Whether you are an established attorney with decades of experience behind you or you are just putting the finishing touches on launching your own law practice, you likely recognize the importance of an effective and engaging website. However, websites vary considerably in their design, navigation, and the overall impact they make on-site visitors. Having a potential client land on your law firm’s homepage is half the battle—it’s up to the features of the website itself to keep the visitor engaged (and, ultimately, inspire them to schedule a consultation or contact your office for more information). Many smaller to mid-sized law firms choose the DIY route to website design, while others entrust this task to digital marketing professionals to ensure that the end result is both SEO (search engine optimization) friendly and engaging to site visitors. Whichever option you choose to build your law firm website, it’s essential to understand and incorporate certain must-have features to maximize the reach and impact of your content marketing efforts. Let’s explore a few of the essential elements of law firm website design so your law practice can reach more potential clients and encourage them to enlist your services.
Client-Centered Website Design
By now, you are likely familiar with some of the factors that distinguish an engaging website from websites that fail to capture the attention or interest of site visitors. People far prefer homepages that are clean, organized, and soothing to the eye to sites that are overly cluttered, stuffed with long blocks of text, or too “busy” with flashing images and clunky animation. As you approach your law firm website design, think about the core motivation or question your prospective clients have. Even if the site visitor does not think they need an attorney at this time, they are probably looking for reliable and succinct information about a particular legal topic. Either way, most people with legal questions crave reassurance. Incorporate calming, soothing, and reassuring elements into your law firm’s website design, from the muted color scheme you select to the well-selected word choices you use to cultivate trust in your law firm. When someone visits your website, the soothing features and design choices you have made will offer reassurance, both consciously and unconsciously. Sometimes, a visitor’s gut reaction can become the deciding factor in whether they remain on the page or click away in search of a more calming or inspiring website. It’s also important to invest in a cohesive brand identity to cultivate client trust—reach out to a digital marketing for law firms strategist to learn more about logo design for law firm strategies.
Well-Crafted Attorney Biographies That Connect With Clients
When people are searching for legal services in their area, they want to know that the professional they hire is not only a competent attorney but also a caring human being who will understand their needs and advocate for their best interests. Law firms that harness the power of the “About” page tend to see a greater volume of incoming client inquiries than law practices that display generic attorney bio information. So, what are potential clients looking for in an attorney? As you would expect, experience matters—clients want to know that their lawyer has handled similar cases in the past and can use their expertise to deliver desired results. However, clients also want to see that they are far more than just a case number to the attorney who helps them. They are entrusting their anxieties and vulnerabilities to the attorney they choose, and they want their lawyer to see them as a person who deserves empathy and respect. Craft your attorney bio page with care, celebrating professional accomplishments while also showcasing the person behind the professional title. Consider discussing your values and what inspired you to go into the legal profession, as potential clients gravitate towards attorneys who communicate their genuine concern for the well-being of their clients.
Practice Area Pages Highlighting Common Client Questions
Creating an effective law firm website design tends to be a delicate balancing act of implementing SEO-friendly keywords to keep the site visible and trustworthy to search engine algorithms like Google and display client-first content that addresses common client concerns and questions. On the one hand, your practice area pages need to align with keywords and search terms to ensure that search engines will match user queries to your web content. On the other hand, you want to avoid prioritizing keywords so much that the content comes off as clunky, awkward, or inauthentic. As you develop the content for the practice area pages of your website, aim for a consistent format, intuitive site navigation tools, and clear content that anticipates and addresses the questions and topics your potential clients are most likely to have. You may even decide to include a FAQ section on each practice area page that provides reliable and accurate information on various legal topics while encouraging site visitors to contact your office for more customized legal guidance. Moreover, as search engine algorithms increasingly strive to prioritize the searcher experience, law firm web design that puts the site visitor first tends to rank higher among the search results pages than sites that rely too heavily on “keyword stuffing” or other obvious attempts to appeal to algorithms before searchers.
Building Authority With Client Reviews and Testimonials
As with any other marketing strategy, using testimonials from actual clients and customers can be a powerful endorsement of a company’s products and services. People rely heavily on product reviews when making a purchasing decision, as they trust customers to provide them with authentic insights into the effectiveness of the goods or services. As you approach your digital marketing strategy for law firms, consider displaying a few well-placed testimonials from satisfied clients who can attest to the quality of your legal services. Asking satisfied clients if you can use their reviews (as well as their first name or even a photo) is a powerful way to show your site visitors that you have a proven track record of successfully serving your clients. Get in touch with a digital marketing for law firms professional today to learn more about leveraging your online reputation to boost your law firm’s visibility and trustworthiness.
Give your law firm the personalized digital marketing strategy it deserves. Reach out to the LegalRev team today at (800) 893-2590 to discuss your law firm content marketing goals and how you can incorporate targeted strategies that support your vision.
