Out of all the pages on a lawyer’s website, the home page matters most. People who need an attorney are not looking for long, detailed blog posts about the subject of their case – they’re looking for a phone number or email address to call immediately.
If you build websites for attorneys, you need to create home pages that are specifically oriented toward their clients’ needs. If you’re new to working with lawyers, here are some helpful design tips for creating effective front pages.
1. Put the phone number on every page in the header
Your attorney’s potential clients will be looking for a phone number first and foremost. No matter what page they land on, make sure your client’s phone number is prominently displayed in the header.
A perfect example of this is WrongfulTermination.com. The phone number is the largest part of the header and can be easily seen on both desktop and mobile. Also, notice that the phone number is on the right side of the page. This is important because people’s eyes naturally gravitate toward the right side of a web page. It wasn’t always this way. It used to be the left side, but that has changed.
When you put the phone number in the header, make sure the typography is right. Use a reader-friendly font face, and don’t forget to link the entire block of content to your contact page.
2. Place their best settlement achievements up front
Potential clients need to know that the attorney they’re calling can get results, so place their best settlement wins up front where leads can see them. Of course, not everyone will win the big settlements, but it’s important to showcase your client’s big wins. Big wins mean an attorney knows what they’re doing.
Big settlement wins are a great way to draw in leads, and attorneys will always explain to their clients that settlement amounts vary and are never guaranteed. That’s not something you need to worry about – all you need to do is make sure their leads know they can get results.
3. Triple check all contact forms
Working contact forms are critical for attorneys. If a contact form doesn’t work properly, many leads won’t even remember who they contacted, and they’ll just move on to the next attorney they can find on Google.
There are many things that can go wrong with contact forms. Double- and triple-check all of your contact forms to make sure emails are being received and properly tagged/segmented if they’re connected to an email list.
4. Connect the contact forms to an email list
Attorneys will work their leads, just like any other business. Make sure you connect their contact forms to an email list where they can send out additional emails to each lead.
If your client doesn’t already have a CRM or an email list, help them create an account, even if they only want a free service. Set them up with anything you can, because they’re going to need those leads.
5. Don’t use stock photos
Stock photos cheapen attorney websites. You’ve probably seen some sites that use stock images of business professionals shaking hands in front of a courthouse, or something similar. Avoid these photos and if your client asks for them; try to talk them out of it and get them to take professional photos instead.
Leads want to see what an attorney looks like, and using stock photos makes a law practice look cheap and impersonal. Try to get a good headshot of your client to place on the front page, along with headshots of everyone who works as an attorney for their firm.
6. Let your client write their disclaimers
You’ve probably written some disclaimers for clients, but when working with attorneys, you’ll want them to write their own disclaimers. Attorney disclaimers need to be specific; they’ll know the law better than you, so always defer to them.
You can write a basic disclaimer worded in a way that makes sense for the internet, but always defer to them for the specific wording. For instance, they’ll need a disclaimer to make sure people know contacting them does not establish an attorney-client relationship. You may want to go back and forth with a draft until you get it right.
Work your magic
When done right, your attorney clients will be grateful for the time you spent working on their homepage. Once you get the header and the front page right, building the remaining pages will be easy.
