A law firm’s website shows clients and prospects what your firm is about and your practice areas and provides educational content. But most lawyers neglect their law firm website design because they rely on referrals and word-of-mouth for most of their business.
The truth, however, is that a poor website design won’t help the firm fulfill the purpose for which it was created — getting clients. This article covers why a website is important for your law firm and the critical features it should have.
Why a Good Website Is Important
Online visitors can back out in seconds if they are not pleased with what they see on a website. Data shows that 42% of people will leave a website because of poor functionality. If website visitors can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they will likely abandon the site.
Therefore, your law firm’s website must have a good design. A well-designed site leaves a good impression on prospective customers and helps you boost leads and get more conversions. But, more significantly, it delivers a satisfactory user experience as website visitors can easily access content and navigate the site.
Critical Features to Add to Your Law Firm Website Design
The following are the vital features to include when designing your website:
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Appealing User Interface
A critical must-have feature on your law firm’s website is a beautiful user interface. This includes design, layout, menus, search bars, loading bars, notifications, and back arrows. The website’s general look and feel is the first thing a potential client will take note of.
Captivating headlines and content, attractive images and videos would come after. The interface of your website is essential in capturing a potential client’s attention and passing across the right message. The window of opportunity is very small and you have only a few seconds to convince the visitor to give your firm a chance. A poorly designed interface won’t deliver that.
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Easy to Locate Contact Information
This feature might seem obvious, but some law firms’ website contact information is hard to find. If your website lacks easily accessible contact information or a contact page, you may be missing out on your next client. Website visitors need to know how to contact your law firm.
Your contact information should have your email address, phone number, and POX mailing address. You may also consider using an automated 24/7 “chatbot” as your firm’s initial point of contact.
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Special Pages for Practice Areas
Potential clients want to know the extent of the legal services you can offer them. Your law firm website design must contain pages for different practice areas. These pages are the perfect opportunity to engage an audience with a specific need and provide them with compelling, targeted information about how your law firm will handle their legal matters.
It is your chance to show them you’re the right firm for the job. Finally, practice pages help your law firm’s SEO as many potential clients locate websites through practice area and location searches.
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Testimonials
A recent study showed that 88% of consumers trust online testimonials and reviews as much as recommendations from friends or family. Potential clients want to know they’re getting the real deal and have a chance at winning their case if they hire your firm. Including this in your law firm website design is crucial.
Ask clients who were pleased with your legal services and regularly refer others to you if they would consider writing a short testimonial for your website. You can also add some positive Yelp reviews to your website.
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Blogs
By including a blog in your law firm website design, you can display your legal knowledge and act as a resource for existing and prospective clients who wish to learn more about certain legal issues associated with your practice areas. Blogging is a terrific strategy to help your website rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Blogs allow you to target keywords people search for by building relevant content and context around them. Inserting targeted keywords throughout your article does not only optimize the content, but is the second most effective strategy for ranking on SERPs.
Another good tip is maintaining a blog frequency of six or more monthly blogs. A report by Hubspot showed that the more blog posts companies published per month, the more traffic they saw on their website.
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Attorneys Profile
This is one of the most visited pages on a law firm’s website. A report by Above the Law showed that about 50% of visitors to a law firm’s website would visit the attorney profiles. A well-written, up-to-date bio can generate new leads.
To leverage this interest to convert potential clients, include the following information on each attorney’s profile:
- Practice area
- Education and experience
- Professional headshot
- A short biography
- Newsworthy or relevant legal issues they handled
- Clients testimonies
Attorney profiles should be humanized and written in a manner that helps potential clients understand your law firm and lawyers.
In addition to the above features, your website should also:
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Be Mobile Friendly
The number of smartphone subscriptions worldwide today surpasses six billion and is forecasted to grow by several hundred million in the next few years. The world is no longer limited to the large screens of computers. Anyone looking to hire your law firm online is probably doing it via a mobile device.
This is why it becomes vital to optimize your website for mobile users. Data shows that 50% of smartphone users are more likely to use a company or brand’s mobile site when browsing or to shop on a smartphone because they don’t want to download an app.
If a potential client visits your firm’s website and it’s not optimized for mobile, it becomes quite difficult for them to navigate and process the information on it. This reduces the chances of them hiring your firm.
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Have Fast Load Times
Load time is the amount of time taken for a page on your website to open. The average human has a very short attention span. Research found that 53% of mobile website visitors will leave if a webpage doesn’t load within three seconds. Slow loading speed leads to a negative user experience and ultimately costs you the opportunity to connect with a new lead.
Let EverConvert Help You With Your Law Firm Website Design
It is essential to ensure that your law firm’s website has all the features to function optimally and yield the desired results. Therefore, work with a web design agency that’s fully equipped to provide you with design and marketing solutions. This and more is what we offer you at EverConvert. Contact us today to learn how we can help.
