Do you want to promote greater team synergy and harmony? What about higher productivity and a friendlier workplace? Then you need to retain your employees.  

Employee turnover is almost always negative. Losing employees requires you to invest significant amounts of time and resources in advertising, recruiting, onboarding, and training, all of which are nonbillable. Employee turnover also means disruption to caseloads and more work for other lawyers and staff while your law firm tries to hire a replacement, which can hurt morale and — you guessed it — lead to more turnover. 

In short, you want to avoid turnover like the plague. 

To keep your law firm humming, it’s essential that your firm retain your lawyers and staff. The best way to retain your employees is to support them. Sometimes that means paying them more. But there are also a lot of other important components to ensuring your employees feel valued.  

In this article, we’ll discuss law firm employee retention trends and what your law firm can do to make sure it stays on the right side of them.   

Why is employee retention constantly making headlines?  

Employee retention is a hot topic because of the current market. Economic forces have led to a buyer’s market. The tides have shifted, and employees are left holding the cards. A 2021 McKinsey study found that more than half of employers are experiencing lower-than-normal employee retention rates. In November 2021 alone, roughly 4.5 million U.S. workers voluntarily left their places of employment. Recruiting firm Major, Lindsey and Africa and Above the Law found that a third of junior lawyers do not plan to stay with their law firms beyond five years. Many younger lawyers don’t see careers in law firms, much less aspire to make partner.  

All of this adds up to a lot of buzz, and the buzz is important. You need to pay attention to the hiring and retention trends in the market. To keep your law firm intact and thriving, you need to prioritize employee retention and minimize turnover. Let’s get into some ways to do that.  

What are the main issues that tend to push employees to leave law firms or look elsewhere for employment?  

A variety of factors create an environment that damages employee morale and encourages them to leave law firms. Here’s a look at some of the most common. 

A lack of flexibility  

The practice of law hews closely to tradition. That means many things, including coming into the office and slogging away for hours on end. 

That tradition doesn’t sit well with younger generations. And forcing employees to come into the office today for a nine-to-five when they have technology at their fingertips that allows them to work anywhere and anytime isn’t going to build goodwill with staff or associates. 

A lack of upward mobility  

Firms need to rethink the meaning of “advancement.” The traditional law firm follows an up-or-out model. Either you stay and make partner, or you move on.  

That type of career ladder isn’t what many younger employees are looking for. They don’t have the same career aspirations as the partners in your firm did. They may be interested in other leadership or business opportunities with your firm, such as operations or marketing roles. Or they may be happy to serve as counsel rather than as a partner. A better approach to employee advancement is to think of it as a lattice, which offers more routes to advancement than just a single way up. 

A lack of diversity and inclusion 

The highest levels of law firm leadership tend to be white and male. Women and people of color are increasing in the associate and partner ranks, but they still lag behind. Women were 26% of all partners in 2021, but only slightly more than 4% were women of color. Black and Latinx women are less than 1% of all partners. The statistics for equity partnership are even bleaker: 22% of equity partners were women, while only 9% were people of color.  

This lack of inclusion creates a gap in leadership pipelines. When employees don’t see an opportunity in a firm to advance, they’re more likely to leave. And if that inability to advance is rooted in metrics that discriminate against marginalized groups or unconscious biases, that firm is likely to get a bad reputation. No one wants to work for a firm where they can’t see themselves reflected in the leadership ranks. 

What factors help law firms retain employees?  

The best way to retain your employees is to pay them competitively and to support their growth. We understand it’s a delicate balance between considering your own bottom line and paying lawyers and staff, but compensating your firm’s employees adequately is money well spent. Creating a healthy and collegial law firm culture is another way to get employees to stick around. People want to be where they are valued and supported. 

Compensation: Salary and benefits 

In law firms, retention is often all about the Benjamins. The foundation for employee satisfaction is competitive salaries and benefits packages. By paying your legal team and staff market rates, your law firm directly shows them their value and worth. A higher salary means higher retention rates and thus less training of new associates and less turnover of client contacts. It also means your people won’t be lured as easily to the law firm across the street. 

Importantly, valuing your attorneys and staff also includes promoting internal pay equity. The gender pay gap is real, and that gap is even larger for women of color. Your firm can both promote internal and external equity and look out for its own bottom line by offering all employees fair and competitive packages.  

By paying your employees fairly and re-evaluating their compensation regularly and objectively, your firm will show in the numbers that it values its workforce. If you aren’t willing to pay what your team is worth in the market, your firm is likely to lose employees and staff. You’re also likely to struggle if you need to hire replacements.  

Of course, if you get into a salary tug-of-war with your competition, you’ll eventually run out of cash. Increases are only sustainable to a point. That’s why you’ll need to focus on improving your law firm’s culture and support for employees as well. 

Value and support 

The McKinsey study that we mentioned above also asked employees why they quit their jobs. The top three factors cited were that the employees didn’t feel valued by their organizations (54 percent) or their managers (52 percent) or because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (51 percent).  

Understanding the term “valued” goes beyond compensation and benefits and into something more humanistic. All employees, regardless of their level, want to feel that their contributions are noted and appreciated. They want to be understood and treated like human beings. For employers, and especially law firms, this means both giving credit where it’s due and allowing employees flexibility based on their individual circumstances.  

When it comes to giving credit, recognition goes a long way! If an associate ran point on a multimillion-dollar acquisition, give them a shoutout at the next team meeting or in the firm newsletter. If a paralegal recently helped on a big case, it’s appropriate to do the same. Letting your lawyers and staff know that you notice their hard work is important to employee satisfaction. It shows that you’re paying attention and that you see their dedication.  

Another tangible way to show employees that they are valued is to offer them individual flexibility. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us many things about office life, including that brick and mortar isn’t for everyone. We also learned that many people can be just as productive (possibly even more productive) working from home.  

By offering flexible work arrangements, including work-from-home options, your firm can easily support its lawyers and staff and make them feel valued. This also includes flexible arrangements for new parents or employees who might need to work remotely to care for an aging family member. Valuing your lawyers means supporting them when they need it. You’ll reap the benefits of increased productivity and higher-quality work. 

Balance and opportunities for growth 

The term work-life balance gets thrown around a lot in the legal world. It means different things to different people and varies based on a host of factors, like seniority. For example, younger lawyers in particular are dissatisfied with their work-life balance, and this dissatisfaction is the top reason that millennial attorneys might start looking for another job.  

What remains constant for all lawyers is the desire to not burn out. While burnout depends on a host of individual factors, your firm can implement systems to ensure that your lawyers and staff aren’t being overworked. We recommend monitoring the hours of your individual attorneys and apportioning their workloads accordingly. So, if you note that one associate has been billing 12 hours a day for a week straight, especially over the weekend, she probably could use some additional support. You may need to assign another associate to a matter or reallocate some of her workload. The same goes for your paralegal who has worked three weekends in a row. It’s probably time to assign another paralegal to the matter. By monitoring workloads, you take some of the burden off of your attorneys and staff to establish hard boundaries, which can be difficult to do. It also shows that you care, which employees notice.  

Helping your attorneys and staff grow professionally is another component of employee retention. Constructive feedback and positive encouragement are important. This proves especially true for junior lawyers and new staff members. By providing personalized feedback and having one-on-one meetings (and not just waiting for the dreaded end-of-year performance reviews), your lawyers and staff will feel supported in their learning. They’ll also believe that there’s a path forward for them in the firm. You may also want to build a greater sense of community by offering structured mentorships between senior and junior lawyers. 

Formal learning opportunities are also essential. Incorporate opportunities for continuing legal education (CLE) sessions and conferences in your learning and development budget. Additionally, to encourage development, ask what your lawyers are most interested in learning about. This gives junior lawyers and other new employees the ability to shape their careers. If your lawyers and staff feel like they have a say in what they’re learning, they’ll feel more excited to invest in their growth. More investment in learning means better work for your clients — and more satisfied clients mean more income for your firm.  

What are some strategies to help with employee retention?  

We’ve discussed them throughout this article, but we want to double down on the fact that you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a positive law firm culture. Your firm’s culture is a manifestation of its core values. Respect, collegiality, and equity should be at the heart of your firm. A supportive law firm culture will foster high-level thinking, which means better solutions for your clients. Prospective clients can also tell when a law firm is working well together and when working conditions are suboptimal. This is good for your people, good for your firm, and good for your bottom line.  

We’ll also note the importance of communication for retaining employees. Openness is key! Your law firm should prioritize transparency such that lawyers and staff feel empowered to communicate with firm management on all topics. This includes more serious topics like compensation, discrimination, workloads, and balance. A culture of open communication also enables your team to share creative ideas for business development or innovative CLEs and conferences.  

Be sure that your law firm follows through. Open communication without results is just lip service. So, if you know that an employee is struggling, help them. If an associate has a great idea, listen and then help them achieve it. Similarly, if you want to know how employees are doing and what you can do to better support them — just ask! Communication is a two-way street.  

Retain your employees and grow your law firm.

As the war for talent rages on, your firm needs a strategy to retain your lawyers and staff. By ensuring that you have the processes and structures that enable your firm to value your employees in meaningful ways, not just through compensation, your law firm can hold on to your most valuable resource: your people. 

 

Your lawyers are your law firm’s greatest asset. They bring in the money, build your firm’s brand, and make a difference in your clients’ lives. The expectations are big — but sometimes the burnout is even bigger. With long hours, lack of work-life balance, and significant expectations placed upon them, it’s understandable that many lawyers struggle to make law firm life work.

This is where a law firm’s culture can make all the difference. Support and understanding will go a long way in keeping your firm’s lawyers not only content but also professionally satisfied.

In this article, we’ll discuss what makes for a great law firm culture. We’ll also discuss its overarching impact on lawyers’ happiness and thus your firm’s success and bottom line.

What are tips to cultivate a better law firm culture and environment?

Your law firm’s culture is representative of its core values. Hopefully, those core values include respect, collegiality, and equity. Creating a law firm culture and environment that supports lawyers (and staff!) and treats each employee like a human being is central to cultivating a productive and supportive work environment.

All of this is good for your people, good for your firm, and good for your bottom line. So, consider these tips that will help you build a better culture at your law firm.

Value your team

Money talks, but so do benefits and paid time off. The best way to ensure the satisfaction of your lawyers and staff is to offer salaries and benefits packages that are competitive in the market.

We understand that this is easier said than done — you’re the one balancing your budget at the end of the year, not us. But one of the best ways to spend your firm’s revenue is by paying your team and staff competitively, thus showing them their value to the firm. A higher salary means higher retention rates and thus less training of new associates and turnover of client contacts (we’ll get into this more below).

Valuing your team also includes promoting internal pay equity. The gender pay gap is no secret, and it’s larger for women of color. Your law firm can both promote equity and look out for its bottom line by offering all employees fair and competitive packages regardless of their gender or racial identity. By paying your staff thoughtfully and re-evaluating their compensation regularly, your firm will show concretely (read: in cold hard cash) that it values its workforce.

Support your team

Creating a healthy firm culture requires healthy employees. There are several thoughtful ways to support your employees and thus create a great firm culture.

Monitor hours

One of the biggest issues for lawyers is burnout. One way to combat it is to monitor the hours of your individual attorneys and apportion workload accordingly. This means that if you notice one associate has been billing 12 hours a day for a week straight, it likely means that she needs support, and you may need to reallocate her workload.

