Law Firm Website Design Cost: How Much Should Your Attorney Website Cost?

The short on law firm website design cost: most law firms should budget for anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 if you want your website to act as the lead generation hub for your business.

Your law firm’s website design will sit at the center of your marketing strategy. You need to invest in an eye-catching design, great user experience, and informative content.

But what will you get for a website design budget of $3,000? $10,000? $50,000?

The budget you prepare will be influenced by the size of your firm and the main purpose of your website. It helps to know what to expect with these costs when you’re discussing your new website design with your colleagues or designer/developer.

In this article, we’ll look at how much attorney website design costs and how this cost varies depending on the design and features you want.

Let’s start by looking at the factors that go into website design costs, then dive into the costs themselves and what you can expect.

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What factors determine law firm website design cost?

Regardless of whether you’re just starting up or your firm is more established and looking for a website redesign or upgrade, price always matters.

But, with law firm websites, there’s this.

…and there’s this.

Not only do they look completely different — one looks cliched and uninspired while the other is fresh and modern — but one works 24/7 as an effective lead generation tool, and the other sits there and does very little.

Law firm websites are not all built the same. There are important differences, and as with many professional services (including legal services), you get what you pay for.

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What outcomes do you want from your website?

If you want a website that acts as a digital business card, where people who already know you can find your telephone number or read your biography, the budget is practically spare change. It’s really easy to create a website like this out of the box.

However, if you want a modern, interactive website where visitors can easily find you online, read the legal information they want and communicate with you, it’s more specialist and that’s reflected in the cost.

And if you want a website that enables clients to log in, search, pay for services, etc., you’re going up another notch in cost because of the development expertise required.

Perhaps you’d like to feature in our Best 101 Law Firm Websites article in the future? If so, consider the following factors before settling on a budget for your website.

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What functionality do you need?

Law firm websites can include a lot more than simple text, images and a description of who you are and the services you provide.

Think of your website as a fully functioning lead generation and client retention system. As such, you’ll likely need a lot of extra functionality compared to a traditional law firm website.

This may include features such as:

• Advanced video requirements — if you intend to use video marketing or other multimedia (like podcasts), this will affect your website design requirements. Here’s a good example of a video-based website from Owenby Law.

• Lead capture forms — these can help persuade your target audience to leave their contact details so that you can follow up on leads and convert them into paying clients, as in this example from Toronto criminal defense lawyer, Jeffrey I. Reisman.

• A client portal, extranet, or payment gateway — where your clients can log in to access information and submit payments through your website. Here’s a good example from national law firm Miller Cranfield.

• Live chat — advanced communication features help clients and potential clients get quick answers to questions and solutions to problems, as with DeHoyos Law in Houston.

• A forum — you’ll need to prepare a higher website design budget if you want your users to log in and participate in discussions on your website, like with this example for U.S. Immigration lawyer Murthy Law Firm.

The functionality of your attorney website is a big consideration as the need for advanced functions will bump up your website design costs.

It will also increase the design costs if you need extra work to integrate your website with your customer relationship management (CRM) system. The good news is that much of the best legal practice management software integrates seamlessly with many major website-building platforms, such as WordPress.

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What are your custom design requirements?

Though web design templates are much more sophisticated than they used to be, many law firms still have custom design requirements.

Designing and developing custom web pages requires more web design know-how and coding skills, so you can expect to pay considerably more if this is required (their time is not cheap).

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If you’re hoping to migrate an existing website to a new design with existing content that is poorly structured or optimized, this will also require extra work from your website developer to ensure your new website performs optimally.

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What content do you have/need?

Your law firm’s website content requirements will also help determine design costs. Some startup law firms want a scalable solution that initially gets a few pages of basic content up, describing who you are and what you do.

The home, bio/about and service pages can be gradually added to over time. This can work for some firms. Steadily adding quality content and additional pages can improve a website’s performance in the search engines over time.

If you want to provide a great user experience from the start and/or you’re more established and need to upgrade your website to a new design, you can boost your content marketing efforts to attract more leads.

At the very least, consider a blog like Vest Estate Lawyers to boost your content marketing options.

If you already have a large volume of content that needs to migrate over to a new website, it will add to design and development costs, especially if complications arise during the migration process (which is not uncommon).

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Law firm website cost: What do you get for under $3,000?

Many solo attorneys or law firms with just a couple of lawyers look to save on startup costs.

While this is understandable, your website is likely to be the hub of all your law firm’s marketing activities. Traffic from any lead generation campaign is likely to end up on your website, so it must look and act the part.

