Website Design for Lawyers

Introduction

Thirty years ago, the idea of having a website for your law firm would have been met with only one response: What’s a website? Twenty years ago, the same idea would have seemed like a luxury that only the larger, more recognized firms needed to bother with. Ten years ago it was practically a requirement, and at this point you’re actively hurting yourself if you don’t have one. Having a well designed, informative website is an integral part of establishing your firm’s presence online. And optimizing that site for search engines—to ensure that people searching for your service find you—is the key to successful web design for lawyers.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll go deep into the subject of designing a website for your law firm—and we’ll hardly talk about how it looks (pro tip: make it look good). That’s because the most important aspect of planning and building a website is search engine optimization (SEO). Some of that has to do with its visual elements, but most of it is centered on making sure your website demonstrates your credibility and professionalism. You’ll make your and your partners’ credentials known, and keep the site current with regular content. In 2023, this is how your firm gets a leg up over the competition, improving your visibility, conversion rates, and overall growth.

Why is Website Design for Law Firms Important?

The old expression of “hanging out your shingle” to signify you’ve opened the doors of your business doesn’t really translate in the modern day. Perhaps we should just call it going “going live,” because launching your website serves a similar purpose. You’ve set up the virtual storefront for your law firm, probably the first point of contact for anyone seeking legal services.

There’s another other old expression and this one will never go out of style—”You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This will always be true, for the sheer logic of it, but the psychology behind it is all too true, as well. People’s first impression of you informs every single interaction that follows. If your website is a turnoff, no one will follow up with a call. But beyond that initial conversion, there are a few more reasons attorneys should take extra care with their website design:

• Credibility — Any professional should take care to present a trustworthy image that reassures potential clients, but the stakes are especially high with legal services. Prospective clients will expect a more professional image from the lawyer’s website than from their mechanic. A clean design with subtle colors and fonts, all chosen with an eye towards best communicating your credentials and experience help to establish your legitimacy.
• User Experience — When a client arrives at your actual office, you probably have some protocol for welcoming them and getting them comfortable before getting down to the business at hand. Your website needs to do the same thing. When someone arrives at the homepage, it should load quickly and orient them to almost immediately after that. Navigating should be an intuitive process; the information they’re searching for should be easy to locate. It should be optimized for mobile devices as well, and calling you should be made as easy as tapping a button.
• Differentiation — In the tech world, they call this your Unique Selling Point (USP). Good website design for attorneys will clearly communicate what makes them different. It could be as simple as specializing in contract law, or family law. Maybe you serve a unique segment of the population, like Spanish-speakers. Your website design provides an opportunity to showcase why your site visitors should choose you. A mix of visuals, case studies, and other compelling content all serve to paint the picture of your USP.

Who should read this guide?

Though there’s a small likelihood that a full time lawyer has either the skill or the time to build her own website, we’ve still written this guide with those full time lawyers very much in mind. Whether or not you’re doing the coding yourself, though, you will be an instrumental part of the process. You should plan to be, anyway.

This guide will get you thinking about the goals of your website, and how you can best build it to achieve those goals. As you collaborate with your web designer, you should always bring your own ideas to the table. Likewise, you should have a full understanding of your designer’s professional language. You should be able to communicate your vision, and be savvy enough to know if it’s being realized. 

By reading this guide, you’ll be better prepared for those conversations. And if you’re going DIY? We’ve got you covered there, too. Over the next many pages, we’ll provide you with:

• Actionable Insights — We aren’t just trying to fill your head with a bunch of indiscriminate knowledge; we want you to take that knowledge and act on it. You won’t just know what you want out of your site, you’ll have the language to describe it to professionals, and know the right questions to ask to them
• Best Practices— In order for your website to work well and rank high on Google, you’ll need to follow certain design and SEO best practices. We’ve laid these out in this guide, to ensure that you’re able to make your site compliant with industry standards while also standing out in a crowd of law firms.
• Maximizing Conversion Rates — Ultimately, the point of your website is to convert people seeking legal services into clients of yours. A website designed for law firms should seamlessly guide potential clients through the “conversion funnel,” providing them with the specific information they’re looking for and motivating them to call or contact you. We’ll provide strategies and tips to optimize your website for maximum lead generation and conversion rates.

How is Website Design Integral to an SEO Strategy?

