Forget SEO. How much is it costing your firm to have no website?

 

At the ABA Techshow in Chicago, I got a lot of knowing smiles and nods. I was often asked, “What’s a writer doing at a lawyer tech event?” My reply: I write websites for lawyers who don’t care about being found on Google.
 
For some, that seems like a radical position. But then the conversation would come around to how Firm Appeal’s core client is a lawyer with no website who realizes they need one. That’s the part that inspired the knowing smiles and nods. Lawyers who have websites know: having no website is expensive.
 
Does the high cost of no website seem counterintuitive? If you don’t care about getting clients in a Google search, why even have a website? In fact, this question was just asked by a PhD who consults to big pharma about oncology meds. (Surprise: he also has no website.) This points to the conflation and confusion. There’s a difference between having a) a website and b) an SEO marketing plan.
 
An SEO marketing plan is about paying big bucks to chase the elusive butterfly of Google page one. But having a website means having a conversation with a prospective client, no matter how that client finds you. SEO costs money. Websites save money. But, again, why?
 
Two words: Evocative Efficiency. A good website makes the prospective client feel good about your firm without any one-on-one, non-billable time. In a world where 80% of a lawyer’s time is spent on things other than billable hours—including business development—it stands to reason that there is a more efficient way than telephone to handle referrals and other prospective clients.
 
One of the easiest ways to handle the prospect is to own internet real estate. Build an online location that answers basic questions and evocatively reflects your client’s experience inside your office, and you’ve solved a couple of problems. 1) The people who would normally call you to use up your non-billable time now have a place to go that’s better for both of you. And 2), there’s a device in place for capturing leads that might otherwise evaporate because, let’s face it: When you have no website, you don’t exist.
 
How many phone calls does that save? How many hours do you get back? How many prospects do you capture who otherwise went away because they couldn’t find you? How many referrals already know what you’re about by the time you get on the phone with them?

Better yet, how many prospective clients do you stop losing simply because there's no website? It is shown that most people, especially Millennials and Gen Z, probably want to check out your website before calling you. A survey conducted by Verisign shows that 93% of consumers research a purchase online, 77% believe that a website makes a business more credible, and 84% believe a business website is more credible than just a social media page for the same business. [1] Research by Epsilon also shows that those Millennials and Gen Z'ers are influencing the tech use of the older generations with whom they live[2].

The culture is wired. The youngest users are influencing behavior of older users. And everyone wants to know about you before contacting you. If they can't find a convincing case for you, odds are good they just move on...
 
With apologies to Oscar Wilde, there’s only one thing worse than having a website. And that’s not having a website. The website is an interview. You enter into a conversation the prospect is already having. And your Evocative Efficiency—making them feel good about you before you ever speak to them—yields all kinds of benefits that make your life easier and more profitable. 

1. Verisign blog post citing results of survey.

2. Epsilon report citing date about tech generational tech influences.