By Gerry Oginski, Esq.
PRETTY PHOTOS ARE NOT THE ANSWER
This brings me back to the the yellow pages rep and the ‘in-house’ design team creating all the same ads. Sure your website has a nicer template. Sure you have beautiful colors, and of course you have scenic photos and vistas of cityscapes. Many websites still do not have photos of the lawyers in their firm. Of those sites that have photos of their lawyers, the inevitable “So what?” comes to my mind. Other than showing that you know how to smile or stand in front of a fancy bookcase, what does that photo do to differentiate you from anyone else?
Do you think a photo of you standing in front of a bookcase with your arms folded over your chest and a mean-looking scowl will encourage a viewer to call you instead of the next lawyer who is sitting at a desk with a law book looking studious? The answer is no. Having a photo of yourself is better than no photo, but with most attorneys putting their photos on their website, it now becomes pretty meaningless.
Let’s also assume for the moment that every lawyer lists their biography on their website. Do you really think a layman cares where exactly you went to school? If a potential client has found your website, they assume that you have gone to college and law school. These details, in my opinion, do not make one bit of difference to someone looking for answers to their legal questions.
Most consumers looking for a lawyer online do not care if you went to Harvard or night school at Podunk University Law School. Their only concern is that you have the experience necessary to help solve their problem. Let me be more specific.
PRACTICE TIP:
They’re not interested in how great you are and how wonderful you think you are. Instead, they want to know how your brilliant legal mind can help solve their pressing legal dilemma.
If you don’t believe me, ask the next client who comes into your office after finding you online what was it about your website that made them call for an appointment. The answer will surprise you.
Wait one second…you still have not answered my question: How are you different from every other lawyer who advertises online? Put aside stylistic differences in your website. What information do you have on your site that will cause a potential client to call you and not your competitor down the street? Again, the answer may surprise you.
BACK TO THE WEBSITE REP
Now that you have paid the website rep many thousands of dollars, your hopes and wildest dreams are going to come true with hundreds and thousands of emails and phone calls to your law firm because your website is the best thing on the internet. Until it goes live. Then you wait, and wait, and call the rep to ask whether the site is actually live. You tell your mother about your new website; your girlfriend; your close colleagues and the people you share office space with. The responses are a bland “Yeah, great. Good luck.”
Days, weeks and months go by with your hopes and dreams evaporating. Those promised calls, those lucrative cases that the rep said you’d get if you paid extra money for the really cool widget that tells viewers what the top legal news is, turned out to be a dud. You even Google yourself repeatedly to see where your website turns up on Google. When you’ve reached page ten and realize your site is nowhere to be found, you give up, turn off the computer and wonder where you went wrong. You don’t want to spend more good money after bad, and now you’re stuck in the mud and can’t get out.
What you need is a tow truck. One with a big hook, and a large engine. Big tires help too. Alright, maybe I overdid the metaphor, but you get my point. Want to know the only real way to distinguish yourself from the hundreds and thousands of lawyers in practice today? Do you want to know what I’ve learned in the last year that will help set yourself apart from everyone else? The answer is video.
KEEP AN OPEN MIND
Importantly, before I explain how video can help you, you need to recognize that with a little effort, you can effectively and ethically compete with the biggest law firms in town, and give website viewers a reason to call you instead of the mega-firm next door. You know which firm I’m talking about. The firm with the gorgeous wood panelling, and beautiful french antique furniture and persian rugs lining the hallways and lobby area. Yes, even a solo practitioner can compete with the big firms.
With the right guidance, you can surpass their online presence and get those website visitors to call you instead of them. The right mindset is so important to accomplishing your goal of setting yourself apart from other lawyers.
If you have a closed mind and are not willing to make a concerted effort to improve your online presence, then what I’m about to tell you will be a waste of your time. Instead, call that website rep and the yellow pages rep, and tell them to come back into your office, take your hard-earned money, and continue to follow the pack. Tell them you want to continue to get the same results you’ve achieved so far, and you want to keep paying good money for the same results.
However, if you want to learn more and understand how and why online video for lawyers is the key to distinguishing yourself from everyone else, then keep reading.
USING VIDEO TO SHOW YOU’RE DIFFERENT
Think it can’t be done? You’re wrong.
Think I’m making this stuff up? I’m not.
Think I’m a marketing rep wanting to sell you on all sorts of junk? I’m not.
“Well, who are you and why should I listen to you?”
That’s a fair question. Here’s the answer:
“Welcome, and thank you for joining me. My name is Gerry Oginski, and I’m a New York Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Trial Lawyer practicing law here in the State of New York.” This is how I begin every one of my videos.
I’ve been in practice now for twenty years. In a nutshell, here’s my bio:
I went to college at SUNY Stony Brook (a very large State University here in New York). I then went to a small local law school, Touro Law School in Huntington, NY. I began my career practicing law in a mid-size defense firm on Wall Street where I represented doctors, hospitals and defendants in every type of negligence and injury case. I had the privilege of gaining incredible trial experience from one of the best defense lawyers in the Country.
Four years later I became a plaintiff’s attorney working for a small law firm on Court Street in Brooklyn, representing injured victims of medical malpractice & personal injury. Four years of trial experience later, I joined forces with a large law firm in Queens where I handled all of the firms’ medical malpractice cases in our satellite office in Long Island. After six rewarding years, I decided I could better serve my injured clients by opening up my own office, and have been a solo practitioner since 2002. My main office is in Great Neck, NY, and I have satellite offices in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Now that you know a little about me, I want to tell you what I have accomplished- not to brag, but to show you how a solo practitioner has achieved what many other lawyers have not yet been able to.
I want you to stop reading this for a moment and open another window in your web browser. Go ahead, this will still be here when you’re done. Go to Google and type in the following search terms: “New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer.”
Who comes up in the # 1 position in the organic search results on Google? [Don’t look at the top three websites at the very top of the page with a slight yellow background- those are paid Google ads. Also, don’t bother with the websites that appear on the right column of the page either. Those are also paid Google ads.]
What do you see? My website, http://www.oginski-law.com consistently comes up #1 for this search term.
How?
How can a solo practitioner with a busy practice get to the top of Google?
How can a solo practitioner get to the top of Google on his own?
How can a solo practitioner get the type of online visibility without paying a dime for pay-per-click advertising?
How does he do it?
If you know the different strategies, you can maximize the chances that your site will come up, not only on the first page, but multiple times on the first page.
Learn how Gerry does it in the next installment of this article.
About Gerry:
Gerry Oginski is a New York medical malpractice, wrongful death and personal injury trial lawyer practicing law in the State of New York. He’s been in practice since 1988 and has currently created and uploaded over 120 educational video tips on medical malpractice and injury law for consumers to view.
Gerry is a prolific writer and in addition to publishing informative articles online, he is an “Expert Author” at www.Ezinearticles.com, and writes a regular column called YouLaw, devoted entirely to evaluating lawyer videos.
Potential clients call Gerry after watching his videos, not only to thank him for providing the information, but asking for more.
Gerry is available to help you create your educational online videos and can be reached at 516-487-8207, or lawmed10[at]yahoo.com.
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