Whether you’re just setting up your own law firm or you work for/own a well-established legal company, your top priorities would be to achieve more and better business, boost your revenues and sustain growth. Additionally, all these goals would need to dovetail with your unique personal ethics, values and approach to law.
In the United States, for instance, if lawyers wanted to advertise these aspects and attract new business during most of the 20th century, it was seen as unprofessional or showing the profession in a less-than-positive light.
Many of us would be surprised to know that legal advertising was frowned upon till 1972 when the United States Supreme Court lifted the ban on advertising by lawyers that had been in force since 1908.
Today, lawyers are permitted to advertise in most countries, subject to certain regulations imposed by their Bar Associations. However, with the tech boom and the prevalence of the Internet have transformed the advertising landscape for the legal profession in most places around the world.
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Why Is It Important For A Legal Company To Have A Website?
Modern legal professionals are in sync with current trends in marketing and advertising. They understand that they can be accessible and reachable to a larger population of clients other than those who hire them through word-of-mouth recommendations.
A website is important because:
- It enables people to find, locate and reach your firm
- It streamlines your workflow by scheduling appointments, saving time by answering many routine queries online, including case management/documentation systems, update case-files, allow clients to view case progress, etc.
- It enhances your marketing strategies – surveys show that nearly 95% of people access information about industries and professions through social media and the Internet
- Websites showcase your strengths, skills, knowledge and successes. They also provide information about your legal team and resources.
- It helps to promote trust and credibility and gives potential clients information about your team, similar to putting out a resume/CV
- Your website keeps your office open 24×7, all year round and you never have to miss a call or inquiry
- It is your best marketing tool and can provide comprehensive information through FAQs
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How to Build Your Legal Company Website
Before you begin the process, it’s wise to take a look at some of the great law firm website examples to give you an idea of what’s required. Some may be of solo practitioners, others of small business or boutique law-firms who are clear and consistent about the kind of cases they take. A large and well-known law-firm would have a great amount of content, presented in a simple and attractive way to enable clients to know their rights and responsibilities, while providing information about services available. If yours is an ensemble law-firm, with each lawyer specializing in a particular aspect, you can advertise this facility.
Follow a step by step process:
- Analyze your unique needs, preferences and budget
- Educate yourself on your state’s legal ethics rules and how they would apply to your advertising and website aspects
- Hire a professional website designer for best results: Choose it in the same way you would expect a client to look for your own firm: a well-established, reputed and professionally-equipped one, with proven records of success, who are the owners, whether your privacy and confidentiality will be secure, if they have subcontractors, etc.
- The costs would include the price of domain name and registration, hosting and maintenance charges, cost of design and development, reporting on search engine optimization and real time traffic
- Remember that costs could go up every year
- You may have to purchase keywords on search engines, pay for directory listings on legal sites, and buy top-quality, exclusive content. Add these to your estimate right in the beginning so that you’re not caught unawares
- Register a domain name: your website design firm can handle this aspect of it. However, you need to be involved in selecting the name. You can add words like “family law” “company law” “personal injury” etc. to the domain name to emphasize your practice areas
- You can also be involved in selecting the theme ( WordPress Themes ) that provides all the necessary features that a legal company website would require
- As part of the theme you can decide what kind of graphics and photographs you want to include on the site. These may have to be frequently reviewed and updated
- You will also have to provide inputs on who your typical target clients would be – for instance if you specialize in elder law, you would need an easier-to-navigate, simple user interface
- Invest in great content: this will stand you in good stead on a permanent basis, ensure that you get back-links and are referred to/quoted in other places such as blogs
- Some essential features need to be there on your website, no matter what other material you choose to put in there. For instance, you need a comprehensive Overview/About Us page, complete details of all those who work in your firm, including legal support, reliable contact information (street address, telephone, fax, email, live-chat/web-cam chat etc.), practice areas that you handle and professionally written biographies of your attorneys
- Customize to reflect your brand and add the right themes and plug-ins
- It’s important to include a regularly updated blog that gives information on current legal topics, opinions by experts, pro bono work that you may do, etc.
- Review your competitor sites to avoid duplication/plagiarism of ideas and concepts
- When testing your site, approach it from a client point of view and check for ease of navigation, user friendliness, relevance of information, uniqueness, updated content, informative qualities
- Add a careers page that will help you attract top-quality talent
Once you’ve set up your website, test it rigorously and provide feedback to your web designers to tweak the glitches. Apart from website design, get them to design a logo and customize every page to reflect a consistent theme, colors etc. Use these in your buttons, contact information, background etc. Attract more traffic and business through the smart use of social media, Google My Business, testimonials from former clients and ensure that your achievements, accolades, membership of prestigious associations etc. are also on display on your website.
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