If you’re a family lawyer, you know that family law web design is essential to your success. Not only do you need a website that looks professional and trustworthy, but you also need one that’s easy to use and navigate.
In today’s world, online presence is more important than ever, and if you want to stay ahead of other family law firms, you need to make sure your website is up to par. You need to have one of the best family law websites in your area.
We’ve laid out some web design tips for family lawyers to help you create a family law website that will impress potential clients and enhance your law firm business growth. After all, you want to generate leads for your law firm.
Should a family law firm have a website?
Without a doubt, every law firm or attorney should have a website. In today’s world, potential clients will be looking for you online, and if you don’t have a website, you’ll lose out on business. Not only that but having a website is a great way to showcase your experience and credentials.
However, not just any website will do. If you want your website to be effective, you need to put some thought into the design and make sure it’s easy to use and navigate.
Building trust is essential.
One of the primary purposes of a family law website is to build trust and confidence in your brand and legal expertise. You want to show prospective clients that you’re a trustworthy law firm.
As any experienced lawyer knows, building trust is not something that happens overnight. It takes time, effort and thoughtfulness to create a website that makes visitors feel comfortable and secure. Since your website is often the first impression that potential clients have of your business, it’s important to make sure you get it right.
That’s why it’s so important to make sure your website design conveys this message of trustworthiness.
A family law website that converts.
Another major reason to focus on web design is that it’s essential for conversion. If you want to convert website visitors into new clients, you need to make sure your site is easy to use and navigate.
Your website should have clear calls to action so visitors know where to go next when they land on your page. It should also have a streamlined design that makes it easy for visitors to find the information they need.
Finally, your website should also feature client testimonials or case studies so potential clients can get a better idea of what kind of results they can expect when working with you. This is called social proof and is another way to build trustworthiness with more clients.
With all of that in mind, here are some web design tips for family lawyers that will help you take your legal marketing to the next level—
Use a practical layout.
When you get started with web design for your family lawyer site, you want to ensure that you create a practical layout. This means that you need to have a navigation bar that is easy to find and use.
You also want to ensure that your content is easy to read and follow. This means having a clear header, body, and footer. The header is typically where key branding (i.e. logo) and navigation go, the body section is where the main content goes, and the footer is generally used for primary contact information.
Your layout should also be responsive to look good on all devices. These days, around 63% of all searches are on mobile devices. You want your family law website to be mobile-friendly and user-friendly regardless of whether they’re on a mobile device or desktop.
If this all seems so puzzling, you may want to consider using a content management system (CMS) or hiring a professional that is experienced in family law web design. If you go thr CMS route, WordPress is a popular choice for many lawyers, and we frequently use it here at Arbor Green Design.
Stick to a professional design scheme.
The layout is undoubtedly one of the most crucial web design aspects for a family lawyer. Once you have that figured out, it’s time to move on to the overall look and feel of your site.
Your web design should be professional and reflect your law firm’s image. Modern law firm websites typically have a clean look with crisp and relevant images.
This means using colors that convey trustworthiness and avoiding unprofessional-looking images or graphics. We’ll cover branding and pictures a little later in this post.
Your web design should also be simple and organized. You want your potential clients to be able to find the information they’re looking for easily. Like the layout, the font should be clean and the text big enough to read on mobile devices.
Some family law attorneys make the mistake of thinking they need to have a lot of content on their site.
In reality, you want to keep things as concise as possible while providing enough information to answer your potential client’s questions. Sure, there is value in content when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), but focus on quality not quantity.
Build your brand.
From our experience, family lawyers are often so focused on the practical aspects of their website that they forget about branding.
Your family law website should include your law firm’s logo, tagline, and colors.
If you don’t have a logo, we recommend investing in one. Your logo is a crucial part of your brand and will be used on all your marketing materials, including your website.
Right up there with your logo is your tagline. A tagline is a brief phrase that communicates what your family law firm is about. It should be short, memorable, and to the point. It could be something like, “Compassionate and experienced family law attorneys”, “Dedicated to protecting your interests”, or “A family law attorney that delivers results.”
You should also include your brand’s colors in your family law website. Your colors should be used throughout your site, from the navigation bar to the buttons to the footer. You shouldn’t have colors that clash or are too bright. Instead, choose colors that convey trust, such as blue or green. Harsh colors like bright white or pure black should be avoided instead, use softer shades like an off-white or deep gray. When a potential client feels at ease, they’re more likely to give you a call.
Your branding should be consistent across all platforms, including your website, social media, business cards, and email signature. This will help potential clients to remember you and your family law practice.
Integrate calls to action.
For the uninitiated, calls to action (CTA) are buttons, links, or contact forms that prompt your website visitors to take some sort of action. These actions could include signing up for an email list, scheduling a free consultation, or downloading a free ebook.
There are various calls to action a family law website can have on it. What is it you want your website visitors to do? This action could be for them download something such as a brochure or even click a button to give you a call. It’s a physical action taken on their part.
At this point, you have the foundation of a website. It is starting to feel like it was made for your family law firm. However, if you want to turn website traffic into prospective clients, you’ll need to add a strong CTA.
