In the age of digital marketing and ease of accessing information, a primary concern for lawyers is creating a website that familiarizes potential clients with their practice without alienating them through a clunky interface. This is usually easier said than done.
To create a website that appeals to the general public without losing their interest is a tall order not every law firm knows how to accommodate. Knowing what goes into a website, from its user interface to in-depth articles, isn’t an easy skill set to master. However, every goal starts with a baseline effort.
Decide On a Design
Before you can start building a website, you need to decide what the design will be. Your website is your first impression when interacting with potential claimants, and that interaction colors how they perceive your practice. It’s pertinent to choose a design that reflects your brand, whether a color scheme or highlighting your expertise.
However, dedication to a design is not so cut and dry. It’s easy to overload a visitor with too much information is a nearly surefire way for them to lose interest in your services. Less is more; focusing on simplicity through specific images or wording can go a long way when conveying your expertise. Narrow down what is the most important for a client to know about your firm and prioritize that information to keep everything clear and concise.
Keep Mobile In Mind
A vast majority of potential claimants visiting will likely be using mobile devices. A site not properly formatted for mobile users will be confusing and difficult to navigate. Ignoring the mobile audience and their needs ultimately leads to frustration on their part and jeopardizes the growth of your law firm.
Proper optimization for mobile users will pay dividends, both for conversions and search traffic. Search engines like Google favor and push mobile-friendly sites to their users, driving organic traffic regularly to your firm. This optimization is required given the potential success it holds and will help drive your search engine optimization campaigns.
Navigation Is Key
Navigating a website consists of what is on and not on the page. Visitors to your website are looking for information, likely specific information. If they can’t find it easily on yours, they’ll leave for a competitor. This is why something as simple as a search bar can make a major difference.
Thankfully, the entire navigation process can be as simple as that. A toolbar at the top of your page split into 4-5 sections compiling your immediate and important information is an effective model for distributing information to potential clients. Additionally, call-to-actions fixed to the top and bottom of the pages are reminders for readers to engage with your site. Anything from “Read More” to “Contact Us” to “Schedule Your Appointment” can lead to major changes, whether it be conversions to your firm or strengthening your search engine results.
Professionalism and Personability
There is a fine line to walk regarding professionalism versus personability. You want to present your firm as an institution fluent in various legal fields while appealing to general audiences as best as possible. However, this is easier said than done. One is about your credentials and expertise in the legal world and the other is about showing claimants you care about their case, their struggles, and them as a person.
How law firms balance these two aspects of client-attorney relationships is by disseminating that information across the whole website. Testimonials on successful cases, reviews from past clients, and biographies about your legal team’s background and hobbies all go a long way in establishing a professional yet personal connection between your audience and you.
The key here is leaving this information clear and visible on the web page for a reader to discover for themselves if they want to. This one tactic shows you respect their intelligence and they will, in turn, respect you for trusting them. Even if it’s a subconscious change, a client-attorney relationship is already being formed.
Accessibility and Readability
With the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signed into law, businesses needed to adhere to strict guidelines and stay compliant or otherwise face liability. Recent additions to the law have made it apply to the ever-expanding world of, digital portals, online stores, and websites.
Despite the ADA’s importance, certain law firms have yet to implement changes in compliance with the law. This is in part due to the ADA not specifying what websites must do to accommodate a disabled audience. Instead, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has pointed to the guidelines created by the Web Accessibility Initiative and their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Some examples outlined by the WCAG include providing text alternatives to non-text material, captions or audio descriptions for certain types of video, and keyboard shortcuts, all of which can be achieved through third-party software accessing your website. Anything that helps a reader scan a page for the information they require or key points about your firm can go a long way regarding interactions and consistent traffic. Ensuring your content is easily digestible for the most amount of people is both a way to increase the amount of visitors to your website and keep a sizeable dedicated audience.
Reputation Above All
Above all else, your reputation as a law firm needs to take precedence. Everything you’ve done for your website should be in service to bolster your credibility as a legal practice with content reflecting that, whether those be blogs or testimonials.
Everything on your website is meant to portray you and your firm as a reputable, considerate legal body who accomodated the needs of your readers. Even if a reader doesn’t consciously appreciate your efforts, in the back of their mind is the relief there is such a welcoming, easy-to-use for their legal needs who just may utilize your services.
External recommendations, reviews, and case results are all additions to boost your standing with readers and search engines, increasing your search traffic and audience size. All of these factors focused on making your law firm website the best source of legal information and services will see more visitors and more clients as a result.
What We Can Do For You
Beyond an expertly crafted website are needed expert legal marketing services. That is where Broughton Partners comes in.
We exist to help law firms take on more clients by building better connections between claimants, litigators, and referral firms. Using a variety of consumer-facing brands, we market to potential claimants across television, radio, and social media. These claimants can reach out to our in-house 24/7 call center, where they are screened for eligibility using criteria created with leading litigators. These pre-qualified retainers are delivered to partnered firms without any additional work on their part.
This process allows attorneys to help more people without adding to their workload and gives claimants more power to pursue the justice they deserve. If you want to know more, call us at (800) 949-8904 or complete our online contact form today.