Reaching clients or customers early in the decision-making process is important in any industry, including law. In fact, it may be particularly important for law firms to reach clients as soon as they can, as legal consumers tend to invest a significant amount of time and energy into developing a relationship with an attorney, making them less likely to switch lawyers, even if they are unhappy with their level of service or have other issues.
Many people who need legal help need it immediately, which means it’s critical to reach your potential clients as early as possible in their decision-making process. When it comes to reaching them online, there are certain things you can do to increase the chances they will come across your site when they first start looking for an attorney.
Understand Your Clients’ Concerns
The first thing you need to do is understand your potential clients’ concerns, as this will inform the rest of your strategy. These concerns will vary from practice area to practice area. For example, a person who was involved in a serious car accident yesterday is likely to have concerns about how they are going to pay for their medical expenses. Likewise, someone who just got out of jail after a DUI arrest is probably worried about whether they will lose their license or whether a first-time DUI could result in a jail sentence. Someone who is considering bankruptcy probably is wondering whether they will be able to keep their house or other important assets.
These initial worries are going to motivate your clients’ initial Google searches. As a result,
understanding these primary concerns – rather than secondary or tertiary concerns – will allow you to take steps to maximize the chances that potential clients will navigate to your site as early in their decision-making process as possible.
Provide Valuable Information
Once you understand your potential clients’ concerns, you should develop a significant amount of content that is responsive to queries they will likely make. The content you create can be in a variety of formats, including blog posts, practice area pages, white papers, downloadable e-books, videos, or anything else that potential clients may find interesting and informative. Directly answer the questions your potential clients are asking; you can even use their questions to title your content, improving the chances that your content will appear in the search engine results pages.
If you are having trouble coming with ideas, it may be helpful to consider the questions that you hear most often from clients during your initial meetings. In addition, there are online tools like AnswerThePublic and Keyword Tool to help you figure out what people are searching for online.
Make Sure Your Site Ranks Well for Relevant Search Terms
Research indicates that the results on the first page of Google capture as much as 92 percent of traffic. If you want to connect with potential clients as early as possible in the decision-making process, it’s vital that your site ranks well for search terms relevant to your practice areas.
This means either engaging in a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign or search engine optimization – or both. PPC campaigns allow you to rocket to the top of the results for certain search terms or phrases. As the name implies, you will only pay for the ad running if someone clicks on it. SEO, on the other hand, takes more time. It involves building and updating your site in a way that will make it climb in the results pages for certain search terms. Both PPC and SEO are highly technical, so unless you have a ton of time on your hands to learn about and implement best practices for each, it’s best to hire an outside firm like Gorilla Webtactics to manage both.
Your Search for a Legal Marketing Agency is Over
Gorilla Webtactics is a full-service digital marketing agency that focuses on helping law firms grow and connect with new clients. We offer a wide variety of digital marketing services, including law firm web design, attorney SEO, content marketing, lawyer PPC, social media marketing, and re-marketing advertising. We know that every law firm is different, and we develop custom solutions for every client we take on.
To speak to one of our law firm marketing experts, call us today at (612) 470-9877 or contact us online.
