Overcome Skepticism for Marketing Success

August 29, 2007 – 3:24 pm

If you are anything like me, you are naturally skeptical online. In fact, most consumers who use the Internet fall into this boat with us. People are skeptical online for obvious reasons. After all, the Internet can be an anonymous and scary place, used for nefarious purposes by everyone from pedophiles to con artists. Yikes.

Fortunately for you and me, these shady characters are the minority online (or so I’d like to believe). Nevertheless, it poses a challenge you must consider in your law firm’s online marketing program.

I spend a lot of time online. It’s my job, after all. And I encounter a lot of what I call “faceless” websites and companies. You know … those websites that use a lot of plural pronouns like “we” and “us,” while making it virtually impossible to find a person’s name. What’s your first impression when you encounter a mystery website like this?

Distrust? Uncertainty? Fear?

Yeah, me too.

So take a look at your law firm’s website right now. Go ahead … I’ll wait.

Now tell me what you have done to make your website visitors comfortable with your law firm? What have you done to break down the walls of anonymity to show that the lights are on and people are home? How have you encouraged trust and confidence?

Better yet, why not have a few friends visit your law firm’s website and poke around like a potential client would. Have them jot down notes about the things that make them uncomfortable or uncertain. Fix these things immediately, and keep them in mind through all of your Internet marketing endeavors.

Internet marketing is marketing with an extra dose of uncertainty. In order to generate new business through your law firm’s website, you must first remove the uncertainty factor.