What a law firm can learn from rival firms' websites

Pick the right rivals

The right comparison is with the firms a client would actually consider instead of you, not the largest firms in the country. For a high street practice that usually means:

• Two or three local firms offering the same practice areas.
• One firm, local or national, that handles your most valuable practice area online and is likely to appear when someone searches for it.

Compare practice area by practice area. A firm that is strong on conveyancing pages may be weak on family law, and clients searching for one rarely look at the other.

Search as a client would

Many prospective clients start with a search that includes a place name and a practice area. Try those searches yourself for your main practice areas and note which firms appear, both in the map listings and the ordinary results, and which page of each firm's site the search leads to.

Then compare the first impression each landing page gives. Does it confirm the visitor is in the right place, for the right kind of matter, in the right area? A firm whose search result lands on a specific, well-written practice area page often makes a stronger first impression than one whose result lands on a generic home page. Record this as an observation; you cannot see from outside how much enquiry volume any page generates.

How they explain what they do

Open the same practice area page on each site and read it as a worried first-time client would.

• Plain English. Does the page explain the problem and the process in words a client uses, or in legal terms?
• What happens next. Does it describe the steps of working with the firm: the first conversation, what the client needs to provide, how they will be kept updated?
• Costs information. Does the firm explain how it charges for this kind of matter and how clearly that information can be found? Record what is shown and where; do not judge whether it meets any rule.
• Who it is for. Specific situations described in the client's terms tend to be more reassuring than a list of services.

How they show their people

Legal services are bought from people. Compare the team pages:

• Are there real photographs and short, human biographies, or just names and job titles?
• Can a visitor see who would handle a matter like theirs?
• Do practice area pages link to the people who do that work?
• Is there any sense of the firm's local roots, history or approach?

A rival with warm, specific team pages and a firm with a bare list of names are making very different first impressions, even if their legal work is equally good.

How easy they make it to get in touch

• Contact routes. Phone, email, enquiry form, online booking. Which are offered, and where on the page?
• The enquiry form. The number of fields, and whether it says what happens after submission and who will respond.
• Mobile. Open the contact page on a phone. Check the phone number is tappable and the form fits the screen.
• Opening details. Are office hours and locations easy to find?

Make a test enquiry only if you are comfortable doing so openly; reading the form and the page is usually enough.

Confidence and proof

Look at how each firm builds confidence: client reviews, accreditations, years in practice, published guides and articles. Note what each shows and how current it looks. An articles page with nothing recent can suggest a firm that has stopped paying attention, even if that is not true.

Be careful copying any of this. Reviews must be genuine and any incentive disclosed, as our post on the fake reviews ban explains, and claims about results or rankings need to be accurate and supportable. Take your own professional advice on what is appropriate for a law firm.

Turning observations into actions

List every point where a rival's site does something better from a client's point of view. Rate each one low, medium or high on effort and impact. The quick wins for law firms are often simple: clearer next-step wording on practice area pages, warmer team biographies, a tappable phone number, and a shorter enquiry form.

Treat everything as an observation from public pages, not proof of why a rival wins more instructions.

Next step

Our free website audit for solicitors gives you a first read on your own firm's site. For a wider look at choosing comparisons and reading the results, see how to run a competitor comparison.