Why a Good Web Presence is Crucial for Your Law Firm
You know your law firm is good. You have helped lots of clients, you hire great legal talent, and you work hard. Of course, this will only help you to win new business over your competitors if other people – specifically people in need of the specific legal services you offer – know it too.
Just about everybody uses the web these days when they are in need of a service they don’t currently have an incumbent person or firm for, so the most important place you can advertise your legal practice is via your online presence. The good news is that this is not only the most effective and broad reaching way to reach a targeted local audience, but is also a lot cheaper to instigate and manage than press or TV advertising.
Here are some of the reasons why your web presence is vital to your success as a law firm:
It Makes You Easy to Find
With a good, well managed website that has been optimized to appear high on relevant search results, more people who are looking for legal services you offer in your area will find you. As well as being easy to find thanks to your website and SEO efforts, it also pays to be easy to find on social networks. A lot of people scope out the tweets or Facebook pages of businesses before contacting them to get a sense of what they are like to communicate with. There are also professional networks like LinkedIn where people often look for business to business services, so if your law firm provides corporate legal services or business related tax law services, this is also a good place to develop your online presence.
It Makes You Seem More Credible
You can put whatever testimonials you like on your homepage and in your commercials, but when real people can be seen to be interacting with you and thanking you via your social media accounts, this carries a lot more weight in the eyes of the prospective client. Twitter and Facebook activity and blog comments appear far more genuine than things quoted by you as a business, and will help people to believe you are trustworthy – one of the most important things people look for in a legal representative!
You Can Grow Your Authority
Law firms need to appear to their clients to be leaders in their industry who are true authorities on the law they practice. Of course, your qualifications go some way toward proving this, but all of your rivals have the same certifications you do. By posting authoritative content and answering questions about your field online, readers can get a real sense of your level of knowledge and professionalism, which can make you stand out from your competitors.
Of course, building a good web presence takes time and skill, so it can be helpful to work with a firm who specialize in marketing for lawyers, such as Berbay. However, whether you use a professional marketing firm or do your own internet marketing, make sure it is a priority for your law firm!