Leveraging your law firm website

Yes, you have invested lots of time and effort and money into your law firm website, but nobody looks at it. Why is this?

Well, certainly one issue is that people can not find it. A law firm needs to be sure a site does well with search engines, that they promote their website, that it is properly registered with search engines, that the site is interesting, etc...

But, is not another issue that law firms do not directly the organizations most likely to use their services in the future -- their existing customers -- to their website? It is said that 20% of legal business is prone to being lost every year and that law firms need to find ways to rebuild this work. Perhaps the best possible strategy to get more work is to encourage your existing clients - those who trust you the most -- to use your services in other practice areas.

A great way to do this is with law firm portals. A firm can build a portal site to post information a client wants to or needs to see -- for example invoices, contact lists, trial exhibits, etc... Then, one the same site, a law firm can make available strategic marketing information that will help them get more business from these clients.

What kind of information can be posted? Often, the same information that is posted on a firm's website -- areas of expertise, published works, etc...

The key difference here is that it is likely that an existing client will see this information, since it is likely the client will be on this site. Thus, the marketing information previously developed is viewed by very likely clients of other practice groups, which in turn may indeed help to generate more leads and business for a law firm.