Lawyer web marketing for the individual solicitor
Most web marketing is written for the firm. A client given your name searches for you, not for it, and lands on whatever Google holds. In Edinburgh, 1,440 people a month search for a family solicitor, measured 3 August 2026. Both searches need a page, and most firms build only one.
Last updated: 5 August 2026
Why is the name search a separate job?
Because the two searches happen at different moments and are made by people in different states.
The practice search — family solicitor Edinburgh — is made by somebody who has nobody to ask. The name search is made by somebody who has already been given a name, usually by a former client, an accountant or another solicitor, and who is checking before they ring. That second person is much closer to instructing and much easier to lose.
Firm websites answer the first search reasonably and the second one badly, because a people page is usually a photograph, a job title and two sentences. Somebody told speak to her, she handled ours arrives there and learns nothing new.
A damaging admission, first rather than last: we do not sell anything to an individual solicitor. The smallest thing we sell is £890 and a firm buys it. Everything in the next two sections costs time rather than money and does not involve us at all. It is here because a fee earner asking this question deserves the answer whether or not there is a budget behind it.
What does a fee earner control without the firm's budget?
More than most assume, and none of it requires a purchase order.
| Item | Who controls it | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| The words on your own profile page | You, usually with a light approval | An hour, once |
| Which practice areas you are listed against | You, by asking | Ten minutes |
| Written answers to the questions clients ask you | You | An hour per answer |
| How your name is written across the web | You, by being consistent | Ongoing attention |
| Your own professional profile elsewhere | You | An hour, then occasional |
| The page structure, speed and rendering | The firm and its supplier | A budget decision |
| Whether the firm publishes price information | The firm and its COLP | A firm decision |
| Paid campaigns against your name or area | The firm | A budget decision |
The first five rows are worth an afternoon, and none of them commits the firm to anything, which is why nobody is likely to object.
Row four is the least obvious. A solicitor appearing as J. A. Marshall on the firm site, Jo Marshall on a professional profile and Joanne Marshall on a conference listing has divided their own visibility three ways. Pick one form and use it everywhere. It is free, it takes ten minutes, and no supplier can do it for you, because none of them knows which version you answer to.
What belongs on your own page?
Five things, and a photograph is not one of the five.
- The work you actually do, in the words a client would use rather than the words a directory would. I act for people separating with a business between them rather than matrimonial finance.
- Your qualifications and experience. The transparency rules expect information about the qualifications and experience of those doing the work, so this part of your page is not only marketing. It is one of the items the firm is expected to publish, and it is the item that is about you specifically.
- What happens first, in three sentences. What the initial appointment covers, what to bring, how long it lasts.
- The questions you are asked most often, answered. If you answer the same question in six client meetings a year, that question is being typed into Google far more often than six times.
- A way to reach you that works on a telephone. A form that fails on a mobile is the commonest single fault we find, and nobody notices because nobody in the firm ever fills it in from outside the building.
Point four is the one that compounds. Each answered question is a page that can be found on its own, by somebody who has not yet been given anybody's name. That is how an individual's page starts serving the practice search as well as the name search.
Which parts need the firm's sign-off?
Three, and it is worth knowing which before asking for any of them.
The technical layer. Speed, mobile rendering, structured data and internal linking sit under every page, including yours. Good writing does not survive a site that crawls on a phone, and no individual can fix that alone.
The published price information. Whether the firm publishes price and service information for a specified area of work is a firm decision. The SRA Transparency Rules came into force on 6 December 2018 and expect it for specified work types; which of the firm's services fall in scope is a matter for the firm and its own advisers, not for a marketing supplier and not for a single fee earner. We build what a firm tells us to publish and we never say a firm has been made compliant, because only the firm and its COLP can judge that.
Anything paid. We do not manage ad spend in any case, and campaigns pointed at an individual's name are rarely the best use of a firm's money.
What does the firm have to buy for any of this to work?
Less than most suppliers propose, and the prices are published.
| Product | Price |
|---|---|
| Price Transparency Pack | £890, ten working days |
| Firm Site | £2,400 |
| Firm Site+ | £4,200 |
| Authority Build | £6,900 |
| Retainer, monthly | £600 · £1,200 · £2,400, no minimum term |
£700 comes off the build when it is taken with six months of retainer. Of 40 legal-marketing suppliers we read in full on 3 August 2026, twelve published a price at all, five showed only a range, and one offered work with no minimum term.
We never charge per enquiry, per lead or per matter. LASPO 2012 section 56 prohibits referral fees in prescribed legal business including personal injury, and it binds the firm paying as well as the party being paid.
What will this not do for you personally?
Four things, said plainly, because an individual has less to spend and more to lose.
- It does not travel with you. The pages belong to the firm. If you move, the writing stays behind. Keep your own copy of anything you write.
- It does not produce instructions this quarter. Nothing here moves inside three months.
- It does not fix what happens after an enquiry arrives. Who answers, how fast, and what gets recorded sit inside the firm.
- It is not a substitute for the firm's own site being sound. An excellent page on a slow site is one few people reach.
What this is worth where you are
In Edinburgh, 1,440 people a month search for a family solicitor, and Google charges around £30.17 for one of those clicks. We hold the same figures for 52 cities.
The free report gives you yours, plus which of the pages the rules ask for are missing from your site, and what 40 suppliers charge.
Where should I read next?
If you are putting a case to the partners rather than acting alone: marketing plan for a law firm and lawyer marketing plan cover what a plan should contain.
On the writing itself, and how answered questions become pages: lawyer content marketing.
On how the firm presents itself around you: law firm branding agency and marketing strategy for law firm.
Frequently asked questions
Why is being findable by name different from the firm ranking?
Because the two searches are made at different moments. Someone searching a practice area has nobody to ask; someone searching your name has already been given it and is checking before ringing. The second person is closer to instructing and easier to lose.
What can a solicitor do without any budget?
Rewrite their own profile page, ask to be listed against the practice areas they actually handle, write answers to the questions clients ask them, use one consistent form of their name everywhere, and keep a professional profile current. All five cost time rather than money.
What should be on a fee earner's page?
The work you do in a client's words, your qualifications and experience, what happens at a first appointment, answers to the questions you are asked most often, and a contact route that works on a mobile. A photograph and a job title are not enough.
Does the transparency rule apply to a fee earner's page?
The rules expect information about the qualifications and experience of those doing the work for specified work types. Which of a firm's services fall in scope is a matter for the firm and its own advisers, never for a marketing supplier or a single fee earner.
Do you sell anything to an individual solicitor?
No. The smallest thing we sell is the £890 Price Transparency Pack and a firm buys it. The items an individual controls cost time and do not involve us, which is why they are listed here in full.
Does any of this move with me if I change firm?
No. The pages belong to the firm, and a move starts from nothing at the new one. Keep your own copy of anything you write, which is the only part of it you can carry.