A successful solo law practice starts with a Squarespace website.
Squarespace is the perfect tool for any solo or small law practice. I built my first site in a matter of hours. Then, when it was time for a revamp, I hired a Squarespace web designer and saw my business take off to new heights.
Addie Prewitt Law is an estate planning law practice based in New Orleans, LA.
Along with my husband, I own businesses and properties - all while trying to juggle kids’ soccer practice and LSU basketball games (GEAUX TIGERS!).
My husband is a pharmacist and we own two different pharmacies in the New Orleans area.
While he is a really good pharmacist, we knew that we’d like someone else to build the website we needed for the pharmacy. We asked around to other pharmacy owners and they all pointed us to a specific company that essentially built everyone’s site.
The process of building the site was relatively painless. But, some things started to come up once the site was finished.
We have no access to the back end of the site. So, if we change our number, hire a new employee, or want to advertise a new product or program we’re running, we have to schedule time with the developer. Even with something as simple as adding social media icons to our home page, we were told that it wasn’t possible only after we’d scheduled (and paid for) a one-on-one meeting with a developer.
While the site itself is fully functioning and does pretty much what we need it to, the service itself is quite expensive. Especially when you factor in each subsequent meeting for minor changes.
Upon discussing SEO (search engine optimization) for my own site, I realized that the pharmacy website company would essentially duplicate each website for the pharmacies, only changing certain information to match each particular pharmacy (phone numbers, addresses, emails). While SEO and the inner workings of how search engines catalog websites are out of my purview, I do know that duplicate content can actually work against you in the algorithm world of Google and other search engines.
After this website experience, I knew what I didn’t want for Addie Prewitt Law.
I signed up for a Squarespace account and created my own website in just a few hours. It was around $200 for the entire year. And, I could go in and change the information anytime I wanted.
I began outsourcing certain tasks to a very Squarespace-savvy virtual assistant who became a full-fledged Squarespace web designer. (If you are a solo lawyer or run a small practice, then you should check out Jupiter Design Studio. Be sure to tell them that Addie sent you!)
Even after redesigning my website in ways that weren’t possible for me to do on my own, I am still able to go in and change certain things if I want. I can add social media icons, update phone numbers and even publish this blog whenever I want - without needing someone else’s approval.
With Squarespace, my website is mine.
Even if a designer comes in and gives my site a refreshing and sturdy set of bones, I am still able to control my web presence. The evidence is in my growing practice and loyal subscriber following. Essentially, the growth that I’ve seen since the relaunching of my website as been remarkable.
Let’s talk about Squarespace.
Dear fellow lawyers, everything starts with your website.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve shared my favorite tools that truly make my solo law practice thrive. Check out my posts about Calendly and Convertkit here.
In today’s world, nothing matters quite as much as having a good website. Regardless of if you’re a huge law firm or just starting your own practice, having a well-designed website is the thing that will set you apart from your competition.
With a platform like Squarespace, you are building a site that is already set up to succeed. Squarespace takes care of all the behind-the-scenes stuff, keeping your site updated with the latest cyber security laws, fends off predatory bots, and helps guide you to best practices that will keep your site in Google’s good graces.
While WordPress is also a great web platform, it requires a much more advanced developer to build your site. While investing in a website is wise, WordPress doesn’t update like Squarespace does. So, you might notice that over time, your WordPress website starts to run slower or glitch out. In my experience, you’d then have to go back to the developer or a professional to update the ‘plug-ins’ that keep your site running smoothly.
With Squarespace, these updates happen automatically.
I think it’s a good idea to hire a website designer when it comes to building your law practice’s website, regardless of the platform you use. The decision ultimately came down to the fact that once my website design was complete, I’d be able to navigate the back end of my website to make minor adjustments over time.
With WordPress, this is impossible for me.
Not to mention that a lot of WordPress designers do not offer ongoing maintenance, so I’d have to shop around for someone just to make these small adjustments.
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My Squarespace web designer not only made my site look good, but they also taught me about the platform.
