Potential clients are looking for your services every single day. A strong web presence is essential in order to successfully attract new clients and maintain a high level of success. Your website is the hub of your online presence, and it should represent your law firm in a professional manner that projects authority and knowledge. The number one thing your website can do for you is drive traffic and generate valid quality leads for the firm.
Your potential clients are already searching online for representation. They need to do enough research to make the most informed decision before committing to an attorney. Your website will be the place potential clients discover you and research your services to see if you are their best choice.
Understanding the importance of having a high-quality law firm website will help you obtain clients. Your website should be easily accessible, run smoothly, and have the kind of content that will successfully retain visitors and potentially convert your audience into your future clients.
The Pages Your Law Firm Website Needs
Every Law Firm Website should contain the following pages to help to establish the firm as the experts in the industry, while making it easy for prospective clients to learn about the firm, the individual attorneys, and how to reach out for consultation. This is the basic structure of a Law Firm website; a bare minimum.
Home – the main page that is intended to drive the traffic to specific pages in your website – but also provide easy to access contact information and a summary of what you do for your clients
About Us – What sets you apart from other firms in your location and practice areas. Talk about your mission and vision for how you help your clients.
Attorney Profile(s) – one for each attorney in the firm. This is a great opportunity to show expertise – especially if different attorneys have different practice areas. An excellent opportunity for keywords on these pages.
Practice Area(s) – For best SEO results, each practice area should be on it’s own page – so you’ll want at least one page for each area of law the firm practices. Some practice areas are complex enough to warrant additional pages.
Blog – The more content you have discussing how you help your clients, the more attention your website will get from search engines – it is that simple. This is the opportunity you have to elaborate on the specific pains and problems your clients have and how you can help.
Contact – a necessity on any website. Your contact information must be on all pages really, but every website should have a contact page.
Disclaimer – Do not leave this off your website. Your site should clearly state that it is “Attorney Advertising” and a proper disclaimer is also needed.
If Allowed: Additionally, if your state allows it (not all do) you should have client testimonials. People put a lot more faith in what similar people say about a law firm, than what the law firm says about itself. Social proof is a powerful tool for marketing, so if you can have testimonials on your site – do so. If not – have them in Google as Reviews.
Design Requirements for your Law Firm Website
Potential clients judge your firm by what they see on your website. If it’s confusing to navigate, they will assume you are confusing to deal with. If it looks cheap, so do you. And if it doesn’t work, well…
Here are the basic “must haves” for every law firm website:
Mobile Friendly – This is no longer optional. At least half of the people who visit your site will do so from a smartphone or tablet. Your site should follow the latest Responsive Website Methodologies to insure that the site is usable on any device.
Easy Navigation – If your potential client finds your website, but then can’t find what they are looking for, they will be looking elsewhere very quickly. It is essential that your website navigation be simple and easy to navigate – with clear navigation titles/links and organized the way your clients would anticipate. Additional links to important content should also be available throughout the content of the pages that help direct visitors to the information they need and want.
Easy to find Contact Information – What’s the goal we’re trying to accomplish with your website? We want them to ultimately contact you! They can’t become clients otherwise. So make it easy for them. Even your current clients will come to your website to quickly click your phone number when they forgot to store it in their phone. Again – the number one reason we want them on your law firm’s website is for them to contact you and hire you. Make it easy to do.
Simple, Understandable Copy – You have a law degree. Chances are your potential clients do not. Don’t speak in legal jargon and complicated, long sentences and paragraphs. People don’t want to study a website – they want to get the high level information they are looking for and then have the ability to dive deeper when they wish. But they want it to be easy to understand, even if their problem is complex. They want to know you can provide a relatively easy solution to their problems – so speak like you can.
Professional Design – Your website needs to represent the level of professionalism your firm provides to your clients. It should have clean, easy to read fonts, appropriate headings, images that represent your clients to make them feel they belong, and video to get your message out. It should work well – with no broken links or forms that don’t work. And it should make them feel at ease.
Let Wiltwyck Show You The Way
You need the proper skills and knowledge to create an effective law firm website. The design and development and optimization are best left to the experts. Our skilled team will build a high performing law firm website that will extend your reach and deliver results. Our #1 goal is to drive traffic to the site that generates the perfect leads for you and your firm.
Contact us today so we can get started on your website and marketing campaign as soon as possible.