Marketing and advertising for lawyers will make or break a small law firm. While larger firms can afford shotgun marketing campaigns such as television and radio advertising, smaller firms must be more creative and find solutions that work just as well. The internet literally has trillions of web pages indexed and bringing an individual website to the top of the page may not be so easily accomplished, but it can be done.

Attorneys simply can not ignore the fact that people today begin nearly every search for a businesses products or services online. They either need to bring their own website to the top of search engines or they need to advertise on someone else's website. No doubt lawyers are solicited on a daily basis to advertise on various websites and it can be very difficult choosing which ones will work and which ones will not.

As a general rule a good staring point would be to think like your customers think and ask yourself what would they type in a search engine if they were looking for your services and then go search and see what websites are appearing in the top three or four positions. If you find a directory or other website that accepts advertising then that will most likely be your best option.

Legal professionals should strive to bring their own websites to the top of the search engines and dominate the traffic without paying someone else. Depending on the amount of competition they may be able to do this absolutely free or it could cost them as much as a few thousand dollars. With a little bit of guidance most people will be able to do your their own search engine optimization and hold a top position. This can often times be as simple as fixing title tags and having them mirror exactly what people are searching for online. Don't make the mistake of killing a web presence by using just a company name or even worse having the tag read Home Page. There are a lot of sites that will help you optimize your own website. Depending on how competitive the keywords are you may need to learn a little bit about link building in order to beat the competition.

Once you get your internet advertising campaign in place you'll need to make sure you're answering every call that comes in. For lawyers, one call can be worth a few thousand dollars and in some cases a whole lot more. Don't think for a moment that using an answering machine isn't costing customers. It's a fact that 7 in 10 people will not leave a message and instead they will just hang up and call a competitor.

Consider investing into hiring a good attorney answering service which usually only cost about $50 a week and it's well worth every penny of it. When new clients call from an internet ad they will talk with what appears to be an onsite secretary and there will be no need to call another attorney.

Research clearly indicates that people of all ages are now using the internet to find businesses and with the new technology in cell phones that will not change any time soon. Consumers can quickly find tons of resources and information on nearly any subject which helps them to make informed decisions and only those businesses that have a presence will receive the business from those savvy shoppers.