Overwork isn’t good for anyone: the quality of the legal work suffers, and your lawyers are more likely to become frustrated and disengaged.

Recognize good work

Though secondary to a better work-life balance, recognition goes a long way. If one associate is key to a big settlement, give them a shoutout at the next team meeting or in the firm newsletter. If a partner recently won a big pro bono case, it’s appropriate to do the same. Letting your lawyers know that you notice their hard work is important to employee satisfaction.

Offer flexibility

The pandemic taught us many things about office life, including that it’s not for everyone and that many people can be just as productive (maybe even more productive) working from home. By offering flexible work arrangements, including work-from-home options, your firm can easily support its lawyers and staff.

Help employees grow

Constructive feedback and encouragement are all important components of professional growth for lawyers. This proves especially true for junior lawyers and new staff members. By providing individualized feedback and having one-on-one meetings (not just waiting for end-of-year performance reviews), your lawyers will feel supported in their learning.

To encourage development, find out what your lawyers and staff members are most interested in learning about. This gives junior lawyers and other employees the ability to both shape their careers and get excited about their practice. In turn, this will motivate them to deliver better work.

What can make a culture be considered good or bad?

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said it best: I know it when I see it. You know when your law firm’s culture is healthy, supportive, and working. You can also sense when things are tense and some readjusting is needed.

Much of what makes a law firm culture good or bad comes down to one thing: respect. Do your lawyers feel respected by the firm? Do staff feel respected by the lawyers? Does everyone feel like their time and efforts are being respected? These are all important questions to ask as you both begin to create and reimagine your law firm’s culture.

Open communication is key here. A good law firm culture prioritizes communication. Lawyers and staff alike should feel empowered to communicate with firm management on all topics, including serious subjects like pay, discrimination, workloads, and wellness. It also means that you should also open the door for more business-oriented discussions, enabling your team to share innovative ideas for client development or interesting CLEs and conferences.

Make sure that your law firm also follows through. Open communication without results is just talking. So, if you know that an employee is struggling, help them. If an associate has a great idea, listen and then help them achieve it. Your law firm will be a better and more productive place if you can do these things.

How can great law firm culture lead to growth?

A great law firm culture can help grow your firm in two very important ways: lawyer, staff, and client retention and recruitment.

By having a strong and supportive law firm culture, you’ll retain more lawyers and staff. Turnover is not good for your law firm in any respect. It requires outputting significant onboarding and training efforts, all of which are nonbillable and expensive. Additionally, the integration of lateral associates can be difficult for all parties. Fewer lawyers in a practice group often means that too much work is shared by too few lawyers, thus leading to burnout and possible resignation. It becomes a cyclical problem.

The best way to address retention issues is to not have them by supporting your lawyers and staff in all the ways addressed in this article. Retained lawyers mean greater team synergy and harmony, higher productivity, and a friendlier workplace.

Retaining your clients is just as important. No one (and we mean it, no one) wants to be fired by a client. Your firm’s culture is central to being client-centric. It should go without saying, but treating clients with respect and dignity is essential. If your law firm is staffed with positive, responsive, and productive lawyers, you’ll make your firm more attractive and competitive to the clients that pay the bills. This holds true for all firms: big, medium, small, or solo.

Your law firm’s culture (and reputation) is particularly important when it comes to recruitment. People talk, and culture plays a big role in getting top recruits. Think about it: would a top recruit with numerous options go to a law firm known for burning out its lawyers or not caring about its culture? Our guess is no.

Your law firm’s brand is indicative of its culture. Having one focused on positivity, collaboration, and collegiality is imperative for both short- and long-term growth.

What about the impact of diversity and inclusion on law firm culture?

The legal profession has never been representative of the general makeup of the U.S. population. This is changing, and your law firm can and should be part of that change. However, your law firm should not only be committed to hiring diverse attorneys and staff but also to retaining them. A positive and inclusive law firm culture is the best way to do so.

Diversity is important to your firm’s growth Different perspectives make for more innovative thinking and a more fulsome representation of clients. With different and varied voices at the table, you’ll be able to consider issues from all angles and come up with creative solutions not possible otherwise.

In short, a diverse and inclusive legal team is an asset to your law firm and a boon to clients. Inclusion and representation are important factors in an equitable firm culture and are good for the longevity of your law firm.

Create your best law firm culture

Your lawyers and staff want to work at a law firm that offers competitive pay, meaningful collaboration, and authentic collegiality. Support and a commitment to diversity and inclusiveness should also be included to boot.

All of this is achievable; you just need a good plan and open lines of communication. Both your staff and bottom line will thank you.

Where do you turn when you’re looking for the best sushi spot in town? What about when you’re looking for a reputable accountant? Or a recommendation for an electrician? We’d bet our bottom dollar that you’re searching online and reviewing websites and reviews.

Your potential clients are doing the same thing with your legal website. This is why it’s so important to have a good one. Like they say: you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Your law firm’s online presence is the key to turning potential clients into paying ones. We understand that it’s hard to know where to begin and when to begin again. In this blog post, we’ll help get you started with pointers, tips of the trade, and design inspiration.

You’ve got this.

What are some key legal website terms?

Before we get too far into the weeds, let’s start with the basics. We recommend reviewing this glossary of key legal website terms before diving into this article.

Call to action (CTA)

A CTA entices your website visitor to take the next step and get into contact with your law office. CTAs typically come in the form of phrases or buttons that encourage website readers to “contact us now” or “click here for more information.” CTAs make it easy for visitors and other leads to get more information and, hopefully, get into contact with your firm.

Conversion rate

Conversion rates evaluate the effectiveness of your law firm’s website. Put simply, your conversion rate is the ratio of people who visit your firm’s website (or click on an ad) compared to people who convert into a lead. With the right reporting tools, your law firm can track how long a visitor stays on your website, which pages they view the most, which pages have the highest bounce rates (e.g., visitors leaving the site), which visits resulted from organic searches, and how many visitors turn into leads. Conversation rates are powerful tools for improving efficiency.

Landing page

Landing pages are web pages created for specific marketing campaigns. They have a single goal: converting visitors into prospects. A visitor arrives at a landing page most often after clicking on a link in an email or ad from a search engine or social media. To be most effective, your landing page copy has to be persuasive and centered around getting your visitor to take a specific action (like signing up for a free consultation).

Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is the practice of optimizing a website to boost its online visibility. To improve your law firm website’s visibility, you must make your website relevant to users’ searches. That means your website content has to reflect the terms that users type into the Google search bar. The more relevant your content is to a user’s search terms, the more likely your content will appear at the top of a search page.

What makes a website stand out?

What makes anything stand out? It’s usually some combination of uniqueness and crisp design. The logic is no different for your law firm’s website.

You know how competitive the legal market is, and it’s important to give your firm the upper hand whenever and wherever possible. Good law firm web design is an easy way to do so.

When getting started with or revamping your legal website, we recommend following these principles to help it stand out.

Be design-forward

The best law firm website is design-forward. Your website should anticipate its visitors’ needs and provide helpful design solutions. The user experience on your firm’s homepage and website is critical to ensuring that website visitors stay long enough to learn about your firm.

Given this, we recommend minimalistic streamlining. Don’t you hate it when a website bombards you with distracting animations and endless pop-ups? Your legal website should focus on professionalism with a bit of flavor. Opt out of the cluttered homepage and into something more sleek and high-quality. You don’t want to lose potential clients before they even get to the name of your firm.

Your firm brand should also be clear based on your lawyer website design. Typography, color palette, and font choice set the tone for the perception of your law firm. You can convey that your firm is contemporary and fresh by selecting a minimal and simplistic sans-serif font. A serif font can do the same but instead convey legacy and lineage.

There’s also room for creativity with your law firm website design. By choosing a unique, eye-catching design, you can set your law firm’s website apart from all the lookalike pages on the internet and stop possible clients from scrolling on by.

Accessibility and functionality should be top of mind

The best lawyer websites are accessible. As you know, accessibility can mean a lot of things. First, consider how your content (think blog posts and practice areas pages) will appear in layout. You want your website and all of its content to be accessible on all devices. A potential client should be able to read your firm’s newsletter on a cell phone, tablet, or computer. Remember to account for different browser types.

Further, your website should bolster accessibility with an intuitive and user-friendly layout. Ease of use is critical. We recommend making use of both bold headers and white space. Without these things, all the great content you’ve created may go to waste.

You should also make sure that people who have impairments can understand the content on your site so it is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). You are required to make sure your website accommodates people with disabilities. Here are some steps to take:

• Make sure to use alt text tags to describe your images.
• Use lots of clear headings to organize your content for screen readers.
• Use clear labels with descriptive HTML tags on your forms.
• Ensure all links on your site include descriptive anchor text.
• Offer an audio description, subtitles, and transcripts for any video content.
• Include a written caption for all audio files.
• Make sure all PDF files on your site are accessible.
• All of your fonts should be accessible.
• Ensure your website is accessible with keyboard navigation and that all pages have “skip navigation” links.
• Add column headers, row identifiers, and cell information to all HTML tables.

Connection is key

Attorney websites must be more than a homepage. An individual practice page for each legal service that your firm offers will enhance the user experience and encourage visitors to linger. You should also include pages for engaging attorney biographies and pages that detail your firm’s expertise, case studies, and testimonials.

Your law firm website should include CTA buttons on each page to make it simple for prospective clients to inquire about your law firm’s services. CTAs encourage website visitors to fill out a contact form to provide their contact information (think email and phone number). By having visible CTA buttons, you’ll be able to connect more easily with folks who might become new clients.

Whether you are a personal injury lawyer, work in real estate law, or run a small criminal defense firm, we highly recommend outsourcing the legwork to the marketing experts to help build you a new website or revamp your current one.

What are the first steps in website design?

The best law firm website designs are specific to your law firm. That means you have to think a bit about your firm’s identity and goals. Your website’s goal is to attract new clients, but before you put the cart before the horse, you’ll need to think about who those new clients are and how they might benefit from your firm’s legal services.

Start with inquiries into your firm’s target audience. Who are they? Where are they? Might they need specific family law advice or general guidance on how to create a parenting plan? Once you have a grasp on the audience, you can begin building or revamping a website to meet their discreet needs.

Once you’ve handled the theoretical, it’s time to move to the practical: graphic design and website features. If you’re new to web design, we recommend using a template to get started. We also recommend choosing wisely. Your choice of a template will inform a prospective client’s first impression of your practice.

When selecting a template. consider the following factors.

Ease of optimization

We know that you know how important SEO is. It’s the most cost-effective way to attract new clients and build your firm’s book of business. If you boost your SEO, your website will be primed to find and engage prospective clients.

When selecting a template and website builder, make sure they come with SEO tools that you can use to optimize your site. The best practice is to pick a template that allows your firm to update each page’s metadata and use keywords. We also recommend using a website builder and template that provides a sitemap to specific search engines.

Ease of use

If you or someone else in-house will be handling the design process, start simple and intuitive. Find the right balance between all the bells and whistles and something that might be too simplistic (you at least need some color in your color scheme). Consider starting with a law firm WordPress theme or a drag-and-drop page builder.

Ease of personalization

Your firm is unique, and your selection of template should showcase that. This is essential for both design and connective purposes. If it’s important that clients be able to make appointments online, pick a template that supports that function. If you’re looking to update your blog daily, make sure that your selected template has the capabilities for it. Personalization of your selected template through either built-in features or third-party plugins is key to setting your website apart from the competition and showcasing your firm’s uniqueness.

