As a lawyer, you know a thing or two about complexity and nuance. That doesn’t mean you want to spend more time than you need figuring out how to make your online marketing work.
After all, even lawyers need a break!
Fortunately, search engine optimization (SEO) for law firms isn’t difficult to understand or implement. It can take some time, though, so you might think about hiring pros to implement this marketing strategy.
Here’s what you need to know!
Lawyers Should Claim Their Business on Google
Google My Business isn’t just for plumbers and local boutiques. As a legal professional, you should absolutely claim your listing as well. This means filling in your address, hours, phone number, and other relevant information.
Are you closed on specific holidays, or do you take one day of the week away from the office to handle other pressing responsibilities? Make sure to note that on your Google profile.
Another aspect of law firm marketing is to register with relevant business sites and professional directories. These citations help you stand out to Google, as long as your information is consistent. The name, address, and phone number you list should be the same on every platform.
Encourage Your Clients to Leave Reviews
Everyone jokes about lawyers until they need one – and then they want only the best. How do they know that you’re the best? It’s not what you say; it’s what others say about you.
Part of your customer service process should always include asking clients to leave a review. You can ask in an email, with links to Yelp, Google, and other relevant sites. You can ask in person. Whatever you do, make it as easy as possible for clients to share their experiences.
You don’t have to worry too much about negative reviews. Simply respond as best you can – sometimes a great response to a bad review builds your credibility more than having all great reviews!
Take Advantage of Focused Keywords
Focusing on specific keywords helps you rank more highly in search results. However, what keywords are most important?
As you might guess, you’re not likely to get on Google’s first page for the term “lawyer.” Instead, focus on keywords that your clients might use while looking for your help. What about “DUI lawyer in Milwaukee,” if you offer that service?
By using these more extended locally-focused keywords throughout your website, you’ll be able to attract the people who are looking for someone like you. This makes it easier to educate them and invite them to contact you for a consultation.
Create Helpful Content to Educate People
Did you know that 96% of people who need legal advice search for it online?
An important part of law firm marketing is to make sure your website provides the advice they’re looking for – and invites them to contact you for a case review. The more often you have new information on your site, (especially focused on your keywords), the better you’ll do on search results.
If you’re a DUI lawyer, you can write about what people should do if they are pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence. What can they do if they are charged? You might also want to talk about legal strategies and the importance of having a professional represent you.
If this seems like a lot to handle in addition to your legal work, that’s understandable. Fortunately, you can find a digital marketing agency that will handle your online marketing and SEO, so you can focus on serving your clients.
Structure Your Website to Maximize SEO Impact
This aspect of SEO is a bit more technical, but it’s easy to understand the basics. You want to make sure that the internal structure of your website is easy for Google’s crawlers to interpret and full of the keywords you want to focus on.
Each of your legal services should have its own webpage on your site. For instance, if you’re a Milwaukee lawyer, you might have subpages focused on “DUI in Milwaukee,” “Assault in Milwaukee,” and other similar niches.
Each of these websites can then rank highly in that specific niche, allowing you to spread your influence over a wide variety of keywords.
Again, it might be helpful to get a professional to build this site structure for you since it’s a time-consuming process and you have a business to run!
Law Firm Marketing SEO is Vital
People who search for legal topics online are generally looking to take action now. They are either in legal trouble or know someone who is. As a result, you can’t afford to not focus on ranking highly for the services you offer.
These five tips will help you rise above the rest with killer legal SEO. When you rank highly, you’ll get the clicks, calls, and clients that your business needs to succeed.