Most law firm websites are written for the firm. They open with the history, the partners and the awards, and only somewhere further down do they get to the thing the visitor actually arrived with, which is a problem they want solved. That gap is why a lot of firms get less from a decent-looking site than they should.
What a client is actually doing on your site
Someone landing on a legal website is usually doing three things quickly. Working out whether you handle their exact situation. Deciding whether you look like people who will take it seriously. And finding out what happens if they get in touch. Everything else is secondary, and a site that answers those three quickly will out-perform a prettier one that does not.
The pages that win the work
- One page for each area of work you want more of. Conveyancing, employment, probate and family are different searches by different people; a single services page competes for none of them.
- Real people. Names, faces and who would handle the matter. Legal work is bought on trust, and trust is easier to give to a person than to a firm.
- A clear position on cost. Fixed fee, hourly, or an honest range with what changes it.
- What happens next. The first call, what you will need from them, rough timescales.
If you serve a particular area, say so plainly on the page rather than leaving it to the footer. We go into the wider approach on our page for law firms and solicitors.
Trust, done properly
The signals that move people are unglamorous: your regulated status shown clearly, real photographs rather than stock, reviews where your regulator permits them, and plain writing. Long paragraphs of legal throat-clearing do the opposite of reassuring, because the reader assumes the service will feel the same way.
Making the enquiry easy
The commonest own goal is a contact form with fourteen fields sitting behind a page called Contact. Put the next step on every service page, keep the form short, show a phone number for people who would rather ring, and say when you will reply. Every extra field and every extra click loses a share of the people who were ready.
The short version. Write for the client and not the firm. One page per area of work, real people, an honest line on cost, and an obvious way to start. That is most of the difference between a site that looks fine and a site that brings work in.
If your site is not producing enquiries and you want a straight read on why, we offer a free review, or you can start a project with us.
