Marketing your law firm is essential to your survival in today’s digital world. Currently, the UK’s legal market has seen the number of registered law firms falling, with the Solicitors Regulation Authority counting 9,334 firms in February 2024.
The legal market remains abundant despite the number of operators falling from record highs. Remember, 96% of people said they started their search for legal advice online. Everyone looking up legal advice is a potential lead, but how do you target them?
It’s all about your target audience, and this guide will discuss how to reach them online.
The importance of a target audience
Your target audience is your people. If you think about all your current and former clients, these are your target audience. Yet even professional marketers often don’t know their target audience. According to HubSpot, just 42% of marketers had basic demographic information for them.
Without that information, you’re flying blind. You’re making assumptions and hoping for the best, which means wasted time and money. So, why should you know your target audience?
Of course, knowing your target audience is one thing, but targeting them successfully is quite another.
What is the typical target audience for a law firm?
Solicitors can serve every adult in the UK. Your law firm’s target audience comprises the likeliest people to become your clients. The easiest way to figure this out is to examine your current client base and find what binds them. Basic demographics include age, education level, income and occupation, but law firms must dig deeper.
According to Spotify, poorly targeted ads waste an estimated $37 billion USD annually. Avoiding wasted marketing pounds means going deeper. Some examples include:
- Values
- Pain points
- Lifestyles
- Needs
Never make assumptions because the target audience for a road traffic lawyer will be very different from a business lawyer serving the needs of companies.
How to define and segment your law firm’s target audience online
Defining your target audience leads to segmenting that audience. Remember, many law firms operate in multiple practice areas, meaning they may have several target audiences – or segments – to consider.
Here are some tips to begin learning about your target audience.
Here are some tips to begin learning about your target audience.
Analyse your current clients with data analysis
The story is in the data. Solicitors nationwide are embracing technology, with the Law Society Gazette revealing that a quarter of lawyers use generative technology. So why wouldn’t you use data analytics to learn about your target audience?
Focus on your current and past clients and identify their patterns and characteristics. This will give you a benchmark against which to continue your research. Remember, this is an ongoing process because you’re constantly acquiring data.
Moreover, you can do the same thing with your competitors’ audiences to identify gaps in the market.
Research the broader legal market
Keep sight of the broader legal market, or you risk not seeing the forest for the trees. Explore the market landscape to spot the trends and opportunities within your practice area.
Keeping up with the market doesn’t require reading dry market research reports. Instead, surveys should be conducted on current and potential clients to learn more about their needs and preferences.
Invest in psychographics
Psychographics focus on psychological variables and offer a way to understand the minds and motivations of your target audience. Examples of psychographic metrics include:
- Motivations
- Values
- Interests
- Lifestyles
Again, this is where data analytics comes in handy. Acquiring this data helps you craft the targeted marketing messages that compel your audience to act.
Segment based on behaviour
Segmentation divides your target audience into different groups. This enables you to target campaigns based on the characteristics of groups within your target audience.
Tracking what your target audience does provides clues as to what’s likely to resonate with them. Some examples of behavioural metrics to track include:
- Time spent on your website.
- Number of times visiting your website.
- Pages clicked on.
- Downloads.
- Newsletter opens/clicks.
Analysing your audience’s behaviour can help you make better choices regarding every aspect of your marketing campaign.
Continue gathering and analysing
No person was the same ten years ago as they are today. The same goes for your audience. What worked a few years ago isn’t necessarily going to work now.
Law firms must continually analyse their clients and activity across all their marketing channels. This enables them to spot any client changes and adjust accordingly.
Creating audience personas for your law firm
Did you know that 44% of marketers used audience personas in their business? But what are audience personas?
Your target audience defines a group of people, whereas audience personas zoom into individual members of that audience. Personas drill down to define what an ideal looks like within the various segments of your target audience, making them powerful tools.
Here’s a short guide for building out an audience persona:
- Begin With Demographics – The foundation of any audience persona is the demographics. Understanding this provides the high-level data needed to continue.
- Know Their Pain Points – The next step is to know their pain points. In other words, what’s the problem they need you to solve, and what do they expect from you?
- Research the Noise – Noise in the marketplace stops them from acting. This is where analysing your competitors comes in useful. Understanding what others say to influence your target audience helps you find the gaps to undermine these efforts and win the client.
- The “Why”—Why should they hire your firm? Conceptualise your unique selling points to help understand why someone would hire you over your competitors. Every law firm should know this because it’s what makes you special. Without those points, you’re just another law firm.
- Finish With Emotions – People don’t always purchase based on cold, hard truths. They make them based on emotions. When creating a client persona, define the journey of working with you. Moreover, map out the emotions of that persona in both win and lose scenarios. This will help you customise your marketing messaging.
Companies worldwide spend billions of pounds on finding their target audience and building audience personas in every industry. But you don’t need to cripple your cash flow to find your target audience and boost your marketing success rates.
At Tao Digital, we specialise in helping the UK’s lawyers branch out online and achieve their goals. In one case study, we collaborated with one firm and they experienced a 174% increase in leads.
If you need a partner who can find your target audience and win them over to your brand, contact the team today.
Whether you are a sole practitioner or a nationwide brand, law firm marketing is essential to your practice’s growth. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the UK legal industry is growing with an average 8-10% growth in fees, with firms remaining largely resilient in the post-pandemic landscape.
On the other hand, claiming your piece of the cake requires marketing campaigns that excel beyond your competitors. According to an assessment from Thomson Reuters Legal UK, too many law firms still only see marketing rather than trying to understand the dynamics of each market.
This philosophy shows that it’s time to level up your game. One way of sharpening your legal marketing efforts is digital marketing tools. Let’s look at the most effective solutions for the year ahead.
Should law firms use tools for their marketing?
Online marketing is where the money is. Today, over a third of potential clients begin their search for a solicitor online.
Although you can carry out your marketing processes manually, this isn’t the best way of handling it. Using tools increases accuracy, efficiency and performance. In one study from Think With Google, marketers using five or more tools for analytics alone were 39% likelier to see a performance improvement.
