Listen to "Tips and Tactics for Law Firm Websites"
Jared Correia, the host of The Legal ToolKit and Law Practice Management Advisor with Massachusetts LOMAP, interviewed me in the podcast "Tips and Tactics for Law Firm Websites."
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:22 — 18.1MB)
We cover a lot of ground in this podcast. Here's a quick synopsis of what you'll hear:
1. Why should a law firm have a website? You need your home page on the web, so that visitors can find your practice areas, your bio and your partners. The web takes advantage of the way people look for lawyers, which is to research their legal issue first.
2. How complex should the website be? Don't create a billboard in a cornfield. There are five elements that are required on a law firm website: FAQs, case histories, representative clients, testimonials and video.
3. Make the most of YouTube. Videos are a very effective marketing tactic. You can get a videographer come to your office for $750, and then upload the video to a free YouTube account.
4. What kind of images are effective? Take advantage of images that your brain is hardwired to see: faces. Don't yield to the temptation to use trite images like a court house, blind justice or columns. Instead put images of your clients online.
5. What is the best use of text? The new Google algorithm looks at freshness of content and the frequency that a website is updated. Use keywords, drawing on words your clients use when they talk to you.
6. Make use of social media. Take the Twitter, Facebook and Google+ icons and display them on your firm's home page and your bio, so that a visitor can click on them and see your profile on those social media.
7. Promote your website. Use the magic multiplication marketing method: First write a FAQ, then turn it into a video on YouTube, upload it to JDSupra.com, condense it into a blog post, condense it further into a Twitter message, and update your status on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. The idea is to take one piece of content and publish it in several different places.
This is just what we covered before the break in the podcast. Take a listen to find out even more about having an effective website.
Great post! Some great points were made about the promotion of the website as well as including social media as a form of marketing/branding. Youtube is also a great addition to this list. The key is to maintain all of these campaigns and measuring their effectiveness through each strategy you put in front of you. What works and what doesn't work will be based on your target audience as well as what your "niche" is.