How To Create a Digital Marketing Strategy For Your Law Firm

Every day, 5.6 billion online searches occur. Some of those searchers are potential clients, yet most won’t scroll past the first page of the results. You need to make it to the first page to get traffic. Array Digital has been helping personal injury law firms for years with online marketing services that work. Contact our marketing strategists today to help you take control of your online marketing efforts.

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What Is a Digital Marketing Strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is a fully developed plan that enables businesses, such as personal injury law firms, to achieve specific goals through a meticulous approach rooted in proven methodologies. It involves not just choosing marketing avenues but also:

• Determining targeted audiences (demographics)
• Developing buyer personas
• Selecting your firm’s voice persona and messaging
• Carefully choosing marketing channels

All of this leads to helping you to understand ways to develop effective content marketing strategies to reach audiences. Once you get these fundamentals down, you can move toward richer and more specific strategies to further develop your overall online marketing plan.

How To Grow Your Personal Injury Law Firm’s Online Presence

Do you want to be the law firm people see first when they go to the search engines? If you want to grow your law practice, then of course you do. The key to that is building a successful digital marketing strategy.

Digital marketing strategies for law firms focus on all types of online marketing to increase visibility for your firm. This includes online marketing tools like:

• Search engine optimization
• Content marketing
• Local SEO
• Social proofing
• Social media marketing
• Landing page optimization
• Pay Per Click marketing

Each of these strategies lets you target potential clients through the search engine, guiding them toward your law firm website and your contact information. Outside of word-of-mouth referrals, this is one of the best ways to get new clients. In fact, as early as 2014, surveys found that online research was the top choice for finding a lawyer, with 38% reporting that was the tool they used compared to 29% asking friends or family.

What do statistics like this mean for your firm? They mean that you need to be visible online to effectively reach the people you want to serve. If you lack online visibility, you will lose customers to your competition.

If you feel that your online legal marketing could be better, or you want to make an already good plan more effective, you need to work with a skilled digital marketing agency that understands personal injury law, specifically.

Array Digital is here to help. Our team has the knowledge and skill to improve your results so your law firm gets seen. If you are looking for a partner who can assist you in creating a digital marketing strategy that works, Array Digital is here for you.

SEO Best Practices To Get Your Law Firm Seen

According to a January 2016 report, 62 percent of personal injury consumers will conduct a web search on their mobile phones when searching for help with their legal problems. Many more will search on a desktop when looking for legal help. This number has only increased since that time, as more and more people rely on their phones and computers to help them make buying decisions. Even potential clients who ask for word-of-mouth referrals are likely to search those firms online to verify they are the right firm to do business with.

Statistics like this and others show that search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical component of an overall marketing plan. If you can’t get found through the search engines, you will struggle to reach your target audience.

Why SEO Matters

SEO matters because your potential clients are searching online. Your Internet marketing strategy hinges on being found by those clients as they search, and SEO is critical to that.

Yet being listed in the search engines is not enough. You need to rank high on those results pages, or people will never find you.

Why is this? The first page of search results receives the majority of the website traffic, so your legal website needs to show up early for your target practice areas. In fact, 73% of people will not click past page one in the search engine results pages.

Specifically, Google is the most important search engine to target. In a recent study, 86% of personal injury lawyer clients said they used Google to research their attorneys, compared to 2% off Bing and 1% for Yahoo. Visibility on Google through SEO is vital as part of your overall online marketing campaign.

How To Implement SEO

Tackling SEO for your law firm requires the right knowledge and skill. To do this well, you should partner with a personal injury law firm strategist. The strategist will know the intricacies of SEO and how it applies to law firms, so you can get a targeted plan in place to showcase your legal services to the right target audience.

The Technical Side of SEO

As you build an SEO strategy, remember that there is a technical side to this as well. You not only need to research keywords and create a link-building strategy, but you also need to have a website design that the search engines can effectively crawl and index. Title tags, metadata, schema, and even the images you add to your page all work toward hurting or helping your SEO efforts. Again, this is where your online marketing strategist can help weave your SEO goals into your overall online marketing plan.

Increase Your Reach Through Local SEO for Personal Injury Law Firms

As you build your online marketing strategy, remember that online marketing for law firms needs to target a specific geographic demographic. You need to reach people who live near your office because these are the people you can help with your efforts. Local SEO helps with this.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO involves strategies that make your law firm more visible in local research results. This is slightly different from regular SEO, which does not target local search quite as in-depth. Local SEO and traditional SEO need to work together to make your law firm’s website as visible as possible.