Taking advantage of cutting-edge technology can save you time while delivering better results. However, not all tools were created equal, so choosing your tech stack carefully is vital.
How digital marketing tools can help law firms
Despite the clear benefits of digital marketing – and marketing generally – UK law firms spend just 2% of annual gross revenues on their marketing efforts. This is evidence of an industry that’s still somewhat edgy about throwing money at marketing.
However, digital marketing tools deliver positive ROIs when wielded correctly. Some of the advantages of investing in these solutions include:
Better Understand Your Audience – Digital marketing tools deepen your understanding of your target audience. Acquiring detailed real-time data helps you refine your marketing strategy by understanding what your prospective clients really want.
Maximise Your Reach – Use tools to reach as many people as possible with your marketing content. This is especially helpful for UK law firms operating nationwide or looking to expand into new regional markets.
Measure and Optimise – Stop fumbling in the dark using a costly trial-and-error strategy. Instead, use state-of-the-art tools to determine what’s working for your firm.
Save Time – Time is precious in the fast-paced legal trade. Digital marketing tools automate many tedious, time-consuming tasks like social media scheduling, lead tracking and email marketing.
Reduce Your Spend – Switching your focus to technology-led marketing can enable you to cut out many of the usual expenses associated with traditional marketing. Plus, it’s not uncommon for tools to offer flexible plans, mitigating your costs.
Intelligent Segmentation – In the past, digital marketing focused on hitting a broad market and hoping some of them become future clients. Today, tools are helping lawyers to initiate hyper-targeted campaigns, increasing their returns.
It’s easy to shirk away from spending hundreds of pounds on building your marketing tech stack, but think about the big picture. Digital marketing tools are a proven way for legal eagles to reduce their outgoings while increasing their returns.
Ultimately, the firm that uses marketing tools will always beat the firm that doesn’t.
Best digital marketing tools for the legal industry
Thousands of marketing tools exist for every task and process known to man. If you’re unfamiliar with legal marketing, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the options available.
This is why many lawyers bury their heads in the sand and continue managing everything manually. If you’re confused, we’ve compiled a list of the best digital marketing tools specifically for the legal industry.
Legal Marketing Strategy Tools
Before you can launch a marketing campaign, you must plan one out. Strategising is where your marketing efforts rise and fall.
Here are our favourite tools for constructing your next campaign from the ground up.
Google Search Console
The Google Search Console is part of a suite of Google-made tools for improving your SEO efforts. With the Search Console, you can conduct an initial analysis or refresh an existing strategy with an updated set of keywords.
This tool aims to do more with keywords, find errors on your site, and test how mobile-friendly your platform is. It’s also where you can see how your pages are doing on Google.
Plus, Google Search Console integrates with all other Google tools, including Google Analytics.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
By far, the best web analytics platform is GA4, the fourth iteration of Google Analytics. Lawyers can use this tool to acquire a comprehensive overview of how users interact with websites, apps and other platforms under your banner.
Ahrefs
Law firms looking for paid SEO tools with more advanced capabilities should look to Ahrefs. The value of this tool is that it examines your website to produce a range of actionable data, including:
- Keywords and search volumes
- Link profiles
- Ranking profiles
Other features include a site and content explorer to enable you to evaluate the performance of everything you’ve ever produced on your website.
AlsoAsked
Question-based long-tail keywords can provide opportunities to demonstrate your expertise and capture niche markets. The AlsoAsked platform gives you all the most commonly asked questions from real searchers.
For example, we typed in “personal injury law”, and some of the questions we got back included:
- How long does a personal injury claim take?
- What’s the average payout for personal injury claims?
- Should I get a solicitor for personal injury claims?
LowFruits.io
Finding keywords is one thing, but the key to good SEO is discovering high-traffic keywords with low-competition signals.
Designed for website owners, LowFruits is a bulk SERP analyser that uncovers those signals, helping you to find blue-water zones to build your authority through.
Google Trends
Evergreen content is essential, but plugging your firm into current legal trends can help you join the conversations and address real people’s concerns.
While Google Trends doesn’t offer granular data, it effectively shows the legal topics and ideas people are currently exploring.
Website and Hosting Software
In the online world, your website is your most valuable asset. This is the digital equivalent of your office. Since it’s often the first thing prospective clients see, you’ve got to get it right.
Let’s examine the best way to get your site up and running.
WordPress
In 2023, WordPress continues to reign supreme. It’s the engine behind approximately 43% of all websites on the Internet – and for a good reason.
WordPress has millions of free templates, customisation options and plugins to create the ideal legal website without coding experience.
Even better, WordPress is completely free.
Kinsta
Free web hosting doesn’t work for every business. We recommend Kinsta because of its high-end performance using Google’s C2 cloud platform (our Kinsta review gives more details!).
Kinsta’s infrastructure includes state-of-the-art security features and world-class support. Moreover, it’s highly flexible, with starter plans costing less than your monthly coffee budget.
Its lowest-cost plan includes 10 GB of storage, a premium migration and a 14-day backup.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most effective avenues to explore. According to one study, email marketing has a 4400% ROI, meaning for every £1 invested, the average return is £36.
However, you need the right platform for email. Check out these two options.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an excellent email platform choice for most law firms because of its fair pricing system. It has all the features you need to send out highly targeted campaigns to your list.
Plus, you can customise your campaigns and split-test email subject lines with ActiveCampaign to determine what engages your list the most.
MailChimp
MailChimp is another prominent email marketing platform for lawyers. Like ActiveCampaign, it possesses all the features necessary to create custom emails and gain detailed analytics from each campaign.
Moreover, building custom templates is simple due to its drag-and-drop interface. However, beware that MailChimp tends to get expensive with larger lists.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM software streamlines how you interact with current and prospective clients. With a solid CRM in your tech stack, you can simplify building client relationships and supercharge the processes that lead to more business.
In our opinion, there’s only one choice for CRM software.
HubSpot
HubSpot isn’t a dedicated legal CRM, but it works equally well for all professional services. Some of the standout HubSpot features that make it the most effective CRM on the market include:
- Automated execution
- Well-configured databases
- Marketing source capture
- Marketing channel evaluation
- Full integration with other systems
Social Media and Youtube
Social media is critical for growing your legal practice. As you’d expect, plenty of tools exist for managing your social media channels, including ones designed around specific platforms.
