Law Firm Marketing

The Alternative to the Internet

Just about every day someone calls me with a question about Internet advertising.

Lawyers looking for a marketing panacea are flocking to Search Engine Optimization and Social Media.  They chase good money with bad, trying to find one way to attract one hundred new clients.  This leaves them disappointed and a little lighter in the wallet.

My role in the complex world of law firm marketing is to help you sift through all the hype and develop a cost effective strategy for attracting new clients.  This strategy is based upon the belief that finding one way to attract one hundred clients is risky, expensive and unrealistic.  Instead, we focus on developing a client acquisition strategy that is based in reality.  Our goal:  Find many ways to develop one deep client relationship instead of one way to attract several clients.

Remaining true to that mission, today I offer you a viable alternative to the Internet.  It is education-based marketing and it will definitely help you attract more clients – if you have the guts to give it a try. 
Here is an example of an effective education-based marketing strategy:

Step one:  Prepare a seminar on a topic of interest to your target audience.  Example:

• Personal Injury Attorneys – Topic:  Insurance Coverage
• Criminal Attorneys – Topic: Keeping kids out of trouble in the age of the bully
• Trust and Estate Attorneys – Topic:  Asset protection for doctors and entrepreneurs

Step two:  Invite everyone you know to attend this seminar.  This means you should invite all of your friends and have them invite all of their friends.  The idea is to get as many people in the room as possible.

Step three:  Deliver great content at the seminar.

Step four:  Capture the attendee’s contact information.

Step five:  Follow-up like crazy.

If you have 50 people in the audience at each seminar, and you follow the steps listed above, you can expect to acquire 5-10 new clients per year from this strategy (provided you host 4-6 of these seminars each year).

When I work with my private clients, this is one of the first strategies I recommend they implement.  It is a low cost way to begin developing relationships with people who can refer you business, engage you, or both.  This strategy works.

Yet most lawyers will never attempt it.

Why?

You tell me.

I just gave you a gift.  A way to attract a few new clients each year.  Will you follow these simple steps?

Is this strategy as sexy as the internet?  No.

Is this strategy as easy as paying someone to get you on the first page of Google?  No.

Does this strategy get as much publicity as Social Media?  No.

But it works consistently.  It just requires some thought and some effort from you.

I don’t know what your plans are for your law firm.  I’m not certain what your income goals are.  But I know what I hear from lawyers all over the world.  They all want cost effective ways to attract new clients.

Here’s one.

How fast can you integrate this into your marketing activity?

Pick Up the Pace and Get Your Website to a Better Place

If you are interested in SEO for law firms in legal marketing listen up.

Daily blogging will get you higher rankings in search engines.  Google has just made sure of this with its latest update.  As I highlighted right here at Rainmaker Lawyer in this bog post on Search Engine Optimization and Law Firm Marketing, updating your blog frequently will definitely have a positive impact on your search engine rankings for your keywords.  This has become particularly relevant after the June update to Google’s algorithm.

So given this new information (don’t believe me, read credible internet experts here and here) why aren’t you updating your blog several times each week?

In case you need more persuading, here are the benefits of updating your blog frequently:

Interaction with Potential Clients and Referral Sources: Frequency of communication is critical to the development of any relationship.  If you update your blog three to five times each week you are developing a more intimate relationship with your reader.  This is a huge benefit.  People do business with people they know like and trust.  As communication frequency increases, so does trust.

Better Traffic:  People will not read everything you write.  If you produce more content, people will have more choices as to what to read.  This is a good thing.  With more choices, you are likely to keep people on your website longer.

In addition, the people who do read your content everyday will be great website visitors and will likely become referral sources or clients.  This is because they visiting to hear what you have to say.  At first they may visit your blog because they have an interest in a specific topic.  After a while they may just be interested in your opinion on anything.  This is how good relationships begin.  Developing relationships is the object of law firm marketing.

Better thinking: Writing frequently (daily is preferred) is a great way to organize your thoughts.  If you write every day, you will be forced to be organized in your thinking and in sharing your ideas.  Both of these are good things for lawyers and law firms.

