LegalPPC: Search Engine Rainmakers for Solo Attorney Practitioners and Small Law Firms

Marketing & Website Development Questionnaire

LegalPPC has developed a comprehensive questionnaire to help us get to know our clients better. Our mission is to develop a pay per click marketing strategy and/or website design that brings appropriately targeted prospects to your website and encourages them to contact you. We have included our questionnaire below so that you can give your answers as much thought as possible.

While it isn't necessary to answer every single question, the more detail that you can provide, the better.

Your Legal Background

  • Years of experience:
  • Professional affiliations:
  • Pro bono work or other nonprofit or volunteer work:
  • Educational background:
  • Specialist certification(s):
  • Published writings:
  • Awards and other notable distinctions:
  • Is there anything else you think a client should know about you?

Your Practice Areas

For each area of law, what do you do? What don’t you do? For example, if you do real estate law, do you only do residential real estate or commercial or both?

  • What is your primary practice area?
  • Percentage of your practice that falls in this area:
  • Description of primary practice area (be as detailed as possible):
  • What other areas of law do you practice?
  • Description of other practice areas (be as detailed as possible):

Your Law Firm

  • What is the atmosphere like? Laid back? Professional? Modern? Close knit? Traditional? Creative? Upscale?
  • Do you have photos of the exterior and/or interior that can help us visualize your work environment (and which could be used on your website, if a selling point?).

Your Clients

  • Describe your typical client. If necessary, tell us how they differ from one practice area to another.
  • What are the characteristics of your ideal client?
  • Which clients give you a headache and why?
  • Do you have a better rapport with certain clients than others? Why?
  • Can you help clients who speak another language?
  • Do you represent individuals or businesses or both?
  • If you provide legal services for businesses, are there industries that you are particularly familiar with or would like to target?
  • Do you provide outside general counseling services?

Geographic Targeting

What is your geographic reach?

  • Do you target your entire state or only certain regions or cities?
  • Can you help clients in other states?
  • Does it differ by practice area?
  • Please list the geographic areas that you would like us to target:

Your Unique Selling Points

  • What makes your practice unique?
  • How do you stand out from the competition?
  • What are your selling points?
  • Are you the “go to” person for a particular aspect or area of law?
  • Do you have a niche that no one else does?
  • Do you have a tagline?

Billing Arrangements/Fee Structure

  • Do you charge on an hourly fee, flat fee, or contingency fee or a mix?
  • What information about fees would you like to have on your website, if any?

Initial Client Consultation

  • How do you conduct the initial consultation with a client?
  • Is it free or do you charge your normal rate or a special rate?
  • If there is a fee for the initial consultation, do you apply that to the client’s bill if he or she decides to hire you?
  • Do you have any requests, such as asking clients to bring documents to the meeting?
  • Is there anything else we should know?

Frequently Asked Questions

When screening potential clients, are there any issues that come up frequently enough that you would like to deal with them in a FAQ or another area of your website?

About You and Your Staff

  • How would you describe yourself?
  • What are your interests besides practicing law?
  • Do you have any interesting hobbies?
  • What is your personality like? Do people describe you as warm and caring or funny or intelligent?
  • If you have other staff, how would you describe them? What are their names/background?
  • Is there a support person (or persons) who clients are likely to have a lot of contact with? How would you describe him or her?

Your Style

  • What are your favorite attorney websites? Why do you like them? Is it the look and feel or the content or both, or something else?
  • What other websites do you like? Why?
  • What do you dislike about other websites that you visit?
  • How would you describe your particular aesthetic? Traditional? Modern? Cutting edge? Conservative? Minimalist? Fancy? Natural? Welcoming?
  • What is the image that you would like to project to potential clients?
  • What colors do you like? Do you prefer warm colors such as orange, red or brown, or cool colors such as blue or green?

Website Development

  • If you already have a website, what elements do you want to keep? What do you want to change?
  • How do you envision the structure of your website? Do you want a news area? Do you want a FAQ? What else would you like to see on your website?
  • What voice would you like to use? First person or third person?
  • Are there any photos of yourself, your firm, or anything else that you would like to consider placing on your website?
  • Do you want to write copy yourself or would you prefer to collaborate with us?
  • Do you anticipate updating the content of your website frequently?

Is there anything else that you would like to add that hasn’t been covered above?