Build A Law Firm Website That Gets Found

Gyi Tsakalakis
April 21, 2010

Here are some simple tips for building a professional law firm website that will get found online.

The first step is choosing a domain for your law firm website. Your first instinct in choosing a domain might be to choose a branded domain based on the name of your firm. While branding your domain may be a good idea for law firms, there are many situations where this may be a mistake.

My advice is to take out two domains, your branded domain (i.e. www.yourlawfirmname.com) and a keyword targeted domain. For your keyword targeted, choose one of moderate search volume and competition that is highly relevant to your practice. I like using the geographic, practice specific, legal term guideline (i.e. chicago-injury-law-firm.com).

To check the availability of your desired domain, head over to Domize. Make sure to try different keyphrase combinations and hyphen positions.

Once you have chosen your domain, it's time to get it registered and set up a hosting account. While you've probably heard of godaddy.com, we recommend trying hostgator.com. Whichever hosting option you choose, make sure that your account includes the ability to use Fantastico to install WordPress.

Once you have chosen your host and installed WordPress, it's time to select a theme. Your theme will provide the overall look and design of your site. There are many themes from which to choose, both free, and commercial. We like Studiopress, Woo Themes, and DIY Themes.

After choosing your WordPress theme, it's time to start adding content. It's helpful to plan out the structure of your law firm website/blog prior to adding pages and posts. You should consider whether you want your articles on your homepage, or a separate static homepage. We have seen both methods work effectively. You may also want to include an attorney profile page, practice areas section, blog page, and of course, a contact page.

Once you have set up these basic pages, you are going to want to consider whether to install plugins. Don't go plugin crazy. While there are some plugins that can really help your efforts, there are some that are many that can have a negative impact on your site. Here are a couple that we recommend:

1. Ultimate Google Analytics
2. Google XML Sitemaps
3. SEO Smart Links

That's it. Now you've got a fully-functional law firm website and blog that is search engine friendly. The next steps are to add new articles, pages, and posts as frequently as possible.

Gyi Tsakalakis
Co-Founder of AttorneySync
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Let's Discuss Your Growth

Helping law firms grow profitably with digital marketing and can prove it.

Barry Conybeare

We are so impressed with AttorneySync and their digital marketing services. We started with an audit of our digital presence and hired them thereafter. Fixes to the website and other platforms quickly followed and we have seen a substantial increase in online traffic, new client calls, and new client contracts. Strongly recommend AttorneySync!

Let's Talk

How can we help?

More From Our Blog

May 3, 2025
Non-Brand ๐Ÿ“‰ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐Ÿ“ˆ

Here's a recent Google SERP for "๐˜„๐—ต๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜„๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฎ." Ads? โŒLSAs? โŒLocal Pack? โŒLinks? โŒ ๐Ÿ”ท AI Overview? โœ… 6 firms listed. Only one tiny ๐Ÿ”—. Click the ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ button? ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜: Here's a more detailed look at some of these firms: THE PEARCE LAW FIRM, P.C.Edith Pearce, […]

Read More
April 25, 2025
Do Confidentiality Rules of Professional Conduct Prohibit Use of Google's Local Services Ads?

On April 22, 2025, Google sent an email updating Local Services Ads Additional Terms for Providers: Subject: Action required: important updates to Local Service Ads Additional Terms Many people are arguing that lawyers cannot participate in Local Services Ads, as this would constitute a per se violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct related to […]

Read More
March 13, 2025
Lawyerist + Lunch Hour Legal Marketing Collaboration

Conrad and I recently joined Zack at Lawyerist to record a conversation about AI and marketing. You might think that we spend the whole time on how lawyers can use AI to publish content. You'd be wrong. While AI can certainly support publishing, there are many more interesting ways to use it in legal marketing. […]

Read More
March 11, 2025
ChatGPT Legal Services Consumer Journeys and Marketing Attribution

As more legal services consumers turn to ChatGPT for local law firm recommendations, a fascinating intersection between AI, search, and maps unfolds. While Google remains the undisputed leader in local business data, ChatGPT is increasingly becoming an entry point for searchers seeking legal representation. But hereโ€™s the kicker: instead of keeping users within its ecosystem, […]

Read More
March 10, 2025
Law Firm Brand Amplifies All Marketing

When law firms contact us, they usually want to talk: โ€ข PPC Ads โ€ข SEO Rankings โ€ข Lead Generation Very few want to talk: โ€ข Brand โ€ข Trust & Recognition โ€ข Emotional Connection Admittedly, much of this concerns that AttorneySync is known for lead generation across those common digital channels. But even when we start […]

Read More
March 6, 2025
Artificial Intelligence Overviews (AIO) in Legal SEO

According to an October 2024 study by SE Ranking: "The legal niche triggers the highest percentage of AIOs (77.67%). The average number of links matched between the AI Overview resources and the top 20 search results was 6.49 for legal topics. AI Overviews for legal topics most frequently link to NYCourts.gov (114 links), YouTube.com (48 […]

Read More
February 27, 2025
You Canโ€™t Hire for Law Firm SEO If You Donโ€™t Understand It

I'm grateful for my friend, Charley Mann of Law firm Alchemy. If you're a lawyer, subscribe to his Free Email List. In a recent email, Charley calls out bad guru advice on hiring: "Trying to execute a major SEO improvement? You need to find people who will help you, instead of trying to DIY it […]

Read More
February 26, 2025
Law Firm SEO Success Isn't What You Think It Is

If youโ€™ve spent any time on LinkedIn, youโ€™ve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an โ€œup and to the rightโ€ trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And itโ€™s not just the agencies celebratingโ€”๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜„ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—บ […]

Read More
February 15, 2025
What "Meh, Links" Means

Meh, links! All things being equal, links still tend to move the dial more than any other factor in legal SERPs. Maybe links are having a diminishing impact internet-wide. But in my experience, quality links, especially relevant links (both topically and geographically), tend to improve law firm visibility in search more than most everything else. […]

Read More

Let's Discuss

Questions or comments? Let's discuss on social!
Testimonials on this site are from examples of real client results. The results you see are not typical. They do not guarantee similar results. Individual results may vary based on a variety of factors. Your results may vary.
envelope
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram