While you may have a strong passion for assisting people facing legal issues, never forget your legal practice is a business at the end of the day. You still need to generate profits to stay in business; it’s how the world works. With this in mind, you must include certain elements in your custom law firm website design to advertise your services and attract new clients. These include;
1. Aesthetically Appealing Visuals
Users will notice your site’s general design and feel as soon as they land on your homepage. Videos, headlines, and a compelling copy all come after but heavily depend on the initial impression of the design. Your custom law firm website design needs a polished look that reflects your brand in a way that aligns with the target audience’s expectations.
The two main components that impact your site’s visual appeal are your design choices, like the color scheme and layout) and the images. Note that while good design is subjective, whether it’s executed well isn’t. Your photographs, on the other hand, need to be of high quality and attention-grabbing in a subtle manner. No gimmicks.
Populate your site’s pages with authentic, professional images of your team, office, and location. Videos have been proven to be a great addition to home pages. Most web users prefer videos to text. With video testimonials, you’ll reach potential clients who may find reading more than a sentence or two hard.
2. Responsive Design
Responsive design describes website layouts that adapt to different orientations, platforms, and screen sizes. It comprises mobile-friendly websites but extends to different browsers and devices, making it an important part of your custom law firm website design. The truth, however, is mobile is the main concern here. According to Statista, in Q1 of 2023, mobile phones other than tablets accounted for 58.33% of global website traffic and have been hovering around the 50% mark since 2017 before surpassing it in 2020. More and more people are using mobile devices to access the internet, so if your site doesn’t show correctly or is difficult to use on a smartphone or tablet, they won’t bother visiting it.
3. Comprehensive and Intuitive Layout
Assessing your page’s navigation and general design is a crucial first step in creating a better custom law firm website design. Put yourself in the position of a potential client looking for tax lawyers, and imagine visiting your homepage in search of legal counsel without prior knowledge of your practice or website. Better still, have someone visit your website for the first time in your presence as you observe how they move about it naturally. Then, ask them to give you honest feedback on what they found intuitive and what they felt was awkward or clumsy.
Your website’s main menu should include each significant page on the site besides being user-friendly. You’d be surprised to find out how law firm websites omit important pages from their navigation, forcing users to guess their path through on-page links to get useful information. Typically, if a page isn’t on your site’s menu, you might as well delete it completely, as it won’t do anything for the user experience on your site.
4. Content-Rich Practice Pages
For good reason, practice area pages typically comprise most of a custom law firm website design. Use these pages to engage a target audience with a particular legal need and offer compelling, pertinent details about how your company will handle their case to help them see why you’re the best option. All the internet traffic won’t convert to significant clients and cases if the practice area pages look like skeletons or are poorly designed.
5. A Regularly Updated Blog
Even if you create a beautiful DUI lawyer website with eye-catching graphics, intriguing language, riveting photographs, and videos of the highest caliber, user engagement will remain low, and search engine rankings will suffer if you fail to publish new content consistently. Achieving visibility for your website in search results will always be an uphill task. Regular, pertinent, and informative blog posts not only enhance your ranking in search results but also make it easier to build a following, establish yourself as an industry leader, and focus even more on the practice areas that are most profitable for your business.
6. On-Page SEO
Achieving SEO-friendly custom law firm website design is easier than ever because search engines are always evolving. Today, the overall caliber and your content’s diversity will determine how well your site ranks in search results more than anything. However, that doesn’t mean you can upload well-written text and a few attractive photographs and expect people to start flocking to your page.
Image alt text, header tags, URL structure, and meta descriptions are a few examples of technical elements in your page’s code and design that interact with search engines to let them know what visitors will find on your site. These on-page SEO elements won’t magically make a bad page rank well on Google but can kill a good one if not executed correctly.
Keywords are also instrumental for your SEO efforts. If you’re a bondsman, you’ll want to focus on phrases that focus on things to do with bail bond services. A great example of a keyword you can use in this case is ‘ bail bond agency near me.’
7. Reduce the Use of Stock Images and Videos
If you’re a criminal lawyer, your firm’s visual identity will make you unique from competing professionals. When you use too many stock photos, they work against this concept. Your firm will seem generic and untrustworthy.
If your leads don’t know the faces behind the company, how will they trust you? A few stock images and videos in your custom law firm website design are ok, but too much isn’t. Some stock images have become so common that people can immediately recognize them.
Knowing when and where to use stock photographs is also important. For instance, using a couple stock photos in a blog post about the benefits of hiring criminal defense attorneys is great. The writing is what visitors will be focusing on, so the visual is there to complement it.
Compare that to your home or an about us page. You want to showcase your firm’s identity here, and stocks will make you seem insincere. Other competing firms can’t copy your business and employees’ philosophy. Custom videos and photos will make you stand out from the crowd.
