So you've finally dragged your firm into the electronic age. You knocked heads at the partners' meetings, lobbied at lunches and generally just didn't give up till they all agreed to have a Web site.
Then you waded through the Yellow Pages, found a Web-site designer and, lo and behold, the thing is up and running. Now you can kick back and get on with your real job, practising law, right?
Afraid not, according to the experts. Having a Web site is one thing; marketing it, so that it does the job you want it to do, The two go hand in hand, says Peter Cusimano: "Promotion starts in the design."
Cusimano practises law in North York, Ontario, and set up his firm's site in 1995. He also designs and promotes sites through Cusimano.Com corporation, and he established Canadalegal.com, billed as "the No.1 Directory of Canadian Legal Resources on the Internet."
He believes that any law firm, in any location, practising any area of law, will benefit from a Website, so long as they keep in mind a few fundamentals – beginning with who uses Websites, and why.
Lawyers have to understand that the primary users of legal Web sites aren't other lawyers, says Cusimano, but potential clients. "(And they) aren't surfing because they have nothing better to do," he observes. They're looking for two things – information about their legal problem, and a lawyer who can help them with it.
Are they looking for air-tight treatises on the latest Supreme Court decision, or impressive columns of legal double-speak? No. They're looking for simple language and clear descriptions of what you do and how you can help them.
Cusimano gave the example of a lawyer who does corporate and commercial law. Lawyers know what that means, and would assume this lawyer incorporates small businesses. But what about the small-business owner who is looking to incorporate?
"They will (do a Web search and) type in 'starting a business,'" says Cusimano. "And if your site doesn't identify that as one of your areas, your site may not come up." In other words, content is critical, which brings us to how people find sites, and the difference between a search engine and a directory.
A search engine is an automated system that scans and indexes every word in your Web site. It simply reads the words, and has no discretion to interpret or re-classify the information it finds. A directory, on the other hand, is assembled by humans who look for Websites that relate to specific areas.
The people who put together a legal services directory, for example, would likely know that our corporate and commercial lawyer does new business start-ups, and should list him or her accordingly. The fact is that potential clients use both, so to ensure it will be found, your Web site should be listed on the appropriate directories and should also be search engine friendly.
Also, search engines don't read graphics or frames, Cusimano says. When scanning your site, they ignore the box that contains all the little buttons which people must click on to get to the meat. That means you have to get all the important information on the first page in text form.
And your fancy logo? They'll skip that too. Use it, he says, but make sure that you have the firm name spelled out the old-fashioned way. In fact, put your name at the bottom of every page-people will print part of your site and set it aside. You may lose a potential client if they can't tell where it came from later on.
Keep in mind, however, that Internet searches aren't the only way people find your site. "Get your Web site address out there in as many places as you can, and continually get your Web site in front of existing clients," Cusimano advises.
Put your site address on anything that goes to clients – print it on your business cards, brochures, letterhead, invoices, fax covers, even your office sign. Add it to your voice mail. Add it to your hard-copy newsletter, if you have one. Start an email newsletter. Use teasers to set up a topic, then invite people to come to your site for more information. Invite readers to email a copy of it to their friends. The list goes on and on.
Joel Miller, a Toronto family lawyer who runs the popular Miller Family Law Centre, says Web sites are "an underutilized marketing opportunity, especially for small firms." It's a matter of identifying your potential client sources, then telling people that "my site is a worthwhile one to come to, because of our shared interests," he says.
The Family Law Centre seems worthwhile to Web surfers - it receives 900 hits a day. The familylawcentre.com site is loaded with practical information written in simple language. It also features a "Speaker's Corner" where visitors can post their experiences with the legal system. The feature has such a wide following that Miller is now re-designing the site to give it more room.
David Aujla, an immigration lawyer with Morahan and Aujla in Victoria, agrees. The firm's victorialaw.com site is "a natural" for his area of practice, he says, because his clients are overseas and use the Net almost exclusively to find the right lawyer to help them come to this country.
Also, the federal Immigration Department has posted all its forms and information on the Net, and Aujla says clients expect the same from their lawyer. Aside from the legal issues, his site includes information on current job opportunities in Canada.
Aujla has used the same consultant since first going online five years ago, and is very pleased. But he stresses how important it is that the lawyer is the person who regularly updates the content. "It pays off," he advises. "People are attracted to the site."
"Lawyers have to realize that their Web-site address is now the most important contact information a law firm can ever give out," Cusimano says. He recalls seeing a photo of a newly launched airline's plane. Painted on the side of the fuselage are the words "CanJet.com": simple, visible and easy for potential customers to remember when they're ready to book a flight.
The challenge for lawyers is to make it just as easy for clients to remember us, and find us, when they need legal work. There's no doubt in the minds of these three practitioners that a well-designed and properly promoted Website will do exactly that.
Tom Carter is a lawyer and writer in Edmonton.