With nearly a half-million practicing law firms in the United States, you need to ensure that you are doing everything you can to stay ahead of the competition. If you don’t, you will just get lost in the crowd. With many of these other attorneys advertising their firms online, if you aren’t with them, then you are behind.
To improve your marketing and keep up with the other attorneys that are trying to take your clients, there are five things that can do to improve your firm’s chances of being at the top of the list.
Step 1: Make Local SEO a Priority
If you haven’t put this into practice yet, it is time to implement local Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
As a law firm, you likely target clients in your local area, or at least your own state. Local SEO will help you do just that, and it will increase your odds of landing on the first page of Google’s local search results.
To take advantage of this, first you need to open a Google My Business page. This will allow you to provide your address, phone, hours, practice specialties, and more. Using terms like attorney, law firm, and your city on your page info will improve your chances of being toward the top of Google’s local listings when people are searching there.
Your company should start seeing more and more local traffic. Address all reviews, whether they are good or bad, that are given on your page. Good reviews will help your business. Bad reviews, with the right response, may be rectified, or by flagging the review, the search engine may be contacted for advice or to have the review deleted.
Step 2: Create a Legal Blog and Update Content Frequently
Start a legal blog page on your website and add to it regularly. This content will help educate those reading your blog and will help your rankings on the search engine as well. Make sure the content added to your blog is significant, current, and regularly posted, whether weekly or even monthly.
Longer blogs are better (and usually more informative) than the quick posts. Just be sure you’re posts are well researched and of high quality. They should also offer information that will help your potential clients and give them the information they may be seeking.
How often do you post on your current blog, or do you even have one? If you don’t, you are missing a big opportunity. Even if you only post once a month, that is better than missing out on this opportunity entirely. If you really don’t have time to focus on writing even one post a month, consider outsourcing this task. There are people out there that are educated enough to research and draft your content, or have a legal background, that would be perfect for creating your content for you.
Step 3: Rack Up the Reviews
It is estimated that some 85% of people will look at online reviews before making a purchase decision, whether it is for a product or a service. That means it is even more important than ever before to get good reviews posted to your timeline. With so many people relying on positive posts before making the first phone call or visit, having good reviews from clients is good business.
Encourage your past happy clients to write a review and this can add more clients than you realize. Be sure they have a direct link to your local page, so the task is simple for them.
Don’t ignore those negative reviews either. Those are opportunities in disguise. However, negative reviews should be addressed quickly before the company reputation is damaged. Addressing them quickly and professionally will show people that you are responsive and trustworthy and will try to make things right for your clients, even when they are not happy. Do not pay for positive reviews either. If others realize this is happening, it could be even more damaging than a negative review.
Step 4: Consider Creating Videos
Even though content will likely stay king, videos are becoming more and more popular. Digital videos of actual clients are a preferred format of many internet users.
Short, high-quality videos of client testimonials can be posted to your website, social media, and even YouTube. You can also create videos of your blogs and post them on YouTube. If you aren’t comfortable creating this type of content, there are companies that offer this service as well.
Step 5: Take Advantage of Live Chat Tools
People want advice and they want it right now. Many younger people prefer to text over talking on the phone and that’s where live chat comes in to play.
Live chat tools can raise your visibility and they can be very cost effective as well. A message on your website can invite visitors in, making them more aware of the firm and the people working there, and possibly find you a new client.
In Conclusion
Any law firm needs clients to stay in business. Even if you are busy right now, you have to consider where your future clients will come from. Marketing is the tool that will ensure you always have new clients coming through the door.
Getting help to get ahead or stay ahead of the competition is an important goal of any company. If you don’t have the time or expertise to tackle the items on the list above, consider outsourcing some or all of these parts of your business.
The future of your firm depends on it.
At Bambiz, we work with elder law and estate planning firms and have extensive experience in developing social media marketing strategies unique to your firm, location, and potential client base.
To learn more about how we can help grow your business using online marketing, schedule a free 15-minute call with us.
