It is estimated that 95% of law firms have a website (I’m not sure what the other five percent are holding out for…perhaps they still think the Internet is a fad), but too few attorneys are consistently generating quality leads from their online presence because they lack great content.

Google has made it very difficult to rank high in search if you don’t have a lot of quality content on your website. One of the best ways to do this is via a blog, which allows you to add unique, high quality content every day to your site.

There are also some basic essentials that you must incorporate into your legal website today to help you land more leads:

1. Optimize your website for conversions. Guide visitors to contact you by featuring your phone number, a contact form or having live chat available on your site.

2. Link to your social media pages. Your social media sites are great for providing information that may not be on your website as well as social proof in the form of positive comments on your Facebook page or on your LinkedIn profile.

3. Make your site mobile-friendly. 80% of consumers use a smartphone to search the Internet and 46% use a tablet, so your website must be mobile-friendly and include a click-to-call number, map, hours and other useful information for consumers to find and contact you.

4. Keep content accurate and current. Be sure that your website is kept current by deleting bios of and references to attorneys no longer at your firm. Your latest blog post should be no more than a few days old.   If you have practiced law for more than a year, then you should be aware of what your clients want to know. Your site needs to have a robust Frequently Asked Questions area where people can come and learn about what they specifically want to know.

5. Use video. Videos build credibility and attract visitors who would rather not read about your services but instead would prefer to watch an informative video and get a feel for your firm from the person presenting that information. Add video to each attorney profile page as a way to let prospects really get to know and engage with each lawyer in your firm. Don’t just put up a resume. Your goal is to humanize each attorney so clients and prospects feel comfortable revealing themselves to him or her.

6. Feature modern, simple design. Dated design elements can reflect poorly on your image. Pop-ups and flashing text can annoy visitors and don’t add value to your message. If it’s been a few years since your site was updated, do it now.

7. Make your site user-friendly. Lengthy load times, broken links, Flash-based pages and difficult navigation drive consumers away. Create a comfortable online space for your visitors to stay awhile.

Your website is your online office, a place that prospects and clients should be able to visit to get the information they need without having to wade through a bunch of nonessential stuff. Don’t forget that your law firm website is not going to do a darn thing for you unless it does something for your prospects and clients.