#015 – Perfect Your Law Firm’s About Me Page
Your law firm’s About Me Page is one of the most popular spots on your website, so it is crucial to make it shine. It is the place to boost your brand, engage website visitors and connect them to real people. It is the venue where all of your efforts regarding your small digital marketing can finally have a place on the internet. It can highlight what your firm has accomplished, and how you can help future clients.
If you need to get started on your law firm’s About Me Page, or if your existing page needs improvement, here are 5 ways to perfect it.
SHOW NOTES
Some of the resources I visited about in today’s episode include the following:
Jump on my calendar to visit about your content marketing needs here!
Note: Link to websites may include affiliate links, in which I would receive a small fee or reward for the referral. However, please know I only provide referrals for companies and services I either use myself or believe in strongly.
TRANSCRIPT
Today we’re going to be talking about you!
We’re going to be talking about how you use your about us or about me page on your law firms website….and if you haven’t subscribed yet to the Legal Marketing Lounge podcast and you are on itunes right now just click that subscribe button and then that way you will always know when one new episode drops!
So, I’m really excited that you’re here! We are going to talk about the about me or about us page on your website because this is one of the most popular spots on your website whether you know it or not! It is crucial to make this shine!
In fact, statistics show that after the main page of your website, the second place that potential clients look is your about me page or about us page and it is so important! Because at the end of the day, while marketing continues to change, digital marketing, online marketing, everything seems to change – some things never change at the end of the day! People do business with people!
And they want to know who you are, they want to know exactly what you look like, whether or not they can relate to you, etc. There is something about that connection that they are looking for – so we are going to talk about how to make this area incredible on your website because it is really important real estate!
It is not the place to display stock photos or dry details about the 1874 founding of your law firm okay? LOL! This is a place where you should boost your brand, engage website visitors, connect with them as a real person, and it is really the place where all of your efforts regarding your small law firms digital marketing can have a place on the internet!
It can’t be overstated that it really can highlight what your firm has accomplished – what you have accomplished as an attorney – how you can help them as a client – and it is a way for you to connect with clients 24/7.
Tips to Perfect Your Law Firm’s About Me Page
If you need to get started on your law firms about me page or if you want to revamp it you are in the right place today!
Today we are going to talk about the five ways you can perfect your law firms about me page, so let’s get into it!
Use Communicative Language
The first one is to watch your language!! You need to be very careful with the language that you use throughout your whole website but also on your about me page. Law firms have a unique task of trying to find an ideal balance between professional website copy (the content you put on your website) and professional legal language. They need to find a balance between that and also communicating with potential clients in a way that they can understand without legal jargon.
So when in doubt just ditch the jargon and speak in plain English! Try to avoid acronyms, using Latin phrases such as respondeat superior, etc. So when you are writing any content on your website – specifically your about me page – just ask yourself … Would this be clearly understood by a website visitor who doesn’t have a legal background? You could ask a friend outside the legal profession to read it and maybe even give you suggestions.
And if you mentioned in your about me section anything regarding a legal ranking or a professional award that you received, you should take the time right there to explain why your legal achievement matters to your potential clients. A lot of them have no idea what these favorable legal rankings or awards you received really mean, so take the time to not only avoid legal jargon but also explain the legal achievements that you’ve accomplished.
You also want to choose a point of view that says exactly what you want to say. For example you need to make the decision whether you want to be writing in first second or third person. First person point of view on your about me page might say something like – we offer aggressive criminal defense strategies. This point of view is going to tell a potential client that you are intensely engaged and approachable. A second person point of view might say you need a compassionate advocate as you navigate insurance companies and the legal system. This point of view is really focusing on the needs and the feelings of your potential client – how they are feeling about whatever potential legal crisis they’re having at the moment. A third person point of view might say something like – our law firm provides knowledgeable experience in the area of estate planning. So this point of view can appear very objective and very commanding as a voice of authority.
My suggestion to you is to choose a written point of view and try to keep it consistent especially on the about me page but maybe even throughout your website in different silos of content. Now I’ve talked about silos before, but what that means is different pockets of content on your website. For example, estate planning articles should all be linked together and not linked to other areas of law on your website. The reason I say this is that maybe it would benefit you to consider visiting in third person about estate planning, but if someone was in a car accident or if someone had a slip and fall injury maybe you want to be using second person point of view – regarding focusing on the needs and feelings of clients when they’re going through a challenging emotional or physical time and then having to deal with insurance companies.
So there’s no real right or wrong answer here. You just want to make sure that you are choosing a written point of view that is expressing exactly how you want your law firm to come across. It’s really part of your branding – the perspective that you decide depends on the distinctive nature of your particular law firm and the meaning that you really want to convey to your clients. Again any point of view is fine just make sure you stick with it at least in the about me page, instead of veering from one to another. That’s cumbersome and clunky and and difficult to read for a user.
