Law Firm Web Design, SEO & Digital Marketing: Tips & Best Practices
The emergence of the internet has changed
the way people look for details and resources. Day by day consumers are looking
for everything on the internet and the legal service domain doesn’t miss out on
that list.
A study conducted by The Research
Intelligence Group revealed about 110 million consumers in the U.S require
legal services at least once in their lives. 75% of this consumer population
looks for resources online. And here, I am only talking about the U.S.
The legal industry is pretty competitive
and lawyers understand this very well. And when discussing online presence
competition, with my experience as a digital marketer, I understand that very
well. Having an attractive online presence increases the chances of law firms
in getting hired as legal support.
So, in this blog, I am going to share key points that are crucial in creating a successful law firm website. Also, shall discuss how to stand out with the perfect marketing strategy.
Law Firm Web Design: Tips & Best Practices
Before I start, let me tell you what you
can ‘gain’ from a well-designed website with a professional touch:
- A trustable firm-client relationship;
- A reputable foundation;
- Increased traffic and hand-in-hand increased conversion rates.
All of these are achievable with the right
website structure designed by a professional web developer. It gives you that
extra edge against your competitors. Now let’s have a look into how to build a
website for a law firm –
- The Design Planning
Legal websites are completely different from the regular
site setups. Not because of the clients, but also because of the area of
expertise. An ultimate law firm website design is simple, responsive and ‘aesthetically’ structured that
highlights the firm’s expertise. Remember, I just highlighted the term
aesthetic, because –
“Legal clients prefer to work with personalities, not with
companies” – Olga Shevchenko
You must
consider these key points for that aesthetic website that reflects the
personality:
- Spontaneous Navigation with proper
branding that is accessible in desktops and mobiles equally. Your website
should be able to provide all the information your clients must be looking for.
About your firm, the services you provide, your best lawyers, successfully
completed cases, contact information and most importantly why the client should
hire you.
Extra tip: Always keep your competitors’ sites on a check to
analyze how they are interacting with their clients.
- Avoid information overload and always leave enough white space. Putting too
much information for the visitors to grasp can be overwhelming and bring forth
the loss of interest. Adding empty spaces in the website help visitors focus on
only what’s important. I’m not asking you to forcefully add blank spaces rather
a visual focal point.
Extra tip: A good web designer knows how to balance that white
space to give that aesthetic look. It would be a win-win deal.
- The information you display to
your audiences is your content and it must be persuasive and compelling to
promote conversion. Your content must be
unique and have an appropriate quantity of words, not too short, nor too
lengthy. Remember, you are writing for your clients, so keep the style in check
and always keep SEO in mind.
Extra tip: Whether you are writing the content yourself or
hiring a writer, make sure to avoid unintelligible legal terms. It just appears
gibberish to common people and is less appealing.
- Include service pages with a list of
everything you offer and specialize in. It is very disappointing to browse
through several pages only to know your firm doesn’t offer what they require. Having
a clear display of the field of expertise is way more professional and adds
authenticity.
Extra tip: Your clients are here to look for services. And
according to Google’s research, it takes 2.6 seconds for a user to find the
right keywords. When they fail, they leave.
- Maintain CTAs. Call-to-action buttons
make it easier for interested customers to get in touch with you. This is the
first step to conversion, so make these buttons stand out visually. Don’t place
it too early, give your customers time to comprehend how helpful your services
are to them. Put it in the right place where they understand its value. Make it
a popping presence and do not let it ruin the aesthetic value of your page.
Extra Tip: Do not ever make your CTAs forceful. Several
websites place CTAs forcefully and that has a very negative impact.
- Employ high-quality visuals to
spice up the design. 8 out of 10 people claim videos help in better decision
making and builds trust. Also, videos keep visitors glued longer than only text
and pictures. I’m not asking you must, but it does help grab attention.
Extra Tip: Picture or video, make sure they are of superior quality and do not impact page loading speed.
Law Firm SEO & Digital Marketing: Tips & Best Practices
When you’re done with top-notch design, your next goal
shall be reaching potential customers. That’s where marketing comes, and if
rightly done, attracts huge organic traffic.
- Become a part of Google My Business and make sure you can be found locally. Business listing is free, and it allows anyone around finds you quickly when they look for lawyers.
- Making use of social media for marketing is in hype these days. Though lawyers previously were not much accustomed to this social life, now they are.Having a social media channel, preferably in LinkedIn, makes it easier to get in touch with clients. Also, if your firm uses social media make sure they are linked to the website.
- Improve SEO for better organic traffic engagement. SEO, though just a term, involves a lot of things working together. Start with identifying Google’s legal queries and grab a couple of local keywords based on search intent. Right keyword mapping is essential to achieve a higher ranking in the SERPs.
Implementing the right on-page SEO makes the site
crawl-able and easy to index.
There are those minute features, often understated but
play a huge part. Here are a few:
- Never underestimate the power of FAQs. It attracts the answer hungry crowd and caters to the queries of probable clients. Think from a visitor’s viewpoint and develop FAQs with proper keywords. This increases customer satisfaction and improves SEO.
- Blogging is another SEO tactic and 70% digital marketers agree to its importance. Successful websites are consistent in blogging to boost SEO ranking. Again, make use of the targeted keywords.
- Display past client testimonials and reviews to build trust. This helps your new customers to see the successful cases and adds value to your reputation. Testimonials are a valuable form of content marketing.
Testimonials and reviews also show up in your Google My Business listings and promote brand image.
This was pretty much everything you need to know when planning to build a website for your law firm. But how can I help?
While the legal market is your area of expertise, building an effective online presence is mine.
As a freelance web developer and digital marketer, I understand the value of first impression a website has on your client.
For best results, a client must take
professional legal help for right assistance. Then why compromise in the
matters of website design?
Till then, I hope this blog helps in your
journey of making a digital presence. For further assistance feel free to contact
me.
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