In many, many ways updating your website content daily will help strengthen your brand, your blog and your business.  If you are serious about law firm marketing and serious about search engine optimization for law firms you must find a way to update your blog every day.

The Truth About Search Engine Marketing for Law Firms

Many of the self appointed watchdogs of law firm marketing have been screaming, yelling and jumping up and down about search engine marketing and its use by law firms.  The issue many folks have with search engine marketing centers around the use of services that provide links to your website from related sites.

Search engines view inbound links as a measure of a website’s importance and relevance.  These services (based primarily in India and the Philippines) control hundreds of sites with legal content and, for a fee, they will link back to your law firm website from those sites.  Over time, these links will help boost your search engine ranking.

Search engine algorithms place a high value on inbound links because they should determine relevance and credibility.  If someone likes your content and they link to it, this should indicate that it is valuable.  Unfortunately, link building (paying for links) has become so prevalent that it is almost impossible to compete without purchasing links in one form or another.  While good content may receive 20 or 30 “true” links over a one year time period, a link building service can generate that many links to your website in less than a month.

Search engines have added some safeguards to try and detect and ban sites that use these services.  Google has been known to demote sites that add too many links quickly (using speed as a measure of suspicious activity).  In addition, several links from the same site will devalue the power of those links in the algorithmic formula).  These measures, while minimally effective will still make it difficult for individual websites to compete with those who subscribe to link building services.

Is it worth it?

Should you use a link building service to help with search engine marketing?  There is no easy answer to this question.  Link building will certainly help your website place better in search engine ranking but if you do not know how to leverage that traffic or how to qualify those inquiries, you may be wasting valuable resources.  In addition, these services can often take one year or longer to have any significant impact on your website’s position.

You are better off using the money you would spend on link building to help you deepen your relationships within your community.  Take a few hundred dollars each month and host a breakfast at your office for some of your key referral sources.  Build your true local relationships and you will get at least as many good referrals as you would from the additional Internet traffic.

Search engine marketing is important.  You can influence you position in the rankings by writing good content on your blog frequently.  While this will be a slow process and you probably won’t be number one in the search engine ranking game, but you also won’t have any concerns about a change in algorithm or being banned for building links.  And your budget won’t take a hit as a result of investing in something that may never pay off.

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.

Video: Effective Marketing with a Law Firm Website

Effective Marketing for Lawyers 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?

Visibility

For visibility you should make sure that your site is optimized for the key words that your clients associate with your area of practice specialty.  This process is called search engine optimization and you could attempt to do it yourself but it is usually cost effective to have a professional handle this for you.

Credibility

When it comes to credibility you should definitely post all of the biographical information that is currently available on most attorney websites.  But in addition to that information you can give your credibility a big boost by adding educational information to your website.  Teaching is a terrific way to establish your credentials as an expert.  If people view your website as an educational resource they will certainly look to you as a potential solution for their problems.

Differentiation

Differentiation is something that most law firm websites struggle to achieve.  They all look alike and they are all boring.  If your website doesn’t stand out your law firm has little chance of standing out from the crowd.  Find a way to be different.

Lead Generation

Finally we come to lead generation.  How will you know who visits your website and how will you follow up with them?  You need to offer something – a white paper, audio or video to your clients in return for their email address. 

That’s right.  You need to get their email address so that you can send them your newsletter and any other educational material you produce in the future.

These are the four key outcomes your law firm website should deliver.

If you’d like additional details or if you need help with you marketing, please call our office at 888.692.5531.

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.

Law Firm Website Mistake Number 3: There is no follow-up vehicle associated with the website

How many people visit your website and never call you?

Most attorneys have no way of knowing.
Less than 5% of all people who visit your web page are going to call you and ask for additional information.  Yet they probably came to your site with something specific in mind.
 
You should have some type of follow-up vehicle or some response mechanism built into your website that will allow you to follow up with them.  Your website must have the ability to capture an email address (at minimum).  This will allow you to keep your information in front of the people who need it.

