Jul 3 2009 Posted by

If you are wondering where to invest your resources in this slow economy, you should give some thought to investing them in your web presence.

Tom Kane wrote a good blogposting this week on the importance of building a web presence as a small law firm, referencing an another excellent blogposting by the Attorney Marketing Blog on the same issue.

I completely agree with Tom Kane and the Attorney Marketing Blog: while lawyers as group continue to have the perception that big firms have the resources to better market themselves than small firms, the truth of the matter is that they do not do so, particularly when it comes to the web.  

Why is this the case?  My personal opinion is because you have a separate marketing department at these firms, so that marketing continues to be divorced from the practice of law. Also, I think it has to do with who makes the decisions at large firms: you rarely see a 30 year old attorney at a large firm calling the shots.  The simple fact of the matter is that younger attorneys are more likely to understand the value of the web than older attorneys, and therefore put more resources into it.  Younger attorneys are also more likely to embrace new technologies and to try things on the web that haven't been done before.

Regardless of the reasons, however, the lack of attention to the web by large firms creates a huge opportunity for start-up lawyers to develop their own web presence on the web and really dominate the Internet for their practice areas.  Proper investment of resources in the web can have a huge payoff in terms of building the ideal practice you are seeking for yourself and for your firm.  My experience is the perfect example of this: I started my firm after relocating to California from the Southeast only 3 years earlier. Almost all of my clients have come from the web.  If I had not devoted the resources I did to the web early on, I would have starved, as it has taken a while for my more traditional business development efforts to bear any fruit.  

So, if you have some extra time on your hands this summer due to the recession, take a few minutes to assess your web development strategy, and consider what resources you might be able to divert toward taking the next steps with your web presence. I think you will find that such efforts will prove to be well worth your time and money.