Forget You Own Your Law Firm Website

September 1, 2007 – 5:57 pm

Here’s a tip to help you improve every aspect of your law firm website, from the design to the content and beyond. Forget you own your website, and view it with brutal objectivity (like a prospective client would do).

If you are as familiar with your law firm website as I am with my own websites, then you could be blind to certain weaknesses within the website. I don’t mean that as an insult. On the contrary, this happens to every webmaster — myself included. And it’s only natural. When you see something on a regular basis over time, you begin to not see it after a while.

Case in point, somebody recently pointed out a blatant spelling error on the home page of one of my websites — in a headline no less. I’ve probably looked at that page header a thousand times. But I knew what it was supposed to say, so I didn’t even notice what it actually said.

Okay. So you’re wondering what this has to do with your law firm website, or with Internet marketing in general. Well, it has everything to do with the success of your law firm’s website. Typos, unclear messages, broken hyperlinks, confusing navigation, lack of lead generators … when combined, these small problems can become a big issue. And they can prevent you from achieving the true marketing potential of your law firm website.

So here’s what you do.

A Law Firm Website Exercise

This little website exercise will force you to “step outside” of yourself and see your website with fresh eyes (the way a potential client would see it). All you have to do is pretend that your law firm website belongs to a total stranger, and that you are being paid to evaluate it honestly. In order to earn your pay, you have to give a brutally honest review of the law firm website, as if you were a potential client of that law firm.

Now print out the following questions and visit your website’s home page:

• Is the navigation logical? Can you immediately find your way around?
• Within the first ten seconds, do you see anything of value to you?
• Do you see anything worth digging deeper for?
• Does this website give you confidence in the owner?
• Does the website suggest professionalism and attention to detail?
• Does the website make you want to learn more? Why or why not?
• Does it make you want to contact the law firm behind it? Why or why not?

I guarantee that if you take this exercise seriously, it will help you find areas of your law firm website that you can improve. Once you’ve reviewed your home page, continue on to your other important pages and ask the same questions.

Better yet, ask a friend to do it for you … somebody known for their strong opinions!