Grey Vertical Line

Website Design at GLM: Beyond Pretty

Like you, Gladiator Law Marketing invests significant time in discovery. We get to know you, your strategic goals, and all that makes your firm unique. We invite you to join us in the creative process as we design a site that beautifully reflects your practice.

Still, websites need more than pretty aesthetics. They need to work—to attract visitors and drive conversion. That’s where research comes in. We pore over community trends, audience demographics, and usability data to learn exactly what’s working.

When your creative feedback syncs up with our expert analysis and professional web design, what we’re left with is a gorgeous website custom-tuned to maximize conversions and increase the quality of the individual cases your firm signs.

Lawyer Website Design Agency
Lawyer Web Designer
Davey Website Design Award
Best Web Designer for Attorneys

The Gladiator Law Marketing design team is proud to have been recognized by several national, highly competitive design contests – including two prestigious Webby Awards! The custom-crafted designs for our law firm clients have been selected as winners of two 2021 Webby Awards, several WebAwards (2019 & 2020), a 2020 Davey Award (Gold) and the premier 2020 W3 Silver Award Winner. These are invitation-only competitions with independent expert judges selecting top legal websites across the U.S. Winners Include: Sexual Harassment California, Dickson Frohlich (Seattle); Kaplan Lawyers (New York, NY); Birk Law Firm (Missouri); and, Hanna Law Firm (West Texas).

Make Your Case

Stunning web design gives you the chance to make your case—to showcase your firm and convince potential clients why you should be the one to make their case in court.

But let’s be honest. Web design for lawyers can be expensive. If you want it done right, you’ll need a custom design with a slate of industry-specific widgets. At the end of the day, a firm can easily drop over $10,000 on a new site.

Online marketers know that. There are agencies that have made it their life’s work to crank out “reasonably priced” boiler-plate designs for lawyer clients. The problem is, those sites may look nice at first, but so do the 1,500 others based on the same template!

What you need is a website that’ll set you apart from your competition, capture the attention of prospective clients, and compel visitors to reach out to your firm.

With over 50 years of combined experience, our team of marketing professionals has seen the best and the worst. We know the difference between a superficially pretty website and a custom-crafted website design that delivers new clients.

Law Firm Website Design

Custom-Crafted Web Design

A brief scroll through some of our law firm client websites quickly reflects the personalized approach to our website design process. No two designs look alike, and each is tailor-made for the needs, preferences and brand of the firm. Gladiator Law Marketing is proud to work with lawyers across the country to help them shine and secure new business.

Dickson Frohlich   /   Seattle   /   Financial Law

The Stoddard Firm   /   Atlanta, GA   /   Personal Injury

Mann Law Firm   /   Macon, GA   /   Personal Injury

Wolper Law Firm   /   Broker Fraud   /   Investment Law Attorney

Attorney Lakota Denton   /   Asheville, NC   /   Personal Injury

Montoya Hinckley   /   Yakima, WA   /   Personal Injury

Birk Law Firm   /   Missouri   /   General Practice

Tim Hart Law Group   /   New York   /   Tax Attorney

Strong Law   /   Washington, Oregon, Utah   /   Personal Injury

Price Law   /   Denver, CO   /   Family Law

CWA Law Firm   /   Alabama   /   Personal Injury


Getting Started with GLM

The Gladiator Law Marketing design process is fully customized – resulting in a fully custom website. Our team works hand-in-hand with you to consult and document your design needs and preferences. Need a logo design? No problem. Established brand requirements? No problem. Need a videographer or photographer? No problem, we’ll help line one up in your area.

Your Project Manager will work with you to complete our initial design questionnaire, organize design assets and schedule a call with our design lead, Lisa Vaughn. Our design team will then synthesize all the available guidance and material to custom-craft an initial design comp for review. Together, we will walk-through the design concept to ensure a website design that exceeds your expectations.

What Our Clients Say

The best way to evaluate how Gladiator might be of service to your firm is to explore what we have delivered to others. Be sure to read through our client testimonials, then give us a call and let’s talk.

