Add Tech Updates to Your Firm’s Spring To-Dos

As your law firm embarks on its spring-cleaning journey, don’t forget to add digital housekeeping, focused on tech updates, to the list. On average, firms spent $10,433 on hardware and $11,253 on practice management software in 2021. And while tasks like updating your blog and posting on social media may not be billable, they offer a significant return on time invested if done well.

Focus on these tech updates to ensure your own digital investments are worthwhile, secure and promotes your firm’s productivity and profitability.

Hardware

While updating tech like expensive laptops and desktop computers can feel like an overwhelming budget burden, outdated hardware can deal an even bigger hit to your bottom line. PCs older than four years have been found to bear an average $2,736 cost impact and are 2.7 times likelier to require repairs.

Ideally, you should build the cost of regular hardware replacement into your firm’s budget. But sometimes a more immediate fix is in order. If your firm is experiencing any of the following issues, purchase new hardware:

• Incompatibility with your operating system updates or software upgrades
• Noisy fans
• Long start up or shut down times
• Applications taking longer than usual to start up
• Inability to run multiple programs at once
• Frequent crashes or BSOD (blue screen of death)

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Website

Your website is your firm’s online real estate and calling card, and it’s often the first point of contact with potential clients. If your site offers inaccurate or outdated information, you may be losing clients without even knowing it.

When it comes to digital spring cleaning for your law firm’s site, check for these tech updates:

• New hires. Does your “meet our team” page include attorneys new to your practice?
• Practice areas. Are your listed practice areas current?
• Contact information. Is your firm’s contact information accurate? Are you offering potential clients multiple points of contact (contact form/email, physical address, and phone number)?
• Bios and headshots. Are your team’s bios up to date, with headshots that are both recent and professional
• Testimonials. Are you leveraging the power of social proof by featuring recent testimonials and customer reviews on your site?

Social Media

There’s very little debate about the role of social media in law firm marketing. Nearly three-quarters (70%) of attorneys employ media as part of their marketing strategy, and 42% feel social media plays a role in new client acquisition.

If social media is part of your firm’s marketing plan, check out the following tech update tips for your social media accounts:

• Display your icons. Your social media links are probably displayed on your website, but you also should include them on other media such as printed advertising materials or business cards.
• Eliminate unnecessary accounts. Your firm doesn’t need to be on every social media platform. Focus your energies on the one or two platforms your target market engages most often, or where you most frequently interact with users. LinkedIn is the most popular channel among attorneys; 42% say their firms use the social site for marketing, followed by 33% who use Facebook.
• Diversify your content. Are you offering varied content in your social media posts? Change things up by including visuals, videos and thought leadership posts.
• Increase your engagement. Social media is all about engagement. Respond promptly and thoroughly to any comments and queries posted by your followers.

Blog

Your firm’s blog not only positions you as an expert in your field; it’s another point of entry for new clients. While 27% of attorneys say their firms has a blog, almost half of those with blogs said they’d obtained clients as a result.

The following are some essential spring-cleaning tips for keeping your blog in good shape:

• Update outdated information. Check for posts that contain outdated information, such as old legislation, and update them with more current references.
• Create (or evaluate) your content strategy. Posting quality content consistently is key to a successful law blog. Now is the time to develop a content strategy for your blog or update your existing strategy. Your strategy serves to accomplish a specific goal (establishing industry expertise, attracting new clients, etc.) and must be measurable.
• Optimize your posts for SEO. Your blog posts are prime contenders when it comes to drawing search traffic. While you can’t optimize every post, updating older posts for specific keywords can majorly improve your organic traffic — visitors who arrive at your site via search engines.

The state of your “digital house” can have a major impact on your law firm’s profitability. Scheduling an annual digital spring cleaning helps you stay productive and keeps your legal marketing and client acquisition strategies on track for the rest of the year.