Choosing
A website for a lawyer, accountant or consultant
Clients of professional services check credibility first. Here is what a professional-services website needs, the advertising limits that can apply and how enquiries should work.
Professional services are bought on trust. A person who needs a lawyer, an accountant, a consultant or an insurance adviser is usually worried or in a hurry, and cannot judge the work itself. They judge the person and the firm: credentials, clarity, whether they sound sensible and whether they can be reached. A website for a professional practice should therefore be quieter and more careful than most. This guide covers law firms and lawyers, chartered accountants and accounting firms, consultants, recruitment agencies and insurance agencies.
I have not built a site for a professional practice for a client and do not claim to have. This is general advice.
Check the advertising rules first
In India, professional bodies and regulators restrict how some professions may advertise or solicit. This commonly applies to advocates, chartered accountants and insurance agents, among others. Rules differ by profession and change. Before you publish a page that reads as seeking clients, check your own council’s or regulator’s current rules, and ask your adviser. It is your responsibility and not the developer’s. A site that gives information, states who you are and how to reach you is generally treated differently from one that promotes, but you must verify this for your profession.
What a client looks for
- Who you are: names, qualifications, registration or licence numbers where they are required or customary, years of practice.
- What you do, in plain language: practice areas or services, and who they suit.
- How you work: the first step, what a first conversation involves, how fees are explained.
- Why believe you: a proper address, a real phone number, a team, and, where the rules allow, a description of the kind of matters you handle.
- How to reach you: phone, WhatsApp, a short form, hours.
Pages that earn their place
- Home: who you are, what you do, one clear way to get in touch.
- Practice areas or services, one page each, written so a layperson can understand it.
- About the firm and the people.
- How we work and how fees are explained.
- Guides or articles that answer real questions, where your profession’s rules allow. Keep them current, and date them.
- Contact and location.
- A privacy statement, because enquiries contain sensitive details.
Write for the worried reader
- Use plain words and short sentences. Explain terms.
- State what you do not do, so the wrong clients do not waste your time.
- Avoid promises of outcomes. Say how you approach matters.
- Do not claim ratings, awards or client lists that you cannot show.
- Keep the tone steady. A professional site does not shout.
Enquiries and confidentiality
Anything a visitor types may be confidential. Tell them not to put sensitive details in a first message, and ask for the minimum: name, a short description, the best time to call. Start with a phone number, a WhatsApp link and a form that opens WhatsApp. Storing enquiries in a CRM or sheet is separate work; see connecting website enquiries to a CRM or sheet, and think about who can see the data.
Search and what to expect
People search for services and problems, not firm names. Pages that answer those questions can help over time, but no one can promise a position, and you must stay within your profession’s rules. Search intent explains how to match a page to a question. SEO work is part of Growth and Complete and not of Essential.
Size and cost
A small practice needs few pages; a firm with many practice areas needs one per area, each checked by the person responsible. Essential is ₹19,999 for 20 to 30 pages, frontend only. The pricing page lists the others. To talk about your practice, message or call Harman with what you offer and who will approve the wording.