If you’re reading this, you are likely an attorney who wants to learn how to market your law firm better. That’s great. Marketing is essential for any business in today’s digital world, but since attorneys have been operating their practices for decades before the Internet came along and changed everything, some of them may be struggling with how to create effective marketing strategies for their firms that take advantage of all of the opportunities available today. This article will cover 5 pitfalls to avoid when building a law firm marketing—you can read about each one below.
Generic content that does not distinguish your firm from the others
You should not be creating content that could be written by dozens of other firms. This is the quickest way to put people off and will cause them to head straight for your competitor’s websites instead. If you need help writing this type of content, try using software like Wordsmith or Hemingway App to help you find ways to improve the readability and clarity of your writing.
Not having a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for your website
SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website or web page in search engines. SEO helps your law firm’s website get found by potential clients on Google and other search engines, and it can be an important part of any marketing strategy.
However, SEO is a complex and ever-changing field. Although there are many resources available to help you optimize your website for search engines, there are also some common pitfalls that can lead to ineffective or even harmful SEO methods. To avoid these pitfalls and optimize your law firm’s online presence, use keywords appropriately on each page of your site so that those pages rank well in search results. You also need to write content that includes keywords but does not solely consist of them and is primarily written for the user.
Not being proficient in local SEO
If you’re not familiar with local SEO, it’s the practice of making sure a business’ website is optimized for search engines based on the location of its customers. For example, if your law firm serves clients in the Dallas area and most of your clients are looking for a lawyer in Dallas that specializes in family law, then you should make sure that both the name and address of your business appear first when someone searches “Dallas family attorney” or related keywords on Google.
The way to do this is by including certain keywords within your website copy — but don’t go overboard. You’ll want to focus on keywords (like “family attorney”) that reflect what people search for when they’re looking for help from an attorney like yours. And while keyword-stuffing might seem like a quick fix (and something easy enough to implement), it is recommended to keep things natural; after all, nobody likes being sold by someone who sounds robotic or robotic-sounding.
Having a weak social media presence
Social media is a powerful tool for law firms. It’s one way to reach new clients and grow your business, but it can also be a source of frustration if you don’t have a plan in place. To avoid this pitfall, make sure your social media presence reflects the image you want to project and that you have a strategy for keeping up with it.
Make sure your firm’s Facebook page has been set up properly before posting anything; then create original content that will help you gain more followers over time. If there’s no information about what work you do at all on your profile, people won’t know why they should follow or refer to others in the first place.
Not leveraging all of your 3rd party directory listings
While you should be leveraging all of your 3rd party directory listings, it’s important to make sure that they are going to help you get more clients. If people go looking for you and can’t find your firm on the first page of Google results or other search engines, then it doesn’t matter if you have a listing in every directory out there. You need to do some research and make sure that any directories you are listed on are going to drive traffic and interest in your services before investing time into them.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many pitfalls to avoid when marketing a law firm. If you avoid these pitfalls, you will be able to attract potential clients and grow your business.
