Digital Marketing Strategies for Law Firms — What Worked in 2023

/by

If you want your law firm to succeed, you need to have a strong online presence. But the definition of that can change slightly from year to year due to shifting consumer preferences and digital marketing trends. Here are some highlights of what worked well in 2023 to give you a good idea of what digital marketing strategies for law firms will be the most effective going into 2024 and beyond.

Digital Marketing Strategies for Law Firms — What Worked in 2023

Understanding digital marketing trends is a critical part of developing the best strategies for your law firm in the coming year. Good or bad, the digital marketing industry is one of the fastest-changing sectors you’ll encounter. What was effective five or ten years ago may not work as well today. And what is working today may not have even existed a few years in the past.

  1. Content is Still King

Content marketing continued to be the most effective legal marketing strategy in 2023, and that is not expected to change anytime in the foreseeable future. Every law firm needs a modern and engaging website. But the content your firm posts is how potential clients learn about your law firm, make a connection with your brand, start trusting that you can solve their problems, and find out how to contact you.

Law firms can use a variety of content like practice area pages, blog posts, videos, white papers, podcasts, and other content to make these connections. Video content has become even more prominent in 2023, with law firms starting to embrace a wide variety of video content (YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, etc.) to engage audiences and drive conversions.

  1. Harnessing the Power of AI

As technology has continued to evolve, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a more prominent role in law firm marketing. AI is not an ideal technology for content creation because there have been many problems with accuracy and consistency. However, AI is being used to create a more personalized marketing experience for prospective clients.

AI algorithms can be used to tailor interactions with prospective clients so the content they receive is more relevant to their needs and interests. AI can also better analyze insights so your business is making the most informed business decisions.

  1. Using Social Media Authentically

Social media continues to be a fundamental legal marketing strategy. Considering more than half (60%) of the world’s population uses social media regularly, there’s a good chance your target audience is on these platforms. But just having a presence on social networks is not good enough for law firms to get the results they want.

In 2023, law firms and other brands discovered that authenticity is essential on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even LinkedIn. Specifically, businesses that demonstrate transparency and genuine values are able to make more authentic connections with their audiences.

  1. New Paid Advertising Opportunities 

Google ads and social media ads remain an excellent strategy to supplement some of your long-term legal marketing solutions. Over the past year, new campaign types have emerged that leverage the power of AI. Google’s new “demand generation” campaigns allow your firm to display engaging, multi-format ads across all of the company’s platforms, including YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and more.

These Demand Gen ads allow your firm to reach up to three billion active monthly users. However, most law firms aren’t targeting that law of an audience. The ads also use AI-powered bidding and insights to ensure your ad dollars are being spent in the most efficient way possible.

  1. Adapting for Mobile & Voice Search

According to Statista, just over 95% of internet users globally are accessing online resources via mobile devices. Considering most people are using mobile devices for things like search, it remains essential that your law firm’s website and online content are customized for these various platforms. This is not only important for the client experience but also for your search engine rankings.

With the increased use of voice search, many law firms are improving their results by including conversational keywords and language in their online marketing efforts. This type of language, such as “What’s the difference between a will and a trust?” or “What’s the penalty for a 2nd DUI in Florida?” can help law firms capture additional traffic via search and ads in the coming year.

  1. Integrating Online and Offline Channels

While law firms get more leverage and a higher return on their investment through online marketing, there’s no reason to completely discount offline channels. Whether your firm invests in billboards or involvement in community events, the most important trend is in unifying your online and offline channels.

In other words, your branding elements, messaging, and promotional strategies across multiple platforms should be consistent. Potential clients will notice if you are presenting competing messages across different channels.

  1. Evolving the Client Experience

The client journey begins when a potential client realizes they have a legal issue requiring professional intervention and continues well past the time they engage your firm’s services. Today’s consumers have higher expectations from the brands they support, whether it be a product or service provider.

Many law firms are finding it beneficial to deploy new chatbot technology to offer immediate and individualized client assistance. This technology can tell clients your operating hours, outline your specific geographic coverage and practice areas, and alert someone at your law firm when there is a qualified lead requiring assistance.

Is Your 2024 Digital Marketing Plan Ready?

Now is the time to begin planning your 2024 legal marketing strategy. What worked in 2023 may continue to be effective in 2024, but marketing trends will continue to evolve. It’s essential that you have a clear idea of your goals and a roadmap to achieve them.

If you are ready to drive more traffic to your law firm’s website and boost your business, Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing can help. We offer results-driven legal marketing solutions that work in the current environment. Call us today at (800) 649-1764 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation and website evaluation.

Effective SEO Tips for Lawyers and Law Firms

/by

In today’s digital world, people who have legal challenges are going online to find answers and locate an attorney who can help them resolve their issues. If it’s difficult or impossible for potential clients to discover your law firm, you will likely lose out on a significant amount of business.

In this context, SEO for law firms has become a critical component of an effective legal marketing strategy. Here’s what you need to know about SEO and some of the most effective SEO tips for lawyers to help your law firm enhance its online presence and improve its overall results.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing content and websites for higher search engine rankings. In other words, you want your law firm’s website to show up at the top of the organic search results when someone enters a search term on Google, Bing, or another search engine. Examples include “divorce lawyer in Memphis,” “car accident attorney near me,” and “business contract lawyer Alabama.”

Why SEO is Important for Law Firms

SEO strategies for law firms are important because they boost your online visibility. When people can find you online, they are more likely to click on your website’s link to learn more about your firm and read its content.

For most online searches, fewer than 1% of people will go to the second page of organic search results. In fact, the first two results on the page will receive about 50% of the clicks. So SEO is essential for placing your firm’s results as high as possible to get your target audience to visit your website.

Effective SEO Tips for Lawyers and Law Firms

Most law firm SEO strategies will focus on securing the best possible rankings on Google since it holds 88% of the search engine market share in the United States. Google employs an algorithm using hundreds of signals to rank web pages. However, effective SEO for your law firm can be condensed down into five major categories to get your business the best results.

  1. Content

A key part of any law firm’s marketing strategy and one of the biggest factors in SEO for lawyers is content. Your firm’s content refers to its use of web pages, practice area pages, blog posts, videos, images, and other content to describe your services and boost engagement.

You use content to convey information to potential clients, such as answering frequently asked questions and describing how your services work. As an SEO strategy, your content marketing should include high-value keywords, such as “DUI attorney near me” or “creating an estate plan.” The content you post should be up to date and include calls to action so readers understand the next steps in getting the help they need.

  1. Link-Building

Even if you have perfect content, you may not get the search engine rankings you want if your pages aren’t considered authoritative or trustworthy. The best way to show this is through backlinks, which is another factor Google uses to rank websites.

Google views high-quality backlinks as a vote of confidence for your business’s content. To get the best results, the links must be from a website with a high domain authority, include relevant anchor text, and have a link placed within the content, not in a footer or sidebar.

Link-building is tricky because doing it wrong can have the opposite effect on your rankings. To avoid poor rankings or penalties, it’s best to have a professional execute this strategy.

