With search engines, you face at least two problems: 

Problem #1: 

The lawyers who get the first few positions usually get the inquiries. The remaining lawyers are left paying for websites that produce little. 

Problem #2: 

Even if you rank high, your search results are mixed among those of your competitors, so prospects can easily get distracted and miss your site altogether.

Fortunately, you can bring prospects to your website without search engines and without the potential for confusion. Here’s how: 

STEP #1: Load your website with educational articles that have teaser titles. People are drawn to helpful information written in list form. For example, I use 17 Fatal Marketing Mistakes Lawyers Make, Marketing Secrets of Superstar Lawyers, 11 Brochure Mistakes Lawyers Make, and many more. When you add educational articles, in addition to increasing your relevance in search engine rankings, you create a highly desirable website. 

STEP #2: Invite prospects to visit your site where they can read your articles. Offer the articles in every type of communication, including 

• Classified Ads. Invite prospects to your website through classified ads. Your entire ad could be as simple as this: Discover 17 Fatal Marketing Mistakes Lawyers Make at www.treyryder.com. Or make it more attractive by including two or more titles: Discover How to Build Your Law Practice with Dignity and 11 Brochure Mistakes Lawyers Make at www.treyryder.com. 
  
  
• Display Ads. If you want more space than a classified ad—or think your prospects may not read classifieds—design a small display ad. Make powerful use of black and white graphics to seize your reader’s attention. In addition, include a closely cropped photo of your face with good eye contact and a warm, engaging smile. (Nothing draws a reader’s eyes to your ad faster than your eyes looking back at the reader.) Depending on the size of your ad, you could include titles of many articles. Each title acts like a fishhook in the lake. You can’t be sure which bait will cause your prospect to bite, but all it takes is one good title to motivate him to visit your website.
  
  
• Yellow Page Ads. If you still use yellow page ads, offer articles that your prospect can read on your website.
  
  
• News Releases to the Media. Write a news release about a key issue in your area of law or the impact of a recent court decision. At the end of the news release, announce that you have published three articles, listing each by title. Then tell the reader he can call your office to receive free copies by mail or visit your website at www.yourdomain.com.
  
  
• Newsletters. In every issue, invite prospects to read articles on your website. You might say something like: Yours Free! Discover 15 Business Card Sins Lawyers Commit, Marketing Secrets of Superstar Lawyers, and How to Market Other Practice Areas Within Your Firm—at www.yourdomain.com. 
  
  
• Seminars. In your seminar materials, include a flyer that lists articles on your website. 
  
  
• Referral Sources. Send a mailing to your past clients and referral sources alerting them to articles on your website—and inviting them to direct friends and colleagues to your site. 
  
  
• Referral Cards. Create a referral brochure with a reply card on which you offer various articles. Say that for a faster response, they can read these articles on your website. 
  
  
• Feature Articles. At the end of every article you submit for publication, include an author’s note that offers your articles, something like this: Trey Ryder specializes in education-based marketing for lawyers. He offers the following three articles at www.treyryder.com: 17 Fatal Marketing Mistakes Lawyers Make, High Pressure vs. Dignity Depends on How You Use the Three Cons, and 19 Secrets That Increase Response to Ads. 
  
  
• Email Signatures. Consider offering an article and including its title in the signature to your email. You might include something like: Visit www.yourdomain.com to read 17 Fatal Marketing Mistakes Lawyers Make. Your URL by itself may not motivate a prospect to go to your website. But when you alert him to an important article that discusses one of his current problems, he has a good reason to visit you site. 
  
  
• Envelope Inserts with Outgoing Mail. Prepare an insert about 1/3 the size of an 8.5" x 11" sheet that announces new articles on your website. Include this in all outgoing correspondence and, on the insert, invite the recipient to pass it along to a friend or colleague. 

In addition to offering articles, you can also use the above methods to invite prospects to your website so they can (1) ask you a question by email, (2) send you facts about their claim for a case evaluation, (3) subscribe to your firm’s newsletter, (4) register for your firm’s seminar, (5) read your latest newsletter, (6) request a consultation with you by phone or in person, (7) read comments from past clients—whatever you think will motivate them to visit your site. 

SUMMARY: Don’t depend only on search engines to bring prospects to your website. Also, don’t depend on your web address alone to motivate prospects to visit.

Instead, make your prospects an irresistible offer—something they can’t refuse—which they’ll discover on your website. Then put the offer in ads, newsletters, and announcements. This will erase the confusion factor from search engines and increase the number of qualified prospects going to your site.