Marketing for Attorneys and The Magic Beans
Marketing for attorneys is just like Jack and the Beanstalk. Every attorney I meet wants to plant the magic beans, go to sleep and wake up with a beanstalk that will lead him to a beautiful place in the sky that contains untold riches. Of course there is a giant who guards this place and he enjoys eating attorneys who climb the beanstalk. Occasionally, one or two attorneys will make it down from the beanstalk with the hen that lays the golden eggs. But most of them spend a lot of time and money and in the end; they get devoured by the giant.
In marketing for attorneys, the magic beans are their website. The attorneys believe you plant the seeds, go to sleep and wake up with a vehicle that will lead the clients to your doorstep. In a few cases, this actually happens. But in most cases, fees, costs, and unforeseen expenses (the giant) beat you up pretty well before you even sniff any gold.
Don’t get me wrong, a website is a critically important tool in marketing for attorneys. You must include it in your arsenal but success doesn’t happen overnight. Here are four things you must do if you want your website to deliver qualified clients to your doorstep:
Post New Articles at Least Three Times per Week
Static web pages are as useless as brochures. (In case you didn’t know, I hate brochures. They provide no value and they only enrich the printers who sell them to you.) You must have dynamic content on your website and it must be updated a few times each week to drive your webpage to the top of search engine rankings. The articles you post do not need to be long but fresh content is critical.
Focus the Content on the Client
Don’t write about you and your firm. Someone who just arrived at your website is searching for help in solving a problem. Write about solutions to problems. You must enter the conversation that is going on in your client’s mind. Provide the information the client needs and he will check out your background once he sees what you can do for him. This doesn’t just apply to the Internet; it is a fundamental principle of marketing for attorneys.
Offer Information for Free in Return for Contact Info
The thing that separates your website from a brochure is the response device. This is a little section on the website where you offer information in return for the client’s contact information. It can be in the form of a little box at the top of the page that says: “Enter your first name and email address for my free report titled: ‘Five Things You Need to Know About Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer’” or whatever your practice area may be.
Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up
Marketing for attorneys is all about follow-up. The web is no different than any other media. Once you get a lead you need to call and email that person within 24 hours. After your initial contact, if they don’t ask to come into your office for a consultation, you should keep them on your mailing list forever. That’s right. I said forever. Your goal is to be the FIRST and ONLY attorney they think of when they have an issue in your area of expertise.
In marketing for attorneys there are no magic beans but your website can eventually help you live happily ever after.
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EmailVideo: Effective Marketing with a Law Firm Website
Video Notes: These are the notes for the video titled: Effective Marketing with a Law Firm Website
Your law firm website should help you do 4 things:
1). Increase your visibility in your target market
2). Build credibility with your prospective client base
3). Differentiate your law firm from the competition
4). Generate leads for your law firm
What should you do to make certain that your website has met each of these key objectives?
Please click continue reading for the rest of the notes to the video: Effective Marketing with a Law Firm Website
The Five Most Common Mistakes Made on Law Firm Websites and How to Avoid Them
Most attorneys and law firms don’t fully leverage the power of the Internet. They think of their website as an extended brochure that is placed in cyberspace to (hopefully) be stumbled upon by a prospective client. Once the client finds the website, he is then bombarded by facts, figures and information about the ATTORNEY and not about the problem he is looking to solve. And then when the prospective client is done reading the information on the website, there is little evidence that he was ever there – and no way to follow up with him.
If you think this inaccurate, go to a search engine and type in Attorney Family Law or Divorce Lawyer or Business Law Attorney followed by your city or town. The results will be websites that resemble Yellow Page Ads. They contain the name of the attorney and in most cases, a dissertation about his background. Usually the website has some photos of busy people supposedly hard at work thinking about their clients. Many law firms go to great lengths to list every single accomplishment and award that each attorney has won.
The trouble with this style of website is that you could literally substitute any name for the attorney’s name and it would not make one bit of difference to the client. There is nothing on the website that makes it stand out or that offers the client any new or unique information.
If you truly want your website to help you land new clients then you need to break this stale mold of on line brochure copy and stop making the mistakes that everyone else makes with their law firm website. Below are the five most common mistakes attorneys make with their websites and how to avoid them.
Law Firm Website Mistake Number 1: The website focuses on form rather than on function
Many attorneys spend good money on a website that visually dazzles their prospective clients. These sites use fancy animation and sophisticated graphics that are designed to impress the visitor. Here is a revelation: When your prospective client comes to your website, they don’t care about fancy stuff. They only care if you can help solve their problem.
Do you think that a guy whose mom is going to be deported cares that an immigration attorney has great animation on his website?
Do you honestly believe that a woman who just found out her spouse has been carrying on with his assistant cares how sophisticated your graphics are?
How about the little old lady who fell in the supermarket and broke her hip – will her son select your firm because you have the slickest web presentation?
No.
These people want to know that you can help them get some relief. They want you to tell them why you are different than the thousands of other attorneys who want their business. They want you to begin to build confidence and trust with them and they do not care what your website looks like.
Don’t waste your money on fancy graphics and animation.
Law Firm Website Mistake Number 2: The website contains no educational material
A person who visits a law firm website has a problem they need help solving.
It is in your best interest to educate the prospective client on this problem. You need to help him understand how bad it can be and why he needs help resolving it. Give him examples of how you have solved other problems – just like this one – in the past.
Most attorney websites assume that the reader knows something about the law. This is a fatal mistake. Most people who are looking for an attorney are looking for someone to take their pain away fast. They don’t care what the law says. They want their problem to go away. Now. Your website should tell the client WHAT they need to do (besides hire you) to get out of their current mess.
Notice that I said tell them WHAT to do and not HOW to do it. The “how to” is why they need you.
Speak to these folks in plain language with your website copy and help them understand how you can help them.
Please click continue reading for three more mistakes and how to aviod them.
Four Things Your Attorney Website Should Do for Your Law Firm
How much mileage are you getting from your attorney website?
Is it serving as a silent salesperson – generating leads and positioning you as an expert?
Is it helping to make certain that the people you meet with have enough money to work with you?
Is your website working as hard as it should be to help you build your law practice?
Here are the four basic requirements of a law firm website. Every attorney website should:
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