Many firms choose to outsource the legwork of SEO and website design to web design experts who know the ins and outs of creative design. These experts take the headaches of web work away so you can focus on helping clients.

What are some examples of inspirational law firm websites?

After thinking about your firm’s core message and considering the above tips on style and design, the next step is to dig into some great examples of inspirational law firm websites. The below websites are some of the best. Notice how each website establishes the law firm as professional and reputable while also being stylistically interesting.

Sisk Law Firm

The Sisk Law Firm website is immediately authoritative. The color scheme of deep blues and blacks conveys professionalism and competency but isn’t too dark or overwhelming. The homepage clearly sets out the law firm’s bankruptcy specialization, allowing visitors to see both the breadth and depth of the lawyers’ expertise. The homepage also states that the law firm offers free consultations, which will go a long way in the bankruptcy context.

Law Offices of Slape & Howard

Similar to the Sisk Law Firm, Slape & Howard has a signature color scheme. The navy blue and yellow palette strikes the perfect balance of professional yet approachable. The firm’s tagline, “We're Here When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” is displayed prominently on the homepage, indicating to visitors that the firm does plaintiff-side work. The website also includes helpful accessibility features such as multiple translation options and the ability to make the website font larger and more visible.

Law Offices of John Della Rocca

The Law Offices of John Della Rocca website takes an immediately local approach. The website indicates clearly that the firm practices in the Philadelphia area and lists specific case results there. The homepage also states that the firm has adapted to the new reality of COVID and has video calling capabilities. The firm’s contact information is displayed prominently and notes that free consultations are available.

If you are looking to take your law firm’s website to the next level, we recommend working closely with marketing professionals that can do it all.

When is a good time to re-evaluate your website?

You should re-evaluate your legal website yearly or whenever your firm goes through a significant alteration. Design tastes change, and your website should keep up with current trends. We recommend looking at peer firm websites as a metric for comparison when it comes to design. You’ll be able to get a feel for the appropriateness of your own legal website this way.

An important component of this evaluation is tech. Does your law firm’s website feel outdated? If so, it might be time to switch templates or webpage hosts to something more modern and capable of supporting plugins. Backend tech is always evolving, and keeping up is an important part of staying in the game.

Tracking your conversation rate and the general effectiveness of your website can illuminate where your site is struggling and help you make informed decisions on redesign. If visitors are always bouncing on one page, it’s probably a good idea to redesign it.

You should also re-evaluate your law firm website in connection with an office move or change in practice area or expertise. This sort of assessment doesn’t require a radical design transformation, but changing this information will ensure that your website is up to date and will show clients that you’re detail-oriented.

Every year, you should also schedule an evaluation of your website to make sure it is still ADA-compliant. Refer to the list of steps above. You can also visit ADA.gov for more details on website compliance.

Ready! Set! Design!

Following the tips and tricks mentioned in this article can help accelerate the performance of your law firm’s website. Through compelling web design, enhanced SEO, and a keen sense of self, your firm will be off to the races. The right tools, solutions, and marketing experts are here to support your firm along the way.

More so than in other practices, personal injury lawyers must sell their services to possible clients. This is where a good website is key. The best personal injury lawyer website communicates who your law firm is, what services you offer, and why clients should choose you over other lawyers. Potential clients also may be seeking out your personal injury firm during a period of stress, and your firm’s website and related content should recognize that. With your website, you’ll want to showcase your firm’s competency, both emotionally and legally.

In this article, we’ll run through what makes a great personal injury law firm website and provide examples of some of the best.

What makes a website great in personal injury law?

To stand out in the crowd, your personal injury attorney website should have a homepage, descriptions of your practice areas, lawyer bios, testimonials, case studies, and resources.

Homepage

Your website’s homepage must state clearly that you practice personal injury law. It should also communicate why clients should hire you by including easy-to-read, SEO-optimized headings that establish your credibility and set forth a clear core message.

Design is key here! You want to encourage prospective clients to stay on your website by providing a top-notch user experience. Don’t include too many banners or cluttered “click here" buttons; a streamlined and clean homepage communicates professionalism. Finally, your homepage should prominently announce how to get in contact with your firm.

Practice area descriptions

Every area of expertise in your personal injury practice should have its own page that describes your firm’s experience. Do you practice in car accidents? Slip and falls? Insurance bad faith? Wrongful death?

By including specifics, you’ll be in a stronger position to capture possible leads. It’s important to explain in detail the types of matters your firm handles and give a list of representative cases so that clients understand that you have been there and done that.

Lawyer bios

A personal injury case is usually very close to home — clients who come to you for help may be injured or in a vulnerable position. You can help prospective clients feel comfortable reaching out by providing lawyer and staff bios; having a face behind the words on a page is always helpful.

We recommend highlighting your approach to personal injury cases or something in your background that will make you stand out to a prospective client. If your firm is smaller and staff will be interacting with clients and prospects, it makes sense to include a bio for them as well.

Testimonials and case studies

Include positive testimonials on your website to build credibility with prospective clients. You might also share case studies that show what results you’ve achieved for clients. If you won a big car accident settlement for a client, consider including it.

The same goes for smaller wins like dog bite or neglect cases. To personalize case studies and testimonials, ask former clients to share a photo or record a short video about how you helped them. (You can repurpose these photos and videos on your social media channels too.) These success stories should be uplifting and positive. News snippets, badges, and certificates will also go a long way in building a positive reputation for your personal injury law firm and helping the community learn to trust in you.

Resources

This is the area where your firm will build the most credibility. You may include blogs, news about your firm, white papers, ebooks, and other downloadable content that will convince visitors that you are an authority in your practice areas.

Another popular item to include is frequently asked questions (FAQs). Not only will FAQs help you land higher in the search engines when clients type legal questions into their search bar, but they also give you a chance to show off your knowledge of personal injury law.

What should my personal injury law website focus on?

Your personal injury law firm website should focus on two things: subject-matter expertise for your various legal services and optimization for the web. By prioritizing these core elements, your website will not only increase its number of visitors but also get them to stay.

Subject-matter expertise

Personal injury law is complex and showing off your firm’s subject-matter expertise is key to letting prospective clients know that you can help solve their problems. So, your website should showcase your law firm’s authority and knowledge.

However, building authority does not necessarily mean having an authoritative tone. The best way to build authority for your personal injury law firm is to know your target audience and to address them specifically. The copy on your truck accident page should differ from that on your nursing home neglect page. You’ll want to strike the tone of compassionate competence in your wrongful death copy but will probably want something more professional for your product liability page. Knowing who you’re addressing will convey knowledge and competence to prospective clients and help you land them as paying clients.

Your website should also be backed up by in-depth, expertly written content. By focusing on your target audience with your firm’s website, you’ll establish your law firm as both client-centric and approachable. As applied to your personal injury law firm’s website, your goal with content creation should be to showcase your law firm’s work, practice areas, and lawyers. To get started, ask what questions your target audience and leads might have. Consider questions like these:

• What is the statute of limitations for product liability claims in my state?
• What constitutes medical malpractice in New York?
• How quickly do I need to file a wrongful death claim?
• How might my state’s premises liability laws impact my claim?

We then recommend answering these questions by creating legal content such as blog posts, social media posts, videos, webinars, and even white papers. By focusing on your target audience with your firm’s website, you’ll establish your personal injury law firm as both client-centric and approachable.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

We’ve spoken extensively about the wonders of optimization and how it can make your firm’s website more visible. Boosting your personal injury law firm’s website is no different — it remains the best and most cost-effective way to attract new clients and build your firm’s book of business.

SEO is the practice of optimizing a website to improve online visibility in search engine rankings by using certain relevant search terms in your created content. The more relevant your content is to a user’s search terms, the more likely it is that your content will appear at the top of a Google search page. Your law firm website will best find and engage prospective clients if you boost your SEO. We recommend getting started by researching keywords related to your practice as a personal injury lawyer.

Local SEO is also essential to optimizing your law firm’s website. Optimizing your firm’s presence on Google Maps, Google My Business, and Yelp can help establish your personal injury firm as the reputable, go-to one in the community.

What are the dos and don’ts of attorney website design?

Your law firm website design is so important. You’re competing with other personal injury firms, and a compelling user experience might be what snags the next client for you. Your website should be functional and accessible first. Every design decision you make for your personal injury firm website should ask the following question: will this help potential clients find and then choose my law firm over others?

Picking the right font for your website is important, and so is creating a compelling visual design and color scheme. Consider how your created content (think white papers and lawyer bios) will appear when laying out your website. The best legal websites can be interacted with on all devices (cell phones, tablets, computers, etc.) and on all browsers. Your law firm website should also be laid out intuitively and be friendly and easy to use and navigate, with clear headers and white space. Without these things, all the great content you’ve created may go to waste.

Your personal injury law firm website should also include call to action (CTA) buttons to make it simple for prospective clients to inquire about your firm’s services. CTAs encourage website readers to fill out a contact form to provide their information. Many of your prospective clients will be visiting your personal injury website for guidance and answers. By having visible CTA buttons (maybe even one that offers a free consultation), you’ll be able to connect more easily with folks who might need your firm’s services.

Many personal injury law firms choose to work with outside law firm marketing experts to build their brand with web designers and marketing strategists. These experts know the ins and outs of web and template design and have access to advanced marketing tools that will help you build a clean, impactful law firm website. Bringing in a digital marketing services team can help your firm figure out the best way to increase its client conversions.

What are some examples of the best personal injury law firm websites?

The best personal injury firm web designs are updated each year. We cannot recommend enough the ease of working with marketing professionals to stay on top of the trends and ensure that your website is competing. Below are personal injury law firm websites that exemplify the points discussed in this article. Each website highlighted below establishes the law office as an expert in personal injury law and helps them reach a larger audience, therefore generating more leads.

Denning Law Firm, LLC

The Denning Law Firm is a great example of a personal injury law firm website that has it all. Its lawyers have created helpful pages for visitors to access additional information regarding its firm’s expertise, and they clearly sublabel each area of personal injury law that they practice in (e.g., product liability, medical malpractice, and construction accidents). Denning’s blog is updated regularly with information and resources, helping clients understand their need for legal counsel and support. The website also features an “In the News” tab where prospective clients can learn about the firm’s recent wins, gaining the firm social prioof and giving the prospect an understanding of what Denning can do for them.

Paul Benson Law Firm

Paul Benson Law Firm is a law firm specializing in personal injury law, including car accidents, slips and falls, and pedestrian accidents. The site’s homepage is clean and concise. It features the attorney’s succinct firm statement as well as links to landing pages showcasing the firm’s expertise in personal injury law. It is client-centric, written in an appropriate and authoritative tone, and features a “get in touch” CTA. We also note that the firm logo is distinct and interesting but still professional.

Zwick Law

Zwick Law is another law firm specializing in personal injury cases. The firm’s homepage is approachable and clean and includes various case results suggesting the firm’s superb reputation to website visitors. The website also features a compelling attorney biography page with easily accessible contact information, including phone number, as well as a blog that is updated regularly with relevant content, improving the website’s SEO.

Your best personal injury law firm website awaits you

Your firm depends on a steady pipeline of prospective clients. The best way to keep and acquire new clients is through a compelling website.

