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Becoming an attorney and working for yourself are great things, but you need to find clients. And if you look for client leads online, you’ll have a lot of competition.
The good news is you can use the tips highlighted below to find more legal leads, whether you focus on criminal defense law or another specialty.
Dominate the Google Rankings and Attract More Client Leads
Search engine optimization (SEO) is probably the most essential and cost-effective way to advertise your legal services. There are hundreds of thousands of Google searches for criminal defense attorneys every month. You can get your site in front of those eyes by focusing your marketing efforts on organic search results.
The first thing to remember is that if your law firm isn’t on Google’s first page, you won’t get a steady source of leads from search engines. Here’s a fun fact: People search Google 3.5 billion times per day, but three-quarters of them don’t look past page one.
Google Ads
One way to the top of the rankings is to use Google Ads. If you have the funds, you can pay for Google Ads to boost your site while working on the rest of your marketing ideas. But before you set up ads, you need to find out how clients in your niche are searching for attorney services.
Work with your digital marketing team and SEO expert to pinpoint the keywords you need to target leads who can become clients.
Local Results Map
Below the paid Google Ads, you’ll see the local map results. If you want to bring client leads your way, it’s smart to be listed on Google maps. This will help you find more legal clients. The user sees a map of their local area peppered with red dots they can click for details. There also is a list of best results with links to those sites.
If someone looking for your firm needs a DUI defense attorney, it’s essential for your firm to show on that map. Your city might have dozens of DUI defense lawyers. A simple way to optimize your findability for leads in your local market is to set up your Google My Business where you can specify your business address, the markets you serve, and more.
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Organic Search Results
Almost 80% of clicks from searches go to the top listed organic search results. These are the site listings that are below the paid ads and map.
To boost your leads by 100% or more, you need to be in a top spot in organic search results. How to get there?
The details are best left to your SEO expert, but the most vital step you can take is to have the right content on your website with the correct keywords. When you have regular, helpful content on your site, Google will find the content and rank your site higher in search results for your keywords.
Online Directories Will Bring More Client Leads Your Way
Everyone knows about Google, but did you realize it’s a directory? Yelp is a directory, too, that had 164 million unique visitors in the last quarter of 2018! And it’s just grown since then. That’s a ton of searches for everything from barbers to attorneys. To get more leads and more clients, you need to be where your prospects are searching for services.
Notably, 80% of searches on Yelp are with a mobile device. We can assume those stats map to Google Reviews, SuperLawyers, and Avvo.com. Most prospects are looking for lawyers on their phones, not desktops. So to find more client leads, optimize for mobile.
Moreover, what is the chance those searchers will go to page two or three of the directory on the phone? Slim.
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Here’s some advice about getting more legal leads with directories:
- If your law firm’s name starts with anything after “D,” without a deep review history or sponsored placement, no one is going to see your directory listing because it’s on page five or beyond.
- Directory results appear on Google search results. If someone looks for a DUI defense lawyer in Portland OR, they’ll see Google Ad results, the search map, and organic search results. According to Avvo, Yelp, Google reviews, or another top directory in the organic results, at least one or two will be lists of Portland DUI defense lawyers.
Don’t Discount YouTube as a Source of Leads
You should be posting legal videos on YouTube. It helps build your reputation, but it is also the second-ranking search engine in the world. How do people use YouTube for searches, and how will it affect your legal marketing?
Consumers ask YouTube questions, so your best way to use YouTube for marketing is to answer common legal questions. Moreover, you’ll find your best leads among these consumers.
Billions of searchers use YouTube to get answers to questions. Have answers ready on YouTube for common legal questions in your niche, and prospects will turn to you for advice and maybe even for legal help. Instructional videos are a sure-fire way to land more legal clients.
Use these marketing techniques effectively, and you’ll obtain more leads and land more legal clients for sure!