  1. Technical SEO

Technical SEO refers to the various strategies that make your website easier to find and read by the search engines. These include items like:

  • Site architecture
  • URL structure
  • Header tags
  • Title tags
  • Image alt text
  • Internal and external links

Many of these elements are built into your website during the design stage. But it’s also possible to “fix” some of these items during a website redesign or refresh.

  1. User Experience

Another SEO ranking factor Google places value on is the user experience (UX). This is a broad concept that covers how a potential visitor to your law firm’s website will feel and interact with the content. It refers to:

  • How easy and intuitive it is to navigate your site,
  • How responsive your site is on different devices, such as tablets and smartphones,
  • How fast your site loads,
  • How visually appealing your site is, and
  • How secure your site is in terms of protecting visitor data.

While it’s unclear how much the UX will impact your organic ranking, all of these factors are essential to make a strong impression for your law firm’s brand.

  1. Local SEO

Most law firms cater to a local market. In other words, you offer your legal services to clients within a certain geographic area. If your firm is located in Atlanta, getting website traffic and phone calls from people in Los Angeles may not do your business much good. Local SEO helps your firm focus its efforts on ranking in local search results.

Your firm’s Google Business Profile (GBP) is what makes it eligible to rank in Google Maps and the local search results. In addition to optimizing your GBP, you should be including localities (city, state, county, neighborhoods, etc.) in your website content, and encouraging online feedback from clients to improve your local SEO.

Get the Best SEO Results from Your Law Firm Marketing

The legal industry is so competitive that it’s challenging to create a strong and lasting online presence without the right legal marketing strategy. And your focus should be on delivering high-quality legal services, not researching keywords, creating meta tags, and building links. What you need is a legal marketing partner who can help you get lasting SEO results.

Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing is dedicated to helping its legal clients achieve outstanding results through proven digital marketing solutions. We understand what SEO tactics work and which ones will only produce short-term or questionable results. Call us at (800) 649-1764 or contact us online today to schedule a free initial consultation and website evaluation.

It’s Time to Get Started on Your 2024 Marketing Plan

/by

Another year seems to have flown by, and many businesses are already considering their goals and strategies for the coming year. To ensure your law firm is spending its marketing dollars wisely and getting the best possible results, a well-thought-out plan is a good idea. Here are a few things to think about and some steps you can take to get started on your 2024 marketing plan.

What is a Law Firm Marketing Plan?

Your law firm’s marketing plan is a place to document and define the goals and strategies you wish to pursue for a given period, usually the coming year. Your marketing plan defines what you want to accomplish, who your law firm is targeting with its efforts, your budget, the strategies you plan to use, and the various roles and responsibilities of people who will execute the plan.

Why Your Law Firm Needs a Marketing Plan

It doesn’t matter whether you are running a large law firm or are a sole practitioner — you still need a marketing plan. It’s the glue that connects your strategies together and ensures you are focusing on the right activities at the right time. Here are some of the benefits of having a legal marketing plan.

  1. It helps you create measurable goals.

Your legal marketing plan ensures you create goals that align with your firm’s overall business objectives. Going even further, it allows you to designate key performance indicators (KPIs) to track each of your marketing initiatives.

  1. It helps identify your target audience.

Your firm can waste a lot of time, effort, and marketing dollars on strategies that don’t reach the right audience. Your marketing is an excellent tool for defining who your target audience is and how you can customize your firm’s message to reach this demographic.

  1. It pushes you to create and stick with a budget. 

The last thing you want to do is spend money on the wrong marketing strategies or not know where your marketing dollars are going. A marketing plan pushes you to create a detailed marketing budget and designate how those marketing dollars will be spent.

  1. It provides marketing consistency. 

If you post new blog content or social media updates only occasionally, you won’t be as effective at creating a connection with your audience or building authority as you would be if you were more consistent.

  1. It can serve as a strong motivator. 

Because your plan outlines your goals and creates a roadmap to achieve them, it can serve as a powerful motivator for your team to stick with your winning strategies.

  1. A plan makes your firm more competitive. 

You can be sure the most successful law firms in your area are making legal marketing a priority and executing their strategies with a solid plan. By doing the same, you are ensuring your firm remains as competitive as possible.

  1. It can make your law firm proactive in its strategies. 

Being reactive to market trends or conditions isn’t a successful legal marketing strategy. Having a plan in place allows your firm to be proactive and take advantage of various opportunities to achieve better results.

Top Trends in Legal Marketing to Watch in 2024

One thing that is a constant with digital marketing is that strategies continue to evolve, and what the search engines prioritize can change from year to year. It’s always interesting to consider what the new year will have in store for digital marketing. Here are a few trends you can expect to see in 2024 and beyond.

  1. Use of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

There is a right way and a wrong way to use machine learning and AI for digital marketing. The wrong way is to expect these solutions to do the work for you effectively. They won’t produce the results you want. But they will deliver more accurate and in-depth insights about your target audience so you can optimize your campaigns.

  1. Growth of Social Media Advertising

Social media use among consumers remains strong. People still use social networks to stay in touch with people they know as well as to learn about and make connections with brands. In 2024, advertising on social media will become more personalized and interactive.

  1. Increased Role of Video Advertising

Consumers are watching more and more video content online, which makes this channel ideal for marketing in 2024. Marketers will continue to use video to create brand awareness and boost engagement across various online channels.

  1. Emphasis on First-Party Data

Marketers are placing more emphasis on first-party data due to increased privacy concerns and a need to gain consumer trust. This type of data offers greater reliability, accuracy, and regulatory compliance, as well as improves the user experience.

Putting Together Your Law Firm’s 2024 Marketing Plan

It’s a good idea to take a close look at your law firm’s marketing strategy at least once per year. Without an annual marketing plan, things can get confusing and more costly than necessary. To make creating your plan easier, here’s a list of of the steps you’ll want to include in the process.

  1. Conduct a Marketing Audit

If you aren’t sure where you stand, it will be challenging to create a comprehensive legal marketing plan. For this reason, you may wish to start with a marketing audit that delivers a snapshot of where your business is currently at and an analysis of the effectiveness of any marketing strategies.

  1. Perform Market Research

In addition to examining the state of your current marketing efforts, it’s also essential to research the market in general. This will include taking a look at various trends in the overall digital marketplace and your local area. Specific attention must be paid to the competition. Specifically, where does your firm stand regarding market share in local search results?

  1. Understand Your Audience

If you haven’t spent a lot of time defining your target audience, this is an excellent opportunity to delve into this subject. Legal marketing won’t be effective if you don’t have an intimate understanding of your target client’s wants and needs. Going further, your website and content must match your target visitor’s intent, which can vary depending on your practice area. For example, some potential clients are interested in “how to get out of a DUI,” while others want to know “how to set up a living trust.”

  1. Establish Your Goals and Objectives

Early in your marketing plan, you’ll want to create a list of goals and objectives. What is your purpose for marketing your law firm? For many, it’s to get more clients. But this is a process that includes increasing your online visibility and building trust with your audience. You can create specific objectives tied to each strategy, such as gaining a certain number of social media followers per month, a particular click-through rate, or various local search rankings.

