I would LOVE some feedback on my new niche web design agency

[GoodluckChuck]

Ripping review by Minivanman. Love the honesty.

In my opinion your website is fine. Why? Because it doesn't really matter much at this point.

I recommend two things:

1. Remove prices. Your focus should be on the client and what they need. What if they need an $8000 site? What do you do then?

2. Reach out to a bunch of small lawyers and ask them if you can build them a free website in exchange for a review on Google. Maybe even throw in that they pay you $500 when they get their 5th lead through the website. What have they got to lose?

This does two things. It gives you an in to start a relationship with some businesses. Half of sales is relationships. If you are regularly talking to 100 lawyers, you will never run out of work.

It also gives you incentive to make their websites generate business. Build the sites, install Google Analytics, and learn SEO, making tweaks and changes as you go. After a few months you will start to see what's working and what isn't and most likely will be generating some leads.

At this point you will have some great reviews, happy clients that will likely keep paying you since you're now producing results, and a few lawyers that will send you referrals.

Depending on the type of law, lawyers make good money, so it's in their best interest to spend $300/lead when they are making $1200 per lead.

I've heard a lot of people have great success by being straight up and saying "Hey, I just started doing web design and need some clients to practice on. You don't have to pay unless you get great results and all I ask is that you promote me if I do a good job." People LOVE this shit...

If you go through all this, it will be six months from now and you won't have to ask the Fastlane Forum if your website is good because you will know from experience.

 

[Overdrive]

Hi! Here are some random thoughts by a former practicing lawyer (currently employed in-house):

I understand that you're just starting out and the website is still "under construction". However, the first impression of this current iteration of your website is not very good, unfortunately. It's not convincing to me and does not convey "professionalism", especially considering that you market yourself as an expert in web design for lawyers. You have to understand that potential customers would look at your website as model for how their own law firm website could look like. And from a lawyer's point of view, it's not appealing because it does not exude the kind of professionalism associated with the legal industry. So, my first suggestion is, try create your own website as if you were a top law firm that competes with your target audience. Try to immediately "wow" your target audience from the start.

Second, if you put too much emphasis on your law degree and use it as a reason to trust you, this only highlights the fact (pls correct me if I'm wrong) that you're not an attorney yourself and have no experience working as one. Unfortunately, this will work to diminish any expert status you want to project. I'm also skeptical about stressing that you come from a "lawyer family" because it makes people think you're the only one in the family that decided not to follow a legal career (then how can you be an expert for law firm websites?) I would also replace the graduation photo with a photo that shows you in a suit and tie for the same reason. Just pretend you're an actual lawyer for the photo. Perception is everything.

I was also thinking if you're from a lawyer family, perhaps you have a sibling whom you could team up with and put him/her on the website as a co-founder or board member or even just as an adviser (similar to what is called an "of-counsel" in a law firm). He/she need not actually do anything, but it would lend credibility to your service that you are lacking now.

The above is just my first impression of your website. I'm sure you can do a great job with it. Good luck!

PS: I second what the other posters in this thread above me have said.

 

[bumble_bee]

How is his site fine? If you was looking to hire him today, would you think his site is fine? You would want a site like that? If he is referring his site to potential clients, I don't understand how his site is fine. For those prices, his site needs to be so cool I get a tingle in my balls when I read it.

Sorry, another ripping bit of honestly, I didn't get the tingle

Man, I literally launched it this morning

It's still early days

And the guy you replied to launched his web business before it was perfect. He created a really good thread about it recently.

I don't have any clients yet & I'm doing my best

I read the forum rules. It says that we have to be respectful. I figured it would be worth posting here to get some feedback from people who are in a similar niche.

I started my wedding DJ business five years ago before I even owned a PA system. It was far from 'ready' or 'perfect'. I asked for feedback and jumped in. It worked out really well and I've been a professional DJ ever since.

One of my redeeming qualities is my willingness to ask for feedback. So here I am. Asking a group of +50k entrepreneurs to give me their two cents.

Thanks to everyone who has been respectful. I'm honestly happy with any feedback, even if it's a bit harsh. I'll take everything on board and keep improving.

 

[minivanman]

Ripping review by Minivanman. Love the honesty.

