Being a solo practitioner comes with added obstacles and challenges that established law firms may not experience. From office administration to employee management to client intake, there are many tasks that must be performed in order for a legal service to succeed.
This article will focus on the importance of lawyer websites and why having one would benefit a solo lawyer.
Here’s a quick overview of everything this solo lawyer’s guide will cover:
Getting a website
Finding web design ideas
Starting a blog
Promoting the website
Improving the website’s performance
Reasons Solo Lawyers Need A Website
Solo lawyers have the ability to choose their own hours, select who they work with, and decide which cases they want to work on. While this may sound appealing at first, the additional work required to run a law firm by yourself can take a considerable amount of extra time.
To reduce some of the inevitable work, solo lawyers can use a website to delegate many of their regular office tasks.
Here are a few benefits solo lawyers can get with their website:
Advertise Legal Services.
Find New Clients
Establish a Brand / Reputation.
Improve Intaking.
Share Professional Legal Knowledge
There are some DIY website builders or if you don’t have the time to build a website yourself, you can hire a professional developer.
Website Design for Solo Lawyers
Although a website should provide useful information, the design and functionality can affect whether a visitor will use your legal services or search somewhere else.
Most visitors coming to any website will be searching for the information they need right away. If your solo lawyer website takes too long to load, has an unattractive design, or is confusing to navigate, expect visitors to leave before ever inquiring about your practice.
Designing a website with your prospective clients in mind will have greater benefits in the long term. Here are a few tips to guide you toward a good website for your solo service:
Choose A Good Design. The aesthetics of your solo lawyer website is important. Consider the look and feel of your website. Ask yourself, does it showcase your professionalism? Expertise?
Don’t Confuse Visitors. When visitors come to your website, keep the message clear and make your pages easy to navigate. Nothing is more frustrating to someone online than landing on a website and not knowing what to do or where to go.
Offer Quality Content. While it may be useful to have a website featuring your office hours and contact information, you can improve your website’s performance by adding a blog and providing helpful information.
Have A CTA. You need a Call To Action on your website. This could be an onscreen pop-up requesting an email or your contact number in large font that offers the visitor a free consultation if the contact you today.
When you discuss your website with a web designer, remember to focus on the website’s function while paying attention to the overall aesthetic and design. To get more ideas for you website design, check out 2017’s best lawyer websites or 2018’s best law firm websites.
Blogging About Law
Solo lawyers with a blog on their website can improve their reach for prospective clients. Blogs are a great way to share informal information, showcase your expertise in your area of law, and build an online reputation.
Blogs allow solo lawyers with competitive strategy for marketing their legal services. For example, the information and expertise about the law may be unique to you. Sharing some tips, such as what to do after getting in a car accident, can help you stand out against other law firms in your area.
To create a successful lawyer blog, you’ll want to consider the keywords people are using in search engines. For example, if you’re a solo lawyer practicing divorce law in California, you’ll want to write an article with similar words inside. Keep reading to learn how keywords in your website can improve its performance.
Promoting Your Legal Services
In order for a solo lawyer website to serve its purpose, finding new clients, it is going to need visitors. Paid promotions can be an effective method toward promoting your legal services and finding your next client.
To get started, two of the most common places to promote a website include Google PPC and Facebook Ads.
Google uses competitive keywords to provide ads on the first page of their results to people making searches related your selected words. Facebook offers this same feature, however, it has an even more powerful tool for targeting the perfect audience.
Depending on your budget and goals, Google PPC and Facebook Ads can have different results. For more information about which one you should use to promote your website, go to Google PPC for Lawyers or Facebook Ads for Lawyers.
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Improving Your Website’s Performance
For alternatives to paid promotions, you can make a few modifications to your website to improve the performance. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a method of making your website better recognized by search engines which presents your website to more people.
As mentioned before, having a blog is one way to improve your SEO. Blogs allow you to add various keyword rich pages to your website which can improve the likelihood of your website being discovered.
Other methods of improving your solo lawyer website’s SEO includes:
Improving the SEO of a website can be both technical and confusing. To get a better understanding of SEO and the things you can do to improve your website go to SEO for Lawyers.
If you’re fresh out of law school, you might consider starting your own law firm. In order to succeed in legal profession, having the ability to find new clients will become the foundation of your success.
One of the first things new lawyers that you can do to spread the word of your career is by simply talking about it. Whenever you meet new people, let them know you’re a lawyer.
