How Consumers Find And Hire Law Firms In a Post-COVID World

With Charles Gaudet 

 

Law firms aren’t exempt from having to face the unprecedented challenges COVID-19 brought along with it. While the pandemic has forced us all to stay home, law firms have faced internal and external changes in their business model. Perhaps the most obvious change has been investing and adjusting to a more digitalized world.  

 

COVID-19 has pushed law firms to reconsider their traditional approach to doing business. As the world is preparing for a ‘post-COVID’ future, it is becoming increasingly clear that the digital aspects of doing business are paramount, and they are here to stay.

 

In your preparations to future-proof your firm, keep in mind that of all things your online prospects want, instant gratification is at the top of the list. The easier you make it for your prospects to find the answers they are looking for, the more likely it is they will choose you.  

 

Nowadays, clients want to find answers before they decide who to purchase from and what services to request, and all from the safety of their homes. Law firms and businesses alike should keep this in mind, as the reality is that nothing will be the way it was before the virus hit. Clients have new wants and needs and business owners, including law firms, need to be able to adjust to this. 

 

Having said this, the transition from traditional methodologies to more digital-oriented ones has brought many in the legal industry to hit a bump on the road that they’ve never really had to deal with before. Some digital challenges include: 

• Protecting your firm’s online security from possible cyberattacks.
• Meeting clients’ expectations online without losing productivity. 
• Obtaining new clients online. 
• Maintaining a consistent online presence. 
• Integrating traditional marketing efforts with updated digital marketing efforts. 

Although these are current challenges in the legal industry, they’re also opportunities for growth. 

 

So, how can your firm position itself to be found at the right place and at the right time when prospects are Googling for your services? Stay with us as we dive into actionable steps your firm can take to accelerate the digitalization of your firm. 

 

The Traditional Marketing Funnels is….OUTDATED

In this day and age, the consumer goes through a repeated cycle between exploration and evaluation making the marketing sales funnel non-linear. “Consumers have become more discerning,” added Charles Gaudet, CEO & Founder of Predictable Profits & Business Coach.  He sat down with us to discuss how consumers find and hire law firms in a post-COVID world. 

 

Charles added that clients are selective and look at 12 to 14 sources of information before making a buying decision. What this means for the traditional marketing funnel is that the linear buying decision process is no longer what it used to be and that people have changed the way they do research before making their final decision. COVID-19 has maximized the complexity of the buying decision process. But, as challenging as it may seem, this is an opportunity for your firm to outshine your competition by leading the pack with updated marketing strategies.

 

Today the typical online consumer goes back and forth until they find what they would consider the best option. Charles Gaudet emphasized that there is a shift from clients looking to buy the cheap versus looking to buy the best. He quotes, “They’re (the prospects) not looking to hire just any attorney anymore, they are actually looking to hire the best attorney.” 

 

To stand out as the best firm, it is important law firms focus on branding. Charles adds that what makes great branding today is focusing on “being everywhere,” meaning having an online presence and taking advantage of the channels you know your prospects are on. Some actionable steps to brand your firm’s online presence include:

• Enhancing your firm’s brand identity i.e. what makes your firm unique? How is your service different from others? 
• Attending webinars/ events.
• Email marketing i.e. newsletters and updates.
• Showcasing your firm’s availability and willingness to help. 
• Making sure the payment process is clear and easy for the clients to follow. 

While there are many other actionable steps in the funnel Charles Gaudet emphasized that at the end of the day long-term actions should always keep the client’s needs in mind. Three important wants/needs of all legal industry clients are: 

1. The client wants and needs quick answers.
2. The client wants convenience.
3. The client wants to have the option to search and find everything from the convenience of their home.

Reduce the Digital Noise…

By focusing on a niche, you can reduce the digital noise and stand out amongst competitors. According to Charles Gaudet, niche targeting is a long-term strategy that is helpful for all law firms, especially the ones that have a limited marketing budget. 

