How to write killer content for a law firm website
The legal industry is rife with competition. According to the latest report by the National Profile of Solicitors, there are over 83,000 lawyers in Australia.
That’s a lot of people to compete against. And that’s why lawyers, like any other business, need a website that can effectively represent them to potential clients.
The law firm website content you create is essential to bringing in new business. The website content must be engaging, informative, and interesting. Otherwise, the reader will quickly click away.
Good law firm website content educates potential clients. It informs them what it’s like to work with you before they even speak to a lawyer at your firm. It also encourages readers to contact you and share that website content with others. The word of mouth referrals will bring in more new clients.
To create good law firm website content on a consistent basis, having a plan is essential. You’ll need guidance when it comes time to write quality content or publish news updates about recent developments in the legal industry that might be relevant for your audience.
[toc]
Do lawyer need websites?
Most definitely. Consumers use the Internet on a regular basis to make their purchases. That’s why businesses of all sizes are realising that having a website is essential to compete in the modern marketplace.
So it’s no surprise that lawyers, too, have realised the importance of online presence. Lawyers who don’t have websites will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage compared with those who do—in terms of finding customers and attracting new business, as well as keeping existing customers satisfied.
Why do lawyers need a website?
A website is a vital legal marketing tool. Lawyers need a website to build their online presence, which can help them attract new legal clients and grow their business.
A website is also a great way to share information about your practice, your team, and your areas of expertise. Here are a few more reasons why you need a website for your law firm:
Building authority
One of the best ways to establish yourself as an authority in your industry is by effectively executing content marketing. Covering common pain points with helpful information will position you as a trusted resource. Customers will learn to turn to you when researching these issues.
Trust is one of the most important qualities you can have as a law firm, especially with customers. Rather than endless sales presentations, provide resources that are valuable to your readers. Remind them what you excel in and offer to assist them with expert guidance.
Increasing brand awareness
The more visible you are to potential clients, the more likely they’ll remember you when they need legal counsel. So, familiarise yourself with the most frequent search phrases and to help you law firm stand out on Google searches.
Humans are creatures of habit and people are often drawn to what they’re familiar with. If your legal firm keeps coming up with responses to popular legal inquiries, people will recognise you as an authority in legal matters. And the more you’ll be able to attract potential clients to your law firm.
Boosting sales
All of the factors mentioned earlier will result in increased revenues. This is a consequence of an effective website content strategy for lawyers.
Because this is the case, many law firms are turning to online marketing to increase their visibility. This is why over 60% of law firms invest most of their budgets on legal marketing. People are increasingly turning to the Internet to find legal expertise. So if you can establish yourself as a trusted resource on Google, you should see an uptick in business revenue.
What makes a good law firm website?
When it comes to creating a good law firm site, there are certain things that you need to keep in mind. Your law firm website content is one of the most important aspects to consider. Quality content can help potential clients learn more about your firm and what you have to offer. Here are some tips for creating great law firm website content:
- Focus on quality over quantity. Don’t try to cram too much information onto your site. Instead, focus on providing high-quality law firm website content that will be beneficial to visitors.
- Keep it up-to-date. Make sure you regularly update your site with fresh content so that visitors always have something new to read.
- Make it informative. Great law firm websites should provide potential clients with the information they need in order to determine whether or not your law firm is right for them.
- Make it easy to read. Avoid using legal jargon if possible. Instead, focus on creating website content that is straightforward and easy to understand.
- Make it engaging. Nobody wants to read a dry, boring site. Make sure you create effective law firm website content that’s interesting and engaging. Content that grabs the reader’s attention.
What should a law firm website contain?
If you’re attempting to develop an eye-catching website that generates a lot of leads, one part of the approach is to include pages that are relevant to your target audience. Here are some web pages you should include in your law firm website:
Homepage
Your website is the first impression potential clients will have of your law firm. So it’s important to make it a good one. A professionally designed homepage provides readers with the right information at just a glance. This can help you connect with prospective customers quickly. You homepage should accomplish a few essential tasks:
- It’s straightforward and easy to read.
