When the clients we work with ask us to help them refine their websites, we focus on five key factors:

1. Increasing the “findability” of the site.


2. Developing a consistent strategy for messaging that clarifies the firm’s objectives.


3. Building a client-focused site with support materials oriented to the prospective client’s needs.


4. Ensuring that the site engages visitors.


5. Creating content that can be used for online legal marketing purposes and offline marketing such as presentations, handouts, and collateral materials for proposals.

Our clients, when they work together with practice groups and on-the-ground attorneys to gain their insights, often discover a greater benefit than an effective website. By empowering all of the lawyers at the firm to participate, the firm can create an opportunity for lawyers to close more business.


If you want to generate more business leads with your firm’s website, there’s a simple way to start: Talk to the lawyers in your firm to learn more about messaging that “speaks” to their prospects and get their input on the firm’s brand. That way, when you work with a business development consultant and web designer, you’ll be able to quickly dive into the process of creating a site – and, once the site is up and running, your firm’s business development team will be ready to put it to work for them.

When you’re looking for more information about a product or service, chances are that you turn to the web. The Internet is the first place that most buyers go to find professional services; why would your prospects be any different?


Your website is the single, most important visible representation of your brand. If your website doesn’t convincingly present your firm as the best choice, your prospects will go elsewhere.


When we work with clients to enhance and refine law firm websites, we focus first on improving “findability” – on ensuring that their best prospects will see their site. We follow a series of organized, effective, timely, and results-oriented actions in order to ensure that the site is found by – and appeals to – the right audience.


Our filtering process helps to:

• Raise the firm’s profile


• Clearly communicate the firm’s key differentiators


• Find and close more clients

In other words, when we work with our clients to enhance their web presence, we continue to build on our sales training philosophy: Know and build on the techniques that work well for your firm. Then, yes, you can increase legal sales with your website.

Your website is your firm’s 24/7 presence, giving people information about your attorneys, philosophies, and services long after your receptionist has gone home.


Having recently assisted clients with 8 lawyers, 17 lawyers and 40 lawyers with revitalizing their websites, one question needs to be asked: When is the last time that you took a good hard look at your firm’s website and asked yourself if it is still serving your needs?


For many, your firm’s website may be the first introduction to your firm and its services. With this in mind, there are a handful of web elements you’ll want to regularly evaluate:


Branding: Does the site accurately reflect your firm’s brand, or have you made changes over the past few months (or years) that need to be updated on your site?


Navigation: Is it easy for the visitor to navigate your site to find the content they need? And once they get there, is it easy for them to scan the page for the content in which they’re most interested?


Engagement level: Are you giving visitors a way to interact with your firm in a two-way conversation, either through blog comments or links to your social media profiles? Are you adding fresh content and creating a reason for a visitor to return?


Optimization: Are your search engine optimization efforts targeting the right keywords to bring in prospects?


By regularly evaluating your website, you’ll be on your way to maximizing the value of your web investment by insisting that your website work as hard as it can to bring in qualified leads and contacts. Want to know more? Download our white paper, “How to Turn Your Firm’s Website into a Lead Generating Machine,” for additional web tips and ideas.

It’s no secret that your firm’s attorneys are busy. But it is also no secret that your firm’s attorneys are uniquely qualified to generate new business and close sales. So how does a law firm marketer balance the need for attorney involvement in the business development process with the reality of his booked schedule? By simplifying the business development process for attorneys to its most basic form. Here are a few strategies that will help you create business development situations that make the most of your attorneys’ time and increase your chances of closing the sale:

Become a Matchmaker

Work with your attorneys to find out what their objectives are, and to learn more about the kinds of clients they have and the kind of clients they’d like to have. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be better able to identify appropriate prospects and then to introduce them to the right attorney within your firm.

Play to Their Strengths

Some attorneys may be gifted orators, while others may be naturally gifted at writing or especially adept at navigating the world of social networking. Talk with your attorneys about the types of marketing activities that they feel comfortable and confident with, and then identify opportunities that give them the chance to shine.

Prioritize Activities

Being able to check off an item on your to do list always feels good, but it can be especially satisfying as you near the end of your list. Help create a positive view of business development activities by creating focused, prioritized to-do lists for your attorneys that allow them to tackle business development efforts without feeling overwhelmed.

As social media goes more mainstream, it’s understandable that those in charge of law firm marketing and business development are curious about its real business benefits. Social media is touted as the latest, greatest business development tool, but the reality is just like any other tool in your business development tool box—you’ve gotta know how to use it in order to get the results you want.


When it comes to social media, the Closers Group’s “Go, Read, Know” mantra still applies:


GO to the social networks where your clients and prospects are already spending time: With a plethora of existing social networking sites and more being added every day, a law firm marketer could easily spend every waking hour creating profiles, adding content, and engaging with social networks. Focus your time and your social networking efforts by identifying the top networks where your clients and prospects interact, and then go to those networks, rather than trying to participate in all of the social networks available.


READ the “tone” of the conversations. After you’ve selected the top social networks for your firm, it may be tempting to jump in and start engaging. Don’t—at least not until you’ve taken a look at the environment and have a good idea as to what is “acceptable” within the community and what isn’t. Spend some time observing how others are interacting so that you can join them in a way to which they’ll respond well.


KNOW that social networking is an investment. Like any other relationship-building tool, social media is one that requires nurturing and time before it pays off. Resist the urge to hurry the process along by realizing that social networking is a long-term commitment, and that a few minutes spent here and there over time is likely to lead in a payoff of stronger relationships and more closed sales.

Wanting to jump start your business development efforts, but don’t have time for a complete business development overhaul? Consider following the approach we’ve used with many clients over the years, a process we call the Market Place Assessment Approach. Some of the steps that occur within the Market Place Assessment Approach include:

• Examining how the firm is perceived by clients and potential clients


• Reviewing current client building and client retention strategies


• Performing an audit of current marketing and outreach efforts


• Considering the climate within your firm


• Understanding the larger marketplace

Built to deliver results within 60-90 days, this strategic assessment is excellent for busy firms that need a robust yet time-sensitive business development checkup.. But what if you only have a few hours to try and make an impact on your business development efforts? If that’s the case, the one “must do” tactic is to review your current marketing and outreach efforts, and ask yourself the following questions:

• Does this marketing activity generate the best results?


• Does this marketing activity generate consistently acceptable results?


• Does this marketing activity generate spotty or no results?

By taking a closer look at your existing marketing activities and identifying which are performing well and which are under-performing, you’ll be able to quickly identify your least successful strategies. Eliminating these strategies for now and focusing your energy and efforts on building on what works will save your firm time and money, and will allow your firm to close more business.