Present the
impression that you want to hear from your visitors. Most websites do a
decent job of expressing who they are and what they do, but the most important
aspect of business is to get the lead, so providing an easy way to contact you
on every single page of your website should be a website’s essential goal and
its primary function. Some websites do
this by trying to get people to fill out a form on the side or bottom of every page,
and while this is a good idea in theory, in practice it’s a terrible one. NO
ONE likes filling out forms, even when you pay them to do it! The ease of initiating communication, even if
you have a quick form, is lost. Instead,
if you insist on a form, provide one box for their name and another for their email
or phone (never both) and then a large box where they can paste whatever
message they choose. In addition, on every page, make sure a phone number is available
in TEXT form so mobile users can click on it and contact you easily. Same with
email; every page should have a general email address to provide an easy method
of contact with a single click. Why make it hard for people to reach you?
Select appropriate images for your firm’s
website. Just like a bad reputation, a bad image can be eternal in the
minds of potential clients, so it’s important that any imagery used to represent
you on your website is not only professionally photographed, but is suitable to
your particular practice. An image should not cliché, overly playful to the
point of distraction, or ambiguous in its meaning. It should not allow even the most uncreative person
in the world the slightest doubt as to why that image symbolizes your firms’
personality, the work your firm does, or represents where your firm is located.
If possible, attach a slogan or phrase to each photo to more accurately convey
your message.
Use a little social media, if not a lot. Maybe you don’t have a Twitter account (good
idea!), and perhaps your Facebook page is embarrassing, but what about
Linkedin? If you don’t at least have a page there, create one, add a link there
that directs visitors back to your attorney bio page, and then link back to Linkedin
from your firm’s bio page by placing their logo on it. Bingo, you’re now utilizing social media, go tell
your friends! This simple exercise will increase awareness of your firm and its
website, especially if all attorneys at your firm do it. If you create your own
blog and link to your bio page from it, that’s even better.
Make navigation as easy as walking into a well-organized
store. If you have a choice between “beautiful and cool” and “functional
and standardized”, go with the latter every time. It takes people about 1.5
seconds for “beautiful and cool” to wear off, quickly replaced by “frustrated
and I’m outta here.” Navigation should be the same on every page. Flash should
never be used. Fancy drops downs with elaborate choices and embedded photos can
appear to be advertisements to some eyes and should be minimized. Add a search
box on every page and make sure the darn search actually WORKS. If people find
your site but then they can’t find what they’re looking for, you’ve wasted
their time, and lost an opportunity.
Pay particular attention to your firm’s biography
pages. This is your website’s most popular page, and the one that will sell
a potential client on your firm’s services more than any other, so it makes
sense to spend the most time on improving this page, right? It’s an important
enough issue that we wrote an entire article about it here.
Optimize your site for mobile (smart phones
and tablets) viewing. While this may seem like a foregone conclusion, most
law firm websites are still difficult to view on smart phones and tablets. Many
firms are creating an entirely new version of their website for mobile viewers,
which can get expensive and time consuming to update unless you’re using a CMS
like Lawadmin.com which populates both the regular site and the mobile site
with the same content. If you have the budget to create a second site for mobile
users (cost for this can be 5K and up), that’s great and definitely the best
option, but making sure your main site is already optimized for mobile viewing
can be a relatively simple job if your website developer has a decent content
management system that allows this kind of optimization based on the type of
device your visitor is using. While this topic requires its own 10-tip list,
decreasing the imagery on sub-pages and removing redundant Javascript-based
navigation if a smart phone is detected are good ideas for starters.
Clearly delineate and define all practice-specific
information. After attorney biographies, the practice pages are the second
most important page on your site because it answers the all-important question,
“Does this firm have the requisite experience to solve my problem?” Often your
firm WILL have the experience, but the visitor will never know this because your
description of a particular practice area is summarized too generally, or watered
down with so much legal-speak the average layman won’t understand that yes,
this firm can definitely handle my problem. Sometimes it’s best to merely use
bullet lists to show either a) what types of businesses can be helped, b) what
types of problems can be solved, or c) what kind of legal terms fall under this
category of practice. Oftentimes using c)
as the only option will not allow potential clients to understand that listing,
for instance, Business Litigation means that you indeed do have someone who can
help them file a claim against an unfair competitor.
Your firm says they understand their
clients’ business. Make sure your website demonstrates this. While many law
firms are not comfortable with listing clients (many are, though, and the ones
that do this have a distinct advantage over ones that do not), there is nothing
wrong with listing the types of industries your firm typically represents. But
why not take this to the next level, and, next to each industry you list, show
a short paragraph or two that describes the legal challenges that companies in
that industry generally face from year to year. You can also list testimonials
or case studies (with or without the client name mentioned) that will further
enhance your reputation in that particular field. The most you show of your
expertise in that industry, the more people will look at you as a legal expert and
call on you when needed.
Make it easy for everyone at your firm to
contribute content. While some law firm websites suffer from bad design or disingenuous
navigation, many more suffer from a lack of content. This is amazing to me; most
lawyers, even if they don’t enjoy writing, generally do it very well, even if
what they write is prone to excessive legal terminology. But in today’s content-rich world, beggars can’t
be choosers; the best websites are the one with the most content, and even
better than that are the ones with the most up-to-date content. So with that said,
why don’t we try to get ALL our lawyers involved in the writing? Easier said
than done of course, but if your firm allows each lawyer to have their own
blog, and that blog is connected to the main site and therefore will encourage
visitors, isn’t that a nice way to let everyone play? The problem is that most
websites don’t allow this sort of thing, but some, like the aforementioned
Lawadmin (www.lawadmin.com) does. Having a
content management system that empowers your entire firm is better than giving
the rein to one or two thought leaders!
Keep your site’s design modernized. Even if you like your law firm’s current website,
it may be out of date with today’s standards. Here is a scenario that is
perhaps not as uncommon as you would think: a large company and potential new client
is going to hire a new law firm and they have narrowed their selection down to
two firms with equally positive reputations. One firm has an awesome website
and the other (yours) has an out-of-date one. Do you think this small
difference in image will sway their business decision one way or the other? If you’re
not sure, then it’s time to update your website!
Matt DeLucia is president of Business Edge Internet Design, a website design agency with locations in New York City and Connecticut with over 100 law firm clients and hundreds of sites built over 17 years. Call 212-931-8538 or contact us here.
