Any lawyer or law firm worth their salt has a law firm website backing them up, which stresses the importance of having your own if you are to be competitive.
John Locke said that where there is no law, there is no freedom. As you pursue both, it is important to have an edge that attracts new clients to your firm, or else you won’t really exercise either.
Gone are the days when laymen used to get their next attorney off the Yellow Pages; right now, only a website will really get the butts in your reception seats. A survey by FindLaw reported that in 2005, the internet was the 4th most popular way of finding a lawyer behind the Yellow Pages, consulting the bar association, and referrals. However, as far back as 2015, the internet had gone from being used by just 7% to beating all other three, being the most popular by 38%.
As you can safely assume, even more people are now using the internet to find and research new lawyers. More reasons for having a law firm website include:
- Credibility and Professionalism: A well-designed website enhances your firm’s credibility and professionalism. It serves as a digital business card, showcasing expertise, practice areas, and your attorneys’ profiles.
- Online Visibility: With an online presence, users can find and learn about your firm through organic Google searches.
- Client Testimonials: By displaying client reviews on your site, you can enhance trust, credibility, and conversions.
- Lead Generation: By inserting calls-to-action and contact forms, you can generate leads and gain contact with prospective clients as they inquire about your services.
- Legal Compliance: When your website displays vital legal information, such as disclaimers, you comply with legal standards and regulations.
There are many more advantages to having a law firm website, including analytics and insights, global reach, communication platform, marketing, branding, mobile accessibility, client education, and information hub.
Here is how you can get that website up and running in no time at all:
Follow the Steps to Create a Law Firm Website with WordPress
Step 1: Select a Domain Name
This first step of selecting a domain name entails choosing a name that will link your brand to your website. You should ensure that your chosen domain name accurately represents the branding of your firm and is something that you won’t need to change later. Make sure that the name is not too long so that people can remember it.
The last part of your domain name is called an extension, and it also needs deep thought. The most common extension is .com. If your law firm is called Saul Goodman & Associates, your site could be saulgoodman.com. That keeps it simple and memorable.
Apart from .com, there are other possibilities, such as .org and net. Suppose you want your extension to denote the country you operate in. In that case, you can go for country-specific extensions, such as .us for the United States, .uk for the United Kingdom, and .au for Australia. However, we still recommend .com.
A domain registrar helps you register your domain name and extension. Since many domain registrars are also hosting providers, you can work with the same company for this step as well as the next. You can consider Bluehost and NameCheap, which are reputable and have great pricing.
Step 2: Choose a Hosting Provider and Hosting Plan
Choosing the right hosting provider and plan is of great influence on your law firm website’s performance and success. Here are several key factors to consider as you make the choice:
- Optimal Website Speed: Choose a provider with ample bandwidth and rapid server response times.
- Seamless Scalability: Go for a host capable of accommodating your website’s growth effortlessly.
- Reliable Uptime: Select providers offering high uptime guarantees, ideally 99% or 99.99%, ensuring consistent accessibility.
- Customer Support: 24/7 customer support is vital for prompt issue resolution; assess its quality through user reviews.
- Prioritized Security: Ensure the provider emphasizes website security, including SSL certificates and regular backups.
- Budget Alignment: Choose a provider with plans that fit your budget; reliable options include Bluehost and HostGator.
- User-Friendly Interface: Look for a provider offering a straightforward interface and essential features like backup options.
Step 3: Select WordPress as Your CMS
Going with WordPress as your CMS is an obvious choice, being the most popular CMS globally, powering a third of all websites. WordPress provides numerous benefits, especially when paired with hosting providers like HostGator, which are optimized for WordPress solutions.
WordPress makes website management easy, even for those with little to no technical expertise. Its popularity is due to its user-friendly interface, vast community support base, and extensive theme and plugin. Hosting providers like HostGator offer optimized services for WordPress, making the website-building process streamlined and ensuring efficient performance and a solid foundation for your law firm website.
Step 4: Acquire, Install, and Activate a Law Firm WordPress Theme
There are many law firm WordPress themes but Aeen stands out as a highly recommended choice. It offers many features and competitive pricing, flaunting 2 lovely homepages for a multipage website, a premium page builder, and a premium slider plugin. Aeen guarantees all the features you need for a splendid website.
I will be your guide today through the installation and customization of the theme for your ideal law firm website. Utilizing Aeen needs:
- WordPress version 5.0 or later;
- Recommended PHP version of 7.4.x (versions 7.2+ will work too);
- WordPress memory limit of 512 MB or more;
- MySQL version 5.6 or higher.