Does SEO planning require a good site design? Or does good site design require SEO planning? Honestly, both perspectives are true. This is why it’s best not view each of these aspects separately—decisions made about the look of the website affect decisions about its optimization, and vice-versa. Neither of these things exists in a vacuum, a statement that makes more sense when you consider what Google is looking for with its algorithms.

A user-friendly experience is a huge part of search engine algorithms showing favor to your website. This means an attractive design, with clearly organized navigation and easy-to-find information. Be careful that your site performs well, too. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the flashier elements of site design. Really, though, web design for attorneys rarely needs to include resource-intensive things like animations, video, or sound. A more minimalist approach is the appropriate choice; people and algorithms will judge a book by its cover (or a site by its home page). 

Your site should also be optimized for mobile devices. More than half of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices, so creating a responsive site that serves mobile optimized content is no longer an option. And, whether on desktop or mobile, the content itself needs to be well organized and accessible. That doesn’t just mean the navigation options are well laid out, but also that the pages themselves are formatted for easy reading. You’ll want to break the content into sections, using heading tags of different sizes, and optimized metadata under the hood. Here are a couple of content design rules for both desktop and mobile pages:

• Use the H1 tag for your title, only once in the document, and preferably at the beginning. It should contain your most relevant topic keywords—essentially the long tail keyword you’re trying to rank for. Always make sure to keep the H1 text on its own line—don’t wrap it with an image or any other elements.
• H2 tags can be used more often within a page, as they’re best for organizing it into sections. While there’s no limit on how many you should use, you don’t want to overdo it. A blog post of about 1,200-1,500 words should have two or three different sections headed with H2 tags. This is where you should use variations of your keywords, or related ones that you discovered using a keyword research tool.
• For a longer piece, you might find that H3 tags are helpful to breaking up the content even further. This is helpful for readers, especially with keeping complex legal content organized, but it doesn’t really have a direct impact on your rankings. Use H3 tags only when it makes for a better reading experience, and don’t worry about trying to cram keywords into them.
• Adding meta tags to your source code can also help with your ranking, but don’t get too hung up on this. Adding a Meta Title and Meta Description are the biggest (only) meta tags you really need to worry about. What you add for these tags determines how your site appears when it shows up on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). If you don’t set these tags, the title might be too long to read, or the description will be whatever words start your website. If you’ve done the work to show up on the first results page, don’t get overlooked once you’re there.
• Contrary to popular belief, the Meta Keyword tag is no longer helpful. This is a relic from earlier days, when algorithms weren’t able to assess the context of a web page. Because it was an easy way to get a search engine to index a page for whatever keywords you stuffed in the tag, it was also an easy way to game the system. You aren’t penalized for using this tag, but it does you no good to employ it.

Again, it’s important to remember that these design elements are here for both people and algorithms. While an algorithm can’t make a subjective opinion over which websites “look good” and which ones don’t, it can detect the presence of these tags, and consider how often and where they’re used, to determine how organized you’ve structured the information on the page. People, on the other hand, are very much making subjective judgments about the look and feel of your website. You’re not going to please everyone with whatever aesthetics you choose, but if the content is organized and easy to access, that will keep people coming back.

Website Design Strategies for Growing your Law Firm

Today, having a website is like having a business card. It’s an easy way to give your contact information, for one thing. Ten-digit phone numbers aren’t as memorable as yourlawfirmsname.com. A website serves as more than just a digital calling card, though. It’s also a brochure of your services, providing evidence of your knowledge and experience in law. But with a little planning and some regular attention, the design of your website could be a catalyst for growth.

There’s no business that doesn’t benefit from having an increased online presence; for a higher end business like legal services it would be questionable if you didn’t have one.  A professional and aesthetically pleasing website is your first shot at defining your business online, and one of the few places where you have complete control over the narrative. The design should be undertaken with an eye toward making it easier for potential clients to find and engage with your firm. 

Remember that your design is part of your overall branding, so keep it cohesive with the rest of your existing marketing materials. By aligning the visual elements of your website with your logo, you enhance your branding and tie it more tightly to your firm’s story. With your image reinforced through your website design, and the site’s copy highlighting your background and past successes, make sure to include several calls to action across multiple pages. It’s not enough for your site to make your presence known, you’ve got to give your audience ways to get in touch with you. 

A well-crafted website not only conveys professionalism and credibility but it can work as a growth tool. By following best practices for SEO—and integrating your web design with your optimization strategy—your law firm can stand out from the competition, get found on search engines, and attract the right clients.

