kevintage83/fiveWaysToGrowYourLegalPracticeOnline

## fiveWaysToGrowYourLegalPracticeOnline
5 Ways to Grow Your Legal Practice Online

Expand your firm's online presence
It is in every firm’s best interest to treat their online presence as a significant asset. Your company website is a revenue-generation stream; it is one of the most powerful business development tools available. You cannot just work on it briefly and expect it to feed your firm with work for years to come. It must be worked on and invested in. No matter the size of your practice, or the area of law in which you specialize, adopting a business-critical approach to your digital presence can make an incredible difference to the rate of growth and overall success to your firm.

First impressions are critical
We have all heard it before: “first impressions are lasting impressions,” but it bears repeating (and for good reason). This paradigm is especially important when it comes to online media. When browsing online, it often takes a brief moment for potential clientele to decide if they want to engage your services. Very frequently, that brief moment represents a prospect’s first contact with your firm, and it can paint a picture of your entire business model. In regards to your digital presence, your brand image should be aligned with your brand identity. In other words, prospective clients should view your firm in the ways you intend. Your website should be working toward that goal. If that is not the case, it is likely your website could benefit from a redesign.

Improve business development potential through your firm’s website
Consistent business generation from online sources requires ongoing care and attention to your website and its associated metrics; specifically search engine optimization and page-ranking of your site. A major component of a site’s page-ranking depends on the metrics of the firm’s affiliated social media presence. A well-developed social media strategy allows your business to reach more potential clients, forge new relationships while strengthening existing ones, and gain insight into what your competitors are doing.
A particularly successful long-term online development strategy is to establish a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign for your law firm. A well optimised, content-rich online platform, combined with a supportive and targeted PPC campaign is the surest path to maximizing the return on your online development efforts.

Your website should be a mark of pride
It should be no surprise that a well-designed website generates more leads and lends itself to a more positive client experience. Transforming your site from online posterboard site to a well-designed portal of useful and actionable information will help convince the visitor that they need search no further. The visitor must read your informative, engaging content and be convinced that they need to speak to you. Your site should give the visitor clear call-to-action. In other words, they know what you want them to do – pick up the phone, fill out an online enquiry form, download a whitepaper, sign up for an event etc. and it should be easy for them to do.

Optimize your website to be mobile responsive
With the rise in popularity of smartphones, it should be obvious that your website should cater to the smartphone demographic. However, you might be surprised at how often this aspect is overlooked. This oversight is especially common among those firms who engage the services of outdated rapid development services, or amateur web developers. Since most (if not all) of the website development process takes place on non-mobile devices (e.g., laptops and desktop computers), mobile responsive development can be an easy thing to forget. Moreover, mobile development introduces additional challenges, due to space constraints of smaller screens, and poor internet connection. A proper, mobile-first software architecture will make sure that you maximize client retention and engagement when browsing your site from a smartphone or tablet.
	5 Ways to Grow Your Legal Practice Online

	Expand your firm's online presence
	It is in every firm’s best interest to treat their online presence as a significant asset. Your company website is a revenue-generation stream; it is one of the most powerful business development tools available. You cannot just work on it briefly and expect it to feed your firm with work for years to come. It must be worked on and invested in. No matter the size of your practice, or the area of law in which you specialize, adopting a business-critical approach to your digital presence can make an incredible difference to the rate of growth and overall success to your firm.

	First impressions are critical
	We have all heard it before: “first impressions are lasting impressions,” but it bears repeating (and for good reason). This paradigm is especially important when it comes to online media. When browsing online, it often takes a brief moment for potential clientele to decide if they want to engage your services. Very frequently, that brief moment represents a prospect’s first contact with your firm, and it can paint a picture of your entire business model. In regards to your digital presence, your brand image should be aligned with your brand identity. In other words, prospective clients should view your firm in the ways you intend. Your website should be working toward that goal. If that is not the case, it is likely your website could benefit from a redesign.

	Improve business development potential through your firm’s website
	Consistent business generation from online sources requires ongoing care and attention to your website and its associated metrics; specifically search engine optimization and page-ranking of your site. A major component of a site’s page-ranking depends on the metrics of the firm’s affiliated social media presence. A well-developed social media strategy allows your business to reach more potential clients, forge new relationships while strengthening existing ones, and gain insight into what your competitors are doing.
	A particularly successful long-term online development strategy is to establish a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign for your law firm. A well optimised, content-rich online platform, combined with a supportive and targeted PPC campaign is the surest path to maximizing the return on your online development efforts.

	Your website should be a mark of pride
	It should be no surprise that a well-designed website generates more leads and lends itself to a more positive client experience. Transforming your site from online posterboard site to a well-designed portal of useful and actionable information will help convince the visitor that they need search no further. The visitor must read your informative, engaging content and be convinced that they need to speak to you. Your site should give the visitor clear call-to-action. In other words, they know what you want them to do – pick up the phone, fill out an online enquiry form, download a whitepaper, sign up for an event etc. and it should be easy for them to do.

	Optimize your website to be mobile responsive
	With the rise in popularity of smartphones, it should be obvious that your website should cater to the smartphone demographic. However, you might be surprised at how often this aspect is overlooked. This oversight is especially common among those firms who engage the services of outdated rapid development services, or amateur web developers. Since most (if not all) of the website development process takes place on non-mobile devices (e.g., laptops and desktop computers), mobile responsive development can be an easy thing to forget. Moreover, mobile development introduces additional challenges, due to space constraints of smaller screens, and poor internet connection. A proper, mobile-first software architecture will make sure that you maximize client retention and engagement when browsing your site from a smartphone or tablet.