The Legal Marketing Center Blog

I Recently came across a post to Solosez.org from a new solo practitioner who needs legal marketing advice regarding her website:

Maybe some of you with solo marketing experience under your belt can help with this dilemma.

My solo general practice is brand spanking new and I’d like to develop a website to help get some clients in the door. My work experience is all over the place — I’ve been a civil litigator (big firm defense, consumer class actions mostly), family law practitioner, and in house entertainment attorney, negotiating and papering transactions ranging from production and talent agreements to obtaining rights clearances. It seems that if I list each of these areas on a website that they would be incongruous to a potential client and that it might be better to focus on a practice area or two; however, as I’m starting out and have no clients, I’m reluctant to limit my practice. But if I don’t call out a couple of areas, perhaps I’m selling myself short and that my appeal lies in a couple of areas.
Thoughts?

Also, since I have zero web design expertise I am considering hiring a designer (if that’s the correct term) to design and handle updates. Does anyone have any experience with FindLaw aka Lawyermarketing.com? Can anyone recommend a good company?

Here was my response:

An internet presence is an absolute must in this day and age. Also, you need to find a niche that you enjoy, and where there are clients to pay you. If you start in a practice area that it already oversaturated with lawyers, you are going to have a hard time finding clients.

No matter who you use to build your website, use a program like wordtracker to find the low supply, high demand keywords that will help in Search Engine Optimization. If your web designer has never used wordtracker - run the other way. Make sure to also find a designer who will allow you to make changes to your site on your own in real time. A static website that never changes will never get picked up by the search engines.

I used Tom Foster of Foster Web Marketing for my website, and have been pleased with their work and response times. They also have a proprietary software called DSS that allows me to make changes to almost anything on the site whenever I want. If an idea hits me at 2 am - I can make the change right then and there.

Finally, if you haven’t already, I would encourage you to check out The Legal Marketing Center for additional ideas and tidbits that might help your practice. While you are there, make sure to sign up for the monthly newsletter…