Overcoming these 5 challenges is critical to a successful website launch
Because a website doesn’t exist in a physical space, it can be tempting to relegate it to lesser importance than, say, your office. In fact, your website is the most important space you own, as it is most often the first point of contact prospective clients have with your firm. It helps to think of your site as your office in the largest marketplace in human history and treat it with the gravity that implies.
When launching your site, you will be faced with a hundred different decisions and challenges, some bigger than others. These are 5 of the biggest and overcoming them will help you create a powerful site that generates high-quality leads.
1. Design, Layout, Branding
Design is somewhat at the mercy of both prevailing trends and personal taste. Simple and elegant, however, is always in style and works wonders for navigability. Your layout should lean into this, making it obvious for visitors what to do and where to go while presenting a sleek and modern design.
Simple principles to bear in mind: keep your contact information on every page like a letterhead, make your CTAs impossible to miss and easy to use, and never forget your page’s job is to generate leads. Your “Schedule Consultation” buttons should never be far from a visitor’s eyes.
Lastly, in the course of your physical marketing, whether it’s billboards, bus benches, or print ads, it’s likely you’ve chosen certain images, colors, and fonts to be associated with. These should be constant across your marketing, from physical media to your website. This helps your visitors know they have gone to the right place and provides a unified brand experience.
Your website design should accurately represent your brand, engage your audience, motivate them to submit leads, and be optimized for viewing on all devices.
2. SEO
SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization and is the process of ensuring your website is at the top of relevant search results. We have many articles on good SEO strategy in our archives, but we can go into a short list of best practices.
The most important thing to remember is that SEO is a process and not a goal. The longer a site exists, proving useful and engaging content, the better its SEO gets. That being said, crafting an SEO strategy is about building a library of content for visitors, as well as judicious use of keywords, meta tags, headings, and other factors that assist search engines in categorizing and ranking your site.
The challenge with a new site is jumping into the highly competitive arena of SEO. It’s almost impossible to do well without help. At Lead Science, we’ve been doing it for almost twenty years, and not only do we know the landscape, we look ahead to the inevitable algorithmic changes that disrupt the game.
SEO is a critical to generating traffic for your website. It takes time, but the long-term rewards will be well worth your efforts.
3. Calls-to-Action
Never lose sight of your site’s purpose: the generation of leads. Generating leads requires the visitor to take action, whether it’s submitting a form or contacting you directly via phone or email. The goal is to know the action you want your site visitors to take and then make it quick and easy for them to do so.
Calls-to-Action (CTAs) need to be visible and easy to understand. You never want a single question in a visitor’s head about what to do or make them work to find out how they can receive more information. The button should include clear language and entice a visitor to take the action. The elements should use contrasting colors to quickly draw the users attention.
Additionally, placement of CTAs should be prominent. There should be one at the top of pages so they’re visible at landing, and another at the bottom so that a visitor finished scrolling will have it in front of them. They should also be distributed through your page content, but used sparingly since using too many will dilute their effectiveness.
Call-to-Action elements are critical to generating leads. They must stand out from your content and should be easily accessible for your website visitors at all times.
4. Copy
Websites are primarily text-based, and you should give serious consideration to the text found on your pages. If you’re not a strong writer, consider hiring one who can translate your ideas into readable bites. Creating engaging content to help your SEO demands this level of professional skill.
Choices like what to call your pages also factor into this decision. Are you going to use standard labels, like “Contact” or “About,” or are you going to be creative? It’s a choice that comes with risk: you might differentiate yourself from the competition at the cost of fewer people knowing how to navigate your pages. Tried and true options get that way by working.
Tie your decisions into your branding. Whatever the personality of your law firm, as expressed in your marketing, should inform every decision you make in copywriting. The goal is to give your clients a unified experience, so that they get what they are expecting and never feel lost.
5. Initial Momentum
An object at rest tends to stay at rest, right? Launching something from still to motion takes a lot of energy and you’ll need to be patient while your site gets up to speed. Once your site is live, you’ll need to nurture your traffic, build your momentum, and plug away at your content generation.
Your SEO efforts will pay off long-term, but digital advertising is a great way to build a head of steam for your website. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Advertising will help you quickly reach your target audience and spread the word about your new website far and wide.
The important thing to remember is that you can adjust your strategies on the fly. If a campaign isn’t performing the way you need it to, don’t be afraid to pivot and test alternative solutions.
Search Engine Marketing and Social Advertising are effective methods for quickly targeting potential clients looking for attorneys.
Lead Science has the experience to help you succeed
Your site will face innumerable challenges, but it’s all a part of a functioning digital business. At Lead Science, we know how to address these concerns and many more.
- Our team of designers will ensure your website accurately represents your brand and values while generating the leads you need to grow your business
- The Lead Science platform is built from the ground up for maximum search optimization and will help you climb to the top of search results
- We have the digital advertising expertise to reach your target audience with targeted messaging and quickly generate traffic for your website
- We’re so confident in our digital marketing platform that we offer a Lead Guarantee: We’ll increase your qualified leads by at least 50% within 90 days or you can cancel your contract free of charge*
Schedule your Lead Science Discovery Call today and we’ll show you exactly how we can make your website launch a successful one.
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