Testimonials

Blown Away

"These Gladiator guys are really jacked up about what they do – and it’s evident – they not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. The passion for what they do is so apparent every time I have an interaction with the Gladiator team. And it’s reflected in the results. I’m still blown away by their product and how they go about handling their business." - Attorney Steve Heisler (Baltimore, MD)

Exceeded My Expectations

"It is reassuring to know that there is a website development and marketing firm for attorneys that is market savvy and technically agile, as opposed to the big box legal marketing firms that essentially provide the usual run of the mill, off the rack, one-size fits all approach with their never ending contracts and commitments." - Attorney John Colvin (TN)

They Have The Answers

"I made the choice of Gladiator Law Marketing due to having over 10 years in the business, several with members of the Gladiator team. We’ve been working together for years. Gladiator is our sole marketing company and will continue to be for years to come. They are a boutique organization that comes with the background and experience of a national organization. Try finding that in the marketplace!!!" - Richard Sabatino (New York, NY)

Surpassed All My Expectations

"I have flown all over the country meeting different teams and Gladiator Law Marketing goes above and beyond any one I have ever worked with in the past. Hallie, Adam and Lisa have surpassed all my expectations and I am very impressed with their constant focus on improving my site’s ranking." - Attorney Deepti Asthana (Foley, AL)

True Experts In The Field

"In my 25 years of practice, Lisa Vaughn, and her firm Gladiator Law Marketing, is/are far and away the best legal marketing group I have worked with. They did an outstanding job customizing my website, and I highly recommend their work to anyone! In fact, I already have!" - Attorney Don Tittle (Dallas, TX)

I’m getting triple the value I was getting with previous vendors – I’m not joking!

"I learned that if you go with a company that is too big, you get passed around before anything gets done and they nickel-and-dime you, so you end up paying too much. Past vendors were, honestly, about doing the minimum amount of work to get the most amount of money out of me. That is the opposite with Gladiator – I get the maximum amount of work for the minimum amount of money." - Attorney Bert Louthian (Columbia, SC)

Law Firm SEO

Website Design Basics for Lawyers

A strong website for lawyers should accomplish at least 5 things:

  1. Identify You – Again like a business card, a site needs to communicate the basics: your name, the specific services you provide, where you’re located, how best to get in touch. These elements should be clear and easy to find, not obscured by overly creative or clever design and copywriting.

  2. Tell Your Story – Beyond mere information, visitors need to get a sense of who you are as a firm. This is reflected in the site’s design (color scheme, font choice, layout, etc.) and content (About Us page, Lawyer bios, etc.). Your site should use both written and visual elements to share your background, vision, and mission. These are the “soft” elements that will set you apart from the competition.

  3. Establish Your Credibility – Vision and values are crucial, but what prospective clients ultimately want to know before they call is whether you’ve got the skill and expertise to serve their best interests. Prominently displayed case studies and testimonials accomplish this well.

  4. Connect with Visitors/Answer Questions – Some visitors will land on your site as a result of a navigational/transactional search—a direct search for the name of your firm or a particular keyword phrase (e.g., “Toronto divorce lawyer”). If you’re doing your SEO right, however, visitors will also show up for informational reasons—i.e., they want answers to legal questions. An effective lawyers’ website will develop content that answers those questions as well. In answering those questions clearly, the firm will establish credibility (#3), develop relationships with its visitors, and move them closer to conversion.

  5. Compel Action – At the end of the day, websites can’t just be pretty. They need to work. They have to get visitors to do something with the information with which they’ve been presented: fill out a contact form, pick up a phone, drive down to your office, etc. This is where strategic search optimization/targeting, brilliant design, and professional copywriting all come together.

You might consider these the external elements of a high-performing website for lawyers. But just as a Corvette depends on more than its good looks to jump off the starting line, a truly effective site will need quite a bit going underneath the hood:

  1. Speed – Everyone is in a hurry—especially on the web. If your page takes too long to load, users will bail on it quickly. Moreover, Google factors in page loading speed as a significant factor in determining search rankings.

  2. Mobile-Friendliness – More than half of your visitors will access the site from a mobile device. That means your site must be designed to show up well in any This is where responsive web design figures in (see below).

  3. Local Relevance – What law firm wouldn’t want to show up in a search for ‘personal injury lawyer near me’? The best way to make that happen is to (1) generate content relevant to local issues, and (2) use schema markup language to tell Google who you are, where you’re located, and how people can contact you.

