How Much Does a Criminal Defense Lawyer Website Cost?
A criminal defense lawyer website can run from a couple hundred dollars for a DIY template to several thousand for a custom build. What matters more than the price is whether it ranks and turns a frightened searcher into a call. Top Shelf builds a custom five page site for $1,500 one-time, or includes one free on any monthly plan.
What actually drives the price
The number you see quoted for a criminal defense website swings widely because you are not all buying the same thing. A cheap template you fill in yourself and a custom site built to rank in your county and convert a frightened caller are different products with the same name. Before you weigh quotes, it helps to know what you are actually paying for.
- A do-it-yourself website builder is cheap by the month, but you do the work, and it is rarely built to rank or to convince someone in a panic that your firm is the one to call.
- A one-time custom build costs more up front and is yours to keep, but a site alone does little if nobody is doing the ongoing SEO to get it found when a person searches for a lawyer at midnight.
- An agency retainer bundles the build with ongoing SEO and updates, which is where most of the long-term value lives, and also where the monthly cost lives.
- Hidden costs to ask about before you sign: who owns the site, what a change costs, and whether you keep it if you leave.
What a defense firm should actually pay for
A criminal defense website earns its money one way: it turns a person who just searched for a lawyer, often frightened and often in the middle of the night, into a call on your phone. That means it has to load fast, rank for the county you practice in and the charges people search when they are in trouble, and put a tap-to-call button in front of a visitor before they scroll. A handsome site that never ranks and buries your number is the most expensive kind, because you paid for it and it brings you nothing.
Top Shelf keeps it simple. A custom five page site on its own is $1,500 one-time, yours to keep and host anywhere, with no plan and no commitment. Or it is included free, built and hosted, on any monthly plan starting at $299, where the ongoing SEO that actually gets it ranking is handled for you. There is no setup fee either way. What no honest company can promise is a specific ranking by a specific date, because no one controls Google, and no site can promise a case result. A free audit can show you exactly where your current site stands first.
Get a site that earns its keep
A criminal defense website is only worth what it brings in. Ours is built to rank for the county you cover and turn a frightened search into a call, then wired to follow up on every one before the court date.
Is a cheap template site good enough to start with?
It can get you online, but a template you fill in yourself is rarely built to rank or to convince a frightened caller that your firm is the one to trust, and you do the upkeep. If a site is not getting found or turning searches into calls, its low price is not really a bargain.
Do I keep the website if I stop working with you?
Yes. If you buy the one-time $1,500 site, it is yours to keep and host anywhere. On a monthly plan the site is built and hosted for you as part of the plan, and we will tell you plainly what happens to it if you leave, before you sign anything.
Get a free audit of your business
We will show you exactly where calls, leads, and jobs are slipping away, whether you work with us or not. No credit card, never a call center.
Part of everything Top Shelf builds for criminal defense lawyers. See the complete criminal defense lawyers guide →