By using legal marketing tactics that enhance your site’s visibility, including increasing your website traffic by implementing SEO and improving your content generation, even small law firms will be optimized to compete for new leads and prospective clients. The right tools, solutions, and marketing experts will help your personal injury law firm stand out.

Whether you’re about to write a memo or a brief, it’s hard to stare at a blank page. Now, it’s even harder if that blank page is the website for your law firm.

When you’re starting to plan your website, there are countless things to consider: whether to outsource the work, what website tools to use, and what your budget should be, to name a few.

But it doesn’t always have to be that hard. If you choose a template for your website design, especially one that has built-in flexibility, you can get up and running much more quickly than if you were to design your website from scratch. Depending on the template you choose, it can not only make creating your website easier but also ensure that you have a consistent, clear brand.

It’s a lot to consider! So, in this article, we’ll help you get started. We’ll introduce what makes a good attorney website template and what to look for when selecting one for your law firm.

What makes a good website template?

You want your law firm website to help clients discover and then choose your law firm. We’ve waxed poetic about the importance of a good legal website. If you’re new to online marketing, getting started is as simple as selecting the right template.

Your choice of template will impact a client’s first impression of your firm. The right template for your firm depends on what your law firm wants to achieve with its website (e.g., selling the abilities of your lawyers or getting prospective clients to fill out a contact form).

When selecting lawyer website templates, we recommend keeping three rules of thumb in mind.

1. Choose a site template that’s easy to use

Use a website builder and template that feel intuitive to you. Many templates may claim to have all the bells and whistles, but when it comes down to it, they’re just impossible to actually use. (And some of them might cost you an arm and a leg if you want to customize them.) Others might be too simplistic and won’t allow you to create an engaging or attractive lawyer website.

The key is to find the right balance for your firm and reap the benefits of more leads and potential clients. If you’re handling the creation of the website yourself, consider starting with a law firm WordPress theme or a drag-and-drop page builder.

2. Pick a template that’s easy to personalize

Use a website builder and template that allow your firm to personalize your website’s pages. There may be features that are important to your firm, such as the ability to book appointments online, the capacity to host a live chat, or the ability to support a chatbot. It’s important to figure out which personalized components are important to your firm and then ensure that the template selected can support them. Functionality is key!

Personalization of your selected template through either built-in features or third-party plugins (e.g., widgets, Elementor page builder, Visual Composer, WooCommerce, WPML, or other lawyer WordPress theme plugins) is key to setting your website apart from the competition and showcasing your firm’s uniqueness.

Consider, for example, Bootstrap, a free, open-source, front-end development framework that can be used to create a legal website. As a framework, Bootstrap includes all your basics for a responsive design and is built on HTML, HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.

Easy to optimize

Whether your firm specializes in ecommerce or personal injury law, an optimized website will help it attract new clients. Search engine optimization (SEO) improves your law firm’s website to boost its online visibility in search engines. For instance, Google search results rank the responses to a user’s inquiry based on the content of webpages. Thus, the more relevant your content is to the search terms entered, the more likely that your content will appear at the top of a search page.

Your selected template and website builder should have the right SEO tools to optimize your website. For optimal results, pick a template that allows you to update each page’s metadata, including the page’s meta description, and use keywords. We also recommend using a website builder and template that provides a sitemap to specific search engines.

Many law firms choose to outsource the legwork of SEO and site design to web design experts who know the ins and outs of web and template design. These experts take the headaches of web work away so you can focus on helping clients while they find ways to attract a pipeline of future business for your firm.

How do I make the most out of a website template?

The user experience of your law firm’s website is critical: you want visitors to stay put, engage with your content, and then hopefully get in contact with your law office. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of your law firm's website. A thoughtful website design will keep web visitors engaged while also guiding them along in selecting your firm for legal services. However, a cluttered homepage filled with moving banners, animations, and endless pop-ups won’t convey your firm’s capabilities and might even cost you possible leads.

We recommend that your web design and layout be multipurpose: functional, accessible, and interesting. Ask yourself the following question as you make decisions: will this design and layout help potential clients find and then choose my law firm? Select the template with that question in mind. The goal is to convert leads into paying clients (and to get folks down to your legal offices).

As you focus on how to get the most out of your template, consider the following elements.

Visuals

To create a compelling visual design, you’ll need forethought. Consider how visual content like lawyer headshots, videos, and graphics will appear on your website. The template that you select should not just support but also highlight this important content (think parallax display and retina-ready images). Many attorney WordPress themes have these features built in.

For example, your homepage announces who your firm is and why clients hire you. It’s also the first impression that you’ll make to prospective clients. Be sure that your law firm template complements any images you intend to display on your homepage, including in the header. Your chosen template should support (and not clash with) your firm’s logo design and color scheme. When picking a template, consider where your logo and other visual content might appear and adjust accordingly.

Additionally, the best web design is built on a responsive template. That means your website should adapt and look good on all devices (cell phones, tablets, and computers) and on all browser types (Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox). Friendliness and ease of use are also important and will make navigation easier. The right template selection and design will ensure a positive user experience with your legal website.

Copy and content

When selecting your website template, give thought to the content that will be displayed on each page. For example, consider the template that you’ll use for your firm overview page as opposed to your lawyer and staff bio page. You’ll also want to carefully choose the right font for your legal website. This decision requires balancing readability, messaging, and authority.

The copy on your firm overview page should explain clearly what your firm does. Ask questions like these:

• What’s your firm’s story?
• How long has your firm been around, and how have you evolved?
• What is important for clients to know about how you operate?
• What services do you offer?
• What clients do you help?

For your firm overview page, you’ll likely want a simple template with a singular focus on your firm’s core messaging.

In contrast, your lawyer and staff bio pages are intended to help potential clients get to know the folks who keep your firm running. This page will contain more information than your firm overview page, so the template for this page will be different.

We recommend a template that offers tabs for various aspects of a lawyer’s bio: law school attended, bar admissions, practice area expertise, and even client testimonials or case studies. You’ll also want your website to be able to link to secondary content, like your firm’s social media pages.

Data and analytics

The website builder that you use should provide data on your website’s analytics. Without this valuable information regarding your potential clients’ behavior, it’s hard to track web traffic to certain landing pages and even harder to optimize your overall marketing strategy.

We recommend a website builder that delivers real-time data on your website’s analytics, including how your website ranks among competitors, and personalized marketing recommendations to help your firm make informed business decisions.

Choosing the best template for your law firm

Your firm’s brand is critical, and your online presence is an essential part of your brand. The template that your law firm chooses for each aspect of its professional services can either reinforce or hurt your brand.

Before you choose a template, consider the basics outlined in this article. And, if you have any questions or decide that you’re in over your head, online marketing experts are ready to help you.

Your law firm needs a marketing strategy to compete. While it’s easy to defer developing a smart marketing strategy because your firm is busy, we promise that it’s time well spent. Without it, your firm will be relying on word-of-mouth referrals and stunting its growth. To best grow and sustain itself, your law firm needs to attract new business. Having a concrete marketing strategy is the most effective and efficient way to build a pipeline of new leads.

In this article, we’ll cover best practices for building a marketing strategy and offer tips on how to market your law firm. Let’s get started!

What is law firm marketing, and why is it important?

Law firm marketing is used to attract (and hopefully convert) potential clients to your firm. It’s an important part of developing successful strategies to grow and sustain your legal practice. And it’s not only for big law firms! Small firms, boutiques, and solo practitioners alike can all benefit from a marketing strategy. Basically, developing a marketing strategy requires putting thought into your firm’s needs and mapping out actionable steps to meet those needs and build your roster of clients.

Your law firm runs because of one thing: a continuous stream of paying clients. But maintaining a profitable level of client activity is a real struggle for many small firms and solo practitioners. Acquiring new, paying clients is not an easy process, especially when your firm is just starting out. A successful law firm marketing strategy can help fix this. By marketing your law firm efficiently, your firm will generate new leads and increase its opportunities to acquire new clients. New clients mean more billable hours, which means more profit. All of this starts with a good law firm marketing strategy.

How do you market a law firm?

Creating and then enacting a good law firm marketing strategy is a multi-step process. The key steps are knowing your law firm, identifying your target audience, considering your competition, defining your goals, and then executing the strategy.

Patience is also key in this process. It’s unlikely that your law firm will get it all right on the first try. Your marketing strategy will require adjustment to reflect shifting needs and priorities. The best law firm marketing strategy is flexible, so just know that whatever your firm decides upon now is not set in stone.

Knowing your law firm

Why does your law firm exist? The first and most important step in developing your law firm’s marketing strategy is to figure out your firm’s core message and positioning.

Your firm’s core message is what you want clients to know about your law firm. It should address your current and aspirational clientele and emphasize your firm’s strengths. The clearer your idea of your firm’s core message, the easier it is to determine its trajectory.

As you consider these things, your firm may find it helpful to outline the types of legal services that it offers. Questions to start with should include these:

·       What type of clients does your law firm usually serve?

·       How many clients do you serve per year?

·       What practice area does your firm specialize in?

·       What are your law firm’s strengths?

·       What are your law firm’s weaknesses?

The answers to these questions will help your firm begin to craft its lawyer marketing strategy.

Identifying your target audience

Without identifying the folks who might need your law firm’s services, it’s hard to know how to tailor your firm’s marketing activities. A steady understanding of your firm’s target audience is the best way to determine the focus of your law firm’s marketing efforts.

Important factors to consider regarding your target audience include geographical location, age, gender, income, and occupation. If businesses are your law firm’s main clientele, consider your typical client’s size, geographical location, and industry. By knowing your target audience and considering them when making marketing decisions, your law firm will optimize its efforts and reach people most in need of its services and thus most likely to turn into paying clients.

Considering your competition

The legal market is competitive. One way to stay ahead is by analyzing the market and considering your competition. Conduct a market analysis by evaluating your target audience, the size of business opportunity in your area to serve that audience, and possible practice area expansions. Think about the level of competition in your practice area and location when creating your law firm marketing tactics.

For example, your tactics will differ if your firm specializes in executive compensation in a competitive market like New York City or if you’re a solo practitioner in a small New England town. The best law firm marketing strategy considers market opportunity and possible market share.

Defining your marketing goals

What do you want your law firm’s marketing strategy to achieve? Think in three-, six-, and twelve-month increments. We recommend setting SMART goals for each timeframe and re-evaluating them regularly.

The key factors to consider when defining your law firm marketing strategy goals include the number of new clients your firm wants to acquire, the number of clients you expect to retain, the firm’s projected and current revenue, the firm’s practice area expertise, and the number of team members you plan to hire and retain. To best envision your goals, your law firm should consider questions like these:

·       Is generating new leads your main focus?

·       Does your firm want to expand into new regions or practice areas?

·       How much of a concern is your firm’s bottom line?

·       Is your firm in major growth mode?

Once you’ve determined your law firm’s marketing strategy goals, you can decide where to focus your firm’s efforts and how to get the most out of the capital that you spend on marketing.

Executing the strategy

When creating or revamping your law firm’s marketing strategy, consider early on who at the firm will be the head of marketing and who will make up the larger marketing team. We cannot stress enough the benefits of outsourcing the legwork to marketing agency experts who can help you devise and implement your legal marketing strategy (and who won’t blow your budget).

