Does Your Law Firm’s Website Work?

As your law firm migrates to a virtual environment, a critical issue to address is the functionality of your website. Akin to a cross between a road-sign and billboard, your firm’s website serves to direct clients and prospective clients to the resources you can provide, as well as advertise your services to the masses.

Registering as a member with COUNSELUNITED is but one arrow in your firm’s quiver in terms of finding an outlet to display your services. In addition, consider the following criteria to gauge how your firm’s site performs overall:

  1. Is your site mobile-friendly?  According to a Thomson Reuters survey of U.S. Consumer Legal Needs, over half of legal consumers utilize a mobile device to locate attorney services. If your firm’s site isn’t mobile friendly, chances are the consumer will not spend time navigating the site and will continue their search.
  2. How is the Image Quality?  We are in a digital age, with access to high resolution cameras and images literally at our fingertips. Capture your audience with quality visual design, which necessarily includes appealing image resolution. Your clients, and future clients, will thank you.
  3. User Experience and Simplicity.  Ensure your message is crisp, clear and convincing. Consumers tend to turn away from complicated sites – save the legal analysis for your work product or the content section of your website (e.g., blog posts, newsletters, whitepapers, etc.) and make certain the main section of your site is personal and engaging with clear direction as to what you do and how to make contact.
  4. Who is Your Audience?  Understand your audience (e.g., who you want as a client) and write to them, not the population at large.
  5. Track the Site’s Performance.  Maintaining a pulse on your site’s data helps you understand user behavior and what works (or, more importantly, what doesn’t) in terms of drawing attention to your site. If you have not considered site performance, take a spin with Google Analytics and focus on these metrics: site visits, unique visitors, page views and bounce rates (the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing a specific page).

Questions on registering your firm’s site with COUNSELUNITED to increase exposure?  Please contact us or become a COUNSELUNITED member by clicking here.

Teleworking Tips for Solos and Boutique Firms In the Face of COVID-19

Remote Working

For better or worse many firms and attorneys are facing disruption amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and being forced to work remote.

Consider the following tips while converting (or updating) your remote work set-up –

  1. Network Security and Horsepower – have you ensured that your home office offers a secured network and is able to support the increased use of the “home office?” Consider a review of your antivirus and malware software to make certain proper security is in place. Additionally, contact your data provider to upgrade your network.
  2. Triage Your Schedule and Prioritize – to maintain sanity while still putting forth good work product, create a triage list of looming deadlines, what needs to occur immediately and those items which may take a backseat due to Court closures or other interruptions. Transparency with your staff, partners, clients and opposing counsel is critical, and will lessen self-imposed stress while focusing your work.
  3. Communicate – clients now have a new host of issues, such as job loss, office closures, etc. Stay in front of your clients and communicate any changes in your schedule so they are still able to readily contact you. Also, consider providing increased flexibility in your schedule to accommodate the upheaval in your clients’ lives.