Your website should be a tool that drives leads to your law firm that convert into paying clients. To do this effectively, your website should be great in three key areas:
- Design
- Conversion Optimization
- Search Engine Optimization
If your law firm’s website is good in just one or two of these areas, you’re possibly seeing some moderate to decent results, but when you hit all three of these areas, your website results will skyrocket.
Pillar 1: Design – Good design will establish you as an authority in your field.
Your website isn’t art, it’s a tool to win more business. Law firm website design has a very specific role, it should make your firm look credible, build trust, and direct visitors to relevant information quickly and easily.
When choosing a law firm, clients don’t make long spreadsheets and weigh the pros and cons of every attorney they’ve looked at, they go with their gut. Good design gives subconscious cues to website visitors that will build your credibility and give the prospect a sense of confidence in your firm.
Pillar 2: Conversion Optimization – Conversion optimization drives phone calls, form fills, and consultations
What’s the point of a website if it doesn’t compel visitors to contact you? Most people believe that just because a website is beautiful it will also be a powerful conversion tool, and this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Conversion optimization is a blend of science and consumer psychology. A website that is correctly conversion-optimized directs the steps the web visitor takes. It’s understanding where to place content, what calls to action to use, and how to position the offer. Legal advertising is expensive, and if your website isn’t optimized for conversion, you’re wasting valuable ad dollars. Conversion optimization when done correctly will turn your website into a lead generating machine, and drastically increase the profitability of your marketing spend.
Pillar 3: Search Engine Optimization – Get found!
SEO is the third pillar of law firm web design. There are two aspects of SEO and you need to be good at both to be able to rank on the first page of Google, technical SEO, and on-page SEO. A site that ranks high on Google can drive significant traffic and be a terrific lead source.
It’s also important to note that SEO is not a good strategy for everyone, and you can run a very effective legal marketing strategy by running paid ads directly to a conversion-optimized website and landing pages. In fact, we have generated millions of dollars in business for clients using this strategy and skipping SEO altogether. If you are a newer firm, it could take you a long time to see results with SEO and your marketing dollars may be better off spent in places that see quicker results. If you’re in a very competitive practice area and are far behind, it may take too long to outpace your competitors and outrank them. So, before starting an SEO strategy, we always start with reporting and analysis to understand where your firm ranks, where your competition ranks, and the path and timeline to outranking them.
The bottom line
Here’s the bottom line, your website should be your top salesperson and the hardest-working team member. It should be a consistent source of qualified leads. If your law firm’s site isn’t performing up to expectations, we suggest evaluating each one of the pillars holding up your website.