Here are our top social media tools:
- Linkinbio – Share all your most important links in one URL to maximise your bio space.
- Actual Platform Analytics – The fact is that all of the most prominent platforms have built-in analytics tabs that provide all of the data you could ever need.
- TubeBuddy – YouTube SEO, analytics, keywords and tags. TubeBuddy is specially built for the world’s largest video-sharing platform to help with law firm video marketing.
Link Building
Getting backlinks to your content signals that your content is relevant, trustworthy and authority-led. Even today, backlinks are among the most effective ways of getting your content to the top of Google SERPs.
Other than reaching out to known bloggers directly, we recommend:
- HARO – HARO allows journalists to ask questions of professionals. If they choose your answer, they’ll reward you with a link to your website.
- Directories – Backlinks from general directories also provide some juice for your website. Ensure you’re listed on Yelp, Yellow Pages, DMOZ and others.
Supercharge your Law Firm Marketing with Tao Digital
Building your tech stack with legal digital marketing tools is the first step to accelerating your law firm. With Tao Digital, our team can help you assemble everything and gain the competitive edge you need.
If you want to learn more about the secrets of digital law firm growth, contact the team today.
First impressions for businesses are everything – bad ones will likely make you post a bad review on Google. The same goes for your law firm. Clients who see a lot of bad reviews are unlikely to contact you in the first place.
Today, online reviews are the premium marketing currency of the Internet, with 93% of users saying they impacted their buying decisions. Service-based businesses are no exception to this rule.
As a growing brand, your law firm must consider Google reviews, their impact and how to manage them. Let’s dive into everything you need to know about making reviews work for you.
Why are Google reviews important for law firms?
Google reviews influence whether someone decides to contact you or your closest competitor. Reviews are important because 98% of consumers read local business reviews. It’s that simple.
From a solicitor’s perspective, a good review is far more impactful than any other promotional activity because reviews originate from real people with zero skin in the game.
Some of the benefits of paying attention to Google reviews include:
Building Trust – Reviews are an opportunity to build trust in a crowded market. They provide assurance that your firm is effective in legal matters and does its best for its clients. Well-reviewed firms establish that credibility before a potential client ever reaches out.
Social Proof – Social proof is critical for any business. It’s why 44% of law firms encourage clients to post reviews on third-party sites, including Google. The more feedback you receive, the likelier you are to encourage others to choose you as their legal eagle.
Increase Visibility – Reviews can help with local SEO and rankings, which adds to your overall digital footprint. Typically, Google places the best-reviewed law firms at the top of their search results.
Get More Clients – Reviews lead to sales. The average person doesn’t want to take a risk, especially regarding legal issues. If you can obtain lots of positive reviews, clients will choose you because you will be viewed as a safe bet.
Identify Growth Opportunities – Building any law firm requires listening to your clientele. Reviews are a chance to gain insights into what people think of you. For example, if reviews highlight slow response times, you know this is an area to focus on.
Above all, reviews create new relationships and reinforce existing ones. The act of asking for a review shows how much a firm cares about what its clients think. Moreover, add in personalised replies, and it’s a sign that you are relatable and, ultimately, human.
How many reviews does a law firm need?
Your overall rating is pivotal in winning new business. According to a study, 84% of people said they would never hire a law firm if they had a rating of less than four out of five stars. But quantity also matters.
The truth is that no solid numbers exist for how many reviews you need to get X amount of business. Instead, it all depends on your competition. For example, if you operate in South Manchester and the first five law firms that appear have an average of 56 reviews each, this is your target number.
It will always vary based on who you’re targeting and where you’re located.
How to get more Google reviews for your law firm
Reviews are not something that you can force. It’s a long, winding road to get more reviews because most of your clients will not take the time to leave one. One study revealed that just 12% of people “always” left a review when prompted by a business.
So, what are some of the actions you can take to get more reviews for your firm?
You’d be surprised at the number of businesses that do not ask their clients to leave reviews because they fear annoying them. It’s the most obvious yet overlooked technique solicitors can take advantage of.
The fact is most clients will not be offended or irritated if you ask. Leaving reviews doesn’t come naturally to many people, so prompting them can yield results.
Make review requests a standardised part of your offboarding process. Naturally, how you address this will depend on your specific offboarding process.
For example, if signing off with your final email correspondence, include a review request within your usual template to automate the process and remove a potentially uncomfortable interaction.
Clients won’t leave reviews if it’s complex or time-consuming. The key to increasing review rates is to streamline the process.
One idea could be including a direct link to your Google Business Profile or a QR code they can scan from their phones.
Responding to positive and negative Google reviews
Every time someone leaves a review, you should go out of your way to reply to demonstrate your interest in what your clients, past and present, have to say. But how you respond could make or break your business.
The fact is half of law firms don’t engage with review sites, and this comes across as cold and uncaring. Managing responses is easy if you receive a positive review. A quick thank you is all you need, but negative reviews are a different matter entirely.
Follow these tips for responding to Google reviews:
Respond Quickly – All reviews should be responded to quickly. In the case of a positive review, a quick thank you will suffice, but negative reviews require more in-depth responses. Ensure that you address any concerns soon after a negative experience.
Apologise for Poor Experiences – The worst thing any business can do is to push back against a negative review. Even if you are technically correct, the business never wins in this scenario. Apologise for any perceived poor experiences, even if it means swallowing your pride.
Don’t Take It Personally – Lashing out at a perceived injustice is human nature. However, this is a PR disaster waiting to happen. Get into the habit of adopting an objective stance, and don’t be afraid to walk away and take a deep breath before responding later.
Thank Them for the Feedback – Negative feedback is a growth opportunity. Yes, some people can never be pleased, but you should thank them all the same.
Be Empathetic – Be understanding of the other person’s perspective, even if you disagree with it. Empathy prevents you from getting defensive and stops you from descending to their level.
Tailored Responses Only – Everyone knows when a business uses a copy-paste response. Always take the time to tailor your response to the specific situation.
