Why Spend Money On Lawyer Marketing?
The most important reason to spend money on lawyer marketing in San Diego is the competition in the legal field. In the last 15 years, law schools have produced many more newly-minted attorneys. This has led to more competition among local law firms. Also, some legal services offered for years are being made obsolete by improving technology. So, it is not only desirable to put marketing dollars into online marketing – it’s essential. Now, onto some of the best online legal marketing strategies to bring more clients to your law firm.
Build Your Brand
You want to improve your online marketing for San Diego legal clients. The tips mentioned below will help. But consider your legal brand. Without an effective brand, it is more challenging to stand out.
Your brand is how you want the law practice to be perceived by the public. Many law firms in town offer the same services. So, if your firm can provide a unique marketing proposition, you can get a leg up on the competition.
What makes your San Diego law firm stand out from others? For example, if you have excellent truck accident attorneys, perhaps you can position yourself as the law firm with the highest truck crash settlements. Or, if medical malpractice is your specialty, analyze the types of cases you do the most. The more specialized expertise you offer, the more your legal brand will be unique.
Build A Fast, Attractive Website
Most legal client prospects will get their first impression of your San Diego law firm on your website. So, it is essential to have the best legal website design you can. The site should focus on speed, attractiveness, and mobile friendliness. A fast website that is attractive on various devices will get more legal leads to your company.
How fast? Research indicates that almost half of consumers expect a website to load in under 10 seconds. If the site is slow, your potential client will move onto your competitor’s site. Also, more than half of site traffic these days happens on mobile phones. Therefore, ensure your site design is mobile-friendly and viewable on any device.
Engage On Social Media
Is it surprising that social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are among the most popular on Earth? People like to share and connect with others on social media. If your company is not using social media for marketing, now is the time to start: An Attorney At Work study concluded that 96% of 302 attorney respondents said they use social media for marketing.
What kind of legal content is popular on social media? Here are some ideas to try:
- Highlight positive legal reviews posted on Yelp, Google Reviews, and others. Most people looking for a lawyer today will read online reviews to decide if it is worth contacting you.
- Share helpful legal content: Share blog posts about San Diego car accident injuries or mistakes that can derail your car accident lawsuit
- Answer common legal questions your firm gets every day
- Rely on data from your social media posts to understand what is popular and unpopular
Provide High Quality Informative Content
It is vital to have a lot of high-quality text and video content on your website. If you notice that visitors regularly bounce out of some site pages, Google may lower your firm’s relevance score. Attracting visitors to the site is critical, but so is offering a lot of value in your legal content.
Videos are a fantastic way to engage visitors and keep them on your site. For instance, try a client testimonial or a question-and-answer session with one of your personal injury attorneys.
As long as the videos are not more than a few minutes long and offer suitable content, people will probably share them.
Another effective strategy is sharing informative content in a white paper or checklist. Then, have visitors provide their email addresses so you can send them the free information. Then, use their email addresses for email marketing.
Remember, all site content must provide informative content that shows your legal expertise. You want your site visitors to say to themselves, ‘Wow, that was some useful content! I am going to contact them for legal help.’ In addition, they will share the content with their friends online if it is good enough.
Focus On Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Having an attractive, fast, and mobile-friendly site counts for a lot. But if legal clients cannot find your site in Google and other search engines, you have problems. Effective San Diego SEO law firm marketing means your site shows on the first page of Google for critical keywords.
Is showing up on page two for San Diego personal injury lawyer good enough? Not usually. Studies show that 95% of consumers never even glance past the first three Google results! However, you should not get discouraged. Hiring a legal SEO marketing company can move your firm up in the Google rankings. It will not happen in a day, but it will happen if they know what they are doing.
Try Email Marketing
Email marketing is ancient, right? Does it still work? Yes! Email marketing still has one of the best ROIs in online marketing. San Diego law firms can tap this market. Here’s how:
- Ask prospects and clients to subscribe to a legal e-newsletter
- Ask them to sign up for regular website updates
- Give away something free, such as a white paper on the most common San Diego car accidents
Embrace Content Marketing
Google places great emphasis on businesses putting out informative, high-quality content. The better content on your site and social media channels, the more Google will value your site. Also, providing helpful legal content to San Diego readers will keep them coming back for more. Then, when it is time to hire an attorney, they may give you a call. Write a fantastic legal blog that will pay off in more clients. Or, do like dozens of law firms across the U.S. and hire FORWARD Lawyer Marketing for legal blog writing.
Further, whether you hire your blog writing out or do it yourself, keeping the blog as current as possible is vital. Legal customers want to see timely information, so try to update your blog at least once or twice weekly.
Use Chatbots
Chatbots rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to track website visitors, engage with prospects, and answer basic legal inquiries. The best part: A chatbot can respond to your site visitors without prompting from you. There is no need for a lawyer or paralegal to be standing by constantly online.
Another plus of chatbots is that they reduce the response time when someone contacts your law firm. As you know, there are many San Diego lawyers on Google. You could lose the lead if your firm does not answer an inquiry in minutes. A chatbot may ensure that the lead stays in-house.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
When opening Google, the first thing you should see are paid advertisements. The ads appear above the first organic search result. Moreover, the quantity of ads on page 1 search results is rising. So, investing in PPC advertising for San Diego lawyers may be a wise marketing spend. Here are some ways to use Google AdWords to obtain qualified legal leads:
Target desirable San Diego zip codes with higher incomes. These are often the people who search for legal services in the city. With AdWords, you can focus on the areas of town with the most legal prospects.
Perform extensive keyword research: A vital part of running an efficient AdWords campaign is finding keywords that produce solid leads at a reasonable price. Knowing which long-tail keywords to bid on and what to bid on will make or break your marketing efforts.
Bid on long-tail keywords: Paying for PPC ads for ‘San Diego attorney’ will cost you an arm and a leg. Instead, focus on long-tail keywords, such as ‘San Diego tractor-trailer crash attorney.’
Get Creative!
The legal marketing ideas mentioned here are effective. But there is no rule that you must stick to what everyone else is doing. So if you want to try another legal marketing strategy, give it a try. Also, try some of the above ideas and adapt them to your business. Remember, the key to getting more online legal clients is listening to what your audience wants and providing it.
Law Firm Case Studies
This case study shows how a single-attorney family law practice started attracting more high-asset, financially complex divorce cases.
Click here to read about a family law firm that increased its caseload five-fold in a few months.
Texas Criminal Defense Law Firm Doubles Revenue In One Year
Personal Injury Law Firm Sees 99% Increase In Organic Traffic
Contact Our San Diego Lawyer Marketing Team
At FORWARD Lawyer Marketing we believe in taking a “leave no stone unturned” approach when it comes to our legal clients. With that in mind, we employ extremely experienced people in the industry.
Our SEO Director has been marketing online for well over two decades and oversees all SEO tasks including editing content and performing on-page optimization as well as internal and external linking.
Creating a comprehensive lawyer marketing strategy for San Diego does not need to be overwhelming. However, if you focus on the basics mentioned here – SEO, social media, content marketing, and website design – you have a fantastic start for digital marketing.
Our specialty is law firm marketing and SEO for lawyers at FORWARD Lawyer Marketing, call us at (888) 590-9687 to discuss how we can increase the revenue of your law firm.