Google trends in 2021 and your 2022 marketing plan

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The past two years have been very challenging for all of us. Businesses have suffered financial setbacks as customers have changed buying patterns and staying at home has become the new normal. The legal profession has not been immune to these changes. With fewer people at work, there were fewer workplace injuries. With more people at home, there were fewer accidents on the highways. With moratoriums on bill collection, there have been fewer bankruptcies. Very few areas of the law have gone unaffected. A shift occurred throughout 2021 and that certainly made things better, but to make sure that your firm is optimizing its opportunities to secure new clients, it is important to know how people are searching for legal advice and representation.

As we head into 2022, we want to take a quick look back at the popular search trends and the most popular keyword search terms people used to find an attorney.

Google Search – Near Me Searches

One trend that has seen an increase in its usage is the term, “near me”. Used as an extension of a user’s search terms, it has made the optimization of your local business listing more important than ever.  As you will see below, with some practice areas, such as bankruptcy, divorce and estate planning the term is added more than others. Although the use of “near me” is more popular in businesses such as restaurants, shopping malls, etc. it is still readily used in law firm searches as well and should not be ignored.

Google Search – Snippets

Google has made a concerted effort to make sure that a user’s experience is as effortless and efficient as possible. One way of doing this is by serving up “snippets” of websites for easy exploration. Snippets are bits of website data that correlate with a search term. Much like general SEO algorithms these “snippets” allow the user quick access to relevant information.

One way of helping your website to appear is to create lists. An example of this might be: “How to prepare for a divorce” or “5 things you should do after a car accident”. The creation of these list can help push you to the top of a search page.

Google Search – Local Service Ads (LSA’s)

Another trending area is Local Service Ads or LSA’s. These ads are directed at websites that have completed the Google screening and appear at the top of a page for the most popular legal searches in the more populous geographies. Personal injury, divorce and car accident lawyers are popular places to appear and although they are considered paid advertising, it is based on a per lead model instead of a per click model. If you haven’t submitted your attorneys to Google for the screening certification and you would like to learn more, you can go here to get started.

Together with an understanding of LSA’s, snippets and “near me”, one should be well versed in what keywords people are searching for and how they are using those keywords. There are nuances about search that attorneys and the public often disagree on. For example, most individuals with a JD behind their name refer to themselves as an attorney. But the more popular term for a legal professional is lawyer. People also search for Car accident more often than auto accident. In fact, the average monthly searches for “car accident lawyer” is 90,500 as compared to “car accident attorney” which is 49,500.

The above example is an extreme difference, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Preparing your website for everything is the key to a well optimized website and the best chance for a positive ROI from your internet marketing plan. Hiring the right company to make sure you are in the best position to grow your practice in 2022 is imperative. Firms that do not adopt the changes to search trends are going to get left behind by smaller, more aggressive, better prepared law firms.  Knowing and adapting your website to what the public is searching for, no matter your personal preference, is key to a successful program.

Here are search phrases that you should be incorporating into your marketing program with fresh content either on your website or your Google My Business listing every month and their monthly search traffic:

  • Personal injury lawyer near me – 222,000
  • Divorce lawyers near me – 110,000
  • Lawyer personal injury – 74,000
  • Car accident lawyer – 90,000
  • Car accident attorney – 49,500
  • Personal injury attorney / lawyer – 60,500
  • Divorce attorney near me – 40,500
  • Divorce lawyers – 33,100
  • Accident attorney – 27,000
  • Truck accident attorney – 18,100
  • Truck accident lawyer – 27,100
  • Car accident attorney – 18,100
  • Auto accident lawyer – 22,200
  • Estate planning attorney near me 14,800
  • Estate planning lawyer – 8,100
  • Bankruptcy attorneys / lawyers 18,100
  • Bankruptcy attorney / lawyers near me 22,200
  • Workers’ compensation attorneys – 12,100

When hiring a lawyer, a person should want to hire the lawyer that best suits their legal needs, no matter their proximity to their current location. You need to build a marketing program to meet your client’s expectations thus increasing your odds of growing your business in 2022.  Don’t let firms with less experience get more clients just because they have better marketing programs.

If you do not feel that your website is consistently showing up on Google for the keywords that match your practice areas, then give us a call. We offer a free website evaluation and will help you put together an effective marketing plan.

Call us at 800 649 1764, fill out or contact form on our website or speak with us through our live chat.

Legal Marketing – What Worked in 2021

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Before we close the books on 2021 and turn our attention to 2022, let’s take a look back at what has been working in the world of law firm marketing.

Marketing your law practice has always been challenging, but in the new COVID world we are living in, it has really, really become challenging. But help is out there. Today we want to talk about ways to improve your client intakes for 2022 and beyond. Today’s law firm must be flexible and strategic at the same time.

What Worked in 2021 and What To Continue in 2022

As a company that specializes in marketing for law firms, our job is to monitor trends and the tendencies of individuals searching for attorneys. There are several ways to do this, but the best way we have found is by paying close attention to our own clients and the traffic they are getting to their websites. We study where the traffic is coming from, where on the site the traffic is going and when it is getting there.

We also compare website data across all our client’s websites and compare their bounce rates and their firm contacts. With this information we can see which websites are performing the best and look for reasons why. For example, one website may have testimonial videos, while another may only have a few testimonial comments. One site may use stock photos, while another uses more personal photos of attorneys and local landmarks. This type of information may not seem important, but it can be very valuable when you are trying to figure out what makes one law firm more appealing than another. In the end, we are trying to get a website visitor, aka potential client, to stay on a website as long as possible.

Why is this important? There is a connection between the amount of time a person spends on a website and a websites conversion rate. We define a conversion as a phone call, email, or chat. Most often, the lower the bounce rate, the higher the conversion rate. When you take this information and compare it across all our clients, we can get a better understanding of what is working and what is not working.

This seems simple enough, but it can be very challenging. The adage “the only certainties in life are death and taxes” should also include “Google’s always changing”. It takes constant studying and comparing of notes to figure out the best ways to get a website ranked and then it usually changes on you.

