While it may seem intuitive to believe that if you practice in several areas of the law you will naturally attract more clients, the truth is that the opposite usually happens.  Look at the medical profession – good luck finding a general practitioner these days!  Unless you live and work in a tiny town, you need to find a practice area that best suits your skill set and offers you the best opportunity to grow your practice.

Here are the top three reasons why you need to specialize:

1.  You increase your chances for getting referrals.  The more services you offer and market, the more potential you have to shoot yourself in the foot when it comes to getting referrals.  If you claim to do anything and everything, other attorneys will begin to view you as a competitor instead of a referral source.

This is probably the biggest danger because we all know referrals convert into clients at a higher percentage than the prospects we get from other sources. This type of prospect often makes a better client who will pay more as well, so having a strong referral network is key to keeping a steady, strong flow of clients.

2.  People want a specialist.  We have been conditioned to trust and seek out experts in order to get the best and fastest solutions. If you offer too many services, you erode your credibility and perception of “being an expert” to your potential clients and referral sources.  As the old saying goes, being a “jack of all trades” means you are a master of none.

3.  Google will not rank websites that focus on too many practice areas. Google ranks sites that are hyper-focused because it is Google’s mission to connect the searcher with the website results that best meets their specific needs.

This is a big issue since over 65% of all people who look to hire an attorney go online at some point during their search to either find an attorney or do credibility searches.