What you shouldn’t be doing is giving away free advice but instead discuss what it is your law firm can do and how they can get in touch with you.
If you want a few more ideas on how an attorney can get clients, here’s a list of ideas to help you refer clients and grow your firm.
Friends and Family
Your friends referring clients and family will be one of the best referrals to help you find new clients as an attorney.
Since they know you best, you’ll become the first person they’ll mention if one of their friends or someone they know needs a lawyer.
If you’re opening a new firm, be sure to send an announcement via letter or e-mail to let everyone know.
Join the Bar Association in Your Community
If you have absolutely no connections, the first thing you should do is join any bar associations of committees in your community. Making connections and building relationships with other attorneys will give others a chance to get to know you and what you do.
Eventually, this can lead to mutual exchanges of clients back and forth. If one of your new lawyer connections has a client they can’t help (i.e. your connection is a divorce lawyer looking for legal advice for a car accident) they may refer that client to you.
In exchange, when you get clients at your own law firm, seeking services you don’t provide, you can refer them to someone in your list of connections.
Develop Your Online Presence
Social media and online browsers are great places to start finding clients as an attorney.
Get started with a website. Having a website allows you to showcase your previous cases, give information about your law firm, and most importantly, let’s visitors know how you can help.
Once thing to consider when setting up a website to find new clients is your domain name. The domain name you choose for your law firm’s online identity should stand out and briefly highlight your area of expertise. Make sure you choose the right domain name for your brand new law firm, before going live.
With your newly made law firm website, you can begin to share your knowledge on a blog. Blogging allows you to share content about your law firm in a way that connects with prospective clients dealing with legal problems.
Articles like, “What to do if you want a divorce” or “Steps to take after a car accident” provide information people may be searching. Of course, within articles like those will include “contact a lawyer to start a consultation.” If you’re content marketing is done well, you can use blogs to attract visitors to your website, get them to contact your firm, and potentially increase the number of clients you get.
Social Media
With a blog for your law firm’s website you can begin sharing content on places like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. Sharing on these platforms allow you to make direct connections with those who may need your legal services.
As your social media channels grow in size, you can occasionally share promotional posts such as “Get a free consultation” or “You pay if we win!”
Posting frequently on social media is how you’ll stand out online. While this may seem like an added amount of work, your posts have the ability to get new clients organically. An alternative to this would be advertising.
Creating a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign with Google will put your law firm’s website at the top of the search engines. Instead of worrying whether your website is ranking high in the search engines organically, you can use a PPC campaign to put you at the top.
Google AdWords uses keywords to match your ads with someone searching for it. For example, if someone was searching for, “attorneys in New York,” having an ad using that phrase will increase the likelihood of it being clicked. However, depending on where you live and what area of practice you are in, Google AdWords can be very expensive.
Facebook Ads is another way for an attorney to get new clients. You can modify your ads to target specific groups of people and create a distinct purpose. Facebook ads can be used to grow your social media page or directed toward a contact page or get in touch with your firm.
You can also create ads for LinkedIn and Instagram depending on your practice area and how detailed you know your prospective client types.
When using online advertising to push clients to your website, be sure to send traffic to pages that convert. You could end up paying a lot of money if you’re web pages are not created to turn a curious visitor into your next client.
Attorney Lead Generation Services
If you’re not good with technology, social media, or websites, you can use an attorney lead generation service to find new clients.
Total Attorneys and AttorneyBoost are services which allows you access to a pool of people looking for a lawyer. Total Attorney handles your own marketing efforts and sends traffic to your website.
Online attorney solutions vary in quality of clients and conversions on your website. Use these with caution.
As an attorney, getting clients is the key to a successful legal practice. How you find clients will require a combination of the above ideas in addition to the methods you discover and learn.
How to Get New Clients as a Lawyer
In the legal sector, digital marketing can attract up to 50% of potential clientele.
How Lawyers Get New Clients With Networking
Networking has never been a buzzword anymore and the key is to be a part of every sector. In law practice, lawyers must create networks for the client. Networking is essentially more than meeting attorneys at conferences or meetings. While networking has an important role to play, extensive networking is essential for attorneys in order to connect to individuals and entities outside a legal network. Imagine a motorcycle accident lawyer.
