Professional services’ has always had a love affair with the “Best of” and Top _____ practices in _____” (you can fill in the blanks) type of ratings and rankings. So here for your consideration are our top five tips for marketing your website. After all, once you’ve built it, “they” won’t come unless you take some action to attract the right audience. We suggest that you consider the following:
1) Your website is essential to your marketing strategy
Every year review and implement your firm’s website marketing strategy to meet and support your firm’s business development objectives or your Return On Opportunity (ROO). As marketing budgets continue to be heavily scrutinized by management, you need to look for new and innovative ways to communicate your message effectively and efficiently, and a well executed website can accomplish this, particularly if you use an open source back end as opposed to proprietary software where you are required to pay annual licensing fees each year. According to a recent survey by JupiterResearch, business executives spend between 14 to17 hours a week searching for information online. However your website needs to be well integrated as a part of the firm’s entire marketing and business development strategy and not as an independent marketing strategy. This will help with maintaining a consistent brand throughout all of your firm’s communication channels.
2) Search Engine Optimization has multiple benefits
The holy grail of internet marketing is to increase traffic to your website. Through a well developed Search Engine Optimization strategy or SEO approach using tactics like Adwords, videos, blogs and content keywords, just a few SEO tools, traffic to your site will most likely begin to increase. Increased traffic to your site could result in more time spent on your website as well as more clicks to different areas. A sound SEO strategy may also invite visitors to your website through a different landing page as opposed to your home page. Remember, SEO should always be taken into consideration on every part of your website; from your content and attorney bios to your open source or proprietary content management system.
3) Social media drives visitors to your site
Social media channels favorably affect the traffic flow to your law firm’s website. Blogs, Twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and many other social media channels can support your firm’s brand, a practice group’s brand or an individual lawyer’s brand. Done well, these “cyber dialogues” can lead to meaningful face-to-face conversations and meetings with potential business partners that started via these social media channels. Simple cross linking between multiple social media channels also helps to drive traffic to your website and create greater awareness for you and your firm. These outlets can provide value and give your audience a reason to click through and visit your website. However, use care to not become a social media hog; over use can lead to becoming a source of white noise and being ignored entirely.
4) Mobile marketing is here to stay
Mobile marketing; marking via PDAs, iPhones and the mobile apps, is the fastest growing form of marketing and branding. The surge of smart phones and more recently the launch of the iPad have forever changed the way people use mobile devices and use the Internet including how they search for or even gain and retain information. Every law firm website that is developed today should have a “mobi” that is launched in association with the website. This is an effective and immediate way of further enhancing your firm’s brand awareness. Not to mention one of the most affordable.
5) Keep your content fresh and vibrant
Content is still king on your website and an essential, critical component to your website. It is fresh and relevant content that keeps people interested and coming back to your site. Continually developing new, important and informative content such as thought leadership articles on recent cases or changes in regulations that might affect the industries your firm serves, the case studies on your firm’s recent wins, blogs and even press releases can help you and your website stay relevant and top-of-mind with your target audience(s).
These are just a few tips to consider when thinking about website marketing. It is not simply just the design of your website, but the strategy behind your website, how it speaks to your audiences and the relevancy of the information your provide. Traditional marketing will always be relevant in professional services and an important aspect to your marketing strategy. However, it is time to think more strategically about new media and technology and innovative ways to reach your audience with the information they need.
If you are interested in reading more marketing tips, please visit Law Firm Marketing Leaders.
