Tips for a Great Attorney Website Launch (or Relaunch!)

New Website Launch

Launching or relaunching an attorney website is a great way to give your firm a boost of attention online, but it can also be a stressful experience.

There’s a lot to consider and if things go wrong with the launch, it can reflect poorly on your firm. A bad launch can leave you feeling as if you might as well have kept things how they were, even if your site was outdated or not accomplishing your goals.

The key to making the most of your firm’s online marketing opportunities is to have a smooth launch. It should get your site noticed by search engines and make a great first impression on potential and existing clients.

What goes into a great attorney website launch?

What Not to Do

First, let’s consider what to avoid when it comes to creating or revamping your modern law firm website and launching it.

Postpone a Site or Site Updates

The sooner you take care of problems the better, so if you’ve been putting off an attorney website launch or relaunch, now is the time to get started. Nearly every business owner who has prolonged getting a website regrets it and wishes they’d started sooner.

Prioritize Your Audience over Your Budget

It’s also a mistake to focus only on your budget. Your budget is necessary, but it’s possible to build a solid online presence in any budget. Your priority should be your target audience, not how much it’s going to cost.

Turn Down Support You Need

You’ll also want to avoid doing everything on your own unless you have an in-house website and design team – and the majority of firms have nothing close to this. Unless you want to waste a lot of valuable time and money, you need to hire an expert to get your site to where it needs to be. This also improves the odds of a smooth launch.

Fail to Create a Launch Plan

The final thing to avoid doing is not having a launch plan in place before the big day.

The goal is to make as big a splash as possible on day one with your new site and to achieve this, people need to know about and want to share your content. This requires some advance planning in the weeks and months leading up to the launch.

What’s the Point of Having a New Website Launch?

An attorney website launch is different than just starting your site.

Think of launching your site like the grand opening of a business. People usually know a new business is on the way because they see the building and the preparations being made. The business might even open its doors and allow customers in to look around before they are officially open.

But the grand opening is an event. It is a special occasion and it gives people a reason to come out and celebrate. The local media might even take notice.

A website launch is like this except it happens online. It achieves the following:

• Brings plenty of traffic to your website
• Gets people reading and engaging with your content
• Gets people to submit inquiries or subscribe to your email list
• Generates excitement about what’s ahead

If you think about an attorney website launch as an event instead of just the final step in having your firm’s website online, you understand the importance of a launch.

How to Plan a Great Attorney Website Launch

So what goes into planning a great launch for your firm’s site?

Great Website

Obviously, a great website is the foundation of a successful launch. Before launching, make sure your site:

• Has a clean design
• Is easy to navigate
• Isn’t overwhelming
• Includes important branding elements on each page, such as your firm’s logo and tagline

Visitors should find it easy to understand your site exists and its purpose. When visitors ask “Why am I here and what’s in it for me?” your site should provide a clear answer.

Valuable Content

Next, you’ll need to make sure there is plenty of content on the site on launch day.

If your site is sparse or looks incomplete, you aren’t ready to launch. People visiting your site need to see it’s a great resource for legal information, even if it’s a newer site.

It’s also important to have a backlog of content so you’re pumping it out consistently in the days and weeks after the launch. It’s also a good idea to make sure you have one solid piece of content designed to knock a few socks off. This stand-out post will hopefully go viral and be one of the primary things that drives traffic to your site.

New Website Launch Day

Now that you’re site is completed or updated, you can schedule your attorney website launch.

You want your launch to occur on a specific date at a specific time. This not only keeps the design process on track, but it also means you’ll be able to advertise your site’s “grand opening” to the public.

Treat the launch or relaunch of your website like you did the opening of your firm. Remember when you were excited to tell everyone you were opening a practice? Your website should be the same.

You can get people aware of and excited about your site by:

• Create a short pitch about your site that lets you share its benefits and the upcoming launch date
• Try to establish relationships prior to the launch by being active on social media or guest posting on blogs relevant to your firm’s niche
• Post a “Coming Soon” teaser page on your new site so your firm can be found online but visitors know you have more to offer

It’s also important to set up Google Alert for relevant keywords related to your firm, as well as your firm’s name. This means Google will monitor activity online related to your firm and send you emails to help you stay on top of what’s going on around the launch.

Getting It Right

A lot of work goes into launching or relaunching a legal website and it’s rare that a successful law firm has the time and resources to invest in the project. This is one of the reasons it’s put on the back-burner by so many firms.

If you want to finally get established online or you want to update your presence and you’re hoping your new website will make a big splash, we can help. Contact Legal Web Design to discuss your needs or schedule a free consultation.