 |  | Marketing Legal Services in the online Age These external forces mean that legal practices large and small cannot survive and grow indefinitely without actively competing in the online marketplace. In the face of the legal services bill, they need to be among the solicitors who reach people with the information they are looking for. Now is the time to develop a strong web presence, complementing your existing business with the internet advantage.
For this purpose, every legal business needs a professionally developed and modern website. Ten years ago just about anything would do - often a single page, with the firm's name and phone number, a logo, one paragraph of text and a picture of some kind. This was the norm for most kinds of businesses, and for many remained something to aspire to.
Some sole practitioners, many medium sized practices and most of the large legal firms have developed their web presence far beyond these 'minimum requirements'. They have done so understanding the impact their online marketing efforts can have on the bottom line, and recognising the need to adapt to an evolving legal services market. This is the playing field, now we need to get on the ball. To illustrate how much things have already changed, here is a true story. Apart from the Mel Gibson bit.
Where no law firm has gone before I will first re-wind the clock to 1996 and search Yahoo!'s hand-made internet directory for a solicitor in Scotland. In this experiment, Mel Gibson has got himself in trouble in a Scottish pub over his accent in Braveheart. One thing has led to another, and now Mel needs legal help at the Police station. Mr Gibson whips out the top-secret experimental pocket PC hidden under his kilt, and types the phrase 'solicitor in scotland' into it's antiquated YAHOO! search box.
About 15 minutes later it serves up the results, which go a little something like this; - South Forrest Solicitors & Estate Agents; http://www.southforrest.co.uk/contacts.html
Displaying 1 of 1 results from YAHOO! Anyway, it's a fairly clear choice fi' oor wee Mel. He clicks the link, knocks back a whisky, demands his telephone call and screams "FREEDOM!!!" into the handset.
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