From key phrase targeting, to on-page optimizing, to link building, increasing your law firm's web visibility can seem like an overwhelming task.

However, with so much attention being paid to "getting found" online, there is another component to Internet marketing that is too frequently overlooked.

Gerrid Smith, President of (the former) SmithSEO, asks this important question:

Is it abundantly clear to potential clients what they should do when they land on one of your web pages?

While you might not be familiar with terms such as "bounce rate", "page views", and "time on site", you don't need to be an Internet marketing expert to recognize that visitors who engage with your website or blog, are generally more valuable than those that visit and leave (or bounce).

There is no question that one the most effective ways to increase your visitor engagement is to write to demonstrate your expertise.  Your success (or failure) with marketing your practice online will hinge primarily upon the quality of the content on your website and/or blog.  However, there are additional ways to nurture visitor engagement.

Conversion Optimization Tips

Here are some quick ways to help convert a larger portion of your website or blog visitors into actionable potential client inquiries:

1. Headlines
2. Calls to action
3. Free Information
4. Analytics
5. Test

Headlines

The attention span of most people is very short.  On the Internet, attention spans are even shorter.  When someone visits your law firm website or blog, you really have only a few seconds to get them interested and convince them that you can provide them something they need so that they respond to your message. The headline of your page, post, or article is one of the most critical components of the page when you are considering conversion optimization.

An effectice headline captures your visitors' attention, pulls them into your content and provides them with a compelling reason to stay and look at the information on the page. Spend time thinking about building an effective headline for each page on your site. You should also consider creating several headlines to test against each other to see which one produces the best results.

Call To Action

In my humble opinion, calls to action are the most important component to conversion optimization.  They separate passive reading with interaction.  Downloadable information, subscription registration, videos, click to call buttons, and share widgets, all can be very effective at generating user engagement, and thus, potential client inquiries.

Free Information

Employing an "education-based" marketing strategy works really well for marketing legal services.  Lawyers sell their professional knowledge.  By sharing some of that knowledge, legal professionals demonstrate their value, position themselves as the expert, and add value for their visitors.

Analytics

If someone isn't monitoring your Web Analytics data, you are missing out on a lot of opportunity to increase conversion.  Your analytics data will speak volumes as to how visitors view and use your site.  From sources, to page views, to time on page, analytics metrics will tell you which strategies are working, and which are not.

Test

In the end, trying to guess what works and what doesn't, just doesn't work.  You have to test and refine your strategies.  You will undoubtedly be surprised by the patterns that emerge over larger visitor sets.  Don't judge your web marketing with a hunch.  Measure and test, test and measure.