Charles Ashton


About Charles Ashton

If you’re considering revamping your professional services firm website at the least a conversation with Charles should be on your To Do list (it’s a safe bet he might suggest WordPress for your new content management system by the way). And don’t get him started on developer backlink schemes.

Handling staff departures in professional services firms: the digital perspective

What to do with your publications when an author leaves ...

Professional services firms suffer a unique commercial loss when fee earners leave compared to other businesses. Clients often have a close personal relationship with the departing fee earner in law and accountancy firms and the fee earner in turn is likely to have valuable knowledge about some of the most […]


Google Analytics 4: what is next?

Migrating legal and accountant websites to Google Analytics 4 from ...

Google has announced that the current version of Google Analytics, Universal Analytics (UA), will not process new data from July 1st 2023. Instead, professional services firms using Google Analytics (most firms!) will have to migrate to Google Analytics 4 with a different user interface, data model and website data gathering […]



"Germ protection masks, assorted colours and sizes, guaranteed safe"

Covid 1919 or, what goes around comes around

With long lockdowns to look forward to there’s always a temptation to ask how we can possibly deal with an unprecedented situation. However the Australian press from 100 years ago contains many parallels from the last big pandemic which somehow makes things seem a little less daunting: gripes about health […]


1 in 5 people in your country would prefer to read your website in another language

Could translations on law firm or accountant websites gain you ...

Legal language is already difficult for the public to understand and hence many professional service firms commit time and budgets to training lawyers in plain English. Yet with native English speaking clients and prospects struggling to understand legal concepts and terms – and hearing American legal terms in TV soaps […]



Choosing a good website builder for your law firm website

How to find a good website designer for your law ...

Professional services firms’ websites matter Prospects use your website to check you out before phoning or emailing to see if your site matches the claims made by your own staff and referrers, and whether you have the depth of expertise they need. Prospects also use search engines to find you […]


Target market determinations (TMDs) and website analytics

Target market determinations and financial products: website analytics should be ...

ASIC regulatory guidance now specifies web analytics as a requirement in distributing and issuing financial products In December 2020 ASIC issued a regulatory guideline (RG 274) for issuers and distributors of financial products to retail clients which specifically refers to using website analytics to monitor whether their products are reaching […]



To what extent is your website marketing your web designer?

How and why website designers want credit for work on ...

You’ve seen it yourself on many accountant and law firm websites and it may be on your own website too. Right at the bottom of the page, usually in small unobtrusive lettering, your website designer places an innocuous piece of text saying something like ‘Website designed and built by Acme Developers‘. […]


Are you watching your website visitors?

The current state of website analytics in professional services firms

Executive summary Professional services firms’ views about the usefulness of website analytics are changing in our survey data firms’ fee-earners are aware that LinkedIn or Google make money by analysing what people are doing on their websites but there was less recognition that the same benefits can accrue to professional […]




But I can't think what or why to write

“But why should I write articles?”

Although it’s a question usually left unspoken, staff in professional services firms often assume article writing is just part of their training to write readable advice, learn more about their practice area (and earn CPD points), or is a more productive use of time when there’s no matter to work […]