  4. Conversion Optimization – As mentioned above, websites must be designed to compel potential clients to take action. While much of that is a function of the quality of your content and the credibility established by case studies and testimonials, another part has to do with user interface design. Without the right structural elements in place (visible calls-to-action, easily navigable menus, etc.), even the most compelling lawyers will fail to convert as well as they should.

  5. Analytics Tracking – Marketing is measuring. If you don’t methodically track what you’re doing and how it’s working, then you can never hope to improve your performance.

SEO Agency for Attorneys

More Example Lawyer Web Designs

Seattle Lawyer Web Design

Dickson Frohlich

Dickson Frohlich is a Puget Sound law firm focused on financial areas of law including business, real estate transactions, estate/probate and family law. With offices in Seattle and Tacoma their attorneys serve both businesses and individuals. The broad array of practice areas, diverse target audience and competitive marketplace (Seattle & Tacoma) present unique challenges for both website design and online marketing.

Gladiator Law Marketing crafted a visual striking and SEO/user-friendly design seamlessly weaving the new law firm’s brand along with numerous custom features. These included video banners, firm photography and an array of tailored landing pages. DicksonLegal.com

Birk Law Firm

Gladiator Law Marketing partnered with the Missouri practice of Birk Law Firm. Two primary focal points of the website design included reflecting the firm’s community commitment and broad array of practice areas. As a general practice firm, Attorney Kelvin Birk wanted to convey the efficiency of a local, one-stop-shop resource for individuals and businesses. The GLM design team worked closely with the firm to represent the brand and their personality, culture and community throughout the website. BirkLegal.com

Several layout options were included in the design of the inner page, to provide flexibility and customization for the reader, example inner page.

Missouri Lawyer Web Design
Georgia Law Firm Design

Mann Law Firm

Gladiator Law Marketing has had the privilege of working with Attorney David Mann for almost 10 years. Showcasing a new website design, the firm reported their most successful year in business ever in 2021! The new design is both visually effective and designed for top search engine results for this Macon, GA personal injury firm. The design is focused on helping potential clients get to know David Mann and develop a confidence that encourages contact.MannInjuryLaw.com

Strong Law

A rapidly growing, aggressive personal injury law firm, Strong Law is actively expanding their offices including Washington, Oregon and Utah. Our design team worked closely with Strong Law to incorporate new firm photography, brand and reflect their 98% success rate. This included integration of client testimonials, featured case results and highlighting the firm’s use of cutting-edge technology.

The website includes custom practice area pages, deep content and an SEO-friendly backend for enhanced search rankings. StrongLawAttorneys.com

Web Design Agency for Lawyers
Jacksonville Law Firm Design

Adam Law Group, P.A.

Adam Law Group, P.A. is a Jacksonville, FL law firm focused on bankruptcy law. A challenge for the design was to remain focus on bankruptcy cases, while also presenting secondary practice areas including real estate and business law. The design also features the firm’s expansive testimonials and incorporates an array of subtle contact options. The site design places a premium on both search engine optimization (SEO) and user-experience.AdamLawGroup.com

Wapner Newman

Gladiator Law Marketing dovetailed the redesign of Wapner Newman’s online properties with the firm’s re-branding endeavor. This design project included the firm’s flagship website, along with social profiles, PPC ad creative and supportive brand materials. A premier Philadelphia firm boasting what is believed to be the state’s largest personal injury recovery ($227 million), the website design focused on reflecting this prestige – along with usability, SEO enhancements and conversion-focused processes. WapnerNewman.com

Web Design Agency for Lawyers
Austin Law Firm Design

Evans & Herlihy Law Firm

Evans & Herlihy (Austin, TX) needed a website design that would promote both critical practice areas for the firm: Personal Injury & Family Law. The design framework was structured to allocate visual space, navigation and marketing for these divergent areas in a way that strengthens each, without watering down either. A customized approach facilitated broad audience appeal – capturing higher conversions from both injury and family law clients.EvansTXLaw.com

“The website they designed for me reflects my personality and my desires as far as the online image I want to portray. I have found their pricing to be very reasonable and their invoices to be clear and very helpful in understanding what exactly we are doing to push the marketing rock up the hill. I am very happy to be associated with Gladiator.” – Attorney Chip Evans

Hackard Law

Hackard Law is laser-focused on trust and estate litigation across California. With frequent high-profile interviews on Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, C-Span and others it was essential that the firm’s new website design reflect this prestige.

