Prior to Mobilegeddon we put together some research looking at the Top 100 Law Firm websites and whether they were ready for the change. We were lucky enough to get our research featured in a piece in The Lawyer with some great quotes supporting our research from Simon Marshall at Osborne Clarke.With a slightly sensationalist title, the article was bound to divide opinion, and looking through the comments this morning, sure enough someone has run to the defence of the Magic Circle firms that haven’t got their act together and updated their sites.On one hand they have a point, these firms have got where they are today by their reputation, not their ad campaigns. They’re unlikely to win business from someone searching for ‘law firm london’ in Google and finding their brand – these firms are just ‘known’. They’re the ones to go to if you’re within those circles – and you’ll already know about them.People know us, they don’t need to find usHowever, that’s fairly short-sighted. It assumes that not only do they know your firm, but they know who to contact and whether you’re the right specialist for their needs. You could also hope that if they do need this information they’re sitting comfortably behind their laptop, not on the move…Another scenario, the prospective client is using their smartphone and looks for your brand rather than a generic search. They’re bound to find you, right? Not necessarily, Google has been known (even with high profile brands - Interflora were temporarily removed in 2013) to remove an entire site from its index, including when searchers looked for it by name.With both scenarios, this only applies if people are looking from mobile devices. We’re not suggesting that it will impact desktop search. So, if your mobile traffic is currently sitting at around 10-20% should you care?Mobile visitors matterYes, you should care about the 10%. Look at Analytics, those people are likely to be looking for information that they need right now. It could be directions, a contact number or the name of a partner and there’s a reason they need it immediately. Don’t penalise the iPhone 6 users of this world for not looking up your number from the comfort of their office.Let's also consider those that simply want to look your details up at a time and place that's convenient to them and have the misfortune of choosing a time when their smartphone is the closest device to hand.The moral of the storyMobilegeddon might matter less if your business (we’re not just talking about top law firms) is built upon a great reputation, people will find you. But if one of your cornerstones is outstanding customer service, extend this with a truly mobile-friendly site to help those pinching and zooming on their smartphone. They might only be 10% of your audience today, but they’re a growing audience, not a dying breed.
