WHERE DOES THE WEBSITE "FIT" INTO ADVERTISING?

I've had the same conversation with two VERY different attorneys in the last week. I spoke with Bob Simmons of Simmons & Fletcher, a Houston Personal Injury Law Firm as well Stephen Zayler, a solo bankruptcy attorney in Lufkin about advertising. Both of them are happy with their site for many reasons but the particular aspect that struck me is this; their website ties all their other advertising efforts together.
Both of them have TV commercials. S&F also do quite a bit of Radio. Stephen on the other hand, doesn't like radio but is a believer in billboards and print ads. Both of them have noticed that since their sites have launched, they have seen a tremendous increase in phone calls and intake forms submitted through the site.
Why? People in this country are smart, for the most part, and want to do some amount of research before they make a purchase of any kind, even before they hire an attorney. So, what happens when a person driving down the road sees a billboard for an attorney that might be able to help them with a problem? They go home or to work and look that attorney up on the Internet. Same with radio, tv and print ads. A firm's website can qualify or eliminate them from consideration. It's that simple. Furthermore, if a firm doesn't have a website, how many clients have they lost that they don't even know about? If I get the name of two attorneys because I have a legal issue I am going to the Internet to pre-qualify both of them. If one of them doesn't have a website, guess which one I'm probably going to call.
Both of these attorneys in different cities, different practice areas and different areas of advertising told me the same thing. They have advertised for years but the website has somehow brought their advertising efforts full circle.