more and more people are turning to their smartphones to browse the web and to visit company websites. To give you a better idea as to why mobile compatibility is such an urgent need for your law firm, here are some compelling statistics that will persuade you to begin working on your website and some instructions on how your firm can take the first necessary optimization steps.
The growing mobile user base
Smartphone and mobile device usage is growing every year, with research showing that there are more than 3 billion smartphone users in the world currently, with that number set to grow by several hundred million over the coming years. Businesses that do not optimize their website for mobile use, are essentially sabotaging themselves and blocking off access to a much larger client base than they can imagine.
A word of advice, don’t be that law firm that cuts itself off from a burgeoning market! If you want to find out if your law firm’s website is mobile-friendly, check out Google’s Mobile Test Tool.
Convenience and the smartphone
Convenience is vital for many consumers, and what is more convenient than having all the information you need right at your fingertips?
If your law firm’s website, and its blog, can easily be located on any device, then it will enjoy more traffic and in turn, boost your website’s SEO. It goes without saying that the chances of funnelling these site visitors into leads and ultimately a retained client is considerably much higher than relying on the Yellow Pages in this day and age!
As such, any techniques you can use to grow your website’s traffic are essential for your law firm, and mobile optimization should form a crucial part of your website growth strategy.
The rise of mobile social media use
With mobile technology and social media usage growing at exponential rates over the last few years, your firm needs to do all it can to funnel those users to your social media pages and ultimately your website to retain your services. Having a strong social media presence, and online presence, in general, is a really good way of casting the net just wide enough to find new potential clients. Not quite sure your existing social media strategy is working for you? Our team can help you figure that out and set you on the right path to engage with the right audience and keep them informed on the latest updates in your law firm.
A solid social media strategy combined with a mobile-friendly website will drive more leads to your firm and help you secure even more clients.
Mobile SEO benefits your local SEO too
For many lawyers that operate in a specific jurisdiction, local SEO is incredibly important as this is the lifeblood of your marketing efforts. With the support of an optimized and mobile-friendly website, your firm can ensure that your site is accessible to everyone who needs to use it, while also saving you time and effort to source these leads and visitors.
Optimizing your website for mobile use will not only allow smartphone users to access your site but also help you to boost your law firm’s local SEO. Research shows that 53% of smartphone searchers are looking for local businesses to patronize. So, if you want to drive new clients to visit your legal offices, then your website must be mobile-friendly and address their immediate concerns in order to win them over.
Optimizing your website for mobile is neither difficult nor expensive
With the help of a dedicated and experienced digital marketing team, the process of ensuring your website is mobile-ready and friendly won’t be long, or costly. Having a team you can trust to deliver on its promises to transform your website in a quick and efficient way is one of the main reasons we stand apart in the digital marketing industry. Let us do the heavy lifting for you while you and your team focus on managing your practice and supporting your clients.
What does a great website look like?
Now that you know how important it is to have a mobile-optimized website for your law firm, you may be asking yourself what this mobile website needs to make it stand out from your competition. This is a great question, and your website will need several different characteristics to attract your desired audience. Here are a few major aspects you will need to focus on when you start preparing your website for mobile optimization.
- Accessibility – Although perhaps many of your visitors who use a mobile device might be younger, you must have a website that is accessible to all visitors including those who are older or those who have certain disabilities that prevent them from navigating the website as intended.
- Attractive layout – Looks are almost always everything! It’s important that your colour scheme and your pictures are presented in such a way that is appealing and doesn’t make it hard to read or look at your website.
- Easy to navigate – Simply put, users are not going to be happy with a mobile website that is difficult to use. Make sure that your site is easy to move around in and that it provides simple sections for each aspect of your business.
- Simple content – On a mobile website, no one wants to read walls of text or go through miles of small text. Keep text larger, broken apart, and to the point so that visitors can read through your site and easily find what they need.
- Quick load times – If your website isn’t quick to load, your potential clients won’t be quick to contact you. Make sure that your website loads quickly and can be navigated quickly as well.
If at the end of this article you’ve just realized that your law firm’s website isn’t as mobile-friendly as you’d initially thought, then you need to do something about it. As a leading law firm SEO expert, Soulpepper Legal Marketing understands how to support law firms across North America to reach their intended audience and build their practices. With our extensive knowledge of the legal industry, we’re the perfect partner to help you keep your website ahead of the rest and make sure that it always offers users the functions they expect.
Our team of digital marketing experts is only a phone call away. Too busy for a call or want to know how we can help your specific case? Take our short client quiz to tell us more about your firm. We’re here to support you.
-The soulpepper team
