LAW FIRM MARKETING STRATEGIES: GROW YOUR PRACTICE ONLINE

You already play a lawyer in real life; do you have the time to play a law firm marketing expert?

Acquiring new clients has never been tougher.

Do you genuinely feel your time is best utilized by performing keyword research, running Facebook ads, doing A/B testing, and creating legal content that garners powerful backlinks?

Some lawyers feel they can do everything themselves. Heck, why not feel that way? You graduated from law school. Your family says you’re the smartest one of the bunch. You have probably won numerous significant cases.

Marketing for lawyers has changed dramatically with the rise of local search.

If you can’t garner enough reach to influence and acquire new clients, your fancily framed law degree and your history of proven success become inconsequential matters. As a law firm SEO expert here is my best advice.

How To Market a Legal Practice Online

Credible and well-branded law firms have struggled to compete with their more tech-savvy competitors.

If your law firm is buried on the bottom of the first page of Google’s search results,  you might as well put up a sign that says, “we aren’t interested in scaling our firm.”

Below is a slew of ways to improve your SEO prowess and take over the world (or at least your city).

Marketing for law firms is a deep and involved process, but the results can alter the growth of your firm.

1. Focus on Website User Experience

Statistics show that the vast majority of people head straight for a law firm website when they want to learn more about them.
It is vital to have a website that is a well-designed, highly effective funnel. You know your legal services are the best, you need to convey that message and direct the person in need to your lead capture funnel. Your website should exemplify a call to action environment that serves to increase your business.

Often times, law firm websites lack vital calls to action. As an experiment, look at the top listed law firms on Google in your area. Check their websites and see how many of them utilize calls to action appropriately. The top listed law firms most likely used a highly-qualified, well-vetted digital marketing firm. This probably translates into strategic calls to action that were most likely a result of a digital marketing team’s concept.

I find that using a law firm web design specialist is the right option. While their service may come at a cost, it is worthwhile if it will give your practice an edge. If your website is going to serve you well, it should be smart, professional and easy to use and navigate.
Remember, clients that visit your site are in trouble and looking for a professional, reliable, and trustworthy solution. Is that your site? If not, it needs to be.

If your site is not user-friendly, you will lose clients. Poor navigation, improper spacing, long scrolls, heavy loading header images, can all serve to disorient a potential new client. One lost client could be six figures.

2. Incorporate Video Marketing In Your Design

In 2019, video marketing is critical for lawyers to connect with prospective clients.

Video content offers a unique user experience which is innovative, exciting, and most importantly, personal. Even a 10-second video clip can provide several times the value that website text can.

The personal aspect of a well-done video can convey a message of trustworthiness to the potential client who is already concerned about making a large payment. A potential client who feels nervous about taking on your law firm might quickly change their mind when they realize you are a real, likable, and intelligent lawyer that will look out for their best interest.

Another big benefit to a law firm using video is that the video can also be used later on for Facebook ad campaigns. Video ads are one of the best ways a law firm can generate new leads on social media.

The world is a busy place; people do not have time to waste, which is what has made video content so successful as a marketing method.
For any law firm that wants to boost its marketing efforts and ensure that they remain on-trend, video marketing is an area that’s worth focusing on.

3. Use Testimonials on Your Website

The inclusion of testimonials on your website can help drive home the reason why your law firm is the best possible choice for a potential client.

Testimonials on your website should serve two primary purposes. First, testimonials highlight happy clients of your services and portray your business in a good light. Second, testimonials can serve as an extension to your legal services, offering potential clients more expansive benefits for using your company.

Traditionally, testimonials are written either on a firm’s website or on social media. The written word, as any lawyer will tell you, is powerful and influential. However, video testimonials can be even more engaging and beneficial.

With the use of a decent camera (think your smartphone) and good lighting and sound, anyone can create a compelling video testimonial for their company.

Social media ad campaigns get better results when they use video. This means your video testimonials will have a purpose beyond just being housed on a section of your website. This makes the small investment into the creation of the video even more justified.

Video testimonials will need direction from you. You should provide any clients who agree to participate in a video testimonial a format and some points to touch on. You don’t want to tell them what to say (no one wants to watch a hostage video), but you do want to guide them to the pertinent points you want them to expand on based on their personal experiences with your firm.

