Attorneys in small firms who have been practicing law for many years know that growth of the Internet is changing the legal marketplace. While most small firms depend on referrals from other attorneys and previous clients, there are few that can survive without additional new clientele. With the popularity of the Internet, the Yellow pages are not nearly effective as they used to be. Use of the Yellow pages has declined greatly while Internet usage continues to climb. According to research conducted by Internet World Stats, nearly 70% of the poplation in America uses the Internet. Research I conducted using Trellian’s Keyworddiscovery, a keyword research tool with a database of over 32 billion keywords compiled from over 180 search engines in the last 12 months, showed these phrases as the most commonly searched “lawyer searches” on the Internet:
- Personal Injury lawyer(s) (over 2,000,000 searches for PI attorney(s)/lawyer(s))
- Tax attorney(s) (this was a suprise to me)
- Criminal attorney(s)
- DUI/DWI lawyer(s)
- Bankruptcy attorney(s)
- Divorce lawyer(s)
- Accident lawyer(s)
- Malpractice attorney(s)
- Real estate attorney(s)
- Construction lawyer(s)
- Lemon lawyer(s)
- Probate lawyer(s)
- Trademark attorney(s)
- Patent lawyer(s)
- Employment lawyer(s)
- Business attorney(s)
- Securities lawyer(s)
- Trial attorneys
I could keep going but the point is that several thousand of these searches each month are performed. Some of these practice areas have over 100,000 searches conducted each month. The most popular search phrases start at the top of the list.
So do consumers use the Internet to find an attorney ? Yes, absolutely. Even people who know an attorney use the Internet to conduct research before hiring an attorney. I worked with someone in the litigation support industry for a number of years. He had worked exclusively with law firms, from sole practitioners to large firms, for over 10 years. He knew hundreds of attorneys. When he needed to hire a defense attorney (that’s another blog post if he pisses me off), he still researched the law firm he hired on the Internet before hiring that sexual harassment defense lawyer (oops, sorry D.H.). The point I’m making here is that yes, people will use the Internet to research you even if they’re referred to you. Interesting to me is that there are so many attorneys who don’t even have a website. Trust me, if you don’t have a website you are losing business. Having a website doesn’t mean you will have success on the Internet though. To pick up clients through the Internet you need to have great online visibility, compelling content and a professional design. In another post I discuss the importance of your websites’ design. The business is out there. Will those potential clients find you or your competitors?
2 Comments
December 6, 2006 at 10:21 am
[...] 1. What area of law you’re advertising: If you’re a business attorney, do you really think that you’re potential clients (or better yet the clients you want) are using the Yellow Pages to find a lawyer? Absolutely not. Do you think people use the Internet to find a business attorney? 100% without a doubt, yes they do. Now are people using the Yellow Pages to find immigration lawyers, criminal lawyers and personal injury attorneys? Of course they are, but not like they did in the past. The Internet is now the # 1 resource that people use to find an attorney. Internet marketing for lawyers is good business practice if done the right way. [...]
February 26, 2009 at 5:48 am
Excellent blog, very useful content. As a lawyer in Brazil, I seek information in english, mainly in the US to improve my business and found a wonderful source.
Thanks,
Felipe Porto