What were your first steps when you started promoting your law practice?
Did you get your LinkedIn profile up to speed? Set up an account on GoogleMyBusiness? Maybe you built a Facebook business page.
Those are all good places to stake your claim online. But did you remember to secure your listing on the FindLaw Lawyer Directories? If not, you passed over some of the fastest and most effective means of building your firm’s name online.
To be fair, general online business listings are a crucial part of any law firm’s online footprint. In fact, crafting a consistent, accurate presence in a variety of places is one of the most
basic steps lawyers should take. But legal directories need to be included in that process. These industry-specific listings are valuable channels for new clients and they stand apart from the rest of the web.
They’re more relevant.
FindLaw's Lawyer Directories are, obviously, tailored for just those consumers who are actively seeking legal representation. These people come to directories like ours because of their relevant search results and excellent information. That may be the name of a specific attorney in their town, or supporting content such as legal news, advice or education about the law.
FindLaw.com alone plays host to nine million monthly visitors looking for legal information, advice and representation. It’s just like your own firm’s website: Valuable content draws the attention of search engines and humans alike. But where individual law firm websites take a lot of effort to build legitimacy and trust among their audiences, an established legal directory like
FindLaw.com has that cachet already.
In fact, analysis of traffic to the FindLaw Lawyer Directory shows that visitors referred to an attorney from
FindLaw.com are two and a half times more likely to contact a firm than visitors referred by Google. Of course, your results may vary but the impact of a respected legal directory is clear.
Similarly,
LawInfo.com‘s attorney directory can expand a firm’s online footprint, leveraging its strength by addressing not only consumers actively seeking attorneys, but also those who are asking specific legal questions and may not even realize they need an attorney’s help. That is, until they reach a LawInfo resource page where information, links, and prominent calls to action help complete their path to conversion. Simply put, advertising on LawInfo is a great way to expand your reach toward legal consumers even further.
Cachet and credibility are particularly relevant terms for prestige directories like
Super Lawyers where the only lawyers listed have been recognized for excellence by their peers and a
patented selection process. You cannot buy status like this, so if you have been selected to a Super Lawyers list, make sure to
leverage that position fully.
Other directory opportunities include audience-specific listings like the Spanish-language
abogado.com. This site is a direct conduit to the nation’s fastest-growing demographic and a boon for firms that choose to take advantage of the opportunity.
Their visitors are ready to buy.
Consumers searching legal directories aren’t looking out of curiosity. At the least, these people are looking for legal advice. More likely, they’re looking for an attorney to represent them. Couple this with the fact that 58 percent of legal consumers take action on their issue within a week of the incident and you’ve got an audience primed and ready to make contact.
Simply put, you won’t find a more motivated audience anywhere else on the web. So
contact your local FindLaw representative to ensure a strong directory presence for your firm.
Your next client might be looking for you right now.
