Another Attorney Marketing Myth:
Your Website is not your Business Card.
by Allan Colman
The American Lawyer reported recently that while law firms have made strides in expanding their presence on the web, most still use the Internet to post a glorified brochure.
There was a time when individuals had to market professional services with grass roots word-of-mouth campaigns. It took a lot of human energy to cast this small net in hopes of catching the big fish. The business card, a small token of remembrance, made a statement. Heavy card stock and fancy fonts were the currency of the day. You and your business card did all the work, one potential client at a time.
But then came the World Wide Web. It opened up a new marketing frontier for even the most obscure products and services. A decade later, the novelty hasn’t worn off. It has evolved. Business cards have become a quaint cliché, an antiquity. It is no longer forethought; it’s an afterthought. Therein lies the challenge for law firms to also evolve with how the use the Internet—aside from being a glorified business card.
Think of the benefits: you have at your disposal a medium with which you control the message. Is your firm’s site living up to it’s potential?
Here’s the Test:
• Does your site invite the visitor to meander through page after page?
• Aside from email, is your site interactive? Is there a free exchange of
information from attorney to client?
• Does your firm’s name pop up on the first few pages when a potential client
"Googles" your law firm’s specialty?
• Are visitors tempted to revisit?
• Do you have a section on your site that acts as in an attorney consulting
service?
• Do you Twitter? Micro-blogging is the new "in" thing.
If you answered "no" to more than two of these questions, then its time
to rethink the online business card and focus on how your site can function
as a legal consulting and client
retention vehicle.
Allan Colman is CEO of the Closers
Group and has brought in millions of dollars of new
business for clients.
