Is Your Law Firm Missing Out On Potential Clients?
In the fiercely competitive legal space, law firms engage in all kinds of different marketing strategies to attract clients. They utilize a wide range of channels including billboards and television commercials in an effort to connect with their target audience and capture market share.
While print, television, and radio ads can be effective, there’s still a good chance you’re not reaching everyone. So, how can lawyers up their advertising game? An effective way is using SEO, which often means turning to SEO agencies for attorneys. So, what is SEO, and how can it benefit attorneys? We’ll take a look at this in the following article ahead.
A Quick Look at SEO
As a lawyer, you probably have a great understanding of the law. You can answer almost any question a client can ask. There are countless legal books on your shelves filled with case law and examples.
You have all of the skills and experience necessary to build a strong case for your clients. The only problem is you’re having trouble getting clients to walk through your doors, and this is exactly when SEO comes in handy.
SEO is the acronym for search engine optimization. Every time you type a query into the search bar, you get pages full of results, and these results are listed in a ranking order, allowing you to click on the result best suited for your needs. Since most online users never look past the first ten or so search results, you want your law firm to appear at the top of the list.
Optimizing your website for the search engines helps ensure you show up at the top of the list and not towards the bottom. In simple terms, SEO helps ensure potential clients can more easily find your website. Once clients land on your site, they’re more likely to retain your legal services.
If you’re still not sure if hiring an SEO agency for attorneys can benefit your law firm, here are a few things to consider.
Benefits of Working with an SEO Agency
SEO is a form of marketing and it can have a huge impact on your law firm. Some of the benefits of using SEO are fairly obvious, and others may be a little surprising.
You Can Reach a Wider, Local Audience
As an attorney, you’re probably not trying to attract clients from out-of-state. While you can accept non-local clients, it typically comes with a lot of complications.
For example, a personal injury claim must be filed in the jurisdiction where the accident occurred. Since state laws can vary, you may not be the best choice to file the claim. You want to attract local clients.
Local SEO can help ensure your law firm is the one clients in your area can easily find. The SEO agency can create an online business page that pops up every time someone searches for a law firm near me. The business listing is a small advertisement that appears after performing a Google search.
The ad contains a link to your website and lists pertinent information like your business address, hours, and contact information. A good way to think of this type of SEO is to compare it to a listing in the white or yellow pages. When you’re more visible in local online searches, it’s easier to drive potential clients to your law firm.
Get Ahead of the Competition
As mentioned earlier, there’s a good chance you’re not the only legal practice in the area. You have competition and this means you’re fighting other law firms to attract the same clients. You can always try things like offering lower rates than your competitors. Personal injury lawyers often use contingency fee structures to help attract clients.
These and other tactics can be effective but they only go so far. The same also applies to your print advertising campaigns. Television and radio ads can be effective but they only reach viewers tuned into that station. With the growing popularity of ad-free streaming platforms, there’s a good chance you’re only reaching a small percentage of your target audience.
An SEO agency specializing in law firms can help you reach a broader audience. Not only can they take care of your local SEO needs, but the agency can also optimize your webpage. From optimizing the content by adding relevant keywords to inserting images and authoritative links, the SEO agency can help send your law firm’s website to the top of the search engine rankings ahead of your competitors.
Optimize Your Other Marketing Strategies
An SEO agency doesn’t stop at your website or after creating a local page. They can also help optimize your other marketing strategies. Maybe you’re sending out emails to prospective clients. You know the ones who clicked on your website and requested additional information about your services. The SEO agency can help you craft replies that resonate with email recipients.
Don’t forget about social media—yes, attorneys can also have a social media presence. If you’re not taking advantage of at least one social media platform, your online presence isn’t complete. Since each social media platform is different. You know, Instagram prefers images while X (formerly Twitter) deals with short text and pictures, you want to post the right type of content on each platform. The SEO agency can craft an advertising campaign for each platform you’re on.
Did you know you can even use social media to connect with past, current, and future clients? While you don’t want to post specifics about a case, don’t forget about attorney-client privilege rules you can discuss vague legal aspects. An SEO agency can either take care of responding to these posts or give you advice on how to manage the platforms.
Regardless of what your firm’s other marketing strategies are, an SEO agency can offer suggestions to optimize your campaign.
It Pays to Work with an SEO Agency for Attorneys
You have a lot on your plate simply handling cases for your clients. Keeping up with the best SEO practices can be time-consuming, even for experts.
Working with an SEO agency for attorneys is an effective way of getting your law firm noticed, ensuring you attract more clients while focusing on what you do best—advocating for your clients' needs.