One of the many advantages of using a digital marketing company, like Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, to manage your internet marketing program is their many clients. It is hard for a law firm to figure out what works and what doesn’t work when the only data they have access to is their own. Just when you think you have it figured out, things change and you’re back to square one.

So, here are a few things that worked well this past year and will continue to work in 2022:

  • Local Service Ads (LSA’s) – LSA’s are expanding in practice areas and locations, and they are a great place to get your firm noticed. If you aren’t familiar with them, you should probably get familiar with them right away. This is Google’s verified and screened section of paid advertising. It is a pay per lead program, but you must become Google Screened through Google’s background check process before you can participate. If you haven’t gone through the free process, here is the link, https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/9376654?hl=en
  • Expanding your geographic footprint – Make sure you have content for all the geographical areas your firm covers. This is an important component for expanding your firm’s footprint. Try adding pages for smaller markets surrounding larger cities. This is where people live and commute from and can increase the firm’s exposure to potential clients.
  • Cookies – Cookies can be a turn off. We all get tons of spam and the idea of more coming because you accepted cookies can turn customers away. Just be careful and monitor your website analytics.
  • Display Advertising – Another area that seemed to show little signs of the Covid effect was display advertising. A good display advertising program, coupled with a smart SEO campaign can really increase site visitors.
  • Keyword Mapping: This is an SEO practice in which you assign unique keywords to each page on your website. When you assign a unique keyword to each page, this helps prevent keyword cannibalization. Keyword cannibalization is when multiple pages on your site compete for the same exact keyword. This hurts the ranking of both pages and provides an opportunity to optimize for that keyword by consolidating those two articles and making the existing page more potent for that target keyword. There are software platforms that you can pay for that allow you to check for keyword cannibalization. However, Google Search Console, a free tool provided by Google, does the job very well.

At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, we are here to help. If you have any questions on how to get your website to perform better in 2022, give us a call. We would love to chat with you about your program and ways it can be improved upon. If you prefer to do your own SEO work, you can also try our free website audit tool by clicking on this link.  It will uncover website weaknesses so you can formulate your own plan of action.

We work with law firms in the following areas:

  • Search engine optimization
  • Content writing
  • Social media management
  • Paid ad programs
  • Video service
  • Website development and upkeep

Thank you for time and we hope you enjoy your holidays!

Contact Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing Today

If you are looking for ways to stand out in 2022 as the law firm of choice in your area, it’s essential to have the right online presence to support your campaigns. Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in helping law firms with a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that gets results. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation to discuss your marketing plan for the coming year. Our law firm marketing consultants can be reached at (800) 649-1764.

It’s Almost Time – Building Your 2022 Marketing Plan

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2022 is almost upon us. And no, we don’t know where the time has gone either. To ensure they spend their marketing dollars wisely and get the best results possible, many of our clients are beginning to plan their digital marketing strategies for 2022. If you haven’t started on yours, that’s ok – we’re here to help.

Review Your 2021 Legal Marketing Budget

One of the things we tell clients is that the best way to begin planning for the coming year is to review the current year’s budget. Specifically, take a look at your 2021 marketing strategy and budget. Examine what you spent money on and analyze your results. Did SEO yield the highest return? Or was it PPC? Once you have this information, you might want to shift some of your marketing dollars from one category to another for the coming year.

But don’t forget to take into consideration various market forces. Specifically, the past year and a half have been anything but “normal” for most people and businesses. And the digital landscape is constantly shifting as well. What worked well last year (or didn’t work) might not provide the same results in the coming year. Once you have some initial thoughts about your budget, discuss your allocations with your digital marketing partner.

Set Marketing Goals and Strategies for 2022

Set measurable goals and objectives for the coming year that are attainable based on your past achievements, time, and resources. Setting these goals and benchmarks will help you plan for the short and long-term success of your law firm.

Once you’ve established some goals, it’s a good idea to align them with your overall business goals and marketing budget. Next, create a timeline that includes some checkpoints throughout the year to gauge your progress.

Choose Your Legal Marketing Priorities Wisely

While the digital landscape continues to shift, some digital marketing items should continue to be a priority. And others are growing trends that you don’t want to ignore at the risk of being outmaneuvered by more savvy competitors. If you’re making your list for the coming year, here are several items you may wish to include in your legal marketing strategy:

  1. Diversify Your Content Marketing Strategy

The first thing your law firm should think about is its content marketing strategy. You’re going to have a difficult time reaching your target audience if you don’t continually publish high-quality content.

Your law firm should have a dedicated blog that it uses to educate current and potential clients about various aspects of overcoming legal challenges. Beyond text posts, you’ll also want to diversify your content with other types of content like video.

When you post video content on your legal website, this gives visitors another way to get to know your brand and consume content. It’s also another way to rank your website in the search engines.

  1. Optimize for Voice Search

People have become more accustomed to speaking into their digital devices to purchase items and get answers. If your law firm’s website isn’t optimized for voice search, you may miss out on this valuable segment of potential clients.

Interestingly, voice search is a bit different than a text search. Instead of entering “personal injury attorney in Montgomery,” a voice searcher will ask, “who is a good personal injury lawyer in Montgomery?” You can optimize for this type of search with more conversational content that includes some of these phrases.

  1. Invest in Paid Ads

Contrary to popular belief, paid ads are still incredibly effective in digital marketing – when done correctly. There are more tools than ever that help optimize keywords and ads to achieve the best possible results.

As a law firm, you don’t have to bid on the most expensive keywords to drive conversions. We all know that legal keywords can be costly for ads. Instead, you can choose long-tail keywords that are more likely to bring in prospects that are ready to sign on as clients, boosting your conversion rates.

  1. Prioritize Local Search

Law firms are local by nature. If you are seeking a divorce, need to create a will, or have been injured in an accident, you want a local attorney to represent your interests. That said, your law firm’s digital marketing strategy should become more local-oriented.

