Attorneys routinely spend thousands to create attractive law firm websites to promote their services. And more than often they are disappointed by the amount of new clients those sites attract. Here’s why.

If the primary goal of your website is to generate new clients, you have to think about your site from the prospect’s point of view.

Generally, visitors to your law firm website have either:

1.  Already heard of your firm and want to learn more about you, or
2.  Found out about your firm via online promotion or a search engine.

In the first scenario, your law firm website simply needs to validate what the prospect was hoping to see about your firm. The prospect is already predisposed to contact you.

In the second scenario, the prospect may be either a “hunter” or an information “gatherer”.

Information gatherers are simply doing background research about a topic. They have not yet determined if they even have a need for your service.

Hunters, on the other hand, have done their research, determined they have a need, and are “hunting”, i.e. comparison shopping, for which firm(s) to contact.

View Your Website Like an Internet Shopper Would

These prospects use the internet to shop for legal services much the same as they shop online for shoes. The internet is a comparison shopper’s ultimate playground.

In comparing different law firm websites, shoppers are looking for the firm that:

•  Best provides exactly the service they need
•  Appears the most competent at doing it
•  Appears to be the easiest to work with
•  Provides the best value for their money

Shoppers are not seeking:

•  Tons of background information on the subject – this might be attractive to information gathers, but those visitors are not yet shopping for a specific firm to contact.
•  A wide breadth of services – Shoppers don’t care that you also do criminal defense if they need a bankruptcy or probate attorney. In fact, if you also do criminal defense, your firm may be considered to be too general and therefore not as competent in their needed area as a specialist.
•  Fancy offices, staff portraits with lots of suits, and pictures of city skylines – which might imply high fees.

Yet these are the elements that dominate most traditional consumer law firm websites. All that matters to internet comparison shoppers is how well your firm compares to the other similar firms found online. If your law firm website wins in that comparison, you’ll get the inquiry – and the opportunity to land a new client.