It wasn’t so long ago that a law firm could stand out online just for the sole reason that it had a website.
Today, law firm websites are ubiquitous, so they are no longer a differentiating factor. You’re going to have to dig a little deeper to set yourself apart online, especially because the majority of people looking for lawyers are doing the early part of their searches on the Web.
Here are five steps to differentiating your law firm online:
1. Pinpoint your ideal target market. Try to be as specific as possible in narrowing your target market down by demographics and personal profiles. This is key to your success in any kind of marketing, because if you fail to do this, nothing else you do will matter. You don’t want to waste time marketing to everyone, because no one is looking for a generalist these days. People have specific problems (to them) and want a specialist to help solve them.
2. Create focused landing pages for different practice areas. This is especially critical for consumer attorneys (personal injury, criminal defense, family law, bankruptcy, etc.) because you want to focus on the specific things people are searching for online. Someone in a car accident is more likely to search for “car accident attorney” than “personal injury attorney.” The most successful PI attorneys have separate focused landing pages for dog bites, commercial trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, traumatic brain injuries, etc.
For criminal defense, firms create focused pages on specific sections of the law. For example, you could write a page all about Texas Penal Code 49.04 through 49.065 which is about driving while intoxicated. Have another page about section 49.09 which is for a second offense. More people search for information about the exact code they were cited for in their ticket.
3. Give something away. People love to get something for free, and it doesn’t have to cost you a dime. You want people to give you their email address and name and in return, you give them something of value like a free report, e-book, monthly newsletter, top 10 list, or other form of educational material on their area of need. Think about the top 10 questions you get from clients and create a free download with the answers.
4. Create relevant, interesting content. No one is going to remain on your website, or visit you more than once, if they find boring content that is heavy on the legalese. You must write simply and concisely, using laymen’s language. And you need to keep adding relevant content to your site to keep readers coming back.
5. Blog Daily. A blog on your website is one of the best tools in your online marketing arsenal to keep and attract readers, but only if you update it regularly. We update our legal marketing blog seven days a week and have found it to be a proven lead generator for us. You need to update your content at least 3-5 times per week and according to a study by Hubspot, most blogs do not start producing leads until they have more than 100 posts. Plus, because you are always adding fresh content, a blog helps your site rank better in search. A blog also allows you to humanize your law firm so prospects get a good idea of what it would be like to do business with you.
