Lawyers and law firms don’t just practice law anymore. After years of law school, interning, and passing the bar, now you need to know all about web design, content marketing, and SEO. Because if you don’t, how else are potential clients going to find you?
Your field of law doesn’t matter when it comes to your own marketing. Because your next client is looking for you online. They make their decisions in seconds, and that first impression determines what happens next. If your website doesn’t tell them what they need to know, they’ll keep going. If done correctly, your website quickly tells a story to these prospects and why they need to call you now. A badly written website impacts your revenue.
Sure, you could hire an in-house marketing department—if you’re a large law firm. If you’re a solopreneur, or a small- to a medium-sized law firm, you may not have the budget for even a full-time marketing person. That leaves you and your staff to manage content marketing alongside everything else. If you’re not familiar with copywriting and marketing, that leaves you spinning your wheels while you get up to speed. And you still need to take care of the clients who need your help.
Do you have that kind of time?
Engaging With Qualified Leads
It’s not just about people coming to your website anymore. People searching for a specific type of lawyer will find what they’re looking for. The question is—will they zero in on you, or your competition?
Your website is more than just your firm’s “front door.” It’s where prospects find out what you’re about, and where you educate them on how you can help them. An SEO-optimized website helps them find you, conveys your experience, offers social proof to potential leads, and accelerates your trust factor before they act.
The right copy brings in not just inquiries but qualified leads that are ready to do business with your firm. Your entire website works for you all day, every day, while you concentrate on helping your clients.
Problem Solving
The first question on anyone’s mind when they find your website is, “what can you do for me?”
When a person goes online to find legal help, they have a problem and can’t solve it themselves. That’s where you come in. Unfortunately, many have either procrastinated or ignored their legal problem. Now, they’re at the point where they must deal with it or face consequences. They need you to fix the problem for them. Sometimes you can’t because they’ve waited too long. But they’re looking now, and that’s why you need to be right there in front of them.
Your website must:
- Catch their attention instantly (i.e., “That traffic ticket could cost more than the fine”)
- Discuss their problem at length, and the issues associated with it
- Elaborate on the costs and penalties of the problem, and directly address the denial
- Discuss the results of being proactive and reactive, as well as doing nothing
When someone realizes that they have a choice, they see that calling you is a step toward solving their problem. Making your website to show how you can help, and establish trust before they call goes a long way in turning them into prospects and eventually clients.
But how are they going to find your website–and you?
Let’s Talk About Your Website and Content
Your firm or company’s website is the “front door” when potential clients drop by. Visitors want to know what you can do to help them with their legal problems. They aren’t interested in something from a law journal. Your prospects need information and need to know if you can help them.
If your website isn’t offering them enough fresh, relevant content to show them how you can help, they’ll keep going, and could end up with your competitor.
Think about your website as it sits now, and ask yourself:
- How long has it been since you updated your website’s copy?
- Is it written for a general audience, or for other attorneys? (You would be surprised to see how many attorney and law firm websites read like a law journal.)
- Can potential clients find you easily and quickly in a search?
- Do you publish on your blog regularly on legal topics that your clients would be interested in reading?
- What about the celebrity cases they read in the news, and how does it relate to them? (People are very interested in reading about high-profile cases because it might be something that impacts them as well.)
SEO For Legal Services Providers
Not a lawyer? Neither am I–but if you are a provider of services to the legal industry, I’m happy to help. After all, how else will attorneys and law firms find you?
If you’re a:
- Notary Public
- Process server
- Litigation support company
- Legal outsourcing service
- Other service providers for the legal industry
I can help you, too, with SEO web copy, blogs, lead magnets, and more.
Get Help With Your SEO
If you’re more at ease writing briefs and other legal documents, you might not want to write SEO marketing copy. Let me take this task off your hands so you can get back to your clients.
If SEO and content marketing just seems like one more thing on your to-do list, get in touch. We’ll talk about your firm, company, or service, and what you’d like prospects and leads to know about you so you can turn them into clients.
Use my online contact form and send a message about your website’s SEO copywriting needs or email me at “Amy (at) seoforlaw.net.” You can also download my free white paper, 7 Mistakes Made By Attorneys When Creating A Website.
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