The objectives for some law firm web sites currently available on the Internet appear to have been to simply reproduce a firm brochure, including favorable descriptions of the firm and its practice areas, biographical information on the attorneys of the firm, and information identifying how the firm may be contacted, including a mailing address, telephone numbers, and an e-mail address. While the firm brochure web sites are typically inexpensive and easy to maintain, the lack of substantive content will reduce the number of repeat visitors. Like a brochure is typically read only once and discarded, the first time people read your web site will probably be their last. Thus, if your objectives include establishing a basic presence on the Internet while truly minimizing costs and maintenance requirements at the expense of attracting very few repeat visitors, your firm may be well-suited for such an electronic firm brochure. Occupying the other end of the spectrum are web sites which provide so much substantive information that there are many repeat visitors.
Content is the key to traffic on any web site.
The types of content currently available on good law firm web sites include client newsletters, published articles and papers, and links to other useful web sites of interest. If properly maintained and updated, these information resource web sites very quickly become known in the cyberspace community as good repositories of information on a particular topic. When people consider a web site valuable, they typically add a bookmark in their browser to more easily, and thus more often, revisit the valuable web site. In addition, maintainers of other web sites will begin adding links to the valuable web sites so that even more people find the valuable web site, and so on. Thus, if your objective is to generate repeat visits, content is key.