The first way to “localize” your search engine marketing efforts is to focus on your website’s content. Include the geographical areas you serve on your home page and your practice area pages. Make sure you mention these cities, towns, and neighborhoods in your blog posts. It’s also a good idea to create landing pages that are specific to each geographic area, such as “Car Accident Lawyer in Huntsville.”

The second way to prioritize local search is to optimize your Google My Business profile. This will help you get a coveted spot in the Google Maps result, which is an additional organic ranking in the search engines.

Focus on Investment Mentality vs. Spend Mentality

As an attorney, you understand that the words we use matter. They shape how people feel and think. This is a significant part of marketing and branding for law firms. Legal marketers are doing their clients a disservice when they position the purpose of marketing as a cost center instead of an investment.

If you replace the word “spend” with “invest,” it legitimizes the vital role that marketing plays in the short- and long-term growth of your law firm. Thoughtful shifts such as this can help law firm stakeholders realize the value of marketing as it relates to achieving business goals.

Get a Jump on Your Law Firm’s Digital Marketing Plan

It’s impossible to go through a global pandemic without things changing. But digital marketers have proven time and again that it’s not only possible to survive drastic changes but thrive. As a law firm, you must continue to adapt and find ways to meet the changing demands of your target audience.

If you are looking for ways to stand out in 2022 as the law firm of choice in your area, it’s essential to have the right online presence to support your campaigns. Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in helping law firms with a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that gets results. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation to discuss your marketing plan for the coming year. Our law firm marketing consultants can be reached at (800) 649-1764.

How Should You Use Video in Law Firm Marketing? 

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If your law firm wants to increase brand awareness, establish itself as an authority, and boost conversions, video marketing will satisfy your needs. An astounding 87% of marketing professionals now use video marketing as a tool, so there is nothing wrong with focusing on something that is working and making it your own.

Video marketing for law firms:

  • Increases engagement with your target audience
  • Persuades potential clients to choose your firm over a competitor
  • Improves your legal SEO and search rankings

How You Should Use Video in Law Firm Marketing

The issue that many law firms have with video marketing is that they don’t know how to get started and view video production as “too hard.” Here are some of the best ways to use video in your law firm marketing in order to start producing the results you want.

  1. Produce a Firm Introduction Video

If you are just getting started with video marketing, a logical first step would be to create a short video that showcases your law firm. Initially, you may not think you have much to include in such in a firm introduction video, but there is plenty of material if you know where to look. When was your firm founded, and what is your mission statement? What is the background of your attorneys and key staff? What is your process and “promise” to clients? How would you describe your firm’s culture?

  1. Develop Educational Content

A key part of digital marketing for law firms is research. Specifically, you or your trusted legal marketing agency should be identifying what keywords your target audience is searching for so that you can also determine their most pressing wants and needs. Then, you can use video marketing to address some of those needs. For example, “how-to” videos perform well, such as “How to get out of a DUI,” “How to get a divorce in Alabama,” or “how to sue after a truck accident.”

  1. Create Case Studies

Prospective clients want and need to know that your firm has the experience and knowledge necessary to handle their legal issues to a successful conclusion. This can make the difference between a client choosing your firm over a competitor. People love stories, and you can capture their attention with them. Create video case studies that walk a prospect through a situation, such as appealing a Social Security Disability claim denial, from start to finish.

  1. Answer Frequently Asked Questions

Many law firm websites have one or several pages of Frequently Asked Questions. These might relate to the process of hiring an attorney or specific area of practice, such as getting a divorce in your state or settling a personal injury claim. Some people prefer video content over written content. In fact, it is estimated that by the end of this year, the average person will watch nearly 2 hours of video every day. You can reach an even broader audience by turning this same content into a video.

  1. Start a Vlog

A video blog, or vlog, is another way you can use video to market your law firm. This option is likely the least formal on the list because the videos are supposed to seem unrehearsed and “real.” In short, the attorney posts short videos (they can be live or recorded) that highlight various aspects of the practice. Some ideas include:

  • Thoughts on recent case rulings or legislative changes
  • Tips for the target audience
  • A tour of the office
  • Recent courtroom experience (without breaching client confidentiality)
  1. Profile Your Firm’s Attorneys

Whether your firm has multiple attorneys or you are a sole practitioner, people will be more likely to hire you if you can create an emotional connection with them. One of the ways you do this is by introducing each attorney individually with a video. Have the attorney describe their specialty, talk about why they got started in law, and include some personal information such as their hometown or interests.

  1. Post Video Testimonials

Another way to build an emotional connection with potential clients is through the video testimonials of past clients. By having past clients share their stories of various legal troubles and the ways your firm helped them with a successful resolution, prospective clients can put themselves in that person’s shoes. This builds trust among the public that your marketing materials are more than just words.

  1. Publish Your Videos to Multiple Platforms

It is not enough to shoot those videos. You also must post them. To have the biggest impact, it is a good idea to publish them on as many places as possible. This includes your law firm’s website, YouTube, Facebook, your Avvo profile, and anyplace else online that you have a presence.

  1. Use Video in Social Media Ads

If you are running ads on social media, make sure you are using video because this medium dominates those channels. For example, over 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook daily. Sure, people tend to get “ad blind” on social channels, but they will often notice and watch a video. If you are advertising on Facebook, give video ads a try.

  1. Leverage Video in Your Hiring Process

Finally, your law firm is only as good as the people working for it. If you are interested in hiring the highest-quality candidates, create a video that shows them why it makes sense to work for your firm. Illustrate your values and let potential candidates meet your team. This has the potential to increase both the quantity and quality of the people that want to come to work for your law firm.

What You Need to Do to Get Your Video “Live”

Few attorneys are experts at videography. The good news is that you don’t have to have expensive equipment or software to get a respectable video online. But sometimes those solutions can help your firm put its best foot forward.

