The latest issue of “Attorney at Law” magazine just arrived. The magazine is a free B2B trade magazine for attorneys that goes out to 6600 private practice attorneys in Maricopa County. The content includes interesting personal interest stories and tips on how to run your practice. Most of the attorneys I talk with love the new magazine and feel that the “business of law” focus fills a great need.
In each issue I write an article on legal marketing and run an advertisement on the back page of the magazine. Each month the advertisement features a different custom website and client testimonial. (if you want to be featured in an upcoming issue please let me know!) This month, personal injury attorney, Marty Solomon was kind enough to provide a very gracious testimonial.
For my article this month, I wrote about the growing influence of online video. Special thanks as always to Sue O’Donnell for helping me write and edit the piece. Below is the article in its entirety.
Introduce Yourself to Prospective Clients — by Video
Internet video is one of the most promising, innovative and powerful advertising methods available for attorneys who are seeking opportunities to meet new clients.
Why is video so effective?
Most people would rather see and hear an attorney rather than read about one. A professionally produced video creates an emotional bond and allows prospective clients to “meet” you before making a decision to hire an attorney. Our studies show that people will, on average, check out five attorney websites before making a decision to call or hire an attorney. The number drops to 1.8 websites when the websites feature video.
The big difference is video’s ability to deliver what advertisers call a “lean forward” experience versus the traditional TV experience that is considered a “lean back” experience. This is why so many TV commercials are loud and annoying: The audience is disengaged, leaning back in an easy chair, thinking about something else so the advertiser has to hit them over the head with a message.
On the Internet, video viewing is much different. The person choosing to watch your video is engaged and actively seeking a lawyer. The prospective client is “leaning forward” and listening to every word. Therefore, it’s very important that the lawyer come across as knowledgeable, believable and trustworthy. Just as a website visitor judges the credibility of a website in less than five seconds, an online video viewer will judge the credibility of a lawyer in an instant. If the video is not high quality or does not convey the right message, the viewer will leave.
Video Improves Conversion and Increases Visitors
In terms of performance, video does two things: (1) It greatly improves conversion (the number of people who actually contact you from your website) and (2), thanks to video optimization, video increases the number of total visitors to your site.
For clients who have added video, we have seen an average increase in contacts (e-mails and calls) of 22 percent. Other metrics like “time on site” and “page views” also increase with the addition of video. We have also seen that overall traffic increases by 19 percent after video has been added to a website.
The metrics are backed up by anecdotal evidence from my clients. In a recent redesign of his site, Steve Ryan (www.stephencryanpc.com) insisted that his video be moved to the top of his website and start automatically based on the positive feedback he had received. Mari Jo Clark, (www.clarklawaz.com) a Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer, reported a dramatic drop in no-shows after adding video. Most importantly, both attorneys were struck by the number of new clients who talk about the video and insist it was the major reason for making the initial appointment.
Video Accesses the Reach of Google and YouTube
In their continuing effort to improve the search experience for their users, Google unveiled the concept of “universal search” in 2007. The universal search system blends listings from its news, images, local and video search engines among those it gathers from crawling web pages. Google’s goal is to provide a much more robust and diverse search result that would include not only websites but also images, book results and, of course, video. You can see this already making a difference in legal marketing.
In a Google search for “Scottsdale medical malpractice attorney,” you will likely see Rob Kleinschmidt’s (www.azmedmalatty.com) YouTube video high in the organic search results in addition to his website. That means he has two results on the first page for a very competitive keyword phrase. Search for a negligent security lawyer in Arizona and you will get David Wenner’s (www.snyderwenner.com video on the subject. Besides showing up in Google results pages, optimized video will get you traffic from YouTube and other video distribution websites.
YouTube is now getting 100 million unique visitors a month, making it the second largest search engine after Google. Google’s purchase of YouTube in 2006 for $1.5 billion makes it a certainty that the impact of video on search will continue to grow. There is speculation that Google is developing technology that would allow them to index the “spoken word” as they have the written word, making online video an essential medium in the not-so-distant future.
Video Production & Editing
There are numerous production options for attorneys today.
One popular method is the use of green screen technology, in which any background can be created. Attorney Martin Solomon used this approach with his videos on www.nursinghomeadvocates.com . Martin has actually developed a green screen studio in his office which is available for use by other Arizona Attorneys.
A “studio” production is one in which the production is filmed on a set, giving the appearance of an actual office. This is often a very affordable way of adding video in that the costs are spread out amongst numerous attorneys that will be using the set. Here are some examples of well produced studio shots; www.seriousinjury.org, www.hernandezfirm.com *FindLaw will be conducting a Studio Shot production on January 26th in downtown Phoenix. The production includes a pre-production meeting with your video producer, a 1.5-hour video shoot with a producer and film crew, and professional video editing. We have eight slots available on the 26th. Please contact me @ alex.morris@thomson.com or phone 480-889-4216 if you are interested in sprucing up your website with a professionally produced video.
Finally, you may want to have your videos shot on location at your office. More than any other option, an onsite video production conveys the look and feel of your firm to potential clients. With FindLaw, an experienced video field producer will work with your firm to craft interview questions, determine key messages, and manage the entire onsite production. Elliot Glicksman used this option in the shooting of his 4 videos www.glicksmanlaw.com . Besides filming in his office, the videos also feature some great B-roll footage of Elliot on the Courthouse steps.
Whatever production option you choose, video works. It effectively introduces a lawyer to potential clients, increases contacts for more information, and substantially increases conversion. To schedule a video shoot for your firm, contact me via e-mail or phone 480-889-4216.