Online marketing for Attorneys: Where to begin and what’s effective

Digital marketing is significant for generating client leads and growing your law firm. Even if a potential client gets a referral for your law services, they will most likely research you by checking out your website and looking at reviews before contacting you.

Digital marketing strategy is crucial for lawyers because law is a highly specialized service. Whether you’re an injury lawyer or you practice family law, you want people who need your specific service to find you.

The benefits of developing an online marketing strategy for your law firm

Legal content can significantly affect people’s lives, so search engines place a lot of weight on your content’s expertise and trustworthiness. 

An online marketing strategy can help build your credibility as an authority, reach your potential client base meaningfully, increase your searchability online and grow your business. 

Law doesn’t always rely on repeat clients, so it’s essential that your marketing strategy effectively demonstrates your value to attract new customers.

Digital marketing tips for lawyers

Use SEO to improve your ranking on search engine results pages (SERP)

SERPs offer various options to help your business rank near the top. 

Google Ads offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising that allows business listings to appear at the top of searches and show a small “ad” marker. You can adjust your target audience anytime, and your business pays a fee each time a user clicks the link.

A local pack appears at the top of a Google search and includes a map with business locations and three relevant search result listings. Searchers can click to navigate to a map with a longer list of business links.

Organic results are non-paid relevant listings that search engine algorithms rank. Each search engine uses a unique set of metrics to rank search results, but they typically rank based on the website’s keyword usage, the business’s engagement on reviews, and overall credibility as a business.

Content marketing and blog articles can boost your law firm’s listing in search results by using applicable keywords and showing authority in your field. Since most people click on listings on the first page of search results, your SERP ranking affects the amount of traffic to your site. 

Have a high-quality website

A potential client will likely look at your website before contacting you. Website speed, design and overall user experience will build trust in your expertise. Optimize your website landing page to collect information and generate leads when users visit your page. 

Publish content

Publish valuable content to establish yourself as a knowledgeable business. Make sure you post credible information and target new keywords on different pages. 

Share your content on social media sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Good content will drive traffic to your website and provide an opportunity to convert site visits into leads.

Use keywords 

Keywords communicate how relevant your website is to a user’s search. Primary keywords, or seed keywords, are short and likely used by several websites. 

Long-tail keywords are longer (three or more words), more specific keywords. They might have lower search volume, but because of their specificity, they can have a higher conversion rate than primary keyword searches.

Engage with clients

Engage with your clients through social media marketing, and you can expand your reach to potential clients. Share your articles and blog posts on social media channels, and ensure every social media page links to your law firm’s website.

Email marketing campaigns are another opportunity to provide valuable information to people who may need legal services and connect with potential clients.

Get customer reviews

Customer reviews online give you credibility. If someone is searching for an attorney and sees the value you’ve provided past clients, they will be more likely to consider working with you. 

Publishing case studies that show how you’ve helped past clients will also help build trust with those searching for your services.

Local SEO

A potential client in your practice area might search “personal injury attorney near me,” and you want to come up early in those search results. People generally trust that search engine algorithms sort through all the results of a search and place the best ones up top.

Claim or create your business profile on Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) so your business listing comes up in Google local pack results and on Google Maps. Fill out your profile, including your name, address and phone number. 

Post business listings on other online business directories, such as Yelp, and link the profiles back to your website. If web crawlers can verify your information is consistent across directories, they’ll be more likely to trust your legitimacy.

First steps for putting your law firm’s marketing strategy in motion

Define your target client and set digital marketing goals

To strive for a specific outcome, you need to envision your direction. Your digital marketing goals might be to increase your site’s traffic or grow your newsletter subscription list. These individual goals establish your overall online presence and bring in new clients.

It helps to know your clientele and how you can solve their problems. The circumstances of your target customers can help determine where you want to focus your attention.

Track your progress

Be intentional in tracking and monitoring your progress, so you can understand your return on investment (ROI) and adjust your digital marketing strategy as needed. 

Track if more traffic is coming to your website or if your SERP improved from your SEO efforts. Monitoring these metrics will allow you to analyze your growth over time and determine which marketing strategies are working well and which ones require attention.

Start developing your marketing strategy with Broadly

Creating an law online marketing strategy for your law firm might feel overwhelming. Broadly will help you implement various activities to improve your online presence. 

We can help you optimize your website for SEO and make it mobile-friendly. Web chat functionality enables you to respond instantly to inquiries. The reviews platform consolidates customer reviews, so you can view and respond to them from a single interface. And that’s not all, Broadly even offers mobile invoicing and payments.