Traffic has no value

You would be forgiven for thinking that SEM is about driving traffic to your website and that successful SEM is about driving the right traffic to your website.

To an extent you are right, as that is the immediate goal of a search campaign. But this goal doesn't deliver any value in its own right; if people leave without generating any value for you, then the campaign has failed. It's like having a shop that's always full of window shoppers, but where no-one is buying.

The challenge for law firms, as for any other business online, it to turn traffic into income. A web report showing lots of traffic might make good reading at the partners meeting, but it won't add to the bottom line.

Provide what people are looking for

When someone comes to your site from a search engine, it is because the search engine has returned a link to your site in response to the search term they entered. They are looking for something specific and they judge whether or not to read your site on the basis of whether or not your site provides it. 

Did you know?

The average time a visitor spends on a landing page (the page they arrive at on your site from a search engine) is 8 seconds. So you only have 8 seconds to convince someone that they have found what they are looking for and that they should read on, rather than go back to the search engine to find something else to look at. And to make matters worse, they don't actually read what's on the page, they scan it. 

Don't believe me, try it yourself - go to Google and search for a new kettle. Give yourself a maximum of 5 minutes to produce a list of 5 links to kettles you might buy. As you do it (or even better, ask a colleague to do it and watch them), make a mental note of how you look at a page, what you actually notice and what makes you stay around. 

If you do provide what people are looking for, then you have got their attention and they will read your content. If, instead, you provide what you want them to read, they are unlikely to read it and will simply leave.

The first rule of search is, therefore, to provide what people are looking for and to provide it in a clear and easy to read format.

Understanding the decision making process

Assuming that the searcher read your content and decided that it was what they were looking for, what next? Are they ready to buy? 

If you are selling a low-consideration product (typically low value or commodity based), then they might be. But if you are selling a high-consideration product or a service (such as legal services), then the chances are that it is too early and they are still researching their decision and considering their options. 

Conversion from a cold-lead is rarely a one-touch event. The advertising world works on a base of 6 touches (ie. 6 views of the marketing message) before someone will buy. So even if you have a low-consideration product, you need to generate another 5 touches before you are in with a chance of a sale. 5 more visits to your website, for example.

In my experience of selling professional services, the conversion process can take months, or even years. The final decision is often based on trust developed over a period of time. 

Add to this the fact that, at any time, the majority of your target audience are not actively considering engaging your services. They are looking for information, perhaps an answer to a minor query. The reason they need the information may ultimately mean that they need your help, but they are even further way from buying, their active decision making hasn't begun yet. But they are still your target audience and they still represent an opportunity.

Relationships are valuable

Every partner knows that business development is all about building relationships. Relationships with existing clients, potential clients, even ex-clients. A partner's network is one of their most valuable assets; it's certainly what they are expected to bring with them should they move to another firm. 

This is because everyone knows that it is easier and cheaper  to sell to your existing customers. Why? Because you already have a relationship with them. 

And just as they are offline, relationships are central to generating business online. The nature of the relationships is just different. Rather than being based on a personal relationship, it is based on a permission to communicate. And rather than being one-to-one, it is one-to-many, albeit that personalisation and targeting can focus the message. 

Target relationships, not sales or traffic

Too many search campaigns aim to generate traffic, or to generate sales. The former is pointless on its own and the latter is unrealistic, as the chances of converting visitors on one visit are very low.

Instead, the initial visit to your website generated by your search campaign should be seen as an opportunity to start a relationship. This is a far more realistic goal, particularly in a service based industry like the law, and a realistic goal is more likely to meet targets. 

In the context of the Internet, this means that your aim is to generate permission to contact your visitor again. Usually this will take the form of collecting an email address (together with permission to use it, or opt-in), which you can use to develop the relationship over time.

Building value

If your visitor finds your website useful, then they are open to an invitation to sign up for a newsletter, or update service. This service, like the original content, must provide them with something that they want, namely more quality content. They are not signing up to be bombarded with sales messages (this will lead to a rapid unsubscribe). 

Once you have this permission, you have the opportunity to create a relationship by continuing to give value. This investment (cheaper than a nice lunch and more practical if you're got 100s of people to talk to) builds the customer's faith in your ability to deliver and will develop into trust, the foundation of any worthwhile relationship. It will also keep your firm top of mind. When the customer is ready to instruct someone on a matter, there is a much increased chance that it will be you, as you already have an active relationship.

A virtuous circle

This value that you deliver in the course of the relationship will be in the form of content. Articles and opinions that are relevant to the customer, selected or written by you as an on-going demonstration that you deliver a good quality service. 

This content, although delivered by email, will live on your website and will be picked up by the search engines. This will improve your search engine ranking and increase the likelihood of visitors coming to your site and becoming customers. This creates a virtuous circle with content at the middle. 

Search is about content

Search is about content. The job of a search engine is to provide the searcher with the content that they are looking for. The better they are at doing this, the more popular they are. Google is number 1 because it generates the best results for its users. 

The best way to get to the top of search engines is to align yourself with their aim and provide the good quality content that people are looking for.  The content you produce to build your relationships will also work to attract visitors through search and to turn them into customers.

Publish your knowledge to sell your expertise

For me, there is a key distinction between knowledge, which is a commodity (particularly in the Internet era), and expertise. People do not expect to pay for what is widely accessible knowledge, but they are happy to pay for expertise. Knowledge is simply the hook that you use to start a relationship.

The content that is of value to someone searching for legal information is not content about your firm and its services, it is content about the law. If you can answer their basic queries on your website, then they will come to you when they have the need for your expertise.

This means that you need to publish your knowledge online if you are to generate value for your potential clients.

This is not new! 

Law firms have been publishing Updates and Newsletters offline for years, as well as running seminars. The difference is that this is done to "their contacts", making it within their comfort zone. The Internet opens up an enormous opportunity for those prepared to embrace it by going public. Your clients no longer need to be defined by where they are based, they are solely defined by their need of your services.

Targeting

Achieving this across a wide spectrum of services is an enormous task and is out of reach of most businesses. But most businesses have an area of expertise where they excel. And it is this that offers the greatest opportunity. 

The more niche your area, the easier it is to get to the top of a search engine, as fewer people are competing. But if your niche is an area that is significant enough to have become a key part of your practice, then you can bet that there are enough people looking for content about it online for it to represent a significant opportunity. Further, if it is an area where you are active, then you should be generating the content as a matter of course to ensure that you are up to date with your legal specialism. Publishing that content on the web is a simple extension of that process. 

Advantage to the smaller practice

It is interesting to note that this turns the cost equation around to work against the big guys. If they want to compete in every niche, and every niche is already occupied by an expert, then they really have their work cut out. And their bureaucracy is likely to further increase their costs.

Cross-selling

Your niche offering becomes a hook to draw in customers. Most legal clients use more than one area of your firm's business. Once you have established yourself as an expert in one area and created a relationship, it is easy to cross-sell other services. 

The aim, then, is to play to your strengths. Target your sweet-spot online to generate interest and permission and then build active relationships. When you have enough relationships in place, you will find that the value comes out on its own. This is the key to unlocking the online opportunity for law firms. 

Published by: Tom Barnes

Published 15th July, 2008

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