Solo Practice

Turning Web Traffic Into Clients

By The Greatest American Lawyer

Most law firms have a website, but few law firms actually get much, if any, business off of the Web.  The first problem most firms face is that their websites don't get much traffic in the first instance.  They treat their website as a brochure and include their web address in the signature line of their email.  They know that prospective clients will probably look them up, and they want to look good to those who care to check.  The second problem is that most law firm websites don't ask prospective clients to contact them.  On the Web, a lot of traffic is transient.  Unless you invite people to pick up the phone or send an email, chances are they will simply drift through.

Too many law firms think they have to make a choice between "looking good" - i.e., brochure website - and being an online resource - i.e., blogging.  The reality is that law firm websites can easily do both.  The easiest way to generate content online is through blogging.  This requires lawyers to share their expertise and put effort into showing off on the Web.  Search engines pick up this content.  If the content is truly valuable, other people link to the content.  Google sees a link back each link back as a "for your site", and it is important.  Over time, these single web posts, which have their own URLs called permalinks, become the landing pages for website visitors looking for specific information.  These visitors see you as a resource.  Visitors who are simply looking for information about their problem realize that you are the one who can solve their problem.

Once you have become a resource, you must do what lawyers are sometimes hesitant to do.  You must ask that web visitor to contact you in a way that is conspicuous and inviting.  We have added pictures of our lawyers to our most highly trafficked web pages.  We have a chat application, which invites visitors on our website for greater than 30 seconds to chat with one of our legal professionals online.  We include our phone number on every web page on our site.

If you want to start obtaining web traffic and converting that web traffic into clients, you need to focus on content and make it easy for website visitors to contact you.  Take a look at your website.  See if it accomplishes both of those goals.

Full post as published by The Greatest American Lawyer on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).