Even though potential clients may not spend a lot of time on your homepage, it quite likely is one of the most important pages of your website and acts as an “elevator pitch” for your law firm. A successful homepage succinctly informs your potential clients:
- Who you are
- What you do
- When you do it
- How you do it
- Where you are
- Why they should choose you.
Below are a few tips on what your law firm website’s homepage should have and why it matters to highlight the content strategically.
What’s in a Law Firm Website Homepage?
Homepages come in all different sizes and shapes. All law firm practice homepages have — or should have — as a minimum the following information:
- The name of the law firm — This should be at the top as well as throughout the content and in the footer;
- Contact information — A phone number and/or email address should be highlighted at the top of the page as well as in the footer;
- Hours of operation — Are you only available during normal business hours? Does your office have 24/7 telephone access? Be clear about when potential clients can reach you.
- Where you practice — You should indicate where you practice, i.e., which states, counties, cities; you may be located in one city but represent clients in a greater area;
- Office locations — List the local address(es) for your law firm;
- Your practice areas — Practice areas can be listed as icons that can be clicked on for easy navigation to the related practice area page;
- Contact form — Always provide easy access to a contact form because many people today prefer communicating only through the internet; and
- Menu — a user-friendly top or side menu is necessary so the potential new client can find information quickly and navigate without frustration.
The above pieces of the homepage are the minimum that you should offer on your homepage. But how do you portray your brand on your homepage? The content on your homepage should express how you approach your practice and legal representation. There are two specific areas for content: (1) the body content; and (2) the sliders.
The Body of Your Homepage
There is space on the homepage where you will quickly and concisely describe:
- Who you are (either through your own words or through quotes provided by your clients),
- What your brand is (your approach to law), and most importantly
- What you will do for the client or why the client should choose you over the competition (your qualifications, experience, distinctions, etc.).
You want to pay particular attention to what you can do for your clients because that is likely one of the fundamental reasons they will continue to look at your website and eventually hire you.
The Sliders on Your Homepage
You may also decide to use sliders on your homepage. This is a convenient and creative way to do many things. For instance, you can:
- Highlight practice areas. You could use three sliders and focus on each one a specific practice area and your approach to that practice (e.g., tenacious, bold, persistent, aggressive, client-centered, compassionate, etc.).
- Highlight your qualifications. You could use three sliders and focus each one of a unique qualification: (1) 20 years experience; (2) former prosecutor – now defense attorney; (3) Board-certified expert.
- Highlight significant awards. You could use the sliders to highlight important awards that attest to your brand and qualifications and that distinguishes you from the rest of your competition.
- Establish your brand. Highlight specific aspects of your brand.
Fewer words tend to work best since the slide is up for only seconds at a time. Here are a few examples of what a header could look like:
| Slider | Example Header | Example Content |
| Practice areas | Estate Planning is Protecting What Matters Most | No matter what stage you are in your life, estate planning protects you, your assets, and everyone you love. |
| Qualifications | Board-Certified Defense Attorney | You hire only one lawyer. Make sure you retain the one with proven skill. Board certification attests to an attorney’s expertise and knowledge. |
| Awards | Voted Top Family Law Firm | Don’t take it from us, take it from your peers. For the second year in a row they have voted us as the top family law firm. We care. We inform. We fight. |
| Brand | We Listen to Our Clients | There’s no better place to get to the bottom of the legal matter than listening to the client. You know what matters and what is at stake. We listen, observe, and explain. |
Why Your Law Firm’s Homepage Matters
You should not ignore your homepage. Potential clients may only look at your homepage for a few seconds if at all but it is still the one page that leads into all other pages. It is home to everything that is you and your law practice. It needs a user-friendly design as much as the content must say something meaningful to the potential client. Like the elevator pitch, the homepage should illuminate and communicate the most important aspects of your law practice with the goal of converting potential clients by getting them to contact you for a consultation. And, like the elevator pitch, you have only seconds to do it.
