Operations
Part of Law firm website marketing: the parts worth your attention
Law firm website questions: ownership, pages, forms and accessibility
Answers to the law firm website questions firms ask most: who owns the domain and accounts, how many pages to build, what a contact form should collect, how to test accessibility, and which ABA rules apply.
What to take away
- The firm, not the vendor, should hold the domain, hosting and analytics accounts.
- A three-service, one-office firm usually needs ten to twenty pages, each with one owner.
- Test accessibility against WCAG 2.1 AA with automated tools and a screen reader.
Common law firm website marketing questions sound technical but mostly turn on ownership and purpose. Before picking a platform or agency, a firm should define who the site serves, what each page helps that person decide, which claims need legal review, and who maintains the result. The answers below are working defaults for a US firm, not legal advice.
Use this decision table
| Question | Working answer |
|---|---|
| Do we need a redesign? | Only after an audit names a specific failure, such as intake pages that lose people |
| How many pages should we have? | Usually ten to twenty for a three-service, one-office firm |
| Who owns the domain? | The firm, at a registrar account it controls, with registrar lock on |
| Should every office get a page? | Only for a real, staffed office with accurate details |
| What should a form collect? | Name, email, phone and a short description of the matter |
| Is an accessibility score enough? | No; add keyboard and screen-reader testing against WCAG 2.1 AA |
| What counts as a conversion? | A form submission is an event; a booked consultation is the outcome |
| When should content be removed? | When it is obsolete, wrong, duplicated or ownerless |
Who should own the domain and the accounts?
The firm should own its domain at a registrar account in its own name, with at least two named staff able to log in. Turn on auto-renewal and registrar lock. Ask the agency to build the site inside accounts the firm administers, then grant the agency named, limited access that the firm can revoke.
Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console should sit in the firm's own Google account, even when an agency installs the tags. Ask for a written list of every login the vendor holds and review it each quarter. That way a staff change or a contract end does not lock the firm out of its own data.
How many pages, and which ones?
A three-service, one-office firm usually needs ten to twenty pages: a home page, one page per service, an attorney index, a contact page, and a few pages for locations where the firm actually works. Each page needs one primary reader and one job. Build for those jobs first, then add pages only when a reader's question has no home.
Should every office get a page? Only if the office is real and staffed, and the page gives its address, hours and the attorneys who work there. A page for an unstaffed office invites a complaint about how the firm describes itself.
What should the contact form collect?
Ask only for what the next step needs. For a first consultation request, four fields usually do: name, email, phone and one short description of the matter. A form that demands a full case history before anyone has spoken to the prospect loses people and stores data the firm must then protect.
How should accessibility be tested?
Start with WCAG 2.1 Level AA, a widely used reference standard, and write it into the vendor contract as the target. The W3C WAI guide Planning and Managing Web Accessibility treats accessibility as a cycle of initiating, planning, implementing and sustaining work, not a one-time launch check. Name one owner for that work.
Run an automated checker such as axe DevTools, WAVE or Lighthouse on each page template. These tools catch missing alt text, low contrast and unlabeled form fields, but they cannot judge whether alt text is useful or whether a page makes sense to a reader.
Then test by hand. Use only the keyboard to reach every link, menu and form field, and read each key page once with NVDA on Windows or VoiceOver on a Mac. Log each failure with its page address and the WCAG criterion it breaks.
Which rules govern claims and forms?
A law firm website is lawyer advertising. ABA Model Rules 7.1 to 7.3 govern false or misleading communications, advertising and solicitation, and most states adopt versions of them with local detail. Check your state bar's advertising rules before publishing results, testimonials or client statements, since some states require specific labels, disclaimers or filings. A lawyer advertising checklist helps with that review.
Website forms and tracking tags can also collect confidential information. ABA Model Rule 1.6 protects client information, and ABA Formal Opinion 477R explains the reasonable security steps lawyers should take with electronic communications. Your state's version of Rule 1.6 sets the local standard, so confirm it before you launch the intake form.
Which vendor questions matter?
Ask who controls each account, how claims are approved, how private data is handled, which browsers and assistive technologies are tested, what happens when a deployment fails, and how the firm leaves. A feature list without operating evidence does not answer these. Ask for a recent accessibility report and the exit terms in writing before signing.
Platform choice matters less than login control. WordPress, Squarespace and Wix can each host an accessible firm site when the firm holds the accounts and someone tests the output. Under ABA Model Rule 5.3, the firm keeps supervisory responsibility for nonlawyer vendors it hires.
What counts as a conversion?
Define one conversion before building tracking. Mark a form submission as an event in Google Analytics 4, and record a booked consultation as the outcome in the intake system. Report both, and keep the definitions in a short written record.
Write a one-page decision record
Record each answer with its question, the population it covers, the evidence window, the method and the action. Note what the result cannot show, such as whether a page change caused a shift in leads. Save the definition and the date with the answer so a later reviewer can reproduce the reasoning.
One worked example, with values a firm substitutes for its own:
| Record field | Example entry |
|---|---|
| Owner | The marketing partner, named by role |
| Population | People who opened the contact form after arriving from organic search in one state |
| Evidence period | A fixed 90-day window, with start and end dates recorded |
| Method | Count form starts and completed submissions in the analytics account, then read a sample of submissions for quality |
| Action | Cut the form to four fields (name, email, phone, one short description) and route urgent matters to the phone line |
| Next check | 90 days, or sooner if the traffic source or the intake team changes |
If the same question returns, compare the records before changing the metric. That step exposes a changed population or source instead of treating every difference as new behavior. A written record of each answer also supports law firm reputation management when reviews, ratings or corrections later come into question.
Common questions
Should traffic set the content plan?
Use demand as one input. Relevance, evidence, client need, professional risk and upkeep matter too.
Do we need a redesign?
Only after an audit names the failure, such as a contact path that loses people. A new look alone does not justify the cost.
Can a vendor own the analytics account?
The firm should normally keep administrative control and grant named vendor staff limited access, with an exit date and a data export step in the contract.
How often should the site be reviewed?
Test the contact path monthly and review attorney bios every six months. Trigger a review after any attorney departure, rule change or platform change.
