Would it surprise you to learn that many law firms that excel at lead generation fail miserably when it comes to converting those leads into clients?  Unfortunately, I see this every day, which is why I focus so much on lead conversion when speaking to lawyer groups.

To be effective at lead conversion, you need to have a process in place that helps you guide prospects along the buying path.  These four simple steps can help you understand how to create a process that works for your firm:

1. Discovery.  Before the Internet age, chances are that prospects discovered you by word-of-mouth or through an ad.  Today, they are much more likely to find you via a Google search, on social media or even through an email forwarded to them from someone they know.  It is critical that you have an SEO program in place that helps prospects find you during an online search. 

2. Engagement.  Once you’ve been discovered online, your website and blog need to be packed with rich, relevant, engaging content that speaks directly to your prospect’s points of pain.  Content is not only text, it is also video and images that draw people in.  When Google serves up your website or blog, there’s only a headline and a short (156-word) description, so you need to pay special attention to how your search engine result page can entice readers to click on your link.  On social media, images rule so use video and dynamic photos whenever possible to push your points across.

3. Action.  Now that you’ve got people engaged, it’s time to get them to take some action -- download a free e-book or report, subscribe to your blog or e-newsletter, or follow/connect/share/retweet on social media.  Great content is imperative to getting people to act -- you have to keep it coming.

4. Conversion.  Once you have gotten prospects to provide you with a way to reach out to them with your marketing efforts through your calls-to-action, you need to keep building your credibility and trust through...yes, you guessed it...more and better relevant content on your blog, website, e-newsletter and social media plus an automated drip email campaign to nurture your leads until they become clients.