What is community property? How long does a divorce take? How is child support determined?
People going through a divorce or separation or facing child custody and support issues have a lot of questions. Family law firms and attorneys benefit by providing answers to these questions quickly and succinctly on a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on the firm website.
Doubling as both a marketing tactic and a client service, FAQs are a place to communicate important information about the firm and family law to website visitors. Meeting clients’ and potential clients’ needs by providing them critical information on demand is a valuable business development tool for family law practitioners.
How an FAQ Page Benefits Family Law Firms and Attorneys
People are increasingly looking to answer as many questions on their own as possible before reaching out to a business, according to these stats compiled by Raffle. In this world of DIY and self-service, a family law firm website that allows people to conduct research and learn more about both the firm and their own situation creates a great user experience. Great website experiences lead to great client relationships.
Here are some of the benefits of an FAQ page on a family law firm website:
- Reduces the number of emails and phone calls — When a potential client can get some basic questions answered on an FAQ page, that frees up law firm personnel to handle the more complex queries by email or telephone. Taking some of the burden off often overwhelmed and overworked staff and attorneys saves resources and creates better job satisfaction. Also, calls that come after the potential client visits the FAQ page will likely be more streamlined since some basic questions were already answered.
- Increases the firm’s reputation as a knowledgeable and helpful family law provider — Like blogging, videos, and other content marketing, an FAQ is an opportunity to showcase the family law firm’s expertise and thought leadership.
- Drives traffic to the firm’s website — Any helpful, keyword-rich content on the family law firm’s website boosts search engine optimization or SEO.
- Develops business — A Harvard Business Review study looked at what made consumers “sticky,” meaning likely to follow through on an intended purchase, be a repeat customer, and recommend the product to others. “The single biggest driver of stickiness, by far, was ‘decision simplicity’ — the ease with which consumers can gather trustworthy information about a product and confidently and efficiently weigh their purchase options,” the authors wrote. An FAQ page provides that simplicity.
How to Create a Family Law FAQ Page
A successful FAQ website page includes these 10 elements:
- Smartly organized — Group questions together by topic to make it easier for people to skim and find the information they need.
- Conversational tone — Keep the language simple and avoid jargon and legalese. Structure the questions and answers in a way that potential clients are hearing them in their minds.
- Keywords — Include the keywords or terms in both the questions and the answers, which will help website visitors find what they need fast and assist with SEO.
- Includes basics about the firm — In addition to FAQs on family law, be sure to answer FAQs about the firm, including pricing structure, if free consultations are provided, and, of course, contact information.
- Provides information but not advice — Define terms and discuss processes, but don’t provide free advice.
- Has a clear call to action — A call to action (CTA) is that thing you want someone to do. In legal marketing, the CTA’s goal is often to entice the website visitor to contact the firm and become a potential client. Include a link to a contact form or an email address prominently on the page.
- Creativity — Present the information in a variety of forms besides text. Incorporate videos, infographics, and links to additional content, such as firm blogs. Set the web page apart from the others by using a different layout, such as boxes or dropdowns.
- Optimized for mobile — Smartphone use to search and research is way up, so be sure the FAQ page is easy to read on a mobile device.
- Measurable — Like the rest of the website, be sure to monitor the FAQ page’s analytics to see what information brought visitors there and where they went after visiting the page.
- Changeable — Use analytics and client feedback to revisit and update the page often so it stays relevant and useful.
Questions and Answers to Include on a Family Law FAQ Page
Family law firms have a variety of tools to use in developing FAQs:
- Begin by thinking about the questions most frequently asked by clients. Refer to intake forms, client notes, and client surveys for inspiration about the topics that concern them most. Divorce, separation, child custody, support, visitation… each of these broad topics carry their own subsets of client concerns. Tap into those.
- If you or the firm focuses on a niche area of family law, dig deep into that topic. Perhaps you mainly represent parents who are trying to collect child support owed to them. Create an area on the FAQ page dedicated to that topic specifically, such as what rights the parent has, when court involvement is necessary, and what legal instruments are available to them.
- Use website, email marketing, and social media analytics to see what content gets the most interest and develop FAQs on those topics. For example, a recent blog about who gets to live in the house during a divorce generated a lot of traffic and some phone calls from prospective clients. Use that topic as one of the FAQs.
- Look at other family law firms’ FAQ pages for ideas.
- Use Google to research frequently searched topics. Start by typing some relevant keywords into the search and see what auto-fills. Then, look at the “People also ask…” and “Related searches” sections. For instance, type in “legal separation,” and Google auto-fills suggestions that include “… vs. divorce,” “…forms,” and “…agreement.” The “legal separation vs. divorce” search results include these questions in the “People also ask” section: “Is it better to get divorced or separated?” and “What are the disadvantages of a legal separation?”
Want to add a FAQ page to your family law firm website? Let Scorpion help!
