This article was contributed by Mandy Barnes who is a Web designer and developer at appkong.com.
What can your law firm do to be better recognized and more easily found? More importantly, what can you do to improve the visibility of your firm with your clients? Today, we'll address how to improve your web presence and make sure that it is well represented on the web.
We'll look at some of the benefits of having a website and the key pillars of a winning website design. So, keep reading to know everything about lead gen, conversion increase, and boosted traffic due to a well-thought-out website design.
Why Does a Law Firm Need a Well-Designed Site?
There are three reasons why the website design for your law firm is important. First, it is your prospective client's first impression of your law firm. It is how they see you, your firm, and your approach to the practice of law. For this reason, it is essential that your law firm's website is professionally made by https://appkong.com/law-firm-design/ and has a sleek design.
Second, it is your prospective clients' gateway to your law firm and your practice of law. It is important that your potential customers are able to navigate and use your law firm's website efficiently. Third, it is your clients' best way to get in touch with you. A responsive and well-designed website enables them to reach out to you with a simple click of the mouse.
What to Consider When Designing a Site?
A lot of lawyers spend a lot of time putting together a website. And if you're in the fortunate position to be starting from a blank slate, your website can be just the ticket to being found. But if you're like most lawyers, you've got a pretty robust website.
This means that there's already a lot of competition for your work. What you need is something to stand out and be found, rather than being lost in the crowd.
A recent survey, conducted by the Internet Law Practice Group, revealed some sobering facts. Less than half (45%) of attorneys surveyed said that they owned the domain name for their firm. In addition, only 17% said they used social media. What's the result?
Just 42% of the attorneys who responded said they were satisfied with the websites they currently had. Additionally, only 42% said that the type of websites they had was up to date with the latest technology. As such, it is a given that firms and legal departments need to re-think their approach to building websites.
Of course, the first question that firms and legal departments need to ask is why. How can a firm or legal department justify spending money on a website that isn't getting much use? The answer is that the firm or legal department needs to justify the website in the eyes of their clients. If the website isn't getting much use and is also not up to date with the latest technology, the firm or legal department isn't putting out information that will persuade clients to give them their businesses.
The law firm's website design is critical. It should be clean and professional; it should make an attempt to convey the personality of the law firm. An attorney's first impression of a potential client will be established by what the law firm's website says and does.
A company site could feature photographs of their attorneys, a section of their biography, and then the firm's main practice areas. For example, one section might be “criminal defense,” and another section might be “family law.” If the firm has a different, stronger personality, its website design should reflect that personality.
Another way to judge a law firm's website design is to ask, “How would I use this site to hire a lawyer?” A great digital platform would guide potential clients through the web pages to information that is relevant to them, and that might persuade them to hire the law firm. As a matter of fact, a law firm website should not just contain information, but it should also include a call to action and an easy way to contact the firm.
Your site should tell your customers why they should hire you. And if a law firm has the legal skills to do that job, they should have the presence to persuade the potential client.
So, here are some of the key elements in website design that you should pay attention to:
- Information architecture;
- User journey;
- UX/UI;
- Navigation/ menu;
- Site responsiveness;
- Converting content layout.
Among other interesting results, the survey showed that the age of an attorney is directly related to the amount of information the law firm's website contains. The younger the attorney is, the less detailed the law firm's website is. Besides that, attorneys with greater experience seem to have more websites, and those attorneys with more websites tend to be more up-to-date with the latest technology.
Anything Else Matters?
The internet is transforming the legal profession at a much faster pace than any other industry in the past 10 years. Law firms must adapt quickly if they want to stay relevant.
Whether or not you are in practice or you are a law firm with a website, you probably want your site to look nice and function well.
There is a lot of money involved in website design, so you want to do the best you can to ensure you get your money's worth. You also want to ensure that your prospective clients are able to find you quickly and easily and that they can reach you whenever they want to. It is vital, therefore, that you do a good job of designing and marketing your law firm's website.
For law firms to succeed, they need to understand what is happening in their niche online. Law firms will only reach their goals if they continue to adapt to the changes taking place in the legal industry.
About the author
Mandy Barnes is a Web designer and developer at appkong.com. She spends her days within many different areas of web development from back-end programming (PHP, Django/Python, Ruby on Rails) to front-end engineering (HTML, CSS, jQuery/Javascript), digital accessibility, user experience, and visual design.
Last Updated on June 16, 2022 11:53 am CEST by Markus Kasanmascheff
