It’s a new year...when’s the last time you refreshed your website? If you’re like many law firms, the answer is probably that it’s been awhile. When it comes to websites, lawyers tend to “set it and forget it.” This is a grave error.

Examine your site now and see if any of the top 10 things that prospects hate about law firm websites are on yours:

1. Pop-up ads. People hate them. So don’t use them. Instead, have a good call-to-action on every page of your site and create compelling content to get them to do what you want.

2. Generic stock photography. We’ve all used it, but people are savvy to what is fake. Use photos of your real people, not those stock images of good looking models who look like they are all simply delighted by the piece of paper they’re staring at.

3. Legal jargon. Don’t write for other lawyers, write for real people. Tell them how you can solve their problems by telling compelling stories and engage them with thoughtful content.

4. SEO-driven content. Write for people, not search engines. Google’s algorithm is very sophisticated and can detect a page’s relevancy better than you think.

5. No way to share. Include social share buttons on your pages so people are not frustrated by being unable to share your content.

6. No blog. Prospects want to learn more about the real you when they come to your site, and having a well-written blog lets them in the door.

7. Boring copy. Create great titles and (yes, I am saying it again) content that is compelling.

8. CTAs with strings attached. Nothing is more frustrating to a prospect than to discover that your call-to-action comes with strings attached. Ever been on a retail site where you are offered 20% off, only to find you have to spend $100 first? Big turn-off.

9. Bad internal links. If you create internal links taking people to irrelevant pages, they will dump you fast. Be sure all your internal links go to the right place.

10. Slow load. Sites that are slow to load are abandoned quickly, and they are also penalized by Google. Don’t let the design interfere with the reason you have a website in the first place – to get prospects to become clients.