Complete Website Development for Lawyers and Law Firms
From consulting to development, design, content management, search engine optimization and project management...
Most importantly, an attorney's website needs to be engaging and informative. That includes providing your visitors with...
- clear and intuitive site navigation
- the information they are looking for (quickly and easily!)
- a positive impression of your law practice and abilities
- rich, relevant website content
- materials which are easy to print and share
However, as the saying goes, that is easier said than done. Beyond being attractive, an engaging website minimizes frustration during the prospect's visit. Every visitor has a maximum frustration level; reach it, and (s)he is going to leave. A successfull attorney's website also contains certain elements that visitors have come to expect; these elements are key in enabling users to find what they need efficiently as they visit a website.
Hybrid Design can provide help in a’la carte fashion, where you select the elements of the process you would like help with (and we describe those on separate pages of this site). However, most companies end up choosing our complete, soup-to-nuts website development service, where our team project-manages the effort and does most of the work. You remain in full control, making all the key decisions among the design and website-architecture alternatives.
Our full design service is ideal for attorneys who would prefer that their people focus on running the law practice, rather than ancillary activities like website-building. And because we employ industry best practices, your website will be guaranteed both usable and engaging. We’ll help you avoid many of web design's more prevelant myths and pitfalls, including:
Myth: "People randomly scan a home page."
Truth: The misconception lies in the keyword "randomly". Users consistently view home pages the same way. They start in the upper left (identifying where they are), scan diagonally to the bottom right, and then focus back in the middle of the page to determine if this page will answer whatever question they came with. These findings come from studies using optical devices to track users' eye movements as they view a web page.
Myth: "It isn’t necessary to tell our visitors who we are and what we do; they already know."
Truth: As an attorney, you must immediately tell or remind them: who you are, what your firm focuses on, and how you can help them. Clear home page messaging is the most commonly mishandled element on many legal websites. Your firm's value proposition must be clearly stated and given prominent attention. It is important to grab them within 3 seconds of impact.
Myth: "It's good to be different... why do what everyone else does?"
Truth: Website visitors have come to understand where certain page elements "belong" and what they should do; this is one of the keys to usability. Thinking while scanning seems to be some sort of implied Internet violation. So putting elements in places they aren't expected leads to chaos and confusion, and ultimately the visitor finding another attorney's website.
Myth: "People will patiently read through endless paragraphs of text to find good information."
Truth: People do not read web pages, they scan ...and scan frantically. When first-time visitors hit an attorney's website, they are not reading; they are scanning. They are going to decide within 3 seconds if your law firm can help them. If they are repeat visitors, they will have somewhat more patience, but not much more. On interior pages, they will scan to find the information they want, but they will not sift through 5 or more paragraphs of dense text to find it.
