Once you have a better understanding of how visitors to your estate planning and elder law website behave, you may want to consider a few tweaks to enhance its performance. We know that the addition of lawyer videos makes a significant difference on website engagement, for example. Frequently updating your blog gives visitors the confidence that you are actively engaged yourself with your website, boosting their confidence.
A few other performance elements to consider:
Are you easy to reach? Website visitors have very little patience for sites that make them work. Your phone number should be prominent on every page in more than one location. If you don’t have a “click to call” link on your site, you may be missing mobile opportunities.
How many calls to action (CTA) are provided? There are different kinds of CTAs, and limiting yourself to one reason—a free consultation—might not be enough. Do you have a good print brochure or white paper? A bylined article? Offer more reasons to contact you, and you’ll have more contacts.
Another reason to use videos on your website. Data from all sources shows that adding a video increases visitor engagement and improves bounce rates. Here’s another reason: your target audience may already have begun shifting from boomers to millennials. Millennials grew up on YouTube. They don’t read as much as their parents and they expect to see videos everywhere.
Put down the microscope. It is so easy to get lost in the weeds when looking at statistics on website performance. If you are feeling overwhelmed, submit a support ticket and your account manager will help you figure out what matters, what’s working, and what could be better.
Put down the magnifying glass too. You will do better looking at the larger picture. Tracking behavior one week at a time will only cause distress and confusion. When you are looking for trends, you need to see data at the macro level: year over year performance is best, followed by comparing quarterly periods. Even if you look month-to-month, it may not reveal the trends that a bigger perspective can provide.
Don’t ignore device reports. What browser and devices are your visitors using? If the majority of your visitors are looking at your website on a desktop computer, it’s likely they are doing so during the workday and are sneaking a quick peak. If they are on mobile—smart phones or tablets—they may be surfing during another activity (like a meeting or while watching television at night).
Here’s one for a select group: if your website has not been updated for responsive design, don’t expect millennials to find you online. And realize that your device reports will be skewed by visitor’s inability to navigate your site on smart phones or tablets. Ready to make the change? Submit a support ticket and we’ll bring you and your practice into the mobile world.