Law Firm Web Sites - Four Fundamentals for Success
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by Brandon Cornett
There are plenty of articles online that talk about the aesthetics of law firm web site design. But there aren't as many that focus on the business-development aspects of the law firm web site -- at least, not many articles that I've seen.
So I'd like to chip in my two cents on the subject. After all, the primary goal of a law firm web site is usually to attract new clients, not to win design awards. Sure, the design of your web site is important because it's a direct reflection of your firm. But even more important is the ability of your web site to generate business, and that's something I feel is sorely neglected in most web site tutorials.
Here, then, are four fundamental components of a successful law firm web site -- the kind of website that earns traffic, produces leads, and helps you grow your business in a quantifiable way.
1. Web Site Organization
A cluttered and confusing law firm web site will hurt your online marketing success more than any other single element. Even if you have the best legal minds in your area ... even if you have a perfect legal track record ... even if you are ideally suited to help the website visitor ... none of it matters if they get lost on your web site.
I refer to this as reader-oriented design. A law firm web site should help readers along their path by keeping the site clean and organized. Every aspect of your web site's design should serve the reader, not you. If you want people to (A) find the quality information on your website, (B) read that information, and (C) respond to it in some way, then you have to make it easy for them.
Organization is a component of usability, which our next fundamental of law firm web site success.
2. Web Site Usability
In this context, usability refers to the level of ease with which your visitors can move around your web site to accomplish their goals. Their goal might be to find your contact information, to learn about your law firm's specialty, or any number of web-related tasks.
If your law firm web site makes these tasks difficult to perform, people will leave the site. On the other hand, if your web site makes it incredibly easy for people to navigate, read and respond, it will be much more successful.
Get more tips on web usability.
3. Search Engine Visibility
This refers to the ease with which people can find your law firm web site through major search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, by entering words and phrases relevant to your firm. For instance, if you practice divorce law and family law in San Diego, you obviously want your web site to be visible for the phrase "San Diego divorce lawyer."
With good search engine visibility, your law firm web site will attract more visitors and produce more leads. With poor search engine visibility, your web site is like a grain of sand on a long beach.
Learn more about search engine visibility.
4. Lead Generation
It may surprise you that the average law firm web site gets more than enough traffic to support the company's business goals. But many times, these same web sites do a poor job of generating leads. Whenever a potential client tells me they need more web site traffic, my first question is: "What are you doing to capitalize on the traffic you already have?"
In other words, web site traffic is only traffic, until you encourage those people to act in some way. If you want them to contact you, or to subscribe for something, or to take any form of action, you have to develop a lead generation system of some kind.
Learn more about online lead generation.
Conclusion + Additional Resources
I hope you have found this guide to law firm web sites helpful, and I hope it brings you much success in your web marketing ventures. If you want to learn more about these subjects, you can download Web Smart Lawyer the book absolutely free of charge!
Related article: How to Dominate the Web