What do you do?

This is something I wrote aimed at law firms, but it hits the apartment marketing industry as well:
I thought of this on my way to work this morning, when I got to a stop light and saw a small sign that said “Squeegee Squad” and had a web url that I could not read. And my first thought? What do you squeegee? Why do I need your services?

Now think, a potential client lands on your website, and asks: “What do you do?”

“Well, since my company name ends with ‘Attorney at Law…,’ isn’t it pretty obvious?”
Not so much…
With tens of thousands of law firms out there, (seriously, go do a search for law firm, I got millions of  results) you need to separate yourself.

This is why you need a ‘positioning statement’ on your site. Some attorneys do a great job of this. “California Criminal Defense Attorneys” has a strong, short description on their home page, with the flash in the banner further highlighting the firm’s strengths. This personal injury firm created a tag line that separates themselves from their competition, “Not All Attorneys Can Rise Above the Pack.”

These positioning statements help visitors make the decision to stay on your site, and contact you to determine if you are the one who can handle their issue.