And what is the right client? Well, that’s for you to decide: like any business, you need to understand your target audience. That will depend on the kind of law you practice, and the area you’re in. Whatever demographic you decide is your target audience, you’ll want to make sure that your website speaks directly to that audience. The site itself may exist to benefit your law firm, but the content on it should benefit your clients, existing and potential.

Ten ways to make your law firm’s website more client-centric

The whole point of your website is to support your existing clients and attract new ones. So it stands to reason that you’d want to build out with these current and future customers in mind. As you begin to plan the site and its content, here are ten things you can do to ensure a finished product that serves its purpose:

• Clearly define your target audience —  If you’re a labor lawyer, you wouldn’t advertise to mortgage brokers. A real estate attorney won’t find clients at an auto auction. That’s because they know who the intended audience for their services is, and they aren’t going to waste any time with groups of people that don’t fit the profile. It’s the same with your website. A medical malpractice attorney, for example, has a client base of doctors and the practices that employ them. This attorney’s website should reflect that, and talk directly to them.
• Use the language of your clients — This is the one time when it’s OK to drop a little jargon—just not your own! You’re the lawyer, and not the person for whom the copy is intended. Keep the legalese to a minimum, but feel free to drop the buzzwords of your clients. You still want it to sound human, but throwing words like “comorbidity” and “adverse outcomes” into the copy keeps it real for the right people.
• Highlight your expertise — If your firm specializes in an area that requires extra certifications or education, make that known. Do you have any major case wins that would appeal to your target audience? Telling the story of that makes a great blog post. Better yet, put together a small portfolio of case studies, make it into something downloadable and attractive, and use it for lead generation, requiring an email address to get the document.
• Provide valuable and informative content — Nowadays, the word “content” is a catch all for just about any kind of consumable media: print, video, music, animations, etc. As a legal website, you probably won’t be dropping new memes for people to laugh at, but blog posts, long form papers, and even videos are the kinds of things that keep an audience engaged. Don’t use these bits of content to directly sell yourself or services. Rather, regard them as another way to demonstrate your expertise. It’s one thing for someone to read that you specialize in criminal law. It’s another thing altogether to read an essay you wrote explaining a certain law and what to do if you run afoul of it.
• Incorporate client testimonials —Again, your potential customers want to know you’re the real deal, and word of mouth is one of the most effective ways for a lawyer to show that. Like it or not, there is a cloud of mistrust around the legal profession, so there’s only far your own word can take you. Having past clients vouch for your effectiveness and professionalism goes a lot further in making people comfortable.
• Optimize for Mobile Devices — If you lived in a town where more than half the residents were taller than seven feet, you’d outfit your office with a larger than normal door. Well, you live in a world where more than half of web traffic comes from a mobile device, so your virtual office should welcome them accordingly.
• Implement clear calls to action — All the customer-centric content in the world won’t mean anything if it doesn’t with the reader giving your law firm a call. Even though they found your website buy searching for services you offer, and even though they read a legal guide on the issue they have, and even though they still need help with the issue and know you’re qualified to handle it—you still need to give them the extra nudge to make a phone call. Or to fill out a form on your site.  Whether it’s scheduling a consultation or downloading a legal guide, make it easy for them to engage further with your firm.
• Incorporate live chat or chatbots — If you’re able to provide instant support or answers with a chat window embedded into your site, you’ll give yourself all the more credibility as a resource with answers. While a human on the other end of the window is ideal for the customer, it’s not always ideal for you. If you must, you can still go a long way with an AI chatbot. The tools for these are surprisingly affordable; you don’t need to pretend it’s anything but what it is. Teach it the answers to common questions, and have it assist users  have it “take a message” when it can’t answer. This allows visitors to have their questions addressed promptly, while reassuring them someone will follow up.
• Regularly update and optimize — Whether it’s you, or an SEO consultant, your site will need to be updated with fresh content on a regular basis. That sounds a lot more foreboding than it is. At minimum, you should be updating your blog twice a month with quality, informative material. This could be explainers on certain aspects of the law, or celebrating certain achievements within your firm. A blog is a way for a business to show a little more of the behind-the-scenes, either to lighten things up or just to educate. It’s up to you. Make it worth your clients’ while, it’s not just about marketing your practice.