  1. Create Your Budget

If you haven’t already done so, it’s vital that you create a realistic budget that can help your law firm achieve its marketing goals and objectives. If you aren’t sure how much to allocate for marketing, you may wish to consult with your digital marketing agency for guidance.

  1. Map Out Your Messages

Your messaging is tied to your law firm’s branding and marketing strategy. Ideally, what you have to say and the things your law firm stands for will set it apart from the competition. Your marketing plan should define how your messaging will be incorporated into your website, content, social media posts, and more.

  1. Outline Your Strategies

A successful marketing plan is comprised of many different strategies. Your practice area, goals, and target audience will influence this decision. For example, if you are a criminal defense lawyer who serves a lot of younger clients, you may wish to focus heavily on social media. Most law firms, however, will want to use a combination of strategies, including having a strong law firm website, ongoing blog content, video marketing, and more.

  1. Measure Performance

Those goals you established at the beginning of the process play an important role in the success of your overall marketing strategy. You can identify one more key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the performance of each of your goals. Each KPI allows you to benchmark your progress. At various intervals throughout the year, these metrics give your firm valuable insights that enable you to make adjustments when something isn’t working or take advantage of new opportunities.

Take Your Legal Marketing Strategy to the Next Level

Now that you understand the importance of having a digital marketing plan for your law firm and some of the steps to create one, you’re probably ready to take some decisive action. We can help. Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in results-driven digital marketing solutions for legal professionals. We can help your firm boost awareness, create value, and improve its results throughout 2024 and beyond. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and website evaluation. We can be reached at (800) 649-1764.

Local SEO Strategies for Legal Practices — Attracting Nearby Clients

/by

Law is one of the most competitive industries, especially when it comes to attracting clients online. And make no mistake — that’s exactly where people go to search for and research law firms. But if your firm is only focusing on general keywords for search traffic, it could be missing the mark in some critical ways.

Most law firms cater to local clients, meaning they serve people or businesses within a specified geographical area. Because of this, you want to show up in the search results for people in those areas looking for your services. This is why you need a solid local SEO strategy for your law firm.

What is Local SEO for Lawyers?

SEO is short for search engine optimization, and it involves strategies to drive a web page to the top of the organic (free) search results for various search terms. Because people usually search for law firms in their area, local SEO becomes important.

Local SEO is a set of specific strategies to rank your law firm’s web pages at the top of Google. In addition, it will help your firm show up in other ways, such as alongside the map results.

Why Local SEO is Essential for Law Firms

There are many ways to get your law firm noticed offline and online. But, by and large, how you show up in local search results can make a significant difference for your business. That’s where local SEO comes in. It provides your firm with several key benefits, including:

  • Greater Visibility— Google offers a “Local Pack,” which is a list of nearby businesses when a user searches for a local law firm. Being included in this result will give your firm greater online visibility.
  • More Targeted Traffic— Your firm’s website might get a ton of traffic. But, if it’s from people far outside your service area, this won’t do you much good. Local SEO helps pull in local visitors who are looking for your firm’s services.
  • Increased Credibility — Positive reviews on your firm’s Google Business profile will improve your local rankings and boost your local search results. Both of these will boost your online reputation and help build credibility with potential clients.

Top Local SEO Strategies for Legal Practices

Local SEO is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for local businesses, including law firms. Here are some of the top local SEO strategies your legal practice can use to improve its results.

  1. Website Optimization

The first local SEO strategy your law firm will want to explore is website optimization. Whether you have an existing site or are building one from scratch, your firm’s online presence should follow certain SEO best practices that include technical and on-page SEO elements to achieve high rankings and attract local website traffic.

  1. Mobile-Friendliness

Over half of website traffic in the United States now comes from mobile devices. This means people are overwhelmingly using tablets and smartphones to locate goods and services. You’ll want your law firm’s website to be mobile-friendly so prospective local clients can find you quickly and easily. If they can’t, they’ll likely move on to someone else.

  1. Google Business Profile

Having a well-optimized Google Business Profile is one of the best ways to achieve high rankings on Google Maps. Google’s Local Pack algorithm reviews these profiles for a variety of elements, like address, phone number, service listings, website URL, hours, photos, and more. This should be a comprehensive picture for prospective clients regarding where you are located and what services you provide.

  1. Online Reviews & Reputation

Most consumers today want to read online reviews before they choose a local vendor, whether it’s an electrician or an attorney. Those reviews can also boost your local search engine rankings and overall authority.

Google values reviews because they show that your business is legitimate. You can ask former clients to leave feedback on your Google Business profile, social media pages, and various directory listings. You should also monitor these pages and respond appropriately to all reviews, positive and negative.

  1. Targeted Content

Your law firm’s website content can boost your local SEO efforts by using localized keywords throughout titles, headers, meta descriptions, and the text of your web pages. Whether it’s an Area of Practice Page or a blog post, you can include local search terms, like “divorce lawyer in Mobile” or “truck accident attorney in Atlanta,” to let readers and the search engines know your firm offers services relevant to a searcher’s interests.

  1. Link Building & Citations

Link building is something that needs to be done correctly, or you could potentially get your law firm’s website in hot water with search engines. To get the best results, you need high-quality backlinks from other local websites.

You might get links or citations from local newspapers or a Chamber of Commerce. Other options include exchanging content with outside blogs and using some select directories.

  1. Local Service Ads (LSAs)

Local Service Ads are a paid service through Google, so they may not belong in the category of “SEO.” However, they can be beneficial to your business as you wait for these other strategies to bear fruit.

Google allows certain local service businesses, including law firms, to get Google Screened before running local service ads (LSAs). These ads will show at the very top of search results and include a link to your Google Business profile with your star and feedback information.

Don’t Have Time for Local SEO? Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing Can Help

Local SEO is an essential part of your law firm’s ability to reach and connect with potential clients in your community. But it’s not something you need to tackle on your own. We understand that and would be happy to help.

Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in helping law firms get found and chosen by their target clients in their local communities. We understand how local SEO works and can help integrate these strategies into your overall digital marketing plan.

To find out more about how we can help your firm, call us today at (800) 864-1764 or contact us online. We offer a free internet marketing assessment and website evaluation to get started.

Understanding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Legal Marketing

/by

Just as the practice of law isn’t subjective, neither is the measurement of business results. If you aren’t tracking specific metrics and numbers, how will you know what’s working and what isn’t with respect to your marketing strategies? This is where key performance indicators (KPIs) come into play. Here’s why KPIs are vital in law firm marketing and how you can make sense of them.

What Are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are specific data points used to measure progress and success within a business. Each KPI is a measurement tied to a particular goal, such as leads, engagement, or conversions.

According to KPI.org, the essential data your business collects helps track progress, supports strategies, and measures success. But there are countless KPIs your law firm can track, and some may be more useful than others. In addition to committing to this strategy, you’ll also need to choose the right metrics.

