New devices and better artificial intelligence technology are changing the way people find attorneys online. Heading into 2020, here are five concerns you will probably see addressed in the online portion of any competitive law office’s business development plan.
It is no secret people speak differently than they write. Read through the copy on almost any legal website and you’ll immediately see the difference.
Currently, most practices have professional-sounding content peppered with short, two-to-three-word keyword phrases. Most of the time, these keywords are far from what someone would say in everyday life.
With new developments and search technology, particularly from people talking into smartphones, wearables, or intelligent home devices, search engines are getting a higher volume of more conversational searches. Predicting what people will ask and incorporating those questions into your website is becoming more and more important.
Chatbots are nothing new. In fact, they have become nearly ubiquitous. A good bot is now an element of nearly every successful legal website. Going forward, these initial points of contact are going to become more intelligent, friendlier, and, as a result – more effective.
Content and client-facing technology elements are definitely important. However, a good technical backbone for your site also makes a difference. Beyond the minimum requirements, such as making sure search engine robots can read the information on your site, the current landscape rewards you if you can reduce loading times. This sometimes results in a significant streamlining effort.
Speed is especially important for the mobile versions of your site. People using handheld devices or wearables are often in a rush and they often have relatively slow or unreliable internet connections. As a result, search engines rank faster pages considerably higher for mobile searches. As I write this update in March of 2021, Google is preparing to start judging and ranking websites based on Core Web Vitals scores from Page Speed Insights.
Social media is a major reference point for a growing number of potential legal consumers. Prospective clients visit your profiles to get an idea of who you are, what type of practice you run, and, in some cases, to hear what other people are saying about you. Facebook and other platforms are also good places to engage and reengage directly with clients. Chances are you could be getting more out of this resource.
During the past year, there have been some big changes in the way Google and Facebook serve up ads. Google’s new responsive search ads automatically change headlines, images, and other content based on the viewers’ devices and behaviors — but there are many other recent and upcoming changes.
Some of these changes are just small tweaks to your existing material, while others may require more of a commitment. While you may have to pick and choose, it is likely your practice’s web marketing strategy in 2020 will involve at least one of these issues. Contact FORWARD Lawyer Marketing at (888) 590-9687 to speak with a digital marketing specialist about how we can help in any of these areas.
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