Growing law firms usually need help attracting new clients and standing out from other law firms in their communities. That is where lawyer marketing and local SEO can make all the difference. In this article, you will learn how lawyer marketing and local SEO can be leveraged to create more legal clients for your law firm.
Forward Lawyer Marketing can assist you if you want assistance with your marketing strategy. Call us today at (888) 590-9687 for a marketing consultation. Our marketing agency has worked with hundreds of law firms and possesses the knowledge, track record, and experience to help you grow a robust web presence to increase your legal client base.
In our digital age, your firm’s website is often a legal prospect’s first impression of you and is a critical brand ambassador. Your website gives you a critical chance to make the best initial impression on people in your city looking for various legal services.
You can have our legal marketing company build your site or do it independently. In either case, it is vital to have high-quality images and an excellent law firm logo for the best initial impression. Then, clearly and concisely describe your legal services and practice areas. The website should highlight all legal awards, recognitions, or relevant legal experience you have, and be sure that your contact information is prominent on every page.
Other essential aspects of an effective law firm website to secure new clients are:
Having an outstanding legal website is vital to effective legal marketing. However, you may have an award-winning website that does not bring in new clients if no one is aware. You need legal prospects in your city to find it fast online. The key to driving traffic to your legal website is ensuring that crucial web pages appear in search engines when consumers seek an attorney. This is what law firm SEO is all about.
SEO is complex, but at its foundation, it is about driving more web traffic to your website by enhancing its position in search results. Effective law firm SEO means using proven strategies to ensure your site is highly ranked in significant search engines. There are several critical steps for the best law firm SEO:
Your website should have a detailed blog that offers regular posts about important legal topics. This content should be interesting, accurate, and written about topics your prospects care about.
The content on your site should be optimized for keywords in the specialties you want to target. If you are an Atlanta car accident law firm, you might want to rank highly for ‘car crash attorney in Atlanta.’ If that keyword is too competitive and expensive, you might try ‘car accident attorney in Buckhead’ and other prominent Atlanta neighborhoods.
It would be best if you used other media channels to promote your site content, which will also benefit SEO. For example, you might put your most recent blog post on your Instagram and Facebook pages.
Getting on top of the search engines for critical keywords is only part of the battle. It takes a lot of work to stay there. You or your SEO marketing team must perform regular work and research to ensure your site stays on top of the results.
You can do legal SEO on your own, but many law firms benefit from hiring an SEO expert to do the work. SEO is frequently time-consuming and it changes every day. Investing in an SEO expert to drive traffic to your law firm’s website can save time and money.
SEO is essential of course, but local SEO is even more critical for most law firms. Local SEO is search engine optimization focused on searches with local intent. When most people look for an attorney, they usually search for someone in their city.
After all, if you are in a Miami truck accident, you probably want an attorney licensed in Florida who works in Miami; having a lawyer in California might not be helpful. There are many ways that local SEO can be emphasized in your online marketing plan. One of the most important is to leverage your Google Business Profile (GBP).
Google Business Profile is the major way that local businesses and law firms can provide information about their organizations to Google and get listed in Google Maps and Search. Your GPB listing is a business page with your firm name, phone number, and address, so Google can give this information to people looking for attorneys in their area.
To make your GBP work the best for client acquisition, ensure your listing title and description include information about what your law firm does. This information should be in your listing if you are a personal injury attorney specializing in motor vehicle accidents.
Next, you should get excellent legal reviews. Law firms with many good reviews get a more prominent GBP. Also, having many strong reviews is one of the significant things people look for when searching for legal and other services.
There are many ways to obtain positive legal reviews, but you should concentrate on offering the best legal services to every client. After every successful client outcome, ask that client for a positive online review. You can also send requests online and in the mail for past clients to leave a Google online review. Reviews can also be posted on Avvo, Findlaw, and Martindale-Hubbell.
Your site content is also essential for improving local SEO. Your law firm website should have ample information about crucial practice areas, as well as information about services that are available in your particular city. One effective way to improve local SEO is to write about essential law firm services focused on communities in your city. If your law firm is based in Chicago, you might write service pages about various Chicago neighborhoods, such as River North, Lincoln Park, Chinatown, and Hyde Park.
Another way to improve local SEO is to pay for Google’s Local Service Ads that appear at the top of most search engine results. The local service ads match potential customers searching for a particular service with businesses in that community. You can run your own PPC advertising campaign or have a legal marketing company run your ads.
Your website must look great, but your content should also be interesting, informative, and engaging. A major ranking factor for Google is how long visitors stay on your website, and you also want your visitors to stay there long enough to contact you. This is where outstanding legal copywriting is so important. How do you write exceptional legal content? Here are three tips:
There are many details for writing effective marketing content. But the most important one is to understand your audience. You are trying to get local consumers who need legal services to contact and sign a contract with your law firm. Always keep this person in mind when you write legal content. However, beware of writing ‘like an attorney’ and using overly complex legal terminology and jargon that could alienate visitors.
You should always write legal content for maximum understanding and clarity. This can be done by using simpler words and shorter sentences. It is always better for your legal audience to be able to scan the writing and grasp what you are saying instead of reading a long sentence four times and getting frustrated.
When a possible legal client visits your website, what do you want them to do? Ultimately, your goal for lawyer marketing and local SEO is to convert that visitor into a paying client. So, what are the actions you want your visitors to take?
You tell your audience what you want to do on your site by providing strong calls-to-action. This clear line of text tells visitors to take a specific action. For instance, a CTA that tells viewers to contact your office for a free legal consultation is recommended. Or, visitors can download a free report about Atlanta car accidents and settlements.
In short, think carefully about what visitors want to do once they come to your site. Then, use good copywriting to tell them what to do and how.
Forward Lawyer Marketing offers an individualized, consultative approach to law firm marketing. Our team focuses on the core elements of your web presence to deliver the best SEO results. Contact our lawyer marketing team for a consultation today at (888) 590-9687. We use results-oriented strategy, industry experience, and precise analytics to give your law firm the edge over your local competition.
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