Online Marketing for Law Firms: Why Attorneys Need Digital Marketing More than Ever

​Many law firms rely on attorney referrals to increase their client base. While that is an excellent part of marketing for law firms, it is not complete. You are missing out on significant marketing opportunities if you don't have a law firm digital marketing agency creating optimized content for your website. The competition for clients is fierce, and one way to get to the top of the pack is digital marketing for lawyers and attorneys.

Potential clients looking for an attorney practicing in a specific field for the first time almost always turn to the Internet to start their research. A content strategist at a law firm digital marketing agency can update and optimize current content and create new optimized content to help potential clients find you in the multitude of other law firms and attorneys in the digital marketing arena. 

​​In 2015, according to Martingale-Avvo, 16.5 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds used the Internet to research attorneys and law firms. By 2020, also according to Martingale-Avvo, 66 percent of consumers, and 80 percent of those under 35 years of age, relied on the Internet to research services they needed, including law firms.

In 2022, according to The National Law Review, 90 percent of those looking for an attorney checked the reviews as part of their research for hiring an attorney. Additionally, Martingale-Avvo found that those who researched law firms and attorneys online required the firm or attorney to have at least a 4.1 out of 5-star rating.

The most important factor to increase your online visibility is content. A content strategist at EpochWriter can optimize the content on your existing website to increase your online visibility. EpochWriter can also create optimized content for your new website or create a website with optimized content for you.

​Without strong law firm web marketing, you could reduce your potential customer base by 90 percent. If you think a potential client Googles law firms, reads the reviews and stops there, you'll also lose a good percentage of leads.

In many cases, a potential client needs legal representation because of a life-changing event, the client suffered injuries due to neglect, or he or she needs business or tax legal advice. Combined with the cost of having an attorney represent him, a potential client understandably needs to ensure the law firm or attorney he hires has the best chance of obtaining the outcome he deserves.

Thus, most potential clients will search for local attorneys – usually in the same city, screen the reviews for trust and, create a short list, then will search the attorneys' names to study the firm's website and review sites. 

​In a nutshell, content marketing for attorneys and law firms is a form of digital marketing. Online marketing, or digital marketing, includes inbound marketing and content marketing. In a nutshell, inbound marketing targets potential clients looking for helpful content and is often found on landing pages and web pages, while content marketing drives customer action and is usually found in blog posts, white papers, e-books and other digital media.

A digital marketing plan establishes your firm's experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust through website pages, blog posts, social media, email, and other online channels using search engine optimization (SEO) and persona targeting.

If people of all ages retain your family law firm, you need digital marketing for family lawyers that targets all age groups. One group may prefer email, while another may prefer phone calls and texts. Yet another age group or other demographic may prefer in-person consultations or case evaluations. 

You may hear the terms "SEO" and "search engine optimization" thrown around and probably have a basic idea of what they are. However, to actually implement SEO that works is something else. SEO drives potential clients to your website and increases your online visibility.

When you search for something on the Internet, whether you use Google, Bing, Duck Duck Go or another search engine, the search engines spit out a list of links. SEO and pay-per-click advertising determine which links the search engine shows you first.

The higher your website appears on the list, the more visitors you'll get to your website. Most people won't look past the third page of search results. SEO is for organic search results – not the paid ads at the top of the page. 

​​​Yes! SEO absolutely works – when done correctly. The big challenge is getting your website as close to the top of the search engine results page (SERP) organic results as possible. Many companies offer SEO services for law firms, and some may "guarantee" excellent results. However, no company can guarantee where your firm will appear in the top position on the SERPs.

EpochWriter uses a variety of ways to improve the chance that you'll rank on the first page of the search results. While Google and other search engines keep their algorithms secret for the most part, we know the basic factors they use to evaluate search engine listings, making it easy to increase your firm's online visibility, including:

• Content: The words, images, and pages of your website must be optimized with keywords. The information you post must be high quality and meet Google's standards. The trick is to choose the proper keywords and use them naturally – gone are the days of awkward-sounding keywords littering content.
• Backlinks and Off-Page Citations: If your content shows expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, other sites will link to your pages. These are backlinks, and they play an extensive role in page rank. Off-page citations also play a significant role in showing your page's authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
• Technical SEO: Your page must provide an excellent user experience. Title tags, site structure and page loading speed all play a role in technical SEO. 

