Lawyers understand the law like no one else. They’re ready for anything in the courtroom — but the internet is another story. Over the years, we’ve seen law firms struggle with the same set of website problems. Read on to discover what they are — and how the Paradigm team tackles them through law firm website design.
1. Complex or Generic Language
This may come as a surprise, but many legal sites don’t actually appeal to audiences.
Firms often make their site a digital resume full of professional achievements and industry jargon. This complex messaging speaks to other lawyers and industry professionals — but not to those in need of legal services.
To keep clients on page, your site needs to leverage:
- Client-first language. Use the words and phrases your audience uses to describe their own problems, goals and daily realities. Personable website copy builds trust and makes contacting an attorney for a free consultation feel like the obvious next step.
- Positioning. Position your brand as the solution to a problem. This shows you understand your audience and helps them see a partnership with your firm more clearly.
- Value statements. Consult your law firm branding to find your key differentiators. Whether it’s courtroom experience or niche expertise, value statements can help your brand stick in someone’s memory during the consideration phase.
2. Complicated User Journeys
Users start their “journey” with the first page they land on. However, most law firm websites make the next steps feel confusing with complex menus, hidden pages and unorganized content.
To simplify the user journey, your law firm website design should consider:
- Audience segments. Segment your users based on who they are and what they aim to achieve on your site. For example, a personal injury law firm could segment users by personal injury, medical malpractice and beyond.
- Site architecture. Restructure your site to follow a logical hierarchy with limited menu items and intuitive categories. For example, a personal injury page could become an umbrella for related services, such as car crashes, trucking crashes, and more.
- Internal links. Connect your web pages logically to help users navigate between related content easily. For example, a medical malpractice page could include buttons that link to related content, such as birth injuries or medication errors.
3. Ineffective SEO
A website can look and sound great — but that means nothing if audiences can’t find your content.
Many law firms have ineffective search engine optimization (SEO). They sprinkle one or two keywords on a webpage to check a box — but they fail to consider performance. If the keywords are too difficult to rank for or the content isn’t properly optimized, your brand may be invisible.
To ensure stable visibility, your firm should implement:
- On-page localization. Capture regional audiences by including city names, region-specific terms and local keywords in your website’s title tags, meta descriptions and content.
- Practice area optimizations. Create dedicated pages for each practice area and optimize for applicable keywords. For optimal results, select low-difficulty, high-volume terms.
- Ongoing blog content. Capture new keywords and reaffirm law firm branding with blog content. Blogs may explain services, answer common questions or establish expectations for the legal process.
- GA4 tracking. Gauge your content’s performance by tracking keyword rankings, average search positions, impressions and click-through rates (CTR). Custom GA4 dashboards may help you track specific metrics that matter to you.
4. Dated Design
Beauty isn’t everything — but it does make an impression.
Many law firms invest in a website overhaul, only to lag on updates. Website design elements fall out of trend, blend in with the competition or stop functioning as intended.
To keep law firm website design on your side, you should implement:
- Visual hierarchy. Use color, size and placement to establish a visual hierarchy. This will direct attention to the elements that matter, like contact buttons and form submissions.
- Branding. Establish colors, typography, imagery and icons that will make up your law firm branding. Consistency visually distinguishes your website from competitors.
- Accessibility. Reference the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) when creating design elements. This will ensure your content is accessible to all.
5. Poor Functionality
If a website is difficult to use, potential clients may assume your firm is, too.
Law firms often focus primarily on client cases, leaving website functionality issues to build up over time. Eventually, this creates friction on your website compounds until prospects are too frustrated to continue.
To keep your website at its best, you should optimize:
- Load times. Compress images, videos and text to help your site load faster. Ideally, aim for under 2-3 seconds.
- Navigation. Revisit links throughout your site before you go live. Missing links, broken links and menu issues deter users from exploring your site.
- Mobile responsiveness. Scale text, menus and images to small screens. This will ensure your content makes the same impression, regardless of the device used.
Resolve It All with Paradigm
Law firms often don’t have time to build cases and resolve website challenges at the same time. That’s where we step in. Our full-service digital marketing agency handles law firm branding, law firm website design, SEO strategies, custom code and so much more.
Paradigm’s expertise has helped countless law firms find their footing online — and your firm could be next. For more information on our web strategy for law firms, contact us to get started.
