7 Website Tips Every Lawyer Should Know

As time goes on, life seems to be more and more technology-driven. 

Likewise, it’s become more and more important for businesses to not only have an online presence, but also to maintain a strong and engaging one. 

Now, we mean business when we said businesses a few seconds ago: yes, we’re talking about lawyers, too, who now more than ever need to optimize their websites in a personable way. 

Read through this 7-step list of tips and tricks we know all lawyers should keep in mind when creating their website or improving an existing one.
 

1. Blog a bunch

Blogging is the most obvious way to start engaging your online visitors. 

Within a blog, you can devote posts to the areas that you practice, newsworthy events, and even opinion pieces on rulings or cases that you think will strike a chord with potential readers. 

When writing these posts, make sure you also check out their URLs. If you’re blogging with a CMS like WordPress, you’ll probably come across a few posts with a page ID that ends in a modified domain extension (e.g. wordpress.com). You can use a permalink tool that makes it easy to edit this URL, which will ultimately help you optimize that particular webpage.

2. Detail your data

What do the best lawyers’ websites do? They pay close attention to the details, especially in terms of metadata. 

Doing so helps to improve search engine rankings, correspondingly, increase site traffic.

While good content and strong engagement with readers is key, tweaking the finer points of your metadata can make a big difference in the long run. It pays to be particular, so consider these details:

• The Meta Description – This is a description of each page that you can customize to attract traffic. It’s crucial that your meta description actually applies to the content on your page and doesn’t contain a bunch of keywords that you only think search for.
• The H1 (Heading 1) Tag – This is the main heading introducing each pagethat should speak to the content of your page directly. As with your meta descriptions, include keywords that offer the best overview of your content. Search engines will use these to index your site, so they’re more than important!
• The Title Tag – This is the title of your content as it will appear in a search engine’s SERP. Using targeted keywords here is, as in previous examples of metadata, essential. Look for other ways to make your title tags stand out, such as writing them in the form of a question.
   

3. Find some photos

Lawyers use a lot of words in their profession—but on their websites, they’re going to need to add some photos.

Pictures create further engagement from readers, especially if they tend to move from site to site quickly. By simply adding an interesting picture to a page of content, readers may be more likely to stick around and see what said page is all about. 

Make sure that each picture you use has ALT text assigned to it, which helps provide alternative information about the picture. Adding this ALT text allows search engines to recognize your chosen image; once they do, they’ll start taking them into consideration when crawling your site.
 

4. Create strong conversion points

Conversions are the end goal of every website—including a lawyer’s website.

To get your online visitors to convert, make it clear how you want them to engage with you while and after navigating your site.

If you want your visitors to call you, make your phone number noticeable through large fonts, bold colors, and by placing your number near the top of the page.

If you want visitors to connect with you via a contact form, keep its text short and sweet and let prospects know exactly what they should expect after filling one out, such as a free consultation, phone call, or an in-person meeting.
 

 5. Render a responsive site

We all know lawyers tend to be on-the-go; nowadays, their online prospects will be, too. (break here)

Gone are the days when websites need only be viewed on a desktop computer--using a mobile device or tablet is the most likely way a visitor will first come to a lawyer’s website like yours. (break here)

Having learned this, it’s important to make sure that your website is responsive, meaning that anyone can easily view it on any device or browser of his or her choosing. 

6. Set up your social media

While social media might not seem like the first priority for most lawyers, it definitely shouldn’t be their last when it comes to their websites.
 
Social media pages aren’t just for e-commerce companies anymore — if you create social media profiles that post relevant, personable content, people, even future clients, WILL interact and share. 

Linking to your social media sites from your website can helps further boost engagement with readers. By putting quick links to social media pages on every blog post, readers are able to share content at the click of a button. Better yet, you can use your social media pages to promote your blog posts, new or old.
 

7. Look out for legal limitations

In the legal industry, you’ve got to do your research and be on top of any legal limitations to websites.

For example, certain state bar ethic rules don’t allow a comment section on your blog. You may also need to provide a legal disclaimer at the bottom of your blog —something to the effect of your website being for educational purposes only.

The Bottom Line

If you haven’t guessed it already, content creation is key to making any lawyer’s website the best it can be.

Creating content that’s unique, engaging, and RIGHT for your site is even more important.

Whether you’re blogging, posting, or simply making a few edits here and there, do what it takes to give every one of your readers content that’s both interesting and worthy of some shares. 

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Want even more tips? Contact Perfect Search today to learn exactly how we can help increase leads on your firm’s website.