Lack of Positive Reviews
Our society is fueled by online reviews in a way where the average person will value the online review more than a friend will. When one searches online for an attorney, the choice usually depends on what stars are next to the firm. A lawyer who received poor ratings should read the reviews of those reviews carefully, as 90% of consumers’ decision is made based on what they read. Having positive feedback from previous clients can give them confidence that you have a great reputation and increases the chances that you will be asked for an interview. Then again, online reviews must be considered a bit like the credit ratings.
How Can Lawyers Get More Clients With SEO
The next steps in becoming a successful lawyer involve using the power of search optimization. Search engine optimization for law firm attorneys is a technique that makes your website recognizable for search engines. the Google search it’s algorithm for rankings differ according to various factors. Websites that get high rankings may appear on page 1 of the search engines. This organic results are shown above the paid advertisements, more about those advertisements to be announced soon. If one wants to be viewed in a clientele area the importance is in creating a landing page on the SERP.
Build a High-Performance Website to Attract More Legal Leads
If potential clients see you through an appealing website they will be happy with your firm’s ability. Using these steps, you can convert prospects into customers. A good lawyer’s website is essential and must have no overstatement. Having no good website can result in poor performance in marketing and advertising campaigns. Your paid marketing strategy generates a terrible return on investment. If you thought you didn’t have the skills to write an effective website to attract and retain new legal clients, then it’s not necessary.
Build an Online Presence
Referrals provide many clientele. However, it is decreasing from 21% in 1 year to 43%. It doesn’t surprise anyone as 96% seek legal counsel online for their questions. As a lawyer looking for clients you should not neglect the potential for digital marketing. The internet has become a more effective platform to advertise & have clients find other clients. How can I make more leads through my website? SEO isn’t a simple process.
Referrals From Other Lawyers
85% of business is generated through referrals. Developing strong relationships with your former clients and colleagues is the key for the business development side of an effective legal practice. Of course, sometimes it is necessary to go an additional mile for the best possible customer satisfaction. Law firms with higher referrals usually have quid pro quoi. Tell your customers you appreciate this gesture when a client does!
Create Free Lead Generation Opt-ins
To gain legal clientele, an attorney should gain the confidence of their target audience. This can easily happen utilizing free lead generation opt-ins. In general, lead generation opt-ins are very valuable content and can be easily accessed through e-mail. What are the similarities? Maybe you have already tried doing it to look at an item. For a new attorney, you can download e-books and other useful documents for legal matters (e.g. filing a divorce). Tell me the reason why people signup as clients?
Legal Directories Are a Good Source for New Law Firm Clients
Lawyer’s lists will help you improve brand visibility in many ways. Specifically, we suggest that you use legal directories to ensure search results are valid for multiple directories. Listed in legal directory websites can improve online visibility. Among the most popular legal websites you can find a list of all the top legal professionals and firms you work with in one site: You’re better off using multiple directories to increase visibility.
Local SEO Is Key to Getting More Lawyer Clients
Local SEO is an online optimization method that targets clients located near the location of law firms. This is the most efficient way to have clients find lawyers for a client. If your website has local clients, it must be optimized with keywords that match specific locations. You just need to tweak your keyword list and include words like the name of the city you live in. So let me say your lawyer provides bankruptcy services in Atlanta, Georgia. You can use the keyword Bankruptcy law practice in Atlanta.
How Lawyers Get Clients With Organic Search
Most people know about SEO. You might even be able to see how this is done by weaving keywords into the site content. Moreover, many people can type his query on Yahoo, and then contact an attorney for advice on the matter. But these are merely a few SEO tactics worth pursuing. Optimizing your website for search makes it a better search site. And a drop in rankings is astronomically huge. What does Google think happens when it shows up first in search? How many times do people click a site to get more visitors?
How to Get More Clients for My Law Firm Using SEO (Tutorial)
To improve search visibility, there are online and offline optimization strategies that need to be considered. For a personal injury lawyer alone, it can be tricky to determine keywords when searching a website for a particular keyword. We say this to our potential clients. Tell me your desire? How can one illustrate this problem? It’s great, and you aren’t here yet. Tell me the answer to this question? Your prospective clients will probably look into “what happens in personal injury cases” more frequently.
Run Advertising Campaigns
Often the most recent lawyers have a preference towards paid advertising. Advertising is available in all forms: print, radio, television or online. Because our firm specializes in Digital Advertising for Law Firms, our focus is Internet Advertising. It is also advantageous for your potential client-ele to find leads quickly within your target location. Tell me the way things are working. I mean, a man searches online for criminal lawyers in New York. Depending on the content of your site your ads should appear above the main page. The chances are increased that a customer clicked on a link or booked a meeting on this site. Does that sound very nice? Basically, advertising is an incredibly effective way to attract customers.
