subject: Legal Website Promotion Practices [print this page] People seeking lawyers are turning increasingly to the Web at some point during their search.
It is very important that you begin your movement to the new methods of doing business. Your Web site is your business card online. This is all the more true of the lawyers advising those businesses. Even as the legal profession lags behind others in taking to the Web, your clients--especially small businesses-- need to be on the Web.
To help clients figure out how they can use the Web to serve customers and market their services, lawyers should experience the Web immediate, and be prepared to draw on their own experience to assure clients that attorneys know what they're talking about when it comes to doing business on the Internet.
Set Goals For Your Web Site
Web site goals vary among law firms. Goals typically include obtaining new clients, informing existing clients of new developments, announcing new services, targeting desired services, extending your practice, and saving administrative time. If your firm wishes to seek new business or expand your market, your approach will be different than that of a firm that simply wishes to inform existing clients and save administrative time. Be sure to consider your target markets' needs when determining your goals.
Determine Your Resources
A Web site can be as basic or as elaborate as you want it to be. A basic Web site can be built quickly and relatively inexpensively. A detailed Web site requires an investment of attorney and staff time and often the assistance of a Web consultant.
Resource considerations also include whether your firm has an individual on staff who has Web design experience and the time to devote to a Web site. If you do not have a person who has experience, but has a keen interest, you must determine if they have the time to spend on a Web site and if you wish to invest in training for that person.
Determine your time investment
A firm must determine how much time attorneys and staff can devote to Web site development. Content is critical if you are serious about obtaining new business or return visitors. No one reads yesterday's newspaper. If you simply do not have the time to devote to a Web site, you can obtain content from a number of sources, As long as it is easy to subscribe and unsubscribe from the newsletter, these communications can personalize or even cement the relationships between the firm and the client.
Work product can also drive traffic to your site.
Determine your process
Decision making in a law firm can be chaotic. As one legal technologist pointed out, lawyers tend to weigh all the alternatives and then decide on whatever is cheapest.
Initial Screenings, Calendars, and Speeches - Online
Well planned content will save time and money for your client, your administrative staff and your attorneys. There are a multitude of choices.
Hyperlinked seminar or presentation listings can save administrative and Web visitor time. Directions pages and maps are helpful to clients and a firm's administrative staff. Employees can be solicited through bulletin boards and recruiting pages. Online PowerPoint presentations allow a different mechanism for presenting information, as well as demonstrating technical proficiency.
Target Your Market
Internet search engine placement allows your site to be available for an extended period of time. But your Web site must bring in qualified prospects to promote your services. A general, undifferentiated brochure-type site serves no one. Think carefully about whom you want to visit your site, and what they would like to see there. Ask your major clients what they need most on a legal Web site.
Positioning is especially important to law firm sites since so many people are looking for free legal advice. If someone finds you based on their criteria and your content and if you site is well designed, you have a good chance of adding a paying client.
Your site must be compelling and provide value, but clients must first be able to find your business.
Working with the Search Engines
It is critical for people to easily find your site, and that requires knowing how search engines work. Search engine and directories are to domain names what the yellow pages are to businesses' phone numbers. A search engine tells people who you are, what you do and where you are located.
If you want to be successful in all search engines, you must optimize your sites for each search engine's algorithms. If you wish to target the majority of the Internet, but do not wish to expend the required effort to be in all search engines, focusing on Google, Yahoo and AltaVista will address a large percentage of the Internet traffic.
A Search Engine Maintenance and Submission Plan
In order to maintain quality search results, search engines frequently change their ranking algorithms. The continuous changes prevent hucksters and unsavory sites from appearing in searches in which they do not belong. If you do not pay attention to the search engine changes, your site will gradually decline in the rankings. It goes without saying that if your competition does pay attention, their rankings will improve.
Another consideration is the fact that search engines are growing rapidly. Sites periodically disappear from search engine listings. Unfortunately, it takes time to get back into a search engine once the site disappears. A search engine maintenance plan managed by your firm or in conjunction with a reliable Web consulting firm will insure that your site is monitored and optimized for current search engine algorithms.
List Your Site with Legal Directories
There are many free listing directories that achieve high rankings. Organizations should take advantage of the opportunity to list themselves in these free commercial and legal directories in order to gain exposure and popularity links. Legal directories can be a good way to get your name out. A firm can seldom justify the expense of placing its site in multiple directories.
Don't Forget Traditional Marketing Practices!
Develop a press release when you launch or overhaul your site. Submit the press release to the local news media and other Web sites. When you speak, mention your Web site, and put a copy of your speech, or an outline of it, on your site. If you had an interesting time developing your site, write about it! There is great interest in professional Web sites.
Consider discussion lists as a way to attract an area of practice following in the legal community. Many bar associations and trial lawyer associations have a number of good discussion lists. The American Bar Association has numerous discussion lists. When you post a message on a list, use a concise but effective e-mail signature. Include your contact information, your area of practice and phone number. Develop a strategy to trade links with other firms, businesses and your clients.
Measure the Results
Lawyers are notoriously reluctant to measure the results of their efforts, yet they want to see results. The true measure of success of your Web site is whether it has brought you new clients in a year, generated new business from existing clients, and/or has reduced your administrative expenses. Web statistics should be reviewed to determine the number of individuals who are visiting your site. Determine which pages people are visiting and from which pages visitors exit. View the statistics to see which sites and search engines are referring visitors. View the queries visitors are using.
Be certain to ask new clients and callers how they heard about your firm.
A Web presence is necessary in today's marketplace. Like any worthwhile project, an investment of time and energy are required. The returns for a properly designed and marketed Web site are substantial and proven.
The result of a good Web site marketing plan will be higher profile for your practice among your current and potential clients; stronger client connections, and an eventual increase in your business.