- Articulates what you do and how your services benefit your clients
- Establishes your authority by demonstrating professionalism and initiative
- Offers a brief introduction of your services
- Encourages potential leads to complete a desired action
- Answers the questions users may have about your law firm
- Make it easy for potential clients to get in touch with you
Make sure you give your homepage a once-over when you’re done. This is to ensure it meets all the necessary criteria before launching.
About Us
The “why” matters.
You want prospects to know that you’re not just in the legal business because it’s convenient or lucrative (Even if it’s true). You want to be able share a little of the story behind why you and your firm exist. You want prospects to know they can get more than just legal advice from you – That there are real human beings on the other end.
When someone lands on your About Us page, they’re looking for information that will make them feel more at ease about taking the next step. Turning your About Us page into a sales pitch would be a wasted opportunity.
Instead, your About Us page should highlight how your law firm came to be. Your struggles and accomplishments along the way, and how your goals are designed to meet your clients’ needs. Follow up with a call to action.
Team bios
Having summaries of your team’s personal and professional background is just as important as having an About Us of your law firm.
Customers want to know who they’re dealing with. Especially when operating in a sensitive area like law, where trust and privacy protection are major concerns, it is crucial to project your attorneys as legal experts with impeccable track records. This is an excellent way of persuading your prospects that they will be taken care of.
Practice area
Your practice area is the heart of your law firm. The information in your Practice Area pages helps answer the questions prospects have about what you do and how you can solve their problems.
Each practice area should have its own dedicated page. These pages will go into more detail about how and why this practice area meets your readers’ needs. The pages should also provide readers with valuable insight into whether they need help from someone like yourself.
Blog content
Blogging is a fantastic way to show your firm’s expertise within the legal industry. When you create high quality content, you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of complex legal topics. This can help to attract potential clients who are looking for a lawyer with specialist skills.
In addition, blogging allows you to connect with your audience on a more personal level. Publishing informative content consistently fosters trust and loyalty among your readership – something that can lead to more business in the future.
Contact Us
Make it easy for potential customers to get in touch with you. Include your contact info on every page of the site. But also include a separate Contact Us page where all necessary information is gathered in one place.
This allows prospects to reach out quickly if they have any questions or concerns about purchases made on this website. You may also want to include a Google Map to show your exact office location.
Case studies
One of the most effective methods for converting website visitors into leads is to showcase your past successes. Legal case studies are a great way to do this. Legal case studies provide in-depth information about the types of cases you’ve won in the past. They also explain how you were able to secure positive outcomes for your clients.
When writing case studies, be sure to focus on the challenges your client faced. Describe how you were able to help your client overcome them. You should also highlight any unique aspects of the case that made it successful.
If you don’t have any current case studies, consider reaching out to some of your clients. Ask if they’d be willing to provide a testimonial. Next to case studies, testimonials are one of the best forms of social proof you can showcase on your law firm website.
FAQs
Before they decide to work with you, potential clients will likely have a lot of questions on the legal industry and your law practice. Having an FAQ page is a great way to address the most common questions. An FAQ page also ensures that website visitors can find the answers they’re looking for quickly and easily.
Make sure to include information about your practice area, as well as any other relevant details. You should also be prepared to update your FAQ page regularly as new questions arise.
In addition to general questions about the legal process, you can also get specific with your FAQs. For example, if you specialise in family law, you could list questions like “What is the difference between a legal separation and a divorce?” or “Can I get child support if I’m not the custodial parent?”
This type of law firm website content is especially important for prospective clients. The more information you can provide, the better chance you have of converting a website visitor into a paying customer.
Why do law firms need SEO?
One of the main ways people look for attorneys is through search engines. Law firms that aren’t equipped with a solid SEO strategy will struggle to succeed in today’s market.
Visitors use search engines to find answers to legal queries. Search engines are also used to locate and compare law firms. Visitors will also want to obtain contact information for the lawyer they wish to hire. Optimising your website increases your law firm’s visibility for the search terms potential clients use. This increases your chances of converting these users into leads.