When people in your area search for an injury lawyer, local SEO is what helps Google choose your firm over the local pack, the three websites, addresses, and phone numbers listed under the map on the search results. There are several tools you can use to improve your local SEO results, including these:

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is your business listing in Google. It is fairly easy to get a Google Business Profile page, but it is vital that you have one with accurate information. Go through the entire process, add all relevant details, and then make sure the listing stays updated if your information changes.

Keep your Google Business page as detailed as possible to get the best results. Include relevant images and encourage past clients to post reviews to Google to leverage this page well.

Bing Places

Bing Places is similar to Google My Business, and you should have a listing here as well. Bing Places, like Google Business Profile, is a free listing that gives you a platform to list your address, phone number, hours of operation, and website URL. It helps target Bing search users and helps other SEO efforts if the listing is consistent between Bing and other online directory listings. Because Bing is the default search engine for all Windows devices, which equals 1.5 billion devices worldwide, there are benefits to having a listing here. Keep the listings consistent between these platforms.

Yelp

Yelp is one of the most popular review sites, but before you can earn reviews on it, you need a listing. Create a listing that matches your other listings, and then use that listing to request reviews from satisfied clients.

Law Firm Directories

Finally, add your firm to law firm directories to solidify your local SEO efforts. Local business directories give the search engines another proof that you are a real firm that helps real clients. They enhance your online reputation and boost your SEO. They also increase brand awareness within your target audience. Not all directories are created equal, so you need to strategize how you spend your time when building these pages. Your online marketing strategist from Array Digital can help you find the most effective directories to improve your reach.

Use Social Media for Social Proofing

Social proofing refers to giving people proof online that you are a real and a good law firm to work with. This process involves creating credibility and branding yourself as an authority, then having reviews that back up what you are showing about yourself. Social media pages are very effective at creating this type of social proof.

Create and Leverage Social Media Pages for Social Proof

Social proof starts with your social media pages. To leverage them well, first, you need to create pages and then stay active on them. Activity is one of the best ways to show that you are a law firm worth doing business with. This process is different from social media marketing, as the primary goal is to gain credibility through your pages.

Use Testimonials To Gain Credibility

In addition to staying active on social media, you need to actively recruit testimonials and use them for your benefit. Again, this is a place where an online marketing strategist can help. Remember, all testimonials from past clients are helpful, even negative ones because they give you another opportunity to engage with your target audience. People know that there will be disgruntled customers, but if you can engage positively with those negative reviews, you can transform them into something positive.

Through social media pages and online reviews, you can build yourself as an authority. This type of social proof is one of your most effective marketing tactics because it creates an atmosphere of trust around your firm and its services.

Increase Conversions With Optimized Landing Pages

A landing page is a standalone web page that brings traffic from ads and specific SEO tactics. Building individual landing pages for your various law firm service offerings allows you to better target your SEO efforts to the keywords people are searching for. Since 92% of all search inquiries are long-tail keywords, which are longer phrases that have more detailed results, you need to have opportunities to reach those people. Landing pages that are optimized give that opportunity.

How To Optimize Landing Pages

To optimize your landing page, you first need to optimize it based on SEO best practices. Then, you need to ensure that your call-to-action is clearly defined on the page, whether it is a “call now” action or a contact form the person should fill in to get added to your email list. Finally, test your metrics to ensure that the landing pages are getting seen by your target audience. Our online marketing experts can help with this.

Create Mobile-Friendly Landing Pages

As you work to optimize your landing pages, do more than just optimize them for the search engines. You also need to optimize them for mobile users as many of your potential clients will search using their phones.

In a 2019 survey, researchers found that the number of people who searched on mobile devices and desktops was nearly even when looking for law firms to hire. In fact, the majority, 53%, said they used both in their search. If your landing page does not display well on mobile, you will lose potential traffic. In 2021, that number increased, with 56% of all web traffic taking place on mobile phones.

As you optimize your landing pages, optimize them for the way people search, which is on their mobile devices.

Use Social Media Marketing Techniques

Your social media pages are an effective way to find and engage with prospective clients. Active and effective social media profiles on the major social media pages give you another place to direct your online marketing efforts. We can help you use these pages effectively.

