Marketing your law firm online requires a mix of traditional online marketing techniques and tactics specific to the legal industry. Your starting place is a traditional website that informs clients about your legal practice and the lawyers that work there. From that starting place, you want to incorporate the following best practices to maximize the efficiency of your online marketing.
HIGHLIGHT YOUR SPECIALTY PRACTICE AREAS
When trying to find a lawyer, the average person doesn’t need general legal advice. They need legal assistance for a specific problem. This is why your website should highlight the areas you specialize in. Include your law specialty in the tags for your website, in the opening paragraph, and regularly throughout the page.
2. USE MULTIPLE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
In addition to a website, you want your online presence on various social media platforms. Most people use only one or two types of social media in their daily life. Every platform where you aren’t present reduces the audience that is likely to discover your law office. Even if you only use a social media site minimally, providing links to your website will increase traffic.
3. PUBLISH A FAQ
Approximately 0.36% of the population has a law degree. The rest have a very limited understanding of the law and are certain to have questions. By publishing a FAQ to your website, you are providing an easy way for potential clients to find exactly the information they are looking for, even without direct contact.
4. PUBLISH REGULAR AND ENGAGING UPDATES
One of the best ways to drive traffic to your website is to update it regularly. Websites with new content receive a bump in Google ratings and are more likely to appear on the front page of web results. Additionally, information that is interesting to your clients will encourage them to visit your website more regularly.
5. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF GOOGLE
Roughly 50% of mobile searches are for local services. In order to maximize your visibility on local searches, you need to register your practice with Google+ Local. This will provide Google Maps information for your law firm and ensure that your law firm.
6. SUBMIT TO LAW DIRECTORIES
Websites in the first five search results receive roughly 50% of web traffic and websites on the first page receive 95%. Do a search for legal services. Law directories always appear in the sponsored results near the top of the first page. Thus, even if your business doesn’t appear on the first page, if you can be found in a law directory, there is a greater chance of being found by a new client.
7. OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE FOR MOBILE
As of 2022, 63% of all Google searches were performed on mobile and that number has consistently increased throughout the past decade. Any website needs to be mobile friendly in order to be useful. Any investment into getting your website optimized for mobile will definitely pay off in the long run.
8. USE TARGETED ADVERTISING
Advertising dollars need to be spent as efficiently as possible, which means targeting the right demographics. You want your ads to be seen by people who are most likely to need the specific services you offer. For example, if you specialize in estate law, you want your ads to be viewed by older individuals. You can specify target demographics when purchasing online advertising and you should.
9. COMBINE YOUR EFFORTS WITH OTHER ATTORNEYS
Even if you don’t work together, it is valuable to create online “alliances” with other attorneys. This is an excellent way to get referrals when clients need practices areas allied attorneys don’t provide, and all you need to do is return the favor. Including links to their practice on your website (and in return have them link to your website) will also improve your Google rankings, due to having quality backlinks.
10. MAKE SURE YOUR WEBSITE LOOKS PROFESSIONAL
Clients expect professionalism from lawyers and that goes for your website as well. If your website looks like it was designed by an amateur, potential clients are likely to immediately leave your page. Hire a professional to design your website and provide regular maintenance.
11. MAKE YOUR WEB PAGE EASY TO NAVIGATE
The average person spends an average of 2 minutes and 17 seconds navigating a website. That means you have to engage with them quickly. Having an easy to navigate website is a big part of that. The faster visitors can find the information they are looking for, the more time they will spend actually interacting with that information.
12. LEVERAGE POSITIVE REVIEWS
According to data from Reevoo, conversion rates increase by roughly 50% between a website with no reviews and one with 10 reviews. Conversion rates continue to consistently improve as more reviews are added. You should leverage this by rewarding clients for providing reviews. Since you choose which reviews go on your website, it doesn’t matter whether they are positive or negative.
13. INCLUDE A CALL TO ACTION ON YOUR FRONT PAGE
A call to action offers two major benefits. First, it engages potential clients with an activity as soon as they arrive at your website. Should they call you or fill out a survey? You let them know. Second, it gives visitors easy access to your contact information. Both of these benefits increase the conversion rate of your website.
14. USE OPT-IN MARKETING
Similar to how a call-to-action lets your clients know how best to contact you, opt-in marketing lets your clients easily tell you how it is best to contact them. They choose what types of marketing to receive and how to receive it, via text, e-mail, etc. Studies also show that opt-in marketing has a much higher conversion rate than opt-out marketing.
15. USE OPT-IN MARKETING
Due to the area of law you practice, you expect a specific demographic to frequent your website. For example, if you provide family law, you expect parents will mostly browse your website. In that case, you should include links on your site that are useful for parents, even if they are only tangentially related to the law. Providing extra value for your key demographic improves conversion rates.