Managing reviews can be challenging, but it’s all part of the modern business landscape. Reviews are an opportunity to grow your business. Master them, and you will grow. Perform poorly, and your competitors will sneak ahead of you.
At Tao Digital, we support law firms in building their reviews and using them to their advantage. To learn more about how we can help your business achieve its goals, speak to the team today.
Are you using video marketing as part of your marketing mix?
It may surprise you that 90% of marketers use YouTube for video marketing. Yet the legal industry is slow on the take-up, with most UK law firms yet to attempt to harness the power of video marketing.
The same goes for law firms in other countries, too. According to a survey by the American Bar Association, only 24% of law firms used videos to market themselves, and these figures come despite the proven effectiveness of video marketing.
Here’s what you need to know about law firm video marketing.
What is video marketing for law firms?
Video marketing is using video to market your professional services. The goal is to help you reach a broader audience and generate new business. As a law firm, this is your ticket to breaking into platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Plus, you can use video on your existing social media channels, including Facebook and Instagram.
Nowadays, almost everyone has a pro-quality camera in their pocket, making it easy for anyone to shoot videos for their businesses. According to one stat, video is shared 1200% more than images and text combined.
Can video marketing work for professional services?
Video marketing is often associated with the eCommerce and retail sectors. Many solicitors and other professionals ask whether that success can be transferred to the service sector.
Studies have shown no decline in effectiveness when used for professional services. According to HubSpot, 96% of marketers agree that videos increase user understanding of products and services.
Even though this figure has fluctuated over the years, it has never dropped significantly below 90%, demonstrating the enduring effectiveness of video for professional services.
Why the legal industry should be using video in their marketing
The UK is a prime market for online videos. In the third quarter of 2022, online videos reached 85% of UK Internet users.
Apart from the fact that Internet users love video content, other reasons to invest in video marketing include:
It Works – Approximately 71% of B2B marketers and 66% of B2C marketers are using it. Video marketing is highly effective for various purposes regardless of industry and audience.
Strengthen Relationships – Build personal relationships by showing the real you. It’s an easy way of breaking the age-old stereotype that lawyers are naturally cold and distant. This also has the dual benefit of making yourself more trustworthy through humanisation.
Build Your Brand Image – Video content enhances your brand awareness. It’s also a showcase for who you are as a brand. Ultimately, thousands of legal professionals do the same thing you do, but your brand differentiates you from the rest.
Get Found on Google – SEO is how you get found locally and nationally. Video content is an easy way to improve your rankings, with videos being 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of Google.
Showcase Your Expertise – A significant part of video marketing is showing your authority and know-how. You want to show prospective clients how skilled you are. With explainer videos, you are already positioning your company as an authority.
With so few lawyers considering video marketing, it’s a blue-water zone you can exploit to stay ahead of the competition.
Types of video marketing for law firms
With the benefits of video marketing for law firms established, where should you begin?
Here’s a rundown of different types of videos solicitors can look into.
Brand awareness videos are designed to tell your brand’s story and the person behind it. Messages that drive brand awareness include:
- Your story.
- Who your firm is.
- What is your mission?
- Your culture.
- What you do.
- How you make life better for your clients.
These videos explain a little about what separates your law firm from the rest by digging into how your firm came to be and where it’s going. It’s not about telling people how great you are; it’s about telling people who you are.
Law firms themselves are driven by the partners and legal professionals within them. Nobody looks to hire a leading law firm. They want to hire a leading lawyer because that’s the person guiding them through the legal system.
As part of brand awareness campaigns, it’s wise to include some solicitor profile videos highlighting your firm’s key figures. Again, focus on what makes them unique and their stories.
It’s all part of humanising your firm and demonstrating the real people behind the curtain.
Client testimonials are precisely what you would expect. They are opportunities for some of your former clients to discuss their experience working with you.
This is one of the most effective types of marketing for law firms because the recommendation comes from an independent party, not you.
Informational videos focus more on the “education” aspect of the legal business. Many people are confused by the legalese they see and hear on TV.
These videos explain different legal concepts, provide an understanding of your rights, and go into the process of filing a case or defending against one.
Some ideas for informational videos include:
- Explaining legal terminology.
- What to do if involved in X situation.
- Debunking common legal myths.
Posting videos on traditional social media channels is highly recommended, but the key to law firm marketing is to build a following on YouTube.
As the single largest video-based platform in the world, YouTube is a “must-have” as part of your marketing mix. If you’re eager to get subscribers quickly, you could even post some Shorts, which are Youtube videos of 60 seconds or less.
Ad campaigns with video are among the highest ROI paid advertising options available to law firms.
These videos offer brand awareness, reach and engagement on specific social media platforms. It can be tricky to get an impactful ad, so be prepared to indulge in A/B testing.
Retargeting video ads focus on hitting the people who have seen your ads or engaged with you before. Two types of retargeting exist:
- Video Watcher Ads (VWAs) – Ads served to people who have already watched a previous video.
- Video Content Ads (VCAs) – Ads served to users who have performed specific actions on your site.
In all cases, retargeting video requires a tracking pixel placed on your site to follow users and what they do.
How to create a video marketing strategy for your law firm
Before you can dive into creating videos, you need a strategy. This includes knowing your market, keyword research and determining your goals.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the steps you’ll need to cover for lawyer video marketing:
Set a Goal – Setting a goal draws the line between success and failure. Is the goal to educate, generate business, or build your brand?
Conduct Competitor Research – Check what your closest competitors are creating and note what they’re doing to inform your ideas.
Do Audience Research – Use your analytics to determine your ideal audience. Then research how to reach them. Areas to focus on include age, location, gender and interests.
Determine Keywords – Keywords are just as crucial for videos, but not for SEO purposes. Instead, keywords help you figure out which questions your audience are asking, allowing you to build videos around them.
Track – Finally, once published, diligently track your video metrics and how those metrics translate to site metrics, such as visits, click-through rates and inquiries.
Regarding platforms, put your content where it will best be received. TikTok is geared toward short-form content, whereas YouTube is better for long-form content. You may also want to embed videos on your site where relevant. However, there’s no reason why you cannot use a social media scheduling tool to post your videos everywhere.