In my opinion your website is fine. Why? Because it doesn't really matter much at this point.

I recommend two things:

1. Remove prices. Your focus should be on the client and what they need. What if they need an $8000 site? What do you do then?

2. Reach out to a bunch of small lawyers and ask them if you can build them a free website in exchange for a review on Google. Maybe even throw in that they pay you $500 when they get their 5th lead through the website. What have they got to lose?

This does two things. It gives you an in to start a relationship with some businesses. Half of sales is relationships. If you are regularly talking to 100 lawyers, you will never run out of work.

It also gives you incentive to make their websites generate business. Build the sites, install Google Analytics, and learn SEO, making tweaks and changes as you go. After a few months you will start to see what's working and what isn't and most likely will be generating some leads.

At this point you will have some great reviews, happy clients that will likely keep paying you since you're now producing results, and a few lawyers that will send you referrals.

Depending on the type of law, lawyers make good money, so it's in their best interest to spend $300/lead when they are making $1200 per lead.

I've heard a lot of people have great success by being straight up and saying "Hey, I just started doing web design and need some clients to practice on. You don't have to pay unless you get great results and all I ask is that you promote me if I do a good job." People LOVE this shit...

If you go through all this, it will be six months from now and you won't have to ask the Fastlane Forum if your website is good because you will know from experience.

How is his site fine? If you was looking to hire him today, would you think his site is fine? You would want a site like that? If he is referring his site to potential clients, I don't understand how his site is fine. For those prices, his site needs to be so cool I get a tingle in my balls when I read it.

Sorry, another ripping bit of honestly, I didn't get the tingle

 

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[minivanman]

I'm no 'professional' but aren't YOU suppose to be if you are going to build websites? 1 page is not a site that will outrank great websites..... isn't that what you are about? Being better than the best? You should know these things. I did a test on dareboost and your site got a 65%. My sites get 87% - 94% and I use Weebly..... people say Weebly sucks As for those site testers, I'm not sure if they are 100% accurate but just by looking, I'd give it about a 65% myself.

What I saw before I went to test your site is..... 1 page and not really much information on the site as a whole. If you are going to make your customers a site like that, you will need to charge $1.95.

Just telling you the way I see it, others might see it different..... you asked.

 

[bumble_bee]

G'day
Brendan here from Australia
I have launched my new business ('legalsites')
Law Firm Website Design & Internet Marketing | legalsites
Web design and online marketing for lawyers

I would LOVE some feedback.
You guys/girls are the experts here -
Please let me know what you think so far
General advice/tips would also be appreciated

Thanks
Brendan

 

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[Xeon]

How is his site fine? If you was looking to hire him today, would you think his site is fine? You would want a site like that? If he is referring his site to potential clients, I don't understand how his site is fine. For those prices, his site needs to be so cool I get a tingle in my balls when I read it.

Sorry, another ripping bit of honestly, I didn't get the tingle

This world needs more brutal people like you with no-holds barred opinions, because these feedback are the most valuable. What a turn-on.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

How is his site fine? If you was looking to hire him today, would you think his site is fine? You would want a site like that? If he is referring his site to potential clients, I don't understand how his site is fine. For those prices, his site needs to be so cool I get a tingle in my balls when I read it.

Sorry, another ripping bit of honestly, I didn't get the tingle

What I mean when I say it's fine is that effort is best spent making sales and actually getting clients. Spending more time on the website is going to have much slower results and without a base of results to present it's not super useful.

Plenty of people sell websites and don't even have a website themselves. I've sold sites to people that never cared about my site. They cared that I took the time to get to know them and their problems and present a solution that fits them.

Saying it's fine wasn't a critique of the website but more of a suggestion to put the focus elsewhere.

 

[Xeon]

Some random thoughts as I browse the site:

1) The hero banner and the words in it needs to be heavily reworked. The text are generic and have no power. Site design is too generic. With Wix, Squarespace and Weebly nowadays, Joe can throw up a site under 2 hours and it won't look bad if he's using those Wix/SS/Weebly templates.

2) The most powerful section of your site is that "5 Reasons why legalsites is the BEST fit for you" section, but it's too far down the page. I would suggest shifting it up to below the hero banner, or better still, condense it and put those in the hero banner itself.