Whether you want to give video marketing a shot on your own or if you want to partner with an expert, there is help available. An experienced digital marketing agency can take some of these items off your plate so that you can focus on what you do best – helping clients resolve their legal issues.

Contact Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing Group Today – We Will Help You Become A Video Superstar

At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, we have experience helping our clients achieve results with video marketing and welcome a conversation about how we can do the same for you. Give us a call to learn more about our video services at (800) 648-1764 or by using our online contact form.

SEO vs Paid Advertising for Law Firms

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The internet has proven to be an invaluable source of ongoing leads for law firms. That said, online marketing for law firms spans a wide range of strategies and channels. It can be challenging to figure out where to focus your limited attention and resources.

Two of the largest strategies include SEO and paid advertising. Both will get your law firm’s website and name in front of potential clients who are searching for legal assistance on Google. But these are two different types of search marketing strategies for attorneys, so you will want to evaluate which one makes the most sense for your law firm.

The Basics of SEO and Paid Ads

  • Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process in which a business makes changes to, or “optimizes,” its website to achieve better organic (free) placement on search engine pages and deliver a better user experience. Search engines, namely Google, index websites regularly and use complex algorithms to rank those sites. There are hundreds of factors used to rank a website, and SEO aims to achieve the highest long-term rankings possible.
  • Paid advertising for law firms generally refers to pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Businesses pay an advertiser, also usually Google, for each click on its ads. The fees charged are based on a variety of factors, such as the value of the keyword and the quality of the ad and target website.

The Benefits of SEO for Law Firms

For consumers, finding anything today often involves a computer or mobile device and a visit to a search engine. Even people who have received a personal recommendation will follow it up with a quick Google search to confirm that the recommendation is legitimate before picking up the phone or making an email contact.

This is why every business needs an SEO strategy – especially law firms. But, if you’re still unsure about committing to SEO, here are just a few of the specific things that this strategy can do for your legal practice:

SEO Establishes Authority and Credibility

Clients looking for help with a legal issue are seeking a law firm with the knowledge and experience necessary to resolve their concerns. Done right, SEO can establish your firm as a leading authority in its practice area. On the other hand, people instinctively know that you are targeting them through paid ads and don’t trust their intentions as much. In general, people find organic search results more credible.

SEO Evens the Playing Field With Competitors

When you use paid ads, the effectiveness of your efforts often hinges on your budget. The more money you’re willing to spend on an ad, the greater the chance of getting top results. Bigger firms can often outspend smaller ones and attract more clients. But SEO makes it a fair fight for organic search results. Small, medium, and large firms alike will compete based on the quality of their website and other SEO efforts.

SEO Generates Quality, Consistent Organic Traffic

When you stop paying for PPC ads, the traffic stops coming in immediately. But quality content that targets the right keywords on your website will continue to rank well in organic search results and generate a consistent flow of free qualified traffic to your site. You can even repurpose older content on your website and boost your traffic by up to 106%.

SEO Increases Confidence and Conversion Rates

Organic searches produce higher dwell times and click-through rates (CTRs), boosting potential conversions. When you post informational content on your website that potential clients are searching for, it engages these visitors and creates awareness for your brand. Whether those clients need legal services today or in the future, they will identify your firm as a trusted resource.

SEO Costs Less and Offers Higher ROI

Research reveals that as many as 80% of users ignore paid ads and only focus on organic search results. With the majority of your website’s traffic coming from free, organic search, the value of SEO is obvious. This is a long-term marketing strategy that will offer the highest ROI to your law firm.

Are PPC Ads Still a Good Idea?

When evaluating between an SEO and a paid ads strategy, there may not always be a simple black and white answer. If your firm needs quick results and is willing to pay for the ads, you may wish to devote some of your digital marketing budget to PPC ads.

But it’s important to understand that legal services are one of the most competitive and costly industries for paid search. If you invest in this channel, it takes continuous analysis and careful planning to ensure you aren’t overspending your ad dollars.

Legal SEO for Long-Term Success

If you’re torn between SEO and paid advertising, SEO is generally the best strategy for attracting new clients to your firm at the most affordable price. While it might take longer for your law firm’s website to appear on the first page of Google, the benefits to your business will be substantial and long-lasting.

It’s equally important that law firms have a traditional SEO strategy as well as a strategy for local SEO. These are similar, but local SEO will help your law firm appear in multiple places in the organic search results. When a person searches for a “divorce lawyer near me” or a “car accident attorney in Mobile,” your local SEO efforts can help your law firm appear in Google’s map listings.

Law firm SEO can be complex, and your ongoing strategy should include a thorough competitive analysis, website optimization, content strategy, link building, and reporting. There aren’t quick results as with paid ads, but the efforts will help your firm achieve long-term success.

Still Have Questions About SEO vs. Paid Advertising for Law Firms? Contact Us Today

 Whether you use paid advertising, SEO, or some combination of the two, optimizing your law firm’s website should be a vital part of your digital marketing strategy. This allows you to improve the user experience and set your firm up for long-term success.

Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in creating results-driven digital marketing solutions for law firms. We are a client-focused firm with a strong track record of success. Contact us today to learn more about our services at (800) 649-1764 or through our online contact form.

Using Email Marketing – Outdated or Important Strategy? 

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With the growth of social media and the ease of using search engines, there is a crazy misconception that email marketing no longer works. But when was the last time you checked your email? Most people check their email hourly, and 99% of people check it every single day.

Before you write off email marketing as something that only worked in the ’90s, it makes sense to consider the data. But before you start hitting “send” on those fresh emails to potential clients, you will also want to look at your approach to make sure that your email marketing efforts are as effective as possible.

Is Email Marketing An Outdated Strategy?

Email marketing as a strategy to increase brand awareness and drive conversions isn’t dead. Consider these statistics as proof:

  • There are currently 9 billion daily email users.
  • 94% of marketers in a recent survey state that email is one of their three most effective marketing channels.
  • 73% of Millennials prefer to receive communications from businesses via email.

