Imagine that you invested in an entire remodel for your house. Everything is gutted and replaced with new finishes, from the flooring to the countertops and even the light switch covers in every room. When the project is finally complete, you marvel at the modernity your “new” home and how much it matches your personal style exactly. But when it comes to furniture you move your ratty furniture from the 1980s back in, with no intention to change it.
Kind of ruins the point of a remodel, doesn’t it?
Rebuilding an entire structure only to fill it with furniture that doesn’t match the quality or newness is just like investing time and money into a new website then using photos you took on your iPhone or downloaded from a stock photo site. You’re taking a framework built just for you and making it look generic or cheap by not investing in quality photographs.
People Hire People, Not Scales of Justice
Before we begin talking about the quality of photographs on your website, let’s first talk about their content. In our own conversion research, we have found that sites using photos of the firm’s attorneys have significantly higher conversion rates than those that don’t. Sites with attorney photos close to the website’s contact form perform even better.
The photographs you choose for your site should be relevant to your specific firm and practice area. Scales of justice, gavels, and Doric columns aren’t going to mean anything to the potential clients visiting your website. Perhaps at one time, that type of imagery evoked feelings of professionalism and expertise, but now they have been so overused as to seem like a template. A user doesn’t need to see a gavel to know they are at a law firm’s website. They have either found your firm from searching about a legal need or are researching a reference. No need to scream “WE ARE A LAW FIRM” with generic photos.
Photography of the attorneys who work in your firm, your office, or even your city, on the other hand, tell the visitor a lot about you. People like to see with whom they will be working. Hiring a lawyer can be intimidating, but seeing a friendly face as soon as the page loads can help ease anxieties.
Step Away From The Smartphone Camera
So you’re convinced that you need photos of your attorneys on your website, great! Now you may think to yourself, “Well my iPhone 7 is supposed to have the greatest camera of any smartphone, we’ll just use that to take some pictures.”
Just as you trusted in a professional to design and develop your website, you should also trust a professional to provide you with imagery.
A professional will help you to look your best on camera and capture the personality of your firm and your attorneys. Just look at the difference between these homemade portraits and ones taken by a pro:
The professional photos demonstrate more care, more time spent, and certainly give a better impression of your firm’s and it’s attorneys’ professionalism.
Show Some Personality
If you practice personal injury or family law, as you know it’s important to make personal connections with your clients so that they trust your guidance through one of the most difficult times in their life. Before they call you or meet you in person, show them who you are through your photos on site.
Look at the difference between these two photos. If you were looking for someone to work with during a vulnerable period—who would you hire?
Photography with personality really shines on attorney biography pages, which from our research is typically one of the highest converting pages on a law firmwebsite.
There Are Exceptions to Every Rule
Of course, when choosing the style of photography you’re going to use on your website you should, of course, consider your practice area and firm’s brand. If you work in a very traditional business law practice for example, formal portraits likely make more sense for your attorney biography page. As with all things, use your brand as a guide.
There are times when a stock or non-professional photo better fits the situation and your site in particular. On many of our client sites, we use stock photography to visualize their practice areas. It would be unrealistic to hire a photographer to hunt down a car accident, for example. In this instance, a high-quality stock photo that matches the design and photography style of the rest of your site is the most practical.
< There are times when casual, non-professional photos can be a great addition to your site as well. Your blog and your social media profiles can be a good place to show off happenings around your firm and office, whether that be a company outing or one of your attorneys in court.
In the end, the goal of photography, no matter where it comes from, is to demonstrate your firm’s brand and values to a potential client.