How to Audit Your Law Firm’s Website in Under One Hour

Ask a busy attorney or their staff if they have time to do an audit of their law firm’s website, and chances are you will get dead stares and silence or outright laughter. First, nobody likes the word “audit.” It carries too many negative connotations. Second, attaching the word audit to anything makes it sound like time-consuming drudgery.  The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. 

At PaperStreet, we know how valuable time is. We also know the best law firm marketing plans and campaigns will fall flat if your website collapses under the strain of success. A one-hour audit is designed to reveal obvious gaps and missed opportunities. Give us an hour, and we will give you insight into what’s working and what’s not on your website. 

What You’ll Need Before You Start (5 Minutes)

A successful one-hour audit requires a few minutes of preparation and planning. Before you can dig into the audit, make sure that you have access to the following:

• Your website URL
• Your administration access password, if available
• Google search access, preferably in an incognito window
• Google Analytics and Search Console access (optional, but helpful)
• Something to make notes on as you go

Also, make sure that you clear an hour on your calendar. This audit can be done in one hour; however, if you get interrupted, that hour can easily double. Consider doing this on the weekend when phones aren’t ringing and interruptions are less likely. 

Step 1: First Impression Check (10 Minutes)

The first step in the audit is to check your virtual front door. For most law firms, this step yields the biggest insights. The reason for this is simple. How often do you visit your own website? For most people, that answer is not very often. Why would you? Once the website is up and running, unless you are the one updating it, you wouldn’t have a reason to visit it. 

You will need to run a set of searches. Preferably, you are going to do this in an incognito Google search window. You can open this window by clicking on the three dots in the upper-right corner of your browser and selecting “New Incognito Window.” Incognito mode prevents your browser from using stored information, allowing you to view the website as a new visitor without prior browsing data influencing the experience. Once you are ready to search, look at these things:

• Homepage: When you click on your home page, can you immediately identify the answers to these three questions: 
  • Who does the firm help? 
  • What does the firm do?
  • Where does the firm do it? 
• Above-the-fold messaging: What can you see on your website without scrolling? If the page has a title, for example, “Estate Planning Attorney in Cleveland,” and you cannot see that without scrolling because of the information in your banner, you have to assume that many of your clients who land on that page will think they are in the wrong place and bounce.  
• Visual professionalism: The next step is to detach yourself from ownership of your home page. Forget the money and effort you put into the development of your website. Look at it with a critical eye. 
  • What does it say about your firm? 
  • Is it professional-looking? 
  • Based only on this, would you hire yourself?

Remember, in the digital age, your website is your digital front door. Can potential clients find it? Assuming they can, is it the kind of place they would like to walk into?

Step 2: Navigation & User Experience (15 Minutes)

The second step of the audit involves navigating your website. The goal is to experience your website the way your clients experience it. The purpose of this step is to ensure your clients can find what they are looking for. Check for the following:

• Can a visitor find key pages in two clicks or fewer?
• Are the practice area pages logically organized?
• Are things clearly labeled?
• Is your contact information visible, accurate, and usable? 
• Do the pages load without hesitation?

This phase often reveals problems with structure and speed. Most law firm websites are not built in one day. As elements and complexity increase, the site’s overall structure can suffer. Viewing the site the same way a prospective client would will help you identify small glitches that may add up to big problems. 

Step 3: Content & Messaging Review (15 Minutes)

The third step looks at your content and messaging. Most firms have someone responsible for posting new content, but few have someone designated to remove content that has passed its shelf life.  Most law firms go through iterations of messages as the brand develops over time. Unfortunately, updating outdated messaging for older content is often overlooked.  

In this step, look at the following:

• Practice Area Pages: 
  • Do they represent the current areas in which you practice? 
  • Are they clearly titled? 
  • Do they provide the information that the visitors are looking for? 
• Attorney Bios: 
  • Are attorney bio pictures up to date? 
  • Are awards and accolades current? 
  • Are practice areas and memberships current? 
• Blog and Resources: 
  • Is the information contained in these pages current?  
  • Is there any dated material that is more than a year old? 
  • Does the branding match the firm’s current branding?
• Reviews, Testimonials, and Case Results: 
  • Does this information reflect your most current results? 
  • Is there anything that makes you cringe? 
• Links:  
  • As you look through the pages, spot-check links.
  • Do they work? 
  • Do their connections make sense?

Taglines and marketing strategies change and evolve over time. This phase of the audit usually reveals the progression of your marketing efforts. You do not necessarily need to replace all vestiges of the past, but anything that contradicts the current campaign should be changed. 

Step 4: Conversion (5 Minutes)

The next step in the audit is designed to ensure your clicks become conversions. Check the following: 

• Are your contact forms streamlined, collecting only the information that you really need?
• Are your phone numbers consistent and accurate across your platform? 
• Are your calls to action in the right places and clear? 

At this point, you should also use your cellphone to check how the contact forms and buttons work on a mobile device. This one small issue can be a sticking point for conversions. Remember, many legal services searches happen on mobile devices. Take the time to see if you can fill out your own contact form from a mobile device. If you cannot easily complete it, assume your clients cannot either. 

Step 5: Red Flags That Require Immediate Attention (10 minutes)

The fifth step of the audit is a wrap-up. After you finish the previous steps, take a minute to write up notes on what you found. These notes can become the basis for an action list.  Triage red flag problems that need to be addressed, including things such as: 

• Outdated content: Use your administrative powers to update or remove outdated content, or provide your administrator with a detailed list of pages you want deleted.
• Thin or duplicate practice area content: If there are duplicate practice area pages, delete the older of the pages. Make a list of thin content items for your legal content team to update. 
• Poor mobile experience: If what you see on mobile did not make you happy, contact your technical person immediately to address the problem.
• No clear marketing: If you were unfortunate enough to discover that your website has no clear marketing strategy, know that the problem can be fixed.

If you find any of these red flags, it may be a sign that you need a deeper law firm marketing audit.  

Turning Your One-Hour Audit Into an Action Plan

To get the full value from your audit hour, use it to develop an action plan. While not everything needs to be done immediately, a schedule should be set. Start with quick wins, but don’t ignore the long-term fixes that are needed. The first decision is what can be done internally and what needs to be outsourced. Whether it is assisting with clean-up or performing a deeper audit, at PaperStreet, we are ready to help you with all your law firm marketing needs.  Contact us today to get started.