Your Law Practice's image online is critical for success, especially in attracting new clients via internet searches. Today's clients are internet savvy and are using the internet to find you, learn about you, and read reviews about your Law Firm.
All channels that you can use to connect with potential clients increase the potential to convert those internet profile visits into new cases and new clients.
What if the information about your Law Practice online is wrong?
What if your phone number is listed incorrectly? Bad email addresses? Wrong practice areas?
Incorrect information about you and your Law Firm online costs you money and sends potential clients elsewhere.
Digital Knowledge Management (also known as local directory marketing) is the process of:
Synchronizing your Law Practice information across all of the information sources on the web (also called "publishers"). This synchronization includes the broad directories (like Yellow Pages, for example) and the more focused legal-specific directories, like this directory.
Synchronizing also maximizes the amount of information about your Law Practice that each of these online business directories contains. Online directory profiles should include your Legal Practice areas (personal injury, litigation, bankruptcy, etc.), information about your Law Firm, information about you as an attorney, your office location, office hours, images of you and your offices, and even an invitation video for clients.
You are presenting your information to the public through these professional directories in the best possible way with pictures, videos, and custom content.
According to Google location search has grown over 146% year over year with "near me" searches.
Mobile and desktop searches now deliver results based on your location. Search for an "injury lawyer," and you will see lawyers near you in the results. Clients in an accident may not remember your billboard advertisement a few miles ago and write down the telephone number when driving, but they will click through on your telephone number in a search result when they are standing on the side of the road.
The goal is to be that first call and turn the caller into a client.
Google further analyzed these "near me" searches and found that these types of local searches directly impact a business' bottom line, with 76% of users that make a location search visit a local business location within one day.
What's even better?
28% of those location searches result in a purchase from a local business!
Your clients are in El Paso and are searching for lawyers in El Paso using their mobile devices. Don't miss your opportunity to potentially capture 28% more clients just by helping them find you first.
Absolutely.
Diners look at Yelp reviews before visiting a restaurant, consult the Yellow Pages online for tradespeople, and travelers check out locations on Trip Advisor. People needing legal help also research attorneys online.
Business listings in local directories get an average of 174% more search impressions than web pages. That is almost triple the internet traffic and even includes store pages, directory, and locator traffic.
Don't think online listing accuracy and completeness matter for your online legal profile? Take a look at what your clients are saying:
That is almost three times higher than competing companies.
It is surprising that this statistic isn't even higher. The saying, "Perception is the only reality" is at play here. When presented with something that is perceived "better" right from the start (in this instance, a fully completed Legal Practice profile), the majority of people will choose the perceived "better" choice.
This increase in visitors makes a lot of sense, seeing that they consider these companies more reputable than companies that have incomplete listings online.
The perception of quality starts with your client's first impression. If you cannot take care of your Law Practice (by at least having complete and correct information about how to find your office), how can you take care of your client? Why do your competitors have complete listings? Because they are already getting the value from those complete listings.
Would you go into a law office with boards covering all of the windows? Unless you live in Florida and a hurricane has just blown through town, the answer is no. The right first client impression makes all of the difference in client choice.
Marketing any service requires instilling trust in your client. Clients want to partner with a successful attorney who is an expert in their field and can represent them the right way.