The Gladiator Law Marketing design team implemented a strategy that leveraged an array of informational assets including extensive videos and eBooks to convey the firm’s expertise. With a bright, open feel the design elements craft a streamline flow that allows the content to be front and center. HackardLaw.com

California Lawyer Design
Birmingham Personal Injury Lawyer

The Wininger Law Firm

Serving Birmingham, AL The Wininger Law Firm is one of the oldest and most premier firms in the area. Gladiator Law Marketing worked with the firm’s photographer to create a fully custom website design that featured many of the unique qualities of the firm’s historic building. The design was enhanced with responsive movement and coding for user-experience. Additionally, the new design laid the framework for an aggressive SEO campaign.

We appreciate our ongoing marketing efforts with The Wininger Law Firm, using this new custom-crafted website design as the cornerstone of the firm’s online presence. WiningerLawFirm.com

Jerry E Smith, Bankruptcy Law

Gladiator Law Marketing worked with Bankruptcy Attorney Jerry Smith to transform USDebtLaw.com from a “brochure” website to an online resource site for potential clients. The design remained consumer-focused, using fonts, colors, photos and content oriented toward a consumer message of hopefulness and the idea of “moving forward”. This resulted a very user-friendly website design optimized for the firm’s ongoing marketing and advertising investments.

The new web design will serve the firm well as they work to expand their online presence and offline geographic reach. USDebtLaw.com

Indiana Bankruptcy Lawyers
Orlando Defense Lawyers

Panella Law Firm

Orlando, Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Michael Panella engaged Gladiator Law Marketing to craft a new website design for his practice. Mike brought to the table several high-quality video productions and expansive media coverage – including his role in the George Zimmerman trial. We worked closely with Mike to feature these elements for his prospects and to craft a bold, unique look for his site.

Gladiator Law Marketing is continuing our partnership with ongoing SEO services targeting the Orlando, FL region. PanellaLawFirm.com

Timothy S. Hart Law Group

Gladiator Law Marketing is proud to partner with this New York State Tax Attorney in the redesign of their primary website. The website features extensive client case studies and testimonials to underscore the tax expertise offered by Attorney Tim Hart. The website design crafts a unique online presence for the firm, taking a traditionally modern look. IRSTaxPros.com

NY Tax Lawyer
Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer

Johnson Law Firm

Gladiator Law Marketing has had the privilege of working with the premier Kentucky injury practice, Johnson Law Firm, for many years. Located in Pikeville, KY (Eastern KY) a primary marketing objective is to secure top visibility and new business from a geographically expansive area. With top statewide rankings, Johnson Law Firm’s online presence has consistently grown year after year while partnering with Gladiator Law Marketing.

While our work together has included several website designs, this most recent iteration emphasized mobile-first usability, enhanced speed, along with more modern typography and messaging to secure even higher conversion rates. BillyJohnsonLaw.com

Price Family Law, LLC

This Denver, CO family law firm approached Gladiator Law Marketing to design a modern, clean website design that reflected the diversity of their practice. With tasteful animation and hover effects, the design works to engage the firm’s potential clients and walk them through the decision-making process.

In addition to the overall design and brand coordination, the backend programming prioritizes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and is SEO-friendly. A complete design to showcase the firm and impress the search engines. PriceFamLaw.com

Denver Divorce Attorneys
Insurance Law Firm Design

Doug Terry Law

Doug Terry is a leading, nationwide insurance bad faith attorney. Shortly after securing a record $25 million jury verdict in a landmark decision against Aetna (more here), the pressure was on to quickly upgrade Mr. Terry’s web presence.

