Local attorneys and law firms are always looking for ways to expand business online and bring in new clients. With over 1.2 million attorneys in the United States, it can be challenging to get your firm noticed, even if you only practice in one city or location. We speak with local attorneys every week who ask us "how can I grow my law form online?".
There are hundreds of different opinions on how to grow a law firm online - which one is best for you? Here's some common ideas you've probably seen or tried:
- Use paid advertising on sites like Google and Bing
- Pay an SEO company to grow your keyword results
- Send traditional mailers out to your local community
- Radio ads or television commericals targeted to your local area
If you have tried any of these marketing ideas with your firm, they've likely delivered less than you expected. Why is this?
Most marketing for law firms online focus on ONLY attraction, not conversion.
What's the difference? Attraction is bringing people to your website who have never been introduced to your company before. They find you on Google, social media, ads, or on TV. New people are introduced to your firm...but then what?
These marketing ideas have no way of converting a visitor to your website into an actual client prospect.
- If you use paid advertising, you're bringing in traffic, but what happens after that? If you're just relying on the visitor to call your office or send you an email, your conversion rate for clients is going to be so small that you'll need thousands of visitors a month to just break even.
- If you only do lawyer SEO work, you're going to run into the same problem as paid advertising. Lots of traffic, but hardly any converting leads.
- Traditional mailers have no way to track who saw the mailer and decided to work with your firm. It's a guessing game at best, and can cost thousands of dollars for a single run of postcards.
- Radio ads and TV commercials are even worse at tracking the return on your investment that mailers. Who know who saw your commercial or heard your ad? They could have a 0% conversion rate and you would never know - that's money down the toilet.
That means you could spend thousands of dollars a month on your marketing, but not actually convert any new clients!
This is a waste of your money and your time. It's not a simple, easy way to convert clients. In fact, it's going to likely cost you more money than you'll return in revenue.
If you're asking "what's the simplest way to grow my law firm online" and actually convert new clients, here's the steps:
Step 1: Share Free Legal Advice and Content
You naturally have a wealth of legal information and perspective that regulars folks simply don't have access to. If you want to attract qualified, warm prospects who are looking for a firm to work with, then provide some of this knowledge for free on your website.
In today's digital economy, content is freely accessible in almost any area or topic. For lawyers looking to grow their law firms online, providing this rich content for free will differentiate them from the rest of the pack.
Visitors to your website are educated on a topic while associating your law firm with expert advice. You're already pitching yourself as a valuable legal asset before they step inside your office.
Step 2: Get That Email Address!
Once you have rich, valuable content on your website, it's time to take some of that content and "gate" it.
- Offer the content for free to anyone in exchange for personal information like an email address or service segment.
- Content offers like eBooks, whitepapers, and online tutorials are great ways to share content in exchange for contact information.
Once you have this contact information, your office can reach out via phone or email marketing campaign to nurture the prospects until they are interested in Step 3.
Step 3: Provide Free Consultations
The most valuable service (and highest converting) for lawyers and attorneys is a free consultation.
- A free consultation gets your prospect in the front door of your office and allows you to have a one-on-one conversation.
- A 30 minute talk about this client's legal situation can be the difference between retaining a high paying client and missing out on a profitable opportunity.
- A prospect who speaks directly with a attorney is much more likely to convert into a client than going with a different firm.
We suggest offering these 30 minute consultations on one afternoon per week and stacking them back-to-back.
Step 4: Pick the Best of the Litter
If you're following steps 1-3 correctly, then your sales funnel will be filled with prospects.
Now that you have a serious amount of people who want to work with you, it's time to weed out the ones you don't want to work with. Budget, timeline, and goals are important, and if they don't line up well, you have to be okay with letting that client go somewhere else.
- You should expect to keep about 30-50% of the prospects who walk through your door.
Step 5: Don't Forget Online Reviews
You are probably very familiar with online reviews - they can make or break a law firm online reputation.
- If your client is a "one-and-done" like many family law attorneys work with, make sure you follow up one week after the case (if the case was won) with a phone call.
- In that call, mention that you would appreciate an online review at one of any of these sites: Yelp, Lawyers.com, Avvo, or Yellow Pages.
- Follow up again with an email and a link to each of your review profiles
Having a positive online reputation will increase the amount of people who will be visiting your website and reading the content in Step 1. This in turn will increase the amount of leads, and eventually clients, you'll receive.