Why KPIs Are Critical in Law Firm Marketing

Setting goals and tracking performance are basic elements of a successful business enterprise. This includes your legal marketing strategy. Instead of just investing in marketing and hoping for great results, here are some of the reasons why KPIs are vital to your marketing strategy.

Measure Performance

You can collect a ton of data and never use any of it. One of the benefits of choosing specific KPIs is that you are designating certain data points you will measure, which are tied to your firm’s goals.

Create Accountability

Once you identify your list of KPIs, you can also decide who will be responsible for driving those results. Will it be someone within your firm, an outside agency, or a combination of the two?

Enable Predictability

Without leveraging the right KPIs, your law firm may be left wondering why one marketing strategy or another isn’t working the way you expected. KPIs allow for better predictability of results moving into the future.

Allow Tracking

Once you’ve chosen your KPIs and created a reliable monitoring system, tracking these metrics becomes seamless. You can get these figures reported to you monthly or quarterly and use them to make more informed business decisions.

Making Sense of KPIs in Legal Marketing

Not sure which KPIs are right for your law firm? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. While there are some marketing KPIs every law firm should track, others will depend on your firm’s goals and priorities. Here is a list of the most commonly tracked legal marketing KPIs.

  1. Return on Investment

Return on investment (ROI) is one of the most critical metrics for law firm marketing because it helps your business ensure it’s getting the most value for its marketing dollars. For example, if your firm spends $50,000 on a new marketing campaign that generates $150,000 in new revenue, your ROI would be 200%.

  1. Client Acquisition Cost

Your client acquisition cost (CAC) is a figure you probably want to know for the sake of your legal marketing budget. This is an average of how much it costs your law firm to acquire a new client. You can determine this by taking the total marketing spend for a specified period divided by the number of clients acquired during that same period.

  1. Customer Lifetime Value

Depending on your practice area, you may wish to track a customer’s lifetime value (CLV). This is the total revenue you’ll generate from a client over the course of their relationship with your law firm. This can take into account any follow-up services or additional services you might provide.

  1. Click-Through Rate

Your click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of website impressions that result in a click. For example, if your website shows up 100 times in organic search results and you get 20 clicks, your CTR is 20%. This is an excellent gauge of various digital marketing strategies like ads and social media campaigns.

  1. Engagement Rate

Your engagement rate measures the actual interaction your content receives on social media, blog posts, and email campaigns. This can include metrics like comments, likes, click-throughs, and shares. Engagement is an excellent metric if your firm is looking to build brand recognition online.

  1. Website Conversion Rate

Also called the traffic-to-lead ratio, this KPI will quickly tell you the number of website visitors who convert into actual leads for your law firm. The higher the ratio, the better. You can also use this to track different content pieces and campaigns to determine what visitors find more compelling.

  1. Bounce Rate

It would be helpful to know if some website visitors are simply turning around and leaving your website shortly after arriving. Your bounce rate can give a good indication of your site’s attractiveness and usability for potential leads. A high bounce rate means your site or its content isn’t engaging visitors quickly enough.

  1. Email Open Rate

If your law firm uses email marketing, this KPI is a must. It’s a simple calculation telling you the percentage of email recipients who actually click “open” on your email messages. Some of the factors that influence your open rate include the subject line, preview text, time sent, personalization, and more.

  1. Organic Traffic

Most potential clients will begin their search for an attorney using a search engine, usually Google. They might enter a term like “Montgomery car accident lawyer” or “Charlotte divorce attorney.” This metric will tell you about the success of your local search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

  1. Referrals In & Out

Many attorneys work hard to cultivate professional relationships with others in the legal profession, which can lead to lucrative referral business. While the results will vary depending on your particular practice area, this is something you should track so you can gauge the success of your efforts.

Get Help Monitoring Your Legal Marketing KPIs

Selecting and monitoring KPIs is a vital part of a successful digital marketing strategy. These measurements allow your firm to make quick adjustments when something isn’t producing results and leverage successful strategies for even bigger gains. But you don’t have to do these things on your own.

Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in helping law firms boost their online visibility to get more qualified leads and increase overall revenue. We offer customized digital marketing solutions, meaning we only recommend the strategies that will produce positive results. Call us today at (800) 864-1764 or contact us online to schedule a free initial consultation.

Networking and Relationship Building for Legal Professionals

/by

In the highly competitive legal industry, you need to use every tool at your disposal to generate new business. Standing out from the competition is essential to your law firm’s success. Fortunately, there are several ways to accomplish this.

In addition to having a robust digital marketing strategy, many law firms achieve success through networking and building strong relationships. Here’s why this approach is important and some ways legal professionals can boost their businesses through networking.

Why Networking is Essential for Attorneys

Networking as a legal professional is much more than just boosting your LinkedIn connections or exchanging business cards. It’s about building lasting, genuine relationships with other professionals that can help grow your business. Here are a few reasons why you’ll want to network as an attorney.

Collaboration and Knowledge

Networking with others offers opportunities to collaborate with lawyers from various legal areas and other professions. Attending events, listening to presentations, or having discussions can expand your legal knowledge or lead to collaboration or projects.

Referral Opportunities

Having a solid network can be an excellent source of new business for your law firm. You’ll be more likely to receive relevant referral business from other attorneys who receive calls for work outside their practice areas or who are too busy for new clients.

Reputation Enhancement

Getting word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals from other professionals can enhance your visibility and credibility both within and outside the legal community.

Professional Support

Every attorney is likely to face some challenges throughout their career. Having a strong professional network in place can provide you with the professional and emotional support you need during challenging times.

How Legal Professionals Can Network Effectively

Now that you understand how networking and relationship building can benefit your business, here are some ways lawyers can network more effectively.

  1. Build Relationships With Other Professionals

In everything you do, it’s important to cultivate positive relationships with other professionals in your community. This includes other attorneys as well as doctors, accountants, real estate professionals, and more. Join community associations, like the Chamber of Commerce, to make these connections and recommend these professionals to clients when there is a need. Many of them will reciprocate.

  1. Maintain a Strong Online Presence

Other professionals will make referrals to attorneys they respect and trust. You’ll want to create and optimize your professional online presence to ensure it reflects your background and experience. This includes things like your attorney bio page on the law firm’s website, your LinkedIn profile, and any presence you might have on social media.

  1. Deliver Outstanding Service

Your reputation as a skilled, knowledgeable, and effective attorney will take time to establish. But it will never happen if you aren’t delivering top-level service to your existing clients and having your positive service reflected in online reviews.

  1. Join and Contribute to Professional Associations

Make sure you join and participate in various professional associations, like local and national bar associations or other legal organizations associated with your specialty. Participate in the association’s events, serve on committees, and take on leadership roles to build lasting bonds with others in the industry.

  1. Participate in Community and Legal Events

Attend workshops, seminars, and conferences related to your practice area. Going to these events offers an opportunity to meet other legal professionals and gain additional knowledge that can help you become a leader in your field. You can boost your visibility at these events by giving presentations and participating in panel discussions.