3) The photo of yourself in the grad gown doesn't inspire confidence.....How about removing the gown and wear a suit instead, and take a professional photo of yourself with your lawyer family, since that section says "I am also from a family of four lawyers. Needless to say, the law runs in my blood!”. It would be a good fit. Shots like this:
https://www.hmglaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/lawyers.jpg
https://www.woodslawyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/VA-Disability-Compensation-Lawyers.png

4) I love "The law runs in my blood". Maybe change it to "The law runs in our blood" and make it your tagline for customers to easily remember you by lol
Kelso LawWorks / Kelso LegalSites
The Law Runs In Our Blood

5) The order in which the info are displayed on the site in terms of importance feels kinda messed up.

6) I'm not sure what you're building your clients' sites with. But if it's Wordpress, then for your list of services for the $99/Maintenance plan, you can even pad on extras like Site Speed-Up services to make it more attractive. E.g: "Studies show that 70% of site visitors leave if the home page doesn't load in 3 seconds...." All you need is to install cache plugins + CDN and you got this covered for them.

 

[bumble_bee]

Thanks for all the advice

I signed up my first client on Friday:

New website
monthly care plan
monthly SEO services

Pretty happy with that. It only took 14 days. I would say 0 to $2k in 2 weeks, but I don't wanna sound like a tool.

I've been improving my website as I go.

I'm about 60% happy with it now

More meetings scheduled for this week.

Gotta focus on the clients first.

I understand why some digital agencies don't have a great website. There's only so much time in the day. Sales pay the bills.

I might create a more focussed thread once I feel like I've achieved more of my goals.

Thanks again for the advice. Getting my a$$ kicked by you guys has helped a lot!

 

[Valhalla]

It's a really good concept and I don't normally think websites move the needle as much as people give them credit. Having said that, I think a business should provide the example that all others should aspire to. So if you own a lawncare company, have the best garden in town, if you're a trainer, be the fittest around and if you design websites, you better have the best website around. This isn't quite there for all the reasons everyone has mentioned. There's just not enough about what you can do for the client, I lost interest pretty quickly, right around the grad photo.

I think it's a great niche, I think it'll do well, all the best!

 

[TonyStark]

This world needs more brutal people like you with no-holds barred opinions, because these feedback are the most valuable. What a turn-on.

I’m also hard.

 

[TonyStark]

Man, I literally launched it this morning

It's still early days

And the guy you replied to launched his web business before it was perfect. He created a really good thread about it recently.

I don't have any clients yet & I'm doing my best

I read the forum rules. It says that we have to be respectful. I figured it would be worth posting here to get some feedback from people who are in a similar niche.

I started my wedding DJ business five years ago before I even owned a PA system. It was far from 'ready' or 'perfect'. I asked for feedback and jumped in. It worked out really well and I've been a professional DJ ever since.

One of my redeeming qualities is my willingness to ask for feedback. So here I am. Asking a group of +50k entrepreneurs to give me their two cents.

Thanks to everyone who has been respectful. I'm honestly happy with any feedback, even if it's a bit harsh. I'll take everything on board and keep improving.

This is some quality feedback from a man that knows his stuff @minivanman. I would take it to heart if this is going to be one of your sources of income.

 

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[Real Deal Denver]

We have SO much technology at our fingertips. And yet I see a very plain hero section with three laptops just sitting there? Unacceptable.

@minivanman was right when he said $1.95.

Okay - with the bashing now down, let's get down to business. In this day and age of video or animated sliders, there is no reason to have a "business card" look to a website. You need color - action - a maybe a touch of excitement. But, but-but-but - how can you do that? Well, if you spend an hour googling the top law sites you will have an assortment of what a site can be. Rank em and learn from the best ones. Be honest. If something is bad, it's bad all day long.

I'd even go two steps further than having a picture of you in a suit. How about you AND your family all in suits? (the ones that are lawyers) I agree with all the advice that's been given so far.

You have a start. But really - on a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 2. Sorry to hurt your feelings. Better to hear it here than to find it out in the marketplace. Don't feel bad - I give my sites a 4 or 5 maybe.

