4 Ways a Solicitor can manage their Online Reputation

(Posted on 19/06/11)

Maintaining one's reputation is crucial to your business assets. Your reputation can instill or destroy confidence in both your potential client base and your business partners.
It's no secret that an online positive presence sways potential consumers/clients. They want to know others have already experienced your services and can say they would recommend it. It's just human nature. Only those solicitors confident in their business services can effectively leverage their online reputation, but those that have this confidence can reap enormous benefits into the virtual future.
Websites that allow clients to rate their experiences are growing; More potential clients are carefully reviewing feedback left by others before they instruct solicitors. Word of mouth advertising is the most effective form of advertising but in an electronic format thousands more people are listening. Solicitors can either dismiss what’s being said about them online or embrace it, but the bottom line is it’s not going away and is becoming increasingly popular. Managing your online reputation takes time, but it is time well spent, and it’s free!
1) Online forums.
To find postings about your business search Google for your "company name" comments, or forum etc. Set up Google alerts http://www.google.com/alerts for the phrase "your company name". This will alert and direct you each time Google finds a new mention of you anywhere on the Internet.
Be prepared to read both good and bad comments. As anyone can post almost anything they want, it is not for the faint hearted and you may read some poor, possibly defamatory or libelous comments. If you believe a review is defamatory or malicious you can ask for it to be removed, however this may not happen. The law governing online comments and postings, as we have seen recently with a certain footballer, has not kept pace with technological developments.
A bad review is not necessarily the end of the world. It is worth remembering that the general public are pretty internet savvy so can be quite cynical if every one of your reviews fantastic. If you do receive a bad review most forums allow you to provide a response. If a poor comment seems justified, a simple response such as "Please come in and see us so we can sort this matter out asap etc etc" speaks volumes. You could also add a link to some good testimonials from satisfied clients. The worst thing you can do is ignore it, hoping it will go away or, alternatively, getting into a long projected legal battle, which may draw media attention to the situation.
2) Encourage positive ratings from your happy clients.
This is the easiest, cheapest and incredibly effective way of marketing. There are various ways you can achieve this. The simplest is to add client testimonials to your own website, however potential clients may view these with skepticism as you have chosen the reviews to post. A more effective way can be to add your business onto an independent ratings website then ask clients to post feedback on it, or place a note on your final correspondence with a link to it.
3) Customer ratings websites
Add yourself to good customer ratings websites; then encourage clients to leave feedback.
There are many ratings websites out there, ranging from the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Bad ones are difficult to use, get little traffic or media attention and will not be highly ranked in the search engines. Ugly ratings websites concentrate on naming and shaming solicitors and may ask for an extortionate fee to have a defamatory review removed.
The best ratings sites for solicitors are law industry specific ones. An example is http://www.solicitor.info/. Solicitor.info allows listed solicitors to effectively manage their ratings by allowing them to respond to comments and request that any defamatory or malicious comments be removed expeditiously. In addition, Solicitor.info has the benefit of tweeting your positive ratings, all without charge.
Google is also rolling out a ratings system for local businesses and other notable non industry specific ratings websites are qype.com and Yelp.com. You will find which ones are popular by searching Google for solicitor client ratings or reviews etc. Look at the "organic" search results (i.e. Google thinks they are the most important and relevant), rather than the sponsored listings. (Someone is paying to be displayed).
Ratings websites are a powerful tool for law firms to incorporate when self-assessing their compliance and quality of service.
4) Self posting, Anonymous, unjustified or suspicious online postings.
The general public are savvy; they know you have competitors who might post less than flattering reviews, they know solicitors may well make up and add their own glowing comments and ratings, they know one unhappy customer could post many postings under different names to maliciously vent their frustration. It’s all been done, and will be done again. Often it’s obvious when this is happening, people can spot it a mile away but sometimes it’s more subtle. The media and spin savvy general public read between the lines. If you constantly deliver good service, your customers will say it and even refute poor postings for you, the truth will out. Conversely, businesses that consistently do not deliver on their customer experience and post great reviews about themselves are playing a very dangerous game; a person that instructed the firm based on the reviews will come back and leave reviews themselves, especially if they did not have a similar experience. If you have positive paper feedback from clients and they have given you permission to use it, there is nothing wrong with adding it to ratings websites.