There are seven main categories of digital marketing that should be your law firm’s focus in 2022. Each area has three specific ideas on how you can improve your marketing quickly and easily.
You can read our full law firm marketing guide, but, we created this guide to be a quicker read. We encourage you to read up on all our helpful tips.
Website Design Improvements
1. Tell a Story & Create a Brand
Visit your website home page. What pops out to you in the first three seconds? Do you have a good visual? Can a user tell what your practice areas are right away? Do you have a unique selling proposition? What is your story that will engage a potential client? What makes you different? You need to answer that all with engaging visuals, specific copy, and headlines that are still SEO compliant.
2. Improve Your Practice Area Pages
Have you reviewed your practice area pages lately? Has the law changed in your area? What does each practice page say about your firm?
Some tips for practice pages:
- Every page should have one specific goal.
- Your page needs a Unique Selling Position. What makes you unique?
- What social proof/badges/testimonials do you offer?
- Can you solve the pain point of the user with clear benefits? Did you address their doubts?
- What is your call to action? Did you tell the user how long it will take to contact them? What do they agree to when contacting you? Costs? Next steps?
- Do you have really good images?
3. Establish Your Reputation with Badges, Testimonials and More
You need to have proof that you are a good lawyer. Make sure your various badges are prominent on the website. Be sure to showcase your client testimonials.
Technical Improvements
4. Speed Matters – Google Page Speed Insights and Content Load Times
Your website needs to load fast. Check out your stats on Google and then forward that report to your web design team. Have them review the report and make changes to get the site speed higher.
5. LCP Coming This Summer: Mobile-First Designs
This summer, Google is going to really put a focus on page speed insights. They are already indexing mobile-first design, but now they want your site to load fast. Supposedly, this will be taken into account for rankings.
6. ADA – Don’t Get Sued for Not Helping Your Site Visitors
While not a pure marketing play, this is more about protecting and helping people. If your site is not ADA compliant, it needs to be by now. Check out https://wave.webaim.org/ for a free report. If you need further analysis, contact an ADA website audit team like us.
PPC Ads / Google Ad Improvements
7. Segment Your Audience
In Google, you can segment your audiences. You can show unique messages to different audiences. You can exclude or include various groups and only show your ads for those specific users.
8. Responsive Display and Mobile Ads
If you create responsive display ads, then the format will automatically change to fit the browsing window. You can create your message and let Google do all the work.
9. Diversify Away From Just Google
Google owns the majority of search-related phrases and ad networks. However, there are other opportunities to advertise. Check out Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit and Microsoft Ads, among others.
Content Marketing Improvements
10. Create a Publishing Plan
The first step to ranking highly is creating informative content. The best first step for that content is to develop a plan. Research potential practice areas you want to target, then create a plan with the page name, link to the copy, due date, approval date, and where it is going live.
11. Get into Video and Explainer Videos
You should try out creating videos for your website. Law firms have been slower to leverage the marketing power of video. There’s a perception that production and filming are too time-consuming and expensive for there to be a measurable ROI for the average lawyer. Though not all video marketing is expensive, law firms should consider the budget-friendly option of explainer videos.
12. Create Guide Books and Digital Downloads
The key to ranking high in a specific area is creating THE definitive resource on a topic. Become THE source of information for car accidents, probate, or divorce law. Produce a 2,500 to 5,000-word guide that is online. Create it as a PDF download too.
Social Media Improvements
13. Post Frequently About Local News and Popular Culture
To have a good social program, you need to post frequently. You don’t have to hit it every day, but at least a few posts a week. You can schedule all your posts for the month in advance and use a program to auto-distribute them on set days.
14. All Posts Should Have Images
Every single post needs an image. Images are viewed more, engaged more, and shared more.
15. Brand Your Social Media Channels
Make sure all your channels have your logo, hero shots, and overall branding. It does not take more than a few hours to update all and make them consistent.
Newsletter Improvements
16. Create a List and Send Monthly
The process for creating a newsletter campaign is quite simple: Create a list, find a program to send out your email, and add it to your website. This takes no more than a few hours to finalize everything. Then you can begin writing content.
17. Create Compelling Headlines and Calls to Actions
The key to any newsletter is having a compelling headline. People decide in the first few seconds whether they will read your content. Your subject line is key. Moreover, you need to have a good call to action in your newsletter. Have one specific call to action that you want them to perform– call you, share, visit your website, contact form, purchase, subscribe to something, or download.
18. Make Sure You Have Targeted Content That Informs
Your content should not just be about your firm. Sure, you can mention a big win or someone new to the firm, but you will want to produce a newsletter that informs your clients and fellow attorneys. Keep it interesting and informative.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Improvements
19. Silo Content for Cities and Practices
The key to ranking highly these days is producing content for every practice area and targeting one location. Want to rank high in Boston for Tax Law? Then have a good portion of your site just about that.
20. Long-Form Content
We have found that long-form content is better. It typically ranks higher. Why? You are more detailed about the topic, so you have more relevancy. The content is more informative, so it is shared. The content is good, so it is read longer and user metrics are better for your clients. Create detailed guides on all your topics.
21. Use Related Search Questions and Rich Snippets
We have found that long-form content typically ranks higher. Why? The pages are more detailed about the topic, so you’re considered more relevant. The more informative the content is, the more likely it is shared.
22. Reinforce Your Content with Internal Links
Adding internal links is an easy SEO tactic that appeases search engines and your potential clients. Google uses these links to see the structure of your site, so relevancy is enhanced with strong connections. Further, adding links within your content helps site visitors navigate to additional pages that connect to their claim.
