Your law firm's cheap website is costing you more than just visitors
When Cheap Is Expensive: How a Low-Budget Website Could Cost Your Law Firm Millions
Discover why a cheap legal website can hurt your firm's profits in the long run
As a lawyer, you probably encourage prospective clients to hire an experienced, knowledgeable lawyer to represent them. Although it might cost less upfront to hire an inexperienced lawyer, it could spell disaster and cost clients more in the long run.
The same holds true for marketing your law firm online. There are many cheap web design services and templates available for law firms, but their return on investment (ROI) is poor. What might seem like a bargain at first could end up costing your firm millions by hindering your marketing results and profits.
Measuring the ROI of Your Legal Website Investment
Online competition among law firms is fierce, so it’s essential to put your firm’s best foot forward. The National Law Review provided an excellent example of the difference that a legal website investment can make on your ROI:
“Consider a typical, small personal Injury practice we talk to on a daily basis. Let’s call it ‘Sample Law Firm.’ The marketing director at Sample Law Firm researched website developers and selected what he thought was a good deal. The contract terms probably appeared to offer quite a bargain: maybe the low-bid vendor waived a few "standard" fees and set up the website for low or no cost, based on an annual contract of $2,000 per month for maintenance and SEO services. A year or two later, Sample Law Firm has seen a $6,000 monthly return from the new, inexpensive website. The budget-minded marketing director celebrates his success, feeling like he made a rather smart investment.”
While this might sound like a winning deal, it’s not. The returns can increase exponentially if you invest in a robust website and use multiple online marketing methods to generate traffic, boost online inquiries, and attract more clients. You might need to spend an additional $5000 to $15,000 per month in order to achieve truly impressive returns. The added costs might include investments in strategic online advertising, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and public relations. After just one year of investing in such a website and online marketing package, your law firm could generate monthly returns that are $60,000 to $200,000 above your monthly investment.
The small law firm described above generated just $4,000 per month in profit after investing $2,000 in its website. If the law firm had considered the potential ROI of a heftier monthly investment in a more targeted website and online marketing strategy, the firm could have profited significantly more. Let’s say your law firm could invest $8,500 each month and then net $127,500 each month. This means that your $2,000 per month website is actually costing you $123,500 per month, which amounts to $1,530,0000 in a year.
There are many law firms competing for clients online. That’s why it’s crucial to invest in a high-quality website and ongoing marketing campaign if you want to stand out and succeed on the web. An inexpensive website solution simply won’t have the marketing prowess needed to rise above the competition and achieve long-term results.
How to Build a Profitable Web Presence for Your Law Firm
A well designed website helps strengthen your law firm’s reputation and gives it an air of professionalism and experience. Capitalizing on visitors’ sense of trust, an effective legal website can convert warm leads into inquiries. Keep in mind that prospective clients researching legal topics online will probably look at around three to four different legal websites before selecting a firm to contact. It’s critical to optimize your website for search engines to ensure that it appears on the first page of search results.
Investing in a top-notch legal website and comprehensive online marketing campaign will help you build credibility among prospective clients right off the bat. It also offers a smooth user experience while providing helpful information that conveys the knowledge and expertise of attorneys at your firm. A strong legal website engages and keeps the attention of visitors with compelling content and contains strong calls-to-action that encourage them to contact your law firm for more information. The process of contacting your firm should be quick, easy, and efficient.
The best web development companies will work with you to create long-term solutions for marketing your law firm online. Features of a well performing law firm website may include the following:
- Great design
- High-quality photography and videos
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Strong local search engine presence
- Optimized title tags and meta descriptions
- Informative, keyword-rich content
- PPC advertising
- Live chat
- Responsive design to cater to smartphone and tablet users
- Social media marketing
- Positive online reviews
Web development and online marketing are complex, requiring the expertise of a diverse team of specialists who can address and connect every step of the online marketing and lead generation process in a streamlined fashion. The best legal web design companies have access to a vast talent pool teeming with experts, including web developers, designers, marketers, SEO specialists, copywriters, social media marketing pros, and online advertising specialists.
Invest in a High-Quality Legal Website from efelle creative
Don’t leave millions of dollars on the table with a “cheap” website. The right website can make the difference between an ROI of $4,000 and $200,000. efelle creative is a Seattle web design company that offers premium websites for law firms, complete with an easy-to-use content management system. If you’d like to dramatically improve your website’s performance and achieve an impressive ROI, please contact efelle’s web design and online marketing team today to schedule a free consultation. Call 206.384.4909 or contact us online to get in touch.