Using content like this is a proven method of driving traffic to your website. If the content is what you use to get people to your website, then the actual website design is critical for law firms—it’s the first visual impression you’re making on these potential clients. As much as the content is designed so people can read something informative and insightful, it needs to look good, too. Maybe your readers don’t notice anything special about the design; it’s fine if it goes unnoticed. What you don’t want is something amateurish or ugly.

And you probably aren’t a graphic designer.

Agency-designed websites

The decision about hiring a professional agency to design and build your site shouldn’t be a question of whether or not you’ll hire someone. It should only be: which agency will you hire? Even if you have in-house expertise, or your cousin’s kid is “really into it,” you should heed the advice you’d give others about the law: leave it to the pros. It’s the only way esure that all the aspects of your site design are handled. 

A nice bonus of this is that agencies operate a bit like law firms, in terms of specialties. If they’re good at their job, it won’t be hard to find a decent digital marketing agency that specializes in website design for law firms. If you can’t find them on Google’s page one, you probably don’t want to hire them. 

There are two big reasons why you’d want to find an agency with an impressive portfolio of legal clients. That portfolio itself is a big stack of references, telling you that this agency understands the specialized needs of a law firm—to say nothing of the aesthetic aspect of branding. Having that much business in a single industry acts as its own glowing reference. Which gets us to reason number two: that much experience means there’s a lot that doesn’t need to be explained. Just like you should speak the language of your intended audience, an agency doing legally-focused work will speak yours. They’ve been doing it for awhile, and know not only the buzzwords, but the pitfalls, of your profession. Assuming you’ve vetted them for knowledge/experience with website design for lawyers, you’ll want to make sure they can check all these boxes:

• Professionalism and Credibility —  Much as you’re looking to present your law firm with a certain image and credibility, you should also be looking for that in the website of any agency you meet with. Look at their own site, as well as examples of other designs they’ve done for other firms. By leveraging their expertise, you can ensure your own website leverages yours,  instilling trust in potential clients.
• Time and Efficiency — Designing a website is a time-consuming process that requires technical expertise and attention to detail. And even though you’ve hired experts, it’s going to require a lot of input from you, too. However, that should only be during the start of the process, as the agency gathers information about you and builds up a library of updated images and other collateral. Beyond that, you can be left to do what you do best—practicing law—while the agency handles the rest.
• Customization and Tailored Solutions — One thing you should be careful of, when it comes to agencies that specialize in a particular kind of business, is to make sure they’re not relying on templates. They don’t need to reinvent the wheel each time, but they shouldn’t just be changing colors and names. Your law firm is unique, and your website needs to be custom built, tailored to your services.
• Ongoing Support and Maintenance — When your site is done and live, it’s cause for celebration—but keep it modest. In truth, a website is never done. Beyond the content updates we’ve mentioned, the hardware and software require ongoing updates, maintenance, and optimization. A lot of hosting services take care of the maintenance updates and fixes, with that cost baked into a monthly price. You’ll still need your agency to maintain and update the site, keeping it relevant in searches to ensure that you keep getting found. Ensure that these ongoing services are part of your contract with the agency, and spell out clear lines of responsibility and KPIs.

Nine questions to ask potential agencies about website design

Hiring the right agency to create your law firm’s website is crucial for establishing a strong online presence and attracting clients. But it’s also up to you to know your business and the value your law firm brings. Any good marketing agency will have a bunch of questions for you, and you should come prepared with the same. Here are some questions you should ask when considering a web design agency:

Conclusion

A well-designed website is a critical tool for law firms to attract and convert potential clients. By incorporating clean and professional design, responsive and mobile-friendly elements, user-friendly navigation, compelling content, strong CTAs, trust and credibility indicators, SEO optimization – law firms can create a successful online presence. Remember, web design for law firms should prioritize aesthetics, usability, credibility, and lead generation to maximize its effectiveness in attracting and converting clients.

See how a custom Logo can help boost your firms brand.

Is your law firm looking for an exceptional web design partner? Look no further than Gladiator Law Marketing! As experts in the legal marketing arena, we understand the unique needs and challenges faced by law firms. Our team combines technical proficiency with creative flair to deliver award-winning, user-friendly websites that enhance your firm’s online presence. Our designs are custom and revolve around the personality of your law firm.

Ready for an amazing website? Call the Gladiator Law Marketing team at 888-683-3212.