Premier Software is not your prime source as a law firm marketing guru, however, we are experts in tracking legal marketing activity and have a few comments, especially for those lawyers who are looking for new ways to attract clients.
Today potential clients use the internet to search for and make instant judgments about the lawyer that they will select. Access to useful information (aka content), and judgments based on trust (aka reputation) are critical in guiding the web based prospect to your firm. So what does the web say of you?
Is Your Stream of New Clients Drying Up?
I am reminded of an old movie where a white hat rancher suddenly has no water for his cattle because something has happened upstream – another black hat rancher has used technology to divert the water upstream. This may be happening to you with your flow of new business.
You may be a very good lawyer but does that show through on the web?
I have been told recently by web experts that the Google ranking mechanism has changed, significantly. A renewed and increased emphasis is now placed on content and on your reputation. Reviews and endorsements are key.
I know very good lawyers who are rated highly and very good lawyers with a less than stellar rating. So how do you check and manage your ratings and ranking? Like it or not and as you likely know one growing source of new law clients from the web is AVVO
Avvo.com – The right attorney makes the difference
Avvo has ratings, reviews, and disciplinary records for lawyers in every state. Get free legal advice, find the right lawyer, and make informed legal decisions.
Lets use www.avvo.com to compare you to another lawyer.
View two pages ranking excellent lawyers we know who on a scale of 1-10 are rated 10.0
Thomas D. Begley, III,
You should use AVVO to check your own listing. This is what future clients may see upstream, long before they otherwise may have found their way to you. If you were to read the rules of the road at http://www.avvo.com/support/avvo_rating you might learn the difference between a 6.5 and a 10.0 is simply a matter of answering a few legal questions from prospective clients or obtaining a few endorsements from other lawyers.
Doesn’t that make sense – market your expertise and have other lawyers state that they endorse you?
If you need an excellent source for lawyer marketing try Mark Merenda, Smart Marketing www.smartmarketingnow.com or Jennifer Campbell Goddard, Integrity Marketing http://www.integritymarketingsolutions.com.
Now a ‘reputation management’ suggestion for you Time Matter users, why not use a trigger that when a file is closed, creates a record that sends a client satisfaction survey to your client. When your client sends back a response that says ‘You are the best ever!’ – send a Thank you email or letter with a link to the review/endorsement page of lawyers.com or avvo.com. You could use a service for a few hundred dollars a month to achieve the same result (see www.demandforce.com) or just use common sense and a little work on your Time Matters configuration.
If you are good why not give yourself some credit – and let the world know it.
The world will be better for it, and so will you.