 

Niche targeting also helps externally: It helps clients think of you as reliable if your firm speaks directly to their problems. Building on your firm’s niche means you are speaking directly to a specific audience about a specific problem while giving them specific solutions. It doesn’t get any more targeted than that! And the more targeted, the more valuable the information is to the right audience, making it even more likely that your firm will be considered the go-to for that specific branch.

 

When a law firm specializes in a practice area, they also face less competition. This helps clients find you as being the best in that practice area. Law firms can find a niche by: 

• Interests i.e. if your firm likes to litigate, then specializing in the personal injury would work best. 
• Location – i.e. Gambling law in Nevada has a higher demand.
• Market – New markets need specialized areas i.e. the cannabis market, drones/cybersecurity markets.

Niche targeting pushes the idea that your firm is the best and ‘go-to firm’ in the given practice area. Some benefits of niche targeting for law firms include: 

• Reducing competition.
• Getting your marketing money’s worth.
• Standing out. 
• Securing the clients in that particular field.
• Increasing your firm’s internal productivity. 

 

“Think Like A Consumer” 

This is the best advice for law firms, according to Charles Gaudet. 

 

Humans base their decision-making on emotions first. Although many people think they are buying using their rational thoughts, the reality is that emotions intervene. According to a purchasing behavior study, the emotional brain process is 5X faster than the rational thought process. 

 

Besides the product benefits and features, law firms need to be emotionally aligned with the clients. Clients that are typically looking for law firms are already on an emotional high. They need the reassurance of their intangible desires such as wanting comfort, acceptance, power, love, and care. 

 

Therefore, it is important law firms influence the client’s loyalty by pushing positive emotions and being there when the client needs support, answers, and services. 

 

Other important factors influencing the purchase behavior include: 

• FOMO (fear of missing out) – clients don’t want to be left out, they will follow what others are doing. 
• Social proof – clients look at what others are saying about your firm through reviews, recommendations, and overall ratings. 

 

Your Firm’s Long-Term Solution

Even though every firm is different and has different goals, COVID has accelerated the digitalization of the legal industry by years. 

 

Besides convenience, all law firms have to position themselves to show they are proactive, responsive, and up-to-date.

 

As the world prepares for a ‘post-COVID’ future, the legal industry is surely never going back to traditional marketing only. Law firms need a strategy to navigate the new wants and needs of their prospects in order to meet them at the most strategic location within the funnel. 

 

Even with the trials and tribulations, you can position your firm ahead of the competition. Curious to know how or where to start? Contact Us Today. 

 

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What You Didn’t Know About Your Website’s Design

Your firm’s online presence should start with a robust website that offers an illustration of who you are as a firm and helps you stand out from your competition. 

There are many critical components that make up a website, some important components your firm should keep in mind include: 

• Usability 
• Clear user experience
• Points of differentiation (What makes your firm unique) 
• SEO optimization
• Quality design 

With a strong plan of action, your firm can expect to acquire quality leads and cases from your site alone. According to a recent ABA survey, around 87% of firms have a website but only 20% of the firms’ websites contained essential information such as consumer guides, legal articles, forms, announcements, etc. And this is a great starting point for your digital presence adventures.  

Before we dive into the technical aspects, it is important to note that a website isn’t a static ‘one-time’ job and done. It requires continuous technical and content updates. Depending on how regular you are with these updates, your firm’s digital growth may vary for years to come, so the more consistent you are, the better! 

Let’s start with the basics. There are many sources to build a website on but for the sake of research and comparison we will focus on explaining the difference between a website built with .NET and a website built with WordPress. 

 

.NET versus WordPress is Similar to Comparing Apples and Oranges

Simply put, they are not the same… at all. They are two entirely different concepts within web design, both with their unique pros and cons. In order to evaluate which one might be a better fit for your firm, it is important to compare and contrast them. Here’s a quick run-down. 