Here are some bullet points to focus on with video testimonial scripts:

• What was the client’s problem? What was unique about the problem? What was the most unsettling anxiety about the problem?
• How did your law firm solve the problem?
• What was the communication experience with your law firm like?
• Would the client use your legal services again?

That sounds simple and certainly could be expanded on. However, it’s a decent base, to begin with.

Remember, testimonials should expand on the benefits of using your services, not merely drive home all the benefits you’ve already pointed out in your marketing pitch.

They should give people insight into new uses they never considered. You want to broaden all the reasons why using your law firm can make someone’s life better.

The goal with a testimonial is to give people who visit your website a clear idea of what you do and build trust. The emphasis should be on the problem your client had and what you did to solve it.

4. Attorney Website Speed is Key

A website with sluggish load times is a death nail; there is no good way to put it. Slow website speed is notoriously one of the most popular reasons that sites don’t achieve good rankings in Google. One of the primary speed metrics Google uses is called Time to First Byte.

When your website loads fast, you can experience the following benefits.

• Higher Conversion Rates
• Lower Bounce Rates
• Longer Visitor Durations
• Better Overall User Experience

The most common reasons for poor loading speeds on websites are the following:

• Unoptimized images
• Poor website caching
• Extraneous code and scripts
• Poor template resourcing
• Low-grade, shared server

Many people who have slow websites will tell you that their “template is simple, so that can’t be the issue.” But the website looks are often incredibly deceiving. Just because your website appears to be simple, doesn’t mean the underneath isn’t loaded with bloated code.

Websites not utilizing proper caching management is another primary reason why a website can be slow. Caching plugins can often help to minimize these issues, but they can only do so much and if they are improperly managed, they can serve to make things worse.

If you are a new law firm, paying the higher costs of a dedicated server experience might not be in the cards for you. This can mean using a shared server, which means Joe Schmoe’s insane CPU usage will serve to drag you down with him.

There are solutions for all of the above issues. However, they can be consuming in nature. I’ve spent weeks’ worth of time “tweaking site speed” on my own. Believe me; it is a demanding never-ending rabbit hole.

If you turn to Fiverr and hire someone to improve your site speed, they may accomplish the task. But how long until your site becomes slow again?

Website speed requires constant management.

5. All Lawyers Should Be Mobile Friendly

Think about this Local SEO statistic; over 80% of all traffic is derived from a mobile device. There are numerous studies which serve to qualify my statement as accurate, however, speaking off the cuff, I can tell you from first-hand experience that I don’t service a single client that doesn’t statistically have mobile device sessions above 75%.

However, most marketers, particularly in the legal realm, have this idea of a person sitting at a desktop computer searching for legal assistance.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Consumers in today’s world are searching for solutions to their problems via their smartphones. This happens even when they are at their jobs (remember, many people don’t want to search “DUI law firm” from their work’s computer, so they opt to secretly do so on their smartphone.

It is as vital as ever to make sure that your mobile website is well-optimized, loads fast, and has mobile-oriented navigation.

When having a design accomplished for your website, you need to look at it on multiple mobile devices. You need to test site load times and pay attention to the returned results on mobile (Google Site Speed divides this up for you).

A slow loading mobile site can mean decreased rankings with Google, one of the few algorithmic influences the secretive division has been open about.

6. Provide an Online Appointment Booking Option

Conversions and calls-to-action are the foundation of any local business. Legal firms are no different in such capacity. By adding an online appointment booking option, you accomplish both of those in one fell swoop.

An online appointment booking option can be used as a direct call to action to capture a potential new client’s information and request. Rather than have the potential new client scurrying all over your site mindlessly, you are better served to direct the potential client to go ahead and schedule themselves to come in and discuss their issue with your legal staff.

Often, legal firms offer the first consultation at no charge, which serves as a more significant benefit in your call-to-action.

Many millennials hate the phone; they are comfortable texting and chatting. An online appointment booking option gives them a quick and easy way to schedule their appointment without having to make a dreaded phone call.

Online appointment booking also tends to lower the number of cancellations your law firm experiences. The booking software typically integrates with Google and Mac calendars, which are built into people’s smartphones and fluidly utilizes reminders.

