When learning about the best website options for your Title Company or Law Firm, we see many companies try to compare apples to oranges. Although at first blush it may seem like every website is created equal, the fact of the matter is that they are not.
Here are a few things to consider and the hidden costs when comparing popular website providers such as Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and even general marketing agencies.
Time is Money
You’ve probably heard the old adage “Time is Money” – We’ve found there is really a lot of truth in this with SEO, for instance.
The sooner you launch, the faster your website might rank high in the search results.
An unlaunched website can’t provide you with any value!
So many times, we’ve had prospects decide to use a Do-It-Yourself website provider like Wix or Squarespace, only to come back to us after a few months of struggles.
Could they build a website with these tools? Yes!
But were they happy with the results? No.
There is a lot to be said about having an experienced designer that has built tens or hundreds of law firm websites build yours too.
They know how other companies like yours position themselves, and know how to translate your unique value proposition into the best possible version of your brand.
Do yourself a favor and work with a company that knows your business, who will do the work for you.
Security and Compliance
According to the FBI, in 2019, there were over 11,677 victims in 2019 with $221 million in losses related to wire fraud that affected Real Estate Law Firms and Title Companies.
Nowadays, security goes far beyond simply installing an SSL certificate on your website. That is just the start.
For instance, it is now recommended that most Title Companies maintain SSAE Soc 2 Type II compliance, among other things.
Did you know that many well known website providers such as GoDaddy are not Soc 2 compliant?
Beyond Soc 2, every TitleTap website also utilizes a website firewall, anti-spam database, and spam prevention on all websites – to help deter junk email and wire fraud.
You’ll be hard pressed to find these solutions with most other well known website builders, web designers and even most marketing firms. They are often too industry specific.
Website Content & Search Engine Optimization
Website content is usually an afterthought for most companies. Now that they have a nice looking web design, they forget that they need the content to be meaningful and attract the right business.
For example, we recently had a conversation with an attorney and he was curious as to why he wasn’t getting inquiries from his website for a specific practice area.
As it turned out he didn’t have any content on his website about that particular practice area as he recently hired an associate to help him, but forgot to have us add content related to this new practice area.
This is one of the reasons we include starter web page content for common title company services and legal practice areas, free of additional charge. This content can be modified to fit your company’s offerings.
In addition, if you want to help your website rank well on Google, we also have a branded library of 125 video blog posts on industry related topics.
Remember that prospective clients are more likely to find you by searching for an answer to their question then by Googling your business name!
You Actually Need To Market Your Website
In the movie “Field of Dreams,” it was said “if you build it they will come.” Unfortunately, that is not the case with your website. Just because you have a website, does not mean that you’ll get visitors or business from it.
Do it yourself website builder software nor your IT person will help you market your website.
One benefit of working with us is that we have several marketing add-ons like social media, an online review tool, and online advertising that are mostly automated. This will help you market without paying big bucks to a general marketing agency that must do everything manually.
Ongoing Website Changes
Marketing agencies are traditionally not cheap if you need a website update. Nor are employees between salaries, health insurance, and the other perks your company might offer.
Most web designers charge by the hour, so if you need an update on your website such as a staff change, event, or to modify your services, you are likely to be left with a hefty and unpredictable bill.
This is why we do the opposite. Every website we build includes a bucket of month changes to make sure your website always stays up to date. Simply email our support team and your website stays accurate for no additional charge. Predictable cash flow is important for most attorneys and title agents alike.
What happens if my website has an issue or I cannot find my “web guy”?
These are all real scenarios we’ve heard from our customers about experiences they’ve had with previous website providers.
One company mentioned how the website software they were using was extremely outdated and how the web designer they used refused to update it, due to the amount of non billable work and complexity that it would require.
We’ve seen other companies’ websites get hacked due to their website (being hosted by their old provider) being out of date.
Others have mentioned horror stories of not being able to get a hold of their “web guy” to fix a major issue. It is like once they built the website, they disappeared, never to be heard from again.
This is exactly why we take frequent backups, updated the website software multiple times a year, and have a dedicated support team to look after our title agent and attorney websites.
Industry Knowledge
One of the biggest gripes we hear from new customers about their prior marketing firm or web developer is that the person didn’t understand the industry. Our website platform was built specifically for service industries like Title and Law.
In fact, our company founders even come from your business. As a result, our websites come with starter content related to your service and practice areas. This is one of the biggest benefits of working with TitleTap. It is like working with an industry marketing consultant without the heavy cost associated.
Summary
As you can see, there are many things to consider before having a new website built. Many pain points are not immediately visible but become apparent in time.
At the end of the day you must ask yourself “do I want to run my business or maintain my website?” For most professionals it is too difficult to do both.
If you want a website partner that understands your business and makes the process of building, updating and maintaining an website easy, schedule a call with us today.