Many marketing dollars will be spent day-in and day-out by law firms worldwide with the same
objective – getting potential clients to their websites. But once your target audience lands on your homepage, how do you land your page visitors as clients? Research says that for law firm sites, attorney bios are where web surfers will spend the majority of their time, learning about the people who may possibly be representing them. So, what does it take to create a stand out online bio? Here are a few factors that can help give you an edge over other attorneys.
Your bio doesn’t need to be a book – you aren’t aiming to tell your life story, but rather sharing with potential clients what you can do, and more specifically, what you can do for them. Your strengths and skills should be most prominent, and if possible, you can include examples of how you put those skills to use in your work with case studies and/or a list of representative matters.
Every matter you have ever worked on in your career doesn’t need to be mentioned, but you should definitely make mention of anything that identifies you as an expert in a particular field – especially if it carries an endorsement or an implied endorsement from others. This can mean mentioning or linking to speeches or presentations, or articles you have written for reputable blogs and publications. It can also include quotes from clients, or excerpts of Yelp, Facebook, Google or other reviews.
Another important part of writing an effective bio is remembering your audience. While much of your business may come from referrals from other attorneys, those who are reading your bio on your website who may hope to hire you one day are likely not your fellow lawyers. As such, it is critical to keep “legal-ease” out of your bio content – lawyer language may be important to fellow lawyers, but to your potential clients, the only effective language is one that speaks to their particular legal needs.
While your bio must highlight your experience and expertise, it is also important to provide ways for others to understand and to connect to who you are as a person. If you are active in your community, participate in any passion projects outside of your office, or have hobbies that have helped to shape you as a person and a professional, it is ok to add those to your bio as well. People want to work with people they like and trust – clear, candid and relatable information can help you form an instant connection with your potential clients.
And speaking of connecting, another critical piece of your bio should be an easily clickable way to contact you – not your firm – but you – directly, whether it be through a link to your email address or phone number or a downloadable v-card.
Your bio, likely like your practice, will evolve and change as your legal career evolves. When you have new skills, significant representative matters, new endorsements or awards, be sure that you take the time to update your bio. Not only will it keep potential clients up to date on who you are and what you are doing, but this can also contribute to your clients’ ability to easily find you, as changes in web content and consistent updates can help improve your page’s search engine optimization (SEO) results.