Law Firm Marketing Atlanta: 4 Stages of Finding a Lawyer Online

Potential Clients are Looking for Lawyers in all the Stages of their Search Process Online.

You may belong to a law firm that has a great reputation in your city and gets excellent recommendations from old clients, but here’s the question – is your firm visible on the internet? A majority of your potential clients no longer look for information related to you in the yellow pages. In fact, most of the people looking for a legal service try to find it online using Google, Yahoo, or Bing. They also look through online directories and websites of law firms.

There was a survey conducted by The Research Intelligence Group (TRiG) and commissioned by LexisNexisMartindale-Hubbell recently which found that 60 percent of adults who use the internet have sought the services of a lawyer. Also, an overwhelming majority – 76 percent of adults - look for lawyers online.

While it is still the case that referrals from trusted sources such as friends and family count for a lot while looking for legal help. Today online resources play an equally important role, if not more so, in influencing people about seeking the service of a certain lawyer. That’s why it is so important for all lawyers, regardless of their area of specialization, to put themselves out there online. They need to work on building their brand online in addition to doing so offline.

The Four-Stage Process of finding a lawyer online As per the findings of the survey we just talked about, 76 percent of the adults who search for legal assistance online go through a 4-stage process:

• First Stage: Finding information about a legal issue
• Second Stage: Looking for a lawyer
• Third Stage: Validating a lawyer
• Fourth Stage: Selecting a lawyer

Your potential clients look for multiple information resources online during the 4-stage process. That’s why it is so important to build your law firm marketing presence in Atlanta through all possible online avenues and put yourself in a position where you may be found by them. More of your potential clients look for information on search engines, social media sites, online directories, legal blogs, law firm websites rather than just depend on recommendations from family and friends. You will probably find some of the information here interesting. 61 percent of those looking for a lawyer searched online for one. 53 percent went online to validate a lawyer and 44 percent trusted online resources while selecting one. Only 39 percent depended only on recommendations from family and friends while looking for a lawyer. 35 percent consulted family and friends while validating one and 36 percent looked for advice from family and friends while selecting a lawyer.

Why Your Law Firm Marketing Requires Considerable Thought As said earlier, you can no longer just depend on your offline reputation to build a business. You must catch on with the digital age as more and more of your clients are turning to the internet while looking for legal help. You must think through your online presence very deeply. Here are some of the questions that need to be answered.

1. Will your clients find you when they use Google, Yahoo, or Bing? It is very important for your website to be visible on the important search engines – Google, Bing, and Yahoo – and rank highly for both technical keywords as well as for those keywords that are commonly searched for by people looking for the sort of legal assistance you offer. Law Firm SEO in Atlanta is a necessity, not a luxury.

2. Are you visible to potential clients at online legal advice forums? It is imperative that you should be on online legal forums and be in a position to provide quality information when your clients look for it. Usually, clients look for initial and basic information here, and if satisfied will contact you for more.

3. Are you visible to clients at local online directories? It is important to be visible on every local online directory with clear contact information mentioned, along with your area of specialization. Positive client reviews make a huge difference as well.

4. What about your brand presence in social media? Social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are of great importance these days and help you build your online branding and presence. Your clients will look for every single bit of information they can find about you on social media by looking through your posts, tweets, updates, and friend network before deciding to hire your services.

5. Do you blog on legal issues? Having a blog on your website where you write about legal issues on how you helped a certain client with a pressing problem does help. This way, your clients find out how knowledgeable and experienced you are.

6. Is your website professionally designed and mobile friendly? Having a professionally designed website is a must. Your website should be distinctive and provide the information your clients need while having very clear calls-to-action leading them along in the process. Your potential clients will take your website into consideration while validating you. Your website should also be mobile friendly as the majority of your clients have smartphones and they may look for your website through their phones. As you read this, several potential clients are already looking for legal help in your area. Now, if you lack a reasonable online presence, they are lost to you forever.

YEAH! Local can help you build your online presence, demonstrate your expertise, experience, and trustworthiness as a lawyer to your prospective clients. We deal with online law firm marketing and are very good at it. We understand everything there is to know about building your online visibility. Remember, your potential clients will decide whether to hire you or not based on your online presence. Give us a call at 404-539-6068, email info@YEAH-Local.com or fill out our contact us form.

First published at http://yeah-local.com/law-firm-marketing-atlanta-4-stages-of-finding-a-lawyer-online/