Internet Marketing for Law Firms

The Internet changed the game as to how we sell and buy services. Professional Services Firm marketing used to be about finding prospects. Now, our prospects find us. 24/7/365.

Website developers have assisted in the proliferation of law firm websites. Online law firm directories abound. Thompson Reuters’ recent survey found that four out of five people in need of a lawyer will either find one online or “validate” their services by checking their website.

Many law firms depend on “word of mouth” to promote and grow their practices. A gentleperson’s profession still grows this way. Having an online presence to confirm details about your law firm can assist in the process of educating your prospective clients about you and facilitate the process of client retention.

There are two elements of a website to consider – both of equal importance. One is the message of your site. Its USP and content, its call to action and its relevancy. The other is “getting found.” In Internet marketing language, this is called search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is a grey area in the Internet universe. Google changes its search criteria constantly in order to stay the lead search engine. We work with a SEO website development firm out in California that has had amazing success pushing one of our client’s firms up the search engine rankings – and keeping it there.

The Google business model is built on relevancy. Keywords specific to content on the page and fresh, updated, focused content is the chief driver of pushing a site up the Google search engine ranking. Site maps, clean URLs, heading tags and page titles are also important to getting found on the web. We’re big in creating excellent page titles. Ask us about title tags and Click Thru Rates (CTR).

Blogs help enormously with SEO because of the frequency of their updates and additional keywords.  Securing inbound links from a .gov or .edu site is of enormous weight, as is submitting your law firm’s name and address to directories like lawyers.law.cornell.edu, avvo.com or hg.org. Then there’s online press releases and submitting content to subscription sites.

 No matter how many visitors come to your site, they must be convinced and/or compelled by what they see and/or read there. (A website is a largely visual experience.) If you have $2K/month for a SEO campaign, or no budget at all, remember that ultimately, content is what will convert your visitors to phone callers. L&L LC can help with creating amazing calls to action based on your unique legal strategy.

Google Analytics is the next step. Content can be evaluated using analytics. At L&L LC, we are big believers in measuring visitor behavior and testing content. What are the top visited pages of your site? How do visitors navigate your site? How many forms are filled out for a consultation as the result of a specific search? What calls of action work? Don’t work? All of this may be measured by a/b testing using the Website Optimizer.

Analytics

• Growing field examining online behavior based on metrics like "bounce rate, time on page, conversion experiments."

• Traffic reports that can help you to decide the effectiveness of your website content and site structure (SEO).

• Based on this data, you may want to alter your practice development plans.

• Install a code on your website pages with Google Analytics and check the reports monthly.

Most law firm websites are typically structured.*


*Navigation bars are horizontal but it helps to think of your website pages in circular terms. They tell a story and although every page stands alone, each pages informs the next.