What Type of Lawyer Are You?

How do you describe your practice areas on your law firm website or blog? One way would be to carryover the phrases your firm had successfully used in a magazine or yellow pages ad. When...

Approximate Read Time: 1 Minute

How do you describe your practice areas on your law firm website or blog? One way would be to carryover the phrases your firm had successfully used in a magazine or yellow pages ad. When I flipped through the Valley Yellow Pages today, I noticed that the personal injury attorney ads exclusively used the term auto. In print, auto accident, car accident or vehicle accident may all be used interchangeably. Someone seeking a lawyer that handles car accidents will recognize that a law firm that handles auto accidents will work just fine.

However, the online world is different. Someone searching for a lawyer that handles car accidents won’t necessarily find your law firm website or blog if you only mention that you handle auto accidents.

Just take a look at the search volume for various search terms using Google Trends. Car accident far outpaces auto accident or vehicle accident, and understandably so. In our daily conversation, we simply do not use the term auto. For one week, try replacing the word “car” with the word “auto” and see what happens.

“Whose auto are we going to take?”

“Can I drive your auto to school today?”

So, while automobiles or motor vehicles may be broader and more encompassing terms, cars is how we like to call them.