Polish Your Profile
The second thing to perfect is to polish your profile! You want your potential clients to find a lawyer who can relate to them, understand them, advocate for them, translate the law for them, answer their questions, etc. You need to be keeping these things in mind as you are creating a quality profile for every one of your law firm’s team members. If you’re a solo practitioner then this is all you. But if you have more than one person on your legal team you need to be crafting these profiles very specifically in such a way that they connect to someone reading. When a profile stands out it’s not going to just attract a prospective client it’s going to help them relate to you and a well-developed profile page about me page has a better chance of a successful ranking actually in the search engines!
The about me page is huge for your search engine optimization, your SEO, etc. And it can boost not only your rankings but your online image as a whole! So let’s talk about how to polish your profile. You need to write a killer bio! Your professional biography can help you close the deal with a potential client before they ever walk through your door or call you on the phone. Statistics say that 80% of traffic to legal websites is driven by views of attorney bios. Let me say that again – 80% of traffic is driven by people wanting to come to your about me page – so that is the influence that you have in your bio, and in your profile is really ranking second, statistically, after a personal recommendation. That is how important this area is for a law firm. So make sure that you appear human, friendly, professional, make sure you have a great photograph of yourself there.
As a side note, I’m going to say this. Some law firms make the choice to put stock photos in throughout their website, but also on their About Me page. This can land you in actual legal trouble. If you are a solo practitioner, and you put on your About Me page, a picture of a bunch of people at a desk looking like a board meeting or a lot of lawyers in a room together, you may be giving the impression to potential client, there are more people working for your law firm than are actually working for your law firm. And additionally, there can be legal ramifications to that, because you could be considered misrepresenting yourself and your law firm to potential clients. This can get you in hot water, with bar marketing, you know, with bar marketing requirements and advertising requirements of law firms. So I would say, is extremely important not only to connect yourself with your potential clients, but also for legal reasons that you include a really great photo of yourself on your About Me page.
You should also be including all of your background, and experience, professionally, academically, all of it! You want to show how you’re connected to the local area, and maybe why you pursued the legal profession. And you should always include information about your legal expertise, your talent, your passion for helping clients. And if you’re a new lawyer, you can still mention a lot of these things. Your academic experience is important as well. You want to mention what type of legal matters you’ve handled in the past, and why you ended up focusing on this particular area of law.
You also want to voice your mission. Your profile on your About Me page can include your personal mission and philosophy about your work. Use rich, action-oriented words that are going to outline your talent and give potential clients a picture of really how you can help them be persuasive in this area.
The next thing you need to do is to reveal personal details. When you share something personal about yourself, people are more likely to remember you and relate to you. Consider mentioning your hobbies, your interests, something really unique about you. I know that on my personal bio on my Law Quill page, I talked about the fact that I’m a sci-fi geek and I’m a fantasy nerd and I like Lord of the Rings and and Doctor Who. I also write that I have dual citizenship with the United States and Poland. This sets me aside and just makes me a little bit memorable to the people that come and visit that page looking for some more information about me.
Consider mentioning organizations that you support or charity work that you do. Make sure to also include any awards, honors or media coverage you’ve had, not only for your law firm, but for yourself as well. Maybe you got first in a marathon. Or maybe you want a Piano Competition, whatever it is that you decide to reveal about yourself here will help people relate to you.
And as I always say – I didn’t invent this, but I always repeat it. People do business with people. So take this real estate on your law firm’s website to really highlight who you are as a person and make yourself more relatable.
Connect With Future Clients
The third way that you can perfect your About Me page is to connect with future clients. Your law firm’s About Me page is the place to explain exactly what you do, what you’ve accomplished, what types of clients you have helped in the past, what types of clients you can help in the future. It is your opportunity to explain your commitment to the legal profession, and your dedication to each and every client and it gives visitors a personal glimpse into who you are as a person.
Again this is going to increase the likelihood that they will contact you make sure to keep your copy on these pages engaging and entertaining. And if there’s a lot to say on a topic- let’s say that there was some accolade you received or some settlement that you were awarded – you can provide a link to another page where someone can go for more information on that particular award, accolade, issue, charity whatever it might be.
Make sure if you have community service projects, volunteer work, pro bono projects, charitable organizations, anything that you or your law firm has accomplished or is involved in should be on this about me page.
I will also tell you it is super important to at least include a link to client reviews and testimonials. This can be a whole separate section on your website but you can include a link to it on your about me page!