I build sites myself, and I'm not thrilled with my results. But I have found three of the best people in the world that design websites. Do what you do best, and don't tie yourself down by trying to do everything.

Good luck.

 

[minivanman]

What I mean when I say it's fine is that effort is best spent making sales and actually getting clients. Spending more time on the website is going to have much slower results and without a base of results to present it's not super useful.

Plenty of people sell websites and don't even have a website themselves. I've sold sites to people that never cared about my site. They cared that I took the time to get to know them and their problems and present a solution that fits them.

Saying it's fine wasn't a critique of the website but more of a suggestion to put the focus elsewhere.

But honestly, if he is going to sell websites..... couldn't he do better than this in 30 minutes? I'm just trying to help him. If he can't make his own website, how is he going to sell someone a site and make them one.....? Later tonight, if I don't forget, I'll spend 15 minutes making a site and then post a link to it. I'll spend 30 minutes before I start, gathering a small amount of lawyer info and use his info also.... total = 45 minutes. Or, how about some of you spend 30 minutes making a site too? We can make it a group effort and help him out maybe.

 

[pausebreak]

G'day
Brendan here from Australia
I have launched my new business ('legalsites')
Law Firm Website Design & Internet Marketing | legalsites
Web design and online marketing for lawyers

I would LOVE some feedback.
You guys/girls are the experts here -
Please let me know what you think so far
General advice/tips would also be appreciated

Thanks
Brendan

Takes too long to open your site you can reduce size of your images with tinypng.com
Ads-z

Also check GTmetrix | Website Speed and Performance Optimization

 

[Mass]

Just had another look at your website, saw it the first time it was done.

WOW

What a improvement! You've really done a 180 there!

Good to hear you've got a client on board. Excellent progress

 

[Overdrive]

Hi Brendan,

Congrats on your first client and good job on the website redesign! It looks a lot better now.

Some issues that need to be fixed:

1. The "contact" tab is not working.

2. There should be an "About us" page that tells more about who you are.

3. There should be links to your privacy policy and your website's Terms of use. While most visitors will not care, lawyers do notice such details and not having them may disqualify you, especially if your job is to create websites for law firms.

 

[bumble_bee]

**Progress Update**

Here I am at 'Pret A Manger'

It's the French version of Starbucks... well... almost

Better food and coffee

Starbucks has better wifi

And it’s hard to beat a Starbucks Coffee Frappuccino

Tried to do some work for my clients

Heading back to my hotel now

Need decent wifi

Feeling very content with life

2-3 months ago I launched a new business

I had to pinch myself when I realised I had achieved my main objective

What’s that?

Location freedom

I’m serving my Aussie clients while exploring Paris

That’s what it’s all about

Why create a business that enslaves you?

Too many people leave the 9-5 for the 24/7

I decided to use my law degree in a different way

Follow the path least traveled

It’s full of surprises

And you might wake up one day

In a French hotel room

With a free mini bar and extra towels

Or maybe you’ll just avoid peak hour traffic

Both options sound good to me

 

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[BlokeInProgress]

Good start but I assume its not yet complete right?
I'm still looking for that umph! when it comes to the theme. Also probably some testimonials or projects you've completed?

2. Reach out to a bunch of small lawyers and ask them if you can build them a free website in exchange for a review on Google. Maybe even throw in that they pay you $500 when they get their 5th lead through the website. What have they got to lose?

This is a good advice. You can partner with them, ask commissions or upfront pay (it doesn't need to be that high) but don't undervalue the your service and what you can provide them.

You're the expert in the site creation, try analysing what they currently have (if they have a site) and pin-point maybe areas for improvement, what their competitor is doing and what your suggestions are.

 

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[Valhalla]

But honestly, if he is going to sell websites..... couldn't he do better than this in 30 minutes? I'm just trying to help him. If he can't make his own website, how is he going to sell someone a site and make them one.....? Later tonight, if I don't forget, I'll spend 15 minutes making a site and then post a link to it. I'll spend 30 minutes before I start, gathering a small amount of lawyer info and use his info also.... total = 45 minutes. Or, how about some of you spend 30 minutes making a site too? We can make it a group effort and help him out maybe.

