Wondering “how to get clients for lawyers”? It may not feel like the easiest thing to do, especially if you are just starting.
Outlined below are six solid avenues you can take towards getting more clients for your firm. If you can nail one (or all of these) you will be well on your way.
#1: Search Engine Optimization for Law Firms
Showing up in the organic search results on browsers like Google or Firefox represents a great way to find new clients for your law firm. Unfortunately, search engine optimization (SEO) for a law firm can be a complicated process involving multiple steps.
SEO helps improve the ranking of your website on search engines. Clients tend to feel more confident about working with a business that ranks well, as it gives your company a greater sense of professionalism. In fact, many legal clients only look at the first few results when selecting a law firm to handle their needs.
We’ll help you review the best ways to reach your target market through SEO marketing efforts right now.
Content Marketing
Content marketing represents one of the most important aspects of SEO services. Any business can benefit from the creation of educational content on its website. You may engage in content marketing by:
- Making a blog post
- Setting up a FAQ section
- Posting articles about the specific services you offer
FAQs provide a great way to show off the legal services you provide while demonstrating your expertise in legal issues faced by your new clients. Potential clients often feel more comfortable working with a company that has already provided them with actionable information.
Blog posts also represent a great way to show your knowledge about legal work. Even new lawyers can generate interest in their law firms with strong content marketing efforts.
Make sure you stay consistent when developing content for your website, blog, or social media site. Consistent use of terminology and structure helps encourage a higher ranking on search engines like Google.
Link Building
Link building involves encouraging other websites to feature links, articles, or referrals to your pages. For example, Backlinking to your law firm helps you build a good reputation with potential clients and search engines.
SEO often focuses on including keywords to impact where you place on a Google search. However, simply jamming many keywords into an article will not help you rocket to the top of the search results.
Instead, we recommend the organic use of keywords for lawyers, focusing on link building to improve your ranking as part of the online marketing process.
Business Profile
You must have a solid profile for your business on your website. In addition, your profile should include extensive information about your firm to make potential customers feel more comfortable about selecting your company.
Many customers even report feelings of mistrust if they look up a firm and only find an address and the company’s name. But, in today’s information-focused world, more is often better. Clients want detailed information, so they don’t have to ask many questions when they reach out to you.
Build trust with your clients by providing information about:
- Your address and physical location
- Your hours of operating
- The services you provide
- Your phone number and another link to your website
Many firms provide a link (or “call to action”) on their profile, allowing clients to set up a consultation or give information on their case without having to make a phone call or speak with a representative from the firm.
You may also want to include client reviews on your business profile. Taking this step further increases the confidence of new clients, helping them feel more comfortable about reaching out to you for help with all of their legal needs.
On-Site Optimization
Optimizing your website provides you with an excellent foundation for the future success of your law firm. You don’t have to focus on all aspects of optimization on your own. Instead, you have the option of working with an attorney web design company with experience handling the needs of your business.
The optimization process involves making your website search-friendly. As a new lawyer, you want to ensure each potential client can easily navigate your website without getting frustrated and leaving due to issues with website design.
Fast speeds also matter for lawyers and their customers. Additionally, we recommend focusing on responsive web design, allowing your pages to shift so they look great if your clients access them using a desktop computer or mobile device.
Explore Social Media Options
Social media represents a great way to reach out to new clients who may otherwise miss your company. Many firms hire a social media manager who handles their presence on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Staying active on these pages helps customers feel like they know you and your firm. In addition, they may feel more comfortable reaching out to you if you make regular posts about legal issues or events in your local community, showing interest in the surrounding area.
Social media managers handle all posts for you and can even answer client questions to build your reputation in the community.
#2: Online Legal Directories and Your Law Firm
Online legal directories provide a listing of firms that could address your customers’ needs. We understand that many lawyers feel frustrated about the pay-to-play aspect of this part of their marketing plan. However, joining these directories can improve your visibility.
