According to Business Link in a report published recently, Britain’s small businesses are failing to get the most out of their on-line presence.

Research by BT Openworld shows that a quarter of small firms are at risk of losing clients by relying on out of date web sites. The most common areas of neglect being news, services information and up to date contact details.

Many legal firms are “concerned” about the costs of investing in their web site as they are unlikely to see a quick return on their on-line investment. However competitive firms are only a click away so firms need to maintain a strong internet presence.

JE Consulting provides many of their legal clients with regular and up- to-date web content through their e-news service and on-line fact sheets and news. Businesses have to realise that a year in real time equals anywhere from four to twelve months in “web time”, meaning that time moves much faster on-line than off. That said, the content of your web site can become outdated very quickly.

These are the 5 key disadvantages to not keeping a practice web site up to date:

1. New visitors will recognise old content.

There is something about stale content, a savvy web user can recognise it at first glance. If visitors to your website perceive that the content is not fresh they may look at it once, but it is unlikely that they will bookmark it and even more unlikely that they will return again. It’s like the difference between a brochure and a newspaper, a client may pick up a brochure and read through it once, they may even save the brochure, but they will not be pulling it out once a month to read through it again, and after a period of time will even forget they have it.

A newspaper, no matter how small always has fresh content, so that if someone picks it up and likes what they read, they will likely pick up another copy at a later date. Web sites are like that, visitors will quickly perceive whether it’s brochure or a newspaper and will treat it as such.

2. Returning visitors will not come back again.

When a potential client visits your site and likes your content they may bookmark it and return another time to see what's new. If after several months, however, there is no new content, they will assume that it is not going to change and will stop checking your site. It is returning visitors, who are most likely to become your clients, not only do they like what you have to say, but they are interested enough to keep in touch. In this way your web site acts as a networking tool to business contacts you may never have actually talked to.

3. Other sites may not link to you.

Getting linked to other similar sites is a good way to get visitors to your site but another little known fact is that links to your site can dramatically improve your search engine ranking. Getting quality sites to link to you is difficult when your site is not kept updated. A good webmaster does not link to every site that comes along and asks for a link, only those that will offer some valuable information to their customers.

4. Search engines will not index you as often.

This will not help if you don’t update more than once a month but if you do, Google and other search engines may index your site several times a month. This gives your site a definite advantage because when you make changes these may be reflected in the next week instead of the next month. This also makes your site seem fresher and more up to date. Web users may notice the new content in the search engine and visit your site.

5. The competition will have the advantage.

This point is very simple, by not updating your site regularly you are giving your competition that do, the advantage.

How can JE Consulting help you with web marketing?

If you want an e-marketing campaign designed exclusively for you that meets your marketing objectives and will appeal to your target audience we can help.

JE Consulting specialise in handling web management programmes for legal firms of all sizes.

Through a team of experienced copy writers and designers your firm can benefit from:

Contact us for more information about this unique e-marketing service for solicitors. Our service is cost effective and can be tailored to suit budgets of all sizes.