You went to law school. The people reading your website didn’t.
That may be a generalization, but it’s probably true. The target audience of your law firm’s website is prospective clients. In most cases, this will include those without a law degree. That means you shouldn’t be filling your law firm website’s landing pages and practice area pages with complex legal terminology.
What kind of words are complicated?
After three years of law school (or four, who’s counting?), your brain is wired to read and understand complicated words and confusing sentences. However, the average reader certainly isn’t likely to understand complex legal terms. Some of these include:
- Spoilation
- Actus reus
- Additur
- Remittitur
- Habeas corpus
- In loco parentis
- Intestate
- Mens rea
- Certiorari
- Demurrer
- Malfeasance
- Fiduciary
There are certainly other words that your prospective clients will likely not understand. You’ve probably thought of some while reading this. You also know that attorneys tend to craft particularly complex sentences when writing briefs.
Guess what?
Complicated words and sentences are going to hurt your law firm’s online presence.
Making your content informative and readable
The goal of every page on your law firm’s website is to convert a reader into a potential client. You want the reader to get to your page, find the information they need, and call you for help with their issue. This is true for your:
- Law firm practice area pages
- Law firm blog posts
- Law firm landing pages
- Press releases
- Attorney bio pages
- Law firm “about us” pages
- Law firm homepage
At Blue Seven Content, we understand that the target audience of each law firm is slightly different. Every firm needs to understand the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of their area. All content on a law firm website needs to be readable. In general, this means less of a focus on legal terms and more of a focus on laymen’s terms. Take the complex and make it digestible by a person who needs your help.
When your prospective clients click on one of your law firm’s webpages, they are there because they searched for something online and were led to your page. In short order, your page needs to get their attention and contain the information they need and can understand. This usually means plain English, shorter sentences, shorter paragraphs, and bullet-point lists.
Work with Blue Seven Content today
Lawyers, paralegals, and legal assistants are busy. You have clients to help and cases to work on. Rarely do legal professionals have the time to dedicate to building quality content for their websites. It’s not surprising that we see so many law firm websites with barebones practice area pages that will never rank on Google. That can be detrimental to their online presence. In many cases, law firms turn their content production over to a large marketing company who is going to spend their money on brilliant looking webpages and skimp on the actual content.
At Blue Seven Content, law firm content is what we do. When you are ready to come up with a content plan for your law firm’s website, please reach out to us for a free consultation by clicking here or calling us at 843-580-3158.
Written by Allen Watson – CEO and Co-Founder of Blue Seven Content
One thought on “Are Your Law Firm Landing Pages and Practice Area Pages Full of Confusing Legal Terms?”