Back in August, I mentioned a Pew Internet Report which found that approximately one third of African Americans access the Internet through a cell phone or other mobile device.  I recommended that lawyers serving African American clients make their websites and blogs mobile compliant to facilitate easy access via a hand held device. 

Now, I realize that I should have expanded my advice.  Because even if only a tiny portion of your target clients currently access the web through mobile devices today, very shortly, many more will.  By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device, predicts Gartner Research.  Thus, as we move through the second decade of the twenty-first century, all lawyers will reap benefits by expanding their marketing efforts to the mobile arena, while those who fail to will lose out.

From Gartner's Press Release:   

the total number of PCs in use will reach 1.78 billion units in 2013. By 2013, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and will be greater than the installed base for PCs thereafter.

Mobile Web users are typically prepared to make fewer clicks on a website than users accessing sites from a PC. Although a growing number of websites and Web-based applications offer support for small-form-factor mobile devices, many still do not. Websites not optimized for the smaller-screen formats will become a market barrier for their owners -- much content and many sites will need to be reformatted/rebuilt.

While 2013 is still three years away, lawyers are better off getting out in front, rather than scrambling to play catch up.  So what can lawyers do to expand their presence in the mobile online world?  Below are four ideas:

1.  DO design websites and blogs with mobile use in mind.  The Online Marketing Blog recommends keeping fonts basic, stripping out images to optimize loading time, remove third party services from side bars and focus on delivery of content.   For those running WordPress based blogs, design for mobile devices is even easier: you can use a WPtouch iPhone
If you run a WordPress blog, you can use a Word Press iphone theme plug-in to automatically create a small-screen friendly version of your blog.

2. DO develop content with search in mind.  As web access goes mobile, find-ability will be critical.  After all, users aren't likely to have the patience or agility to run Google searches and scroll through results on a 2" x 3" screen that downloads slowly.  Moreover, a significant percentage of mobile users will be searching for local assistance:  consider, for example, an abused wife who's left her home and needs a lawyer to file a restraining order or a businessman arrested for DUI.  In both of these scenarios, the prospective client will be searching for a lawyer away from home and will want to find someone within a specific jurisdiction.
 
The Online Marketing Blog suggests focusing on local directories (a topic I wrote about here) to improve find-ability in mobile search:

The best way to ensure you are found on mobile devices is to make sure your site is in all the local search directories with full and accurate profiles. Places like Google Local and Yahoo local probably receive more traffic from users who want to find business in a certain area. When I've used my phone to search the web, I was searching for specific businesses to visit.  Social networking through mobile is also popular and through links, can drive web site traffic. A combination of search and social is the direction where I see the bulk of mobile traffic going.

3.  DO explore creative ways to establish a mobile presence, but DON'T be tacky.  Fort Lauderdale, Florida based lawyer, Jason Turchin just released the free iphone MyAttorney app, reports the Florida Sun Sentinel.  Granted, the MyAttorney feature which enables cell phone users to call their lawyer at the touch of a button arguably meets the tacky test.  But in my view, MyAttorney is redeemed by inclusion of useful tools, such as a checklist of what to do in an accident and a feature for submitting a case inquiry and uploading and submitting photos.

4.  DO get moving on video  Nearly a year ago, I wrote about the importance of video to online marketing.  As user access moves to mobile devices, video marketing takes on even more importance.  For some users, reading text on a mobile device, can prove cumbersome even at an optimized site.  By contrast, video is much easier to view on a phone, and users can still listen even if they have difficulty seeing the video, they can listen.   Most mobile phones already integrate YouTube seamlessly into their design, and consumers have grown adept at watching videos on the small screen.  Chances are, they'll be equally adept at listening to education-based videos or scrolling through video interviews with attorneys on their phones as well.      
   
Are you good to go in this decade's on-the-go marketing world?  And if not, what are you doing to prepare?  

When it comes to Internet marketing, there's no one size fits all solution.  The effectiveness of any of the tools that I've discussed here at the Legal Marketing Blawg, such as blogs, Twitter or video depends not just on whether your current or prospective clients spend time online but  also where and how they use the Internet.

To understand the importance of how clients use the Internet to your online marketing efforts,   consider the results of an April 2009 study by the Pew Internet Project released last month.  According to the study, 56% of those polled said they have at some point used wireless means for online access - a figure that's significant enough to convince most lawyers to either start or step up marketing measures online.

But the 56% figure doesn't tell the whole story about wireless use.  Turns out that even though African American Internet use via traditional means (such as home or office computers) is much lower than for the general population, African Americans represent the most active users of the mobile internet:

48% of Africans Americans have at one time used their mobile device to access the internet for information, emailing, or instant-messaging, half again the national average of 32%.

29% of African Americans use the internet on their hand held on an average day, also about half again the national average of 19%.

Based on these use rates, you'd be justified in engaging in any type of generic online marketing activities, such as putting up a website or purchasing online ads, if you wanted to attract and serve African American clients.  But given that nearly a full third of African Americans access the web through a hand held device, your online marketing campaign would be far more effective if you invested in those tools which are most compatible with hand held devices.  For example:

-Internet access through handheld devices is usually slower than through broadband wireless and a direct connection.  So a fancy, flash-driven website that may look impressive on a large screen might be clunky and frustrating to someone trying to view it on a cell phone. 

-Blogging can be an effective Internet marketing tool.  But lengthy tomes in small font don't mix with a hand held.  To keep a hand-held based audience engaged, either opt for shorter snappier posts that can be digested in a cell-sized screen or make sure that your blog is mobile compliant.

-Many mobile users frequently access YouTube.  For that reason, video may be an effective marketing option.  Likewise, Twitter offers several different mobile-accessible applications and could also serve as an effective medium to connect with mobile-enabled clients.

Depending upon what kinds of clients you intend to target, there are a myriad of other small tweaks that can make your online marketing more effective.  As I wrote in another context, you need to imagine your audience, or in this case, your clients:

What I mean by imagine your audience is to visualize the individual readers, from those who stumble across your site online to those who dutifully read your updates daily. Where are they reading your blog - in a Starbucks? Their office? At a basement computer after the kids are in bed? Are they dressed in stiff work clothes or wearing pajamas? Using an news reader or catch all site like Alltop to catch up on posts - or do they physically visit the site to get the information?  Printing out your posts in a public library because they don't have a printer at home, or scrolling through them casually on their iphone while riding the subway to a suburban mansion?  By imagining these details, you can refine the form of your post to match your audience's circumstances - for example, enlarging the font or brightening the page if you suspect folks are reading in dimly lit areas, or including an easy print or PDF option if your audience prefers hard copy.

Most lawyers would like to believe that online marketing begins and ends with search engine optimization, that by hiring a good consultant and driving traffic to your site, you'll generate clients.  But all of the SEO in the world isn't going to make a difference if prospects leave the destination once they arrive.  It's not until you understand how your target audience is reaching you online that you can make sure that their experience is pleasant (as opposed to frustrating and confusing) once they arrive.  That way, they're guaranteed to return, or even better, to stick around long enough to decide to give you a call.