What makes a good law firm website? (2023)

Contents

Bonus: Free Case Study Download

Discover how we helped a law firm increase website traffic and leads by over 400%

Free PDF Download

Introduction

What makes a good law firm website?

Let’s discover the most important law firm website requirements.

This will ensure your website is optimised for SEO and conversions.

Let’s get started!

Ensure your law firm website is mobile-friendly

Here’s the thing –

Most people will find your website on their phone.

They will do this through the Google machine.

If they like your website, they might explore it further on a desktop computer.

How to test if your law firm website is mobile-friendly

Use the Google ‘mobile-friendly’ tool

And run a site audit using Neil Patel’s website.

Did you pass the test?

Keep reading…because it’s not quite that simple.

How to ensure humans actually enjoy using your law firm website on a mobile device

Explore different screen sizes and different internet browsers.

Ask your friends for their opinion.

Try different types of smartphones

And don’t forget to test it on tablet devices.

How a bad mobile-layout will hurt your law firm SEO

If people don’t like your mobile-layout, they might ‘bounce’.

Bounce rates might influence your law firm SEO.

What’s a bounce rate?

According to Google:

“A bounce is a single-page session on your site. In Analytics, a bounce is calculated specifically as a session that triggers only a single request to the Analytics server, such as when a user opens a single page on your site and then exits without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server during that session.“
Google

If someone bounces quickly, Google might assume your website has frustrated the user.

This could hurt your ranking.

After all, Google wants to keep its users happy so they don’t use rival search engines.

So keep an eye on your bounce rates in Google Analytics.

Your law firm website needs a persuasive ‘hero’ section

Read the Case Study on Adams & Co Lawyers

The ‘hero’ is the first thing you see when you visit a website.

In the above example, it’s the section underneath the header.

A law firm website hero usually includes an image, H1 tag, body text and a call to action button.

Or at least, it should!

Of course there are exceptions.

But generally speaking, this formula works GREAT for most law firms.

Why is the law firm website hero important?

Experts suggest that your website has anywhere from 3–7 seconds to make a good first impression.

If your law firm website fails this test, you could miss out on clients.

How to make an effective law firm website hero section

Tips:

H1 tag with your primary keyword. It should grab someone’s attention. There are many ways to do this. What’s the main problem you solve? How are you different? Why do people hire you and not your competition? What do you do?
Premium stock photo that your ideal client/s can relate to. This is usually an image of someone that looks similar to them.
A few short lines of body text. Make it persuasive. What are the biggest pain points for your target audience? How do you solve their problems? What’s the first step they need to take? Make it clear.
Call to action button (CTA). When someone clicks this button, it should launch a ‘pop up’ that allows them to contact you. Or, direct them to your contact page. Either way, make it easy for them to take action.

Essential Pages

What pages should your law firm website have?

Most small to medium law firm websites should include:

Homepage
Practice Areas
Fees / Costs / Pricing
Reviews
About / Team
Contact Us
FAQ
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
and more…

Check out this podcast episode.

It goes in more depth.

Call Tracking

Call tracking helps your law firm measure the following:

How many calls you receive from your website
Where these calls are coming from (e.g. paid Google ads, social media, organic Google SEO, etc.)

Once you have this data, your firm can make more informed marketing decisions.

How to set up call tracking for your law firm website

Sign up for a call tracking service
Enter the code into your website
This lets the call tracking service create essential data (e.g. caller details, duration & phone number)
Review the data whenever you like. LegalSites provides monthly reports to our clients. This helps us design more effective and customised marketing strategies.

Set up Google Analytics on your law firm website

Every website can track its traffic using Google Analytics.

It’s totally free and it will provide loads of useful data.

Google Analytics can answer the following questions about your law firm website

How many visitors does our website receive per month? Once you know this, you can see if various marketing activities (e.g. SEO) increase your traffic.
Is our website traffic seasonal? Are there peaks and troughs? If so, you should adjust your marketing strategy. For example, if you receive more commercial clients during February, adjust your PPC campaign accordingly. This will ensure you spend money where it’s needed and avoid wasting it in other areas.
Where does our website traffic come from? This will help you focus on the things that work and eliminate or fix those that don’t.
What pages are performing well?
How long do our websites visitors stay on our website?
How many contact form submissions do we receive?

All of this information is critical for running an intentional marketing strategy.