Recent studies show that search engine queries have surpassed Yellow Page and directories for local business searches.  In addition, less and less people cite paper advertising as their primary source of information; upwards of seventy-five percent refer to search engines seeking local services as their first resource.  Moreover, your best clients and your strongest competitors are all online which makes it imperative for you to also be.

If these are not good enough reasons, here are ten more reasons to market online:

1 – Costs

Per customer, your costs are rather low with online marketing as compared to other forms of advertising such as paper, TV, newsletters/mailings, or radio.  Whether you use a website provider to organize your attorney or law firm webpage/blog, or post online ads on websites or on the side of search engine results, you will undoubtedly save money while experiencing a greater return using this medium.

2 – Speed and Efficiency

It goes without saying that internet marketing is instant and fast.  The fact that you can reach a multitude of prospective clients in such a short period of time is incredibly efficient for a busy lawyer or law firm.

3 – Larger Geographical Reach

Particularly with TV and radio advertising, your outreach is quite restricted.  By using the internet to market your services, your outreach is really limitless.  For example, here at NAB Legal Marketing we have visitors from Australia and multiple countries in Africa (Zimbabwe, Chad), Europe (Sweden, UK, Germany), and South America (Belize, Brazil).  While it is true that search engines will generally seek local webpages first, very close keyword searches will still bring up your website in regional, national, and even international searches… if your webpage is properly optimized–see this past week’s posts!

4 – Making a Sale

While using the internet to make sales for legal services is certainly different then purchasing items online through sites such as Amazon, you can gather prospective client information online and use that to assess the strength of the case before taking it by merely reading the information.  This is efficient because it allows you to avoid an initial client meeting on weak or no claims and thus saving time for you and the client.  Moreover, your website/blog allows the client to try YOU on and see if your services are a good fit for them.

5 – Advertising Design and Effect

Using the internet to help market your legal services allows you to use an excellent and advanced medium to make impress customers.  You can only so much using paper, TV, and radio advertising; all of them lack an interactive element.  With the internet, you can incorporate videos, soundbytes, and of course text or pictures in your webpage or blog while also having the ability to include interactive elements to engage prospective clients.

6 – You’re Always Open; No Hours of Operation

Even though your law firm office closes–hopefully–your website almost never will.  This allows you to continue to advertise your services, answer questions about your services through you FAQ or blog, and to gather prospective client information at all hours of the day.

7 – Ease of Adjustments/Corrections

Once your advertisement goes out, if there are errors it is likely too late to correct them.  However, with internet marketing, you can go back and edit your webpage, advertisement, or blog if there are any mistakes.

8 – Limited Advertising Life Span in Paper, TV, or Radio Mediums

An obvious advantage of online marketing is that it will continue as long as you pay the bills!  Whereas with other sources, generally your advertisements will only run for a limited time span and then cease to be used.  Thus, it really does pay to put more effort into your online advertising because of the potentially limitless life of the material.

9 – Flexibility and Responsiveness to Market Demands

Marketing your services online as opposed to print sources allow you to be flexible and responsive to trends in the law and market demands.  For example, when there are certain product recalls that have caused personal injuries to many people, you are able to immediately create online advertising campaigns to seek out those clients.  Moreover, if an ethical opinion prohibits a certain kind of marketing or advertising, you are immediately able to make changes using the internet as opposed to dealing with the hassle of withdrawing other mediums.  Furthermore, you are able to provide as much information or as little information about your services and practice as you want without having to abridge or expand your advertisement to fit into a thirty-second time slot or a narrow column in the newspaper.

10 – Better Customer Service

Particularly with legal services, attorneys seek to empower the client with their representation.  Ethically, lawyersmust allow many major decisions–such as settlement decisions–to be made by the client.  By utilizing a website and blog, you are empowering the client to make smart decisions as to retaining you and providing them with general information about the law with your blog.  As noted in yesterday’s blog post, if you also use the “Live Chat” features many website providers offer, you will be giving a prospective client more personalized service which they will truly appreciate.

If there reasons were not enough, please feel free to contact us for more information why marketing online is important for your law practice.  Without a doubt, the stronger your website is and the better information that you provide to visitors will impress them and make them more likely to retain your services.

We offer a legal content writing service which is personalized to your firm.  If you are interested in learning more about our services, please contact us at inquiries@NABLegalMarketing.com.