Why Email Marketing is Important for Effective Digital Marketing

Still thinking email marketing may not be right for your business? Think about your own experiences. Do you know anyone that doesn’t use email in some form? In truth, it is a big part of our lives and a channel too many businesses have started to ignore. Here are several reasons why your firm might want to make email marketing one of its priorities:

  1. Email is Economic and Cost-Effective

For no other reason, email marketing is one of the biggest bang for your buck marketing channels. It is inexpensive, effective, and simple to execute. Your business can reach a massive number of consumers at a cost of almost nothing per message.

One study by Forrester Research and Shop.org revealed that 85% of U.S. retailers view email marketing as one of the most effective customer acquisition strategies. Compared to direct mail campaigns that are time-consuming and costly, you can create the same imagery and reach more people through these channels.

  1. Drive Traffic to Your Website

With email marketing, you can send visitors directly to your website using various tactics. For example, your email messages can include a Call to Action (CTA) that prompt users to contact you for an appointment. They can also offer readers additional information on your blog or through a video or downloadable on your website. This traffic helps your website rankings and builds trust with consumers who are more likely to convert to paying customers.

  1. Gather Valuable Feedback

Every brand wants to know what its customers think about their experience. This information is vital for continuous improvement. You can use email marketing to ask clients to complete client satisfaction surveys or even request an online review that will also help your local search rankings.

Ways to Make Your Email Marketing Efforts Count

You may have heard some staggering statistics about email marketing, such as the ROI on your efforts could be as high as 4,400%. But, if you have ever tried an email marketing campaign and gotten less than stellar results, you might be a bit skeptical.

Here are several ways you can make your email marketing efforts produce some of those impressive results:

  1. Personalize Your Communications

As with everything else in marketing today, consumers will be more responsive if your message is personalized. According to one survey, 72% of consumers admit they will only engage with marketing messages that are tailored to their interests.

Personalization also builds trust, and you can start by complying with the CAN-SPAM Act and other state-specific laws designed to protect consumers. Beyond including the customer’s name in your greeting, know where they are at in your sales funnel. How did they find your business? Create the most authentic message possible, and you will get better results.

  1. Clean Up Your Lists

Nothing can hamper email marketing campaign performance worse than having an outdated and unengaged list of subscribers. At least a few times per year, clean up your email list and archive any subscribers who have failed to open your email messages.

It might be tough to cull these lists, but your strategy will be more effective when you do. When a consumer hands over their email address these days, they generally want to hear from your brand. This puts the responsibility on you to build a positive relationship through email that involves adding value.

  1. Leverage Automation

Fortunately, you don’t have to sit in front of your computer and type out individual email messages all day long. Over two-thirds of marketers now use some type of marketing automation tool, and there are plenty that can help simplify your email marketing campaigns.

When you use automation, your internal team can focus on running the business instead of email campaigns. A few ways to leverage automation in email marketing include:

  • Set up drip campaigns that are released on a timeline.
  • Use date-based messages that trigger on certain milestones.
  • Incorporate If/Then branches to create a customized email journey.
  1. Use Your Metrics

Everything you do to market your business online should be validated with plenty of data. Beyond measuring open and click rates, make sure you are segmenting your subscribers so that your messages have the strongest impact.

There are several variables you can use to segment your list, such as the date of original engagement, previous interaction with your brand, gender, age, and geo-location. Once you have segmented your list, it becomes easier to send out personalized content.

What’s Next? Get Help With Your Email Marketing

If you have ever felt disenchanted with email marketing, you are not alone. It is a specialized approach to digital marketing that can be challenging. Done right, it can produce fantastic results for your business.

At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, every client receives a detailed needs assessment before we outline a personalized digital marketing strategy designed to produce results. Contact us today to learn more about how our solutions, including email marketing, can help your business boost its visibility and reach more potential clients.

Five Tips for Marketing Your Family Law Firm Online

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When people are facing family law issues such as divorce, hiring an attorney can be a time-sensitive and difficult process. Potential clients already have emotions running high with the prospect of facing the end of a marriage or a potential child custody battle. How you market your law firm and instill trust can be particularly challenging as you work to acquire new clients.

While some people find attorneys through personal referrals, most will turn to online sources at some point in their search. According to Google, 96 percent of people use a search engine when seeking legal advice.

Why Family Law Marketing is Different

Marketing for divorce attorneys is markedly different than marketing for criminal defense, personal injury, or other legal practice areas. Some of the unique things you will need to consider include:

  • You need to hook people at the top of the sales funnel through informational searches. If you can build trust with potential clients by delivering valuable information, you won’t necessarily need to rank #1 for “divorce lawyer” to get the results you need. But people who get their questions answered somewhere else are unlikely to come to you for help.
  • Your Google My Business (GMB) listing plays a vital role in how people research you. Privacy is essential for many divorce and family law clients. Most want a law firm that isn’t conspicuous but still convenient. They will use GMB to research your reputation as well as to see where you are located in their area before deciding whether or not to visit.
  • Your marketing must highlight your firm’s culture and personality. Divorce and family law matters are highly emotional. Your marketing message should give potential clients a sense of how your firm handles these cases. Are you compassionate? Aggressive? People are much more likely to choose a family lawyer based on an emotional connection.
  • Online reviews can be challenging for family law firms. Because divorce and family law cases can be contentious, few people walk away completely satisfied with their outcome. You are bound to have some unhappy clients and even get some terrible reviews from people you never represented. You will want to create a workable strategy to build your online review base and address any negative reviews quickly and appropriately.

Five Tips for Marketing Your Family Law Firm Online

The bottom line is that your family law firm needs a comprehensive strategy to increase its online visibility and reach those potential clients. Here are five ways you can market your family law services to the people who need them:

  1. Family Law Firm Website Design

As a family law firm, your website should do more than describe your attorney’s backgrounds and give an overview of your practice areas. It needs to instill trust, tell potential clients what sets you apart from the competition, and even deliver some valuable information.

