Legal practice is one of the most competitive industries on the web. Which means that your Marketing Strategies should help you get ahead of the competition.
However, Marketing Strategies law firms have become more and more complicated in recent years. According to Bryan Mixon of Amaze Law, “Online marketing offers promise, but it’s either time consuming or expensive or both.”
From optimizing your website, to publishing valuable content, sharing it on social media, and generating quality backlinks, digital Marketing Strategies can be overwhelming to implement. But your time and effort is key to improving your firm’s online visibility, which in turn helps you generate more clients.
In this post, learn five actionable techniques that you can do to keep clients coming to your law firm.
1. Collect Client Testimonials and Reviews
A 2015 Moz study revealed that online reviews influence 67% of consumers. And as someone who runs a law firm, you ought to know that your reputation can make or break your success.
In fact, testimonials from previous clients can help allay a potential client’s hesitation of hiring you. That’s because an online review helps the latter picture out and discern how you can best help them.
So how can you collect client testimonials for your law firm?
In Person
Asking your clients personally is the best way to collect online reviews. You can do this once you have settled the case.
Via Text
Another way you can collect client testimonials is through text. It can be as simple as saying “It was a pleasure working with you. We would really appreciate it if you could give us a review on our Facebook page.” And then include a short link to your firm’s Facebook page.
In Case-Closing Documents
If you always send clients a final letter that includes settlement checks or copies of case-closing documents, then you may leverage this to collect client testimonials. Send a list of instructions on how they can leave an online review.
Once you have collected enough client testimonials, it’s time that you find a rightful place for it. Here are some examples:
- On your website
- Google My Business profile
- Facebook Business Page
- Any law-specific websites (i.e. Martindale-Hubbell)
2. Cultivate Referral Sources
Aside from collecting testimonials, you may also seek the help of your satisfied clients for referrals.
However, Larry Bodine pointed out, “A lot of lawyers get most of their business from referrals, and that’s a wonderful thing, but the point is that it doesn’t just happen all by itself. The people who get these referrals are lawyers who cultivate them.”
The same with collecting client testimonials, you can send your clients a message saying that you would be happy to provide your services to people they know. You can even incentivize them for doing so.
Other than your previous clients, you may expand your horizons by reaching out to people in other professions. If you are a lawyer that helps with prenuptial or postnuptial agreements, then you might want to connect with marriage counseling groups.
The key here is knowing your target clients really well, and then figuring out the overlap between your niche and their.
3. Provide Quality Content
Content Marketing Strategies is essential to establish your firm’s authority and expertise. It is a great avenue to provide value to potential clients, which will make them keep coming back to you.
In addition, content is a great way to incorporate more keywords that you would like to rank for. Thus, you can draw organic traffic. After all, people who are searching for “how to file for a divorce” are more likely to be needing a lawyer.
However, a valuable content is not just limited to a lengthy blog post. It can be your FAQ page that contains answers to the most pressing questions that you often receive from clients.
Ana Gotter also pointed out, “If you’re able to write answers succinctly, you may even end up having your answer show up in a featured snippet and get you high up in the SERPs.”
You can also provide value and incorporate target keywords on your service pages ‒ especially if you have multiple specializations.
For example, you are a family lawyer that provides divorce services, marriage agreements, and custody arrangements. Instead of promoting your firm as someone that practices Family Law, you may want to advertise your distinct specializations instead.
You need to have a dedicated landing page for divorce services, marriage agreements, and custody arrangements. That way, when someone having a custody issue looks for a lawyer, you have a content ready to showcase your expertise. They are also less likely to leave your website just because they were not able to immediately see the legal services that you provide.
4. Optimize Your “About” Page
Speaking of content, another page the you have to optimize is your About page.
According to Vannesa Lang, “Your About page needs to appeal to your customer, as well as impress, build trust, and make them want to know more. They more they know, the more they like, and the more likely they are to engage you and become a customer.”
Moreover, the About page is the most visited page on a website. Unfortunately, it is the least updated and optimized.
Here are some tips on how you can optimize your About page:
3W Tactic
Your About page should explain who you are, what your law firm does, and why would a client should hire you. After all, these are the reasons a site visitor decided to check your About page.
You can also make this page useful by linking to relevant service pages or blog posts on your website. That way, your visitors would know where to go should they need more information about your law firm.
Show Your Lawyers and Staff
A law firm can be intimidating. That’s why it is important to remind your site visitors that there are people who run your firm.
Here are some quicks tips on how to do that:
- Use professional photos
- Highlight their skills and expertise
- Include their Twitter or Instagram handle
Incorporate Target Keywords
Oftentimes, an About page can do well on SERPs. Thus it is important that you incorporate your target keywords when writing content for your About page.
5. Invest in PPC
As mentioned earlier, legal practice is one of the most competitive industries on the Web. Thus, SEO, social media marketing, or any organic online branding may not be enough to make your website rank on SERPs.
Good thing there is PPC advertising.
According to Olivia Sellers, “Pay-per-click or PPC advertising is one of the fastest law firm Marketing Strategies ideas you can use to boost your firm’s visibility.”
That’s because people only search for a lawyer when they urgently need a legal service.
With PPC, you can create search ads that will appear at the top of the search results when someone types in a specific query that you are targeting on Google or Bing. That way, your law firm’s website becomes visible to people who are actively seeking legal services that you offer.
For example, you are a law firm based in Irvine, CA that specializes in intellectual properties. You are running a PPC campaign and one of your ads target “intellectual property lawyers in Irvine.”
When someone types in “Intellectual property lawyers in Irvine,” your ad will surely be one of the ads that will appear on the SERPs.
Get Your Law Firm at the Top of SERPs
As mentioned earlier, your time and effort is key to improving your firm’s online visibility. And this can result in generating more clients for your law firm.
However, it does not mean that you should bite off more than you can chew. What you need is to find the low hanging fruit and focus your efforts there before you move on to the next.
That way, you can slowly but surely improve your law firm’s online presence and attract a steady stream of clients.