Remember to keep your target audience top of mind when devising what marketing channels your firm will pursue. For example, if you practice in trusts and estates, a Twitter campaign might not be the most fruitful use of your firm’s marketing funds. However, if your firm practices in tech mergers and acquisitions, a LinkedIn campaign might be the right place to advertise.

What is the difference between a law firm's marketing strategy and a marketing plan?

Though they sound similar, your marketing strategy and marketing plan are distinct. Your law firm's marketing strategy is the connective tissue between your law firm's goals and your firm’s ongoing marketing efforts. Your strategy is based on the theoretical, focusing on the why behind your decisions. Why this marketing goal? Why this target audience? Why these legal services?

A law firm's marketing plan defines the specific actions that your law firm is going to take to execute its strategy. Just as you might outline a business plan, your law firm's marketing plan should be well-structured and detailed. Your marketing plan will include specific actions like digital marketing, the creation of a law firm website, content marketing, email marketing, or enhanced search engine optimization.

Having a sound law firm marketing strategy plus an actionable law firm marketing plan is key to keeping your firm top of mind for potential clients. But because marketing is outside the skill set of the typical legal professional, many law firms choose to work with outside expert marketing strategists who know the ins and outs of law firm marketing.

What are some best practices for a law firm marketing strategy?

Your firm’s marketing strategy should be primarily digital. Sure, you can plaster your firm’s name on a billboard, but you’ll likely get more bang for your buck with online advertising on targeted websites. More now than ever, life is happening digitally. By focusing your efforts on digital marketing like increased search engine optimization (SEO), blogs, newsletters, and ads, you’ll ensure that your law firm reaches a wider but curated audience.

Another important component to consider is your marketing budget. What is it? To figure this out, your law firm will need to identify its goals and determine the revenue you need to achieve those goals. It’s important to be realistic here and to know that as your firm begins to reap benefits from its marketing strategy in the form of new clients, revenue will increase, and, in turn, your firm’s marketing budget can increase too. Once you’ve created a budget, try to stick to it, re-evaluating it as necessary.

Your legal marketing strategy is an essential part of your firm’s growth. As with any important matter, there are some must-haves that your firm should include in its marketing strategy.

Focus on web design

Your law firm's website is the most important marketing investment you’ll make, and grabbing the attention of leads and prospective clients is its primary goal. The design of your legal website should be functional, interesting, and accessible. You only get one opportunity to make a first impression. We recommend asking yourself the following question during the design process: will this web design help potential clients find and then choose my law firm? Your design decision-making should revolve around that question.

Your Law Firm Website Design Inspiration 101 - Centerbase must be simple, clear, and uncluttered. A website visitor should know what it is that your law firm does. We recommend that the most important content appear “above the fold,” meaning that a visitor can see it without having to scroll. Use high-quality photographs, an aesthetically appealing color scheme, a well-thought-out font, and enough white space to entice visitors to linger on your page. Consider how certain content, like lawyer bios and video marketing, will appear when laying out your website. The best legal website permits content to be interacted with on all devices — cell phones, tablets, and computers — and on all browser types. A positive user experience is critical.

We also recommend that your website include call to action (CTA) buttons. Your CTAs should encourage visitors to take action, whether that’s reading more of your website or giving your firm a call for a free consultation. Prominently place your contact information, including your phone number and email, in several places on your website. This is the best way to get web visitors to convert into potential clients and build your legal directories.

Emphasize search engine optimization

You want your marketing strategy to help your law firm generate new leads, engage possible clients, and boost your firm’s SEO. SEO improves your law firm’s website by increasing its visibility in search engine results.

Here’s how it works. Google search engine results rank the responses to a user’s inquiry based on the content of web pages. Thus, the more relevant your content is to the search terms entered by the online searcher, the more likely that your content and thus your firm’s website will appear at the top of a results page. We recommend conducting keyword research to figure out what words your target audience is searching for.

SEO is also measured by the quality of your law firm’s web page. That means metrics such as web design, readability, the quantity of website traffic, and backlinks matter. Improving these important SEO metrics will increase your overall law firm SEO, leading to increased searchability and visibility (and hopefully new clients in the process).

Local SEO is another important aspect of your legal website’s overall SEO. Your law firm can optimize its geographic reach through local SEO, helping to establish your firm as the go-to in your community. To begin maximizing your local SEO, think about topics that will appeal to clients in your target geography. For example, you might write an article explaining contributory negligence in North Carolina or a blog post about tortious interference with contracts in New York.

Consider digital advertising

If an organic search leading to your firm’s website isn’t generating the results your marketing team had hoped for, paid search marketing campaigns are another marketing tool to consider. We’ll cover the basics of the three main types of digital ads: pay per click, pay per lead, and Google’s Local Services ads.

·       Pay per click: With pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, your firm only pays for the number of “clicks” it receives from online users. For example, your firm’s ad is featured on a given platform (a website, social media, a search engine), an online user clicks on the ad, and then your law firm pays for that click. It seems like a simple process, but optimization requires strategic thinking and regular re-evaluation. As with SEO, research is important here. Your law firm will need to conduct research on keywords, organize those keywords into logical groupings, and then link to the correct landing page of your website to hook the lead as quickly as possible. PPC is a great tool to get your law firm out there, but to best optimize your results, we recommend working with marketing experts.

·       Pay per lead. With pay-per-lead (PPL) advertising, the amount that your firm will pay for an advertisement depends on the number of leads acquired. Typically, your law firm will be able to define what constitutes a lead and thus only pay when those requirements are met. An example of a PPL arrangement is one where a firm pays by the number of leads who provide their contact information. A PPL arrangement is a great option for small law firms or solo practitioners who want their law practice to grow but don’t yet have the capacity for dozens of new clients.

·       Google’s Local Services ads. With Google Local Services ads, your law firm can connect with people who search on Google for services that your firm offers. It works like this: your firm’s advertisement will show up for customers in your geographic area who search for legal services related to your firm. Similar to standard PPL, your law firm will only pay if the lead calls or messages directly through the advertisement. These Google ads are relatively new and require multistep verification and an otherwise fairly rigorous process. As with other advertisement strategies, Local Services ads should be optimized to showcase your law firm’s expertise. Relatedly, we also recommend Facebook ads as a route to grow your firm’s online visibility.

In connection with each paid advertisement method, you’ll also want to set up landing pages where clients who click on your ad can get more specific information about your firm. To be most effective, the content on your landing page should be both persuasive and centered around getting your visitor to take that next step of getting in touch with your firm.

·       Content strategy. Your law firm’s content strategy is an important component of its marketing strategy. Any content created should be high quality, showcasing your firm’s excellent work, practice areas, and attorneys on staff. If your law firm is after a long-lasting online presence, integrating content marketing into its overall marketing strategy is key. To begin, consider what questions your target audience might have. Does your firm mostly service parents in custody disputes? Folks suffering from injuries in connection with personal injury claims? Businesses trying to best protect their trademarks? Once your firm has considered these topics, it should create regular content addressing them, such as blog posts, social media posts, white papers, webinars, and even a podcast or two.

Social media marketing is an effective and low-cost marketing tactic for your law firm, and it should be included in your overall strategy. Get started with Facebook, Google Business Profiles or Google My Business, Yelp, and LinkedIn. Your law firm’s online presence should be friendly, and you should post regularly. Your overall strategy should be to create ties with the community as well as to establish your firm as an authority in your practice areas. While there are many marketing services, we recommend the services of an A+ marketing team to get your firm started on its social media campaign.

An email marketing strategy is another cost-effective tool to consider and one that allows for regular contact and follow-up with clients. We recommend beginning by building an emailing list, which your firm can achieve by offering free resources (think newsletters or relevant white papers). Your firm will be able to collect email addresses from prospective clients this way while also staying in contact with current clients (or even past clients). Another avenue is to build lead magnets that online visitors can download directly from your firm’s website. Lead magnets are a free service or resource that you give away to collect potential clients’ contact information (emails, phone numbers, etc.). Once your firm has acquired a robust emailing list, you can begin effective email marketing. We recommend showcasing your firm’s expertise through positive reviews, testimonials, case studies, and other helpful resources that show how your firm can make life easier for clients. Positive client reviews are one of your best marketing tools.

Begin your marketing journey today

By implementing the digital marketing strategy and tools highlighted above, your law firm will be well on its way to creating or strengthening its online presence. Online marketing strategies include a well-designed and aesthetically pleasing website, using SEO techniques to optimize searchability, content marketing, social media, paid search campaigns, and email marketing. The goal is to get your firm out there and to start bringing clients in. With a good marketing strategy, these goals are achievable.

Your law firm’s online presence can be a determining factor in clients choosing to do business with you. Thankfully, the quality of your site is also completely within your control. The only question is how to find the time and resources to develop a thoughtful website and content marketing plan — without breaking the bank.

This article will cover the basics of good content generation and website optimization, integration, and design. We’ll discuss how to think about your target audience and capitalize on new website visitors. These considerations are key in developing the best legal website and ensuring that your law firm puts its best foot forward.

What is the definition of good content?

What is “good content” for your firm depends on what you’re trying to achieve by producing new content and who you’re producing it for. Is your law firm trying to catch the eye of new clients? Building a reputation as the go-to authority for a certain practice area? Trying to grow your presence on search engines?

Before your law firm begins to invest in building or recreating a legal website, it’s important to understand the purpose of the content being produced.

The same goes for defining the target audience for your website content. Without first identifying the folks who might need your law firm’s services, it’s difficult to tailor your content production. What’s good content differs for a law firm focused on elder law and a law firm of transactional lawyers focused on intellectual property law.

Important factors to consider regarding your target audience include geographical location, age, gender, income, and occupation. If businesses are your law firm’s bread and butter, consider your typical client’s size, geographical location, and industry. You can use these details to create a persona for each segment of your audience. You can then personalize your content for each persona.

We highly recommend working with an expert who can help you craft and implement content to best serve your target audience and purpose for content creation.

What are the essential elements of content to include in a law firm website?

Every law firm website needs to communicate who you are, what services you offer, and why you’re the best choice for prospective clients. To accomplish these goals, attorney websites typically need the following content elements:

·        Homepage: A homepage announces who you are and why clients should hire you. You should include easy-to-read, SEO-optimized headings that establish your credibility and set forth a clear organization for your site. Be sure to use attractive images that encourage visitors to stay on the page. Additionally, your homepage should prominently announce the best ways to contact your firm, preferably at the top of your site.

·        A firm overview: This page should explain more about what your firm does. What’s your firm’s story? How long have you been around, and how have you evolved? What is important for clients to know about how you operate and what clients you help?

·        Practice area descriptions: Every practice area should have a page describing your experience. Explain the types of matters you handle and give a list of representative cases so clients understand that you have been there and done that.

·        Lawyer and staff bios: Help prospects get to know who is behind the words on the page with enticing stories about who works for the firm. Each bio should tell the lawyer’s story in terms that would resonate with a client — not with another lawyer. So while it’s impressive that you were on law review, what may be more meaningful to a client is work you’ve done that’s similar to what they are searching for. Depending on your audience and your type of practice, consider whether to highlight your approach to cases or something in your background that will make you stand out to a prospect. If your firm is smaller and staff will be interacting with clients and prospects, it makes sense to include a bio for them as well.

·        Resources: This is the area that clients can visit to have their questions answered. You may include blogs, news about your firm, white papers, or ebooks and other downloadable content that will convince visitors that you are an authority in your practice area. Another popular item to include is frequently asked questions (FAQs). Not only will FAQs help you land higher in the search engines when clients type legal questions in the search bar, but they also give you a chance to show off your knowledge in your field.