  1. Maintain Contact With Former Colleagues and Classmates

Don’t forget the power of staying in contact with former classmates and colleagues. These can be long-standing relationships that can continue to produce referral business and professional support throughout your career.

  1. Ask Other Attorneys for Referrals

Other attorneys in different practice areas can be an excellent source of referrals. But they may not recognize this opportunity unless you bring it to their attention. For example, an estate planning attorney might approach a business or family law attorney about potential referrals.

  1. Offer Assistance to Other Attorneys

You can’t expect others to help out your business if you’re not willing to do the same for theirs. When you receive contacts from prospective clients with needs outside your specialty areas, refer them to other attorneys in your area who can help.

  1. Build a Network of Attorneys Offering Complementary Services

Create a strong network of other attorneys who offer services that may be complementary to your own. If you’re a family law attorney, it might make sense to have contacts with an estate planning, real estate, immigration, and business law attorney.

  1. Collaborate on Marketing

Another way to connect with other professionals and build strong relationships is by collaborating on marketing. A few ideas include exchanging blog posts and links, resharing each other’s content, and co-presenting on podcasts or webinars.

  1. Donate Your Services

You’ll likely meet and garner the attention of other professionals if you spend some time donating your services to the community. This might involve doing some pro bono work or volunteering for some community service or charity functions where other professionals participate.

  1. Follow Up and Express Thanks

When you meet another professional or receive a referral, whether or not it leads to a paying client, make sure you follow up. This can be as simple as a quick text or email to reinforce the meeting or express thanks for sending over a referral.

Create a Winning Online Presence to Strengthen Your Networking Efforts

You can be sure that the professionals you connect with are going to research your law firm online. When they do, you’ll want them to land on an engaging and useful website that describes your firm’s services and outlines your professional qualifications.

At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, we specialize in helping law firms of every type and size dominate their markets and achieve lasting positive results. We offer customized digital marketing strategies, meaning we only recommend the service you need. Give us a call at (800) 649-1764 or contact us online to schedule a free initial consultation and website evaluation.

Navigating Ethical Guidelines in Legal Marketing

/by

At one time, law firms and lawyers could not legally advertise to promote their services. With those restrictions eliminated, most law firms now embrace various digital marketing strategies designed to gain more clients and produce more revenue. But that doesn’t mean anything goes with respect to what you can say or do when promoting your firm.

Lawyers are certainly allowed to advertise their services. But, the American Bar Association and individual state bars have created rules governing lawyer advertising practices. Here’s why it’s important to follow those guidelines and some tips for navigating the ethics of legal marketing.

Why Marketing Ethics Are Essential in the Legal Sector

Attorneys have a responsibility to provide trustworthy legal counsel to clients and uphold the law in all of their actions. Marketing ethics play a critical role in maintaining the public’s trust and that of current or potential clients.

Law firms that engage in unethical marketing practices risk damaging their credibility and reputation, which can have serious business consequences. If the state bar gets involved or the firm gets sued, a poor marketing choice could be even more costly.

How to Navigate Ethical Guidelines in Legal Marketing

Every state has different rules regarding legal marketing ethics. However, most states use the ABA guidelines as a yardstick, so it makes sense to have an understanding of these. Here is how your law firm can navigate the ethical guidelines in legal marketing.

  1. Avoid Claiming to Be an Expert

As an attorney, you probably want people to view you as an expert in your field. But ABA rules prohibit lawyers from calling themselves a “specialist” or “expert” in marketing materials unless there is an ABA-accredited certification to back up that claim. Instead, it’s best to demonstrate expertise by listing years of experience and work in various areas of the law.

  1. Don’t Make Misleading or False Statements

You obviously don’t want to lie or make misleading statements in your law firm’s marketing. Avoid saying things like you have “the lowest fees” or get “the highest settlements.” These are considered deceptive and misleading.

  1. Ensure Your Testimonials Are Appropriate

One of the best ways to attract new clients is to have positive recommendations on hand from past ones. As a law firm, it’s critical that you understand the legal practice advertising rules for obtaining and posting testimonials. For example, you aren’t permitted to compensate people in any way for their testimonials. Also, testimonials should not be worded in a way that a potential client will expect the same results. This would be considered misleading.

  1. Know Whether You Must List an Office Address

Technology has permitted many attorneys to work remotely. But, some jurisdictions might require that you have a physical location to advertise your services. Others also state that law firms must list their office address in all advertising messages, including a law firm website. For this reason, it’s important to research the rules in your state.

  1. Avoid Directly Soliciting Your Services

As a general rule, attorneys are prohibited from directly soliciting their services. This refers to a marketing message or ad directed at a specific person or group who needs your legal services for a particular matter. According to ABA Rule 7.3, attorneys can market their services online but not show up at the hospital emergency room uninvited after a major accident.

  1. Understand the Rules for Using Trade Names

Many states have rules regarding identifying information that must be included in a marketing message to avoid misleading the public. If your firm uses any trade names, research whether or not you can use these in your jurisdiction. The rules are usually specific and may change according to case law.

  1. Know What Information You Can and Can’t Include in Ads

When it comes to marketing your law firm, some states might have minimum information that you must or can include on your website or other marketing materials. Some examples include:

  • Identifying details— Things like your law firm’s name, address, and phone number are a must in many states.
  • Memberships— Current bar association and any other professional memberships are helpful.
  • Awards and publications — Law-related awards and industry publications can provide credibility.
  • Rates— Many attorneys discuss how their rates are structured, such as hourly, flat-rate, or contingency fee basis.

Things you can’t include on your website or other marketing materials include fake legal documents, pending case information, and fictitious details.

  1. Use Disclaimers When Appropriate

It’s vital that potential clients understand that every situation and case outcome is unique. An excellent way to avoid problems in law firm marketing is to add disclaimers to some of your marketing messages and testimonials. An example is “No attorney can promise a specific case outcome.”

  1. Protect Your Client’s Information

It should go without saying, but you have an obligation in everything you do to safeguard your client’s information. This includes advertising and marketing. Once a client retains your firm’s services, they must give informed consent before you can share any information related to their representation. Even if it is on the public record or “generally known,” an attorney is not free to disclose details of a prior client’s case.

  1. Stay on Top of Ethics Rules

Ethics and other rules related to digital advertising change constantly. Some of the more strict restrictions for legal advertising have become less so in the past several years. However, nothing is saying various bar associations won’t change those restrictions once again to prohibit certain actions. As with everything in the legal profession, it’s vital that you remain on top of any rule changes or partner with a digital marketing agency that can do this for you.

Create a Winning and Ethical Marketing Campaign for Your Law Firm

You need as many advantages as you can get in a competitive legal market. But it’s important to know what you can and can’t do to stay within the lines of established legal ethics for marketing. Fortunately, we can help.

Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in helping law firms become the business of choice in their geographic and practice areas. Our digital marketing specialists focus on your firm’s particular needs and goals and understand the ethics guidelines for digital marketing. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and website evaluation.