Every law firm wants its website to look nice, but the real purpose of your online presence is to generate business. That said, your firm’s website should be designed with conversions in mind. Specifically, it needs to be fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and simple to navigate. There should also be a clear path on every page to contact your law firm for a free consultation.

  1. Local SEO for Divorce & Family Lawyers

With family law, every practice requires a focused and targeted local SEO strategy. For example, most people that hire a family law attorney want someone that is local to them. Keywords like “divorce attorney” might be important, but they are more relevant when combined with a city, county, state, or some other geographical identifier like “divorce attorney Boston” or “divorce lawyer Orlando.”

You can maximize your local SEO efforts by including many of these local identifiers in your website content. You will also want to create and optimize your directory listings, especially your Google My Business (GMB) profile, so that you show up in Google Maps searches.

  1. Family Law Firm Content Marketing

People going through different types of family legal crises are desperate for credible information. Your law firm can establish itself as an authority in its practice area as well as show off its personality through a robust content marketing campaign.

Start with engaging Area of Practice pages that describe your services. But make sure you take things a step further. Schedule regular blog content that focuses on particular topics that will be of interest to potential clients and pull in traffic with long-tail keywords. Some examples include dealing with military divorce, high-asset divorce, international adoptions, and same-sex custody issues.

  1. Video Marketing for Family Law Firms

As a family lawyer, you can build a strong and lasting connection with your clients. In this area of practice, more than any other, your and your firm’s personality need to shine through in its marketing efforts.

You can accomplish some of this through content marketing, but video marketing is one of the best ways to showcase your firm’s culture and personality. Videos on your website, blog, and social channels can help potential clients get a feel for who you are, how you approach cases, and the way you will treat them as a client.

A robust video library also gives potential clients another means to educate themselves about their situation. This can save you time as clients walk into your office with some basic knowledge.

  1. Social Media for Family Lawyers

Your potential family law clients are hungry for information. Social media is one of the channels you can use to deliver guidance, but you will want to approach it the right way. The client journey can be much longer with family law clients, who will weigh their options before contacting a law firm for help.

Your social media profiles should give potential clients the guidance they need to make wise decisions and contact you when they are ready. Even after a matter is resolved, clients might continue to follow you on social media to maintain a connection and get information on things that could impact them in the future. This also keeps your firm’s name top of mind for potential referrals.

Want to Sign More Family Law Clients Each Month?

As this information illustrates, there are several ways to market your family law firm online. But success won’t happen overnight, and effective digital marketing requires a cohesive plan and strategy.

At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, our team has a proven formula for helping family law firms boost their visibility and generate more clients. We do not take a cookie-cutter approach to legal marketing but rather tailor our strategies to your firm’s particular needs and goals. If you would like to learn more about how our experienced digital marketers can help elevate your law firm’s online presence, contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

Local SEO & Law Firm Marketing

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Consumers are increasingly searching for businesses that are “local” to them. Some research estimates that nearly half of all searches on Google are now local, such as “coffee near me” or “business lawyer in Los Angeles.”

The search engines have responded by creating products to cater to the wants and needs of consumers. Now, when you search for a local business, you will likely get Google Maps results that are pulled from Google My Business (GMB) profiles. But how do you make sure your law firm, and not your competitor, is at the top of those local search results? The answer is by focusing on local SEO.

What Does Local SEO Mean?

The acronym “SEO” tossed around by marketing professionals and clients alike stands for Search Engine Optimization. It relates to the ways that you build out and update your online presence to improve your organic website rankings.

SEO is necessary to gain client leads through Google searches, which brings us to the term “local SEO.” Most law firm clients are looking for an attorney that is local to them. With local SEO, a business will appear in search results in a variety of places when a potential client searches for an attorney “near me,” an attorney in a particular geographic area, or just an attorney in general, such as “find divorce attorney.”

Benefits of Local SEO for Law Firms

According to Google, 76% of people who search on their smartphones for a nearby business frequent that business within a day. Local SEO can help law firms optimize their efforts so that they can rank higher in search results.

If your law firm has a physical location and serves a particular geographic area, it can profit from using local SEO. Specifically, here are some of the benefits of making local SEO a priority:

Rank for More Local Keywords

As a business with an online presence, you may already be familiar with SEO. But you will want to take a more targeted approach for local SEO. For example, instead of just ranking for the keyword “DUI attorney,” you may attempt to rank for more targeted searches like “Florida DUI attorney,” “Pensacola DUI attorney,” or “fight a DUI in Panama City.”

Appear in Google’s Map Pack

When a consumer searches for a local business online using Google, the search engine automatically shows them a map of local businesses along with the organic search results. These Google Maps Packs show up on about one-third of all first-page search engine results. But there are likely many options that Google can choose. If you have focused your local SEO efforts correctly, your firm can appear in these results and achieve more online visibility.

Increase Your Local Client Base

Your local SEO efforts can help your law firm boost its online visibility. With this, your firm can expect to receive more emails and phone calls from prospective clients, an increase in foot traffic, and more client sign-ups overall. Local SEO is an effective way for a business to let the public know about the services it offers in a particular geographical area.

Improve Your Law Firm’s Reputation

Local SEO can also be useful for improving your law firm’s online reputation. When potential clients see that your firm ranks well in organic search results, this instills confidence in your brand. As you continue to build a larger client base, you will be able to hold onto those strong rankings.

How to Show Up in Local Search Results

Since most law firms compete for clients in a local area, figuring out how to show up in local search results is vital. Fortunately, you won’t need to reinvent the wheel. Here are some of the things your law firm can do to increase its local search visibility.

  1. Set Up and Optimize a “Google My Business” Page

The first step in your local SEO strategy should be to create and optimize your law firm’s Google My Business page. The data on the Maps Pack is pulled from this listing, and it is a primary source for local business information. It should include:

  • Your business name, address, and phone number
  • A link to your website
  • The correct categories for your law practice
  • Some relevant and high-quality photos
  • A keyword-rich description of your practice
  1. Optimize Your Website With Local Keywords

Your law firm’s website should also be optimized for local search. Specifically, you can add local keyword data to your Area of Practice pages and even create specific pages that target different geographic areas. Your digital marketing firm will help with on-page SEO items such as title tags and including location keywords in page URLs.