Social Media Marketing Best Practices

As you plan to leverage your social media pages, there are some best practices to make them more effective. These include:

• Choose the right platforms. There are multiple social media pages today, and you need to find the ones that will effectively reach your target audience, so you can focus your energy there. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube tend to offer the most value to law firms.
• Create a voice. You need to use your social media pages to brand yourself as a confident expert and build trust with your audience. Strive to create a voice that does both.
• Use a posting calendar. Your social media pages need to stay active, but you can forget about them in the day-to-day work of running your business. Use a posting tool or hire a legal industry digital marketing professional to help.
• Be consistent. Post high-quality content and interact with your followers consistently to make your pages effective tools.
• Post a variety. Consistency is important, but so is variety. Mix it up between website links, inspirational posts, infographics, and engagement-centered posts, like polls or questions. Don’t neglect video, which is highly effective.
• Encourage User-Generated Content. UGC is content your followers bring to your pages. When leveraged well, it can draw quite a bit of traffic. Talk to your strategist about how to employ this well.
• Update contact information. Your social media presence is another place to have your contact information. Make sure it matches your local SEO postings.
• Tap into paid ads. All social media platforms have paid advertising options. Learn how to use these as part of your overall digital strategy.
• Be responsive. When people post to your pages or ask questions about your firm, respond in a kind and professional manner. If you get negative feedback, always respond, but be kind.

If this feels overwhelming, remember that partnering with a digital marketing expert, like the team at Array Digital, can make the process easier. We are here to help you create and run online marketing plans that work, including social media marketing.

Be Strategic in Your Social Media Planning

Social media marketing can feel overwhelming because of all the opportunities out there. This is where your digital marketing strategies can help. Create a strategic plan that will leverage social media well without taking up too much of your time.

Add PPC To Market Your Personal Injury Law Firm

Most people think of SEO when they think of search engine marketing, but pay-per-click (PPC) is another option to consider. PPC marketing involves paying for ads that show up on the search engine results pages, so you have more of a guarantee that you will show up early in the results.

How To Make PPC Work

PPC advertising involves bidding on keywords to draw people to your website. This process is highly strategic, but it uses three specific factors:

• Keywords: When building PPC campaigns, you will create targeted keyword lists that you will bid on. The more specific these are to the practice areas you want to target, the more effective and affordable your campaigns will be. Keywords are priced based on competition, so the more competitive the phrase, the more you will pay for it.
• Copywriting: You need ad copy that has a high conversion rate. Work with a professional ad writer to make your ads as effective as possible.
• Landing pages: Your PPC ads should take people to landing pages that have been tested and analyzed for a high conversion rate. Draw people to these pages to get them to sign up for your newsletter or call for a free consultation.

Put PPC in Place With Other Online Marketing Strategies

Like all online marketing efforts, PPC campaigns can’t live in a vacuum. PPC is most effective when it is part of an over-arching marketing plan. You need to incorporate it alongside SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, and landing page design to increase your online presence and draw more people to your pages.  Read more about how we can help you with your law firm PPC ads.

Create a Content Marketing Strategy

Finally, your online marketing needs to include a content marketing strategy. Content marketing involves using online content to brand yourself as an authority and gain more contacts for your firm.

For personal injury law firms, online content can be a very effective way to get traffic. People suffering after an injury have many questions about what they need to do next, and you can use your content marketing to answer those questions.

How To Build a Content Marketing Plan

Building a content marketing plan is worth investing in because the payoff can be so high. To do this, take some time to think about your target audience and what they need. Use online tools or the help of your strategist to create a list of questions that they may search. Then, build content around those questions.

Your content marketing strategy should include a variety of media, such as:

• Blog posts
• Website pages
• Social media posts

Use all of these as opportunities to create content that will help people, but keep your main goal in mind. Your main goal is to have people contact you for more information, so you can start building their cases and drawing them in as potential clients.

Contact Array Digital for Expert Guidance in Building a Personal Injury Law Marketing Strategy

Personal injury law online marketing is complicated and involves many moving parts. You need the right help to get it done well, and Array Digital is here to provide that help.

When you partner with Array Digital, you receive help from a personal strategist who will take the time to get to know your firm, your audience, and your goals. We will create a custom, strategic plan that involves online advertising, website design, SEO, and social media marketing to effectively reach your target market. We have a long track record of success, and we know what it takes to reach the people who need what you offer.

You don’t have to enter the online marketing world without help. Array Digital is here to provide that help. Request a free consultation by calling 757.333.3021. You can also complete our online contact form to speak with one of our experienced digital marketing experts at Array Digital today.