Your CTAs should be unambiguous and draw the attention of the website visitor. The text should be big enough to read quickly, and the button should stand out from the rest of the web page. The color you use for your CTA is also important. Colors that contrast with the rest of the web page can increase conversion rates by up to 21%.
CTAs should be included throughout your site, but they are essential on your homepage and service pages. Imagine someone finding your site and looking for a lawyer to represent them in their fight for child custody or spousal support. They go to your page that discusses what you can do for them, and… there’s no CTA. They have to search around your site to find your contact information. By the time they do, they may have lost interest or gone to another family law website. Now other family law firms have the opportunity to convert the potential client.
Make it easy for prospective clients by including CTAs on every page of your law firm website. If you’re unsure what CTAs to use, we recommend starting with a “Contact Us” button or contact forms on your homepage and service pages. These landing pages are where most of your site visitors will end up when finding your family lawyer website on search engines.
Communicate your services.
There are so many practice areas of law, and potential clients could be looking for any variety of legal services. That’s why it’s essential to have a page on your site that outlines all of the services you offer. This is some of the most valuable information for site visitors.
Your law firm service pages should be easy to find and navigate. The information should be clear and concise. You don’t want to overwhelm potential clients with too much information. Just give them a brief overview of your practice areas and what you can do for them.
If you have a lot of practice areas, you may want to consider grouping them into categories. For example, you could have a page for child support services and another page for property division services. When grouping your content, you want to think about how your target audience will find it.
Think about the different types of cases you handle and ensure those are included on your site. If you help clients with divorce, child custody, adoptions, or any other kind of family law practice areas, be sure to list those services prominently on your site.
Make landing pages for each of the legal services and integrate SEO best practices such as identifying and targeting relevant keywords. We discuss SEO for family lawyers more in another article.
Remember, you want your site easy to navigate for your target audience.
Use high-quality images.
Images are an essential part of the best family law websites, but they are often overlooked. The right image can make your family law firm website more visually appealing and help you to communicate your message more effectively.
When choosing images for your website, be sure to use high-quality, professional photos. These can be generic stock photos or photos of you and your team. If you use generic stock photos, be sure to choose images relevant to your practice area. If you’re including photos of your family law attorneys, use a professional photographer.
We always recommend you show photos of your attorneys in practice as it will build a connection with potential clients. This is essential as we’ve seen family law websites with zero images on them. They tend to look very bland, boring, and un-personal.
For example, if you are a family lawyer, you may want to use images of families or children on your site. These images will help prospective clients trust your family law firm and see that you understand their needs and that you are the right lawyer for them. Naturally, you want photos and images that are relevant to the family law industry.
Be sure to avoid using images that are low quality or that have been taken with a personal camera. These images can make your site look unprofessional and turn prospective clients away.
If you don’t have high-quality images of your own, there are several stock photo sites that you can use. We recommend using sites like Shutterstock or iStockPhoto.
Keep your text concise and easy to read.
As you build out your content for your site, keep your text concise and easy to read. No one wants to read a novel about a family law firm when trying to solve their legal issues. Just give them the information they need clearly and concisely.
Be sure to use short paragraphs and bullet points for your legal topics whenever possible. Breaking up your text will make it easier for prospective clients to scan your site and find the information they’re looking for.
When writing your content, be sure to use an active voice. This makes your text more readable and helps you to communicate your message more effectively.
Avoid using too much legal jargon as this can confuse prospective clients. If you do use legal terms, be sure to explain them in plain English. This will help prospective clients to understand what you’re saying and make them more likely to contact your law firm. For example, when we do website design for divorce lawyers, we research various topics to ensure we’re talking about the right information, but we keep it simple so even we can understand it.
Family law websites that convert.
Those seven tips might be quite a bit to process, but unfortunately, your work doesn’t stop there.
To make sure your family law website actually converts visitors into clients, you’ll need to do more than just create a visually appealing website and curate great content. You’ll also need to have some tracking and optimization in place.
We recommend investing in analytics tracking for your family law website. This will allow you to track visitor behavior on your site, such as which pages they visit, how long they stay on each page, and which pages are converting well.
This data can give you insight into what your visitors are looking for and how to optimize your website for maximum conversions.
Web design for family lawyer is a piece of your overall digital strategy.
Building a website is only the beginning of your law firm digital strategy. To maximize your website’s potential, you need to focus on branding and marketing.
Consider developing a social media presence and leveraging SEO for your law firm. Both of these strategies can help you to drive more traffic to your family law website and get you in front of the right people.
The key is to develop a cohesive digital strategy that works together for maximum success. This means having good content, excellent web design, optimized pages, and ongoing marketing efforts. Your family law firm’s website should be the center point for all information regarding your firm.
If you still need help, we’re here for you.
We’re always here to help you with your website and other digital marketing needs. As a family law attorney, family law website design might not be your forte. That’s okay, as that’s why we create websites.
If you need help getting started or are unsure what to do, contact us today.
We specialize in family law website design and have extensive experience developing family law websites. We’ll work with you and your family law firm to create a new website that meets your specific goals and reflects your practice’s unique personality.