Organic search traffic often goes overlooked, which is a significant missed opportunity. As shown above, 90 percent of people looking for goods and services, including legal services, research their purchases online.

SEO may seem complicated, but if you've never invested in this type of marketing, you wouldn't understand it, just as a non-lawyer doesn't understand legal principles and therefore retains an attorney to handle legal problems.

To help you understand the basics of SEO and why you should retain EpochWriter to help with content marketing for lawyers and law firms, we'll dig into the important factors for search engines. 

​Content is the Number One SEO ranking factor in digital marketing for law firms. In a nutshell, the content on your website must answer the search term used by the person looking for a law firm.

Your web pages must contain the keywords used by searchers. For example, a family law firm in Knoxville might use the terms "family lawyer in Knoxville," "family attorney in Knoxville," "Knoxville divorce lawyer," and so on. The trick is to know how people are searching for what they need and create content that shows you are experienced, you have expertise in your field, and you are authoritative and trustworthy.

Your website must also meet search engine criteria – if the search engines list it too far down in the results or not at all, potential clients won't click through to your site. You must also make the search engine Gods happy. When you provide content that answers all of a searcher's questions regarding location, experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, you also meet search engine requirements.

Of course, that is not the only thing that search engines look for when indexing your site, but most search engines keep their complete algorithms secret. It's up to experienced digital marketers to anticipate significant changes to create or update content to meet search engine requirements.

You can boost your content by adding reviews and case results to your website and ensuring that the answers to potential clients' questions are continuously updated. 

​So, what is all the hullaballoo over keywords? They tell search engines you're doing an outstanding job answering potential clients' questions. The keywords chosen for your firm have a significant impact on where your content ranks on SERPs.

Search engines use automated bots to read everything on your website. The bot picks up certain keywords that show you are answering questions searchers ask. Thus, the keywords must be clear in your content. For example, if someone living in Knoxville is looking for a family law attorney, your site must make it clear that you are a "Knoxville divorce attorney."

To do that, digital marketers for law firms place keywords in strategic parts of your website, including title and description tags, page headings and subheadings, throughout the paragraphs on your page, and in the web page's URL. 

​Using keyword optimization, you can even target specific potential clients, such as those who live in Knoxville or Knox County, those who are a certain age, or those looking for a specific family law service, such as a "Knoxville child support lawyer."

Now, we're going to throw a monkey wrench into this theory: Plain keywords won't suffice. Your content needs to include the primary keyword plus variations of the keyword and long-tail forms of the keyword so your content covers a lot of ground for searchers.

Creating as much content as possible that targets the variations of the primary keyword significantly helps increase your online visibility. For example, you don't want just one article about child support – you want different articles targeting various keywords – and the content must be different. You can't spin one article into many – they are too similar, and search engines will kick you to the curb. 

​Your next question is most likely, "So if everyone's content is great, how do the search engines choose?" This is where backlinks and off-page citations come in. Backlinks are links to your page on others' websites. It's sort of like a popularity contest. Search engines count the links that link to your page from others' websites. The more you have, the better the search engines like it.

Backlinks tell the search engines that you know what you are talking about and that your content is credible. Obtaining backlinks is something your internal marketing can do, as it takes a lot of time. It's not something that you can do overnight. Once your web design company or content strategist posts content, you can work on getting backlinks or ask your content strategist to help you obtain backlinks. 

​​Another part of the popularity contest is off-page citations. These links are usually from places that post your contact information, such as the bar association or Avvo. Other sites that are considered off-page citations and easy for you to get include:

• Legal directories.
• Local directories, such as your Google Business Profile.
• People who share your content on social media sites.
• The links you include on your social media profiles.
• Reviews from other sites.