.NET or ASP.NET was created by Microsoft for the sole purpose of building web applications. .NET is programmed with coding languages like C# and visual basics. Think of coding as the language that tells the program what to do. In short non-technical terms, .NET uses a more ‘sophisticated’ language to code, which is useful when a business is enterprise-level i.e. a bank. It allows for full customization of the site, albeit in a more complex way.

On the other hand, WordPress is considered a Content Management System (CMS), and the programming language for WordPress is PHP. PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-processor. This coding ‘language’ is perhaps the most popular technology, and because of this popularity, there are millions of PHP developers in the world, and it is also far more widely used than ASP.NET.

“Should My Firm’s Website Use WordPress or .NET?” The Ball Is In Your Court

Yes, comparing WordPress with .NET is again, like comparing apples with oranges. But ultimately, we want you to know the ball is really in your court. You can see some pros and cons for yourself.

.NET	WordPress (PHP)
.NET is a paid Microsoft platform.	WordPress is a completely FREE open source.
The programming language is not easy to learn, it is far more sophisticated.	The programming language of WordPress is easy to learn and pick up.
.NET has fewer online support groups, fewer forums, and Q&As.	Due to its popularity and cost, there is a large community of online help. It is also constantly being improved by this community.
It is exclusive to Windows.	PHP can be used on Mac, Windows, and other machines.
.NET is more scalable since the coding language for .NET is more demanding/complex.	WordPress has themes and plug-ins to scale. But, too many plug-ins may cause issues.

 

When speaking of website plug-ins, it is important to note that at Consultwebs there is a list of standard plugins used and our team tries not to deviate from it. Besides this, our team builds around the website’s theme framework functionality. We use WordPress because of the scalability and the quick access to support in case we should require technical help from the team, as well as the SEO-friendliness that it presents.

Another Thing Your Firm’s Website Needs…A Hosting Provider 

 

To put it simply, this is the medium from which your firm can successfully post the website onto the Internet and be found by your desired audience. It is typically a free service and in order to host your site, you must first have your own domain. (Your domain is the name of your website, and this is typically something you must pay for annually.)  

With that said, Consultwebs uses the WordPress hosting provider called Pagely. Pagely is the host to some of the fastest loading websites on WordPress and the world. It is also used by Fortune50 and other tech websites.

“And what about my firm’s website security?”, you may ask. 

With the use of Pagely, you can guarantee your website’s security. This hosting provider is able to run a few technical tasks of your firm’s website including: 

• Core updates 
• Automatic updates of plug-ins 
• Site migration 
• Daily site backups 

Besides this, it automatically backs up your site with top technology with Amazon S3 and offers 24/7 support. 

Get Your Money’s Worth With A CMS – Content Management System 

Although .NET and WordPress are fundamentally different, a major point of difference between both is that WordPress is a  CMS (Content Management System). 

A CMS in short words allows your firm and the people in charge of your digital marketing to maintain, edit and manage your website. Like we said earlier, a website isn’t a static ‘one-time’ job and done. 

A built-in CMS for your firm’s website: 

• Saves your firm time and money.
• Allows flexible editing of specific areas in your website.
• Gives your firm a theme framework to already work from.
• Optimizes SEO and SEO ranking 

 

A proven advantage towards success.

At Consultwebs we understand that your website is an extension of your firm’s image. We also understand a successful website is designed to drive quality results and cases.

For this, your firm needs a forward-thinking team that would be happy to walk the extra mile with you. Are you ready to cultivate quality long-term success? Let’s talk.  

 

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Why Your Firm Should Care About Google Updates

How does Google Updates Affect Your Firm?

Google makes frequent algorithm updates to its ranking to ensure smooth processes for searchers and advertisers alike by improving the quality and relevance of search results. These updates are continuously launched, however, the majority of the algorithm updates are not announced at a great scale and many users go on with their day-to-day none the wiser. 