  1. Ensure NAP Citations Are Consistent

Consumers need to trust that they can contact and find a local business when they need it the most. You will achieve better rankings if your NAP (Name, Address, Phone information) is 100% consistent across all online properties. Confirm that these items are exactly the same on your website, directory listings, and social media accounts.

  1. Get Backlinks from Other Local Websites

Backlinks always play a role in SEO, and this is no different if you are trying to rank for local search. Your law firm should develop a long-term strategy to collect incoming links from other local businesses, such as charities, the Chamber of Commerce, and local news outlets.

  1. Generate Client Reviews on Google, Avvo, Facebook and Yelp

Finally, Google will grant more favor to local businesses that are generating consistent online feedback from clients. Specifically, your law firm should focus on encouraging clients to leave Google reviews, which will impact your local search rankings. It is also a good idea to have reviews on other platforms like Avvo and Yelp.

Get the Help You Need to Local SEO for Law Firms

When it comes to local SEO, there is a lot of ground to cover. It is vital that your firm takes the time to do the job thoroughly and correctly because missteps with SEO can be challenging to undo. Establishing a robust local profile is the key to success in local SEO.

You cannot afford to trust just anyone with your law firm’s digital marketing strategy, which is why we recommend you speak to us about our results-based solutions. At Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing, our team draws from years of experience handling law firm marketing as we ensure that your online listings are 100% consistent and accurate and search for the best possible local links to improve your results. Contact us today to learn more about our services.

Building the Perfect Google Profile for a Law Firm

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Your law firm’s website should be a vital part of its digital marketing strategy. With the right search engine optimization (SEO), you should be able to achieve organic rankings and attract visitors looking for your services. But did you know you have another opportunity to get free traffic to your business through your Google Business Profile?

Also known as Google My Business, this listing allows your law firm to appear at the top of search results. If you aren’t taking advantage of this feature, you are probably missing out on a ton of potential traffic and business. Here is what you need to know and how you can build the perfect Google Profile for your law firm. 

What is Google My Business (now Google Business Profile)?

Google Business Profiles is a free service designed to make it easier for people to find local businesses in their area, allowing those same businesses to set up and manage their online business listings. 

When a person searches for a service, like a personal injury law firm, Google will display results on a map and provide other details about the business, such as the website link, contact information, and even reviews. 

Why Your Law Firm Needs a Google Business Profile

According to a Google My Business Insights Study by BrightLocal, the average GMB profile receives over 1,200 views monthly. Those are views your law firm wouldn’t get if it didn’t use this feature. Here are a few other reasons every law firm needs a Google Business Profile. 

  • Appear on Google Maps — Your law firm will appear on Google Maps, which shows where you are relative to a potential client’s location. 
  • Show up in the Local 3-Pack — You can also show up as one of the top three businesses on the Google Maps results if you have an optimized Google Business Profile. 
  • Increased Traffic to Your Site — Having another spot in Google’s organic search results can increase traffic to your website and produce more leads for your law firm. 
  • It’s Free Advertising — While Google offers some paid ad opportunities, Google Business Profiles are completely free. 

Steps for Building the Perfect Law Firm Google Profile 

Here are the steps you can take to set up an effective Google Business Profile for your law firm. 

Step 1: Link Your Email and Business in Google

Make sure you are logged into the Gmail account you want associated with your Google Business Profile. Then, go to the official Google Business Page and click “Manage now.”

Step 2: Enter Your Law Firm’s Name

Much of the setup is self-explanatory. You’ll want to enter your law firm’s name exactly as you want it to be seen in the search results. If it’s already listed, which isn’t uncommon, you can “claim” your business and make any necessary adjustments. 

Note: It’s never a good idea to spam your listing with keywords, like “Gulf Coast bankruptcy lawyer,” unless that is really the name of your law firm. If you use this strategy, Google may remove your listing from the search results. 

Step 3: Choose Your Primary Business Category

This is the place where you get to select your primary business category. If you are a law firm that focuses on several practice areas, the best approach is to choose the category that generates the most business for your firm. 

For example, if you provide both family law and estate planning services, you’ll want to select “family law” if that brings in the most revenue for your business. Keep in mind, you’ll be able to choose some secondary areas of business later. 

Step 4: Add Your Physical Location

Assuming your law firm has a physical location and you want to rank in the Google Maps results (recommended), you should pay careful attention to this step. Answer “Yes” when Google asks if you would like to add a location. 

Enter your law firm’s address on the next screen. Make sure it matches the address listed on your website and social media profiles exactly. 

Step 5: Do You Deliver?

This is an odd question to ask a law firm. But, it’s a generic Google business question. They are asking whether your business provides deliveries or offers home visits. Even if you do travel for visits, most law firms enter “No” at this step. You can make the offer on your website. 

Step 6: Provide Your Contact Information

While an optional step, filing out this information is a must if you want to rank well in local search and get qualified leads. When you enter your website URL, make sure it is listed correctly and consistently across all online platforms. For example, if you don’t use the www in front of your URL, don’t include it here. 

Step 7: Finish and Verify Your Google Business Profile

If your business hasn’t already been verified by Google, you’ll need to complete this process. Google will ask for a contact name at your law firm and will send you a postcard in the mail. Once your receive that, in about five business days, you can enter the verification code and then begin optimizing your profile. 

