Top Five New Years Resolutions for New Law Business in 2012

This year make your business resolutions stick by committing to these five easy-to-execute goals designed to jumpstart new business in 2012.

1. Claim your Google Places page. 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. Be there looking good when your practice area is being searched for. This is a great and free opportunity for you to add a new link to your website, include pictures, logos, team member names and a whole host of additional information.

2. Add a video element to your website. You may think Google is the most popular search engine online but did you know You Tube is the second? Online market research shows videos as the fastest growing source for information online. But beware, people aren’t searching for ads about you or your practice, they are looking for practical, easy to understand information about issues that matter to them. For instance, if you are a family law attorney create a 2-minute video about the top 10 things every couple should know before they divorce.

3. Install Google Analytics on your website and blog. Analytics is another wonderfully insightful and free tool that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Using Google Analytics, you can write better-targeted content that will rank high and keep your phone ringing.

4. Reach out to clients and referral attorneys all year long. Consumers engage with email more than any other online activity and email marketing aligns focused messaging with specific audience. Using a very inexpensive and easy to understand online tool called Vertical Response, you can build a e-newsletter or just an email postcard in a flash and send it out to your entire database. The service even offers free monitoring that indicates how many people opened the email and what links they clicked on. Use e-marketing for firm news, new partner announcements, case updates, awards and media mentions.

5. Make sure your website is mobile-ready. 80% of consumers keep their mobile devices on them all day long. Internet soothsayers say the future of personal computing won’t be found on a desktop computer but in the palm of your hand in the form of a smart phone. Does your website measure up? You want to make sure your site incorporates click to call options and full screen, interactive content that is built for a smart phone. Developing a mobile site should be at the top of every attorney’s marketing investment list this year.

Integrate these resolutions in the first month of January and you will be way ahead of your competitors all year long!