Attorneys and law firms are among those services that prioritize reliability and trust to the nth degree. Anybody seeking out a law firm is hardly just browsing for a product or service that they might like; they are generally in need and desirous of being assured that they have the best representation in their corner.
These days, that impression usually begins with visiting the website of an attorney. For the attorney’s then, this is a particularly important thing to get right.
Of course, it all comes down to website design and imparting exactly the right impression from the second a visitor accesses the site. Before you can even get to thinking about conversion, you need to make sure visitors aren’t clicking the X after a few seconds.
But what makes for good attorney website design? Web design experts Peak Design say that this specific type of website needs to have a few elements that promote the impression just discussed. However, there is also a lot of web design advice and general best practices that also apply. Before you can make a great law firm website, you need to first know how to design a website more generally.
Some General Tips
So, before getting on to the specifics of law firm website design, it is best to first go over the web design basics, which certainly apply here too. Here are some of the fundamentals of modern, effective web design:
Avoid Clutter
This sounds like an obvious tip, but there is so much contained within it. Clutter on a website can be an aesthetic mess, but it can also negatively affect a visitor’s ability to access the information that they need.
Negative space should be made use of, as a lack of options can really make it clear what a visitor is expected to do. And with law firms, it is especially important that visitors can reach the, often detailed, information they need.
Optimize for SEO
You can do a lot of this yourself, but generally proper SEO website optimization takes expertise and preliminary research. This is not only to find the best keywords, but to also find the most current keywords and to appear higher on search engine results.
Simple Structure
There is a good rule of thumb here that can certainly be applied to law firm websites. If there is any page on the website that takes more than three clicks from the homepage to get to, the structure is already too complex. Avoid this.
Specific Attorney Website Design Tips
So, that’s a few of the basics, but how do law firm websites go beyond this? In order to work this out, it is important to focus on what is contained in a law firm’s website that is not common among websites more generally.
The first thing to note is that a law firm needs to give fairly complex information to visitors. This is not an ecommerce site, and nothing will be bought on the strength of an image and a brief description. The service needs to be laid out in detail. Nevertheless, you should take care not to over complicate the website as a result. Supply a lot of information, but have it tucked under clear and navigable links and headings.
Aesthetically speaking, law firm websites reflect the aesthetics of brick-and-mortar attorney offices. Space, cleanliness, convenience, and a lack of ostentation are all qualities you should also incorporate into the website.
In the end, a professional web designer with experience serving law firms will know what to do. However, there is a lot to be said for knowing what to expect yourself.
