Simple Steps That Can Make All The Difference In Visitor Conversion
A law firm’s website should be more than just creating a standard landing page. A website is, essentially, a representation of your firm’s brand, of the attorneys within the practice and your authority and knowledge base within your field.
Not to put any pressure on you, but your website can either catapult you to growth or leave you dead in search engine waters.
As a marketing company that has worked with an array of law firms, we have noticed a common factor when assessing potential client websites: subpar practice area pages. Many attorneys will either create:
- A standard “Service” page, where they list every practice area their firm focuses on within one single page (without creating an individual page for each practice area), or
- A general page for each practice area with the standard definition of the service filled with confusing legal jargon and a “CALL ME NOW” line at the bottom.
If you find that your law firm’s website is guilty of either of the above, then you’re depriving yourself of some serious SEO perks – especially if you’re targeting a specific practice area within a local area.
Have no fear; we’re here to help. Here are some tips on how to create SEO friendly practice area pages for your site and why you should absolutely have them to increase your website’s SEO strength.
Breaking Down Your Website Site Structure
A user-friendly and SEO optimized website is an integral part of any online marketing strategy (and key in helping your visitors convert into actual leads). When planning your site structure (i.e menu), focus on the services you’re providing. More specifically, focus on creating individual pages for each service that you want your firm to rank for instead of dumping them all into one page.
Example:
If your law firm’s practice areas include “Immigration” and “Personal Injury”, make sure to create an individual page for both of those areas. To take it a step further, for a better user experience and SEO purposes, you may want to hone in on the specific subsets of each practice area that you truly want to focus on. The reason being is because you might not want to focus on ALL aspects of immigration or personal injury, rather looking to work on specific cases: the money makers. Maybe your firm only wants to focus on specific areas such as investor visas, work visas and family petitions, as well as car accidents and medical malpractice cases. Create individual pages for these subsets with their own individual submenu to let your visitors know that these are your areas of focus.
Remember: Google ranks individual pages, so if you have an individual page dedicated to a specific search keyword term, it will have more ranking “juice” than a page that contains a mix of unrelated information.
Reduce The Legal Jargon
This is standard for any page across your website. Write for your audience, not your attorney colleagues. We’ve come across many attorney websites whose practice area pages only offer a standard definition of what the service is. Clients looking for answers to their legal questions will most likely not benefit from technical terminology. Instead, introduce what your service is, what it entails (in an easily understandable way) and what you can do to solve a prospective client’s legal problem.
Here’s another tip: avoid filling up your page with “fluff”. Communicate in a straightforward manner, but pepper your page with informational and emotional points to establish a connection with your prospect. Connections are everything when engaging a prospect to contact your firm.
Mention Your Target City
When creating content for your practice area page, including your location is crucial to attracting local clients. For example, “Pembroke Pines car accident attorney” or “if you were involved in a car accident in Pembroke Pines..” will show that you are targeting clients in the Pembroke Pines area. Whichever direction you take, make sure that your content flows naturally and is written for the reader, not the search engines. If your content sounds like it’s written for the latter, it might come across as keyword stuffing and damage your chances at optimizing your website.
The mention of your target city or state within your content is intended for SEO purposes. It gives your website pages a boost to rank for local targeted keywords. It also reaffirms to your local visitors that you are easily accessible to them and can visit them if needed.
Add Images
Much like the power that emotion carries, consumers are driven by visuals. Images are one of the driving forces behind creating strong website content, so include at least one image that reflects what you are writing about to. Images also provide an attention grabbing, visual break within a page full of content, keeping your visitors from growing bored and leaving your website.
Make It Easy For Your Visitors To Convert
Every single page on your website should have a contact form for your visitor to fill out easily; the less they have to click around your website to find ways to contact you, the better. If you do not have a contact form, at least add a very visible button that will lead them to your “Contact Us” page and have a large visible number on your header in case they would rather call you.
A great example of a law firm hitting all the above points within their practice area page is the website of Dean Waite Attorneys At Law. If you look at the example below, you’ll see that they have:
- Created an individual page for their car accident practice area (a target area for their practice)
- Mention their target location
- Provided easy-to-read content
- Included information that might offer answers visitors questions
- Added an image that helps reinforce their content, and
- An easy to find contact form above the fold
Web Updates That Make All The Difference
Your website shouldn’t just be a standard, “business card” page to reel in prospects; use it to help you and your firm build authority and establish yourself as the go-to lawyer in your city or state.
Make your law firm’s online marketing efforts count with a strong standing website. Contact us today to receive a custom web design quote.