Websites for Lawyers- Where They Miss the Boat

Cepac lawyer marketing experts offer insights on how your legal web design, core message and graphic elements can make or break your law firm marketing efforts

//Rene Perras/ 04/29/2011

Websites for lawyers should be designed with a singleness of focus. That focus should be to communicate with potential clients in a clear, concise and personal way to instill their confidence so that they take action. That action should be to call your firm or fill out your form. A design is not creative if it is not effective in converting visitors to prospects to clients.

When lawyer marketing firms design sites for their clients, often the home page will suffer from the same symptoms that many retail print ads have - they try to do too much and consequently lose that focus. It is critical to convey your most important message in a concise and direct way. Resist the urge to pressure your legal web design team to include superfluous graphics or content.

While it is terrific to have all of the bells and whistles on a law firm website, the most important feature is communication and that should be directed towards your prospects' needs. Lawyer web videos that include valuable information on the legal process and testimonials from former clients, go a long way to communicating your core message and personalize your law firm marketing efforts.

That can also be true for the graphic elements you select for your law firm website. Too many lawyer websites include images that do little to help convey the core message and focus on their building or famous landmarks in their city. If injured consumers want to look at the Golden Gate Bridge or the Washington Monument, they can do that on city pages. They are visiting your legal website so that they can research your law firm for a strictly need driven service. Don't distract them from the core message that leads them to take action. With Google Places, searchers get geo-targeted results and don't need local landmarks to tell them that your law firm is in the right place.

If your law firm website fails to communicate and create a dialogue that builds trust and confidence, it will most likely suffer from a high bounce rate. When a valid prospect arrives at your website through a search or a recommendation and they have to work to get their questions answered or to navigate around your website, then your lawyer marketing efforts will fall short. They will get frustrated and click their back button and then visit your competition. In this day and age, attention spans and patience runs short. Your law firm website can make all the difference in the world when it comes to growing your practice, but it needs to connect -  and do it quickly -  with consumers.

To find out more about websites for lawyers or our complete arsenal of lawyer marketing tools, contact Rene Perras.

 

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