Websites for Sole Practitioners. Sole practitioners need a website to represent themselves and their brand. They are still running a business, and need to comply with all the demands of running one. Accounting, Customer Service, Sales, Marketing – a sole practitioner doesn’t have a large company handling those aspects of the business for them. Therefore, many attorneys find themselves overwhelmed – they have their hands in so many vast, complex areas of business there isn’t enough time to do what they set out to in the first place – practice law.
And without the extra support, they often end up ignoring one of the most important parts of any business, which is marketing. Ignoring marketing and advertising ensures one thing – you won’t see new customers. And without customers, of course, you have no revenue, and with no revenue, there is no business. In 2015 advertising has mostly shifted to digital platforms. With the number of people actively using the internet increasing every year, the need to maintain an online presence has shifted from ideal to absolutely necessary.
The first step to establishing this presence is by creating a quality, SEO-optimized website. However, this is no small feat and is something that needs to be constantly updated, maintained, and paid close attention to. There are many different aspects to what actually displays a website – what kind of device you’re using (computer, phone, tablet), what internet browser, what version of internet browser & device, how the website was built, etc., etc. Combine that with the concept of SEO (search engine optimization) and it’s easy to understand why a sole practice might feel overwhelmed when trying to market their business. In fact, there are entire companies dedicated to just performing SEO services, so the wealth of knowledge required to create a website professionally is expansive, to say the least.
Some sole practitioners still try to handle this themselves. There are many inexpensive and even free solutions to creating a website, but oftentimes using these leaves the business in a worse position than having nothing at all. Cheap solutions are cheap for a reason – they create websites that look unprofessional, and even if it “looks” good during the creation process, there is no quality control used. Maybe it looks OK on their personal computer, but what about the millions of potential clients that use a different type of computer, a different internet browser, or a different device (like an iPhone)? Despite what claims the free service makes, it is like all things in life – you get what you pay for. There are entire companies devoted to knowing and understanding all the considerations that go into website design. The prudent attorney understands they need a website that represents their business as professionally as they represent themselves, and that’s why they will hire a web design company.
