Building a Legal Web Presence

Maintaining Your Law Firm Brand on the World Wide Web

Building a law firm Web site is not the same as building a law firm’s Web presence. The mere existence of a Web site does not guarantee your law firm will have greater visibility or that you will attract the kind of clientele you seek.

There are three key components to an EFFECTIVE Web site, and several Internet marketing strategies that, when combined, work together to help your firm dominate the Internet in your legal niche and geographic market.

As a senior Internet marketing consultant for FindLaw, America’s premiere attorney marketing company, I can ensure that you take the right steps to build a Web presence that gets you the kind of profitable legal cases you want.

Contact me to schedule a free ½ hour consultation in your office or over the phone. Or invite me to your law office to host a free Lunch & Learn workshop with the attorneys and marketing staff of your firm. I can go over in detail the advantages of online attorney marketing and what it really means to have a “Web presence.”

Three Key Components to Law Firm Internet Marketing Success

In real estate, location alone can sell a property. On the Internet, location (just having a Web site that shows up on the first page) won’t close the deal. In fact, a well written, beautifully produced Web site can give a less experienced competitor a significant edge over your firm.

Statistics show that most people will click on a few Web sites on the first page of search results before they finally make a decision to contact the law firm. With search engine optimization, your Web site may show up high on the page of search results, and yet a site lower on the page with an eye catching design and a focused message is more likely to convert that viewer to a caller--even if that attorney is inferior to you. No one can tell that on the Web.

A truly effective Web site will combine:

• Visibility to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN
• Connections to other highly credible legal Web sites (like FindLaw)
• Name recognition, with a domain name that is easy to remember or highly descriptive
• State of the art law firm web design that attracts and encourages clients to stay at your site
• Content that pre-sells the prospective client on your firm so he or she feels compelled to pick up the phone and call

But there’s more to the Web than just Web sites. That’s why I talk to my clients about having a “Web presence.” There are additional Internet marketing strategies that can pay off big, when used in combination with a powerful Web site. These are often essential for law firms located in highly competitive markets.

FindLaw provides a number of additional law firm marketing tools in addition to law firm Web sites. Ask me for more information about:

• Legal directory listings
• Paid advertisements in the FindLaw Legal Directory (top spots, spotlights, and local spots)
• Pay-per-click opportunities
• Legal Connections
• Law firm blogs
• Spanish language pages