8. Make Contacting You Easier
Whether you’re a work injury compensation lawyer or a coparenting mediation attorney, lead conversion rates will significantly improve if you’re easy to contact. You can employ several tools to facilitate a smooth user experience. For example, a live chat tool is an accessibility feature that’s a great bottom-of-funnel tool. It has grown to be a popular solution for straightforward questions or issues.
This function allows people to reach your business without feeling pressured to commit to anything. Another alternative to look into is a live chat video. Some people feel more at ease when they see someone in person. Integrating short consultation forms will also make contacting you easier. These forms are quick to fill out and require little information.
9. Design Practical Tools
Law is already complicated, so adding helpful tools will make it easier to convert users. The aim here is to provide an immediate solution to a problem. However, providing a step toward solving a problem is still good enough. For instance, a case estimation calculator will provide leads with the information they need to take the next step. They’ll know whether pursuing the case is worth their time.
10. Connect with People Using Client-First Copy
You’ll make a better copy when you concentrate on your potential client’s demands. You know you’re on the right track when the copy answers the questions of your target audience. If you’re confused about where to start, immerse yourself in the client’s journey.
Your lead goes through three stages before hiring: awareness, evaluation, and decision. Your chosen tone should resonate with your client. The wrong tone will overshadow your message, causing people to turn away.
11. Professional Typography
Some firms disregard the significance of website typography in their custom law firm website design. However, one could argue it’s the most important feature of your site. The fonts you use shouldn’t detract from the quality of the content, so ensure you choose easy-to-read typography. The content on law firm websites is typically formal to convey a feeling of seriousness. However, if you use fancy typefaces, the layout will look extremely informal, which is the opposite of what you want.
You must choose a font that won’t make your readers strain to read what is written. You should also take into account the typography’s size and weight. Font weight describes how thick your letters are, which typically ranges between 100 and 900. For your custom law firm website design, go for 400; it’s the ideal weight.
16xp is an appropriate font size for the main page; it’s neither too small nor too huge. It helps make your paragraphs easier to read. Use this typography sizing as a guide to achieve perfectly balanced font sizes on your website. Mobile devices and computers can still read this weight and font size.
Avoid using light fonts on white backgrounds since they’ll be hard to read. Use a dark-toned font when creating content for your website. Instead of black, consider using brown, dark gray, navy blue, dark gray, or brown.
12. Clear CTA
Besides attracting new leads, you also want to convert them. Having clear CTAs is one of the most effective ways of increasing the likelihood of readers contacting you for help.
A call to action motivates site visitors to take action, like, in this case, getting in touch with you for a consultation. The best results come from using these consistently across your whole website. You can add them to your service pages, contact page, homepage, or at the end of blog post content.
When potential customers visit your website, they’ll typically be at varying points in the law firm marketing funnel. Tweak each CTA with these stages in mind. Doing this will help you better match their needs and target. A clear CTA has two main elements, language and location.
Your aim is to ensure the location is easy to find on every page your lead is browsing. Using large buttons or bold text will make your CTA harder to miss. Note that using complex language and sentences will get you nowhere.
Keep things simple and easy to understand. Avoid long multiple intended questions and sentences. They’ll only confuse your readers.
For instance, between ‘Give us a call today for your free consultation with our custody lawyers!’ and ‘Are you overwhelmed by your custody case? We offer consultations at no fee. Call us to book your appointment!’ Which is clear and actionable and which is bloated and full of fluff.
13. Storytelling and Testimonies
Stories and testimonies from past clients effectively encourage potential customers to use your law firm’s services, making it a great addition to your custom law firm website design. This is simply a review section of your site where previous clients offer a brief testimonial on their experience dealing with your law firm. For instance, if you specialize in bankruptcy law and have successfully defended and won cases for clients (firms, companies, employees), record customer testimonials and use them on your website.
Positive reviews instill confidence in prospective customers. Think about it. How confident are you when your brother recommends the new taco place around the corner? Sharing your personal story is also a great way of earning their trust. It’s no different from dating.
Focus on stories that show the growth journey of your practice on your ‘About Us page. For example, you can talk about how your law firm started, the challenges you faced and how you dealt with them, your approach when representing clients, and your future plans. Storytelling helps to convey vulnerability and will make clients feel like they know you personally.
14. Fast Mobile and PC Loading Speeds
So, your website has great content, branding, and design, but what about the upload speeds? If people wait as much as a minute for your site to load, they’ll likely head to your competitor’s site. Don’t let a sluggish website cause you to lose great clients.
Consider investing in private and managed web hosting to place your site on a private server, allowing faster speeds. Use the PageSpeed Insights tool to optimize your site for all internet-compatible devices. This makes it easier for users to visit your website on their PCs, tablets, or smartphones, whichever’s more convenient.
Optimizing your custom law firm website design will benefit your business in many ways. From showcasing your professionalism to attracting new clients, it’ll help secure your eventual success. Use this read as a guide for what to add to your site.