Please do it! I love a good showdown, even when it's in something as nerdy as website design

 

[minivanman]

So, I went to all the work (24 minutes) to make a site and then the OP changes his site to show a great site he has already made and clearly shows he knows how to make a MUCH better site than he has linked above. If you would like to see some of his good work, go back to his site and follow the link he has provided.

OP, follow what you've done on the marriage site and potential customers will be pleased.

 

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[Real Deal Denver]

So, I went to all the work (24 minutes) to make a site and then the OP changes his site to show a great site he has already made and clearly shows he knows how to make a MUCH better site than he has linked above. If you would like to see some of his good work, go back to his site and follow the link he has provided.

OP, follow what you've done on the marriage site and potential customers will be pleased.

Yes it is much improved. But I think it has a long ways to go.

I say throw down the gauntlet and let the games begin!

Come on @minivanman - are you gonna stand by and let someone run away with first place and not even give him a run for the money?

I still think the hero section is dull. I like the testimonial and the steps that are listed. That could be much more exciting to see and easier to read by taking it from a list format into a graphic format. I won't go into detail on that because I don't want to influence the contestants in this race!

Let's see your work @minivanman. I'll make one myself too - if I can get a couple of customers I'm working on first. (Embroiled in my own marketing efforts right now.)

 

[minivanman]

lol It wasn't a contest, I just thought he sucked at making websites. My site was going to only be worth $1.96 but it took me 24 minutes. lol I know his site has a long ways to go but atleast he he has proved he does know how to make a site. It seemed as though he was just winging it and 1 wing seemed to be broken but it looks as though he was just bluffing. Now the only thing wrong is the 1 page site

 

[Valhalla]

Now the only thing wrong is the 1 page site

The one page site is something I've been debating with myself and others about. Have you done a post on this you could point me to, or explain here why it's a good/bad idea?

 

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[Real Deal Denver]

The one page site is something I've been debating with myself and others about. Have you done a post on this you could point me to, or explain here why it's a good/bad idea?

I have actually heavily researched this exact situation.

The question is that is it better to have ten one page landing pages or one site with ten pages all on the same site? The answer is no.

The reason is ranking. If you can have ten great pages on your site, you can increase your traffic by ten times. That is the key to ranking, and ranking is the first, second, and third, most important metric in digital marketing.

What I do is to write extensive blog posts about particular topics. Then I promote those posts individually, and my ranking for my keywords has been steadily climbing using this method. Not to mention the added benefit of "as long as they're there, they might as well check out what else I have to offer."

I may be wrong on this - but it seems to be working well for me. I might combine both methods. But instead of landing pages, I could morph that idea into video ads - animated ads - AND landing pages. Why not have it all? All of them would point to my main website - so my end result will be what I'm after all along - ranking.

Thanks for bringing up this great question. I will be watching to see what input others have. We will all improve in the process.

 

[SEBASTlAN]

Looks good. I would add a physical address at the footer.

 

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[jcvlds]

Thanks for all the advice

I signed up my first client on Friday:

New website
monthly care plan
monthly SEO services

Pretty happy with that. It only took 14 days. I would say 0 to $2k in 2 weeks, but I don't wanna sound like a tool.

I've been improving my website as I go.

I'm about 60% happy with it now

More meetings scheduled for this week.

Gotta focus on the clients first.

I understand why some digital agencies don't have a great website. There's only so much time in the day. Sales pay the bills.

I might create a more focussed thread once I feel like I've achieved more of my goals.

Thanks again for the advice. Getting my a$$ kicked by you guys has helped a lot!

Nice, congrats on the first client.

How are you marketing your site to potential prospects? Or did your first customer come through WOM or your network? Did your site help you land the client?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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[Kid]

As @Mass said, the actual version is much better.

Two additional things: if you could after the video stops it shows suggestions for unrelated videos so try to remove that somehow.

Second is the copyright notice on the bottom under the "Contact us" Form.
Or a some kind of a footer that would "close" the look of a website.
At least there should be something like "Copyright Legalsites 2019".

 

[Kid]

Color of your logo doesn't resemble any other color or theme of colors on your page.
Use color that is more "in-tune" with other colors.

 

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