Is Your Law Firm Website Capturing Leads Or Losing Visitors?
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by Brandon Cornett
These days, most lawyers have a website online. But many of these same lawyers don't fully understand the concept and practice of online lead generation, a critical component of legal marketing online. This article will teach you the basics of lead generation as it applies to lawyer marketing and lawyer websites.
Website Lead Generation Defined
In this context, lead generation refers to the act of capturing useful information about your website visitors — information you can use to follow up with people and, ideally, begin a business relationship. If you have ever signed up for a newsletter online, or requested free information about a product or service, you have been on the consumer side of online lead generation.
Lead Capture is Critical for Lawyer Web Marketing
If people visit your law website but then leave without taking any form of action, you will probably never hear from them again. Goodbye lead, goodbye follow up, and goodbye potential client! That's just the nature of the Internet, and it reinforces the need for an effective lead generation / lead capture system on your law website.
There is also a common misconception regarding website traffic. Some lawyers think that a website with consistent levels of traffic will produce a consistent level of leads. This is incorrect because it entirely removes the concept of lead generation from the equation. Traffic is only traffic until you capitalize on it in some way.
Case in point...
I have an informational website that gets 500 visitors a day but produces no leads. In contrast, I have another website that gets about 50 visitors per day and converts many of them into leads that I can follow up with for business development. What's the difference? The first website no lead generation techniques are in place, while the second website does.
When People Visit a Law Firm Website
First-time visitors to a law website will generally do one of three things upon reaching the website's home page:
1. They will respond immediately (by calling or emailing you).
2. They will sign up for something and then leave the website.
3. They will leave the website without doing anything.
Obviously, you want visitors to your law website to take one of the first two actions. Statistically, however, we know that most visitors to an unfamiliar website will take action #2 or #3. That makes action #2 (sign up and leave) the common ground between what you want your website visitors to do, and what they are likely to do.
But here's the catch. In order to make action #2 possible, you have to offer something your visitors can sign up for while on your website, or something they can request via email. In website marketing circles, this is called an "opt in" offer. In order to receive what you are offering, your website visitors will opt in by subscribing or emailing you. This gives you the ability to follow up with them ... a critical ingredient for lawyer marketing online.
Offer Value to Gain Permission
If you want to increase the number of people who opt in, subscribe or contact you directly, you must offer something of value. It's a form of online reciprocation. You are providing something of value in exchange for the visitor's contact information (and implied permission to use it).
Let's say that I specialize in tax law for corporations, and I want visitors to my website to sign up for a free report. In order for this to work, I would have to create something of value to my target audience -- maybe a free 15-page guide to corporate tax savings. I would then make this item visually prominent on the home page of my law firm website (and elsewhere inside the website), and make it really easy for people to request the item by entering their valid email address.
The visitor gets something of value. I have a qualified lead to follow up with by email. Everyone gains something.
Want to increase the number of people who give you this permission? Simply increase the value of the offer. With website traffic being equal, a stronger offer will produce more leads. The two are directly proportional.
Permission also makes a difference. Emailing prospects without their permission is spam. On the contrary, emailing them after they've expressed interest is good manners (and good business)!
Good luck with your online marketing!