As an attorney, it is likely that you rely heavily on your website for attracting new clients. Because it is such an important part of your business, you should be doing everything you can to increase the conversion rate on your firm’s site. The conversion rate is the percentage of users that contact you (either by filling out the contact form or calling) as a direct result of visiting your site. The higher your conversion rate, the more clients you will have!

Increasing conversions on your firm’s site takes research and hard work, but it will almost certainly pay off in the long run. To start optimizing your website you should focus on the hierarchy of conversion. Based off the ideas behind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Bryan Eisenberg developed a hierarchy specific to website optimization. In both pyramids, you start from the bottom and work your way upwards, as each level builds upon the previous. You can only reach the top when all the needs below have been met. This pyramid is the key to creating a high-converting site.

Eisenberg’s web optimization pyramid.

The aspects of the pyramid mean different things depending on the main goal of a website. Therefore, I am here to tell you what they mean for you specifically as an attorney looking to attract more clients:

1. Functional

The functionality piece of your website is at the bottom of the pyramid because everything builds off of this. If your firm’s site is slow or doesn’t work properly, any optimization efforts that don’t directly solve those problems will be wasted. If your page doesn’t load within a few seconds, most users will give up on your site and continue their search for an attorney elsewhere.

There are a number of different tools that you can use to measure things like site speed and load time. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are a great place to start your search for anything that might be awry in terms of functionality. You can look for things like high bounce rates which means that people are leaving your site before interacting with it. This is often related to slow load times.

2. Accessible

This step is one of the most important for you as an attorney – especially if you specialize in helping Social Security disability claimants. You want anyone to be able to easily navigate your site and access all of the content, regardless of any disabilities or age. Ensuring high contrast between the text and background, increasing the font size and including alt text for any images can go a long way in making your site accessible for all. For more information about creating an accessible website for your firm, check out our blog.

3. Usable

Your firm’s website should be easy to use in order to eliminate confusion or frustration in your visitors. They should be able to quickly navigate to a specific page and fill out your contact form with ease. Focusing on the usability of your contact form can result in a huge increase in conversions as less users will abandon it due to frustration during the process.

Also, make sure to keep in mind that many people opt to browse on their phones rather than desktops. Therefore, ensuring that your site is just as user-friendly on mobile devices is an integral part of the optimization process.

4. Intuitive

Making a site intuitive can be challenging because it requires you to anticipate your visitors’ questions and needs. However, talking with current clients or previous users of your site can give you excellent insight. This will allow you to provide answers to some of these questions on your site before the user even has a chance to seek them out. An intuitive site provides an outstanding user experience that will make your visitors want to work with your firm.

5. Persuasive

Once you have reached this final step, you can focus on copywriting that will convince your visitor that he or she should work with you. Highlight what makes you stand out from your competition and the benefits of working with your firm. Showing the value that you can bring to your client’s life is a key part of getting them to convert into a potential client. You should also work to earn their trust by using social proof and providing testimonials.

Focusing on this optimization pyramid gives you the necessary framework to start making changes to your firm’s site that will generate you more business. A high-converting site is the key to a successful law firm, as you will always be able to count on it to bring in more clients. However, if you are looking for additional ways to increase your caseload contact us today at 617.800.0089 to learn more about our legal case leads!