Success of a website is often measured in terms of visitors. Many sites boast of the number of people who visit their website every day. How many times have you seen phrases like "50,000 hits per month!" Does traffic translate to new business for a small law firm? Not necessarily.
The primary function of any marketing materials your firm sends out is to prompt some contact from a prospective client. The first challenge is in getting the client to view your marketing materials. The second is to prompt the phone call.
In a previous article, I discussed how to drive traffic to your website. We talked about optimizing your site for search engine indexing, click-through services, attorney directories and other means of promotion. I want to now focus on getting that prospective client to pick up the phone and call you.
There are four primary factors that will prompt a person to call you:
1) Is your practice focused on the area of law in which they need help?
2) Does the site establish your firm's credibility?
3) Does the site build a connection with the client?
4) Is the site professional and intuitive to use?
Focused Practice
People naturally assume if an attorney's practice is narrow, they must be good at what they do. A person will have a higher level of confidence in an attorney who limits their practice to one area of law rather than a jack-of-all-trades. But, what if you practice is not focused so narrowly?
It would be wise to consider building a different website for different areas of practice. For instance, if your practice consists of criminal defense and personal injury, consider building separate websites for each. This will also impact search engine rankings for each site, ranking them higher in searches for an attorney in that area of law.
Often much of the same material can be used between sites, particularly biographies, maps and contact information. What would vary would be your welcome message and focus on any description of your practice, including verdict announcements, testimonials, references to publications, etc. Simply emphasizing one area of practice over another will help gain the confidence of the prospective client that you are well equipped to handle their legal matter.
Credibility
People care about whether or not their lawyer will do a good job when they hire them, plain and simple. So how does a person gauge whether you are competent without knowing much about you? One way is to sell yourself through your accomplishments and recognition. Your website should contain any articles you have published, positive press, notable cases, verdicts and settlements, recognition by professional and/or civic organizations, involvement in the community and any other "sales" information that will provide corroborating evidence that you are a good attorney.
Connection
Your website needs to establish a connection with the prospective client by building a level of trust. This can be accomplished through the revealing of personal information as well as client testimonials. If you are comfortable, let them know a bit about yourself. Do you like to hike, sky dive or watch TV all day? At a minimum, you should definitely include a photograph, people want to know what their attorney looks like. Do you have a face for radio? Not a problem, they just want to know you don't have three eyes and two noses. Give them a peek. Also, testimonials can be a powerful sales tool. How other clients feel about you will weigh heavily in setting that person's expectations of what kind of a relationship they will have with you.
Professional Web Site
This seems to go without saying, but unfortunately cheese is still rampant in cyberspace. Don't create a website that is "soooo 1999." Styles change, make sure your site looks contemporary. Your website may be the prospective client's first impression of your firm, make it a good one. My general test is whether the site would look good printed as a brochure or magazine ad. For some reason people's expectations of the quality of graphics diminishes for websites. A skilled web designer will create the polished look and feel that will make your site look attractive.
Some dos: tasteful graphics, intuitive interface, clear focus of content, easy-to-find contact information, consistent fonts and layout between pages, navigation bar on every page.
Some elements to avoid: spinning graphics, oversize lettering, silly cartoons, visitor counter, drab graphics, cluttered and confusing site navigation, anything that demeans your human existence.
Conclusion
Remember, the purpose of your website is to prompt a phone call. For people who are encountering your firm for the first time through the Internet, your firm's level of professionalism and credibility will be established by your site. Follow these basics and your site will start driving your law firm clients!
