5 Design Elements for an Effective Law Firm Website

Today, a law firm website creates the first impression potential clients have of an attorney or team of legal experts. Gone are the days when referrals and yellow pages were the main sources of new business for legal practices. Now, a simple Google search reveals dozens of local attorneys and law firms, making it especially important for legal practices to invest in high-quality, professionally designed websites.

Design elements that successful legal websites share

Law firms should see their website as their first service to a new client. An effective site is easy to navigate, full of valuable content, and drives the visitor to a call to action. Successful legal sites share characteristics including but not limited to:

1. Contact information. The main objective of law firms is to encourage the user to schedule an appointment or consultation. The attorney’s contact information should be prominently displayed throughout the site, or a link to the contact page should be extremely accessible, at a minimum. Without contact information, the site will not reach its full potential for effectiveness. After all, every bit of content on your page is meant to encourage the reader to follow the call to action.

2. Descriptive content of the home page. The average web user will leave a page in as little as 7 seconds if their needs are not met right away. When users land on your home page, they should immediately learn about your legal practice area and how you can help their case. From headlines to subheadings to bullet points to descriptive paragraphs, it’s critical that your legal website’s home page clearly explain your experience, services and track record of success.

3. Biography and photo. Virtually all “successful” legal websites have a clear picture and biography of the practicing attorney (or legal team). In fact, analytics reveal that the bio page is the second most visited page on any legal site, behind only the home page. Prospective clients want to know about the attorney’s education, authority, history, jurisdiction, and areas of expertise. In any case, the biography page is where the lawyer should show his professional achievements, earning the user’s trust immediately.

4. A regularly curated blog. When potential clients search for a lawyer online, they also want to understand the legality of their case. Whether it’s workers’ compensation or medical malpractice, consumers want specific information about their case and the attorney’s experience. In some cases, web users may simply want to research that area of ​​the law. Whatever the case, it is critical that law firms maintain a regularly curated business blog.

5. Visual content. Successful legal websites organize each page visually. From headers to images, every element on the page is visual, as humans are visual creatures. Since the ultimate goal of a legal website is to win a new client, the visual elements should point to the contact page or a strong call to action. Visual content can also refer to the content itself, literally. Instead of one big block of text, consider breaking it up and inserting multiple bullet points. Content should “look” readable, especially as an increasing number of consumers browse the web on mobile devices.

By incorporating these five elements, you will be able to improve the success and performance of your legal website! Which of these elements is missing from your design?