The difference between where you are today — and where you could be tomorrow — is often the result of information and decisions. To increase your chances for success in any endeavor you are pursuing, you generally need good information to help you make better decisions about it.
The following post contains some internet marketing wisdom that I think could be of great benefit to internet marketing beginners. If you accept some of the principles discussed as true, you will save yourself from allot of headaches and unnecessary disappointment later on.
Understand That You Need a Good Attorney Website for Your Law Firm
Know this. The Internet has changed attorney marketing forever. The old days are gone.
If you have your own practice, you simply must have a good website for it. Even if you only handle appeals and get referrals from other attorneys, you really should have a website.
Why?
You never know how many people may be looking for your website. If they don’t find it, they may find your competitors. Simply put, if you don’t have a website, its almost like your business doesn’t exist.
Accept The Reality of the Internet Marketing Situation and Get a Website
Before Google or any other website can refer potential clients to you, you will need a website, blog, or other form of Internet presence. However, the best form of web presence that you can have, is your own website. More specifically, you need a website that is hosted on your own domain (yourlawfirm.com). Ideally, this should be a a domain that you registered yourself through a registrar service like GoDaddy or Network Solutions. Given that it only costs about $10 a year to own domain, there really is no excuse for not having one.
See Your Website as the Center of Your Marketing Efforts
You should see your attorney website as the center of all your legal marketing efforts, both online and off. Understand that it is a dynamic tool that exists to sell your legal services and to provide the world with information about your firm.
How many times have you checked the website of someone that gave you a business card?
In today’s world, even the success of a phone book or television ad may be dependent on the quality of the website that its tied to. Don’t think that potential clients will be convinced by one form of marketing alone.
There is a really good chance that they will check you out online before contacting you. So make sure your there when you need to be by investing in a good website.
Accept that Web Content is Important to Search Performance
In order to get your website found by Google, you will need text content. If you keep your content new, fresh, and relevant while simultaneously building or acquiring good links to it, Google will reward you by listing your website in searches related to your content.
Ultimately, the quality of your website’s search performance, will be dependent on the quality of your content, web design, and overall Internet marketing efforts. The more quality content you provide, the better.
To maximize results, provide content in different formats like audio, video, pdf, and word documents.
Know That You Must Compete for Website Traffic
There are millions of competing websites online. The early adopters of web design and SEO services will have the advantage, but you can still compete with these sites in search results if you don’t procrastinate and get things started.
It may take time and effort to achieve good search listings and win its associated traffic, but it can be done. However, the only way it will be done is if you actually start to pursue such results. When you start to experience some search traffic success, think of it as your reward for making good internet marketing decisions.
Understand: Good Web Design + Good Web Content for Lawyers = Good Attorney Website
A good web design for your law firm can help you look more successful and even help you impress your opposing counsel in a matter, but the importance of good content cannot be overlooked.
If your building a new site, start with a minimum of 7 to 11 pages to get your site going. For quicker results, consider integrating a blog into your website. Having a blog will help you feed new and fresh content to Google and other search engines frequently. Remember, Google and Bing only reward those sites that feed them with relevant content.
Know that Brochure Style Web Sites Are No Longer Enough to Succeed Online
Do not build an unchanging static website for your law firm.
The days of static websites have passed. Permalink technology now enables you to create search engine friendly URLs using a dynamic Content Management System (CMS). There are numerous CMS systems from which to choose, but a website based on a popular open source system would probably be the wisest decision in the long run.
Know that their are cool companies like LawConsuls that will help you build a website using popular open source technology like WordPress. Long gone are the days where you only had a few good choices for your attorney web design needs.
Accept that a CMS Powered Web Site is the Only Way to Go
Having a CMS website will allow you to easily create new content. A CMS will free you from the necessity of having to hire a web designer to complete simple tasks such as adding news about recent victories, or changing existing content.
CMS powered websites will generally out perform a static website and save you money in the long run. Shop around to find a CMS platform that you like. To see how easy LawConsuls CMS websites are to update, click here, to visit our YouTube Channel and watch some of our video tutorials.
Be Good To Your Web Designer
Make sure to maintain good business relations with a trusted web designer or web design company. You will need them to assist you with technical matters and necessary CMS maintenance. Don’t treat them unfairly or fail to pay their invoices. Treat them how you would like to be treated.
Accept that a Website Must Be Maintained
You wouldn’t expect a car to work forever without maintenance, and you should not expect a website to either. Understand that a dynamic CMS powered website must be maintained for it to function correctly. If it is not maintained, it will eventually stop working. There are many reasons why this is the case, but one of the main reasons is that technology is always advancing. As a result, your site will need to advance with it. Otherwise, your site may not render in new browsers correctly or it may cease to function with the latest programming languages that your web host uses.
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Having a single photo of your partners with a few pieces of text is pretty much what everyone else is doing. This is usually the bare minimum to market your practice and the new attorneys that are offering services.
Here are three ideas that can help set your practice apart from your competition:
Begin a Blog – Offering expertise in an informational format is a basic way to help get your new attorney in front of prospective clients. As they become familiar with your lawyers experience in their respective disciplines, they become more comfortable when the time is right to engage your firm in their legal matters. They feel they have built a relationship with your team in very basic terms.
Article Marketing – As part of your Blog content, you can also have your new lawyers create and share articles on subjects that many other lawyers may not want to share for free. Building a subscription list of would be clients through experienced articles or newsletters are ways to begin building long term relationships.
Hi Def Video Commercial – Engage a high end video production company to create a web commercial about each new attorney that joins your firm. Having a basic bio of each attorney will get lost among the other static web pages. Get yours to stand out by creating a professional bio of each. A professional actor in a high tech studio will come across as unbiased and proficient when discussing your new team members.
http://myprvideo.com/law-firm-web-commercial.html
Thanks for the comment. I agree that video is an important ingredient for successful Internet Marketing.