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Which Demographics Use the Internet the Most?

Reach of Online Attorney Advertising
Photo Credit: Flickr

At its most basic level, marketing is all about letting people know about what you do, so they’ll pay for it. You can maximize the results of your marketing efforts by only reaching out to the people who are interested in what you’re offering, and then tailoring your message to convince them to buy it.

The internet opens up a treasure trove of data that you can tap into, to segment your audience and only target those that you want. However, contrary to popular belief, not everyone uses the internet. While it is a great majority of the U.S. populace that’s online, it’s important to remember that it’s not everyone. Therefore, whatever internet marketing strategies you adopt for your law firm will never reach some people.

Who Can Your Law Firm’s Online Advertising Reach?

The good news is that, according to a January 2014 poll by Pew Research, 87% of Americans use the internet. However, there are demographics that use the internet comparatively little – only 57% of the people over the age of 65 are online. Additionally, low levels of education and income are also correlated with a lower percentage of internet users: Only 76% of those who didn’t go to college are online, and only 77% of those with a household income of under $30,000 per year use the internet.

On the other hand, there are segments of the U.S. population that is almost sure to be online. These groups are far from surprising:

  • College graduates: 97%,
  • People aged 18-29: 97%,
  • People aged 30-49: 93%,
  • Those with a household income of $50,000 – $74,999: 93%
  • Those with a household income of over $75,000: 99%

How Does This Impact Your Law Firm’s SEO Strategy?

To make your law firm’s marketing efforts produce the best return on investment, your first step is to determine who’s most interested in hiring you as an attorney. Considering what kind of law you practice and the types of clients you’ve had good experiences with, you can figure out who your advertising audience should be.

Once you’ve narrowed down your audience, you’ll be able to determine how much of your marketing budget to invest in online advertising, or whether to not invest in online marketing, at all. If your firm’s clientele comes from senior citizens with low income, then you should be aware that only about half of your audience uses the internet.

Legal Blogging Can Still Help

Even if only half of your audience is connected to the internet, there’s still 50% of your audience remaining. Using online marketing techniques like search engine optimization (SEO) could, in theory, double your client list.

However, if someone is online and using Bing or Google to look for an attorney like you, but your website is hidden beneath dozens of other attorney websites, your odds of success are shockingly small. Hosting a professionally-written legal blog on your website, however, is one of the best ways to boost your site’s prominence and get more web traffic, and more clients.

Get in touch with us, if you’re interested in hosting a quality legal blog on your webpage. Our writers have legal degrees and training, and are adept at the most up-to-date SEO techniques to help your firm’s website grow.

[Photo credit: Flickr]