Every law firm that conducts law firm marketing in Toronto through referrals, ads, PR, social media, etc. often have a final point of contact. The firm’s website.
A law firm’s website is where potential clients and referring lawyers will learn about your firm’s lawyer experience, your firm’s practice areas, news, and other information about your firm. The website is also where they will often end up deciding if they want to contact your firm for their case.
When your law firm is looking at enhancing or redesigning your website, there are a few key aspects to keep in mind.
CONTENT IS KEY.
Compared to other corporate websites, a law firm website’s content will be read more closely since it is often read by other lawyers. Also, potential clients will closely scrutinize the site since their choice of a law firm can greatly impact their life. Make sure your site’s content is concise, well-written, and informative. Further, site content has a significant impact on your site’s search ranking and SEO strategy.
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS.
While it is tempting to use a snapshot you may have of yourself or have a friend take a photo, you will want to consider getting professional photos taken. The photos of the lawyers on a law firm website perhaps may have the largest impact of any single element on your website. The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” is not only true, but there are some things better shown in a photo than said in words. A portrait that portrays a lawyer as sophisticated, elegant, and approachable will always be more convincing than just saying the words.
KEEP IT UPDATED.
Go beyond just keeping your bios up to date. Consider having a news section that may list recent cases, speaking engagements, new additions to the firm, etc. To do this, you will need the ability to manage and update your website. That brings us to the last point.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOME CONTROL OVER YOUR SITE.
Having worked on many law firm web designs over the years, we have seen many cases of law firm websites that are out of date because, their website designer closed down, became too expensive, or just had a bad experience with them. If your website is built on a content management system (CMS), then you will have at least the ability to update parts of the site internally. Make sure that your web designer provides you with some training on how to use the CMS too!
Building a beautiful and effective web design for your law firm branding involves many factors beyond what we have described here. To learn more, please contact us to discuss how we can take your website to the next level.