Custom Law Firm Website Design
Turn website visitors in to clients.
Why Custom Web Design Is Not a Necessity for Law Firms — And What You Should Do Instead
Does your law firm really need a website built from scratch, costing as much as a luxury vacation? Spoiler alert: probably not. The myth that “custom is always better” is just that — a myth. Semi-custom websites have stepped up to the plate, proving that you don’t need to break the bank (or your sanity) to get a website that’s professional, powerful, and perfectly tailored to your needs.
Think about it: do your clients really care if your website took six months and tens of thousands of dollars to create? Definitely not. They care that it’s easy to navigate, looks sharp, and gives them the confidence to call you. A semi-custom website delivers all of that — without the drama.
Our Semi-Custom Lawyer Website Design Projects Include:
Semi-Custom Website Design or Re-Design & Development
Legal Blog Design, Integration and Management
Content Management System (CMS) for Website (WordPress)
Content Writing
On Page SEO
Contact and Inquiry Forms
Copyright (You Own the Website!)
The Case Against Custom Web Design
For years, custom web design has been marketed as the ultimate solution for law firms looking to stand out online. But the truth is, most firms don’t need it. Fully custom websites often come with costs and complexities that far outweigh their benefits. Here’s why custom web design may not be the best choice for your firm:
Overpriced and Overhyped
Custom web design typically comes with a hefty price tag, often reaching tens of thousands of dollars. Yet, the reality is that most law firms don’t require the advanced features or unique coding that justify such an investment. Why overspend on features your clients won’t even notice or use?
Delays That Slow You Down
Custom websites require long development cycles, with endless rounds of design, coding, and revisions. This process can stretch for months, delaying your ability to attract new clients and grow your firm.
Unnecessary Complexity
Most law firms need straightforward, functional websites that provide clear navigation, professional aesthetics, and essential features like contact forms and practice area pages. Custom sites often over-engineer these basics, adding unnecessary bells and whistles that complicate the user experience.
Maintenance Headaches
Custom websites are often built with proprietary code or rely on niche developers, making updates and changes costly and time-consuming. Need to add a new service? Or update your bio? Prepare to contact your developer — and pay for the privilege.
“Unique” Isn’t Always Better
Custom websites are often sold on the promise of uniqueness, but most law firm websites already follow similar best practices: clean layouts, professional branding, and clear calls to action. A custom site doesn’t automatically mean a better-performing or better-looking site.
It’s Time for a Smarter Alternative
The drawbacks of custom web design — high costs, long timelines, and unnecessary complexity — make it a poor fit for most law firms. Semi-custom solutions offer a more practical alternative: fast, affordable, and scalable websites that meet your needs without overcomplicating the process. Why go custom when you can get everything you need and more with semi-custom?
The Benefits of Semi-Custom Web Design
Semi-custom web design is changing the game for law firms by offering professional, functional websites that skip the hassle and expense of fully custom solutions. Here’s why semi-custom is the perfect fit:
Professional Quality, Budget-Friendly Price
Semi-custom websites deliver polished, professional designs that rival custom builds — but at a fraction of the cost. Instead of paying for every detail to be created from scratch, you can invest in tailoring an existing framework to match your firm’s branding.
This cost-effective approach allows you to allocate more of your budget to other priorities, like marketing and SEO, without sacrificing design excellence.
Launch Faster, Start Growing Sooner
Why wait months for a website to launch when you can have one live in weeks? Semi-custom solutions use proven frameworks, drastically reducing development time and helping your firm establish an online presence sooner.
Tailored for Your Firm’s Unique Style
Semi-custom doesn’t mean generic. These websites are highly adaptable, giving you the flexibility to customize layouts, colors, typography, and imagery to reflect your firm’s brand.
The result? A website that looks and feels uniquely yours, without the cost and complexity of starting from zero.
Optimized for Law Firms
Semi-custom templates often include features specifically designed for legal professionals. Whether it’s practice area pages, contact forms, or attorney profiles, these websites are built with your industry’s needs in mind.
You don’t have to wonder if your site will serve your audience — it’s already designed to do just that.
Built for Growth and Flexibility
Your website should grow as your firm does. At Thunderhead Marketing, our semi-custom designs are built on scalable platforms like WordPress, making it easy to add new features, update content, or even refresh the design over time.
Whether you’re expanding your practice areas or launching a marketing campaign, your website can evolve with you — no custom overhaul required.
SEO-Ready and Performance-Optimized
Think custom is the only way to optimize for search engines? Think again. Semi-custom websites are built on platforms that prioritize speed, mobile responsiveness, and SEO best practices.
Paired with a solid content strategy, a semi-custom website can perform just as well — and in many cases better — than a custom law firm website in search engine rankings.
Addressing Common Misconceptions
When considering a semi-custom website, some law firms hesitate due to misconceptions about what these designs can and can’t do. Let’s set the record straight by tackling the most common myths and showing why semi-custom web design is a smart, effective choice for your firm.
“Custom Law Firm Websites Look More Professional“
Professionalism isn’t about how custom your site is — it’s about the quality of the design and user experience.
“We Need Unique Features Only Custom Sites Offer”
The vast majority of law firms don’t need the level of complexity custom sites provide. Features like practice area pages, attorney profiles, blogs, and contact forms are standard offerings in semi-custom designs — and they’re all customizable to meet your needs.