·        Contact page: Take the friction out of client contact by putting all the information that clients need to reach you in one place, including your phone number and email address. You should also include a fillable contact form that makes it easy for clients to reach out to you. Don’t forget to include links to your social media accounts.

·        Testimonials and case studies: If your practice has online reviews, you can highlight the best ones here. This can help you build credibility with prospects. You might also share case studies that show what results you’ve achieved for clients. To personalize case studies and testimonials, ask clients to share a photo or record a short video about how you helped them. (You can repurpose these photos and videos on your social media channels too.)

What are some rules of thumb for content design and presentation?

As with the rest of your law firm’s website, the user experience is critical: you want visitors to stay put and engage with your content. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of how content is displayed on your law firm website. The design should be functional, accessible, and interesting. Continue to ask yourself the following question as you make web design decisions: will this content design help potential clients find and then choose my law firm?

Picking the right font for your legal content is an art and requires balancing readability, messaging, and authority. Creating compelling visual content also involves other important decisions. Consider how content, like lawyer bios and white papers, will appear when laying out your lawyer website. The best legal website allows content to be interacted with on all devices — think cell phones, tablets, and computers — and on all browser types. A piece of content should also be laid out intuitively. Friendliness and ease of use are also important and will increase the user experience by making navigation easier.

When creating content, we recommend keeping the rules of thumb below in mind. Without them, all the great content you’ve created may go to waste.

·        Keep it readable. The written content featured on your law firm website should be easy to understand. Avoid legal jargon, and try to keep sentences under 25 words and paragraphs no longer than four or five sentences.

·        Keep it scannable. Content should be broken up with meaningful headings and subheadings. Adding white space gives readers a mental break and improves comprehension.

·        Keep it visual. When possible, reinforce key concepts with interesting graphics. By using images to convey information, your law firm content will better engage users. Think about how much faster and easier it is to review a chart or infographic than to read dense paragraphs.

How does website content help build my law firm’s reputation?

Good legal content can put your law firm on the map. At a minimum, good content will get your firm’s name out there. When you optimize that content, you can raise your firms ranking in the search engines, build its reputation, and establish it as an authority in the legal space.

Awareness is a top priority here. We don’t need to tell you how competitive the legal industry is. Creating high-quality content and doing it regularly is the best way to build prospective clients’ brand awareness of your law firm and get potential clients talking.

Your firm’s legal expertise is truly what it all comes down to for potential clients. So, the content on your website should showcase your law firm’s knowledge and provide examples and evidence of your firm’s expertise and successes.

Start creating law firm website content by asking what questions your target audience might have. Address those questions as you create content. Also write about current developments in the law and how your firm can help clients handle them. These pieces show that your firm can both talk the talk and walk the walk. Creating high-quality content is how you’ll build your law firm’s credibility and expand its market reach.

Keep in mind that building authority doesn’t necessarily mean having a domineering tone. The best way to build authority for your law firm is to know your target audience and address them specifically. By knowing your audience and putting them first in your content creation plan, your law firm will prove both its authority and competency. The tone and presentation of the content created should also be in-depth and expertly written. The goal is to establish your law firm as both client-centric and approachable.

What are some common website content strategies that lawyers can use?

To build a successful online presence, your law firm needs to have a robust content creation plan. Without it, your firm won’t reach its growth potential. Below are some common website content strategies your law firm can use to get started.

Optimize your content for the web

Search engine optimization (SEO) improves your law firm’s website to boost its online visibility in search engines. For example, Google search results rank the responses to a user’s inquiry based on the content of webpages. Thus, the more relevant your content is to the search terms entered, the more likely that your content will appear at the top of a search page. You’ll need to do some keyword research to figure out what words your prospective audience is searching for.

Importantly, SEO is also measured by the quality of your law firm’s website. That means metrics such as your website’s layout, accessibility, keywords, quantity of web traffic, and backlinks matter. Yes, this means the internet is judging your readability, grammar, and syntax. Improving these important SEO metrics will increase your law firm’s overall SEO, leading to increased searchability and visibility and therefore increasing your market reach.

Local SEO is also something to keep in mind when creating a piece of content. Your firm likely works in a specific geographical region, and that’s your sweet spot for prospecting. By optimizing your firm’s content creation to target these areas, you can establish your firm as the go-to in your community.

To start optimizing your content for local prospects, we recommend creating content with a local angle. For example, you might write a blog post on who’s at fault in connection with a slip and fall under South Carolina law or an article on how the state of New York handles worker’s compensation claims.

Good legal web content and a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy will help your firm boost its search engine rankings, thus increasing its market reach and landing new clients.

Find ways to turn prospects into clients

In tandem with optimizing your law firm website is creating ways to capitalize on new traffic. New website visitors are great, but what your firm is really looking for is to turn those visitors into paying clients.

We recommend dynamic and relevant call to action (CTA) buttons on your website to make it simple for prospective clients to become paying ones. CTAs are intended to make it easy for website visitors to get more information or get in touch with your firm through a contact form. Essentially, they entice folks to take the next step by providing their contact information. CTAs typically come in the form of phrases that encourage website readers to “contact us now” or “click here for more information.”

Your law firm should also build landing pages on its website for certain content. Landing pages are web pages created for specific law firm marketing campaigns and have a single goal: converting visitors into prospects.

A visitor arrives at a landing page most often after they click on a link in an email or in an ad from a search engine or social media. To be most effective, the content on your landing page has to be both persuasive and centered around getting your visitor to take that next step. For example, your firm could advertise your lawyers’ family law expertise by offering a downloadable guide explaining the steps that should be taken in connection with a custody dispute on your child custody practice page.

Many law firms choose to work with outside experts to build their brand with web designers and legal marketing agencies that know the ins and outs of web and template design and can help you build an impactful law firm website.

Keep design front and center

We discussed content design briefly above, but it is so important that it deserves another mention. The best law firm website is design-forward, features usable content, and provides a positive user experience by anticipating needs. Accessibility is key — it’s critical to ensuring that online visitors stay on your website long enough to engage with your content and learn about the excellent legal services your firm has to offer.

We recommend a streamlined and clean website. No one likes a cluttered homepage filled with moving banners, animations, blindingly bright graphics, and endless pop-ups. To keep visitors on your firm’s homepage, it should feature a concise statement about what you do, your firm’s logo, a contact page, and clear navigation to additional pages that explain your firm’s expertise and knowledge. The typography, color scheme, and symbols of your website and law firm logo can convey a lot about your firm by saying a little. A smart choice of font can convey seriousness or help build casual rapport.

Whether you’re a small personal injury law firm or a litigation boutique, we highly recommend outsourcing the legwork to the website and content creation experts to help build your firm a new website or revamp your current one.

Get started on your website and content creation plan today

Creating content is a critical strategy for building awareness and establishing your law firm as knowledgeable and reputable. Key takeaways to maximize include improving your law firm’s search rankings through search engine optimization and developing an interesting and user-friendly website design. By boosting the ways that your firm can be discovered through quality content generation, you’ll reap the benefits in both the short and long term.

What’s your law firm’s most important marketing tool? Aside from great service that sparks referrals, we’re talking about your firm’s website, of course.

The legal space is only growing more competitive, and a good law firm website is an important weapon in the battle for clients. A good law firm website can make or break your chances of reaching and capitalizing on leads and turning a prospective client into a paying client. And the best law firm websites help grow your firm and increase its value.

Because your firm’s website is likely to make your first impression on future clients, it’s important to get it right. That means it’s no one-and-done endeavor: you have to keep your website fresh by updating its design and content regularly. So, content generation, optimization, integration, and design are all important aspects of a law firm website.

Now, let’s get into the details of what you can do to up your website game.

What framework should I keep in mind when creating my law firm website?

When considering different frameworks to achieve the advertising goals for your website, we recommend going with a simple one. There’s an art to the best legal website, and we recommend the services of a leading legal marketing team to get your law firm started on building or revamping its website.

No matter how you go about it, your law firm’s website should explain how your firm can serve clients, and it should do this in a user-friendly way, with an appealing visual design and an intuitive flow. To achieve these goals, you should focus on three key elements in designing your website: subject-matter expertise, optimization, and functionality.

Subject-matter expertise

Your law firm’s subject matter expertise is truly what it all comes down to for potential clients. So, your website should showcase your law firm’s authority and knowledge.

By providing examples and evidence of your law firm’s expertise and successes, you’ll build your law firm’s credibility and expand your market reach. The best way to build trust with prospective clients is by generating quality content (and doing it regularly) that shows how you walk the talk on your website. In addition to writing pieces about current developments in the law and how your firm can help clients handle them, you can also include client case studies and success stories.

Content creation

You already know that best practices for a law firm marketing strategy include a content creation strategy. As applied to your law firm’s website, your goal with content creation should be to showcase your law firm’s work, practice areas, and lawyers. To build a long-lasting online presence and solid website, your firm needs to integrate content marketing into its overall online tactics.

To get started, ask what questions your target audience and leads might have. Consider questions like these:

• What is the best way for a criminal defense lawyer to defend against a misdemeanor in my jurisdiction?
• What are the rules regarding medical malpractice in my state?
• How quickly do I need to file a personal injury claim?
• How might my state’s family laws impact my custody dispute?

We then recommend answering those questions by creating legal content such as blog posts, social media posts, videos, webinars, and even white papers. By adding relevant legal content, your law firm website will generate new visitors and build a strong reputation.

Client success stories and social proof

By including client success stories on your law firm’s website, you demonstrate how capable your law firm is and give future clients information regarding your firm’s positive results. A client success story tells your website visitors that your law firm solves issues and that your firm can solve their issue too. Reviews and testimonials add trustworthiness and social proof to your firm, making website visitors feel more comfortable reaching out to get more information or for a free consultation.

Your website should first and foremost emphasize that your law firm is client-centric and ready to help. So, we recommend including both your high-profile cases and some smaller ones with direct quotes, if possible, from clients who enjoyed working with your law firm. These success stories should be uplifting and positive. You’ll get extra points if these stories address the questions you’re also answering in your content creation strategy. News snippets, badges, and certificates will also go a long way in building a positive reputation for your law firm.

Optimization

Boosting your website’s online visibility is important to attracting new clients and building your firm’s book of business. To do this, you have to engage in search engine optimization (SEO), which is the practice of optimizing a website to improve online visibility.

To raise your website’s visibility, you must make it relevant to users’ searches. This means your website content has to reflect the terms that users type into the Google search bar. The more relevant your content is to a user’s search terms, the more likely it is that your content will appear at the top of a Google search page. Your law firm website will best find and engage prospective clients if you boost your SEO.

SEO is also measured by the quality of your firm’s website. We’ll discuss functionality in more detail below, but for now, when assessing the quality of your attorney website, consider its layout, font, keywords used, quality and quantity of traffic, and even the quality of written content.

For SEO optimization, your firm’s website should feature a clean and interesting web design, high-quality photos and content, and contact details for your law office (including your address, email, and phone number). Local SEO is also essential to optimizing your law firm’s website. Optimizing your firm’s presence on Google Maps, Google My Business, and Yelp can help establish your firm as the reputable, go-to law firm in the community.