Optimizing Your Google Business Profile

Setting up your law firm’s complete and verified Google Business Profile is only the first step to achieving the goal of better local search rankings. Once your profile has been verified, you’ll want to put additional work into optimizing your profile. Some of those tasks will include:

  • Writing your law firm’s info section
  • Listing the services you offer
  • Adding secondary service categories
  • Uploading high-quality photos
  • Including your business hours
  • Adding attributes (women-owned, veteran-owned, accessibility information, etc.)
  • Monitoring and responding to reviews
  • Enabling messaging

Call Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing for a Consultation With a Law Firm Marketing Specialist

It’s going to be challenging to reach your target audience without a robust Google profile for your law firm. If you’re looking for ways to rise above the competition and become the law firm of choice in your area, we can help. 

Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency that helps law firms throughout the United States get more leads. We offer a comprehensive suite of marketing services, including Google My Business set up and optimization. 

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. 

Five Most Important Elements in Your 2021 Marketing Plan

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Build Your 2021 Marketing Plan Today

If you are hoping to see a return to marketing as normal in 2021, that’s not looking likely. But businesses have proven to be incredibly resilient during this prolonged period of strangeness, and the hope is that the coming year will be no different.

We have already witnessed a fundamental change in how organizations approach sales and marketing. The idea of being available and helpful to potential clients has become even more vital over the past year as people struggle to cope with financial and other changes.

But what about moving forward? Here are some ways you can continue to adapt, and some of the most important elements you’ll want to include in your 2021 marketing plan.

Do You Need a Marketing Plan?

In short, yes, you do. Approaching digital marketing without a plan is a terrible idea. As a business owner, it is vital that you have a way to connect with potential clients at various stages in their marketing journey.

A typical marketing funnel consists of several stages – awareness, engagement, conversion, advocacy. Since few businesses close a sale with the first contact, your digital marketing strategy should include elements that will engage consumers throughout their journey. This is tough to accomplish without a plan.

Five Most Important Elements in Your 2021 Marketing Plan

Most businesses were happy to say farewell to 2020, but what’s on the table for the coming year? Here are five strategies that you should include in your 2021 digital marketing plan:

  1. Prioritize Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) continues to be a moving target, and this won’t change in 2021. But there are few trends in SEO that can help your business in the coming year:

  • User Experience (UX) – Google now factors “UX signals” into its rankings, so it is essential that you consider things like page load speed, navigation, and content quality.
  • Semantic Search – This refers to “how” people search for information online. It’s changing, and Google wants your content to match the user’s intent.
  • Zero-Click Search Results – At least some of your content should be optimized to capture Google’s featured snippets, video carousels, and knowledge graphs that can help build brand awareness.
  • Google My Business – Every local business should have a claimed and fully-optimized GMB profile to target audiences in local markets.
  1. Focus on Video Marketing

2020 has changed the way consumers use video, and brands approach it as a digital marketing channel. According to Deloitte, 80% of U.S. consumers now subscribe to a video streaming service, and 78% watch videos online at least weekly.

Watching videos on mobile devices has become particularly popular, and viewers report retaining up to 95% of a message when it’s consumed via video.

If your business or law firm hasn’t focused on video marketing in the past, 2021 should be your year. If you have, keep posting video content and innovating to build brand awareness, instill trust, and drive conversions.

The good news is you have a ton of options when it comes to video content. For example, you can use demonstration videos to showcase services or products. You can post brand videos to share your company’s vision or mission. And you can create educational or frequently asked question (FAQ) videos to help customers better understand concepts or the benefits that you provide.

  1. Use Google Local Service Ads (LSAs)

Google might have international reach, but if you’re a local service business, you probably want to make a bigger impression on an audience within driving distance. Searchers want a personal injury attorney, a restaurant “near me,” or a plumber to fix an urgent leak.

This is why optimizing for local search through Google My Business profiles is vital. But Google also launched a new service last year that can give your business an even bigger advantage over its competitors – Local Service Ads (LSAs).

With LSAs, your listing will show up as a trusted professional in the area, nestled just above the traditional paid search ads. An LSA will show your business name, your GMB star-rating and number of reviews, your business phone #, hours, and a green check mark with the words “Google Guaranteed.”

LSAs are available for a growing list of service industries and ad regions. If your business is eligible, this is something you should integrate into your 2021 marketing plan.

  1. Leverage Social Media

Since COVID-19 started, people have been spending more time on social media, and brands have been dedicating more of their budgets to engaging those audiences. According to Marketing Charts, social media budgets rose to 24% of total marketing budgets in 2020, up from 13% the prior year.

This shift in consumer behavior gives your business a twofold opportunity. First, you can use social media to build brand awareness and expand your customer base. Second, you can leverage social channels to re-engage with long-time customers and increase your retention rates.

Social media marketing involves a commitment of time and resources. You’ll want to create a content plan, post on social channels regularly, monitor and respond to customers, and build trust. If you’ve put off social media or not made the most of it in past years, now’s the time to change that.

  1. Post Informed Content

Personalization has been a hot topic in digital marketing circles over the past several years. When it comes to the customer experience, this can refer to meeting your customer where they are in their journey to find a service provider, such as in the awareness stage vs. the advocacy stage.

Going even a step further than personalization, consumers are now placing a high value on informed content. What does this mean? Depending on your industry, it can mean several things.

In the age of COVID, political unrest, and situations that just change “fast,” consumers place trust in brands that keep them informed. It can be as simple as a timely post or video about a new law taking effect that is relevant to your target audience.

If your brand sells goods or a different kind of services, consumers are placing more value on things that would once seem intrusive. Many people “like” it when a brand anticipates what they might want to buy next, sometimes before they know it themselves. You can send out these suggestions in the form of targeted ads or emails.

Ready to Take Your Digital Marketing Strategy to the Next Level?

There is little doubt that the past year has rattled a few cages, but consumers and businesses alike have learned to pivot with impressive speed. According to McKinsey & Company, 77% of Americans have tried out new brands, places to shop, and shopping methods over the past year. Consumers are no longer passively returning to the same brands, which could provide your business with opportunities in the coming year.

As your business or firm seeks to boost awareness, create value, and drive results using these marketing methods, find out how we can help. Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing specializes in results-driven digital marketing solutions. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. We can be reached at (800) 649-1764.