Dear Fellow DUI Lawyer,
Right now I wear two hats.
Hat 1 = DUI lawyer.
Hat 2 = Webmaster & Internet Coach for DUI Lawyers
As a DUI lawyer I cringe when potential clients have received poor, inaccurate or self-serving advice from other lawyers.
I'm noticing the same thing as a webmaster. I don't solicit business. Other attorneys find me and contact me. When they do, I'm always happy to talk about the internet, SEO, website design practices, blogging, etc. I start by looking at the attorney's current web presence. Here's what I'm seeing a lot of, and it appears to be driven by the web development companies as much as the attorney's need for flashy trashy fluffy web-junk.
- A lot of new sites are still using flash intros and splash pages. Big mistake. Even if you could credibly make the argument that search engines are getting more flash friendly, the fact that the site gives a good percentage of your users a headache or worse is still bad. (more on this in a future post)
- A lot of the sites focus on the firm, not on the client. Big mistake. Your clients don't give a rip when you were named partner or that you were on law review. They don't care that you were order of the coif (I'm impressed, but they aren't). 42 percent of them think that if you are a "specialist" you aren't even a lawyer (got it backwards, right… we'll, are all of your clients genius material?). They will wipe themselves with your law school transcript, and when they read that you once wrote a law review article on the UCC (their internal voice probably says… "he's down with UCC… yeah you know me). Which brings me to the real "OPP," – Other Person's Perspective.
OPP is where you need to start if you want an effective web presence. Look at things from your client's perspective. Ask yourself not how great you are, but how great can you make your potential client feel about him or herself. What can you do for your clients? What have you done for past clients? What can you promise your client? How will you guide them? How will you make them feel special? What makes you different that other DUI lawyers in terms of what you can do for your client.
In case you haven't gotten my message by now, your practice is not about you. Don't make stuff up, but tell your audience what they want to hear, not what you want them to hear to soothe your ego or your insecurity.
If you want to discuss your web campaign, or just call to tell me I'm wrong, feel free to do so – 480-951-3200.
Sincerely,
Dan Jaffe
My name is Dan Jaffe. I recently retired from practicing DUI law after more than a decade of running a law firm and using the internet as my firm's primary source of business.