I received a call the other day from a representative of a large lawyer directory that we are all familiar with. I'm not going to mention them by name because the name isn't really important. What's important is what this rep was telling me and why he felt it would be useful for me to sign up. As soon as I learned that he was looking to get me into a lawyer directory, I immediately stopped him and asked how would I be able to distinguish myself from any other lawyer on this directory?

His response was typical.

He said that a viewer searching for me would be able to see my credentials, where I went to school, see what I have written, see whether I had been certified by any legal organization, and a listing of my accomplishmentsvideo effectiveness.

I then asked what would happen if my competitor had similar credentials; how would a viewer be able to distinguish me from my competitor? His answer disturbed me. He said I could purchase sponsored listings and use pay per click advertising; claiming that this would be sufficient to set me apart from my colleague down the street.

I again asked what would compel a viewer searching for an attorney handling medical malpractice to choose me, who would be listed on page 7 of his online directory, compared to a competitor of mine who is listed on page 1 at the top of the fold?

He didn't have much of an answer for that one.

He still pushed on. To make his point, he asked me to do a Google search using my last name and the type of law I practice. "See, you don't come up #1, instead you come up way down here." He then used those results to justify why I needed to be in his directory. I explained to him that this was an inaccurate way of searching for an attorney. Why? (Here is a million-dollar tip that this representative clearly had no clue about).

A person who is online searching for an attorney doesn't know who you are. They don't know your name. They don't know a lawyer who can help solve their problem. They haven't gotten a referral from anyone and are now taking matters into their own hands and searching for someone online. This rep made the deadly mistake of thinking that online viewers search for lawyers by name. He failed to understand how people with legal problems actually search for lawyers. If he truly understood this, he would realize that attorney directories are virtually useless online today.

I pointed out his fallacy by explaining to him that a viewer would be searching for the type of lawyer who handles these cases and the geographic area where they live. I then asked him to do his own Google search for "New York medical malpractice lawyer" and then tell me who comes up #1 in the organic search results. He quietly responded that my website shows up in the #1 organic slot for those search terms consistently.

Later that evening I received an e-mail from this rep again trying to sell me on the reasons why I should join his lawyer directory. This is exactly what he said:

"If you want to ensure your credentials can be found in an objective forum, where consumers can compare you with other firms and link to your website, then you should be there. If you want to ensure other attorneys and corporate counsel can find you, you should be there, listed on XXXXX. If you want to guarantee results - assuring your information is found, complete with full stats of where and who is viewing you, then you should be there. If you want an easy and inexpensive way to grow your practice, then you should be there, listed."

Why do I tell you all this? Because the best way to distinguish yourself from the other lawyers who compete with you is not with the lawyer directories. Rather, it's with video. A viewer gets to see you, hear you, and begin to trust you before they ever pick up the phone to call you. Video is interactive, it's entertaining and importantly, it's different. Being just another listing in a lawyer directory accomplishes none of those things.