The business of legal representation is of course a very competitive one. A great challenge for the smaller law firm, or solo legal practice is how to best make use of a limited advertising budget to compete with the larger national law firms and their slick and expensive TV adverts and infomercials. So how can you successfully market your law firm without breaking the bank?

Traditional advertising such as the local Yellow Pages, and of course those television and radio spots are often just far too expensive for the small law firm to make an impact with. In addition, how well this kind of investment works is almost impossible to track. You may indeed be gaining a new client as a result of a commercial they have seen or heard, but the chances are you will forget to ask, and they will be far more concerned about their legal problems than taking the time to explain to you how they decided to consult with you for legal advice.

There is another, very effective and economical method of marketing your law firm that you may have never considered, or even heard much about. In today’s economic climate, the savvy lawyer should consider the great power of online advertising. Thanks to the great spread of everyday Internet use by exactly the people you need to target and the power of major search engines like Google, you can target specific geographical areas for people searching basic keywords, in this case things like “lawyer” “legal advice” and “legal help”. Even better, online advertising lets you target the specific demographic you are seeking. By entering such specific search terms, this potential client already has the need for great legal representation on their minds. Half the battle is won right there.

But how does this kind of marketing really convert into great law firm advertising? Most effectively you need to direct the person who clicked on your brief little online ad to a more expansive “landing page”. On this page you need to create a great and compelling reason for this potential customer, or visitor (they are “visiting” your page now) to share their basic contact information with you. Since many people head to internet searching for answers to specific legal concerns, a landing page featuring knowledgeable and informative articles about common legal issues can be a great draw. Then your page can offer a further personal consultation for those who input their name, telephone number and email address into a simple contact form. The data from these forms is emailed to you immediately, allowing you to follow up these ‘hot leads” immediately, while legal issues are still fresh in the visitor’s mind.

The true beauty of using the Internet and this kind of law firm advertising is how little it costs. You will only be charged for potential clients who take the time to “click” on your ad specifically, those people who are demonstrating a real interest in your legal practice. Online advertising like this really is the best and economically sensible way to make the best of your law firm marketing dollar.