While the core updates are different every month, a basic understanding of this can reduce panic and increase your knowledge of your firm’s rankings in Google’s SERP. Consequently, if you take advantage of these relevant updates your firm can increase the user experience and traffic on your website.

A core update is not specifically made to fit or favor certain categories or businesses. A core update refers to improvements Google makes to their core to consequently help the ranking process of the overall search. The core updates are announced in advance so web developers and SEO specialists can take advantage of them when managing and updating websites.

At times the core updates may either rank a website higher or lower. The ones that rank lower may ask themselves, “Did my website do something wrong to drop its rankings?” The short answer is, no. Google states that websites experiencing this shouldn’t try to edit their entire website. First and foremost, the best practice Google gives to all websites is following the webmaster guidelines. 

Some webmaster guidelines include: 

• Designing a mobile-friendly website.
• Optimizing the website to load fast.
• Verifying all your firm’s information in the Google My Business listings.

 

Having said this, the core updates should enhance the webmaster guideline optimization. Even though Google does say that core updates shouldn’t mean changing an entire website, it still doesn’t mean a website is a one-time and done deal. Your firm’s website needs constant SEO optimizations, quality content, and other digital marketing efforts to stay on top of the game and meet your client’s current demands. 

 

Give Your Clients What They Want and Need

Before diving into the most recent core updates, it’s important your firm keeps quality top of mind. Your best bet at succeeding in the world of SEO is running with a strategy for growth that bases itself on the quality factor that signals Google your content is rank-worthy.  

To start, you can think back to the basic question, “What do my clients want/need from my website and my other platforms?” Your firm can begin by:

• Providing quality content: This means your firm should create and post original, shareable, likable, new, and complete content. 
• Fact-checking the content: This entails posts with clear sources, data, evidence, and verification.
• Displaying the content free of spelling mistakes, clear designs, and not too many ads. 
• Adding content with value: this means the content genuinely revolves around the customer.  

 

Taking all of this into account can help your firm stay afloat amongst the Google core updates. 

The 5 Updates To Keep Up With Your Client Expectations: 

The imagery that Google gives to help understand core updates is “to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015. A few years later in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to naturally change.” 

Change can bring your firm new ideas that otherwise would’ve gone unnoticed. The following are the recent Google core updates:

 

1. No more preferred domain setting

Websites can no longer have multiple URLs. Google will now focus on one URL. This means firms can either pick their preferred domain or Google will choose one for your firm. 

Google recommends choosing a “preferred” URL so it’s easier for your clients to see on the results page. Google emphasized other benefits of a canonical (“preferred”) domain including: 

• Simplifying the metrics to measure the success of content. 
• Avoiding pages to be duplicated. 

Google also mentions that duplicate pages are valid when they: 

• Support different types of devices 
• Support content that automatically updates (i.e. the blog section in your firm’s website)

 

2. Local Webmaster Conferences

Before, Google’s Search Central YouTube would provide hundreds of free information, tips, and tricks to webmasters and SEO experts. 

Now? Google wants to help webmasters with a more local approach. This means helping webmasters who cannot travel internationally. Because of this, Google will now have local webmaster conferences around the world. 

The conferences will help people by providing services in the:

• Location(s) where it’s difficult to access all of the Google information. 
• Location(s) where there are specific demands for a Google Search/ Website event. 

The events will aim at helping local experts to cater to the wants and needs of their customers. 

• Events will be free of charge. 
• Events will include international speakers and sign language interpreters.
• Accessible in that specific location.
• Tailored to what that specific region needs.
• Spoken in the local language. 

 

3. New SEO ‘Mythbusting’ Channel

Since there are bountiful search engine myths, Google will start a series “SEO Mythbusting” to help the SEO experts and the web development community.  In return, these experts will be able to help businesses and law firms optimize their SEO and marketing strategies to their fullest potential. 