Functionality and usability

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of how information is displayed on your law firm website. Your law firm website design should be functional and accessible. Every design decision you make should ask the following question: will this help potential clients find and then choose my law firm?

We’ve already discussed picking the right font for your law firm website at length. Creating a compelling visual design also involves other important choices. Consider how content, like webinars and lawyer bios, will appear when laying out your website. The best legal websites can be interacted with on all devices (think cell phones, tablets, computers, etc.) and on all browsers. Your law firm website should also be laid out intuitively and be friendly and easy to use and navigate. Without these things, all the great content you’ve created may go to waste.

Lawyer websites should also include dynamic and relevant call to action (CTA) buttons to make it simple for prospective clients to become paying clients. CTAs encourage website readers to fill out a contact form to provide their contact information. Many law firms choose to work with outside experts to build their brand with web designers and marketing strategists who know the ins and outs of web and template design and can help you build a clean, impactful law firm website.

What are some ways to set your law firm website apart?

A good law firm website is design-forward and features usable content. Your law firm web design should provide a positive user experience by anticipating needs and providing thoughtful solutions.

As noted above, your law group’s website should be accessible, and potential clients should be able to contact your law firm quickly and easily. The user experience on your firm’s website and homepage is critical to ensuring that online visitors stay on the website long enough to engage with your content and learn about the exceptional legal services your firm has to offer.

Follow these three tips to create the optimal law firm website design so your law firm stands out and keeps visitors on your site.

1. Keep it clean

We recommend a streamlined, clean website and homepage. A cluttered home page filled with moving banners, animations, and endless pop-ups doesn’t scream professionalism. After all, you don’t want to lose the potential client before they even get to the name of your firm. Your homepage should feature a direct and concise firm statement, your firm’s logo as a header, a contact page, and clear navigation to additional pages that explain your firm’s expertise and knowledge.

2. Keep it interesting

The typography, color scheme, and symbols of your website and law firm logo can convey a lot about your firm by saying a little. Is your firm classic and traditional with a rich history? Or is your firm more modern and cutting-edge?

A smart choice of font can convey seriousness or help build casual rapport. The same goes for your law firm logo design and graphic choices, which offer the opportunity for some creativity. Choosing a unique, eye-catching design can set your law firm’s website apart from all the lookalike pages on the internet and stop possible clients from scrolling on by. Use real photos rather than stock photos when possible to give clients a sense of who you are.

Of course, keep in mind that you don’t want to go overboard here. Clients may perceive a crowded, brightly colored website as unprofessional.

3. Keep it connected

The best law firm sites consist of more than a homepage. Your law firm website should have individual landing pages for each legal service that you offer. You should also include pages for engaging attorney biographies and pages that detail your expertise and case studies. Depending on your practice areas, an FAQ page may also be a good idea.

Whether you’re a small estate planning law firm or a big business law firm, we highly recommend outsourcing the legwork to the marketing experts to help build you a new website or revamp your current one.

How can you build authority with your law firm website?

As lawyers, you know that authority is important. We’ve discussed how to build authority with your legal website throughout this article, but given its importance, we’re mentioning it again here.

Building authority does not necessarily mean having an authoritative tone. The best way to build authority for your law firm is to know your target audience and to address them specifically. By understanding who your law firm is generating content for, you’ll better know what type of content to create and the tone in which to create it. For example, if your law firm focuses on business law, you’ll likely want to present your website’s content in a formal business tone. This will convey knowledge and competence, and your law firm’s blogs, webinars, white papers, and other similar content should be drafted in a similar tone.

However, if you work in juvenile or family law, the tone of your website, and thus the authority that you build, will be different. Potential clients will seek out your firm during periods of stress, and your firm’s website and related content should recognize that. The tone of relevant content should be softer and more human to convey your firm’s competency, both emotionally and legally.

By knowing your audience and putting them first, your law firm will prove both its authority and competency. The tone and presentation of the content created should also be backed up by in-depth, expertly written content. By focusing on your target audience with your firm’s website, you’ll establish your law firm as both client-centric and approachable.

What are some examples of the best law firm website designs?

As with fashion, the best law firm web design changes each year. We recommend working with marketing professionals to stay on top of the trends and ensure that your website is competing.

The following are legal websites that achieve the framework discussed above. Each website highlighted below establishes the law firm as a reputable business and helps the firm reach a larger audience and therefore generate more leads.

Paul Benson Law Firm

Paul Benson Law Firm is a law firm specializing in personal injury law, including car accidents, slips and falls, and pedestrian accidents.

The site’s homepage is clean and concise. It features the attorney’s succinct firm statement as well as links to landing pages showcasing the firm’s expertise in personal injury law. It is client-centric, written in an appropriate, authoritative tone, and features a “get in touch” CTA. We also note that the firm logo is distinct and interesting but still professional.

Collin County Law Group

Collin County Law Group is a law firm specializing in criminal defense, juvenile law, and family law.

The firm’s homepage includes clear information regarding the firm’s specialties as well as multiple avenues to contact the law firm for more information or a consultation. The website features multiple landing pages regarding the firm’s recent positive case results and client testimonials regarding the firm’s superb service. Moreover, its pages are easy to read and navigate.

M. Mathew Law Firm, PLLC

1. Mathew Law Firm, PLLC, is a law firm specializing in immigration law.

The firm’s homepage is approachable and clean and features the firm’s various accolades and badges suggesting the firm’s reputation to visitors. The website also features a compelling attorney biography page with easily accessible contact information, which humanizes the firm and improves its SEO.

Denning Law Firm, LLC and Marker and Crannell Attorneys at Law P.C.

Denning and Marker and Crannell have created helpful pages for visitors to access additional information regarding each firm’s expertise.

Denning’s blog is updated regularly with information and resources related to its practice areas, helping clients understand their need for legal counsel and support.

Crannell’s website features an extensive FAQ page that asks questions to showcase its lawyers’ legal acumen and provide resources to potential clients. These websites achieve their goal of establishing their law firms as leaders in their respective practice areas.

Get started on your law firm website today

Following the tips mentioned above can accelerate the performance of your law firm’s website. By using tactics that enhance your site’s visibility, including increasing your website traffic by implementing SEO and improving your content generation, your firm will be optimized for new leads and prospective clients. The right tools, solutions, and marketing experts will help you create a website that builds awareness about your law firm as well as a more profitable client list.

 

If you’re a family lawyer, it’s a constant challenge to demonstrate what sets you apart from the competition. This is especially true where law firm marketing efforts are concerned.

Legal marketing for family law firms usually is more formulaic than creative. But strategic legal marketing is instrumental in helping you realize your full potential as a family law attorney: building your brand recognition, growing your business, and solidifying your reputation with new clients.

Coming up with an effective marketing strategy for family law practice areas can be a challenge for even the most experienced marketing professionals. However, a viable marketing plan is the foundation for successful outreach to new clients.

Whether your firm is well known or just starting out, it’s important to consider what marketing tools to include in your next legal marketing campaign. In this post, we’ll outline key family law marketing ideas that will help you breathe new life into your internet marketing strategies.

What are the differences between family law marketing and general law marketing?

Before assessing what marketing services will work best for your law firm, let’s consider how marketing for family law firms differs from marketing for law firms with more general legal services.

As a family law lawyer, you’ll often assist people through some of the most challenging moments of their lives. So, your marketing needs to be tailored to show that your firm is a go-to resource for individuals with family law legal issues or questions. And your marketing has to be human: clients in these delicate situations need more than just a lawyer at times. They need someone in their corner they can trust.

Marketing for other legal practices usually emphasizes a firm’s accomplishments or seeks to attract potential clients based on a lawyer’s recent successes. For example, with personal injury law firms, potential clients want to know about how many cases a lawyer has handled and how much money they’ve helped plaintiffs recover. While these cases can be emotional, they’re often not tied up in relationships; they often involve a company or person your client doesn’t know on the other side of the case.

But family law marketing differs from other legal marketing because it’s so personal. So, when hiring a lawyer, it’s important for clients to make an authentic, empathetic connection with their lawyer. Showcasing that your firm is willing to build trust with its clients communicates your intent to help your clients in their time of need.

To build a connection before you ever meet a client, focus on pinpointing your firm’s personality and culture. Your messaging should explain to prospective clients how they’ll feel when they walk into your office and meet you for the first time. What is your approach to family law disputes? Do you want to be known as an aggressive divorce lawyer? Or do you want to be seen as a more approachable lawyer focused on bringing families together after a dispute? As they say, different strokes will resonate with different folks, depending on their feelings about their case and spouse or partner.

Successful family law marketing also depends on how well you’ve structured the information on your website. When prospective clients are looking for a law firm, they’re likely to gravitate to a website that answers their most pressing questions about topics including divorce and child custody and support. The better and clearer your answers to those questions, the more likely you are to get hired.

That also means that your website needs to be primed for its spot on the web. Here are eight marketing tactics that can help.

Family law marketing tips that work

It’s critical to market your firm in an honest, transparent way given the level of emotional investment often present in family law cases. Following these six family law marketing strategies can pay dividends when advertising your practice.

1. Focus on your website’s design

When prospective clients come to your website, it’s important to grab their attention. But you have to attract clients in the right way.

That means you need to have a simple, clear website that’s not cluttered and that immediately makes it clear who you are and what you do. The most important content should appear “above the fold,” meaning that a visitor can see it without having to scroll. Use high-quality photographs, an appealing color scheme, a simple font, and enough white space to entice visitors to linger on your page.

It’s also important to include a call to action (CTA) at the bottom of the page. Your CTA should encourage visitors to take action, whether that’s reading more of your site or giving your firm a call for a free consultation. Prominently place your contact information, including your phone number, in several places on your website.

Above all else, make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Many clients will be scrolling through your website from their phones. Consider whether to minimize some elements or menus to make it easier for visitors to scan your site on a small screen.

2. Use sound search engine optimization strategies

With so many law firms in the market and so many potential clients starting their search for a lawyer online, a strong digital presence is more important now than ever before. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one way to help drive your target audience to your website. When SEO is done well, a family law website will appear toward the top of Google search rankings.

Table stakes for on-page SEO are using the right keywords in the right places, such as in your page title, meta description, headings, image alt tags, and more. And there’s an art to content-related SEO as well as a science. You want your content to sound like it was written by and for humans, not as if you stuffed a keyword in every other sentence. Save the stuffing for teddy bears and turduckens.

Another key for family law practices is to make the most of local SEO efforts. That means you’re optimizing search for potential clients in your area. Typically, clients will search for “family law lawyer” plus a city, such as Chicago or Dallas. Make sure you include local identifiers and other important keywords that clients will be searching for in the content you add to your site.

Google My Business is also an important part of your local marketing toolkit. When you update your Google My Business listing, you’ll show up in search results with a map to your practice along with details about your firm, including its website and online reviews. Make sure you choose the right category for your law firm (e.g., family law attorney), and then start seeking Google reviews (more on this below).

3. Master content marketing

Your content is what will attract new clients to your firm. The content on your website will influence clients’ first impression of your family law practice and give prospects the confidence that you are their ideal legal resource.

Today, law firms create and share high-quality content in a variety of ways. Whether your content takes the form of blogs, articles, ebooks, interviews, podcasts, videos, interviews, or another format, it’s critical to select content that will resonate with your audience. Think about the questions family law clients might have if they’re struggling with a divorce, separation, or child support. Use those questions to structure the content on your family law firm website.