5 Questions Lawyers Must Ask Themselves About Their Current Marketing Strategy

/by

A lawyer’s primary purposes are to ensure that laws are upheld and clients’ rights are protected. But it’s tough to accomplish those goals if your law firm can’t remain in business. You need a steady flow of new clients to keep the doors open and grow your business, which means you need to market your services.

Making marketing an afterthought can be dangerous in the legal industry. It’s simply too competitive and important to ignore. It’s also not something you want to waste resources on and not get the results you want and need. Here’s why your firm needs to make legal marketing one of its priorities and several questions it should be asking about its current marketing strategy.

The Importance of Effective Law Firm Marketing

Every business, regardless of industry, needs some type of marketing plan. While it’s easy to overlook marketing when you’re focused on managing your busy law practice, the reality is your business won’t be busy for long if you don’t have an effective strategy. Legal marketing has become a vital aspect of law firm success for several reasons:

Connects You With Prospective Clients

A legal website is often the first introduction a prospective client has to your business. They might arrive via a web search, social media link, or some other online source, such as a referral. But, when they do arrive on your site, what they discover in the first few seconds is vital. Ideally, they’ll experience a well-organized and engaging site that provides some answers and encouragement to move forward with contacting your firm.

5 Questions Lawyers Must Ask Themselves About Their Current Marketing Strategy

It’s highly unlikely any law firm is going to achieve success without a robust digital marketing strategy. According to one consumer survey, 97% of people use an online search to find the services they need. Whether it be a restaurant for tonight’s dinner, a local locksmith, or a skilled DUI lawyer, the internet is what connects these clients with businesses that can fulfill their needs.

But not every digital marketing strategy is the same. If yours isn’t up to par or better than your competitors, you won’t get the results you want and need. To ensure the best possible results, here are five questions lawyers must ask themselves about their current digital marketing strategies.

  1. Is our law firm’s website up-to-date and an effective lead generator?

One of the first questions you’ll want to ask yourself is about the effectiveness of your legal website. People often make a judgment about a business within seconds of landing on a website. If your law firm’s website is outdated or doesn’t convey the right message to visitors, it’s going to be nearly impossible to get the results you need.

Website development has evolved substantially over the past several years. Consumers can tell an outdated website immediately and will judge you for it. They will also judge your law firm harshly if your website is slow, not secure, hard to navigate, or has unprofessional photos.

One of your website’s primary roles should be to generate leads for your business. After all, without new clients, your firm will eventually be in trouble. If it’s not doing this, it’s time to make some changes.

  1. Are we targeting our marketing efforts to reach the right audience?

Who are the people most likely to need your law firm’s services? Where do they live? What are their ages and gender? What type of lives are they typically leading? Where do they spend their time online?

Knowing the answers to these questions is vital to a strong and successful legal marketing plan. Whether you are focusing on organic traffic or paid ads, you must know who your target audience is first. This information will guide your choices relative to which keyword phrases you will target and the type of content you decide to create.

For example, if you’re an estate planning attorney, you know that everyone could benefit from your services. But the people most likely to search you out are in an older demographic. Once you clearly identify your target audience, you can also choose the best channels for reaching those potential clients.

  1. Do we need more compelling content to engage and attract clients?

If you want your law firm’s digital marketing efforts to be a success, your online content must be a priority. Posting a compelling “About Us” page and detailed practice area pages is an excellent start. But your efforts need to go even further.

You need content to fuel your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, which is what will help you achieve better website rankings. Ongoing content is also what helps your law firm engage visitors and build credibility and trust as a skilled and experienced provider of specific legal services.

You can post different types of legal content regularly, such as blog posts, videos, and ebooks. As visitors read or consume these items, they will form a stronger connection with your brand and become more likely to hire your firm.

  1. Are our marketing practices violating any attorney ethics rules?

Believe it or not, there are a lot of rules when it comes to how you can and should market your law firm. The American Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct is one example, and some rules vary from state to state.

While a client isn’t likely to file a complaint about your law firm’s marketing practices, a competing firm might. And the last thing you want is to be the subject of a disciplinary investigation or face sanctions.

So, how can you avoid violating any attorney ethics rules with your marketing practices? Here are several guidelines:

  • Avoid any false or misleading information, such as claiming you practice in a larger geographic area than you do.
  • Avoid using copyrighted images in your marketing materials without permission.
  • Avoid making direct comparison statements between your firm and others, such as claiming your firm is the “best.”
  • Avoid promising a guaranteed case outcome, such as “We’ll get your charges dropped.”

The best way to avoid these potential issues is to work with an experienced legal marketing agency that understands these rules.

  1. How are we defining and tracking law firm marketing success?

Your law firm and its digital marketing partners should have established some key performance indicators (KPIs) to track its success and inform ongoing business decisions. Without these, your entire program is simply guesswork, and you may end up wasting resources on strategies that aren’t providing a positive return on your investment (ROI).

Your KPIs should align with your business’s strategic objectives. Some examples of marketing KPIs include organic traffic, cost per lead, social media traffic, conversion rates, and many more.

Each time to review your marketing results, it’s important to understand whether you are getting closer to your goals or further away from them. Regular measurements are essential so you can view trends in the KPIs that give clues about items you may need to address.

One of the biggest mistakes law firms make is not taking action on valuable insight. Change isn’t always comfortable, but the sooner you take action to correct a bottleneck or seize on a new opportunity, the quicker your firm will be able to enjoy the benefits of improved business results.

Are You Working With the Right Legal Marketing Agency?

Ok, that’s one more question. But it’s a critical one. Choosing the right legal marketing agency can make a significant difference in your marketing strategy’s outcome. At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, we understand how competitive the legal industry is and focus our efforts on helping our clients get found and chosen by clients who need their services the most.

Whether your firm is large or small, new or established, we can help you create a winning online presence that produces results. Our approach is 100% customized, meaning we only recommend the services you need. Give us a call at (800) 649-1764 or reach out to us online to schedule a free initial consultation.

7 Reasons Your Law Firm Marketing Plan Isn’t Working

/by

Managing a successful law practice requires a specific strategy. When you take a case, your firm wouldn’t waste thousands of dollars on unnecessary investigations, discovery, and litigation. But many law firms waste that much, if not more, on ineffective legal marketing.

The business of law is incredibly competitive, so marketing is critical. But there are many approaches to marketing, some more effective than others. If you aren’t getting the results you want and need, there’s certainly a reason — or several. Here are seven reasons your law firm marketing plan isn’t working.

Why Isn’t Your Law Firm’s Marketing Plan Working?

  1. You Don’t Have a Well-Defined Strategy.

If you don’t have a well-defined strategy in place, you are simply relying on luck to produce the results you need. This is rarely a recipe for success. For example, many law firms decide they’re going to invest in tactics (like social media marketing) but do so without a comprehensive marketing strategy.

Your firm needs a clear strategy that outlines a framework for achieving specific goals that includes a plan to measure success. Many businesses use what are called SMART goals, which are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. From there, determine what strategies you will use to achieve each goal and the key performance indicators you need to measure progress and success.

