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Many legal firms have the look of their website pretty sorted. It’s not unheard of to invest large amounts of money into making and maintaining a slick website design that captures an audience. Colour schemes run to blue because it’s trustworthy, but not yellow because it’s too childish, and definitely include a slim black font because it’s sophisticated. Despite everyone’s claims to looking to substance, let’s face it – we all judge a book by its cover and this is why web design has become a paramount part of developing a business.

But we are stuck doing everything the old way, pouring money into making our websites look great, despite it lacking content. Today the market is inundated with hundreds of competitors who happen to have websites just as appealing as yours. Alongside this, your average client has learned that the Internet is a smorgasbord of information and if they cannot find what they are looking for within one website, they’ll be bound to find it in another.

So here’s the real issue facing legal firms in the Internet realm; if the reader is not able to obtain the information they are looking for, they will simply move onto a competitor’s website. In the vastness of the Internet, law firms have a very small window of opportunity to capture their market audience. To do this effectively firms must provide a few persuasive sentences to grab prospective clients’ attention, while avoiding overwhelming them with information. This is the essence of having a well-drafted service menu, which details the expertise your legal teams can offer potential clients.

Many law firms already have existing service pages complete with vague details about the services they offer; ‘Our firm is the leading expert in the areas of x, y and z’ etc. What these firms forget is that people who visit legal websites in 2015 are often relying on their personal research to determine whether or not they need professional advice. By not detailing your services in depth, you are throwing away an opportunity to convince the reader that what they are researching is not only a legal service they require, but that your law firm has the expertise to offer advice and manage the matter on their behalf. You also risk disproving to the reader that your practice is a leading expert in the services you offer, all because of a lack of detail.  After all, when selecting a book, most of us not only look at its cover,  we also read the blurb on the back to judge whether it is going to be worthwhile investment of our time.

In addition to the above, having a well drafted service page can also result in a marketing boost if it contains enough information. As mentioned in our last blog post on the importance of white papers, the more informative a firm’s service page is, the higher it will be rated in Google’s algorithm. The algorithm operates by ranking search results according to frequency of key terms in a particular web page. As a result, the more relevant information you are able to offer your readers about your legal services, the more likely it is that your law practice will pop up on the first page of Google when prospective clients are seeking advice regarding a particular field of law.

Like your Mother told you, appearances are not everything; substance is what counts, therefore, it is important to be able to showcase your law firm’s unique features through informative and useful content contained within the services menu.

To find out more about adding engaging, detailed content to your legal services menu please fill in our contact form or simply call us on 01767 600544.