Website Integral to Attorney Marketing

The latest blog post for Solo Practice University is focused on the “10 things I hate about being a solo.”  One of the points made is having to your own marketing which means figuring out who your ideal client is, how they look for clients, putting up a website and handing out business cards.

Your Website as a Marketing Hub Makes it Easier

When you develop a website, you should be thinking about your ideal client and about why and how they would come to you on the web.  You should be thinking about making your website interactive by integrating your blog, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profiles giving people a way to engage you.  When you follow-up with people you’ve networked with, point them to an article on your website or a blog post of interest.  In other words, use your website as a marketing engine that both unifies your efforts and expands them.

Attorney Bios Need to Join the 21st Century

Here is an example of a new type of attorney biography courtesy of Larry Bodine.  Its different because rather than being a single page with links out from it to specific, related information about the attorney in question, it has tabs which cover different aspects of the attorneys experience and expertise.

Pros and cons

On the plus side, this provide a richness to the attorney bio that allow very interested visitors to more deeply explore his or her experience. There is also a search engine optimization advantage as well because the tabbed pages will register as hits so attorneys can know types of information, visitors care about the most.  On the con side, it means that visitors have to make an extra click to get at information they want rather than seeing it all the same page.  For Mr. Jessup, who has a “Articles & Presentations” page, the promise is greater than the reward because he only has two articles or presentations listed.

Join my LinkedIn network?

I have been advocating that attorneys add a link to their LinkedIn profile for months but the language here “join my LinkedIn network” seems a bit premature.  First off, Mr. Jessup doesn’t allow visitors to see his contacts so why would joining his network add value for someone?  Next, what is the value of his “network” if any web visitor can join it?  The better language would be “see my LinkedIn profile.”

Conclusion

I believe that its better to add appropriate links to a single page than creating multiple pages for the same attorney.  I think its simpler, clearer and more effective to link out to social networking sites and use their servers than the firm’s.

Snakebite Theory of Effective Websites

This blog post from Lee Rosen a family law attorney tells an important story in a funny way.  He imagines being bit by a snake and looking for a remedy on the Internet.  He won’t be interested in the snake bite doctors who talk all about themselves but those that tell him what he needs to do for his snake bite.

One Out of Three

In my analysis, Mr. Rosen has rightly focused on two aspects of what a website or any marketing effort needs to do.  The first thing is to know your audience.  While giving that audience what it wants is extremely important you also have to engage them so that they can hear you.  Next you need to focus on what the situation is that brings them to your website which Mr. Rosen dramatically addresses and also let them know specifically what service you will provide for them in their situation.