I'm building a law firm website.
Client already has everything you'd want to start with. Domain. Logo. Solid copy from their old site. Clear sense of who they are and what they do. And they know what they want—clean, professional, functional.
No games. No glamour.
They run an honest practice. Want a site that reflects that. Do business with people who do good business.
I can work with that.
But sitting here, I can’t help but think—what if you didn't stop there? Not for this project. They're getting exactly what they need. But generally... what's actually on the table now?
most law firm sites do one thing:
They exist.
Contact form. Practice areas. Maybe some bios. That's it.
And honestly? For a lot of firms, that's the right call.
You're getting referrals. Your reputation does the work. You're not trying to dominate Google. Why complicate it?
Fair.
But what if you were competing?
What if your site had to pull weight?
here's what most people don't realize is possible:
A website could be a machine.
Not just a place to list your services. A system that qualifies leads, answers questions, books consultations, tracks what's working.
All without you.
AI chatbot trained on your actual practice areas. Not the generic garbage—something useful.
Video intake for people who'd rather talk than fill out forms.
Smart routing based on case type. Conflict checks. Calendar sync. Lead scoring. Follow-up sequences that fire automatically.
You wake up. Three qualified consultations booked. Two warm leads nurtured. One dead-end filtered out before it wasted your time.
That's not science fiction. That's available right now.
the trust part:
People don't trust law firms by default.
You know that. They know that.
So what actually works?
Case studies with real outcomes. Not "we won a case" but "here's what happened and why it mattered." Anonymized if you need to, but specific.
Video intros from the actual attorneys. Not corporate headshots. Not stock footage. Just... a person talking.
Testimonials that say something real. Not "great lawyer, highly recommend."
Transparent pricing. Or at least transparent process. People hate guessing what this is going to cost them.
Real-time availability. Let them book you without the back-and-forth.
It's not rocket science. It's just honesty at scale.
content that doesn't suck:
Most law firm blogs are unreadable.
Either too legal (no one understands it) or too generic (no one cares).
But FAQs that rank in search? That answer what people actually type into Google at 2am when they're stressed? Those work.
Practice area pages that explain first, sell second.
Email sequences for people who aren't ready to hire you yet but might be in six months.
Downloadable guides. Checklists. Something useful they can take with them.
You're not trying to be a content farm. You're trying to be helpful in a way that makes them remember you.
the backend stuff no one sees:
CRM integration. Lead scoring. Heatmaps showing where people bail. A/B testing. Monthly reports that actually tell you what's working.
Most firms don't think about this. They launch a site and hope.
But if you're spending money on ads, or SEO, or anything—you need to know what converts and what doesn't.
Otherwise you're just guessing.
why most firms won't do this:
Because they don't need to.
Or they don't have the content ready.
Or they're skeptical of "marketing stuff."
Or they're getting enough business already and don't want to rock the boat.
All valid.
There's real wisdom in not overbuilding. In knowing when simple is exactly right.
A one-person estate practice in a small town doesn't need the same setup as a ten-attorney firm trying to own personal injury search in a major city.
Knowing the difference matters.
what I'm building:
For this client? What they asked for.
Clean site. Anti-spam contact system. SEO foundation. Email setup. Expandable structure if they ever want more.
It's purposeful. It's enough.
But I'm also aware of what's on the shelf.
Because there are firms out there competing hard. Firms that need their site to work like an employee. Firms that see this as infrastructure, not decoration.
And for them, the tools exist. The tech is ready.
Question is—are they?
the real question:
What does your practice *actually need?
Not what's cool. Not what's possible. Not what your competitor has.
What would actually move the needle for you?
Because building for the sake of building is expensive and can be pointless.
But building smart—building what you need now with room to grow later—that's the move.
Until next time,
Riley
P.S. Know the difference between simple by design and simple because you didn't ask what else was possible, is key.