They highlighted important features of Squarespace and made sure that I had the information I needed to keep growing in the future.
They made sure I understood the importance of Squarespace features like:
a long list of Integrations.
how to update and maximize each section of my site.
how to set up branding on my site (colors, fonts, images) to make future updates a breeze.
best practices for SEO and improved online visibility.
Plan Today for Peace of Mind Tomorrow
Squarespace easily integrates with other programs.
Your business starts with the website.
What I mean is that your website is the central hub of your business.
Typically, a website is the entry point into your service.
With Squarespace, once someone arrives on your website, everything you offer is (quite literally) at their fingertips.
With just a few clicks, they can check out my estate planning offerings, my bio, and my blog. They can even schedule a meeting with me and sign up for my newsletter.
Calendly and Convertkit integrate seamlessly with Squarespace to create a nearly fully automated system where people can book their estate planning services and stay informed along the way.
I can embed a Calendly booking calendar directly into my website.
I do this with my strategy session and a few other offerings I have coming in the next few months (stay tuned!)
This means that potential clients don’t have to leave my website in order to book a consultation with me. They also do have to call a number and talk to an assistant or some outsourced AI receptionist.
Using Squarespace, I can create a full page dedicated to the strategy season as I’ve done here.
So, as people browse my site, they are able to book a call right then and there. They may not even realize it’s an integration - which is exactly what I want. It’s the seamlessness that is invaluable with steps like this.
What’s more is that I can change the colors and overall look of the Calendly booking calendar, making sure it’s as seamless of integration as possible.
With Convertkit, I am able to put newsletter sign-ups throughout my website.
I’m also able to create offerings like courses and webinars that I can fully integrate into Squarespace.
Even though Squarespace offers some pretty robust e-commerce capabilities, it’s versatile enough to allow me to create an email course via Convertkit and embed it directly onto my site. This means that I can fully embrace the power of both Convertkit and Squarespace - which means big results for my business.
These integrations help provide my audience with the tools they’re looking for. This is exactly what a good website is - one that has everything organized and ready to help out whoever needs it.
It also helps build my online presence, helping SEO and getting my name in front of those looking for badass estate planning services in Louisiana. Check out my services here.
If you want to learn the 5 easy steps to creating your own valid handwritten will in Louisiana, then this FREE step-by-step is for you.
2. Squarespace is easy to update.
I hired a Squarespace web designer to build my website.
They brought all the elements together, helping integrate systems, and build out aspects of my marketing like blogs and booking pages.
However, after they finished, I was able to make updates and changes whenever I wanted to.
I’ve said it once and I will say it again: updating Squarespace is an incredibly important feature for any solo lawyer or a small business owner.
While you are not required to be a web developer on top of whatever your area of practice is, it’s important to know how to do a few things (like update words on your website).
If you think it’s better to hire someone every time these minor tasks need to be done, then you are kissing some pretty valuable resources goodbye.
I say: outsource the building of the website. Then, keep it up to date yourself.
If you hire the right designer, they will make sure you understand how to make the updates you need. And, talk you through the steps to make those updates. My designer recorded tutorials for me to keep. So, I have step-by-step instructions for whenever I need to publish a new blog post or update something on my about page.
Keep in mind that if you want a website that involves a lot of custom code and stuff that not many of us really understand, then making these updates might become a little more difficult. But, for many of us solo lawyers, a well-built, well-designed, high-converting website will be one where information can be easily updated in the future.
Squarespace is easy to understand and easy to figure out what I don’t quite get.
There are tons of helpful articles and resources where questions have been asked and answered right on the Squarespace site.
I know several lawyers who have hired (very talented) teams to design and build their WordPress websites.
However, whenever they hire a new team member, change a service offering, or create an additional revenue stream, they have to either go back to their original developer or hire someone else to make these changes which are much simpler in Squarespace.
Many of the lawyers I’ve talked to with WordPress websites have a nearly annual battle with ‘plug-ins’ and necessary updates that prevent their website from fully functioning.
