A beautifully designed, well-written and user-friendly website can be one of your greatest resources to attract new clients. An excellent website emanates professionalism and reflects your law firm’s key differentiator, benefits and values – the way you market your site should too. In this post, I’ll share the most important tips to implement before and after you launch your law firm’s website to ensure you attract your target clients.
The Way You Market Your New Site Matters
To mark the 18th anniversary of Ferris Consulting, I recently redesigned and re-launched my firm’s website. My experience reminded me of how many choices, details and decisions my clients are faced with as they launch their own sites. Redesigning a website takes time, energy and resources; the way you launch your redesigned website plays an integral role in the website’s success.
Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to stay top of mind with key referral sources, your professional network and selected clients . After investing in a new website, how can you leverage your new site to attract the clients you want? How can you ensure your newly redesigned site gets as much coverage and visibility as possible to your target market? Below is an essential checklist I have compiled to make the most of your new website.
Before You Launch
- Start early. A few weeks before your launch date, update or create an e-mail list of your referral sources, professional network and selected clients whom you want to stay top of mind with. This list will be where you send your new site announcement. The sooner you begin, the more time you have to ensure your list is relevant, targeted and up-to-date. (Note: Do not be tempted to skip this step, it is essential.)
- Revisit old content. If your law firm already has an active blog, spend time and re-read your old blog posts. As you go through your posts:
- Delete any content that may no longer be relevant.
- Edit relevant posts with updated content, ideas or quotes.
- Re-post the strongest content to appear as the newest posts on the blog
- Update blog photos to reflect the new theme of your site. You want to ensure your blog photos are properly edited and sized to fit the new layout.
- Write new content. If your firm is launching a blog for the first time, make sure you have 3-4 relevant and well-written blogs posted before your site goes live. An active blog reflects your expertise and helps attracts clients to your practice.
- Soft Launch. After your site has gone live but before you market your launch, make sure you read through your entire website. Check all links, buttons and tabs to ensure they are working correctly and are attached to current pages. Having a soft launch date allows you to catch any small details you may have missed during the staging process. If your timelines allows, do not share/market your new site the day it goes live.
- Clean up social media platforms. A new website reflects your expertise and brand. In order to leverage the time and money you invest in your website, ensure you have also updated all of your social media accounts:
- Post 2-3 times before you launch on all social media platforms
- Update banners on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to reflect your new site design.
After You Launch
- Create a social media campaign. Begin marketing your announcement on all of your social media platforms. Your social media platforms are a great way to generate new traffic to your site. Use a graphic that displays the themes of your site and encourage viewers to check out the link.
- Send out an E-blast. One of the most effective ways to share your new website is through an e-mail announcement. You can use free services such as Mail Chimp to design and send an e-mail announcement. Use the list you complied before your launch – include referral sources, your professional network and clients. Make sure you edit your list to avoid old e-mail addresses being bounced back and keep your list concise to avoid being marked as spam. Your announcement should include:
- The website link with specific links to contact, service and about pages.
- A short summary of the major changes you have made to your site.
- A call to action to like your (updated) social media pages.
- A link to subscribe to your newsletter and blog.
- Respond to feedback on your site. A new site is a great way to reach out to past contacts. If someone reaches out with feedback, respond back and thank the person for their thoughts and time. This is an ideal time to reconnect with prior contacts and focus on strengthening your professional relationships.
- Keep the momentum going. Continue marketing and sharing your new website in the months after your launch:
- Continue to create relevant and substantive content to increase your visiblity and reinforce your expertise.
- Share blog posts on social media.
- Send out quarterly or bi-annual newsletters.
- Include your new site link/ announcement in your signature.
Overall, the redesign process can be an extremely helpful tool to tell your story, refresh your brand and reach out to past contacts and your target clients/referral sources.
What is your experience with launching your law firm website? If you would like to learn more about how you can target your new website to attract the clients you want, contact me online or call me at (414) 828-5862.