The “SEO Mythbusting” series will provide weekly content through their Google Search Central YouTube playlist. 

 

4. Optimizing AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) with Google Images

AMP stands for accelerated mobile pages. It was created by Google in 2015. AMP is the factor that helps your firm speed up its loading page time on mobile devices. 

A problem Google found in the user’s online journey is that very few users completed a task because websites were not loading. This means users were crossing from one website to another and thus allowing room for distraction.

Now, with AMP incorporated in images, any user can quickly and easily go from looking at a Google Image to swiping up and browsing your firm’s website. This can be an opportunity for firms looking to increase their visibility and retain clients through their decision-making process. Clearly, AMP is a great addition to incorporate. Google provided their AMP set-up guideline but it is considered advanced SEO. 

 

5. Google’s REP is now open-source

For many years, web developers have been using Google’s REP (Robots Exclusion Protocol), also known as robots.txt, to inform Google which parts of the website are meant to be crawled, and which aren’t. This is done by setting up a series of rules and is considered on the basic building blocks of the web.

REP has been considered standard to use, but because a standard modus operandi for it has never been established, different users implement the rules in different ways. This meant that web developers eventually would start facing uncertainty in regards to the rules and regulations to follow and how. An open-source library of rules has been released to help developers find clarity through the publication of the parser that Google uses.

 

What’s new this month?

July has been an exciting month for Google. Part 2 of the June 2021 Core Update is wrapping up its rollout in the form of the July 2021 Core Update. Though not much has been disclosed about the specifics of this update, experts have forecasted for there to be major shifts. 

You might already be feeling like your site is being seized by the Google deities in a vengeful attack on your rankings, or you might be seeing your rankings go up and down at confusing rates – don’t panic. Give your rankings a couple of weeks’ time to see if they balance themselves out, because while updates like these will affect your results, you won’t know the full extent until the rollout is fully finalized. Plus, a few days after the rollout has finished, Google developers will likely go in and make a couple more adjustments or reversals. 

The key is in reviewing and adjusting any relevant points. Even Google has recommended to not “fix” anything, but rather review the content you offer on your site and make sure it is the best content you can create because this is what the Google algorithms seek to reward.

 

Keep Up With Your Clients.

Despite the fact that change can be uncomfortable, change can help your firm’s ranking and push you ahead of your competitors. While we have been able to provide some of the current best practices, your firm still needs a tailored plan of action with constant updates. 

Wondering what steps your firm should take next? Talk to our experts and see which best practices work for your firm.

 

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Tips For Law Firms Writing Blog Posts

We live in a digital age. Nowadays, most people turn to their friends, family, Facebook, and other platforms like Google to learn about something new. You may be wondering what that means for you and your law firm, and the truth is that, if you want to continue to grow your business, you need to be online. You need to have a blog that will pull in potential customers when they are googling for information.

One way to pull prospects into your firm’s website and keep them engaged is through the creation of blog posts. Blog posts help engage different types of users and might even help your firm convert this traffic into leads.

Though you may not be a big writer, it is possible to write your own blog and consequently bring in more customers through continuous engagement. Although this type of content creation is vital, getting started may be challenging. Here are some tips to help your firm get started:

No Idea Where to Start? Start By Creating A List of Topics

When you first stare at a blank piece of paper, you might be completely confused about where to start. What should you write about? What shouldn’t you write about? Don’t stress it too much! Go ahead and brain-dump all of the different topics you feel comfortable writing about. 

A good point to start is by asking yourself questions like: 

• What are the points of difference that make your law firm unique? 
• What are your firm’s specializations? 
• What are trending topics within your practice area? 
• Are there news and updates your clients should be aware of? 

Coming up with questions like this can help you get the creative juices flowing. It can help to think of what your law firm does and what it can offer for its clients and readers. Besides the aforementioned questions you might also add topics i.e. within family law about surviving divorce, starting over, taking care of yourself during this time, and much more.

