Andrea Blake is the Director of Operations at Bambiz and is also a website specialist. Today we are going to talk about your website!
Remember – your website is not your business card!
In this episode, we’ll cover: Getting people to understand what you do Why people need your service more than they think How to actually communicate with you via your website The most useful website “CTA” or call-to-action Most common problems seen on Elder Law & Estate Planning websites and how to fix them Moving people into the next step with you in a sequential order
If you are looking for a new or upgraded website for your firm, check out our FREE WEBSITE BLUEPRINT document to have a template to work off of: https://bambiz.net/resources/website-blueprint
For a better feel of how your website should/could look, check out our demo website here: https://centralfloridaeldercare.com/
Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Elder Law Growth Podcast! We are on a mission to help elder law and estate planning firms grow their practices through digital marketing so they can help create a lasting legacy for families everywhere. No one should pass away without a solid plan in place and everyone should be able to age with dignity.
My name is Dan Hafner and I will be your host for this podcast. I want to thank you all for joining whether this is your first time with us or you have tuned into an episode previously, welcome to the show!
Today’s guest is the wife of the founder Jim Blake, Andrea Blake. She has been working with elder law and estate planning attorneys for about six years going back to elder counsel. She is our Director of Operations and website specialists. So this episode will be website focused. So tell us a little about yourself.
Andrea: As you mentioned I worked with elder counsel for a few years and then I got started in elder law and estate planning. I worked for the Heckerlink Institute for a while and now I work for Bambiz. My goal is to help my focus really is trying to help elder law and estate planning attorneys grow their practices through using smart types of marketing and really through clarifying their messages. So that they can find their ideal potential client and really speak to that person about how they can help them.
This is an underserved market a lot of people don’t know what elder law is and so I’m hoping that we can help change that.
Dan: I am glad you mentioned the story aspect of this. Many businesses ignore that, especially in this niche. Do you see that a lot?
Andrea: The main thing I notice is people treat their websites or their marketing materials like it’s just a business card that you’re handing someone and it’s not. Somebody should be able to go on your website and in five seconds they should be able to know exactly what you do even if they have no clue who you are and beyond that why it matters to them.
When we design a website we use what’s called the grunt test. Basically, if a caveman went on your website and was like what can you do, you should be able to answer that in a way that a caveman could understand. If someone goes on your website right at the top you need a huge tagline so for our demo website we created it’s helping seniors protect and preserve their legacy.
We don’t see anything about elder law we don’t necessarily even say that we’re lawyers but we’re protecting and preserving your legacy we’re working with seniors. That type of messaging is what you need to be clear about not only what you do but exactly who you’re working with and how you can help them.
Below that we have a subtitle “your golden years should be a time of rest relaxation and making new memories with loved ones”. Then the kind of last piece of this is you get people to not only understand what you do but they need to also understand how to buy. So it’s what’s the next step, typically a consultation, scheduling a call, maybe it’s subscribing to an email list, or downloading a lead magnet. You have to kind of decide what you want the next step to be and then make that clear. That should be a call to action at the very top of your website.
You have about five seconds when someone lands on your website to answer those questions. What do you do? Why does it matter to me? How’s it going to make my life better? And how can I buy it or what you know what do you need me to do next if i’m interested?
Dan: I really want to touch on that you have about five seconds. With an elder law and estate planning website you are targeting people who are older and later in their years. Do they really have that short of an attention span?
Andrea: Yeah maybe you get seven but the range is actually from three to seven seconds. So I say five because it’s a happy medium. Maybe a millennial’s more like three and a senior is more like seven but five seconds is the sweet spot you need to aim for.
Dan: What are some of the other most common problems you see with elder law and estate planning websites?
Andrea: I would say the number one problem is the person who wrote the website so talks about themselves and people don’t care about you. We’re all selfish right, that’s just human nature we are looking for things that will improve our lives and make us better. So when I log on a website and someone’s talking about where they went to school and their qualifications and all these things that’s great but I don’t really understand how that’s going to benefit me in my life and how you’re going to help me solve my problem.
A good website is about the viewer it’s not about the writer. It should always be about the person viewing the website and what their problem is and how you’re going to help them solve it.
Dan: I even take a look at some of some of the different websites out there and there are people that you know have up to date websites but like you said they’re very self-focused or lack clear calls to action. And that is really discouraging because it’s not very expensive or time consuming to make a new website is it?
Andrea: The investment is nominal compared to you the amount of time. I do see people making the mistake a lot of hiring someone that doesn’t know elder law or estate planning or maybe doesn’t even work with lawyers. You’re selling you know a ten thousand dollar estate plan or whatever it is so hire someone that you know builds websites for your industry.
Dan: I like that you said that because it’s about the next step.
Andrea: It’s all about the next step that’s all your website should do. You should have a drawn-out process, usually called a funnel, maybe it’s like a five-step process from a to z. That’s the one thing I feel like people miss the boat on when you’re talking about problems with websites. i don’t think people necessarily have a clear end goal in mind.
From day one when we develop a website for you, we will talk about what’s your end goal. Typically for a website, it is going to be let’s get people to schedule an initial short call but beyond that then now that that’s in your office okay what’s your end goal in the process that you have in your actual office to get the sale. Keeping the goal at the forefront is super important I’m glad you brought that up.
Another common thing I see is that there are multiple calls to action. It’s almost like a “busy” website and it’s not just estate planning and elder law. I am not a huge fan of too many pop-ups or chat boxes and it’s taking away from your message. I do think having strategically placed lead magnets, a way to collect someone’s contact information in exchange for a resource is great. Some people might not book the call, maybe they’re not ready no matter how much you put on the buttons.
Putting in your email address to download a guide is what I would call low friction. Somebody’s probably willing to do that and guess what now you have their contact information and you can put them on your e-newsletter list. Something like booking a call would be medium friction where some people are willing but others might not be ready.
Dan: I used to feel bad about it but there is nothing wrong with looking at your competitor’s websites. Being able to see what you like about their site and implementing some of those. Ultimately it’s all about where they go from there the process and system they go through after they take that first step. If you were to share a few quick common changes to make to an elder law and estate planning site, what would they be?
Andrea: I would say the grunt test, which you can search for on google. It’s basically if someone knows nothing about you and they land on your website can answer the questions of what you can do and how you can help within the first few seconds.
The other thing I see a lot of is websites that just have bad structure. The way people read a book is how they read a website, left to right and top to bottom. It should have a call to action, white space, and minimal text that speaks to your potential client. So their eyes go to what you want them to see.
Dan: We have a downloadable template too right?
Andrea: We have a free website blueprint template that’s going to outline everything you need on your website in the order that it should be placed. It’s on our website bambiz.net under resources you’ll see there’s a drop-down. It’s called the website blueprint template, so feel free to go in there download that and that is a great way to get started.
Dan: Is there anything else you’d like to close with Andrea?
Andrea: Feel free to check out our website if you want to get ideas about how to simplify your messaging. We have a demo elder law website as well so if you’re specifically looking for ideas on how to format a lawyer website that will be a great place to look around. Feel free to take notes and copy some ideas (don’t steal all of our ideas). We’d love to chat more if you’re interested.
That’s all for this episode, as always I appreciate you joining. You can always check out bambiz.net or elderlawgrowthpodcast.com for more information and show notes. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. We appreciate any reviews or shares to anyone you know who might benefit from our content. Join us next week for another episode. It’s been a pleasure, Dan Hafner signing off. Talk to you next time.
