Search marketing for solicitors

The Importance of Being Visible

Many solicitors don't realise that it takes roughly seven touch points to acquire new business. These can include meeting prospective clients at an event or seminar, your website, social networks like Facebook or Twitter, direct mail, print ads or emails. All of these factor into the decision making process, although some may be weighted more than others.

One of the most effective ways of using one touchpoint is by optimising your website for search engines. This puts you in front of potential clients who are actively seeking advice on topics, help with problems, or solicitor services. They are already looking, but can you be found? If you aren't visible, chances are a bigger firm, with more resources, will be.

Search marketing includes both short and long term elements. In the short term, paid advertising through Google Adwords or Microsoft adCenter can get you immediate results. You bid auction style for placement, create the ad copy, choose the key phrases that are relevant to your practice, and set the geographic locations and times the ads can run. Niche phrases are usually cheaper, and perform better than more generic key phrases. The key to paid advertising is relevance, a relevant key phrase should match the ad being shown. This in turn should lead to a landing page that matches the visitor's query.

Over the long term, organic (natural) search marketing includes optimising your website title tags and meta data, ensuring your URLs are search friendly, making your content engaging, cross linking relevant service pages with case studies, white papers, articles, and partner profiles, and getting links to your site from other websites. This is an ongoing process, which needs to be continued over a longer period of time for the best results. Six months or more should be enough to gain some visibility and increased traffic.

Online marketing is measurable and quantifiable. Because search algorithms change frequently, and new competitors appear in the top spaces over time, it is an activity that does require either consistent effort on your part, or an agency who is experienced in search marketing.

You spend money designing and developing your website, but it's little more than an online brochure unless people can find it. Search marketing is a fairly inexpensive way to generate traffic and leads to your site, but it should be in the context of an overall marketing plan that includes all touchpoints - email, social networks, social media, events, seminars, and face to face contact.

Resources:

Legal marketing services

Best law firm websites

Real lawyers have blogs

50 ways to market your practice