What Is the Average Age of a Website?

“My website still looks great and we already took care of it 4-5 years ago.” That was the response I received during a recent meeting with an Attorney who, for the sake this article, we shall call Jack…so I don’t get in trouble here. Jack is like many attorneys today who have gone through at least a few website redesigns/upgrades over the years but still cannot answer this simple question…

“WHEN DO I NEED TO REDESIGN MY WEBSITE?”

To help answer this question, I looked back at the performance of a number of lawyer websites over the past five years and nearly all of them showed a decline in key metrics around the 2.5-year mark (2 years and 7 months to be more exact). In short, with all things being equal and when looking at key performance data points such as: Bounce Rates, Mobile Sessions, Page One Rankings, Conversion Rates, and Mobile Page Load Speed just to name a few, almost all of these lawyer websites started declining in many of these key metrics around the 2.5-year mark when not upgraded. And what about the websites that were upgraded? Almost all saw the opposite effects. Which leads me to the following conclusion that I still share with lawyers today…

THE AVERAGE AGE OF A WEBSITE IS 2.5 YEARS

As I discuss in more detail in my FREE download of the Top 9 Sales & Marketing Strategies to Help Grown Your Law Firm, the #1 focus of your website should now be conversions, period. When 95% of your initial website visitors leave without converting, it is obvious this is where you should start. Moreover, with the majority of website visitors now coming to your website on mobile, you need to be laser focused on mobile conversions moving forward – for the mobile devices websites were designed to support 2+ years ago have changed. Here are a few more considerations when evaluating your current website:

• How has your law firm changed since your last website design? Most attorney websites still reflect what was more than projecting the new and desired direction ahead. Websites should be designed to help reflect what you want to be instead of what you once were.
• How has your content strategy changed? Are you still stuck on writing a lot of “written” content that most people will now never read on their mobile devices? How much video, which is the new preferred content on mobile, are you now utilizing? And how is your website content be distributed on social and video channels for others to see?
• How has your website kept up with newer design trends that better support mobile? Do you have a more streamlined single-column layout or still stuck in yesterday’s PC-first design structure? If your website was last designed over a year ago, chances are you are already not fully mobile-optimized for today’s mobile devices.

Where are your conversion points and paths of users to most effectively reach your law firm from your website? With mobile, over 74% (and climbing) of your contacts are now by phone and most click-to-call so how does your design now support these options from mobile? Do they also have a way to text your firm as well? These are only few questions you should ask when evaluating your current website design. And if you do find that you are now in need of an update, here are a few improvements to think about with your new website design:

• Focus on conversion first which means strong and easy-to-find conversion buttons strategically placed on your website. Next, cut-back on your navigation to make it as simple and easy as possible to use. When you analyze your past site performance, you will quickly see what areas that get the most user focus and which ones can be minimized and even done away with. Conversely, also look for the most active content and exit pages and focus on improving their conversion – including through the added use of video.
• Update your pictures and content on the site – and continue to do so on a regular basis. The search engines and users want to see an “active” site which means creating a following a consistent content calendar with regular updates. Most new website designs are easy for users to update so take advantage of the newer content management systems to help support them.
• Take a fresh and new look at your desired design and keep it simple – including the use of single-column layouts and less clutter. This will likely involve using newer and more updated templates for your design layout.

For more ideas, download my FREE 35-page download of the Top 9 Sales & Marketing Strategies to Help Grown Your Law Firm to learn more.

IN SUMMARY, many of the details I covered in this article may be a bit too detailed or most attorneys to fully manage themselves so the next time somebody asks you when you need a new website, just stick to the 2.5 years model and plan on pulling this trigger around that time…and place it on your calendar now to remind yourself! And by the way, Jack, you are way overdue!