Digital Marketing for Law Firms: 4 Steps To Help Your Firm Stand Out

Modern businesses, including law firms, discover that getting seen on the internet can be difficult. LinkedIn is already full of legal business influencers, Google's search algorithms are becoming more nuanced, and the internet is full of great (and also terrible) content.

Are the times of DIY digital marketing for lawyers over? What is digital marketing? Below are four steps that law firms can take without any outside help to promote their services online. Use this guide to build steady, sustainable law firm online marketing and drive more clients to your firm.

A preliminary step is to determine the key goals that you want to achieve with digital marketing for law firms. With focused and realistic goals, you can stand out in the market without using a digital marketing agency. The following questions can give you an idea of where to start:

After answering these questions, you can better understand where to start and which digital marketing instruments may be a priority for your business.

In online marketing for law firms, search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice applied in order to stay visible and attract more visitors to a website. If a person googles "legal advice Ohio," the websites that will appear first in the search results depend on effective SEO.

Potential clients do not open many pages when googling specific information. Generally, if they find what they're looking for on the first page, or maybe the second, they will stop clicking.

Efficient SEO helps websites get to the top of the first page so new clients can find them. If SEO is working properly, search engines will include the website in relevant searches, increasing its ranking position toward the top. Search engine results can drive the most qualified clients to your firm because the clients are already interested in the services you provide.

However, while investing money in SEO, do not expect immediate results. This process takes several weeks or months to see improvements. Some steps for optimizing search results for your law firm include the following.

When performing law firm digital marketing, keywords are words and phrases that people have actually typed in a search engine to find legal advice. Consider which keywords are relevant in your region and for your audience.

For instance, keywords popular in New York will not have the same effect when promoting legal websites in Seattle or Miami. To create an organic keyword list, google "searches related to" or just type your topic into the search bar and see which keywords Google suggests. 

To market digitally, you can also use free tools, such as Keyword Tool, QuestionDB, WordStream, etc. It may also be useful to check Google Search Console to determine which words are already sending clients to your firm's website. 

Google Trends is a valuable tool for internet marketing for law firms, especially for learning about search trends relevant to your firm's practice area. This tool is simple to use and helps optimize blogs, websites, and social media profiles to reach more customers with SEO optimization.

Technical SEO may not be easy, but it is important. Such technical things as a website's speed, system of navigation, and placement of website blocks can make a significant difference in increasing the ranking of a law firm's website in search engines. If you are not tech-savvy, consider asking for professional help to get higher rankings for law firms through digital marketing and make sure potential clients enjoy visiting your website.

Effective digital marketing for law firms is what helps lawyers not only find new clients but also maintain strong relationships with current and former clients. The following tips will help you to build a strong online presence.

A landing page is the most important of any lawyer's business because it is the page that leads potential clients to the specific services the law firm has to offer. There are many online guides related to digital marketing for law firms, for example, how to create an effective landing page, and easy no-code website builders, like Wix or Squarespace, can simplify the process. Remember that landing pages are a great opportunity to make a truly positive first impression.

Social media is an essential tool for digital marketing and building an online presence for law firms. Be sure to invest some time and attention to keeping profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn active. Choose the right networks for a specific purpose. LinkedIn is useful for formal connections, especially with colleagues, and Twitter is great for building relationships with your audience.

Special digital marketing tools for law firms, like Social Report, can help to build optimal scheduling for marketing digital posts and monitor the flow of followers. Strong social media profiles will also help your SEO by providing a good overall impact on the ranking of your law firm's website. Clients may also share posts with their followers, making the firm more visible.

Be sure to invest time mindfully when it comes to social media matters. Jay Harrington, business coach, consultant, author, thought leader, and lawyer, shares his main insight on digital marketing:

Give your potential clients an opportunity to contact you in any way they feel comfortable. List phone numbers, email addresses, other social media links, and the website URL. Don't forget to include a callback button that will help to lead a potential client to the desired action.

Participating in different online forums and joining discussions can attract new followers to your firm's social media profiles. This can be another effective digital marketing method for law firms to increase online activity and attract potential clients.

Clients may feel anxious and unmotivated to use your services if they don't receive a fast response to their requests online. For 90 percent of customers, an immediate response is important when it comes to the decision to buy a product. Providing potential and current clients with immediate answers and feedback secures a high-quality user experience.

Creating a profile on relevant online marketplaces is a must to keep a competitive edge and attract new leads. Join Lawrina Match to get listed among other top-notch lawyers and connect with clients more easily.

Words and other types of content, such as images or videos, are key drivers of audience engagement. Every piece of content, either on social media or a website, can make a difference if properly optimized. The primary rule of digital marketing for legal firms to always remember is that the content should fulfill user intent. Producing great content can be a time-consuming endeavor, so many attorneys choose to outsource this task to a digital marketing agency.

The internet does not need more mediocre articles. Making a new blog post of high quality once a week can be much more effective than posting lower-quality content more often. Based on an effective SEO strategy, create articles that clients will find useful and valuable enough to share with others. Jay Harrington also mentioned the following about digital marketing:

Make sure that the information you post is based on credible sources. Always use reputable sources. Prioritize popular legal journals for referencing and websites ending in .gov, .org, and .edu.

The primary question to consider when posting any type of content is not, "Which goals do I want to achieve?" It's, "Does the information hold any value to clients?" Regardless of the type of content you create, it should always be client-oriented.

Find your target clients' frequently asked questions. You can find these on Reddit and Quora. Publish expert answers to the most common questions. This will let people know that you have expertise on their issues.

If personal success stories make a significant part of the overall content posted, they can bring real-life value to potential new clients. As many as 62.6 percent of the marketing survey respondents said that case studies (real-world examples of how you were able to meet your clients' needs) are effective in generating leads. People need to hear about personal cases whenever possible to increase their trust.

Effective branding through ads is one thing that's easy to overlook, especially if your law firm does not have much time to market your services while working on client cases. However, appealing ads help a business stand out among all others.

Before researching ads, conduct a competitor analysis. Knowing how other law firms are represented in search engines, which keywords they target, and which unique selling points they use in their ads can provide valuable insights to apply to effective advertising strategies in your law firm marketing online. You can use instruments like SE Ranking, SEMRush, Ahrefs, and SpyFu to identify which keywords are best for your advertising campaign and how to outperform your competitors.

Contrary to SEO strategies, PPC strategies can show progress just after beginning the ad campaign. There are two main platforms to create PPC Ads: Google Ads (for ads in Google) and Microsoft Ads (for ads in Bing). Both advertising platforms have their strengths and weaknesses. While Google Ads provides the most traffic, Microsoft Ads provides cheaper traffic sources. However, there is a chance that your competitors are not represented in Bing search ads, and that can become a competitive advantage.

Don't forget to measure your ads' performance to use your digital marketing budget efficiently. Install Google Analytics on your website (it's free), and you will see all incoming traffic on your website separated by traffic sources, users' devices, demographic parameters, and many more breakdowns. Connect your Google Ads account with Google Analytics to see how traffic from Google's search ads behaves on your website. If you want to see traffic behavior from other sources, including Microsoft ads, social media ads, partnerships with other websites, etc., you can use UTM tracking. This is a very simple and insightful tracking method.

It takes time, effort, and expertise to become an expert in digital marketing. However, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Always look with a critical eye at what you've already achieved and pay attention to customers' feedback. Effective digital marketing for law firms is no longer about pushing information to your potential clients but about creating a dialogue with them. Always remember that success in any sphere comes from curiosity, perseverance, and the power of self-criticism.