Regarding WordPress versions, ensure you use the latest stable version, which has addressed all identified security issues and bugs.
Phase 1: Get Aeen Theme
After purchasing Aeen, locate it on your download page. Download the Aeen theme or the entire package, encompassing the theme, its child theme, documentation, and licensing.
Phase 2: Upload and Activate Aeen
Locate the theme files on your computer and upload them before activation. Two upload options exist: Theme Uploader or FTP Clients. Follow the steps for either method:
Theme Uploader:
- Access Appearance 🡪Themes 🡪 Add New on your WordPress admin dashboard.
- In the popup window, select the Aeen.zip file from your computer files.
- Activate the theme on your admin dashboard.
- View it among your installed themes. Click the Begin Installing Plugins button to install all recommended and required plugins for Aeen.
- Check all boxes, select Install, and click the Apply button.
- Recheck all boxes, select Activate from the dropdown, and click the Apply button again.
FTP Clients:
- Use an FTP client like FileZilla and navigate to your WordPress installation directory.
- Upload the theme folder to the /wp-content/themes/ folder.
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and open Appearance 🡪 Themes. Aeen should be visible among your themes.
- Activate the theme.
Step 5: Customize the Website’s Structure
Aeen simplifies the process of customizing your site’s structure. Choose from the six highly customizable homepage demos to get started. Easily peruse all options and select the most suitable one.
Phase 3: Import Demo Contents
There are two methods available for importing demo content. The ‘Automatic’ method, which only fails less than 5% of the time, is our recommendation. If you encounter issues with it, you can reach out to the creators of Aeen for a free demo import service.
Nonetheless, you should note that the Automatic method erases all existing website data. You should only use it if you’re ready to redo your website entirely or have a new site since it will give you a new site that is a replica of the demo site prior to customization. This is how you do it:
- Ensure Aeen Parent Theme is activated.
- Navigate to Tools 🡪 Demo Content Install or Plugins 🡪 RT Demo Importer 🡪 Install Demo Contents.
- Click Install on your preferred demo. Wait for the installation to finish.
- Update your Permalink by going to Settings 🡪 Permalink and click Save Settings.
You can then freely customize your website’s structure, including pages, colors, typography, logos, menus, and more. You can view all instructions in the theme’s documentation.
Step 6: Optimize Your Law Firm Website
With Aeen, optimizing your law firm website for SEO, speed, mobile responsiveness, social media integration, client testimonials, and user-friendly navigation becomes seamless. Enhance performance with:
- High-quality visuals
- Reliable SEO plugins like Yoast
- Analytical tools like Google Analytics
- Privacy and accessibility compliance plugins, such as GDPR plugins
These strategies collectively contribute to a robust and appealing online presence. For specific preferences, reach out to the theme’s author for further customization.
Step 7: Monetize Your Law Firm Website
Although your practice should make you money, you can still make some more through your website. You only need to enact a few monetization methods, which include:
- Legal Services Online: Offer legal consultations or document preparation services through your website.
- Premium Content/Resources: Provide exclusive legal articles, guides, or resources for a subscription fee.
- Affiliate Marketing: Partner with legal product/services providers, earning commissions for referrals.
- Online Advertising: Display ads on your site, generating revenue based on clicks or impressions.
- Legal Templates: Create and sell templates for common legal documents.
- Webinars/Online Courses: Conduct webinars or courses on legal topics for a fee.
- Local Search Optimization: Optimize your website for local search to attract clients in your region.
Step 8: Promote Your Law Firm Website
You must promote your website to generate traffic and popularity before you start earning revenue from it. Among the strategies you can incorporate include the following:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Online Reviews and Testimonials
- Partnerships and Networking
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
- Webinars and Seminars
- Podcasting
- Interactive Content
Be sure to combine some, if not all, of these strategies for the best outcomes.
Final Thoughts: Getting Your Law Firm Website Up and Running
After this instructive piece, I hope you’re fully confident in your ability to create your law firm website with Aeen. You will save incredible costs that would’ve been spent in hiring a website creator. What’s more, you will have numerous features, elements, and liberties for creating a fully branded and customized website. You will also love the stupendously low price of Aeen.
The cherry on top is the fantastic support team to help you if you face issues installing your demo or want a custom feature for your website. All these reasons to work with Aeen are enough to get you powering through the process with confidence. You will have a website that gets you new clients, brings you additional income, helps you manage customer queries, showcase your services, and establish your brand.
