Website traffic generates calls to your office. Calls result in consultations. Consultations result in retainers. Retainers result in revenues. Revenues result in profits.
More traffic brings more profits.
Now is the time to develop a plan for building traffic for next year.
Your mind might quickly jump to “search engine optimization” as the key to building traffic. That’s the first thought many lawyers have when it comes to getting more from their websites.
I’d encourage you not to worry about search engine optimization.
I’d encourage you to think about your website as a place for people experiencing a problem (divorce) to come and find a solution (content: articles, videos, etc.). While they’re on your site, they’re going to come to like you and trust you. Then they’re going to call.
Of course, they’re only going to like and trust you if you’re likable and trustworthy. That’s where content comes in.
How do you create likability and trust on the web?
First, I can tell you how not to do it.
How to Avoid Sending Visitors Away from Your Website
Don’t talk about yourself.
Talking about yourself is the fastest way to alienate and annoy people. No one wants to hear how great you are, and your visitors especially don’t want to hear it first—before they get to know you. You’ll alienate people if you’re the hero of your story. You’ll alienate people if it becomes clear that you care more about yourself than you do about others. Don’t talk about yourself.
How can you tell whether you’re about to alienate visitors?
It’s obvious if the first thing I see when I visit your site is—in really big letters—your name or your firm name. That’s usually followed by an explanation of how you approach cases and the law. That’s followed by more stuff about, you guessed it, you.
Stop it, stop it, stop it.
If you want traffic, you’ve got to help the visitors. That’s the first priority. That’s the guiding principle. Help your visitors with the problem that resulted in their visit to your site.
Let’s focus on how to do that.
How to Keep Your Visitors on Your Website
2013 is about giving your visitors what they need. It’s about answering their questions, giving them information, and making tools available that make their lives better. That will bring you traffic.
And remember, traffic will bring you profits.
Getting it now? It’s about the content, not about manipulating the search engines. Build trust by actually helping people.
I don’t know about you, but for me, trust comes when I sense that the person I’m dealing with is actually a good person. When that person is open, honest, caring, and concerned, I start to believe in the person. When I sense that that someone is entirely focused on himself or herself, I don’t feel that warm, fuzzy trust thing.
So let’s drill down to how you can fill your site with content by the end of 2013. What needs to happen?
I’d encourage you to write 10 articles next year. If you have time to do more, that’s great. But 10 articles between now and a year from now will make a big difference.
[ While I have you here, I wanted to remind you that you can get the latest articles delivered to your inbox a week before they go up on the web. Just one email per week. Sign up here. ]
- Write an overview article on five of the major topics you typically address in your practice. For us, it’s child custody, child support, alimony, property division, and absolute divorce. Of course, it will be different depending on your jurisdiction.
- Then write five more articles on the issues most commonly asked by your clients and prospective clients. Just listen to them for ideas. You’ll have more than five topics after talking to a few prospective clients.
- Aim for 1,500 words per article. Write them like you’re talking to a single person. Try to sound like a human, not a lawyer.
Can you do this? Certainly. We’re talking about less than one article per month. We’re talking about 75 words per day (taking off for weekends and holidays). This article is nearly 1,000 words.
Sure, it would be great if you’d write more often. It would be great if you built calculators, added videos, and offered more of your resources to help your visitors solve their problem, but that’s not what you need to commit to do today.
What Will Your Site Look Like in a Year?
For most of us, if we roll back in time—back one year from today—we’ll find a site that looks much like the site we have right now. Nothing has changed. Where did the year go?
What we want to avoid—and the 10 article plan will do it—is having the site look just like it does today one year from now. We want it to have much more information a year from now than it has at present.
Ten articles isn’t much to ask: it’s a grand total of 15,000 words. That’s a small investment in your business. That’s a small investment in you. Will you make the investment? Can you write 75 words per day?
- Go ahead and spend 10 minutes listing out your topics, setting your agenda.
- Put a few bullet points below each topic.
- Then put the assignments on your calendar for 2013, spreading them out over the year.
Will these 10 articles provide you with everything you’ll ever need on your site? Of course not. But these 10 articles are a big step forward for most sites. Put them up front where everyone can read them. Let your visitors get to know you’re an expert before you start talking about yourself.
Help them when they first show up at your site. That’s the way to build trust. That’s the way to get more visitors. That’s the way to get more clients.