Be Helpful to Get More Clients
Several prominent law firms need SEO to be successful in Google. Your company is unique. Use Google Ads and digital advertising to improve your search ranking and increase visibility on search engines. Can someone get more legal clients? Answering client questions. The more beneficial the content, the longer they remain on your search engine marketing website.
Lawyer Directories
Legal directories are an excellent resource to grow your visibility. They help lead finding more paying clients by having an important place where they can be seen. Check all the legal directories available and confirm your application is approved. You can increase the chances people call you when someone wants help. Several legal directory websites specialize in just one field. Therefore, knowing what makes your presence different is important for a great result and for you.
Slow Response From Legal Team
Tell me the average amount of time a prospective customer takes in response to a website request? It’ll be hard to turn prospects into business. This is possible via chat bots or automated software. The technology can respond automatically to requests for specific data from clients. Automated response meets client’s desire for instant gratification.
Reputation Management Is Key
Let’s just say that some reviews will be good, some are bad. Finally, you must address the negative review. Your answers will show you the integrity your prospects are looking for. Upon the failure of a project, it will go back. Negative reviews can be useful lessons if you are concerned about something you could improve. All negative comments will mean that you either give help or contact me directly. Besides reputation management, some of these directories have been mentioned previously.
Make a Great First impression
Having a good first impression is vital for convincing someone to trust you on personal issues. With an ever-changing legal landscape, every law firm should differentiate themselves as an important choice for clients. Insight from clients automate their intake process to improve customer satisfaction. The rapid response of our clients leaves lasting impressions in every step of their journey.
Smooth Client Experience
Without the need for an ongoing client intake, the leads (potential customers) often get lost. Consumers enjoy smooth and low-effort experiences. The more attention you give the child the more happiness they’ll have. Client intake software allows for quick access and quick collection of leads’ data using an online client intake form that automatically creates a record of them in your database.
Email Marketing Can Get Lawyer Clients
Email marketing offers many benefits. Email marketing is a very efficient way of managing it all. For instance, if a user visits the blog a few days before the event and provides their information, you can include it in the list you have on this website. Afterwards, it is possible that you send regular mail weekly. The emails are intended to remind clients that your firm exists.
If you already own a website, why should a lawyer have a blog?
Nowadays, when people have a problem they immediately turn to Google and other search engines to find the answer. The way things work online, a few words or phrases are typed into the search bar and websites that best match it will show up.
For certain legal concerns, you may see searches like this:
Wife wants divorce
Can my brother sue me
What do I do if I get arrested?
In these situations, having a blog and writing about the legal perspective can bring more visitors to your website and potentially lead to new clients.
To achieve this, you will need to write articles with headlines like the following:
7 Things You Must Do When Your Wife Wants A Divorce
What To Do When Your Brother (Or Family) Wants To Sue You
How Your Arrest Will Affect You And Your Family
Blogging is a powerful tool that takes time, commitment and a little online knowledge to make it work. Here’s a few things lawyers starting a blog should know.
Guidelines For A Lawyer’s Blog
You may not be a web designer, but there are a few things you should know if you intend to provide your thoughts, ideas, and professional advice online. A website is just like your office space: the way it is organized, the overall aesthetic, and the level of professionalism all play a part in whether people will stick around or click away.
Here are a few guidelines to consider when it comes to lawyer’s having an online blog:
Create a responsive website. Many people are navigating the online world from a smart device. This means that your lawyer website has to be 100% responsive and mobile friendly. When it comes to the design elements on the page, keep it simple and keep it clean. And, don’t over complicate the language. People from all kinds of backgrounds will be reaching out to your online. Using simple, everyday language will be the best way to connect with potential clients.
Have a clear way to contact you.There is a purpose to providing a website and this is amplified by adding a blog. Whenever you have visitors coming to your site, your contact information should be clear and distinct. Visitors should be able to send an email with ease or touch your number causing it to instantly dial. Reducing the level of frustrations on your website and in your blog will make the experience that much better in the palm of their hand.
Educate your prospective clients. The main purpose of blogging is to exemplify your professional and answer any questions they may have. The information you provide is often the best place to begin a relationship with you. They can get to know who you are, what you offer, and how you think. Your blog is the place to build trust so that the consultation can happen without any doubts and uncertainties.
