The Key to a Successful Law Firm Website That Most Lawyers Don’t Know
By Alex on October 20, 2011 in Web Design
What is the most important factor in designing a great law firm website? Selecting a great web design firm is important. Having a decent budget helps, too. But we’ve found the key difference between an average website and an amazing website has nothing to do with money. It’s client participation and feedback in the design and internet marketing process.
At PaperStreet, we learn as much as we can about our clients in order to create custom websites uniquely suited to their needs. We have an in-depth Creative Brief every client fills out. We learn our client’s goals — both for their website and their business. We learn their strengths. We learn their weaknesses.
How do we learn these things? The clients tell us. We have a multiple step design process, and we get client approval every step of the way. This involvement keeps us moving. We understand that lawyers are very busy people, and that web design isn’t their top priority (that’s our job). But by investing in the web process, law firms ensure they will get a better result, in less time for less money.
How to Get a Great Law Firm Website, In Less Time for Less Money
If you are a lawyer considering designing a new website, we advise you to first sit down and think deeply about what you want the website to accomplish beyond the obvious need to “look good.” This includes:
- Analyzing your current site if you have one. Make note of what works and what doesn’t. Use Google Analytics to get data on site performance (See our past blog post on Using Google Analytics to Decide if You Need a Website Redesign.)
- Gathering examples of law firm websites you love (and hate) and thinking about why you like (or dislike) them so you can communicate this to your design team. This includes looking at layout, colors, photos, videos, typography, animation, etc;
- Deciding who your audience is and what sort of client you are hoping to attract (not just “anyone with the money to hire me”). This is a key business decision that should shape the look, tone and content of the site.
- Researching if you want to generate more clients through law firm SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)
Can’t You Just Decide For Me?
Sometimes we have clients who say they simply don’t have the time to make these kinds of decisions. They ask us to take care of it all for them.
And we can — with some reservations. A web design firm operating without client input is like a restaurant serving meals without any orders. Yes, we cook amazing “food” here at PaperStreet, and we can create almost anything. If you do not know what you want, we can use our expertise and experience to make our best guess. But you might end up with Oreo cheesecake when you really wanted cedar plank salmon.
This is a key difference between a custom web design firm like PaperStreet and the two other types of companies that produce law firm websites: 1) businesses that only churn out cookie-cutter, template websites; and 2) big, expensive advertising agencies.
A template firm won’t want your input because it doesn’t matter. They serve burgers and French fries — and if you don’t want fast food, go elsewhere. On the opposite extreme, expensive advertising agencies often don’t need as much of your input because they conduct extensive marketing research and surveys to base decisions on. Of course, this research can take several months – and they will ask your law firm to pay for it.
PaperStreet was founded by an attorney, and our process is more of a partnership. This saves time and money, and ultimately, it works better because decisions that are made with client input (especially those that directly affect law firm profits) are more likely to succeed when they have buy-in from a firm’s leaders.
