Meet the team: Steve Harrison, online and digital acquisitions manager
Steve is our online and digital acquisitions manager. He joined the First4Lawyers team in November last year, from a Leeds-based digital agency where he was an SEO manager, directing organic growth and digital marketing for a range of insurance, lead generation and retail clients.
So, why the move from agency to client side?
“Having spent ten years in the industry I was keen for a new challenge which would allow me to develop further. I’d had my eye on the market for a while and the agency I was working at, at that time, had a very close-knit, nurturing environment which I was keen to find again.
"The role at First4Lawyers came up and alongside finding the work appealing, the fit just felt right, so, here I am!”
Steve explains that the change from agency to client-side isn’t all that different: “The main stay of the job is the same, but what is different on the client-side is the ability to take on projects from inception, and see them the whole way through, regardless of the timeframes involved.”
Steve has been busy getting involved in all things marketing, ranging from day-to-day SEO management to taking greater responsibility for PPC campaigns.
With a constant demand for more content creation, Steve will be taking responsibility for driving content going forward. As part of this aspect of his role, he has been busy building a relationship with the local University here in Huddersfield and is excited to see what results this partnership will bring as a number of projects get underway relating to the law, which will see the University delivering the research capabilities and First4Lawyers the expert business insight.
In addition, First4Lawyers have become a corporate member of road safety charity Brake and Steve will be involved in supporting a number of projects as part of this relationship, some of which will be specifically in and around Road Safety Week.
Steve is particularly excited to be working on delivering a brand new mobile-led website for First4Lawyers, focused on providing consumers with an improved user journey. The new modernised platform incorporates functionality which will enable First4Lawyers to be at the forefront of new and future technologies. The new website also has a wider breadth of information for consumers, making it as easy as possible for them to make an enquiry.
Steve says: "Launching our new website, together with the other projects I'm currently working on, ensure that First4Lawyers are at the forefront of digital marketing in the legal sector, now and in the future". Watch this space!
More broadly, over the last 12-18 months Steve says the biggest industry shift has undoubtedly been the move to mobile-focused communications. The majority of visitors to the First4Lawyers website are mobile rather than desktop-based, and consequently more consideration has to be given to producing content that works on a mobile size screen rather than a desktop.
Steve says: “It’s been an ongoing trend and now Google have launched a mobile-first index. This affects how your Google search results are displayed, so, for example, a desktop user sees a different result to a mobile user. As such, it’s incredibly important that we make sure our web content is optimised for this and is successful over both platforms.”
A little known fact is that Steve was part of the Royal Navy, in a previous life, and was trained to fly harrier jump jets! These days his weekends have a more relaxed family pace, and he enjoys spending time with his children, and providing the inevitable weekend taxi service. However, Sunday afternoons are for relaxing and enjoying a good roast, cooked by his own fair hands.
