Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) August 03, 2011
Word-of-mouth referrals and advertisement-driven marketing remain the norm for many law firms. That landscape is changing, however, as more people turn to the Internet to find what their looking for. The Charlotte based start-up LegalHub.com, which celebrates its Beta launch today, draws on the proven power of search and social media to bring attorneys and potential clients together in a fully inter active easy-to-use, online destination. The goal is not just bringing clients together with legal professionals, it's offering a personalized approach to the search process.
For attorneys in Charlotte, that means a reliable source of leads that doesn't depend on outmoded advertising methods. LegalHub.com CEO and software architect Shane Messer predicts a grim future for law firms reluctant to embrace online marketing. "The Yellow Pages, TV and radio are going to die. People's noses are pointed at Facebook, Google, their iPads and iPhones during a serious amount of their waking hours," Messer explains. "Last month over 10 million people searched for a lawyer online. Our goal is to help attorneys capture more of this market share so that their firms marketing funnel remains full of qualified prospects."
LegalHub.com aims to keep attorneys ahead of the curve by offering a suite of powerful tools to help them generate, manage and grow their practice. Potential clients can search for legal professionals and seek advice from lawyers practicing in their community, a far cry from most other lawyer websites. Attorneys can answer questions and grow their practice while increasing their their web presence, build public profiles and advertise their areas of expertise. On a deeper level, LegalHub.com's platform allows attorneys to pick and choose the cases and clients they want to interact with and review those prospects in real time, allowing attorneys more time to focus on doing what they do best: practice law. Messer explains that the purpose of the site is to offer attorneys a consistent return on their advertising investment -- online marketing tools already are more reliable source of leads than many traditional advertising methods.
On the consumer side, potential clients can review attorney profiles for free, sorting by expertise, experience, values and reviews and ratings from other clients. The goal is to help consumers find the perfect match for their needs in an environment that fosters transparency. As the site grows, Messer says the features and options for both clients and attorneys will evolve to include attorney blogs, custom websites, advertising campaign management, mobile marketing, legal research tools and other interactive, peer-to-peer tools.
Messer was drawn to the project because he saw the potential in the search marketing approach of Charlotte-based legal marketing powerhouse AdDaddy Networks, which fostered a surge of more than 800 legal web sites into existence over a 24-month span for clients of LawyerSearch.net. AdDaddy.com, helmed by Barrett Sharpe (now a Marketing Director at LegalHub.com), has stumbled onto a formula that generates thousands of dollars worth of new leads per day for hundreds of lawyers nationally. When Sharpe approached Messer about evolving the platform, Messer decided to get personally involved in its success by relinquishing control of his web development firm MadeToOrderWebsites.com to his partner and SEO expert Raychle Searfoss. Messer says he was drawn by Sharpe's guru-like grasp of attorney advertising and online marketing tactics. "Somehow he'd managed to really become what I'd consider an oracle of knowledge in this legal space," Messer says.
The concept also attracted the attention of Robert B. Trussell, Jr., former CEO of Tempur-Pedic International, who has invested significant capital in LegalHub.com's development. Messer says a dozen programmers were tasked with building the site through several iterations over the past 9 months. Sharpe adds LegalHub.com's launch team consists of individuals who believed enough in the idea to accept reduced pay in exchange for stock options. Today's Beta launch marks the first publicly visible indicator of their hard work.
But that work is just beginning, he notes. Charlotte will represent one of several new test markets for the new site. Albany, N.Y., and Jacksonville, Fla., are next in line. Messer explains that today marks the first step in the site's evolution. As LegalHub.com establishes its footprint on the Web, the goal, Messer says, is not only to generate traffic from lead-producing clients, but also from attorneys who should easily benefit from the site's marketing potential. "It's been a chance to do something with a real purpose," Messer says. "The elements are here to create something meaningful for attorneys and their clients."
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Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/LegalHub/20011-08/prweb8613324.htm
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