Nearly every law firm website I’ve ever seen has been really shit.
Not because of the design (although the design can be shit too), but because of the copy – the words that are on the website.
This is what I think has happened:
One time, many years ago, a law firm created a website, and it was really shit.
Then every other law firm came along and went, “Oh, that’s what a law firm website is supposed to be like, I’m going to copy that.”
And they all copied it, including all the wording, and now nearly every law firm in the world has a terrible website because they’re all the same.
What makes it even worse is, if you want to improve your website you’ll often go to a copywriter.
Your copywriter will look at all the other shit law firm websites and think that’s how your website should be, so they’ll write something that’s shit too.
Or, they buck the trend and do a great job creating copy that really sells and speaks to the client, but the lawyer will get out their red pen and go through and change it all, because it doesn’t sound lawyery enough, or they think it’s too salesy.
But actually, that’s the purpose of that copy – they are words that sell.
So I’ve created a five step framework to help you create copy for your law firm’s website.
This is how you convert the people who come to your site into paying clients.
#1: Copywriting is not about writing
It’s kind of unfortunate that the word ‘writing’ is in the word ‘copywriting’, because it’s about more than that.
Copywriting is creating words that sell.
Lawyers spend a lot of time writing, right? Writing submissions, writing legal opinions, letters, all sorts of things.
But that is very different to copywriting.
Just as we wouldn’t think a copywriter could do legal writing, lawyers cannot do copywriting – unless they’ve actually been trained to.
If you’re a lawyer who’s written copy for a website and you know it’s bad, don’t worry.
Writing for the purpose of selling is a very different skill, and one that you probably don’t have.
The first important step is recognising that, while you’re a very talented and successful lawyer, who’s very good at writing a legal opinion, that does not make you a good copywriter.
Writing your own copy is probably not the best idea.
If you want to go and learn about copywriting specifically, then you can do that, but it’s important to understand that there will be a bit of education involved.
#2: Stop talking about you
This is a change you can make right now.
Go and take a look at your firm’s website and ask yourself this question: are you talking about yourself and your firm MORE than you’re talking about your ideal client?
I can just about guarantee you the answer will be yes.
Your law firm website probably talks about…
- How long you’ve been practicing law for
- Where you practiced law
- Where you went to university
- How much PQE you’ve got
- The types of cases you’ve worked on
If you are talking about all those things, I totally get it. That’s what everybody else talks about, so you probably thought that’s what you needed to talk about as well.
But it’s really important you understand that it’s not about you.
Clients don’t care about you.
Usually when they’re coming to your website for the very first time, they’re only just becoming aware that they have a problem.
Which means they’re not worried about how much PQE you’ve got. They’re worried about how well you could solve their problem.
You spending all this time talking about yourself doesn’t actually help them to figure out if you can solve their problem for them.
#3: The client is the product
At the moment, you’ve probably laid out the copy on your website to try and sell a legal service.
But what you need to understand is, you’re not selling a legal service. You’re actually trying to sell the client to themselves.
You need to hold up a mirror that they can look into and see themselves.
They need to see their problem and be reading about themselves, so they can say, “Yes, yes. That is how I feel. Yes, that is my problem.”
Being able to think about your client as the product that you’re selling, rather than your legal service, will really help you get into the mindset you need to get into.
#4: Use their words
If you talk about statutes or regulations or case law on your website, you are not using your clients’ words.
You are using lawyer words.
The easiest way to sell to somebody is to use their words.
For lawyers, you might think that sounds lazy, but it’s actually very, very effective.
Using their words is as easy as listening to the way your clients explain something, taking those words and building them into your copy.
An example might be, say your client gets fired. Think about how they would go home and tell their partner what happened.
They wouldn’t go home and say, “Oh, I’ve been unjustifiably dismissed by my employer.”
Of course they wouldn’t say that.
They would say something like, “Oh, my boss fired me.”
Learning how your clients explain things is a key way you can create great copy that sells.
Quick story for you…
Back in the ’90’s, my dad had a law firm that specialised in employment law. They used to run an ad in the local paper twice a week that said, “Got the boot lately?”, and it had a big picture of a boot.
My dad got so many clients through that ad, purely because the copy was so strong. I also think the picture of the boot helped.
But this is such a great example of using their words.
Think about how your client says things. How is she talking about things? Use her words in your copy.
#5: Understand different stages of awareness
When it comes to a client’s buying journey, there are many different stages of awareness.
I’m not gonna get deep into this today, but there are two stages that I do want to draw your attention to.
The first is when they become aware of their problem.
If somebody’s coming to your website and they’ve just become aware of their problem, then you need to really focus on talking about that problem.
Your language should agitate that problem, and talk to them in a way that makes them think, “Gosh, these people really get it, they really understand me.”
The other stage of awareness you need to think about is when they move through to being more solution-focused.
Before they were problem-focused, where they just knew they had a problem, but they weren’t ready to think about sorting it out yet.
Now, they know they’ve got a problem and they’re ready to think about sorting it out.
The way that you speak to that type of client is very different, because you need to start talking about what the solution could be.
For example, at that point you can invite them to book a call with you.
So you can see that you need different copy for people at different parts of the buying journey.
The thing is, you don’t know what part of that buying journey they’re in when they come to your website.
So you need to write your copy and lay your website out in a way that makes sense for people coming onto your site..
And that is quite a skill, so the best way to make sure you do it is to use a copywriter.
Just remember, when you do use a copywriter, don’t let them go and copy everybody else’s website, and don’t chop and change everything they’ve written.
You have to trust they know what they’re doing, because they are a professional.
You don’t need to use a copywriter who’s experienced in writing for the law firms…in fact it’s probably better that you don’t.
They’re less likely to have been indoctrinated in the shit law firm copy that’s out there, because they’ve seen it so many times.
Get somebody who doesn’t write for law firms.
Somebody who writes copy that sells really well for other industries. That’s what you want.
Thanks for reading all the way to the end. For more tips and ideas on growing and scaling a modern, successful, seven figure law firm, sign up to my Savvy Lawyers Facebook group.