Gladiator Law Marketing partnered closely with Mr. Terry’s team to launch a website design that would not only help set him apart on the national stage – but position his firm for new business. DougTerryLaw.com

The Elder Care Law Practice

The Elder Care Law Practice is led by St. Louis Attorney Melissa Leavy. The initial design call(s) were invaluable in helping to craft the online brand for the law firm. It was instantly clear the care and concern with which Ms. Leavy handles her clients’ needs. There was an overwhelming sense of advocacy, with themes of justice and social work woven in the firm’s identity.

The website design focuses on conveying this passion for advocacy and establishing an initial connection with the prospective client. It was an absolute joy to work with Ms. Leavy to craft a design that reflects the values behind the firm’s brand. LeavyElderLaw.com

Missouri Elder Law Attorney
Missouri Law Firm

Bley & Evans

Bley & Evans is a personal injury practice in Columbia, MO. Gladiator Law Marketing has had the pleasure of partnering with Attorney Mark Evans on the design of several websites over the years. It was important to the firm that the website for BleyEvansLaw.com reflect the tradition of the brand, while also presenting the firm in a fresh, technically updated fashion.

Look modern, while maintaining class and tradition. With careful selection of the color palette and fonts, the design hit the mark. Seamlessly integrated custom photography helped reflect the tailored design approach. BleyEvansLaw.com

Caldwell, Wenzel & Asthana, PC

Caldwell Wenzel & Asthana is a premier law firm in Alabama. One of the largest advertisers in their market, the firm has numerous record-setting verdicts and seeks to be the dominant firm in their area. Gladiator Law Marketing is proud to be the firm’s chosen law firm website design agency.

“In the past 10 years, I have worked with several SEO and website design companies. I have flown all over the country meeting different teams and Gladiator Law Marketing goes above and beyond any one I have ever worked with in the past. Thank you guys for all your hard work!” – Attorney Deepti Asthana

Alabama Law Firm Design
Military Criminal Defense Lawyer

Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens

Attorney Richard V. Stevens is a leading, worldwide military defense lawyer. Serving clients across all branches stateside and out-of-country, it was critical that his website reflect the high-level of expertise and prestige Mr. Stevens has built for his practice.

The website design and content is highly targeted to Mr. Stevens audience and provides a very professional, modern yet traditional design. MilitaryAdvocate.com

SEO Agency for Attorneys

Design Questions & Answers

Why do we Need to Care About Responsive Web Design?

The majority of web traffic today comes from mobile devices.

There’s nothing more frustrating than visiting a site on your phone only to discover it wasn’t designed to work on mobile. Misplaced images, broken menus, disappearing text — these are enough drive your visitors straight into the arms of your competition.

Responsive website design adapts the page’s layout to the user’s viewing environment through the use of fluid, proportional grids and flexible imagery. In short, it responds to the visitor’s device to serve up the best individual experience for that user.

This isn’t just about keeping your users happy. Responsive web design is a significant factor in search ranking. If Google crawls your site and learns that it isn’t mobile-ready, you can expect to take a severe plunge in their rankings.

Should We Use Video in Our Law Firm Marketing?

85% of web users in the U.S. watch video online, making it an important element in any marketing campaign. Especially in the legal industry, where arguments are made in person, there’s no better way to convince potential clients to work with you than through a personal appeal via video.

Strategically, video is a no-brainer. On landing pages, videos can increase conversion rates by more than 80%. Off-site, video should play a vital part in any social media campaign. Why? Because video on social media generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined. On top of all that, video helps with SEO. In some instances, video has been shown to more than double the SEO value of a page.

Long story short, if you want to get a personable message out there, do it in video.

One tiny caveat: if the firm’s online marketing is lagging in other areas, then it may be best to hold off on video. While video is a great tool, no one’s going to see it if the firm doesn’t have a well-honed SEO or PPC campaign in play.

Will I Own My Website?

Understandably, ownership is of paramount concern. In many cases, an agency will want to retain ownership of the site and/or its contents. If you opt to change agencies later on, you’ll be forced to re-invent your site from the ground up. When it comes to websites, you should never lease. At a minimum, make sure your agency contract lets you “rent-to-own” so that you’ll be the full owner of your design and content when the agreement runs its course.

We’re not afraid to hand ownership over to our clients. With Gladiator Law Marketing you always own your website design and any other materials that may have been produced by our team (e.g., content, logo, infographics, etc.) We can’t imagine doing business any other way.

What is WordPress and Should I Use It?

WordPress is one of the most common website solutions for professionals in all industries. This open-source blogging platform started in 2003 and has since grown to become one of the world’s largest and most robust content management systems. Although WordPress is still associated mainly with blogging, its framework provides a comprehensive all-in-one package for creating professional websites.

For lawyers, the advantages of a WordPress site focus primarily on time, affordability, and flexibility. A lawyer interested in building a starter website themselves can simply install the platform, choose a pre-designed theme, customize the basic elements of the theme, implement the appropriate plugins and the website is essentially good to go in a matter of days or weeks.

What you gain in way of user-friendliness, however, you lose in terms of control, effectiveness and (eventually) money. To make full use of the platform — especially for SEO — you’ll need to hire a developer who is experienced with HTML, CSS, JS and PHP. Without professional help, you’ll inevitably end up with a bland site that doesn’t perform well in search rankings.

From where we sit, a custom website design is the best way to go. Not only are you guaranteed a more visually effective website, but one that actually works to bring in new business. Save yourself the hassle; hire a professional to build a site you can count on.

What is Bounce Rate and Why is it Important?

Your bounce rate is the percentage of users who land on a given page and leave without clicking any of your links. Each of these visitors represents a lost opportunity—someone who failed to engage with your firm and, instead, chose to move on to another site.

The key to conversion is engagement. Bounce rates are the proverbial canary in the coal mine; they tell you when your website is failing to hold the attention of its visitors.

There are multiple reasons why a visitor might bounce:

  • The site is too slow.

  • You’re attracting the wrong traffic.

  • The individual pages don’t answer visitors’ specific questions.

  • Your content is sub-par.

  • Your site shows up poorly on their mobile.

As you can see, bounce rate is an inadequate measurement in itself. In addition to measuring your bounce rate against industry benchmarks, focus on specifics:

  • Which pages have the highest bounce rates?

  • How do these pages compare to others on your site?

  • What can you do to tweak each page for a better response?

  • How have your bounce rates shifted historically?

The key to optimization is close analysis and incremental adjustment. Look at your numbers, adjust your site accordingly, and watch carefully. Over time, this sort of iterative process will help you optimize each of page for maximum impact.

What About Website Hosting?

A hosting provider is a service who houses all of a website’s code, media, and other data. Common web hosting providers include GoDaddy, Bluehost, HostGator, Media Temple, WPMuze (for WordPress sites), and RackSpace. We use WPEngine.

There are several factors to consider when choosing a provider:

  • Speed – User experience is key. If your site takes too long to load, visitors will move on. Worse, Google will ding you in the search rankings. Use a service like Bitcatcha to check hosts’ response time.

  • Uptime – Reliability is crucial. If your server goes down, so does your website. And, for however long it takes to rectify the issue, your site will be dead to the world. Choose a hosting provider who can prove at least a 99% uptime score.

  • Bandwidth – This refers to the amount of data shared between users and your site at one time. Many providers offer “unlimited” bandwidth, but they often throttle sites which exceed their expectations. Make sure to pick a host with scalable bandwidth solutions that guarantee maximum speed at all times.

  • Data Security – The internet is filled with malicious actors. It’s only a matter of time before one of them finds your site. You need to ensure your host uses the latest in protection software. Also, you’ll want a provider that regularly backs up content. That way, if you are the victim of an attack, you won’t lose everything.

  • Technical Support – Things are going to break from time to time. You need a hosting provider who’s willing to be on call for you 24/7.

These are the most important factors to keep in mind when choosing a web hosting provider. A professional web designer/developer can offer specific recommendations to connect you with the appropriate web hosting solution for your needs.

Lawyer Web Design – The Gladiator Way

Custom-Crafted. Results-Focused.

Our website design professionals don’t just build pretty, we build effective. The bottom line is that we don’t stand out unless you stand out from your competition. Have a website design tailored around your firm, personality and business goals can make all the difference to your long-term success.

Are you ready to stop being embarrassed by your website? Do you want to see what happens when a team of experts brings all their strategic and creative resources to bear on your success? Then pick up the phone and give us a call today.

Click to Call