After all, what have you got to lose?
Law Firm Video Marketing with Tao Digital
Interested in harnessing the potential of a video marketing campaign for your legal practice? Get in touch with one of our marketing experts to learn more about what could work for your law firm.
We’ll run through everything from your current market footprint to your goals and expectations to determine the best legal video marketing solution. To learn more, contact the Tao Digital team now.
Link building is a staple of law firm SEO. Successful link-building campaigns can elevate your brand to the top of Google’s search results for the most lucrative keywords.
For example, the first Google result holds a 28.5% click-through rate. Understandably, reaching these top spots can deliver more eyes and business for your law firm.
So, how do you run a successful link-building campaign?
The purpose of link building for law firms
Link building means getting other websites to insert links pointing to your content. It’s a critical signal Google looks for. It is thought, based on data through many studies, that the more backlinks from reputable websites, the more trustworthy a page is.
From a law firm’s perspective, link building is one of the key performance indicators for their SEO campaigns. Solicitors across the UK build links to boost their rankings and attract more traffic.
However, it can also be used to build and solidify relationships within the industry, which can support their businesses in other ways.
What do backlinks accomplish for law firms?
Backlinks accomplish a range of goals. The obvious benefit of attracting backlinks to your website is bolstering your SEO efforts. According to Search Engine Land, backlinks are one of the top two criteria Google looks at when determining their rankings.
Not all backlinks are equal, though. It’s all about quality over quantity. This is why a backlink from the BBC News website will always outweigh backlinks gained from local UK newspapers.
Besides rising up the Google SERPs, why should your law firm invest in link-building campaigns?
Expand Your Reach – Naturally, the higher you rank, the greater your reach. Hit the top three spots, and you’ll get the most traffic from that search term. A more extensive reach means more business.
Build Industry Relationships – It’s also a chance to enhance your site’s credibility and forge relationships with others in your line of work.
Open Collaboration Opportunities – Every time sites link to each other, a professional relationship is launched. This can result in future collaboration opportunities online and perhaps even in the real world.
In short, if you consider online to be an essential channel for attracting clients to your practice, you cannot afford to ignore the role of backlinking in digital marketing.
Basic link building terms to know
Unfortunately, link building takes time and patience. Approximately 41% of SEO experts agreed that link building was the most challenging part of optimising a business for the web.
Whether you’re managing your link-building campaign in-house or outsourcing it, it’s important to know specific terms. Here are the top 10 link-building terms with definitions.
Backlink – A link from one website to another.
Anchor Text – The clickable text of a hyperlink.
Link Juice – The value passed to a website through a backlink.
Internal Linking – Links that go to other pages on your website.
NoFollow Link – A link tag that tells a search engine to pass no authority to the page you’re linking to.
DoFollow Link – A link tag that tells a search engine to pass authority to the page you’re linking to.
Link Building Outreach – Connecting to other websites to acquire backlinks, such as through pitching post ideas and networking.
Broken Link Building – Gaining new backlinks by finding broken links on other websites and offering your content as a suitable replacement.
Domain Authority (DA) – Developed by Moz, DA predicts a website’s ranking potential based largely on link profile. The higher your DA, the likelier you are to rank higher.
Natural Link – A backlink acquired organically without any intention on your part.
What makes a good backlink?
Most marketers begin by examining the domain authority. According to Aira, 65% of marketers begin their journey by assessing a website’s domain authority to evaluate the quality of a backlink.
However, remember that Google hasn’t developed the “authority” metric. On the other hand, since link-building works, we know that Google definitely evaluates authority, somehow, within its algorithm.
Nevertheless, five factors should be used to evaluate the strength of a potential backlink:
- Organic Traffic – Large amounts of organic traffic indicate that Google believes a website to be trustworthy and reliable, making it more valuable.
- Relevance – How closely related is the subject website? As a law firm, a link from another law firm is more valuable than one from a cleaning company.
- Anchor Text – Anchor text is part of what Google looks at when ranking a page. In short, anchor text should accurately describe the page a link is pointing at.
- Placement – Where is the backlink placed? More prominent locations in a piece of content increase the likelihood of users clicking on it, which makes it more valuable in Google’s eyes.
- Destination – Obviously, you want to win more business, so a link to your contact or home page is incredibly valuable. The same goes for content-rich pages that can prove your authority and professionalism.
Generally, you should aim to get links from websites that already rank highly. Lots of backlinks to no-name websites won’t offer much in the way of value.
Link building techniques for law firms
Building backlinks is a time-consuming process, and SEO experts claim that the process is taking longer than before. In fact, 46.4% of SEOs said the process now took one to three months more than it previously did.
Commit to the ongoing process, and you’re likely to get the results you want. Let’s examine some actionable strategies for building backlinks.
Build the content that people want to link to. Link-worthy content in the legal business is often relevant and newsworthy.
For example, many UK lawyers published content in 2023 about the UK government’s courtroom loss on their Rwanda asylum seeker plan. Obviously, ensure that anything you create relates to your speciality.
While not as powerful as it once was, getting your practice into UK legal directories and claiming your social profiles on sites like Yelp is a great idea.
Some examples of prominent directories to tap include Infolaw, LawFirms.co.uk, and The Law Society.
Writing content for another site in exchange for a link is a prominent strategy solicitors use for getting backlinks when their online presence is small.
Choosing reputable, high-quality websites is the key to making the most of guest posting. If you’re struggling, consider tapping your professional network for potential guest posting opportunities.
It’s also a great chance to get other industry figures producing content for your site.
Appearing in your local newspaper for a major case or because you did something noteworthy is an excellent way to build backlinks quickly.
Some law firms with a budget have even launched programs like scholarships or apprenticeships just to get into the local newspaper.
Suppose you don’t have time to build your content, be a resource for someone else. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is one such network that connects experts and reporters worldwide.
In exchange for providing your legal knowledge, you’ll get the chance to have your name and link appear on the publication’s website. HARO regularly attracts big-name websites, including Forbes, so it’s worth doing this.
The above five strategies will enable you to set the foundations for a successful link-building campaign; but, you can employ hundreds of different strategies and ideas to build up your profile.