All of this combined means higher conversions from the beginning of the marketing funnel until the end.

7. Track Website Metrics With Google Analytics

Information is the holy grail of online marketing for law firms. Google offers many free tools including Google Analytics.

You need to understand your audience and the actions they are taking on your website. Google Analytics will help you in doing that.

If you don’t have it, or don’t care to look at it, or don’t understand the depth of it, you’re losing the battle to your competition.

You can deploy the fanciest of modern advertising campaigns. However, if you can’t see the results or failures in real-time, you are rolling the dice.

Google Analytics is the most popular and most robust statistical website interfaces. It allows you to determine the demographics of your audience, where they are from, how many pages they visit, and if they follow any of your calls-to-action.

Additionally, in my opinion, Google’s search algorithm utilizes information, such as bounce rate and time on site, in their rankings.

Does this mean that not using Google Analytics harms your rankings? No. However, it is a best practice to use Google Analytics on your site for reasons cited in prior paragraphs, nevertheless.

8. Use Call Tracking

Over 3 months, SEO helped this Attorney increase leads by 125%

A good law firm marketing plan includes information about how to track its success.

Law firms include their phone numbers in every ad so that potential clients can reach them and make an appointment. Call tracking numbers make it possible to count these incoming calls to determine the success of each marketing campaign.

This is a four-step process that starts with inserting a different phone number extension in every advertisement. In step two, each phone number goes to a different line of your business. The calls are tracked to see which leads turn into clients. The tracking mechanism allows you to create a report that connects the phone calls to the ads.

The increased data can allow your marketing budget a more effective spend. You can throttle ad spends which aren’t working that well, and you can increase spends on ads which are providing more beneficial results.

In the end, tracking your call successes is key to creating an intelligent lead capture design and refining ad-copy, call-to-action text, and placement of ads.

Content Marketing For Lawyers

9. Develop High-Quality Online Legal Resources

Blogs used to be entirely separate from professional websites, but that has all changed.

Blogs are a vital aspect of many company’s marketing. If you want to ensure that your law firm is marketed as efficiently as possible, it’s critical that you install a blog on your website. Why?

Because a blog is a highly effective marketing source that every business should take advantage of for a number of vital purposes.

When a blog is appropriately designed and implemented and features high-quality content, it draws people to your law firm’s website. You become an expert, or legal resource, which leads to more consumer trust in regards to your law firm’s services.

Establish a blog with an authoritative tone of voice that shares exciting and informative articles. You can use this tactic as one of your go-to lawyer marketing strategies.

Not only could a blog boost your website’s page views, but it could also increase your site’s domain authority, and thus its search engine ranking.

Turn your legal website into the place for people to go by filling it with legal resources. Resources, particularly those in the legal realm, are shared by people quite often, which helps build your brand and enhance your SEO efforts.

Search engines reward websites that are run by experts in their fields. Combine good search engine copyrighting practices with interesting legal resources to show this expertise.

Include a list of relevant and high-quality sources that are linked within each post to improve your online marketing. Google wants to see that you are an expert in your field, but it also takes notice when you link to strong sources.

Many people seeking legal advice don’t know much about the field. They need content that is easy to read, yet informative, and are more likely to seek out help from an attorney providing this information.

Search Engine Marketing

10. Invest In Online Marketing For Your Legal Firm

It’s all well and good having a website that’s smart and professional, not to mention easy to navigate. But marketing a law firm takes more than just a site that works.

It’s vital that you invest in SEO for lawyers.

SEO – AKA search engine optimization – is what helps your website to rank highly in search engines.

Do you want your website to come up in Google when someone types in ‘law firm near me’? Then you need to ensure that your online marketing is on point and intelligently designed.

This isn’t something that you should attempt to do yourself. Whether you work in family law, personal injury, or any other practice, it’s best to hire a law firm SEO company or consultant.

It’s best to let an expert handle the heavy lifting so that your firm’s resources don’t end up being drained on digital marketing efforts.

11. Competitive Analysis, Know Your Competition

One of the most crucial parts of developing marketing for a law firm relates to understanding the methods used by your competitors.

