December 1999

The Practical and Ethical Considerations of Internet Advertising Online Lawyer Directories: Do They Work?

Along with virtually every other business, legal practice and law firm marketing are evolving in response to the Internet. One result of this evolution is the presence of several online lawyer directories. For those of you wondering whether such directories bring in clients, the answer is a resounding "Yes"! To combat the rising tide of online noise and attorney skepticism, legal directories spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to ensure continuing success. The directories have generated a number of clients for listed firms. A perfect example is the Atlanta law firm that received a $150,000 valid claim from a directory user. The claim was against a major airline, and a settlement developed within the week.

Attorneys who set up e-mail accounts and websites, and then merely submit the information to search engines cannot expect much to happen. Search engines receive thousands of similar requests.

If you search for a word like "attorney," the list returned will be enormous. Many of those listings are garbage, thereby frustrating the searcher and the attorney who wants to be found. The average lawyer can't afford to buy banners that pop up when someone does a search for "attorney," nor it is trivial to do the programming necessary to get your site to the top of the search list.

Even if you could afford to have your site pop up every time someone searched for "attorney," you probably wouldn't want traffic unrelated to your practice. Lawyer directories resolve this problem by filtering search requests to the proper practice area and proper jurisdiction, so the lawyers listed in the directories receive the responses they desire at a reasonable price.

Each time a person views a directory banner ad on a search engine page, the directory owner placing this ad pays approximately five cents — even if the viewer does not click on the banner to go to the directory. The fees paid by attorneys for the directory listings in turn pay for those banner advertisements. To see an example of a directory banner, go to Infoseek (http://www.infoseek.com/) and search the word "lawyer."

If you are still thinking about buying banners, be advised that many search engines charge a $1,000 monthly minimum, and if you have a worldwide banner you will get worldwide traffic, probably more than you're interested in.

A word of caution: some services will offer to submit your site's listing to hundreds of "search engines," and will do so for a small fee. Each of those "search engines," however, will acknowledge receipt and start corresponding with you, creating a flood of unwanted e-mail. You are much better off submitting only to the top 20 search engines, since these are the sites likely to do you the most good. I recommend submitting your site to the following: Yahoo, Infoseek, AltaVista, Lycos, AOL, Excite, Netscape, Hot Bot, Webcrawler, Switchboard, Look Smart and Snap.

Make sure that your lawyer directory listing is correct. Many mistakes are made with the entry of e-mail addresses. Most law firms have a listing at http://www.martindale.com/ (the Martindale-Hubbell directory), but have not confirmed the information provided there. Make sure your listing in any directory contains a link to your e-mail address and website, since Internet viewers want to act immediately, visit your site, and then "speak" by e-mail. You should read your e-mail several times a day, since Internet viewers expect prompt responses.

For those firms without a website, the directories provide you with the opportunity to create one. Here are a few tips:

• Make the site simple.

• Use color and pictures to make it look more professional. You do not, however, have to use animation, as the viewer is already there, and you don't have to catch their attention.

• Place an e-mail link in the site, so the viewer can easily make contact.

• Use META tags (ask your programmer) to hide words on your site that will be found by search engine robots which in turn will index your site in search engines based on the META tags you've chosen.

• Do not use numerous graphics that might slow the loading of the site. Internet viewers are impatient and will leave the site if it is not loading quickly.

• Once you build a website through a directory, you can use the same site anywhere on the Internet. The cost of building a simple site is small, and need not be more than a few hundred dollars for the small law firm.

A directory like Martindale's provides some 900,000 listings. A directory like "Attorneyfind" provides 4,500. If you are in a major metropolitan area, and you have an e-mail link, a website link, and a proven directory that spends money in marketing, you can currently expect at least three good contacts per year for each $100 spent on directory listings.

Many businesses and professions have been very slow to adapt to the Internet. Some 80 percent of business people have computers at home, but less than 20 percent are able to get on the Internet at work. However, the at-work user percentage rises every day. Within five years, it is expected that more than 80 percent of businesses will be using the Internet. To attract businesses with legal problems, it may be important to consider establishing a Web presence.

In the consumer arena, directories attract enormous numbers in the legal areas of divorce, collections, immigration (a natural for the Web), personal injury, wills, malpractice, real estate and criminal law. Some states are not yet Internet-oriented, however, and the attorney who has an office in a small community cannot expect much from the Internet.

The nature of Internet directories gives the small law firm a great chance. A good website can equalize the small firm's market standing. The site can demonstrate the firm's true qualities like no other medium. The low annual directory fees are easily affordable for the small firm. Such costs are just a fraction of "Yellow Pages" ads, whereas websites provide just as much information.

You should be in as many Internet directories as you can afford — but do your homework before making the selection. Make sure the directory seeks business with banners and listings throughout the Internet. Some directories have a counter on the home page. Review this over time to determine the traffic level. Make sure the directory you choose allows you to link in your e-mail address and website. Consider all expenses, since some directories charge for extra services like the linking of e-mail or the hosting of a site.

Make sure the listings are easy to find, and that the viewers do not have to look at four screens before they get to the directory portion. If you list in a directory, keep a record of the clients received through the listing, so when renewal time comes you will know if you are getting your money's worth.

As the world becomes dependent on the Internet, professionals who learn Internet marketing will certainly benefit immensely. Build as many directory listings as you can into your marketing budget.

Donald B. Kramer (don@lawusa.com) is president of the St. Louis collection law firm of Kramer & Frank, P.C., and the creator of seven Internet directories.

This article previously appeared in The Internet Lawyer (August 1999 issue).

• Attorneys in the Martindale directory - www.martindale.com/  

• Personal injury lawyer directory from Martindale - www.lawyers.com/Personal-Injury/browse-by-location.html

• Lawyer directory on LexisNexis - www.lawyers.com/

• www.lawinfo.com/

• www.attorneylocate.com/

• www.attorneyfind.com/

• www.lawchek.com/

• www.wsba.org
  

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