Why the internet is #1 for Attorneys?
It is becoming more and more clear that traditional advertising mediums are drastically losing their effectiveness as far as a real option for procuring more and better business opportunities for attorneys and law firms! I would go as far to say that you can no longer ignore the internet and be effective in todays legal economy. Your potential new clients are doing what is easy for them. I have seen statistics which claim the internet searches are prefered 9 to 1 over online directories. Using the internet is by far the easiest way to acquire information. Take a look at the current internet usage:
Internet Usage
| year | % use |  |
| 2000 | 49% | |
| 2003 | 57% | |
| 2005 | 66% | |
| 2007 | 75% |
Source: Neilsen/Net Ratings
What just a few people are saying about the internet and why lawyers should be on it:
"Want to know where to invest your online marketing dollars in 2007? Aim for higher rankings in the top search engines. Sixty-two percent of searchers click on a link within the first page of results, according to a report from iProspect and Jupiter Research... To guarantee you'll turn up in the top search results, invest in a paid search campaign. Local search campaigns are often the most affordable and will bring traffic from your immediate market..."
-Kim T. Gordon 10 Marketing Trends To watch For In 2007 11/10/06
"People do what is easy. Access to the Internet via work, home or any library have truly made getting online easy. According to Jupiter Media, over 64% of people who are looking for information online, use search engines (note: this article is from 2004--the number of people using Internet search engines to find information online-including family law attorneys-is now about 90% according to Jupiter Research). If I can type my problem or what I want into a search engine and find what I need, I don't need to go through the 100 pages of ads in the yellow pages. Search engines are getting more precise down to an industry specialty and geographic focus, while also continuing to be easier to use."
-Phil Reifenberg Search vs. Yellow Pages: 4 Reasons Why Search Engines Beat Yellow Pages in Local Advertising 7/2004
"Some of the most fascinating statistics I saw last year involved the dramatic decline of the use of yellow pages to find local products and services and the move to search engines to find the same information."
-Dennis Kennedy Seven Legal Technology Trends
"The Google Trends graph for searches for "yellow pages" is likely representative of a broad behavioral pattern of Internet users who are going to traditional Yellow Pages sites less and less. If we project the pattern out in time, we can see that searches for "yellow pages" might reduce down to nil by as soon as 2011."
-Chris Smith Google Trends: Yellow Pages Will Be Toast In Four Years