The last thing you want to do is ignore your competition. This is because those brands spend a lot of cash on promoting their services just like you do. So, it is possible that you could save money and identify techniques and methods you might have overlooked by assessing rival sites.

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” are words to live by when it comes to a law firm and SEO.

Competitive analysis assists me in creating attorney SEO plans that work. Nothing is wrong with replicating marketing ideas for attorneys used by competitors. In fact, it is often the most valuable way to identify the way in which your brand should approach search engine optimization.

There is a reasonable chance that other companies in your industry pay for competitor analysis and assess your website and approach. So, now is the best time to employ me and turn the tables.

If you want to beat your competition hands down when it comes to your digital marketing and SEO tactics this year, look no further than the efforts made by your competition.

12. Build Links to Establish Authority With Google

Authoritative backlinks are to law firm SEO.

White Hat Link building is the concept of getting authoritative sites to post backlinks to your domain.

I do this by creating high-quality content and working with my network of bloggers and journalists. Once those websites publish the articles, your Attorney SEO campaign strategy should skyrocket.

As I never engage in black hat techniques, there is no need for any client to worry about getting a penalty from Google. I stay within their guidelines when it comes to building your active link profile and ensuring your SEO efforts get the best results. Google and many other search engines use various factors to determine popularity when highlighting sites within search listings.

The number of backlinks pointing to a domain is one such consideration.

Link building is one of the best ways to reach the top of a search results page on Google without paying for pay-per-click advertising.

13. Submit Guest Posts To Relevant Blogs and Publications

Guest blogging proves that you are an authority in your field of law.

A single guest post has the potential to open you up to many potential new clients. You should not just guest blog on any website.

You need to find ones that are relevant to your audience and have a good online reputation.

Check the website’s Google ranking, Alexa rank, and domain authority. This is the due diligence of the SEO world.

Also,  check the website’s social media accounts to see how many followers they have. Once you have found a trustworthy partner, make sure that the content of your guest post is both timely and relevant.

14. Optimize Local Search For Lawyers

Law firms need to optimize their websites for local search results. For most lawyers national search engine rankings don’t equate to revenue.

Local search acquisition requires the use of local keyword data and a Google My Business page. Your site needs to be listed in local directories and has links to and from other local businesses. A Google My Business page is a separate listing on Google.

Your firm’s profile pages should be filled out with all of the pertinent information, including address, phone numbers, website, and law practice categories.

Local directories, such as Yelp, are an essential part of your local marketing efforts. Adding your legal website to these directories increases your visibility. Some of the most common online local directories are Yelp, YellowPages.com, Facebook, your local Better Business Bureau, and Manta.com. While these websites have a national presence, they are broken down by location.

Other local directories include those run by your local bar association, your city, and any other organizations, including Rotary groups and business administrations. To add your business to some of these directories, you may have to join the organization.

15. Target Hyperlocal Keywords

Optimizing your site for local keywords is a must.

Local keywords may include your city, state, or neighborhood. People are more likely to search for legal services using local terms. It is also easier to rank for local keywords as well.

Best practices include the title tag and using your location in an H1 headine or tag. Naturally use local keywords and references throughout the copy on your website. Use them in your image alt tags, and set up your law firms URL to include your location. For example, “Cleveland Accident Attorney.”

16. Create Listings in Online Legal Directories

The goal of internet marketing is to make it easy for prospects to find you. Even if you have a great website, you should look for ways to expand your reach and visibility.

One way to do that is to create lawyer profile pages in online law directories. There are several major lawyer/attorney directories to consider.

Creating listings is easy and usually free.

For example:

• Avvo
• Findlaw
• MartinDale
• Lawyers.com
• National Law Firm Directory

Or there are services that automate this process. Read my review on Yext.

Here are some key things to remember as you create your listing.

Be consistent. Just as your NAP listings must be the same wherever they appear, your profiles must be too. You should use the same information everywhere.

Make sure to include your:

• Name
• Business Name
• Address
• Phone Number
• URL of your website
• Practice Specialties

Keep a list of where you’ve posted your information.

Then, if anything changes, you’ll be able to go back and update everything.
While some people might do a Google search to find a lawyer, others are likely to turn to the sites I’ve mentioned here.

