Websites are an essential part of a law firm's success when it comes to reaching and converting prospective clients. If you don't market your law firm, few will know you exist. Your law firm relies on quality prospects and returning clients.

Here are 5 tips to creating a lead-generating legal website:

1. Key in on your Ideal Target Market (ITM) - Once you clearly define your target market, clearly communicate it on your website. Otherwise, you will waste time and energy on low quality prospects.

2. Write in your prospect’s language - Potential clients will quickly look elsewhere if they have to sift through your copy to find something that makes sense to them.  

You only have about thirty seconds before a potential client decides to either keep reading or move onto the next website.  Clearly identify your target market, and address these 3 basic topics in your copy:

1. Identify your target markets most painful problem
2. Provide your solution to their problem
3. Give them the next step by including your call to action

3. Have a professional design your website - Stay away from having people you know develop your website. Setting aside that this scenario could potentially damage a good relationship, it could be professionally harmful as well.   

You may rationalize that it will save you money or that you are helping a friend by giving them the business--but odds are that you will be paying a professional to either build an entirely new site, or, if you are fortunate, fix your well-meaning friend’s mistakes.  

Hire a professional, preferably one that has experience in legal marketing.  

4. Have a plan to drive traffic - Your goal is to drive TONS of highly targeted traffic to your website. Here are a few ways to ensure you do:

Use the right keywords - Your goal is to have qualified prospects visit your law firm's website. Those people will be searching by typing in familiar words or phrases for what they need information on. These words or phrases are called keywords. You will want to include these keywords in your content, so that your website will be one that pulls you up on the ranking page. 

Link a Blog to your site - create a blog that is updated 5 days a week and link it back to your website. This will ensure that you have fresh, new content constantly filtering to your website - and helps ensure that you are ranked on the first page of Google. Request your free report on "How To Use Blogs As A Secret Weapon In Your Online Arsenal".

5. Include a call to action or a way to capture website visitor's contact information - Using free giveaways, offering special reports, e-books, assessments, or a mini course to attract new visitors and move them to the next level is crucial.  

Get creative. Offer a newsletter subscription, or take an article you have previously written and repurpose it as a free report.  Make your offer clear and compelling.