You can find even more ideas to generate backlinks and off-page citations from Backlinko. 

Your website design is just as important as SEO and content. While Google looks mostly to content, whether your website is mobile-friendly is a consideration – though not as big of a consideration as it previously was.

However, usability and security are still critical factors.

Your website must follow Google's guidelines. If you type "site:yoursite.com" into the Google search box, it should bring up a list of URLs. If not, your site is not indexed – and if it's not indexed, it won't appear when people search for it.

Your site should load quickly, and it should be mobile-friendly. When a site is mobile-friendly, it renders well on smaller screens, including cell phones and tablets. EpochWriter uses a blank responsive template that allows for many design options with the ability to view the site on a desktop / laptop, cell phone and tablet. 

​Navigation is also essential to search engines. Your site must have a menu so people can easily navigate your site. Search engine bots must also be able to follow the navigation structure. A sitemap can help the bots find all the pages on your website.

Internal links are also important. If search engine bots have difficulty finding a page to index, internal links are often helpful. 

​Law firm marketing differs from marketing for an individual attorney in that the law firm's brand relies on individual marketing for the attorneys. Thus, a law firm has its own branding, but the reputation of the attorneys in the firm is a significant contribution to the firm's overall brand.

Firms should include pages for each attorney and even their support staff. It should also include pages for:

• Community and charity events the firm is involved in. These show potential clients that the firm cares about and is involved in the community.
• Court and administrative links. These show potential clients which courts the attorneys are admitted to practice in.
• Certain outside legal articles, guides and, in some circumstances, forms. For example, if your firm handles family law but not bankruptcy, you might link to a bankruptcy attorney's very informative blog on bankruptcy for divorcing couples. 

​Whether a sole practitioner or an attorney in a law firm, you should always market yourself. If you are in a firm, you should have a separate page – and this is an excellent opportunity for a backlink! You can link to your firm's page, and your firm can link to yours.

Even with your own page, you should have a bio on the firm's main page – that bio should link to your individual page. Your page tells potential clients more about your personal brand, including your specific practice areas. This is an opportunity to show off your experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.

​Your individual page should also include your bio – but not an exact copy of the bio on the firm's page, as search engines do not like duplicate content. Highlight any awards you received, such as those from Martindale-Avvo, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Million Dollar Advocate and more. Only publish awards that are high value. If you've been published, you should also include links to those publications.

Finally, ensure you have a professional LinkedIn profile and Google Business Profile separate from the firm's. Use them to link back to your page – more backlinks! Remember, this page is about you – it focuses on your personal brand, which is separate from the firm's brand.

Make sure your profiles have professional photos and list your achievements. Always set up reviews on any social media sites. 

​​Attorneys and law firms – and those who provide content marketing for law firms must always keep law firm ethics in mind when creating a digital marketing plan.

The American Bar Association Rule 7.2 regarding Communications Concerning a Lawyer's Services dictates advertising rules for attorneys and law firms. You should also know the rules your state, county, and, if applicable, city bar associations set out. Each jurisdiction may have additional regulations that law firms and attorneys must follow for digital marketing.

In short, the rules include:

• You can never say you're an expert.
• You can't make misleading or false statements.
• Make sure any testimonials you publish follow the regulations for attorney advertising.
• You can't directly solicit your services.

With a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that encompasses inbound marketing and content marketing, you have one of the best ways to build brand credibility and trust with potential clients.

​​Always remember SEO doesn't happen overnight. It is something you must work on constantly, even once you have a website in place. Your digital marketing specialist at EpochWriter will work with you to create a digital marketing plan that includes adding new content to your site on a regular basis. Google and potential clients want to see new content!

Be patient – it doesn't come overnight, and those that promise fast results, insist on pay-per-click (it's not SEO), or ranking at the top of SERPs are fly-by-night firms that you don't need to work on your SEO strategy. As long as the quality and quantity of your content are better than the next firm's, you're well on your way to more online visibility.

Contact EpochWriter to discuss a digital marketing plan for new or existing websites and blogs.