By keeping your listing current, you’ll be sure that people in your area can find you when they need to hire an attorney.

17. Claim Your Business on Review Sites

You probably check online reviews before you visit a new restaurant or business. The same is true of almost 90% of consumers. That means that you must claim your law practice’s listing on online review sites. In this way, anybody who searches for you or your firm will be able to read reviews of your services.

Some review sites to consider are:

• Yelp
• Google My Business
• Facebook

Claiming your listing is easy.

Just type in your name (or the name of your law firm.) If you already have a listing, you should see a button labeled “Claim My Listing.” Follow the steps to claim your listing.

After you’ve claimed it, you should take the time to set up your profile. Add photographs, hours, and a list of services you provide. You can also add the URL of your website.

You may have reviews even if you have not claimed your listing.

If any are negative, respond to them. You want to show people that you care about your clients’ experiences. We call this reputation management.

Paid Search Advertising Options For Attornies

18. PPC Advertising

Paid search ads or PPC Advertising are available with Google Adwords and Bing Ads.

If you decide to advertise there, make sure you understand what you’re doing. Without appropriate knowledge of running PPC campaigns, you can end up flushing your money down a drain.

You may also want to consider paid advertisement on social media. For example, Facebook has excellent legal marketing tools at your disposal. You can use their targeting to identify prospects by their demographics, including age, gender, and income.

Likewise, they also have psychographic information. These targeting options include interests, hobbies, and other relevant data. Used correctly, they can help you narrow your target audience. It may take some trial and error to land on the right targeting, but given patience and savvy, you can find the sweet spot.

Once you create PPC campaigns, make sure to track your results. For search engine ads, you should track clicks and conversions. On social media, make sure to monitor your cost per click. A price that is too high may indicate a problem with your targeting.

19. Facebook Ads and Remarketing

You’ve probably heard the statistic that it takes seven to 10 “touches” from a brand before a consumer is ready to buy.

That number applies to law firms, too. Due to the low cost of Facebook ads, this is a great place to start.

People may visit your website more than once before they book a consultation. Hiring a lawyer is a significant expense. You might have perfect search engine optimization that brings qualified leads to your site. That doesn’t mean you can assume that a first-time visitor will become a client.

The solution is remarketing.

Remarketing allows you to target potential clients based on their behavior. For example, you can use the Facebook pixel to reach site visitors on Facebook. Someone who looked at your firm’s page for divorce law might respond to a targeted ad on social media.

Remarketing is also an option on search engines like Bing and Google. While retailers can use triggers like abandoned shopping carts, you will need to use different tactics.

Here are some suggestions:

• Target people who started to fill out your opt-in form but did not finish
• Who visited one of your service pages but have not yet booked an appointment
• Retarget clients who visited your contact page but did not finish the form

The key is to create ads that will qualify people based on their prior behavior.

The more specific your retargeting is, the more likely it is that it will be successful. This is not the place for an all-purpose ad like the ones you use to target local keywords.

You will need to track the same metrics for retargeting ads than you do for pay per click ads. That way, you can determine which ads are working and which are not – and change up your strategy as needed.

Online Influencer Branding

20. Each Attorney In A Practice Needs a Personal Brand

Every attorney in your firm needs to create their own personal brand online.

This is done through a combination of social media and blog posts with a byline. Your law firm has its own identity, but this not enough to evoke trust in potential clients.

The three hallmarks of these personal brands are authenticity, aspiration, and uniqueness.

Authenticity requires details that make an attorney more approachable and human. Including information about where they went to school and what they studied to create a background story is vital. The aspiration factor comes in by mentioning goals and being bold about what the attorney wants to achieve.

The last hallmark, uniqueness, requires each attorney to showcase their personality. They are not cogs in your lawn firms marketing machine. They are individual people. Video is an excellent medium to display your attorneys uniqueness and qualifications.

21. Grow your online presence via social media

I know as well as anyone that when it comes to building a successful law firm, there’s more to it than just having a website.

If you are serious about building a legal organization that you can be proud of, you need to grow your online presence further by utilizing social media.

Spend time claiming all of the online space that you can. Claim all of your properties, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Instagram.

In addition to creating accounts for your business on these sites, you also need to take full advantage of them.