Not only do they need to call a developer if they need to update their phone number or switch to Calendly, but they also need to hire a developer just to keep their website running smoothly from year to year.
While Squarespace does make updates to its platform, the updates never render previous versions malfunctioning.
Even though Squarespace has launched Fluid Engine, there is no issue with websites built on 7.1 or even 7.0.
When I hired a Squarespace designer, we were able to talk through all these steps. They not only built a beautiful site, but they also helped me plan for the future of my business and what changes I might need to make to my website in the near and far future.
3. Branding is easy to incorporate into Squarespace.
Additionally, when it comes to creating a cohesive brand, Squarespace has the tools to set my colors, fonts, and images for me to access anytime I want.
In fact, as part of the design process, my Squarespace designer took me through the Squarespace design tools and taught me so much about how to properly set up a site to make future updates a breeze.
Before, I didn’t really pay attention to colors and fonts.
So, when I initially built my site, most of the time was spent changing each individual section to match my branding. But, after learning my Squarespace designer’s technique for setting up branding throughout my site, I am able to create new blog posts that inherit all the styles, colors, and fonts that I need.
Making updates quick and my overall presentation seamless.
So, if I create a new section or add information, I don’t have to worry about my addition matching what’s already on the page.
In the event I want to create business cards or branded accessories for my clients, I can access all the information in Squarespace’s style sections, again, without ever having to go to my designer.
4. Squarespace is great for SEO.
Without going too far into the weeds about Search Engine Optimization, the whole point of a website in today’s algorithm world is showing up when people Google you or your service.
Ideally, when someone searches Google for “Louisiana estate planning lawyers”, my website would show up as the first result.
While Squarespace does not guarantee top search results, it is fully equipped with the methods necessary to play the SEO game.
Squarespace does all the technical work including securing your web addresses and providing tools to help your webpage get indexed correctly by Google. Meaning, Squarespace sets you up in a way that Google likes - making sure the platform itself doesn’t get in the way of your search engine potential.
I wish I could go on and on about SEO and all the right moves to make sure you get ranked high on those search result pages.
But, the fact of the matter is that there are tons and tons of factors that come together to create your Google ranking.
Paid ads
Backlinks (other website linking to your website)
Quality content
Overall traffic
I don’t know about you, but my eyes start to cross when I try and think about SEO and how all that actually works.
But, thanks to my Squarespace designer and the resources provided by Squarespace itself, I have a list of things I need to follow that make playing the SEO game so much easier.
Check out the full SEO Checklist article by Squarespace here.
The article is divided into different stages like ‘before publishing’, ‘after publishing’, and ‘as your site evolves.’ Each section gives clear instructions on what to do and when to do it. My Squarespace designer and I dedicated time to go over this checklist and to make sure I understood what I should be doing to further the SEO potential of my website.
Here’s a little sample of the ‘before publishing’ and ‘as it evolves’ sections of the Squarespace article:
Before publishing
Before publishing your site, optimize it for search engines.
Site information
Add a site title - Even if you're using a logo, you should add a site title, as the text may be Indexed by search engines. We recommend you keep the title under 60 characters and include one or more keywords.
Add a site description - Add a short (50-300 characters), relevant, readable description of your site to your SEO site description. This text may appear below your site title in search results, depending on what your visitors are searching for.
Add SEO descriptions - Ensure each page on your site has a unique SEO description. The text should be short and readable (50-300 characters), and describe the content of the page. You can also add SEO descriptions to individual blog posts, products, and events.
Check your page and title formats - Control how your page titles appear in browser tabs, social shares, and search engine results. You can set this for page titles, the homepage, and collection items (such as blog posts or products).
As your site evolves
As you add or edit content, ensure that your site stays as friendly as possible for search engines.
Optimize new content
Make updates strategically - Continue optimizing your site by following our content best practices.
Redirect changed or broken links - If you change the URL slug on a page on your site, create URL redirects to forward visitors who go to the old URL to the correct page.