Answer questions and solve problems. You might think that there is already a lot of information on the web and as a lawyer, it may be a waste of time to be blogging about it. Your competitors may be hundreds of articles ahead of you and you keep wondering why they continue to get more and more clients. Start blogging. This is an investment in your services and the easiest way to get started is by answering the most common questions your previous clients have asked you before. When people are coming to you online, they are hoping you have the answers to your problems, which the only way you can prove to them that you have it is by writing a blog.
Add special offers. As a lawyer with a blog, this is a great opportunity to attract new clients. One of the best way to do this can be done by offering a free initial consultation. Inside your blog as well as on the side, you can create banners and advertisements that tell your visitors they can sign up for a risk-free, no obligation and no money consultation. Or, perhaps you are doing something special and offer flexible phone consultations.
SEO Benefits Of Blogging
There’s a few things behind the scenes that lawyers should know about blogging. If you’re unfamiliar with how websites work and how Google shows your website to people searching you could be wasting your time blogging online.
Here’s a little summary of lawyer SEO and how a lawyer that blogs can benefit from it.
More authority. There are elements of your website that determine your overall “web authority.” This is known as Domain Authority (DA) and is ranked on a 100-point-scale. Websites that provide more content will have a higher DA which boosts their rankings in the search engines.
More web pages. Whenever you publish a new blog post, you are expanding the depth and details of your website. Each page URL gets indexed by Google and other search engines which increases your likelihood of being found and is supported by all other benefits found in this list.
More Links. Links are an important variable that determines how well you are ranked. When you link out from your site to another authority site, Google recognizes this. However, when you link to other pages on your own website, this too is counted toward your overall ranking. Blogging gives you the chance to greatly enhance the quality of your site and give it that added boost.
More trust. Many people are seeking solutions to their problems online. If you can position yourself in a way that provides online advice and trusted information, this too helps your ranking. Google tends to favor sites that give visitors trusted information that people actually need. Having a blog will provide that added trust that other websites lack.
More traffic. Publishing regularly will allow you to generate significantly more traffic to your website, and ultimately, to your legal services. Google will often refer people using its search engine to sites that are active and consistently providing relevant and trusting content.
More long tail keywords. Keyword stuffing (i.e. using a common keyword or phrase over and over again in an article) can lead to Google penalties. When you are blogging with quality, original content, you will end up with much more “long tail keywords” in on your website. Over time, this will increase your chances that you will be able to answer specific problems that prospective clients are seeking for online.
More user experience. Google wants people to have the best user experience. To ensure this, Google expects websites to provide visitors with real answers and solutions to their problems. This will be measured by the amount of time people are spending on your website. If many people are leaving, you site is likely not the solution. However, that’s where blogging can help.
More SEO. Blogging is content marketing. And, when you are blogging you are directing your content to a specific, target audience. In doing this, you are already creating the right SEO conditions to succeed online and the more you publish the more you can expect will return.
The Value Of Blogging As A Lawyer
Aside from the technical benefits your website receives with having a blog, there is considerable value when a lawyer blogs.
Take these into consideration:
Save time and improves services. Imagine dealing with a client who didn’t do a background check and they continue to ask basic questions before even getting to a consultation. Having content in your blog is a quick and simple resource to redirect inquiries to the answers they are looking for. After they get the information they need, the next steps can be made with less hassle.
You get noticed more. You already learned a little about the influence that Google has, however, if the information your provide is truly valuable, it’s going to be shared. When a lawyer has a blog and they can connect with the needs of people experiencing legal conflict, it’s quite common that they will share this advice with their friends and family. Blogging allows you to share your experience and expertise as well as provide trust and support for those in a legal crisis.
Perfect for advertising and announcements. Another great advantage for a lawyer to have a blog is that you can showcase your past successes. Perhaps your firm was featured in the news for a big case, or you were appointed an award in your community. Posting an update about this and sharing this online gives your website that dynamic edge and professional appeal.
There are all kinds of reasons for a lawyer to have a blog. However, as a final note, the most important reason for any lawyer to start blogging, whether you are a fresh our of law school, an experienced attorney, or a retired judge, is that you can continually develop and hone the legal skills as a lawyer.
When you’re law career begins, you may find yourself working at a law firm as an associate and provided with a base salary. Transitioning from employee to becoming a partner at a firm is a great leap.
