Looks like this is installment number three related to using Yodle to market your law firm on the internet. You can find the first post here, and the second post here, if you want to read the entire exchange. If you want the reader's digest version, here it is.
I decided about a month ago to supplement my organic search engine optimization results with some paid online advertising. Yodle called me up at the right time, have a great online interface for tracking your clicks and calls and emails and seeing what is working and what isn't. So I signed up with them, with a $1,000 a month budget for advertising, to see what would happen.
The second post I put up just last week, and it detailed the progress from then until now, which was a little shaky. Two things appear to be the problem - first, there were some clicks from all over the United States, which aren't very beneficial to a Seattle DUI attorney. And second, the people that were clicking in the area, after coming to my site, just weren't picking up the phone and calling me. That is not a Yodle problem, that's a me problem (and a problem I think a lot of people starting their law firm have).
One thing I love about the internet and the way technology works these days is that soon after writing the Yodle review post last week I received a phone call from one of the Yodle reps inviting me to join her for a conference call to try to work out the issues. I wrote the post on Thursday afternoon, she contacted me Friday morning. At least someone is reading this blog!
Anyway, we met and talked this morning and I thought I'd let you know what was going on. First, so far I have been impressed with Yodle's customer service. They have been easy to get in touch with and have been extremely helpful at all stages of this process. Second, they seem genuinely interested in helping me get those clicks through to phone calls and conversions. And we are working on some changes right now to fix that problem (to at least get them to call, I still have to sign them up).
The changes, I'm sure you want to know, are this: first and foremost, my site(s) need to have a stronger call to action. You get to the site, see the information, see that I know what I'm doing, and now what? That is the call to action, and it is probably one of the most important things you can have on your law firm website (all over the place, and in different forms - phone number, email, online submission form, etc).
Second, I need more on my site to differentiate myself from the competition. And what is that? It is testimonials, it is special things that I've done for clients, it is anything that will set me apart from other people (including price, by the way). Yodle is helping me with all of this (and I'm sorry for not going into specifics, but they, at least I feel like, hooked me up with a special deal that I don't want people to think they just do for everyone - if they offer, take it, but what they are doing is outside of what I originally paid for, at least I think it is) and will continue to help me until it is right.
And the thing is, this is a lesson not just for using online paid advertising sources, this is a lesson for all of your marketing efforts. You have to think about your marketing effort in three different ways (at least that's how I see it): first, how am I going to get them to look at me and be interested in me; second, once they find me, how am I going to convince them that I am the right attorney for their needs AND get them to call me; and third, once I've got them in my office how am I going to continue to reinforce their feelings so they decide to sign up and be my client. If you can understand and execute those three items, the sky is the limit.
I guess for now the jury is still out on Yodle. They are doing everything right, their customer service is great, but I need that to be converted into dollars in my bank account. That is the measure of success in this case. And don't worry, I'll keep you informed on what happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment