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Lewis S. Eisen
If you're expecting your law firm's web site to attract new clients for you, you may be in for a disappointment. Web sites can attract new clients, but only in certain areas of law, and then only when set up correctly.
But the web site can still be an excellent marketing tool, if the proper thought goes into it. Ask Philippe Capelle, of Capelle Kane, in Ottawa, a two-person firm that handles immigration. Capelle realized early on that the problem was not that the site didn't attract potential clients, but that it didn't discriminate between attracting potential clients and nuisance clients. To make it worth the investment, the site would have to be more than an electronic billboard. In addition, he looked at the process he went through when he screened a potential client, and realized that a good deal of the time was spent going over the same information.
The solution: he gave his web site a specific task. Many firms' sites attempt to educate potential clients about who they are and what they do, but most are too general, being targeted to the world at large. Capelle's site is very specific, built to educate visitors to assist in the client-screening process. Potential clients visit his site because he tells them to, so he knows exactly what information he wants to give them.
The very first page to visit on his web site after the home page is called "Do I Qualify?" Both he and the clients are better off afterwards. "It saves me hours I used to spend weeding out clients," he says. "If someone has access to the web, I point them to my website, and speak to them after they've read through the preliminary information."
A number of law firms have used their web sites in a similar fashion: family lawyers explaining when an application to vary support payments is likely to be successful, IP lawyers explaining the differences between copyright and trademark, libel lawyers setting out criteria under which an action may be maintained, to name a few.
The formula for this web site success? Very simple. A site created with a specific purpose and targeted to a specific audience.