According to data collected by the Pew Research Center, older Americans are using the web more than ever before. In 2016, 64% of people age 65+ used the internet, while 87% of users aged 50-64 were online. This means that if your firm doesn’t have a website, you should invest in one as soon as you can. Unfortunately, this older audience may not be as tech-savvy as other populations. Social Security disability attorneys in particular may be at a disadvantage when trying to get consumers to contact your firm online. Here are some tips you should keep in mind when building your website.

1. Ensure Someone Can Contact You

A potential claimant will never be able to reach your firm unless there’s a clear way to get in contact with an attorney at your firm. If you don’t have simple contact information on your website, (ideally on every page), your visitors will not call your firm.

Millennials were raised online and would likely be able to find an email address or phone number buried in your privacy policy, but Social Security disability applicants or personal injury claimants are typically older, and will need more help. Consider having your firm’s phone number displayed on every page of your site, and having a side-bar “Contact Us” form on every page of content.

2. Keep Your URLs Lowercase

This is a good practice for attorneys in any area of law. Whenever you’re creating a new page on your website, you should use a lowercase URL. Linux is case sensitive, so if you use capital letters in your URL, someone may not be able to find your website if you’re hosted on a Linux server. If your website is not hosted on a Linux server, the issue may be even worse. Search engines like Google and Bing will see two pages: One with capitalization, and one without. Google may not know how to rank your pages (which one should be displayed if there are two versions?), so you may not perform well in search. This could allow competing firms to get more traffic than your site. It’s a small but important error to avoid.

3. Keep Colors in Mind

Vision loss typically progresses with age, so Social Security attorneys will likely need to accompany low-vision applicants online. Be sure that your web pages are easy to see for people of all ages.

This can include using large font so your website is easy to read. You should also avoid using colors that not everyone can see, such as red and green together. Many people, especially older adults, experience color blindness. Simple colors and strong fonts help keep your firm accessible to everyone.

Your Website May Not be Enough….

Because the legal industry is highly competitive, you may not be getting all the new cases you want, even with a pristine website. If you’d like to supplement your current efforts with Social Security disability leads, personal injury leads, or another one of our case types, give us a call today at 617.800.0089. We’d be happy to highlight some of the best features of our service with you and your staff today.

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/internet-broadband/