People hire an attorney they know, like and trust.  Frequency of communication will help build up that trusted advisor relationship.

Law Firm Website Mistake Number 4: The website contains no personality and no hint that a human being works at the law firm

Your website must be professional and it must contain all the disclosures that are required by law.  This does not mean that you cannot inject your personality into your site.
 
Please keep in mind that your website will be making a first impression on your prospective clients.  If it contains dull, dry copy – just like the websites of your competitors, it will be difficult for clients to find a reason to select you over them.

Make sure both the copy and the visuals on your website reflect your personality.
Law Firm Website Mistake Number 5: There is no call to action and response mechanism on the website

After your prospective client visits your website, what should they do next?

You need to tell them.

If you want your clients to give you their email address so that you can follow up with them – you have to say so – in a bold way.

If you want your clients to subscribe to your newsletter, you need to ask them to do so.
Every single page on your website should have a call to action and multiple ways to respond.
 
Make sure you offer your phone number, your email address and your office address as response options.
You’d be surprised at how many attorneys rely on a “contact us” page with a standardized form as their only means of contact.

Although these are the most common mistakes attorneys make with their websites, they are not the only mistakes.  Remember that your presence on the Internet should be a “silent salesperson” making a convincing argument for your services.  Make sure you give that salesperson every opportunity to do a great job for your law firm.

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:

Generate Leads

This is the most important thing a website can do for any business especially a law firm or an individual attorney.  An attorney website must have some vehicle built in that allows the firm to follow up with visitors. 

Consider your website a silent consultant or salesperson.  You would not let a potential client off of the phone without getting some form of contact information from them - would you?  Of course you wouldn’t.  You need a way to follow up with your prospective client in the future.

You website should require visitors to enter contact information – at least an email address – in order to receive something of value.  This could be as simple as entering an email address in order to continue reading an article or entering an email address to access a “free tools” area. 

All of these email addresses are potential leads and many of them will turn into clients.

Find a way to turn your law firm website into a lead generation machine.

Qualify Prospective Clients

Not everyone is suited to be your client. 

You need to make certain the people that you meet with face-to-face are qualified to work with you.  One of the ways to qualify a prospective client is to help him understand the financial criteria you use in accepting potential clients.

If you require an upfront retainer, your website should say so.  If you take cases on contingency but they need to meet certain criteria, you should find a way to work that into the website content.  If there are certain types of cases that you absolutely will not take, under any circumstances, then you should spell those out on your attorney website as well.

We have one client that requires a $250 retainer just to set up an initial consultation.  That fee is then applied to the client’s balance in the first month of work.  Since the attorney requires the fee upfront (before he even sets a meeting with the client) he accepts a credit card on his website to cover the costs of this fee.  Naturally, if the client cancels the meeting or doesn’t show up the fee is not returned.

How many cancelled appointments do you think he has?

Educate Your Clients

I hear many clients (too many in fact) complain that they spend a huge amount of time educating their clients.  This education occurs on both law and business topics and it often falls into the realm of basic education (at least according to the attorneys).  Your website should take care of the majority of these educational opportunities.

On your website you should provide the basics for your clients in a way that they can understand and use as a reference.  An FAQ Section (frequently asked questions) is excellent but some video and audio files would be even better.

Clients who know what they want and how they want it are much easier to handle than clients who are clueless. 

Position You as an Expert

Have you appeared in the newspaper or on television?  Have you published any work that your clients might be interested in reading?  If the answer is “yes” all of that should be on your website.

If you have awards and recognition from governing bodies or a special certification, you should include it in some way on your website as well.

One of the best ways to position yourself as an expert is to share your opinions in writing on your website.  Doing this helps readers not only become familiar with you it also helps them see you as a confident individual with an opinion on the things that are important in your field. 

Today most attorney and law firm websites look like standard brochures.  They provide information on the firm and on its attorneys.  Your website can and should do a great deal more than that.

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