Here are just some of the other ways to build backlinks:
- Get interviewed as an expert.
- Appear on a podcast.
- Leverage your university connections to produce content in educational settings.
- Do something newsworthy.
- Answer questions on Quora.
- Hire a link-building specialist.
How measure the success of link building for your law firm
How do you know if your link-building campaign has been a success?
Since we don’t have access to the innards of the Google algorithm, measuring link-building success isn’t an exact science. Generally, you can expect to focus on six key metrics, including:
- Quality of backlinks
- Anchor text optimisation
- Quantity of backlinks
- Link position
- Referral traffic
- Return on investment (traffic, clicks, social media interaction, increase in business)
Finally, you can use the same tools to measure your website’s DA to see how your link-building campaign has impacted your business.
However, successful link-building begins and ends with execution. If you demand excellence in execution (and why wouldn’t you?), connect with the brand that increased one law firm’s leads by 174%.
Reach out to us about link-building by contacting our team now!
SEO is like a trawl net, casting a wide radius to catch a large audience. PPC is like a gill net, used to target specific species, targeting specific audience segments for immediate results. With the right combination of SEO and PPC techniques, your firm can have a steady stream of potential clients hooked and ready to convert into loyal clients.
Want to know how SEO and PPC work together for the legal sector? Let’s dive in.
What is SEO for Law Firms?
Law firm SEO involves enhancing a law firm’s website and digital visibility to achieve a higher position in search engine results.
This consists of implementing technical, creative and analytical strategies to improve website content and site structure, acquiring reputable backlinks and targeting appropriate keywords related to your firm’s areas of expertise.
An optimised law website ranks higher on search engines like Google, allowing potential clients to find and contact your firm, ultimately leading to increased leads, conversions and revenue.
What is PPC for Law Firms?
PPC for law firms is a form of online advertising where you pay each time a potential client clicks on your ad. You’ll find PPC on search engine results pages (at the top), social media platforms and other websites.
With PPC, you target specific keywords and demographics but only pay for the clicks they receive. The ad’s quality and relevance, keyword popularity and your budget determine the cost of each click.
Why SEO and PPC is important for Law Firms
SEO is takes time to produce results with ongoing efforts needed to improve rankings. PPC provides immediate results but costs more money up front – once you stop paying, your website traffic dwindles.
SEO and PPC should be used together because when a law firm ranks highly organically and has paid ads at the top of the page, it is more likely to be seen by potential clients.
For example, a law firm specialising in divorce law can use SEO to optimise its website for keywords like “divorce solicitor” and “child custody lawyer.” It can also use PPC to target ads to reach people who have searched for these keywords on Google.
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How SEO strategies work for Law Firms
By consistently implementing these strategies, your law firm can increase its online presence and attract potential clients who are actively searching for your legal expertise:
- Keyword Research: The first step in SEO is identifying relevant keywords and phrases that potential clients use to search for legal services. These keywords should be strategically incorporated into your website content, meta descriptions and image tags to improve your site’s relevance and visibility.
- Content Creation: You can create blog posts, articles and other forms of content with specific keywords and structures whilst demonstrating your expertise in your practice area. You can also optimise for local search, so when a potential client types in “Child law Solicitor in Manchester,” for example, your family law website will pop up (for what area/s you operate in).
- Local SEO: If you want to boost your online presence in location-based searches further, consider implementing local SEO techniques like enhancing your Google Business Profile, creating content specific to your area and gaining mentions on relevant local websites.
- Mobile Optimization: Your law firm’s website should be optimised for mobile devices. This includes having a responsive design, fast loading times and mobile-friendly content. Why? Over 50% of web traffic comes from mobiles!
- Link Building: When other websites link to yours, it shows that you are a trusted and authoritative source of information. This establishes credibility in your industry and boosts SERP rankings.
How PPC strategies work for Law Firms
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) strategies utilise targeted advertisements on search engines like Google and Bing, and social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.
These advertisements are based on relevant keywords and phrases specific to your law firm and its services. When someone searches for a related keyword or phrase, your firm’s ad appears at the top of the search results, labelled as “sponsored content” or “ad.”
You’re charged a certain amount each time someone clicks on the ad, hence the name “pay-per-click.” PPC strategies also allow you to target specific locations, demographics and behaviours, ensuring your ads reach their desired audience.
Such a targeted approach attracts potential clients actively searching for legal services who are more likely to be interested in your specific practice areas.
Another advantage of PPC is the ability to track and analyse ad performance. These metrics help you decide which keywords and demographics drive the most traffic and conversions, allowing them to refine your strategy for maximum impact.
Can you use PPC and SEO together?
Yes, PPC and SEO can be used together as part of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. These two separate tactics complete each other, ultimately driving more quality traffic and conversions to your website.
By targeting the same keywords through PPC and SEO, your business increases its chances of appearing in top positions on SERPs, augmenting clicks and conversions.
PPC and SEO data also inform each other’s strategies. For example, PPC data on keyword performance, ad headlines and other factors can help guide SEO efforts. In contrast, SEO data on keyword rankings and website traffic can inform PPC targeting and optimisation.
Does SEO or PPC have a greater ROI for Law Firms?
Generally, SEO has a higher ROI for law firms than PPC because it’s a long-term investment that generates organic traffic to your website for years to come. Once your website is out there, it is discoverable time and again.
On the other hand, PPC is expensive, especially if you’re targeting competitive keywords, and it only lasts as long as you can afford it. However, PPC is a good tactic to attract specific clients immediately.
Truthfully, it’s a bit of a trick question as you should use both unless budget is an issue, in which case you’ll want to weigh the pros and cons.
SEO Pros
- Long-term investment: Once you start ranking for relevant keywords, you’ll continue getting traffic to your website for years, even if you stop investing in SEO.
- Builds brand awareness and authority: When your website ranks well in search results, it shows potential clients that you’re a trusted expert.
SEO Cons
- Takes time: Ranking for competitive keywords can take months or even years.
- Complex and time-consuming: You’ll need to invest time and resources into creating high-quality content, optimising your website for search engines and building backlinks.
