Why do I picture Clint Eastwood when I read that headline?
That ultimatum comes to you courtesy of Law.com’s Small Firm Business section. The article, written by Judith Roland, advises that “like it or not a web presence has become imperative for a successful law practice.”
I agree with the underlying premise of the article (that a web presence has become a given — tablestakes, as it were — in marketing a law firm) but the author doesn’t go quite far enough in her advice. Admittedly, if she did, most lawyers would probably stop reading and move on to something easier.
Most lawyers I meet know that they need a web presence to market their law practice. What they don’t know is that establishing a “brochure” website (basically, a simple website that contains the same information as one might find on a tri-fold brochure — sidebar, get rid of your tri-fold brochures — marketing a law firm. Typically, who we are, what we do, where to contact us.) is no better than not having a website at all.
In fairness to Ms. Roland, you’ve got to walk before you can run, and there is not a lot of point in discussing the do’s and don’ts of law firm web design with a lawyer who doesn’t yet acknowledge that he needs a website. That said, lawyers considering building a web presence need to know that the internet is about a million times more cluttered than a typical Yellow Pages, and we all know how easy it is for an ad to stand out in that environment. (Sidebar: stop buying Yellow Pages ads.)
What you’ve gotta know in addition to the fact that you need a website is:
- You need your website to findable.
- Your website needs to be sticky to remain front of mind in your visitors’ heads.
As you might expect, neither of these things is particularly easy to accomplish. The first requires significant technical expertise and the second requires marketing acumen. But just because they are hard to do does not mean that they aren’t worth doing. On the contrary, if a lawyer is not going to put in the time, money and elbow grease to make a firm website that is findable and “sticky”, I would strenuously argue (a phrase which sounds like I am channeling Demi Moore in A Few Good Men — “your Honor, I strenuously object!) that a lawyer is better off saving her hard-earned dough and forsaking a website altogether in favor of other marketing efforts that will yield a better ROI.
Websites are not an end in and of themselves — well, maybe they are for web design companies, but not for the lawyers that hire them. Websites, like all other marketing efforts, need to translate into revenue, preferably in as few steps as possible. Far too many lawyers are mis-spending thousands of dollars for pretty brochure websites that are hard to find and don’t offer anything more to visitors (potential clients, that is) than a smiling picture, a phone number and invariably a promise that in law firm X clients come first.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with pretty websites, it’s just that pretty websites that aren’t findable and aren’t sticky don’t make you any more money. Which, I blithely assume, is the reason you are marketing your law firm in the first place.
In the next two parts of this three part article I’ll discuss findability and stickiness. That way when you decide that it is time to pull the trigger on a website (or a website redesign) you’ll know the issues and won’t get stuck paying $7,000 for a pretty tri-fold brochure that happens to live on the web.
And that should make your day.
{ 0 comments… add one now }