The path from associate to partner at a law firm may not always be clearly defined. However, there are a few criteria that can assist you if you’re being considered or have been offered to become a partner at a law firm.
The Path to a Partner at a Law Firm
Firms hiring lawyers often choose the best they can find. Applicants from top law schools are recruited first with interviews being limited to specific schools only.
There is a chance of distinguishing yourself in another way, however, most candidates for law firm positions will be considered by pre-selected schools.
Upon hire, your career often starts as an associate. You will be working with a mentor to learn how to practice law. At this time, you will be paid a relatively high salary as the law firm is investing in you at their firm.
While law firms seek to find the best potential lawyers, not all make partner at their firm. Some may leave to start their own private practice or start a firm of their own after a few years with the firm. The path to becoming a partner can be long and take now take over ten years before it occurs.
Partner vs. Non-Partner
On becoming a partner at a law firm, you not only take on more responsibility but also receive an equity stake in the firm’s profits. This provides you access to draw profits to cover your bills and monthly expenses. At the end of the year, you’ll be able to take a larger share when profits are distributed.
This is the typical style of partnership, however, there is also the possibility of becoming a non-partner which does not give you an equity stake in the law firm. Law firms have been adopting varying styles of multi-tiered partnerships which provide increases in salaries (and responsibilities) instead of receiving a small percentage of the firm.
There are many factors that influence the structure of a law firm and how it establishes available partnerships. Depending on the size and growth of a firm, offering a non-partnership promotion may be more financially secure than offering equity stakes. Law firms can be an LLC or a corporation and their level of success can determine how much access to equity their rising associates may receive.
Cost of Making Partner
Becoming a partner may not come cheap. Law firms that offer a partnership with an equity stake will often ask for a “buy-in.” That amount varies for each firm, however, some of the top firm’s may require hundreds of thousands of dollars as a capital investment.
Law school is already an expensive investment and many lawyers take years to pay back their loans. If you’re one of the few being fast-tracked to a partnership, consider the capital that may be needed to partner-up.
The “base” capital investment is not the only expected cost new lawyers are expected to cover. Becoming partner means you will be responsible for the costs of benefits and additional income tax deductions.
Finally, some associates moving into a position of being a full-fledged lawyer may experience a shift in lifestyle. This too can come with a heavy price tag.
Putting the financial situation into perspective, law firms don’t want to see their selected partners making less than senior associates. Partners are carefully groomed into their position and law firm’s take precautions to choose them carefully.
Why “Buy-in” to a Partnership?
The capital required to “buy-in” to a partnership position is needed to make investments and expansions at the law firm. You may not have to contribute the full amount as some law firms allow for a contribution that is spread out over a couple years.
Firms may offer a loan structure which secures the capital while imposing a debt onto the partner. However, other firm’s may opt out of requesting “buy-in” capital to avoid paying out a partner who decides to leave after the first few years. Another approach may be to delay the required capital investment by a year so that new partners can develop their services and get into the flow of their new career.
Benefits to Becoming a Partner at a Law Firm
After years of law school and enduring the high-stress legal world as an associate, becoming a partner adds the following benefits to a career in law:
Increased pay
Equity stake in the law firm
Greater prestige and power
Disadvantages to Becoming a Partner at a Law Firm
While the increased pay and access to the firm’s profits may seem like a lucrative leap in your career, here’s a few things that may be disadvantageous:
May take years to the firm before being considered a partner
Greater liability (i.e. sued for malpractice or if the law firm goes bankrupt)
It may be unfair and hopelessly shallow, but clients will judge you based on how you look. You know to dress the part in the courtroom, but what about your website and social media presence? Does it look like you: polished, professional, and worthy of a client’s trust?
Be honest. Be brutal. Your clients will be.
A strong brand identity relies on the fine balance of cohesion, presentation, and personality.
There’s a sea of law firms out there that look either out of touch or overly generic. In fact, I’m pretty sure some of these law firms just copy and paste their entire visual identity from other brands. Yikes.
That may be okay (it’s not okay) for fly by night, side-eye worthy amateurs, but not you. You’re the best, and you’ve got to look the best, or no one else will know it, except for me and your mother.
By the end of this post, you’ll learn exactly how to create a visual identity that looks smart, savvy, and purposeful. This visual identity will make your brand more memorable and more trustworthy. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
Psst… Would you like to get 12 tools for creating a stunning visual brand? Subscribe to receive this free resource.
