Years of work on marketing can seemingly be lost when launching a new law firm website. The last thing anyone wants is to start from zero when it comes to digital marketing for a law firm. Law is already a competitive field when it comes to marketing due to the financial incentives associated with success. The law firm website can be the first impression that a potential client has of a firm. A clunky website that is slow to load doesn’t speak volumes about the dedication to client experience. Professional websites are affordable to have designed so there is no excuse for a website that looks like it was created in the late 1990s.
Just Changing The Firm’s Domain Name
A new partner could have been added to the firm or new services are available. Changing a domain name can easily allow clients to see how a firm is developing. Finding available domain names can help immensely if renaming a firm on account of a new partner. Partners also retire frequently or venture into something else professionally once they are financially able to. You need to gather as much information about your website as possible to ensure the transition goes smoothly. Most domain names that are related to local law firms will be available and affordable. Trying to get a domain name like topclassactionlawsuits.com could be far more expensive.
Consider Changing Your Hosting Company
There are so many variables that come into play when search engine rankings are generated. Aspects of a website like a page loading time can impact the rankings as slow loading times result in lower quality website visitor experiences. You understand for the most part how much traffic the company website generates. If running one of the largest firms in the country, you are going to need a different host/hosting package than a small local divorce attorney. Taking on a huge class action lawsuit can lead to traffic from people interested in the lawsuit. Recent versions of PHP are ideal for hosting platforms as they update and backup the website daily.
Launch Carefully After Quite a Bit of Testing/Market Research
Hiring a professional web design agency that provides digital marketing services can be a huge help. A web designer can help immensely but without a background in SEO, you could risk losing traffic/rankings. Launching should be done for the firm’s staff for testing as they will be utilizing the website and publishing on it the most. Finding bugs is essential and professional testers can be hired online for affordable prices. Launching a new website that is easier to use and is faster will help retain search engine rankings. Make sure all data on clients is backed up as you do not want to lose this due to an error when launching a new website.
Do Outreach to Change Backlinks to Firm’s New URL
Outreach to publishers that have a backlink on their website can help generate backlinks for the new URL. The drawback could be that you need to regenerate a piece of content if the link when back to a blog post. You want to avoid duplicate content so using a checker like CopyScape can be a huge help. Changing the URL on social media profiles is also important as these are some of the first results when a firm’s name is searched. Announcing the firm’s new website is also important as former clients and competitors could drive traffic right after its launch.
Repurpose Popular Blog Content
A law firm could have that piece of content that has driven traffic for years. For a criminal defense attorney, this could be an article on what to do if pulled over for a suspected DUI. A divorce attorney might have a popular blog post about what to expect when you are divorcing someone that makes substantially less in terms of income. Popular blog content being repurposed can be done while the new website is being designed. You do not want to launch the website without any type of content besides the service pages.
Update Your PPC Ads
The firm is still going to want to generate traffic from PPC ads. This becomes very difficult when the website for the ads is not updated. Make sure that your ads are optimized as some firms might have ads from years ago. The ability to maximize ROI on PPC can change the trajectory of a firm as it generates quality leads for clients.
Launching a new law firm website needs to be done with the help of professionals. There is too much to risk letting someone that took a class in website design in college to handle. Losing the rankings that a firm has spent years earning needs to be avoided. Launching a new website should help a firm, not stop the firm in its tracks.
