Attorney Marketing Blog

It’s time to create (or update) your biography on your law firm’s website. By most measures, writing your biography is NOT a fun task. It has all the flavor and flair of writing a new resume or CV, but with the added pressure of knowing your bio will be one of the most visited pages on your firm’s website.

Most attorneys stick to the safe path with their biographies. They write a brief introduction, followed by a blurb about their education, then a list of their achievements and publications. The end-product looks polished, professional… and BORING. You end up with a biography that no one reads completely through to the end.

If the “average” attorney biography isn’t ideal, what should attorneys consider when writing their bios? Remember, the goal isn’t to create an online version of your resume; it is to convert client prospects.

Selling clients on your services through your biography requires more than listing your alma mater. In this article, I will explain the psychology of your potential clients and what they want to see on your attorney bio, including:

1. Your personal story

2. Your authority “elevators”

3. Your custom case processes

4. Client testimonials

5. Call-to-action

Who Are You… and How a Personal Story Can Make Clients Care

When attorneys write their bio pages, they assume they need to focus on their “professional” qualifications. This is why many attorney bios end up reading like resumes instead of true biographies.

Attorneys create digital resumes because they believe that’s what clients want to see, but that is not the case.

You see, clients don’t care what college you went to or what professional organizations you are a part of; they want to learn more about you and how you can help them.

That’s why it’s important to create a narrative within your attorney bio. This involves a bit of storytelling. In your attorney bio, you’ll be introducing the potential client to you. To make a unique and interesting narrative, you have to include details of your personal and professional life.

This can be challenging, particularly if you are not accustomed to sharing. However, creating a character to share with potential clients that they can connect with and relate to is a key to an excellent attorney bio.

Demonstrate Your Authority and Value

How can an attorney show they are an authority in their field? It’s not by listing the college they attended or the associations they are affiliated with. And it’s definitely NOT by filling their page with “top attorney” or “best lawyer” badges.

To show you are an authority, you have to prove it. The good news is proving your authority is much easier than it seems.

Potential clients visiting your website have major questions. They may not realize it, but their “big” questions are actually common questions that most clients have about their case. Attorneys who predict and answer these questions demonstrate that they 1) understand the client’s legal situation and 2) are willing to help.

The best way to deliver the answers to these frequently asked questions is by offering them via report or whitepaper. However, you shouldn’t give away all your answers free of charge. You should offer this report in exchange for the prospect’s email address and phone number, so you can place these prospects in your marketing funnel.

Talk to Prospects About Your Custom Case Process

When we talk to attorneys about differentiating their practices, they often hit a mental block. After all, you can’t practice the law differently than another attorney. Ultimately, you are following the same procedures and processes as the law firm down the street. How can you make your services “different?”

Though it seems impossible, there’s a lot of room to put your own personal touch on the practice of law. Even if that “personal touch” is something most attorneys would do anyway. To give an example, in your marketing, you can talk about your 16-Point Case Evaluation for Personal Injury Cases.

Your “case evaluation” may not be different from what other attorneys would do to evaluate a case, but what’s important is that your process is named and branded, making it unique.

Your average legal client doesn’t know what is standard in case processing, so putting your own name on a process is a great way to make your services stand out (without creating a major legal innovation). Including this “custom case process” in your bio will show clients that 1) you are different and 2) you are an authority in your field.

Include Client Testimonials

One of the things I am really, really good at is getting reviews from clients. There are hundreds of reviews on my Google profile that name me specifically, and I leverage these reviews on all parts of my marketing.

Now, I can’t share with you my entire review process in this short article, but I will say the secret is to ask. You’d be surprised how effective a well-worded review request can be. In your request, ask your prospects to say how you were able to help them. Most reviewers will mention you by name, and when they do, you can add this to the “testimonial” section of your biography.

When it comes to reviews, the more the better. However, you don’t want your bio to be a giant list of all the reviews that mention you by name. Instead, list 5-10 client testimonials on your bio then link to your main review page.

Tell Your Prospects What to do Next with a Call-to-Action

We’ve come to (arguable) the most important part of your attorney bio, the call-to-action.

In marketing, never assume the client will know what to do next. You have to spell out their next steps in easy-to-understand and highly visible language. For a biography, this means telling your prospects in bold text what they should do if they want to hire you as a lawyer.

Your call-to-action MUST be plain as day and explained in simple language. The easier it is to follow your call-to-action, the better. For most attorneys, it can be as simple as “call 555-555-5555 to schedule a free case evaluation.”