Having a solid marketing strategy in place is critical. But it must be unique to your law firm — not your competitor’s plan or a cookie-cutter plan some agency hands out to everyone. This study shows that implementing generic marketing strategies isn’t effective.

Your legal marketing strategy must be tailored to your law firm’s needs and goals. If you haven’t been working from a well-defined strategy, it’s time to start.

  1. You’re Targeting the Wrong Audience.

If your marketing isn’t reaching the right people, it’s not going to produce positive results. Even if you have an outstanding website and great messaging, you’ll be unhappy with your results if you’re not reaching the people who are most likely to need your firm’s legal services.

Instead of trying to reach the broadest audience possible, it’s often a better strategy to narrow your focus. Of course, many law firms have multiple target audiences, such as those that offer different practice areas like criminal defense and family law. In these cases, it’s best to create multiple unique client personas to help guide your marketing strategies.

When creating client personas, it’s important to be as specific as possible. This includes things like age, location, academic background, and more. In addition to creating different client personas, law firms must focus on a customer’s particular wants and needs. Specifically, what problem is each group facing, and how can your firm help solve it?

  1. You Haven’t Considered Your Law Firm’s Branding.

If you aren’t getting the client referrals you want from your digital marketing efforts, it could be because of your branding. Customers and clients want to work with businesses they know, trust, and like.

It’s essential that you build a brand that positions your law firm and its attorneys as knowledgeable in their practice areas and approachable. If potential clients aren’t convinced that you are trustworthy or that you have the ability to solve their problems, they’ll hire someone else.

Your law firm’s branding is how you distinguish yourself from your competitors. It includes things like your logo and taglines. It also includes your value proposition, which is the overarching promise you intend to deliver to every client, whether that be aggressive defense, compassionate advocacy, cost-effective representation, or something else equally compelling.

  1. Your Law Firm’s Website Is Lacking. 

You might feel as if you’ve done enough by creating a website for your law firm. But a website alone isn’t enough to produce the results you want. After all, there were nearly 2 billion websites in existence as of January 2023, according to StatsFind. How is yours going to stand out?

Fortunately, you only need to outperform your competitors. But even that can be challenging in some markets. Consumers increasingly turn to search engines to research answers to questions and find local businesses to help them solve problems. And searching for a lawyer is no different. When someone needs a lawyer, whether to defend them against criminal charges, file for divorce, create a will, or something else, you must have a website that accomplishes several goals:

  • It tells a client how you can help them solve their problem
  • It explains why you are qualified to take on their case
  • It is easy to navigate
  • It loads fast and is secure
  • It is attractive and engaging

In short, your website is your firm’s digital front door because it’s often the first contact a potential client has with your law firm. It needs to count.

  1. You Aren’t Investing in Legal SEO. 

In addition to having an engaging website, your law firm must make search engine optimization (SEO) a priority. This is a series of actions and strategies that make your website and content more attractive to the search engines (i.e., Google), which will help get your site found by your target audience.

You may be able to find plenty of SEO tactics online, but these strategies must be used correctly for them to be effective. For example, Google is known for penalizing websites that use some aggressive or otherwise dishonest strategies meant to achieve quick results.

To get a meaningful and lasting outcome, you need an ongoing SEO strategy. First, your website must have the proper on-page and off-page SEO elements that will get it noticed by the search engines and your target audience. You will also need to post ongoing content that includes relevant keywords to provide better search results for your users. This content can be in the form of blog posts, videos, white papers, and more. The content you post should aim to solve the problems your potential clients are most likely to have.

  1. You’re Ignoring Social Media. 

It’s not enough for your law firm to have a Facebook page. Depending on your audience, you also need to have a strong social media presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

According to Pew Research, roughly 72% of the public is using some type of social media to connect with one another, share information, engage with content, and stay entertained. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are the most-used social platforms among U.S. adults.

If your law firm isn’t using social medial to promote its business, you’re missing an opportunity to boost your online visibility and grow your business. Take a close peek at any of these major platforms, and you’re almost guaranteed to find that your competitors are already actively using them. In fact, a recent Attorney at Work social media survey revealed that 70% of law firms have made social media marketing part of their overall strategy.

When approached correctly, social media marketing can elevate your entire digital marketing strategy. Specifically, it will help raise brand awareness, build trust and credibility in your firm, attract new clients, help you retain existing ones, and improve your SEO.

  1. You’ve Failed to Set Benchmarks and Track Results.

Successful legal marketing requires a commitment of resources. Unfortunately, you’ll never be “done” marketing your law firm if you want to continue to produce amazing results. One mistake many law firms make is quitting too soon or failing to make proper adjustments to their strategy as they go along.

You’ll never understand what’s working and what isn’t if you don’t establish benchmarks and track your results. Digital analytics demonstrate the effectiveness of your campaigns, but you must track the proper key performance indicators (KPIs) for those figures to be meaningful.

When you begin your legal marketing campaign, you’ll want to clarify the top things you want to accomplish and identify some KPIs that align with those goals. If you want to increase engagement, a KPI might be “page views.”

Failing to track your results would hold your law firm back from making improvements to its strategy. It would also prevent your business from taking advantage of any opportunities the data might uncover.

Bonus Reason — You Aren’t Working With the Right Legal Marketing Agency

Marketing isn’t for everyone, and that’s ok. You didn’t go to law school to become a digital marketer, and there are plenty of professionals who can help elevate your business while you focus on representing your client’s interests. When you work with Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, you can feel confident knowing your digital marketing strategy is in the right hands.

Our team of experienced legal marketing experts will take the time to understand your firm’s business and specific goals. We will develop a digital marketing strategy that will get your firm found and chosen by its target client base and improve bottom-line results.

If you’re interested in learning more, reach out to us for a free website evaluation. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have about our top-rated legal marketing services.

Builds Credibility and Trust

People want to hire a lawyer and law firm that they trust will solve their most pressing legal issues. Your legal marketing strategy can build credibility and trust by demonstrating the attorney’s knowledge of the law and background in helping others resolve a wide range of legal matters. When website visitors get answers to their questions, they begin to trust that your firm can provide the assistance they need.

Improves SEO Rankings

One of the goals of law firm marketing is to show up in the search engines ahead of your competitors for various search terms, like “divorce lawyer near me,” “car accident attorney in Birmingham,” or “estate planning in Mobile.” A well-organized and written law firm website will also answer many frequently asked questions, which improves rankings.

When your website appears in organic (free) search results, potential clients are more likely to click on those results to learn more about your law firm. Your investment in SEO can pay off for your business long term.

Give us a call at (800) 649-1764 or reach out to us online to schedule a free initial consultation.

What Makes the Perfect Law Firm Website

/by

Your law firm’s website is its most important marketing tool. Sure, you might get some word-of-mouth and social media referrals. But a large percentage of those people will go straight to your website to confirm your legitimacy before making contact.