PPC Pros
- Generates quick results: You can immediately start seeing results from your PPC campaigns.
- Highly targeted: You can target your ads to specific audiences and keywords, which means you’re more likely to reach people interested in your services.
PPC Cons
- PPC is expensive: The cost of PPC ads can vary depending on the competitiveness of the keywords you’re targeting – sometimes, it can cost hundreds per click.
- Campaigns must be managed and optimised regularly: You need to monitor your spending and results and adjust your campaigns as needed.
How do you know whether your law firm should invest in SEO and/or PPC?
As a rule of thumb, you should invest in SEO first because its impact lasts longer, and then PPC. However, there are a few circumstantial considerations:
- Your budget: SEO and PPC can be expensive, but SEO is typically a long-term investment. PPC can generate results more quickly, but you will need to continue to spend money on ads to maintain your visibility.
- Goals: Do you want to increase brand awareness and generate more leads over time (SEO), or do you need immediate results (PPC)?
- Competition: If several competitors already have an established online presence, it will take more time to gain traction with SEO alone. In this case, a PPC campaign momentarily levels the playing field.
Let Tao Digital take care of your SEO and PPC
Like expert fishermen skilfully select the perfect net to catch their target, our team is skilled at utilising SEO and PPC to attract potential clients to your firm. We have a case study, featured on the huge SEO platform Moz, about how we increased a Law Firm’s leads by 174%!
Don’t delay – reach out to us now and let us help you bring online success to your law firm.
What is PPC for law firms?
Pay-per-click, or PPC, is an online paid advertising model in which businesses pay a set amount of money each time a visitor clicks on their adverts. When undertaken correctly, PPC can help law firms achieve high quality leads.
PPC for law firms involves using platforms like Google and social media to drive targeted traffic to law firms’ websites or specific landing pages.
Should a law firm invest in SEO or PPC?
Both SEO and PPC are great marketing tactics for law firms, and it is a good idea to consider both. They both have a few things in common that can support each other for a successful marketing campaign, which is why many law firms will invest in each one.
Investing your time into SEO will inevitably help your PPC efforts. SEO is one of the best ways to get your law firm in front of the most relevant customers in your area. Since SEO helps to build credibility, users are more likely to click on your adverts since they know and recognise your brand.
Types of PPC strategies for law firms
There are several types of PPC strategies that law firms can utilise in order to achieve their goals.
Paid search marketing
Paid search marketing is one of the most common types of PPC advertising. Search engines such as Google and Bing will show your ads to users who search for specific keywords.
You can set up your campaigns by writing your ad copy, choosing relevant keywords with high search volumes and choosing, or creating, suitable landing pages on your site.
Display advertising
Display adverts are banners, images or text ads that appear on different websites and are selected to target a particular audience. These ads will link directly to your website and will take users to specific landing pages.
They generally have a lower click-through rate than search ads, but they can be useful for building brand awareness.
Social media advertising
Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, have high numbers of users who could be potential customers. PPC advertising on these platforms can help to achieve higher click-through rates to your website compared to other types of advertising.
Social media campaigns can help to increase awareness of your products or services, as well as being used to target specific demographics and their interests.
Retargeting advertising
Retargeting uses cookies on a user’s browser to show them specific ads based on their previous online search habits. For example, if a user searches for family lawyers, they could see display ads for family lawyers in their local area.
Retargeting can be included in:
- Display advertising campaigns
- Search advertising campaigns
- Social media campaigns
- Email marketing campaigns
How much should law firms spend on PPC?
Always a difficult one to answer. The industry is so varied, you may represent a very small niche legal offering such as ‘CCJ Removal services’ or ‘commercial auction conveyancing’. The PPC budgets will look a lot more appetising for these services than if you’re offering ‘residential conveyancing services’.
The key thing when planning budgets for PPC is not to pull it out of the air.
A lot of companies talk to us about managing their PPC campaigns and just suggest a budget of £1,000 per month, but this is just guesswork; or, even worse, all they can afford.
Let’s take the keyword “commercial property solicitor” as an example. Google ads keyword tool suggests that in the month of October 2023, there will be 7,000 searches, to get the best cost per lead you really need to have 100% coverage when people enter it into the search box.
To do this and be absolute top (number one in the search) all the time, Google says you need a budget of £6,100 per month. Now, this is the maximum you might spend, but it’s so important to think about the leads you might miss out on if you aren’t showing every time someone searches.
You could have run out of budget by 10AM, but the good leads might be the people searching at 2PM.
The best way to evaluate this is to start with a bigger budget and then reduce it based on the data you gain.
If you get better leads at 3PM, each day you can always increase the bid at that time of day and reduce it at other times.
There are a lot of factors that come into play when you are working out the ROI on a PPC campaign, not least the conversion rate of your landing page. If you convert 20% of those visitors into leads, you’ll be inundated with work, but if it’s a really bad landing page, you might get 1.5% and you’ll not have much work, but you’ll be draining your marketing budget very quickly too.
Speak to us about a PPC campaign today – Let’s get more leads!
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Target audience reached
PPC campaigns allow you to precisely target your desired audience based on things such as location, demographics and search intent.
Granular targeting ensures your ads are shown to potential clients who are most likely to engage with your services. This results in higher quality leads and increased conversion rates compared to other channels.
Measurable results and ROI
A major benefit of PPC is that it is measurable. Analytical and tracking tools that are built into platforms mean you can get detailed reports that outline the performance of your campaign.
This usually includes metrics such as conversion rates, CTR and CPI. From this data, you can then continuously optimise your campaigns for maximum ROI.
Immediate results
As soon as your PPC campaign is launched, your ads can appear at the top of the search engine result pages. This will help your law firm to attract the attention of potential clients and push you higher in the rankings than your competitors.
This instant visibility can be particularly beneficial in highly competitive niche legal sectors which are vital to gain the edge over competitors.
Flexibility and scalability
With PPC, law firms can easily adjust their ad spend amount, pause underperforming campaigns or scale up successful campaigns. This flexibility allows law firms to optimise their marketing efforts and distribute their budget more effectively.