Even if you require advanced functionality, semi-custom platforms often support modular add-ons. Whether it’s a client portal or appointment scheduling, these features can be seamlessly integrated without requiring a full custom build.
“Custom Sites Rank Better on Google”
SEO performance depends on strategy, not whether your site is custom-built. Semi-custom platforms like WordPress prioritize SEO best practices, offering tools to optimize for speed, mobile responsiveness, and content visibility.
“Semi-Custom Means Cookie-Cutter“
Semi-custom doesn’t mean one-size-fits-all. These sites provide frameworks that can be fully personalized with your colors, typography, and imagery, giving your firm a unique look while saving time and money.
“Custom Sites Are Easier to Scale“
Scaling a website doesn’t require a custom build. Semi-custom platforms are designed for flexibility, making it easy to add new features or adjust layouts as your firm grows. Whether you’re expanding into new practice areas or running a marketing campaign, your semi-custom site can grow with you.
Our Semi-Custom Law Firm
Website Design Process
A well-built semi-custom law firm website design not only helps potential clients find and learn about your firm but also provides a platform to showcase your expertise and services. It allows for easy communication with clients and provides valuable information.
At Thunderhead Marketing, we have developed a 6-step method in order to streamline our attorney website design process and give our clients an idea of what the process entails. All of our clients receive a dedicated project manager to provide one-on-one support and ensure your satisfaction all while keeping the project on track.
01.
Discovery
This is where we get into an in depth discussion with the client and talk about what the goal of their website is. We discuss what expectations and objectives they have for their site and what they would like their site to convey about their business.
02.
Analyze Site Structure
For a new site, we will be coming up with the site structure and the navigation. The goal in this step is to ensure that we come up with a structure that can be easily navigated by the prospective customer and that can be easily crawled by the search engine spiders. For a site redesign, we will analyze the existing structure and make suggestions that will improve usability while keeping the existing pages intact.
03.
Design
Our talented designers will craft the look and feel of the site, including mockups of the home page, interior practice area pages, attorney bio pages, and a blog page. We will continue the revision process until everyone is happy with the layout and color scheme.
04.
Development
Once you have approved the design, we start the development of the website using our standard search engine friendly and cross-browser compatible coding – CSS/HTML. During this phase, we will integrate your site into a CMS if it is in the scope of work.
05.
Final Review, Testing, and Training
This is where we dot the i’s and cross the t’s for the site. We will test the site in all browsers and check all links and forms to make sure they are rendering properly. This is also where we will do the training for any back-end tools like a CMS or payment gateway.
06.
Launch!
Once we are given the approval to go live, we will give you the site files and upload the site to your hosting server. We will provide 90 days of email and phone support after your site goes live.
How To Build A Search Engine Friendly Website That Keeps Clients in Mind
We design and develop attorney websites using code that makes it easy for search engines to find the pages on your site and read all of the content, a key element in having your website rank high in search engines. We look at the site structure and ensure the navigation and link structure is search engine and client friendly.
Converting Website Visitors into Clients
What’s the point of having a beautiful semi-custom law firm website design if prospective clients can’t find the information they need on your practice areas? We build highly functional sites that enable prospective clients to quickly and easily do two things: find the legal information they are looking for and keep your contact information in plain sight at all times.
Most people researching law firms will come to a site looking for particular services. Give them the information they want and show that you are an expert in your field. Our content management systems make it easy to update your site with the information prospective clients are looking for.
Why Mobile Responsive Design Is Critical
Mobile traffic trends continue to rise each year as more and more people access the web through their smartphones and tablets. Google’s revenue from its mobile advertising continues to grow and just about every client we work with has a healthy amount of traffic coming to their sites through mobile devices. But what does the data say?
In addition to the fact that mobile traffic is increasing, there is a continually growing list of screen sizes that your website needs to be ready to show up on. Desktop PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets and smart TV’s all have displays that come in a variety of dimensions. An attorney website design needs to respond to the user’s choice in which device to visit your site on. You want to give them the best experience possible so they don’t leave your firm’s website. Read about our Mobile Web Design Services here.
YEARS AS AN SEO FOCUSED AGENCY FOR LAW FIRMS
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LEAD CONVERSIONS FOR OUR CLIENTS
Mobile Responsive Design: Make Your Firm’s Website Easier To Use
A website has a lot more width to work with when being viewed from a desktop computer screen. But on a smartphone, your site will require lots of swiping, pinching and zooming if it doesn’t have a mobile-friendly design.
Your firm will see more calls, more form submissions and/or more email inquiries from mobile users because they won’t be leaving your website out of frustration.
Let’s take an example of a website being viewed from a smartphone:
- Think vertically. No more sidebars. Everything fits in one column to eliminate the need for pinching and zooming.
- Picture sizes adjust accordingly for easy viewing.
- The mobile version is a simplified version of the original site. Unnecessary buttons, pictures, text should be eliminated. Only keep what is most important to the user.
Google suggests having a responsive design for mobile traffic so the search engine spider’s have an easier time crawling the site and interpreting how your site’s content is structured. This will help them determine what your firm’s website has to offer mobile users.
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