How to Create a Winning Law Firm Website

While networking and personal recommendations will always play a part in growing a law firm’s client base, having a great law firm website should be the centrepiece of any practice. Why? Because 96% of people who are looking for legal advice start their search online.

So how can lawyers ensure that their law firm website is the one that stands out to potential clients?  In this blog, we’re sharing our tips on how to create a powerful, accessible, and persuasive website to attract and secure clients. 

What makes a good law firm website?

Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula for creating a law firm website that hits it out of the park. While there are many components that contribute to developing a winning law firm website (we’ll get into those in a moment) there are two essential things to always keep in mind:

1. Are you providing solutions for your customers’ biggest pain points?
2. Does your firm’s uniqueness shine through?

No two law firms are identical. They all provide different services, have different specialties, and offer their own distinctive client experience.  If you can tap into what makes your firm different, while keeping the following seven best practices in mind, you’ve got a great law firm website on your hands.

7 best practices for creating a winning law firm website

1. Easy to navigate

When focusing on improving a law firm website, it can be easy to get caught up in creating a sophisticated UX (user experience). But this requires expensive design time and resources, which is often out of budget for small or medium law firms. If you can invest in a UX designer for your law firm website design, great. If not—don’t panic! 

The main thing to keep in mind when optimising your website is how you can get visitors to the information they need as quickly as possible. 

Ask yourself: Can potential clients find the services you offer easily? Do you have clear contact details on key pages of the website? Is any pricing information available? All of these things are major decision-making factors for clients so they should be front and centre on your site.

2. A personable approach

Never underestimate the power of using simple, everyday language on your website. Legal jargon is like a second language for solicitors, but can be intimidating for people who have little or no experience with the law. Therefore, you should try to maintain a personable tone throughout your website. You want potential clients to gain a clear understanding of what it is that your law firm does and to feel comfortable approaching you for legal advice when they need it.

3. A clear ‘why’

Did you know that the second most-visited page on most law firm websites is the ‘About’ section? If someone is browsing potential law firms’ websites, they are trying to find one that is the right fit for them. For this reason (and many others) it’s vital to tell your story to them. Explain the values upon which your practice has been built. 

For an example of a firm that has done this well, take a look Clio users Tend Legal. They put their clients’ needs at the centre of what they do and their website highlights that fact clearly. 

Tend Legal’s website states that their mission is ‘to build a better, more human, less formal legal experience for start-ups and scale-ups.’ on their website. Immediately you get a feel for what the practice is all about. 

Team bios also account for a huge percentage of web traffic for law firms, so ensure that your “meet the team” section showcases the people behind the firm with high-quality images or headshots and descriptions. If possible, try to use original photography on your website instead of stock images that visitors have seen time and time again.

4. Authority through social proof

Now is not the time to be modest. A law firm website is essentially a shopfront for your business. That means you need to showcase your accolades. Besides listing the educational and professional qualifications that the team members in the firm have, you can also inject social proof into various parts of your website. 

What is social proof? It’s a tactic that’s used in marketing whereby potential customers see other people’s thoughts on a product or service and are more likely to be influenced to follow suit. It also establishes authority and credibility for your business. Client testimonials, logos of the businesses you’ve worked with, industry awards, and media coverage should all be displayed on your law firm website. 

5. A seamless intake process

The intake process on your website should be effortless for potential clients. You should have clear calls to action(CTAs)  throughout your site (for example: “talk to us”; “book a free consultation”; “arrange a meeting”; “find out more”). These CTAs should lead to simple forms for potential clients to complete, or directly to a calendar where they can book a slot to speak with you. 

Try not to ask for too much information on your intake forms; the more arduous they are, the less likely a visitor is to complete them. 

If you’re still relying on manual client intake and client onboarding processes (such as spreadsheets or post-it notes), consider a more digital approach. Managing form and calendar submissions from your website can be time-consuming and leads can often fall through the cracks if handled manually. Client relationship management software can automate a lot of the intake process, ensuring that no query goes unnoticed. 

On your website, give potential clients more than one option in terms of how they can contact you (such as phone, email, and online intake form) and make your typical response times clear so that they know when they can expect to hear from you.

For more on optimising your client intake process, check out our free guide: How to Grow Your Firm with Legal Client Intake

6. Helpful content 

Content marketing is a tried-and-tested way of getting the right eyes on your website. Solicitors are experts in their field, with truckloads of wisdom that can be imparted to those who are seeking legal advice. Sharing helpful content on your law firm website requires time and resources, but when it’s done correctly, the payoff can be huge. 

Not only does content boost your firm’s profile, it also significantly improves search engine optimisation (SEO) for your law firm, which is crucial in getting more visitors to your website.

For efforts to be maximised, focus on posting about topics that are hyper-relevant to the services your firm offers. For exampl : a practice that specialises in immigration law could share content relating to eligibility for specific visas. This will attract people who are searching for answers about this particular subject to the website, and from there, they are more likely to get in touch for more information.

7. Consistency is key

Finally, if you want to create a winning law firm website, you need to ensure that you’re regularly updating and maintaining it. Out-of-date information on your website can confuse visitors, and make them question your firm’s credibility, which is a huge no-no if you want to attract new clients. 

For instance, many law firms still have a notice on their sites about pandemic restrictions affecting face-to-face meetings, despite the fact that restrictions have been lifted for some time. 

It’s important to regularly check that all information is up to date and that links and forms are in working order. If you have a blog, make sure that new content is regularly published and that older articles are refreshed if and when any details change. 

Why law firm websites are always a work in progress

It’s not enough to have a working law firm website if no one is actually visiting it! The best websites are the ones that showcase your practice, while always keeping the client front of mind.

Whether you simply need to make a few tweaks to your existing website, or you’re developing a site from scratch, these 7 best practices should help you to create a law firm website that attracts visitors and converts them into long-term clients.

We published this blog post in November 2022. Last updated: November 11, 2022.

Categorized in: Business, Legal Marketing, Technology