As we approach the end of a calendar year, law firm management is reviewing the past 12 months to see how far your law firm has progressed toward its goals along with how important metrics are trending year-over-year. Since having a good looking, properly functional, optimized law firm website is imperative for business success, part of this end-of-year reflection should include an analysis of your law firm’s primary digital asset: its website. It is crucial to analyze your law firm digital marketing.
When seeking out professional service providers, even if armed with a reference from an “in real life” (IRL) trusted source, anyone considering working with a business will also check it out online. This holds true with law firms, as potential clients and referral sources to whom your firm is recommended will turn to the Internet to independently verify your credentials. Therefore, your law firm’s presence online must reflect how well you perform offline – both as an individual attorney and as a firm.
Learn From History; Don’t Repeat It
Analyze at what you’ve been doing. Review what you did this year and how it went. In the digital realm, that means reviewing the metrics outlined below. Don’t just look at the numbers, though. Look at which content performed best, what time of day your audience was the most engaged, if your audience was predominantly male or female, and more.
- Google Analytics and/or Search Console: Review the trends of crucial information month over month and year over year, including the number of users visiting your website, how many pages they viewed per session, the average session duration, methods of traffic acquisition, bounce rate, and total conversions.
- Facebook Business Manager and/or Insights: Review key performance indicators, including Page likes, post reach, post engagement, and actions on Page. You can also see the days of the week and times of day your followers are most active, and then use that information to schedule your upcoming posts at optimal times.
- Twitter Analytics: Review key performance indicators, including tweet impressions, followers, mentions, and top tweets. Also be sure to review audience demographic information to inform your future strategy on Twitter.
- LinkedIn Page Analytics: Review social analytics, including Page views, engagement with your updates, and total followers. Again, be sure to review visitor demographics to inform your future strategy on LinkedIn. For instance, if your LinkedIn Page followers are comprised of primarily colleagues rather than clients, tailor your content accordingly.
- Google My Business Listing Insights: Your law firm should have one Google My Business Listing per office location, meaning you may have more than one Listing if your firm has multiple offices. For each Listing, you should review post views, search queries used to find your law firm, conversions, and any reviews you receive on Google. You should always respond to any reviews you receive, whether positive or negative.
- Email Marketing Metrics: If you use software to send out email communications to large groups (and you should), these programs contain analytics not unlike those associated with your website and social media accounts. Important email marketing metrics to review include your list size, successful delivery rate, open rate, top links clicked, and social shares.
Check Out Your Competition
Look at what your competitors have been doing with digital marketing tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. Compile and review a list of the top pages on your competitors’ sites to see if you should create similar pages on your own website. But don’t just copy what your competitors are doing without a strategy, because what works best for them may not work at all for you.
Perform A Website Audit
Even if you review all of the metrics referenced above, you can and should go the extra mile and perform a thorough website audit in order to plan for next year. Some of the items you (or a law firm digital marketing expert) should review include:
- Internal linking opportunities
- Editorial calendar and posting frequency
- Schemas
- Use of video
- Image sizing and metadata
- Use of HTTPS
- Mobile friendliness
- Sitemap
- Indexing errors and technical problems
Law Firm Digital Marketing Experts
By now, you may realize your law firm needs a digital audit to kick off the new year. It’s really one of the best ways to get the insights you need to succeed. If you’re looking for outside help, then you’ve come to the right place. Contact the law firm digital marketing experts at Stacey E. Burke, P.C. today for a free conversation about what we can do to improve your law firm website and marketing efforts.