Online Marketing for Law Firms
Promoting a law firm online is all about understanding your target market. There are two distinct approaches, depending on whether your firm is focused on acquiring corporate or personal business.
Digital Marketing for Law Firms
Direct online marketing for law firms is definitely simpler when you’re talking about B2C practice areas such as personal injury law, workers compensation law and divorce law. The quick buying cycle of this end of the market lends itself well to the fast-paced nature of advertising on the Internet. This is in stark contrast to the much longer buying cycle usually encountered when seeking legal contracts at the corporate and government level.
Because new corporate legal contracts are more likely to be negotiated on the golf course than on a landing page, top-tier commercial law firms need to take a more subtle approach to digital marketing and building brand awareness online. This is most commonly achieved through legal update marketing, which is essentially building authority for your lawyers by posting and distributing a constant stream of publications pertaining to legal updates. This has the added benefit of building back-links for SEO purposes if you can organise to have the content syndicated effectively.
SEO for Law Firms
Search Engine Optimisation for legal firms is all about choosing long-tail keywords. These are keywords that are usually typed by a potential client who is already most of the way through the “buying cycle.” Example keywords would be “workers compensation lawyers in brisbane” or “motor vehicle accident lawyer gold coast.” These keywords show that the potential client already has sufficient knowledge to know what type of solicitor they are looking for and they’ve already started to find a firm in their local area.
A common SEO mistake among law firms is to attempt to optimise for broad keywords like “law firm” or “lawyers.” This approach is unadvisable, as you run the risk of spending money optimising your website to appear for phrases that are only being searched by law students or curious information seekers.
Google AdWords for Law Firms
Using the Google AdWords platform to advertise on Google carries many of the same risks as it does for other industries, but can also pay off equally as well.
The same principles apply to Google AdWords as SEO: niche keywords, focus on the end of the buying cycle, ditch “tyre-kicker” keywords. That last one is exponentially more important when advertising through AdWords, as you’re paying for each and every click.
Website Design for Law Firms
If you are principally a corporate or commercial firm, your website aesthetic should convey clean elegance and professionalism. If you are a personal law firm, focusing on establishing a balance between affordability and expertise is often key. Either way, always design with conversion rate optimisation in mind.
A law firm website designed with conversions in mind should include the following key factors:
To establish expertise:
- Profiles and CVs for key fee-earners
- Method for subscribing to receive legal updates
- Clear summary of your firms practice areas
To drive conversions:
- Clearly visible contact phone number
- Quick enquiry form
- Testimonials from happy clients
- A special offer, i.e. First consultation free
If you’re looking for ideas on promoting a law firm online, remember to first ensure you’ve ticked off the basics.
Law Firm Online Marketing Basics Checklist
- Google Analytics tracking installed and tested
- Google Webmaster tools configured
- Google Places listing completed
- Google Plus business page
- Facebook business page
- Twitter account
- LinkedIn company page
Note: It will often be helpful if you have a “square” version of your logo handy for many of these pages.
Why is Advia the best at online legal marketing?
- We are a Google Certified Partner in Australia
- We are experts in all facets of online marketing.
- We offer a no-contract, no-commitment service