The legal space is only getting more competitive. A good law firm website is an essential tool to generate and cultivate leads, which helps your firm grow. So it’s important to get the design of your website correct from the start.

If you’re creating a website from scratch or thinking about a re-design, it’s tempting to jump straight to the visual aspects. But there’s a lot more to it. Visitors of legal websites are usually dealing with pressing legal challenges and are searching for the advice of a highly-skilled professional. Your website must showcase that the firm has the experience and skill to help.

So, what makes the perfect law firm website? Here are some key components we believe are must-haves for every law firm website.

  1. Clean and Professional Design

According to Google, visitors form opinions about websites in less than a second. This means your law firm’s website needs to make an incredible first impression. Only after that will users take the time to engage with your content.

A poorly-designed website is often associated with feelings of mistrust by online users. In other words, if you can’t do this “right,” how can you be expected to solve their legal troubles? When a person arrives at a website they find unattractive, they’ll be quick to leave.

So the first order of business is to create a website that has a professional and clean design that reflects your law firm’s branding and instills confidence. It should have a visually appealing layout, use a consistent color scheme, and incorporate easy-to-read fonts.

  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

For a law firm website to qualify as “perfect,” it must have comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO). This refers to the efforts necessary to achieve strong organic search engine rankings for keywords and phrases that will draw in your target audience and produce results.

SEO starts with keyword research, and it involves a lot of on-page and off-page activities. On your website, every page will need to be optimized using title tags and proper headings. There should be meta descriptions and proper permalinks for pages. Local SEO and off-page linking programs can improve overall rankings.

  1. User-Friendly Navigation

Several years ago, Google began emphasizing the user experience (UX). A big part of the UX is the ability of visitors to your law firm’s website to find what they need quickly. This requires user-friendly and intuitive navigation.

If your firm’s website is too difficult to navigate, you will lose visitors in favor of competitors. Visitors might land on your website for a variety of reasons — to learn more about a legal challenge, research a law firm recommended to them, or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

A good UX design can help visitors achieve their goals by making finding the information they need easy and seamless. Menus should be clear with logical organization for effortless navigation.

  1. Mobile-Friendly & Responsive Design

Smartphones and mobile devices comprise over 55% of the total browser usage worldwide. Your law firm’s website should be designed to be mobile-friendly and responsive. This means your site will appear professional and functional no matter what size screen or type of device the visitor uses. Also, websites designed for desktops tend to load slowly on smartphones. When you have a responsive design, this will enhance the user experience for everyone.

  1. Delay-Free Speed

Another aspect of delivering a positive user experience, which also happens to be one of Google’s search engine ranking factors, is website speed. And for good reason. Studies have shown that conversion rates drop as website load time increases.

Ideally, your law firm’s website needs to load in three seconds or less. Your website designer will use a variety of technical tools to speed up this process and prevent potential clients from abandoning their efforts.

  1. Website Accessibility

Continuing with the theme of delivering a stellar user experience, your law firm’s website must also be accessible. What does this mean? An accessible website provides solutions for anyone with limitations, such as poor eyesight or lack of mobility.

Google tends to reward accessible websites with better search engine rankings. Conversely, businesses that don’t make their sites accessible have faced lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

  1. Clear Legal Practice Areas

Most consumers aren’t well-versed in the law. They just know they have a problem and need help. Some aren’t even sure what type of attorney can or should take on their case. Your website should be crystal clear about the kinds of cases you handle.

You should state your legal practice areas in several different ways to avoid confusion. For example, you say you’re a “family law attorney.” But you’ll also want to emphasize that you handle divorces, child custody matters, adoptions, and anything else in that area of practice.

  1. Case Results

When a potential client is facing a legal challenge, they’re usually looking for a law firm that can produce results. If you have years of experience, have won hundreds of cases, or secured millions in compensation on behalf of past clients, you should say so explicitly on your website.

Many law firms dedicate a page on their sites to their firm’s outcomes and case results for clients. The more results you can post on your site, the greater impact it will have on building trust and getting prospects to choose your firm.

  1. Testimonials and Reviews

Another thing you want to list, in addition to talking about your past successes, is testimonials and reviews from prior clients. Consumers love reading online reviews, whether it’s to choose a restaurant, a new vacuum cleaner, or a personal injury lawyer.

Many resources are available for client reviews, including Google, Facebook, legal directories, and testimonials sent directly to your firm. Regardless of the source, you can dedicate a page or section of your website to provide social proof that backs up what you’re saying about your experience and capabilities.

  1. Calls-to-Action and Contact Info

Not every visitor to your law firm’s website will know what they should do next. This is where calls-to-action (CTAs) come in. Throughout your website’s content, there should be prompts encouraging the reader to take some desired action, such as “call now to schedule an initial consultation.”

And if your visitor decides they want to contact you, don’t make them work too hard to do it. Your firm’s phone number and/or email link should be posted prominently on every page.

  1. Professional Photos

Having a website full of words alone isn’t going to get you the results you need. While there are a ton of image options for your law firm’s website, you need ones that are inspiring and produce results.

Your images should be of the highest quality possible. But you also want to avoid the same photos you’re likely to see on other legal websites, like gavels and law books. The photos you choose should also have a consistent look to go with your branding style.

  1. Attorney Profiles

Many consumers facing legal issues aren’t interested in hiring a law firm. They want to hire a lawyer. Your firm’s overall branding is important, but so is showcasing the individual backgrounds and accomplishments of each lawyer. Your website should include a section of attorney profiles that includes professional headshots, experience, qualifications, areas of practice, and any other relevant certifications or accolades.

  1. Educational Content

One of the best ways to attract visitors to your law firm’s website is through the use of educational content. Your firm’s blog, FAQs, and white papers can address a wide variety of common questions people have related to your practice areas.

This content also establishes your firm as an authority in its field, builds trust with prospects, and provides excellent SEO material for the search engines. Educational content should be an ongoing effort to ensure you are providing a fresh and engaging experience for your audience.

  1. Video Content

When it comes to building trust and rapport with potential clients, there’s no substitute for video content. Adding video content to your home page and blog that introduces your firm, explains various aspects of the law, and even relays testimonials, is a great way to reach an audience that prefers to consume information this way rather than read what you’ve written.

  1. Secure Website (SSL/TLS)

Finally, your law firm’s website will never be perfect if it isn’t secure. If you use contact forms or have a live chat feature, encryption is a must. Without an SSL certificate, hackers could intercept data sent to your firm, which jeopardizes your clients. Google also places value on having a secure website, so this could impact your search engine rankings.

Are You Ready to Create the Perfect Law Firm Website?

Planning for and creating a winning law firm website might seem like a major undertaking. But when you do it right, it can transform your business results. You’ll build awareness about your law firm’s brand, improve your search engine rankings, and convert more visitors into clients.

At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, we specialize in helping law firms get found and chosen in their designated markets. Our digital marketing specialists spend time getting to know your firm and its goals before customizing a strategy designed to produce results. We create award-winning law firm websites that present your firm’s face to the world and help grow your business. To get started or for more information, contact us today to schedule a free consultation.