While it's true that each attorney should have their own idea of what kind of law firm website design they want for their business, it's equally true that some features are universally essential for a high quality, revenue-inducing lawyer website.

Practical Content - Straight forward and understandable content is an extremely important element in all lawyer websites. Attorneys who create their own website content sometimes forget that they're communicating with clients, not lawyers. It's important to avoid this because many potential clients could be thrown off by too much jargon. The content is also a perfect place to differentiate your law firm with your competitors.

Easy-To-Use Navigation System - Be sure your attorney website has a straight-forward navigation system. As mentioned on other pages, a confused potential client will head to the next law firm website. Clients and potential clients come to your law firm's website looking for specific information, usually the same information. Your navigation menu must include links to the home page, attorneys and/or partners, practice areas, branches or offices, employment (often "career opportunities"), links and/or resources, news (perhaps in blog form), publications, and contact information. If any of these are left out, you can be sure your client will feel left out as well.

Organization - Your top priority is to boost revenue and increase clientele. One way to do that is to keep your website organized. If you're a sole practitioner or small law firm, organization should not be much of a challenge as long as you remember a few points. Be sure you separate topics in different sections and/or pages. Also, and this goes for all pages, it's key that a law firm website is easy to navigate. An attorney website lacking this feature will frustrate potential clients and send them elsewhere.

A large firm will probably have more trouble with this technique because they have so many attorneys and practices combined into one site. It's important that they find the best way to organize all of their information so to avoid confusing potential clients. Also, and this goes for all sizes of law firms, stick with less than 10 pages to avoid overload.

Color Scheme, Fonts, and Layout - Your law firm may already have some sort of corporate identity upon which a website can be built. Your color scheme should coordinate with the logo designed for your law firm, so that when those colors are coupled together clients will think of you. Stick to web- and screen- friendly fonts, such as Arial, Verdana, and Helvetica. These fonts are highly readable and will not distract from your practice's identity. Your brand could also include a theme throughout the content as well as a slogan. Legal websites need to look professional and level-headed, so a clean, muted (read: not bland!) grid system will do the job. And eye-catching photos can be the icing on the cake.

Image Optimization - Image optimization is another element that should not be overlooked. Unfortunately, it often is. Basically, this technique requires the law firm website designer to pay attention to the size of the image. If it's too big, your pictures won't load fast enough, sending a potential client to a new law firm with a better loading site. The file size must be a careful balance between quality and quantity. Another tip on the technical side of things is to consider a variety of internet browsers, not just the one you use most often.

These law firm website design essentials will assure that your attorney website isn't missing any key ingredients.