Legal directories often dominate the top results for most organic searches related to firms. Therefore, a prospective client may end up clicking on them, finding a law firm that meets their needs and performing no further searches.
We recommend joining as many legal directories as possible to increase your profile. Consider options like:
Avvo
Avvo serves as an online marketplace designed to help individuals seeking legal services. Users can use it as a referral service or look up legal information from questions asked by previous users.
Avvo also provides detailed information about lawyers, including:
- Peer endorsements
- Client reviews
- Disciplinary actions
A new client who accesses Avvo can also find legal guides submitted by lawyers.
Super Lawyers
Super Lawyers acts as a rating service that features lawyers who have a reputation for outstanding service. The site focuses on over 70 different practice areas and mainly presents lawyers who have impressive achievements in the professional world and good peer recognition.
The service bases its decisions on peer evaluations, peer nominations, and independent research. It provides state-specific research as well as digital magazines for prospective clients.
FindLaw
Possible clients can access FindLaw.com to get access to free legal information. The website focuses on serving:
- Legal professionals
- Students
- Business owners
- Consumers
The site has sections dealing with legal news, case law, and federal and state statutes. It also offers a lawyer directory, allowing clients to review prospective law firms. FindLaw.com offers free access to this directory.
Visitors to the site may also check out Writ, a magazine pushed by the website that focuses on different legal matters.
Justia
Justia primarily serves as a service to review and retrieve legal information. It contains records of many legal cases completed in the U.S. and offers access to:
- Legal texts
- Case law
- Opinion summaries
- Codes
The website copies documents created by the Supreme Court and publishes them online, representing a significant repository of knowledge for clients interested in all aspects of the law.
#3: Paid Search Marketing to Reach Potential Clients
Part of law practice management involves exploring paid search marketing options. Paid marketing can help you grow your client base if you open a new business or simply want to expand your existing law firm.
Solo attorneys and lawyers who work in larger firms may all benefit from raising their business profile by using paid media channels. Explore some of your options for bringing in clients through paid marketing with our team.
Paid Search Options
You’ve likely noticed that the first three to four results for most Google searches are paid ads. These ads often catch the eye of potential clients, leading them to your website and potentially leading to a conversion.
Paid ads represent an essential part of the legal profession and have a role to play in business development for lawyers. You have several options when it comes to paying for ads, with many firms deciding to explore pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
If you select a PPC ad campaign, you only pay for the advertisements when clients actually click the link and visit your website. This advertisement option can help you maintain your budget while directly searching for new clients.
Image Ads
Clients respond well to images over plain text ads. An eye-catching picture can compel potential clients to click on a link and focus on what you have to say. We often see image ads on social media sites, including Facebook.
Video Ads on YouTube
Video ads also provide you with a great way to reach new clients. These ads often play before selected videos on YouTube or other websites that feature videos. It’s important to carefully choose the videos associated with your ad, so they reach clients interested in your services.
Note that video ads may cost more to design and set up than either text or image ads. Depending upon your advertising budget, they may not represent the best choice for your law firm. Reach out to us to discuss all your options before you make a final decision.
Programmatic
Programmatic advertising techniques contract with traditional options for handling digital advertising. Law firms that use programmatic strategies rely on automated technology to handle media buying.
#4: Reputation Management for Your Law Firm
Reputation management plays a vital role in helping you find more clients for your business. The most significant part of your reputation generally comes from the feedback and reviews provided by your previous clients.
New clients look at online reviews to find out more about your business and how you handle clients. Make sure that you ask any clients to leave a positive review after you resolve their case to build your reputation as a firm to get clients interested in reaching out to you.
Reviews provide social proof that you live up to the promises you make to customers. Many reviews often improve your local map search results and, as a result, directly contribute to raising your SEO profile. Reputation management may involve:
Facebook Reviews
We hope you have a Facebook page set up for your law firm. Social media sites allow you to connect with your clients, answer legal questions, and show off reviews that demonstrate the care your new clients can expect to receive when they work with you.
