Tips on Maintaining Your Online Profile as an Attorney
As today’s world is driven by technology and the ease for consumers to post feedback - positive and negative - it is vital for attorneys to establish and maintain an online profile. How you appear online can vastly affect your practice. We at SimpleLaw have a few tips that will help make maintaining your profile a little easier.
1. Create Online Profiles
The first step is to actually create a profile for yourself! More and more clients are finding attorney’s through online searches. Some sites you might want to think about are Google Profile or LinkedIn. Social media profiles are also beneficial. Using content, you can create a unique position for yourself and give clients a reason to choose you. Services such as Yelp, Google, Bar Associations, and online attorney search tools like SimpleLaw, are places to create an online profile. It is helpful to use these services so more clients can find you at the click of a mouse. When you look up your practice name you can see how potential clients view your practice when they do a Google search. You want to make sure your practice looks professional.
2. Manage Profiles and Reviews
When you search yourself you see what clients see so it is important to check for yourself and respond to comments that pop up. Respond to both positive and less-than-positive comments. It’s amazing to see how far a simple ‘Thank You’ can go. For those that are not as happy, a simple ‘Please contact me and we can discuss this further’ can remove some of the dissatisfaction. If something personal comes up, make sure to change the privacy settings for the search engine. For instance, it would be good to change your personal Facebook profile to a more private setting.
It’s good to interact with clients online. Be respectful when writing but don’t be afraid to take a stance on a controversial issue. Over 90% of consumers say they trust online reviews written by others. Collect the reviews and ratings and make sure to respond to all of them in a thoughtful manner. Make sure they aren’t all positive though. It looks fishy to not have at least one negative comment. Having both positive and negative comments shows that you respect other people’s opinions.
3. Update Information as it Changes
Nothing is more frustrating to a potential client than seeing an outdated profile. Keep your clients updated with information as it changes on all of your online profiles, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. By updating your profile people will find you more easily, you’ll be at the top of search engines, it will enhance your brand, and bring more visitors to your site.
4. Make Sure Images Are Crisp and Clean
Nobody wants to see an unclear image on an attorney profile. It makes you look unprofessional when you’re anything but. It might be beneficial to get a professional headshot but if you don’t have the time, a family member or friend can easily take a photo for you. Make sure it’s clean before you upload.
As you can see the importance of having an online profile can’t be underestimated. It’s imperative to maximize the benefits from online listings. Clients are increasingly looking online for attorneys and your profile is the first impression. Make sure it’s a good one!