How to set up a PPC campaign for a law firm
It’s important as a law firm that you set up an effective PPC campaign, otherwise you may be wasting your time and money. Listed below are the steps you should take to set up a successful PPC campaign.
Set goals
The very first step you should take is setting yourself goals for your PPC campaign. Think about what you want to achieve from it, who your target audience is, where you’re going to place your ads and so on.
Some of the key parameters you should decide on before creating your campaign include:
- Target audience
- Ad placement (search engines, websites or social media)
- Desired outcomes (brand awareness, sales, lead generation or traffic)
- KPIS (conversion rates, signups and revenue generated)
- Types of campaigns (display ads, social media ads or product listings)
- What location do you want to target
- What devices do you want to target (mobile, laptops, tablets)
Research and select the right keywords
It is vital that you choose the right keywords that are relevant to your niche and industry, otherwise, even if you do get a lot of clicks through from the advert, they are not likely to purchase from you.
You can carry out keyword research by using tools such as Ahrefs to find out which keywords that are relevant to your niche have a high search volume. You should be choosing highly relevant, low-cost and long-tail keywords in order to get the best results.
Create a campaign that resonates with your audience
Once you have set your goals and done the research, you can now move onto creating your ad campaign. There are a few major elements that you need to optimise: these are the ad copy, a CTA and the graphics.
For the ad copy, you will need to write persuasive and informative copy that will provide the user with information on what you offer and will therefore ensure that they want to click on your ad. Look at the specific keywords that you have found and create copy that is tailored to those words or query. The targeted copy should align with people’s pain points and entice them to click your ad.
Make sure the CTA is short and in line with your goals. For example, if you want more leads, then you should tailor your CTA to prompt people to get in touch or sign-up.
Each platform has its own specifications of the character limit for the ad copy, so always check with the platform you want to use before you start writing your copy.
Optimise PPC landing pages
Before you publish your ad campaign, you may want to create a landing page where people will be sent if they click on your ad. The landing page should be relevant to your ad, targeted and provide a seamless experience for the user.
Landing pages are important because they directly influence how users convert into paying customers. For example, if your landing page is not neatly presented and looks disorganised, people will click out from your website as they will likely be confused and won’t know how to navigate the page.
To create a landing page that will increase conversions, you should have:
- A big headline containing the same information as your PPC ad
- A clean and simple page design
- Clear, actionable CTAs
- Cohesive copy to match your ad
- Show what is being offered in the ad
- A/B testing you landing page to see what graphics, page layout, copy and CTAs work best
Review and test your PPC campaign
Just like with any other marketing campaign, PPC campaigns are not a one and done process. You will need to regularly review your campaign to check whether it is doing well or not and solve any problems. This will help you to optimise your ad campaign and get the desired results from it.
Here’s what you should do to review and optimise your PPC campaign:
- Link your Google ads to Google Analytics to track the amount of traffic generated, the sales, lead generations, signups and so on.
- If you have website ads, ask the host for the analytics data.
- Check the reports to see if the data matches your goals for the campaign. For example, are you getting the number of email signups you expected?
- If you’re not getting your desired results, you need to change up your keywords, modify the copy and so on.
- If some keywords are underperforming, you can just completely remove them.
You should keep reviewing and testing your PPC ads until it produces the results you’re looking for.
How can law firms track the success of a PPC campaign?
As we’ve mentioned, PPC is measurable. Regularly tracking and analysing your PPC campaigns performance is essential for identifying areas which could be improved, as well as successful areas.
Law firms can track the success of their campaigns by looking at key performance metrics, such as click-through rates. These metrics can give valuable insights into the effectiveness of their campaigns and therefore make data backed decisions to amend or alter areas to improve results.
Law firms can also benefit from the help of tools such as Google Analytics to get a deeper understanding of their target audiences behaviour and their campaign performance.
When will you see results from a law firm PPC campaign?
Although PPC campaigns can show somewhat immediate results, as in a few days, they usually require around 2-3 months to work. Those initial months can be viewed as a trial period for your ad campaign, providing you with helpful data that you can use to improve the campaign.
You can use this data to improve your keywords, bids, audience targeting and much more. Law firms can also benefit from A/B testing, which may take some time to get decent comparable results. From here, you can then see which campaign has worked better and move forward with it.
PPC mistakes that the legal industry make
PPC may seem quite straightforward, but there are some things in which law firms may do incorrectly. This can lead to wasted time and money which could be avoided.
Not setting up remarketing
Remarketing, also known as retargeting, lets you show your PPC ads to users who have previously shown some initial interest in your services by visiting your website.
Users will often leave websites without converting, so remarketing works as a simple way to remind them to take the next step on your site.
Running campaigns for too long
It’s much easier to generate meaningful traffic to your site if you have a lot of short term, smaller advertising campaigns. Make sure you refresh your campaign every once in a while to achieve the best results that also align with your goals.
Using too many keywords in an ad
It may sound like a good idea to put as many keywords in your ads as possible, but it can do more harm than good. Using too many keywords can actually lower or diminish the relevancy of your ad.
To avoid this, use a small number of keywords, making sure that they are all relevant to your law firm’s message.
Keeping under-performing keywords
You should constantly be checking and reviewing your keywords to determine which ones perform the best and which ones don’t. Make sure your keywords are directly linked to your firm’s practices and landing page messages.
Ignoring the appearance
People are going to be most attracted to the visual elements of your campaign, rather than just the copy. This is why it is so important to have graphics that are equally as appealing as your message.
You want your ads to stand out to potential customers, and choosing relevant images, colours, graphics and fonts to your firm is the best way to achieve this.
Driving users to the irrelevant landing pages
Always make sure your landing pages are correctly optimised for conversions. An appropriately optimised landing page is one that provides users with what they’re looking for when they click on your targeted ads. It should be useful, full of original content and have clear CTAs.
For example, if your law firm has different locations across the country, make sure users are sent to the correct landing page relevant to their location.
Law firm PPC with Tao Digital
Interested in kickstarting a PPC campaign for your law firm? Have a chat with our team of experts to understand what could work for you. We’ll always run through your goals, expectations and current standing in order to offer the best solution, whether or not this is PPC.
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