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From meetings with clients to courtrooms and depositions, you’re a lawyer and your time is constrained. Which is why we’d like to ask:

• How do you plan on managing Digital Marketing for your firm?

• If you already do, just how effective are your digital marketing efforts?

• How many qualified leads have you generated and how profitable have they been?

You’re probably investing a considerable amount of money or are planning to do so, so what can you do to start getting those great cases in your hands?

Begin thinking about structure, strategy, and best practices for your Web, SEO, and PPC advertising efforts and most importantly its management. Have a look at some of the best tips we can give based on our experience with an array of legal specialties: FDA, Civil Rights, Family, Bankruptcy, Criminal, Personal Injury, Tax Law, and many more.

The Power of PPC:  A Lawyer’s Best Defense

The reality is that most people do their research online and will not go out of their way looking for the yellow pages or a brochure. Potential clients want precise and intriguing information for what they are looking for and fast. For this reason, PPC is a perfect fit for ensuring you’re found for any potential search related to your firm with the control on how, when, and where you are found online.

Down to the Grain: Set Your Budget

Just how can you determine your budget and how much will you have to dish out to get a good start? Knowing your specialty and target location is a first, as it gives you great insight when researching keywords.

Keywords then, are the most important way to find out how much money you should spend. If you’re basing your cost per click, and thereby budget, off the wrong keywords then you will end up being overly optimistic in terms of how little budget you need. The good keywords – the ones that attract new customers – are also more expensive than other keywords.

Knowing the Avg. CPC of said keywords can help you calculate how much budget you will need on a monthly basis.

The Good News is, You’re In Control

PPC platforms like AdWords or Bing are as transparent as can be, they allow you to set a daily budget that meets your monthly budget needs. Even at a more granular view, you can control just how much you want to spend per keyword, per ad group and even what percentage to devote for mobile devices

The Verdict: Highly Competitive Outrageously Expensive CPCs

Keywords such as “mesothelioma attorneys”, “asbestos attorney”, “injury attorney” can cost up to $190/click and the most competitive specialties are worker’s compensation, personal injury, and criminal law.

Yes, the prices for these clicks can break the bank, but by managing your PPC campaigns with the right strategies and a few time-tested tricks, you are on the road to overcoming high CPCs and budget limitations.

Here are a couple of strategies we have used to combat these issues:

• Testing Broad Match Modifier, and Partial Broad Match Modifier Keywords for a lower CPC

• Full Broad keywords (0 Match Type) and aggressive negative keyword lists. Your negative keyword list should be a universal list, plus cities, states, other specialties, common irrelevant law terms, and competitor names.

• Being in 1st is not always the case, you would be surprised how much better a 2, 3, or 4 Avg. Position can help you generate more leads at a lower cost.

• Make your Ads POP giving emphasis with a USP (Unique selling proposition) of your firm. Some examples include Free Consultation, No Fees Unless You Win, Available 24/7, Flat Fees, Payment Plans, etc.

Competency in the Mobile Device World

Just as having a responsive website, you should also make sure your account is fully optimized for mobile devices. Among the many options for optimizing the mobile ads you have:

Mobile bid adjustments

• Increase or decrease bids depending on mobile device performance

Ads and Ad extensions replicated for mobile device preference

• Make sure Ads and Ad extensions are being shown in a format suitable for mobile devices

Simple Steps Lawyers Should Take with Web and SEO

Your website should make you want to hire you! Your online presence is what makes or breaks your business, so a website should by default commence with high quality, good design, and above all be user-friendly. Did you know that 38% of clients search for lawyers online? Think about it, what would you do if you were missing out on valuable traffic online because your website or SEO was not up to par or better than that of your competitors.

Mobile access to your site is CRUCIAL, and you should have a responsive design for any device especially when it’s a given that mobile use for searches is at exponential growth.

The SEO Audit

To pinpoint what you need to crank up your conversion rate and take your marketing efforts to a whole new level and SEO audit should be the top priority on your list.

A couple of main areas we look at are the following:

On-Page

Checking domain and page authority, identifying keywords to create metadata, and suggest any recommendations for the home page and additional pages.

Off-Page

Evaluate the need to build social presence (Avvo, lawyers.com, Linkedin) and online reputation, while also identifying linking opportunities.

Minimalistic and On-Point Designs Go Far

Website design has evolved and so should you. By implementing the following suggestions you are guaranteed a healthy flow of qualified traffic to your site:

• Incorporate easy to use tabs and vivid colors

• Less text more visuals draw an audience just like insects to light

• Avoid wordy paragraphs, make your website scannable

• Focus clients on your main message. A USP (Unique selling proposition) that makes you unique as a lawyer

• Be sure to include a Call to Action that displays the action you want your potential client to take on your site.

• Make sure your Contact Form is readily available on all landing pages

Content Can’t Be King without Quality and Organization

When considering to add videos, blogs, testimonials, press coverage, about you, etc. Put yourself in the client’s shoes and think about ways to make it easier for them to decide to hire you. Here are a few other tips:

• Have as few landing pages possible. Make sure they contain brief and to the point information that is easy for anyone to understand.
• Include the latest great case you closed, a short 30-60 second intro video of yourself highlighting why they should choose you and also some positive testimonials on your homepage.
• Promoting a sense of credibility & professionalism is key:
  • Check out your competitors and analyze if you can be doing more to outdo them
  • Avoid colors that will make you look cheap (neon with black, unusual fonts)
  • Choose the Best Color Palette for Your Website
  • High-resolution photos are a must, don’t go cheap and invest, self-pics just don’t cut it

Targeting Specific Keywords For Your Law Specialty

The point is getting your brand name and services ranked for your local area. In order to achieve this, you need to execute an SEO Strategy based on competitor analysis and market research. Here are a few ways to do this:

• Keywords can rank naturally through the page so by targeting local keywords using a Keyword+Geo Target can be highly effective such as “Personal Injury Lawyer in Miami”

• Creating unique URLs containing page keyword helps give the user a sense of what they are to expect and relevant to their search query

Don’t Underestimate the Value of Your Targeted Digital Marketing Strategy

Web, SEO, and PPC, all intricate yet perfectly puzzled together to help your business grow and address its digital marketing needs in all aspects. After these tips, there should be no brainstorming on how to get started in driving qualified clients down your alley and generating the ROI your firm has been longing to achieve.