Speaking of structure, organize your content in a way that’s intuitive for first-time visitors. In addition to pages that describe the family law services that you offer, include resource pages that explain complicated legal concepts, such as alimony and support calculations. Use your site navigation to pull people through your website.

And keep your clients at the center of your content: it should always be about how you can help them, not promoting you and your firm. That means you must remember that you’re writing for humans going through a personal struggle — and not to impress other lawyers. Include definitions for legal terminology and write in simple language that doesn’t scare off prospects.

4. Get included in law firm directories

When searching online for a family law lawyer, people often consider lawyers listed in law firm directories, such as Avvo, Martindale, Lawyers.com, and more. Many of these directories include free as well as paid listings.

As with every online presence for your firm, it’s essential to optimize your profile. Stronger profiles get more attention. So fill out your profile with your name, practice area, location, years of practice, contact information, and a brief overview that explains your experience and services.

In your profile, write about how you can help rather than about your experience on law review or your GPA. Because the first few lines of your profile are the ones that prospects will see and skim first, they have to be packed with meaningful information that grabs the reader’s attention. They should tell a prospective client enough to get them to click on your profile to read more.

To cement your first impression, always include a professional headshot. A casual crop of yourself on the beach or in another informal setting could make clients believe you won’t take their case seriously.

Many legal directories also include client reviews. Profiles with more reviews and higher ratings from former clients build trust in future clients. So be sure to ask clients to add a review to your profile.

5. Embrace social media

Because of the personal nature of family law, your firm absolutely must have a social presence. Social media channels can help prospective clients get to know and trust you and your firm.

You can use your account to share important law firm information, including updates about your firm and profiles of your staff. You might highlight important decisions or legal developments that will affect your future clients’ cases. You might also answer frequently asked questions. Whatever the approach, the focus with social, as with content generally, is on the needs of clients seeking legal advice, not on you and your accomplishments.

You’ll also want to consider which channels to invest in. You’ll need to maintain a presence on LinkedIn to encourage referrals from other lawyers and professional groups. To reach prospective clients, however, you should spend time where they are, and that’s on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.

Remember that you’ll need to have patience when engaging prospects on social media. Their decision-making tends to be more painstaking than other clients, and they’re likely to test the waters with several law firms before they choose a lawyer.

6. Remain relevant with email marketing

Email marketing can help keep your family law firm top of mind with your target audience. Not only does email marketing help you create personalized messaging for your clients, but it’s also instrumental in solidifying the relationships you may already have in place.

The advantage of email marketing lies in its capacity to help a family law practice maintain its professional legal network. By sending out mass emails, your firm can stay engaged with a vast number of clients and prospects. You can also segment your list into smaller groups, such as prospective clients and potential referral sources.

When conducting email marketing campaigns, communicate in an articulate, direct way. Having a clear message before writing the email helps focus your marketing. For example, your email could answer a common question or share a video. Or you might explain a recent decision of interest to your clients. You can also repurpose content from your website, including blogs. And you can make your content even more personal if you include video. Regardless of which vehicle you choose, the key is to deliver value to your recipients.

7. Invest in paid search

If organic traffic to your firm’s website isn’t generating the results your marketing team had hoped for, it may be time to consider paid search advertisements, including Google ads or other pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, to jump-start your firm’s web presence.

When people find themselves requiring family law services, they most likely turn to the internet to search for a lawyer who will address their concerns. PPC can bring your law firm right to the top of the search engine results. (Of course, some people skip over ads, so your best long-term bet for online visibility is to up your content game and invest in SEO).

Running a paid ad campaign will require you to think about the keywords that your clients are searching for and the zip codes where your clients are located. You’ll also need to set up a landing page where clients who click on your ad can get more information about your firm. If you spend time thinking through these elements of your advertising, you’re likely to pull in more qualified leads.

8. Use testimonials for greater effect

Word of mouth is a powerful marketing technique for family law firms. Firsthand accounts from clients who have worked with you in the past can have a remarkable impact. The voice of past clients has a level of authenticity that you often can’t capture in other forms of advertising. People trust the word of other people like them. Testimonials offer a firsthand perspective into what your firm does and how it operates.

You can also share client testimonials on your firm’s website and social media. Clients sitting on the fence about whether to work with your firm will consider these reviews, and they can be a powerful tipping point in your favor if your reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

It’s important to get reviews on lawyer directories like Avvo. But you should also ask clients to post reviews on Google, Facebook, and even Yelp. Given their prominence in search engine rankings, these sites are the first places that prospective clients will see reviews and look for referrals. So be sure to solicit positive reviews from your clients; ask your top clients to give you five stars and say a few words about how you helped them.

Begin your family law marketing journey today

If you implement any (or all!) of the digital marketing tools highlighted above, your family law firm will start building a stronger presence. Online marketing strategies, including a well-designed website using SEO techniques, content marketing, social media, paid search, email marketing, reviews, and directories, are the tactics your law firm needs to implement to meet — and exceed — your marketing goals.

Readability is fundamental. That means even the font of your law firm’s website and legal documents matters.

Whether you’re working for a small law firm or BigLaw, using the right font can better engage your target audience and build your firm’s credibility and reputation for professionalism. It’s an important tool for creating your brand and getting your law firm’s name out there. (Just know that the right answer for a law firm font is never Comic Sans.)

As a lawyer, you’re regularly drafting. The font you choose, like the case law you research, is another tool to use to your advantage in persuading your audience. The font your firm uses on formal legal briefs and memoranda should differ from the one you use for casual communications. Which font to use for your law firm’s logo is an important question that deserves forethought, as is which to use for letterhead, business cards, and your firm’s web design. There is an art to it, we promise.

In this blog, we’ll discuss the basics of fonts for legal documents, including which to use and why, and then will get into details on different typographies and typefaces. Let’s get started.

What message can certain fonts portray?

Your choice of font impacts a potential client’s first impression of your firm. Is your firm classic and traditional, with a rich history? Or is your firm more modern and cutting-edge? A smart choice of font can convey seriousness or help build casual rapport. As you know, a solid law firm marketing strategy is key to staying at the top of the legal game, and font selection and consistency are important pieces of the marketing plan puzzle that can showcase your firm’s legal services.

There are a couple of overarching important things to keep in mind when choosing a font.

Readability and legibility are the two top priorities when selecting a font. Illegible and “artistic” fonts make your text difficult to read. You don’t want clients or prospects laboring to understand your message or read your law firm name. The best way to capture someone scrolling through social media is not by making your content harder to access. So, as more people choose to get work done from their mobile devices, it’s important to consider how a selected font reads on all screen sizes. Selecting the right legal font or typeface indicates good judgment, which we know your law firm has in abundance.

Consistency is also important. Your law firm should choose the legal font that can be used consistently across mediums, including on all lawyer websites, practice area pages, letterhead, business cards, and even T-shirts and office supplies. Thinking about your firm’s web design is especially important here. A unique and surprising law firm font can help set your firm apart and make it immediately recognizable to clients, a pivotal step in building brand identity.

What’s the moral of this story? The best law firm font is a consistent one.

Are there better fonts for certain aspects of your legal work?

The short answer is, of course! The font that you use for formal legal documents (say, in a U.S. Supreme Court brief or an IRS filing) can and should differ from the font used for your law firm logo or in your firm’s web design. Let’s take a look at which fonts you should use for which purpose.

Legal documents

Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, and Century family fonts are standard for legal documents. When it comes to drafting formal legal documents, your firm cannot go wrong with these typefaces. Many litigators already know that certain courts require them (and often other very specific formatting criteria, like italics over underlining). Check with your local jurisdiction for specific rules on typeface and font size before filing. Here, your firm’s style should take a back seat to your judge’s preferences.

The following legal document fonts should get you started on brainstorming and help you determine your law firm’s distinct style:

• Serif fonts: Baskerville, Georgia, Century Schoolbook, Garamond, and Times New Roman and its alternatives, such as Equity and Verdigris
• Sans serif fonts: Century Gothic, Calibri, Helvetica, and alternatives to Helvetica such as Atlas and Concourse

Marketing materials

When it comes to your firm’s marketing materials, you have much more leeway in font selection. We recommend fonts that are clean and professional but still have a bit of edge. As noted above, you’ll want the font to be both readable and consistent.

• Website and web design: Your website should be optimized for readability and searchability, and it should feature high-quality content. As you know, search engine optimization (SEO) is also measured by the quality of your law firm’s website, so the higher the quality of content, the higher the likelihood of SEO impact. Your website’s font is key here. Many law firms choose to work with outside experts to build their brand with web designers and marketing strategists who know the ins and outs of template design and typography for lawyers. Consider how content, like webinars and lawyer bios, will appear on your website when choosing a font.You should select your web fonts carefully. Sans serif fonts are easier to read on screens (especially on cell phones) and can help improve the user experience. We recommend Helvetica, Open Sans, or Roboto to get you started.
• Law firm logo design. Your law firm logo offers the best opportunity for some creativity. Choosing a unique font can set your law firm apart. When picking a font, consider where the logo might appear and adjust its size and appearance accordingly. Keep in mind how the font will appear on things like business cards, brochures and other advertisements, social media graphics, T-shirts, mugs, and tote bags. Again, readability proves a top priority.
• Email. Email, like legal documents, should have a certain level of professionalism. Consider whether your law firm will choose one particular font for all email communications or whether it will permit individual lawyers and staff some latitude when making the decision.Arial is the most common font used for emailing because it’s professional and easy to read. Other fonts popular for emails include Calibri, Georgia, Impact, Garamond, and Times New Roman. What fonts are available might also be limited by your service providers, like Microsoft Outlook or certain Google fonts. You can also download additional fonts to supplement what is available in your software packages.

Which family of fonts should your firm go with: serif or sans serif?

There are two main classes of font styles: serif and sans serif. Which family of fonts should your firm choose? The answer to this question is a lawyer’s favorite: it depends.

Generally, serif fonts (think Times New Roman and Garamond) are about lineage and legacy. They’re classic and traditional, and we associate them with trustworthiness and reliability. They can also be seen as a little old school and are infrequently used by tech companies and startups.

Sans serif fonts (think Helvetica and Open Sans) convey newness, a modern outlook, and an emphasis on being cutting-edge. These fonts are minimal and simplistic, and we associate them with youth and freshness. Sans serif fonts lack the gravity and history of serif fonts.

Speaking more technically, serif fonts have a decorative flourish at both the beginning and end of the character. Sans serif (which means “without the serif”) fonts don’t have that flourish.

Which typography and font family to pick is entirely up to your law firm. Is your firm carrying on a family legacy? If so, a serif font might be most fitting. But if your firm is turning its legacy on its head and becoming more modern, a sans serif font might be the right choice.

When choosing a font, consider what image your firm is trying to convey and who you are. We understand that it’s a big question (and promise we’re not trying to derail your day with existentialism). Hopefully, it’s a fun question to consider! Your law firm is unique, and thinking about your clients and business is good for long-term growth and longevity.

This can be a tough decision, especially if you don’t have a background in branding and design. We recommend working with branding experts to get your firm started on everything from logo design to local SEO.

Choosing the best font for your law firm

Your brand is important, and the fonts your law firm chooses for each aspect of its professional services create the brand. Remember to prioritize readability, legibility, and consistency.

Finding the right font is a critical step in refining your law firm’s brand and voice and executing on its vision. It’s time to get creative!