Websites are very important in 2018 and most companies or professionals out there should have one. However, having a website is not enough; it needs to be helpful, look good and help sell to potential clients that you are worth their money.
Law firms and lawyers, in particular, are not always the best at web design and there are some pretty average websites out there. Of course, not all law firm websites are bad; in fact, some are amazing. Here are some law firm design mistakes that can help a firm go from the “average” category to the “amazing” category.
Not Providing Value to Visitors
As much as a website has the goal of bringing in new customers and helping your business grow, your site cannot just feel like a giant advertisement. You need to make sure to provide value to your site visitors in some form. Generally, a blog with interesting industry articles makes the most sense.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the site make your company look good. You should still be sure to put some positive testimonials on the site and include some other good things about your firm. It is all about making sure the potential clients know about how you will be able to help them, without stuffing it down their throats too much.
Having Stale Content
When it comes to any website, content is king. The most popular form of content is a blog or vlog. However, the only thing worse than not having a blog is having a blog that hasn’t been updated in months or years.
If you have a blog that is never updated or posted on, it can make you look very lazy or like you are not giving your website the attention that it deserves. So to ensure you don’t have stale content sitting on you blog for months, you should be creating new content on a semi-regular basis at least.
Not Having a Responsive Website
Nowadays, more people are using the internet on their mobile devices than on their desktop or laptop computers. This means that there is a good chance people are viewing your website on their phone or tablet, and not on their computer. As a result, you need to ensure your website is responsive.
A responsive website means that it will perform well and look great, no matter what device you visit it on. If your site looks great on a desktop, but lags and looks awful on a mobile device, it’s not a good look for your company. Your site needs to be uniform across every device so no matter where possible clients find you, they will be able to view your site with ease.
Having a Confusing and “Difficult to Follow” Design
One of the cardinal sins of website design is a design that is confusing and/or difficult to follow. If the contents of the site don’t follow a predictable pattern or the message is bouncing around a lot, some people may not want to stay on your site.
This can be tough for a law firm website as there is a lot you want to include and cover such as practice areas, benefits, contact information, testimonials and more. However, that doesn’t mean your site has to be confusing. Take the website for Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC for example. Their site has a ton of content, but it is very easy to follow and understand.