Googling for Lawyers

Some lawyers have websites. The ones who don't are thinking about it. Sometimes what they are thinking is "If I have a website, how will anyone find it?".

It's important to realize that most people will find your site through a search engine. Google is the biggest of these, though people also use Yahoo, MSM and others. The idea is the same....a person is interested in something, they type in a search, and the search engine posts links to thousands of websites. If you have a website, you want it to be found by the search engines, and more importantly, you want your site to come up on the first page of a relevant search.

What do you like to do most? What kinds of new cases do you want? What would be the best of the best? Can you describe it? If someone (a new client) was doing a google search for it, WHAT WOULD THEY TYPE IN?

There might be some combinations of words, so here's an earth-shattering suggestion......Write down all the searches you can think of for YOUR perfect new cases, and google them....ALL of them. After all, it's free. You will see some VERY interesting things when you do this. You will see many other lawyer websites showing up on page 1 of the google search. Look at their sites!!! Doesn't cost nuthin'. Notice also the "sponsored links" on Google. These are sites that are paying extra to be on page 1. You don't have to pay, but it's worth knowing about. Notice also that many of the page 1 listings are attorney listings of lawyers.com.

Here's another lawyer/googling thing worth knowing. The two big players in the lawyer/internet/advertising game are lawyers.com (owned by Martindale-Hubbell) and Findlaw (owned by Westlaw). Many of us have been approached by these two, offering various paid packages. There is some value there, but in my view the main value they offer is your listing (within their site) showing up on page 1 of the google search.

If you are thinking of listing with one of them, THIS is the main value you get. I suppose there are potential clients who go into lawyers.com and start looking around and will find you. However, more often they will do a Google search and find your lawyers.com listing. Oh, and you WILL get calls and email inquiries from it. When you do, you will want more, and you will try to enhance the way you are found.

Can you think like a potential client? The one who is going to find YOU? For the cases you really want? (Oh yeah, it's VERY important to think about what you really want)

Tomorrow, we run some sample searches......