Create a Visual for Your Potential Clients
The fourth way to perfect your about me page on your law firms website is to help visitors visualize what their interaction with you is going to be if they hire you. Your law firm should be trying to gain more clients and your future clients don’t know you yet so if they’re on your about me page that’s a good sign that they’re trying to figure out who you are and whether or not they want to work with you – and what it would be like to work with you! So you can assist potential clients by addressing questions right on your about me page – that include do you offer a free consultation? do you understand issues like mine? have you got experience in this particular area of law? have you received any awards settlements anything that would represent that you can help me? can i trust you to fix my problem? how have you engaged or interacted with previous clients (meaning fantastic reviews)? do you work on a contingency fee basis ? And by the way explain what contingency fee basis means because a lot of people who are not lawyers don’t know that. Do you work on a project basis? – a lot of law firms are moving to a flat fee. If you offer that mention it on your about me page so that potential clients can no that that would be how they are dealing with you.
And at the end of the day you want to answer the question why are you the one lawyer they should hire above anyone else. And i’m telling you if they are on your law firms about me page, half the battle is already done! They are really interested in you personally as an attorney and how you can help them – so help visitors visualize you and your team in such a way that they can see working with you.
Another great way to do this is to include a video in your law firms about me page. You can make it a really great piece of work – it doesn’t have to be overly promotional. It could maybe highlight a recent charitable event that you attended, interviews with team members, or even just a tour of your office. Something that makes them be able to relate with you. Also google favors videos! So just already knowing that your about me page is going to be put inside of the google rankings for your SEO having a video on it as well is only going to increase those rankings.
Highlight Your Unique Qualitiy
The next thing and the last thing is to distinguish how you differ from other law firms on your about me page. You can absolutely use this real estate to set yourself apart from your competitors – what makes you unique. If you were a potential client coming to your own website what would you want to see that would make you want to hire you?
If you represent personal injury victims maybe you could have access to a group of skilled medical experts and investigators. Maybe you have that access to specific accident reconstruction specialists who can provide phenomenal service to your clients. How are you different than other personal injury firms? Maybe if you’re a criminal defense law firm, you employ former police officers or prosecutors to help develop a strong criminal defense case.
Include any information that distinguishes you from other law firms in your area. And frankly, makes it just logical. For a prospective client to choose you — make it easy, make it easy for them to choose you.
Some other ways that you can distinguish yourself from other law firms include having flexible fees, or having flat fees, like I just talked about. That is something that a lot of law firms are considering right now, because it makes it easy for a potential client to understand this is how much I’m going to pay you for this service.
Having unique technology to help a client, maybe you have some form of technology that will help create a better defense or a better case for them. Do you have media recognition? Have you been quoted as an expert in different areas in the media, press releases include links to those here as well.
If you’ve been quoted in media coverage, either on the news on television or in print, make sure to link to those as well. Any awards, accolades, cert certifications, anything you’ve got, the distinguishes yourself should be here as well.
If you have specialty staff that enhance your law firms team, just like we were talking about a moment ago, former police officers or former prosecutors, or perhaps someone who is an accident reconstruction specialist, any kind of specialty staff that you have that enhances your law firm team, make sure to make mention of it here.
If you do home visits, you should mention this here as well. A lot of attorneys will come to your home if you’re an estate planning attorney, I know some estate planning attorneys that will visit people’s homes. If you offer that as a service, make sure to mention it on your About Me page. This is where people are going they you may offer home visits. But if you don’t say that on your About Me page, they may not find it buried somewhere else in your website.
And if you have experience in a legal niche market, you need to make sure to highlight this here.
I hope that this podcast has helped you understand why your law firms About Me page is critical real estate, it really is, I believe the second most important page on your website other than your front page. And I’m not the only one!! Google thinks that as well – all the research says that as well. So take the time to truly put some effort into creating an amazing about me or About Us page on your law firm’s website. Just remember that after the homepage, the About Me page is often the next destination for your website visitors. So it is clearly worth the time investment to develop and refine the information, the images and the videos that you have there.
Always communicate to your future clients in a way that they can understand. And choose a point of view that reflects your law firm and produce a complete quality profile for both you and anyone else in your law firm that works for you, that really reaches out and connects with your visitors and helps them understand how you are better to assist them with their legal issues.
And finally, just outline the benefits of your law firm and tell the world why you stand out from your competitors and why they should choose you. Once your law firm’s About Me page is polished and perfected, you really can tell your whole law firm story your story and inspire confidence in your website visitors to pick up that phone and hire you which is at the end of the day, what we all want, right as as a law firm, that is what you want.
I hope that this podcast helped you start to think about your About Me page and how you can make that real estate on your website the very best that it can be. And as always, thank you so much for all of your support. And click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. If you’re an iTunes listener, I would appreciate it if you could just leave me a short review that really helps me with my algorithm on iTunes. And as always I look forward to visiting with you again and helping your law firm gain more online visibility and a larger digital footprint here at the Legal Marketing Lounge!