It’s all well and good creating these accounts, but unless you know how to use them, it’s pointless having them.

22. Curate Quality Content on Social Media

You already know about growing your online presence via social media.

One specific technique you can use is curating content.

The key is that any content you curate must be relevant to your followers. People who follow you look to you for value. They want to read and watch things that help them with legal problems.

That means that you should save content that’s not directly related to your law practice for your personal page. It won’t help you build credibility if you share off-topic content.

Let’s look at some examples.

A tax attorney might share:

• An article from the Wall Street Journal explaining changes in the tax code
• A video from a CPA about electronic filing of taxes
• An infographic of deductions people should be taking on their tax returns

These are just suggestions. But, they should give you an idea of the kinds of content to curate. One easy way to curate content is to follow publications you enjoy and find to be valuable. They’ll share content that you can then comment on and share with your followers.

A word to the wise – if you don’t know what you’re doing, take the time to learn. Or, outsource your social media management.

If you want something done right, expert assistance is crucial. Never be afraid to ask for help.

Your law firm marketing needs to be spot on. Otherwise, it’s pointless spending money on it.

Reviews and Referrals

22. Encourage Client Reviews

Claiming your listing on review sites won’t matter much if there are no reviews highlighting the value of your services for potential clients to read. You can fix this problem by finding ways to encourage past and current clients to leave reviews.

One of the easiest ways to get more reviews is to ask for them. Here are some suggestions to help you get started:

Email clients after a case has closed and ask them to consider leaving a review.

You might:

• Include a link to your review pages on your website
• Train your staff to request reviews when they interact with clients
• Add a review request to the bottom of your invoices

Thorough, positive reviews can make it easier for new prospects to contact you. Make sure you monitor your review pages. You must respond quickly to both positive and negative reviews. Potential clients are often more concerned with when and how a law firm responds to criticism over the criticism itself.

23. Cultivate Customer and Client Referrals

The number one marketing for attorneys strategy I see overlooked is the power of referrals.

The majority of lead generation in the legal field are from referrals derived from colleagues, friends, or former clients.

While it’s fantastic that most law firms get their customers from referrals, it’s imperative to take into account that these referrals don’t just happen on their own.

For a referral to occur, you need to cultivate them. So, where should you start with clients? Tell them that you are looking for new clients and new work. They may not want to add to your workload, so they may refrain from telling their friends about your law firm.

Make it clear that you want people to know about your firm. Remember, there are lots of ways to gain referrals and through customers is only one avenue.

Networking, both in-person and virtually, is an excellent way to cultivate referrals. Don’t be afraid to share the fact you’re looking for referrals with other professionals.

Be open to the fact that you are looking for new customers. Send out emails, pass out leaflets, call your clients – the more open about this you can be, the better.

24. Learn How To Network

It’s all well and good attending networking events within your industry and the broader business sector. For these events to benefit your legal practice, it’s essential that you know how to network.

As an attorney, understanding what it takes to start a conversation about your practice is vital. The approach is important. The balancing conversation with business all while speaking to other attendees at networking events is an art.

You need to learn how to approach these conversations with subtlety and confidence. Ensure that you and your business come across in the best light possible.

Always carry business cards when attending these events, because you never know when they will come in handy. Being able to hand out a business card is much more efficient, as opposed to merely writing your details down on a scrap piece of paper.

As an attorney, every person you meet is a potential future client or referral.

If you are keen to give your business the best chance of growing into a more prosperous and profitable brand, it’s vital that you take note of, and implement, the lawyer marketing tips above.

As a highly successful law firm marketer, I can attest to the fact that these tips are highly useful when it comes to brand success and are well worth implementing.

25. Get Active In Local Associations

Marketing efforts need to go beyond the boardroom and the internet and out into the real world.

A trade association puts you in front of people who are all potential clients. These future clients get to know you, and when they need legal advice, they will hire your firm.

To become active in one of these organizations, you need to start at the bottom by volunteering. Many of the organizations send out newsletters, have their own website, or hold regular gatherings. Someone needs to put these items together.

Seek out the president of the organization and volunteer. Over time, as people in the association get to know you, your profile will rise. The goal is to get on the board of the organization, where you will be seen as someone with expertise and authority.