"Website, website on my screen, who is the best lawyer you've seen?"
If you look at enough law firm websites, you start to realize that many lawyers are having their sites designed and developed for themselves. Which is fine, if the site is to serve as an online shrine of narcissism.
They include laundry lists of awards and memberships. Some contain practice area pages that read like legal treatises.
These sites reek of self-love.
You can easily picture these lawyers commandeering the design and development process from their web design team.
Then there are the law firm sites that reflect what lawyers believe their prospective clients want.
Hey, at least they're trying.
Unfortunately, they've never bothered to ask their prospective clients what they actually want. They haven't done any research. They don't provide a means for visitors to provide feedback, ask questions or complain.
They simply don't supply the information that their potential clients are looking for.
These lawyers "just know" what their audience of potential clients wants.
Of course, the problem is that the intended purpose of many law firm websites is to help the lawyers earn new business.
Which means your law firm website should be designed and developed for the people who will send you new business and those who will become new clients.
These people include:
Just to name a few.
Depending on the nature of your practice, these might also be people you don't yet know.
These might be people who are:
Just to name a few.
How does your website resonate with these people? Have you asked? Have you provided a means through which they can provide you with feedback?
Are they subscribing?
Are they liking?
Are they sharing?
Are they commenting?
Are they downloading?
Are they signing-up?
Are they emailing?
Are they calling?
If not, it might be that your law firm website, blog or other online communication device isn't working effectively.
And one of the reasons it might not be working is because it wasn't built for them. It was built for you.
Here's a recent Google SERP for "๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ." Ads? โLSAs? โLocal Pack? โLinks? โ ๐ท AI Overview? โ 6 firms listed. Only one tiny ๐. Click the ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ button? ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐: Here's a more detailed look at some of these firms: THE PEARCE LAW FIRM, P.C.Edith Pearce, […]
On April 22, 2025, Google sent an email updating Local Services Ads Additional Terms for Providers: Subject: Action required: important updates to Local Service Ads Additional Terms Many people are arguing that lawyers cannot participate in Local Services Ads, as this would constitute a per se violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct related to […]
Conrad and I recently joined Zack at Lawyerist to record a conversation about AI and marketing. You might think that we spend the whole time on how lawyers can use AI to publish content. You'd be wrong. While AI can certainly support publishing, there are many more interesting ways to use it in legal marketing. […]
As more legal services consumers turn to ChatGPT for local law firm recommendations, a fascinating intersection between AI, search, and maps unfolds. While Google remains the undisputed leader in local business data, ChatGPT is increasingly becoming an entry point for searchers seeking legal representation. But hereโs the kicker: instead of keeping users within its ecosystem, […]
When law firms contact us, they usually want to talk: โข PPC Ads โข SEO Rankings โข Lead Generation Very few want to talk: โข Brand โข Trust & Recognition โข Emotional Connection Admittedly, much of this concerns that AttorneySync is known for lead generation across those common digital channels. But even when we start […]
According to an October 2024 study by SE Ranking: "The legal niche triggers the highest percentage of AIOs (77.67%). The average number of links matched between the AI Overview resources and the top 20 search results was 6.49 for legal topics. AI Overviews for legal topics most frequently link to NYCourts.gov (114 links), YouTube.com (48 […]
I'm grateful for my friend, Charley Mann of Law firm Alchemy. If you're a lawyer, subscribe to his Free Email List. In a recent email, Charley calls out bad guru advice on hiring: "Trying to execute a major SEO improvement? You need to find people who will help you, instead of trying to DIY it […]
If youโve spent any time on LinkedIn, youโve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an โup and to the rightโ trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And itโs not just the agencies celebratingโ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ […]
Meh, links! All things being equal, links still tend to move the dial more than any other factor in legal SERPs. Maybe links are having a diminishing impact internet-wide. But in my experience, quality links, especially relevant links (both topically and geographically), tend to improve law firm visibility in search more than most everything else. […]
I deleted all social sharing from our website just to go against the flow of social hype. People really don't "like" " 1" or "tweet" nonsense content pages. Blog posts, that's another topic.
If you're talking about static page content that doesn't motivate visitors to share, then I completely agree. However, you might ask yourself what the purpose of those static pages is. Perhaps the solution isn't necessarily removing social engagement features, but updating content to make those pages more social. Just a thought. Obviously that's not appropriate for all page types.