I’m a reader. Given the choice on a web page of reading the content or watching a video, I’m normally heading for the text. (How-to Videos are certainly the exception to this rule.)

An increasing number of consumers prefer videos as the preferred method to receive new information. There are certainly generational differences at play here. Lawyers may believe a twenty-page brief has to be better than a ten-page brief. But for many, the belief is that shorter reading material is superior to lengthier treatments.

So the lessons for law firm websites include having more videos and tightening the text in some of your TL;DR online content. (Here’s the TL;DR Wikipedia entry for the uninitiated.)

Here’s a simple idea for law firm videos. If you have a website, you probably have an About or Profile page for each lawyer. How about posting a short video for each lawyer on each of those pages? By short, I mean approximately two minutes with a maximum of two and one-half minutes. I strongly suggest the content be very personal to the attorney with only about 10-15 seconds on practice areas and employ a light tone. “Hi, I’m Bob K. My wife Kelly and I have four children ranging from toddler to first grade. Our hobbies are having four children ranging from toddler to first grade. [Big Smile] For our law firm, I handle mainly X, Y and Z.” Anything is fair game from hobbies to unusual past jobs to that barbequing championship you won years ago. Focus on the personal content that would have been deemed unprofessional in the early days of law firm web sites— because when people click on the link to your video, they want to learn about you. Don’t repeat what is already on your bio page.

Videos inspire trust, which can sometimes be hard to appreciate if you are a reader first. See this lengthy post How video can inspire consumer trust in your business by Victor Blasco, founder/CEO of the video production company Yum Yum Videos. (And did the word “lengthy” make you less likely to click on the link?)