Continue updating and adding content - Updating your site often helps search engines view your site as an active site. One way to regularly add content to your site is to start blogging.
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Squarespace is not perfect, but it’s pretty close.
As far as solo lawyers and burgeoning small law firms go, Squarespace is a great and necessary tool that should be secured immediately.
It is essential that you treat your website like the crucial foundation that it is. A well-designed website will launch your business and act as a central hub for both you and your potential clients.
If you are just starting out as a solo lawyer, then you need to create your Squarespace website right now. It is the number one way to leverage your hard work and maximize your resources.
It is because of tools like Squarespace that I have been able to grow my own estate planning business to what it is today.
Because I have a Squarespace-based system that integrates super easily with programs like Calendly and Convertkit, I have been able to maximize my resources and leverage my hard work in a big way.
For instance, I can now outsource higher-level projects that have led to more satisfied clients, multiple revenue streams, and advanced marketing strategies that amplify every move that I make.
Check out Squarespace today, and let me know what you think.
If you’re looking for a really good Squarespace web designer for your own solo law practice, then check out Jupiter Design Studio. Be sure to tell them that Addie sent you!
Once your site is launched, be sure to sign up for my newsletter, so you can keep up with tips and exclusive tools that will help you be your own boss and live the life you want.
Happy Planning!
Take Care,
Addie
It’s always a good time to plan for your family’s future.
FAQ
Q: Do you have a Squarespace web designer that you trust?
A: Yes! I have worked with Kacey at Jupiter Design Studio for a few years now. They built my current website and have been instrumental in revamping my marketing strategies to produce multiple revenue streams and an online presence that’s made my business grow in a big way. Reach out to them here, and make sure to tell them that Addie sent you!
Q: Why do you prefer Squarespace?
A: Squarespace is easy to use, very affordable, is full of helpful resources, and the site looks great. And, for my solo lawyers out there Squarespace goes the extra mile with:
A long list of integrations.
sites that are easy to update.
branding features that can heighten the overall look of your site/business.
SEO capabilities that can really maximize your search engine presence.
Q: Is Squarespace free?
A: No, but it’s very affordable.
The two main things that you’ll pay for when creating a Squarespace site are your domain and your Squarespace plan.
Your domain will cost about $20, but can get more expensive (you’ll be able to see the price before you buy). If you already have a domain, you can transfer it to Squarespace as part of your Squarespace plan.
Squarespace plans range from basic, which is about $200 a year, and then go up depending on the needs of your site. Check out prices here.
Q: How do I know if Squarespace can integrate with the programs I use?
A: Squarespace has tons of integrations. Check out the full list of integrations here on Squarespace’s website.
Some Squarespace integrations I use:
Calendly
Microsoft Outlook (email and calendar)
Convertkit
Stripe
Google Analytics
Zapier
Q: Which documents will I likely need to create a complete estate plan?
A: It can vary from client to client, but generally, folks looking to make an estate plan can count on needing some, if not all, of the following documents:
Last will and testament
Living trust
Beneficiary designations
Financial power of attorney
Advance healthcare directive/healthcare power of attorney
Insurance policies (health, life, car, home, etc.)
Titles and property deeds (car, home, boat, rental property)
Proof of identity (social security card, prenup agreement, birth/marriage/divorce certificates, etc)
Digital logins and passwords (yes, all of them)
Funerary instructions (although I believe these should be given directly to your loved ones prior to your death.)
Take a look behind the legal curtain.
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Take a deeper dive into Lousiana estate planning with more posts by Addie Prewitt Law:
It’s important to me to make Louisiana estate planning as simple as possible.
You can create a last will and testament, sign a power of attorney, and even write down your final wishes. But, if you don’t approach your estate plan with a big picture strategy, you might just miss the mark when it comes to creating the best estate plan for you and your family.
The first step of any estate plan is knowing you have to put one in place. So, since you’re here, you’ve already done the first (and probably the most important) step.