Skimping on website design costs or opting for a DIY job (or an unqualified freelancer) is often a false economy. Unless you can capture the leads necessary to sustain your business from your website, you’ll need to get them from elsewhere — and referrals have a habit of drying up when you can least afford it.

A DIY job or $1,000 freelancer website design will offer no custom design, limited functionality, and limited content.

Few lawyers have the technical expertise to build a professional website from scratch.

But if you’re the exception, make sure that you cover the following aspects of the website design process (which will all add to the design and ongoing costs):

• Domain name registration and hosting (e.g., mylawfirm.com)
• Website hosting
• Backup solution (for peace of mind)
• SSL certificate (for security)
• Content management solutions like WordPress
• Premium theme (if using WordPress)

Some low-cost, all-in-one law firm website builders like WordPress, SquareSpace, and Wix include some of these features in their plans.

Remember, even if you use an out-of-the-box website design package, you’ll still need to develop content to populate the pages.

Also, some low-cost providers don’t provide you with access to your own website, so you’re unable to make updates/changes. Every time you want to change your attorney bio, you’ll need to call someone (who may be busy).

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Law firm website cost: What do you get for $10,000 to $25,000?

Most small and mid-sized law firms will need to spend at least $5,000 on their website design. Many will spend upwards of $20,000.

A spend of $10,000 to $25,000 will get you a modern website that makes you look professional. You may work with an agency dedicated to website marketing for lawyers, like JurisPage.

A reputable law firm marketing agency may be a good option for law firms looking for a fully functional website that acts as their lead generation hub. We understand the unique requirements of law firm marketing and can demonstrate a substantial website design portfolio and a proven track record of lead generation success with client websites.

The relationship usually extends from website design to other key marketing strategies like SEO for lawyers, pay-per-click advertising, and so on.

The closer you get to a budget of $25,000, the more your website is likely to stand out from the crowd and be truly unique and purpose-built. You can rest assured that it’ll be properly coded and load quickly — probably the most important element of delivering a great user experience.

As well as a standout website, you’ll ensure that you stay on top of your marketing efforts with:

• Search engine optimization
• Website analytics and visitor tracking
• Conversion tracking

The ability to easily add more content in the future

The right website development/design partners can help set you up for future growth and success, so it’s important to make the right choice.

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Law firm website cost: What do you get for $50,000 or more?

Fully customized lawyer websites with a considerable volume of content can easily cost $50,000 or more to design, develop, and maintain.

You’ll probably need to work with a dedicated law firm marketing agency and will likely have specific requirements that need customized solutions — nothing “out of the box.”

You may want to include a secure client portal/payment area, and you’ll have the option of ongoing search engine optimization and content marketing campaigns to generate plenty of organic search leads.

The agency will also help you connect your website with software and tools to bring extra value to your business and your law firm’s marketing strategies. These integrations can be highly technical, and entrusting them to anyone but seasoned professionals can cause problems on your website.

Perhaps the chat function, contact forms, or appointment scheduler don’t work, or the client payment portal has a problem?

With a professional website development and marketing team looking after your website, you’ll ensure that everything works.

Advanced analytics will generate reports that help you track leads and phone calls and connect to your CRM software. You’ll also have access to advanced web analytics that provide performance analysis in real-time.

SEO experts can help you optimize everything from the URL structure to your main content pages, and when Google tweaks its algorithm, your website consultants will ensure that your website follows Google’s latest guidelines on desktop and mobile so that you maintain rankings.

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Ongoing investment in your website

Law firm websites are not a one-shot deal. Setting and forgetting may work for a little while, but within months, it will become less visible in the search engine results pages and less relevant to your visitors. Unless you regularly add content, optimize it, and perform ongoing maintenance.

An ongoing commitment is necessary through content marketing (preferably monthly) or, at least, a regular review and update of your existing pages to prevent your website from slipping down the Google rankings.

What happens if your website is inaccessible or slips so far down the rankings that it becomes practically invisible to searchers?

When considering attorney website design costs, build a monthly budget for content marketing, SEO, and maintenance. You can discuss this with your marketing agency, who can let you know what’s working and what’s not with monthly analytics/reports.

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Law firm website design: A cost or an investment?

“How much will my law firm’s website cost?” is not the right question. The question should be: “How much is a lead worth to your law firm?”

Make sure you know the answer to that question when you decide on the website design costs that you’re willing to pay.

Depending on your practice area and ideal client, a converted lead can be worth tens of thousands of dollars to a law firm. For example, a web design for family lawyers may cost less than a criminal defense website. A website that helps deliver a steady flow of high-quality leads adds significant value to your business and should be a priority — not at any cost but possibly for a little more than you initially expect to pay.

Start by viewing your law firm’s website design cost as an investment in the success of your business rather than a “cost.”