Solicitor Web Design

Get a website that is both Open Source and Modular, so that you can move elements around without needing a developer again. For example, drag and drop, add or move a scrolling ‘Testimonials module’ on the Home page yourself or move it to your ‘About’ page.

Use a platform that is open source such as WordPress and allows you to move from one web partner to another. Avoid a one man band, someone who offers to be everything, planner, designer, developer, digital marketer. How many professional legal practices have just one person employed to do everything?

Get a solicitor website that is theme based, if you choose to use a low cost design theme rather than invest in custom graphic design, so that you can change the whole design theme without having to create a new website. Also, this makes it easier for you to move to a new web partner if you ever need to do so. Avoid any basic HTML developers who have to make every code change for you – at a cost, in time delay and money. This is such a distraction.

Highly Recommended. Plan your branding, colours, content and CTAs Calls To Action before or when talking to a professional web developer, if how you look online is important to you to build your brand. Think Goodbody, Cox or Mathewson, Frys, McCanns or Mason Hayes & Curran, who all use Custom Graphic Design rather than an out of the box design theme for about $99, which may be used by thousands of legal firms. Custom Graphic Design will add from €500 to maybe €1500, but is worth every cent. Those bigger firms may spend thousands on the design, to include every single page.

Make ‘Navigation’ including the Menu Bar simple, intuitive, stand out and logical. It should clearly show which legal services you specialise in. Services such as Family Law, Conveyancing or Litigation, specialist areas such as Medical Legal. Then show your experience and qualifications to support these service pages. Make it easy to find what you want to promote and less so for other lesser or less profitable legal services

Show off your knowledge, experience, and useful information from the industry of practising law, maybe create articles about Family Law or Tax Guidelines on property sales. Try Guest Blogging or answering legal questions in forums! Optimise these articles on law and share them, to get more engagement

Tie in all Blogging, Social Media including Linkedin and any advertising to your website content and draw people to your site, your space on the web. They might just connect with you by asking a question in relation to something you have published. It also helps you monitor all your web output, so you have more control over what gets seen. To some point you can dictate what people see when they search your name or the name of the legal practice. Try doing a search for your name or practice and see what people see now – how does it look?

Bear in mind a solicitor website, like a car, has to be maintained and updated. It needs constant attention, security updates & patches, cleaning, plugin updates, software updates, apps updates and useful add-ons. Most of all, curate and continually optimise any useful helpful content or legal advice to engage with visitors, to help promote your solicitors practice.
Tip: Test your Contact Form on a weekly basis.

Budget for a set investment in Year 1 to cover the planning, project management, design, branding, photography, Content Management System website, advertising, digital marketing etc.
And then do a new budget for year 2 for building on that platform. The higher the spend the higher and faster the return – GUARANTEED (if done well)!
If your new web presence was to generate an increase of €50k in fees in year 1, how much is that worth to you? This is NOT about spending money, it is about generating more fees or business for your practice.