Here are a few advantages that come with optimising your law firm website:
- You’ll improve your search engine rankings, which allows you to attract new customers.
- You will outperform local and national competing law firms. This will persuade customers to choose your firm over the others.
- Your firm receives a steady stream of traffic and leads through your website.
What are some good SEO tips for lawyers?
Let’s look at the specific elements your law firm website must have in order to rank highly in organic search results:
Keyword research
Keyword research is an important consideration for any SEO campaign. But it’s especially crucial in the highly competitive legal sector. The primary goal for your keyword research should be to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords that will bring your target audience to your site.
Brand messaging
Branding is one of the least discussed aspects of an SEO-friendly legal firm’s website. It’s not enough to just have great services. Your law practice needs strong branding if it wants to survive in a sea of internet rivals. That means investing in a user-friendly site, high-resolution images and a professional logo.
As a lawyer, you’ll need to figure out what your law firm stands for and how to convey that to your potential clients. You may want to consider working with a copywriter or legal content writer to develop a unique brand and value proposition.
A consistent brand messaging will help distinguish your law firm website from its competition. It’s also enhance your reputation as a credible and professional legal practice in your field.
Technical search engine optimisation
Technical SEO defines the technical processes that keep your site functioning properly and accessible for search engine indexing. It doesn’t matter if you have the best-looking website in the world. Without a well-structured site, you’ll find it nearly impossible to rank highly in the search results. You’ll also turn off your visitors by having a site that’s difficult to navigate.
Here are a few important technical SEO tips to remember:
* Make sure your site has an intuitively structured URL (For example, “ sydneylaw.com/property-law”, instead of “ sydneylaw.com/proplaw”)
* Increase search engines’ indexing ability by including a sitemap on your site.
* Encrypt your site by enabling SSL (https:// instead of http://)
Conversion optimisation
SEO is all about turning traffic into new leads or revenue. You’ll increase your chances of converting your readers into customers by incorporating conversion optimisation in your web development.
When designing your site, it’s important to think about the type of experience you want users to have:
- Does your site make it easy for them to find answers to their questions?
- Are they able to find your contact information?
- Is there any evidence of the successes you’ve delivered to your previous clients?
To make the most of the traffic coming to your site, follow these conversion optimisation best practices:
- Your site’s menu navigation should be simple and intuitive.
- Contact information should prominent at the top of your law firm site.
- There should be clear and explicit calls to action.
- Ensure your client testimonials and case studies are visible on your site.
- Give visitors the option to sign up for lead magnets in the form of newsletters, ebooks or other resources.
What is legal content writing?
Legal content writing is writing for a legal audience. If you are a lawyer, you know exactly what your target audience expects from their lawyers. Lawyers write in clear, persuasive language that follows all relevant legal codes of conduct. Your clients expect nothing less from you when they read your site or blog posts. In fact, your writing needs to be on par with any client-facing documents that you produce for them.
Legal website content writers work with attorneys to create content that resonates with prospective clients. This includes blog posts, long form content and featured articles.
The best legal content writers are those that understand the nuances of various practice areas. For example, bankruptcy law is vastly different than family law. If you decide to engage a law firm web content writer, ensure that the writer has a thorough knowledge of your area of expertise and how it differs from other areas of law.
Website content that will help you win your case
Your law firm website content should be engaging and persuasive. Your site needs to convey your expertise. It should also demonstrate how you can help with a particular legal issue. Lastly, it needs to show people what they’ll gain from hiring your firm.
Consider enlisting a professional copywriter for this job. This allows you to focus on providing stellar service to clients instead. The copywriter you hire for your site should have a good grasp on the nuances of various practice areas. They also need to have an understanding of how these areas differ from one another.
You’ll also need someone who understands SEO. This allows them to create content that can generate new leads by driving more traffic into your marketing funnel with less effort.
Are you looking for help to create compelling law firm website content?
Our team of Sydney copywriters would love to hear from you. We work closely with lawyers to create law firm content that really packs a punch. Call us today and let’s have a talk about your needs.