It is important your firm thinks of the bigger picture in terms of blog posts. Remember your clients are looking at your services but beyond that, they need you to take the role of the fixer and the problem solver. So your clients would appreciate you going the extra mile and providing them with external sources of information. 

Make Sure To Speak Your Audience’s Language

When you are coming up with a brainstorming list, really think about what your audience is searching online for. Some of the top questions law firm clients are searching for are:

• What is your firm’s specialization?
• How much money am I able to win within a settlement? 
• What are your firm’s fee policies? 

Your potential clients may be looking for information on how to find the right lawyer and what they can do to protect themselves during their time of need. They might also be pondering whether they really need a lawyer, and they will typically turn to Google to find the answer. For this reason, it is vital your firm comes across as friendly and one that is ready to help and educate its clients and prospects. 

Having said this, when you are meeting with new clients take the time to listen to their concerns and see if that is something that you can blog about. You can also do polls in your office or on your website or social accounts to interact with your clients to see what topics are important to them. Don’t be afraid to ask your readers to let you know if there is something that they would want to read more about. All of these topics can be added to your list. 

Create the Perfect Publishing Schedule

Now that you have a list, it is time to sit down and figure out how often you should schedule your blogs. In the beginning, it is more important that you schedule blogs regularly so if you are only able to write once a month, that is a fine place to start. Then, as you get more comfortable, you may be able to increase it to twice a month or even weekly. If you have multiple partners and multiple areas of expertise, you may be able to blog even more than that! 

It may surprise you that when your blog is even more important than how often you blog. For this reason, it’s best if your firm publishes at the same time so clients know when to expect more content from you. 

When brainstorming the blog’s frequency you can start small and post small content once a week or once every two weeks etc. This is relative information that your firm can scale down or up. Nevertheless, it’s in your firm’s best interest to keep consistency when a blog post is launched.  

Consistency is Key When Publishing!

Now that you have plenty of topics and have a calendar set up, it is time to actually start writing! Most people find it helpful to set aside time every month to work on their blog. You may want to carve out half of a day once a month to devote to your blog, or it may be easier to find an hour or two every week to spend writing. You will have to find out what works best for you. 

Your consistency should match your answer in regards to, “How often do you want to post a blog?” If you decide you’ll want to publish once a week, then it is important you set some weekly time beforehand to brainstorm and work your way through writing the blog post. 

Above all, consistency will always win.

Go The Extra Mile in Case of Emergencies

That being said, just because you have time set aside for writing, doesn’t mean that you will actually have scheduled spurts of divine inspiration. Writer’s block is a serious problem, and it isn’t just for writers. Anyone who has to produce a piece of writing can struggle to get the words written down. 

So, what can you do? It is always a good idea to have a few spare blogs that you can publish when you are struggling to come up with an idea or write a blog. Then, hopefully, your next writing session will go over better! 

Before you even start your blog, you should take the time to brainstorm for ideas. Make some broad ideas and some that are more targeted to certain clients. You should continuously add to this list, so you have a base of ideas to come back to. Adding to this, always keep your audience in mind. At the end of the day, the blog posts are intended for them. Therefore, make sure you’re bringing something to the table (and someone to your door).

Most bloggers recommend setting aside certain times every month to work on your blog. You may want to write a month’s worth of blog posts at a time, or you may want to spend an hour or two a week on that week’s blog. This depends on your creative flow, time, and disposition.  

Team Up With Qualified Writers and Editors

If you are struggling to get your blogs written, don’t fret. You might be better off hiring someone to write them for you. You can guarantee a well-written blog every week (or whatever schedule you decide on), without worrying about the pains of planning and writing.

Above all, don’t waste opportunities to educate your clients and prospects. Go the extra mile.

 

Are you ready to wow your website’s visitors with information-packed blogs? Discover how Consultwebs can help you up your content game.

 

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