Lawyers who set up a review feature on Facebook make it easy for previous clients to state how they felt. Use a star system so new clients can quickly get a feel for the services you provide.
Google Map Reviews
Reviews posted to Google show up on map view, allowing a potential client to get a clear overview of the options close to their physical location. Help your business stand out by requesting your clients to leave a review on Google after you resolve their claim.
Google displays the number of reviews you have prominently and provides details about the quality of each review, from five-star to one-star. Note that if you take advantage of client reviews, it’s essential to resolve any low-star reviews quickly.
Allowing poor reviews to stay on your business profile can negatively impact your ability to get clients. Reach out quickly to individuals who left them to handle the issue.
Yelp
Yelp provides an excellent way for your clients to quickly share their feelings about your business and their experience with the individuals working for your firm. As a lawyer, you can establish your business profile by directing clients toward positive Yelp reviews.
Online Directories
We review many of the major online directories that list law firms above. As a lawyer, consider signing up for sites like Avvo, Super Lawyers, and FindLaw to reach more prospective clients for your law practice.
You may have to pay various fees to list on a legal directory as a lawyer. However, we often recommend taking this step to raise your profile and reach more clients.
#5: Referral Services and Your Firm
Many law firms report that as many as 31% of their new clients come from referrals from other attorneys. However, these referrals will not happen on their own. Another lawyer may only send a referral your way after they get to know you through networking and experience.
Ensure that you connect with other lawyers in your area, handing out your cards and sharing information about your practice area. As a lawyer, take the time to treat other legal professionals with respect and make sure you offer to refer clients to other firms.
Referrals do not always come from other lawyers. In fact, referrals often come from past clients who had a pleasant experience working with your company. These past clients may refer their:
- Friends
- Family
- Co-workers
Encourage your clients to make referrals on social media and through online reviews. Pleased clients will talk about how you handled their claims, spreading information about your company through word of mouth, which is one of the oldest and most effective ways to get clients.
Note that clients also talk about poor experiences to their friends and family. Providing excellent care to each client you serve as a lawyer helps increase the odds of gaining new clients. It won’t matter how much focus you put on marketing if you have a lot of negative online reviews.
#6: Networking for a Lawyer
Networking represents an essential task for any lawyer looking to build a client base. New lawyers often expend a lot of time making these connections, but it can benefit any firm. You may get clients by forming connections with:
Other Lawyers
Forming connections with other attorneys can help you improve your odds of drawing more customers to your business. You may focus on developing a relationship with firms who deal with different areas of the law or even lawyers you knew back in law school.
Networking involves more than getting together for drinks or talking about the job. You can network online by sharing content between your websites and linking to one another. Mutual professional links help improve your SEO ranking on sites like Google.
People in Your Target Industry
Lawyer-to-lawyer networking can have a tremendous impact on your business. However, for the best results, we recommend that you network outside of the legal industry. Take the time to build a strong reputation with individuals in your target industry.
For example, let’s say your practice focuses on reaching people who experience motorcycle accidents. You could network by joining a local group of motorcyclists. This action allows you to organically build a reputation as a lawyer who knows and understands the feelings of motorcycle riders.
Many lawyers aren’t sure how to network outside of the legal field. Use resources like networking sites, including options like Meetup.com. You may also attend local events related to your practice area to meet more people. Focus on building a relationship instead of selling your business as you network.
Review Your Options for Getting Clients as a Lawyer
How do lawyers get clients? Increasing interest in your firm often involves a multi-step technique. Our experts recommend that you focus on search engine optimization for your law firm. You build your online presence when you:
- Create educational content
- Include positive links on your webpage
- Design and place ads
- Optimize your site
You may also network and sign up for referral sites to reach more customers. Provide clear-cut information about how you can address the legal issue that concerns your clients for the best results.
Our team at Connective Web Design can help you with your website and SEO improvement plan. Get professional help growing your business by reaching out to us at 818-570-5620.
