SEO is not just a trendy word anymore. It can easily propel your law firm to the next level.
No law firm can grow without new clients. More clients mean more business. If you have a successful law firm already, you have proven to break the complexity of the industry the hard way. It may seem unnecessary to try any new marketing strategies especially when you are one of the most trusted law firms in your area and your meetings almost always get a positive outcome. But that’s where stagnancy might kick in. Your law firm won’t be able to take the leap it deserves due to this invisible and unintentional wall of ignorance. With the democratization of the internet combined with an incredible level of internet penetration, reaching out to prospective clients has become even easier. And if your law firm is struggling even a little bit, it is the wisest and the cheapest way to change things.
It is always better to attract people to your business rather than taking proactive measures to reach out to them. As long as people are able to locate you in their vicinity, you have the best chance to gain new clients who genuinely want to hire ‘your’ services. Google recently carried out a survey from the data acquired from FindLaw which showed that 96% of people search for legal services online.
If you rank high enough on Google’s first page, you are basically ‘found’ by 96% of the population in your area. Having a website for your law firm is very important but that does not suffice to get noticed online. Most of Google’s users choose their solution based on the results that they see on the first page.
These stats show and establish the importance of SEO
1. 96% of the people use search engines to look for legal services
2. 75% of the people don’t scroll past the first set of results visible on their screen
3. 70-80% of these people ignore paid ads
What does Law Form SEO entail?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps your law firm website rank much higher than other competing law firm websites in the search result pages for a targeted phrase, aka keywords, that people are searching. For instance, let’s say you are a divorce attorney practicing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You will be found if people type in “divorce attorney Philadelphia.” However, to be on the top of the list in the search results and achieve that result, you need to have your law firm’s website optimized for search engines with an authority on that, and similar keywords. The higher you rank on the website, the more your chances increase to get new clients.
SEO vs Conventional Marketing
The traditional means of marketing worked fantastically for those who adopted them in its nascent stage. These methods included cold calling, newspaper ads, direct mail, magazine ads, exhibitions, exchanging business cards, and even the brute gate crashing. In the current era, traditional marketing turns out to be an expensive affair with highly inefficient conversions.
Why conventional marketing is a failure in today’s age?
· It is vague: Despite having a wide reach, traditional means of marketing gives you no control over who is watching your ad. It is next to impossible to measure the success of your campaign with certainty and precision.
· It doesn’t grow with time: The traditional means of marketing are short-term and you still may not get results. Every campaign is essentially starting from scratch to make a mark.
· It is very expensive: Considering the footwork involved in traditional means of marketing, every campaign will charge you a small fortune. It isn’t cost-effective in the long run.
· It is intrusive: Even if you adopt technology and send regular direct mails, it an ineffective way to appeal to clients. A much better approach would be to make them seek you out.
How does SEO help your law firm grow?
Being able to elaborate on your services to your client at their time and place of convenience without your presence is the best way to attract them. Following are the benefits of law firm SEO:
1. Relevant Traffic: More people seeking out a unique service like yours will find you by simply typing in their thought. This filters out people who might visit your website but have no use for you. By optimizing your website with law firm SEO you make sure that you become the first choice for the right set of people.
2. More Clients: By targeting the right kinds of law firm SEO keywords you have the chance of ranking high on the search engine result page increasing your chances of gaining a new client.
3. Better RoI: Law firms always have a cut-throat competition. Efficiently investing in SEO will propel your chances to get a massive head start in the race. If you compare other inbound marketing strategies, SEO marketing leads way ahead of email marketing, pay per click advertising, social media marketing, and blogging, in terms of return on investment.
4. Mobile experience: The number of searches done on mobile phones surpassed desktop users in 2014. This simply means that your law firm can easily be found by the maximum people by investing in SEO.
Paid ads
Paying for Google ads, aka AdWords, is still a cheaper option than traditional marketing. The results will be immediate but will cost you a significant amount. Instead, if you invest in law firm SEO, your ranking in the search result page will grow organically, have long-lasting effects and won’t incur any ongoing costs.
Two important Aspects to Ranking
1. Good Content: No one can escape the necessity of having good content. If your content is lazy, dicey, or plagiarized, your website will raise innumerable red-flags that will eventually affect your ranking.
2. Backlinks: Building backlinks from a diverse set of domains is important given how smart Google has gotten recently. Having scores of backlinks is no longer enough. Writing good content has to be backed with good promotion.
How do I start with my law firm SEO
You do not need very deep pockets to implement law firm SEO to your website. For instance, you can visit https://www.lawfirmseo.com/ and check out the packages available to apply SEO to your website. The article suggests methods to use SEO techniques to rank your website and content higher in the search engine result pages.
To apply SEO on your law firm’s website, you need to keep in mind the following points:
1. Set up your Google My Business page: Google streamlines all businesses according to the location next to the results. Make sure that you exist there.
2. Analyze competition: See if your competition ranks higher in the results pages with a set of keywords. Make a list of your competitors and analyze their websites. Imbibe their positives and try to use them to improve your website.
3. Always write a meta-description: Carefully draft the meta description since Google displays it in the search results.
4. Get citations: Citations are any mentions of your law firm by other websites. If you have a higher number of citations on your website than your competition, your page will rank higher.
5. Get backlinks: Getting backlinks from local sites makes your authority on that location known to Google increasing your chances to rank higher.
6. Customer Goodwill: Ensure that your previous and existing clients give you online feedback. This tells Google that your website has a good reputation, and automatically ranks you higher.
7. Local keywords: Optimize your SEO efforts by targeting on keywords with the location of your law firm. For instance, using a keyword like “divorce attorney South Philadelphia” will get you more targeted viewers that can become your clients.
Law Firm SEO is not as difficult as it might seem. It may take some effort and hard work to build your presence online, but the long-term benefits are very rewarding. Make sure that you get the right marketing strategy from an SEO expert who can speed up the entire process and help you grow the business of your law firm.