Here is the best place to start. Would you live to cultivate a friendly persona or an intellectual one? They aren’t mutually exclusive, however you’re looking for the dominant tone in your visual identity.
Perhaps it’s best to think of your ideal client. Are you in family law? Are you an entertainment attorney? Do you work primarily in real estate? Your target clientele shifts depending on what type of law you specialize in. Keeping that client in mind, you can create a brand identity that reaches and relates to them.
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How can a law firm that specializes in entertainment be satisfied with a dated and bland visual identity? Or, how can a firm that focuses on family law create a visual identity that’s aloof and unsympathetic?
Actually, it’s easy and a lot of brands do it unintentionally. However, it’s also easy to create a visual identity that deliberately gives off the vibe you wish to present. Let’s take a look at the components that create your visual identity.
The Components of Your Visual Identity:
Color
Color has a profound impact on us. One color can make us feel calm, another can make us feel creative. Studies show that the color called drunk tank pink can actually reduce violent and hostile behavior. There’s little doubt that color influences our psychology.
This is why you need to think about what colors to use in your visual branding. Each color affects us differently. Depending on the message you’d like to convey, use a corresponding color to subtly but effectively echo it.
Here’s a breakdown of each color and how the brain interprets it:
Green – Fresh, Organic, Natural, Eco-friendly, Gentle
Blue – Trustworthy, Secure, Peaceful, Calm, Loyal
Purple – Creative, Unique, Vibrant, Luxurious, Royal
Black – Sophisticated, Traditional, Classic, Powerful, Elegant
White – Pure, Good, Clean, Honest, Open
You’ll probably want a combination of two or three colors to create a unique and intentional visual identity. For example, the color combinations of blue and gray say modern yet trustworthy, while brown and pink say dependable and compassionate.
Do you need help deciding which colors should represent you? Browse the most loved color palettes of all time over at ColourLovers. Pick up inspiration by the user-submitted color palettes and use it to jump-start your brand identity.
Graphics
Graphics are a huge part of visual branding. Along with color, graphics are an immediate way to communicate your brand’s unique identity. This includes images, photos, icons, infographics, and other visual elements.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you want to immediately impress your firm’s identity, personality, and tone, you need to intersperse graphical elements into your online content.
On your general website, your blog, and your social media accounts, use graphics to craft a uniquely identifiable visual brand.
When you post an image on your blog or social media accounts, make sure that it:
includes your brand logo. In case your image goes viral, you want to leave your calling card.
continues the same look and feel as the rest of your brand. Consistency is important for developing a strong visual identity.
supports the text if on your blog. Your image should make sense and emphasize the blog post.
is high quality. There’s nothing worse than a tiny image that your visitors have to squint to see.
Where to Find Images
Speaking of high quality, there’s no reason to settle for cheesy images when there’s plenty of free and amazing stock libraries on the web. Check out this list of my favorite stock images (and subscribe for even more resources).
Be sure to check the license and usage requirements. Most of these sites require no attribution, but terms can change at any moment.
Logo
Your logo is the best way to instantly impress who you are as a brand. Think of your logo as a first introduction. It can immediately convey the tone and personality of your brand before your client has an opportunity to look at your services, testimonials, or blog posts.
Check out Creative Fabrica for awesome free fonts!
Last, but not least, is your font choice. Your font says a lot about your brand identity. It can say that you’re fun and hip or serious and staid.
Font libraries like Fontspace and 1001 Fonts let you search for fonts based on the type of mood you’d like to convey. Simply type in “classic” or “modern” to find the perfect font for your brand.
Now that you’ve been introduced to the four components to your visual identity, it’s time to put it to work on your blog and social media platforms. Here’s how:
Your blog
Be sure to include an image on each and every blog post you write. Not only will it provide visual interest to your post, it will subtly reiterate your brand identity.
One in seven people on earth use Facebook. No doubt some of your clients use this popular platform. Take advantage of the cover photo as a prime opportunity to reinforce your brand message.
Not on Pinterest? Pins last longer than Facebook posts, and can greatly expand your marketing reach. On Pinterest, use similar cover images to create a consistent visual branding.
To create a visual identity that mirrors your brand message, remember to ask yourself what your clients need and expect from you. Once you understand what that is, use these tips to build your visual identity.
Don’t forget to download our extra set of recommended tools to help you create a winning visual brand identity for your law firm.
