How To Optimize Your Inbound/Outbound Marketing To Achieve Maximum Return On Investment

Content Marketing is essentially the best thing to ever happen to the sole practitioner who is just starting his/her own practice.

Content Marketing allows for smaller law firms to literally compete directly with larger law firms for a bigger slice on the proverbial pie. Whoever writes the better content, can rank better in Google’s searches, and retain even more clients!

Since 1976, large law firms have been dominating the law industry by implementing enormously expensive television ads, buying backlinks to push their websites to the top of search engines, and using pop-up ads to gain user attention. A small sole practitioner could never compete with the larger firms who could spend all the money advertising, until Google’s algorithm for search query ranking was updated. There are over 2 billion smart phone users in the world, an even larger amount of total internet users, and Google searches are the major medium through which users find the law firm they need to hire. Content Marketing is the saving grace of the law practice. The monopoly is therefore ended! Backlinks no longer rule Google’s searches, content does.

If you write useful, informative, captivating content, catered to the viewer and not to yourself, Google will recognize the quality of your efforts, and your website will rank higher in Google’s searches. The possibilities for this are endless, because all you need to do is sit down and write! However, here are the most important things to concentrate on when Content Marketing:

Keywords

Keywords are the actual phrases that searches enter into Google in order to get to a results page. Of course, the most popular keywords look something like, “Personal Injury Lawyer.” So if you are a criminal defense lawyer in Milwaukee, you might want to write about criminal defense in Milwaukee! Your targeted keyword or, “focus keyword” could therefore be, “Milwaukee Criminal Defense.” Your focus keyword is the keyword around which you build your content, so that your piece has a clear message for your audience. The best piece of advice I ever received was to tell stories. If you tell a story about a hypothetical figure and the tribulations he/she undertakes when arrested for DUI in Milwaukee, and end your piece by saying something like “Call me for a free consultation! Tom Lawyer, Milwaukee Criminal Defense Lawyer,” obviously, you will discuss a number of relevant topics in your article. These topics will be recognized by Google as “keywords” and your site will begin to be indexed for relevant searches!

Topics

Choose topics that you think will be relevant to the viewer, not just for yourself. If your audience is a specific area of the law, then your topics should cater to them! For example: if you handle Bankruptcy Law, then you know your clientele will be looking for advice pertaining to the different types of Bankruptcy they can file for, debt relief, foreclosure defense, and so on. Choose one topic per page, and write for the customer! This can consist of helpful tips, what to expect, how to begin a bankruptcy filing, and anything else you feel will benefit your viewer. These are the types of pages Google is looking for, and they are also the types of pages that will be rewarded by Google.

How To Structure Your Page

Begin with a Header (H1). This header should contain the title of your page, whether it be a blog post or an informational page on your website. You should incorporate the main “focus keyword” in the title, and this use of the focus keyword in an H1 header is favorable On-Site SEO. As you write, divide your piece into smaller sections, and assign each section a smaller header (H2), or subtitle, so as to really concentrate on each different section, and organize your piece as best as possible. These H2 subtitles should contain a keyword that will be found in the paragraph, which is again, favorable On-Site SEO. Of course, you can use even smaller headers, these are H3’s and H4’s – the larger the number, the smaller the size of the header. These are always useful and can direct the eye of the reader to certain parts of the page, instead of overwhelming your audience with one giant piece of information.

Piece Length

Try to keep your pages anywhere from 450-800 words, and keep your titles to less than 7 words. Make these user-friendly, easy to digest, but helpful enough that user feels educated after he/she has visited your site.

Tying It All Together

Make sure you have an organized, structured, and well-focused piece before you display it on your website. If your piece is boring, too lengthy, or not helpful, this may cause a “bounce” from your site, which will let Google know that users did not find your information helpful. Remember, write for your audience, not for yourself! This will increase the trust the viewer invests in you, and will inflate the chance of this viewer hiring you! People only hire those that they trust, so be the most expert and trustworthy writer that you can be!

Blogging is essentially the best way to market your content. Studies show that business blogging leads to 55% more website viewers, according to HubSpot.com.

ven better, according to the same article from HubSpot, companies that blog see 434% more indexed pages than companies that don’t blog!

This means that Google recognizes the page that you wrote, and assigns it a ranking in its searches! In order to receive more traffic, your site should rank for as many keywords as possible. Everything from Chapter 1: Content Marketing, was an introduction to how your blog can work for you, and why you should try to blog as much as possible. However, if you cannot set aside the proper amount of time to blog, there are a number of companies that offer blogging and writing services for an affordable price. They even customize the content right down to the keywords you want to see!

The best way to host your blog is to have it live physically on your website. Somewhere on the top of your home page, there should be a link to your blog that viewers can see easily. However, visitors of your site might find you through other pages in Google, and that’s okay! Not everyone has to read your blog, but hosting your blog on your website does a few things:

Blogging Statistics

Like we mentioned before, websites with blogs see 434% more indexed pages than websites without blogs. This means that your website will have more total indexed pages, and more importantly, more indexed keywords! More search queries will display your website, which means more viewers, which means more potential customers!

Where Your Blog Should Live

Hosting your blog on your website means that every click to your blog is another visitor to your website. If a viewer has to navigate between websites from your blog to your actual law firm website, the chances of he/she “bouncing” away from your material and therefore never becoming a customer is much higher. It is favorable SEO to have your blog on your website because Google sees that viewers are visiting your site to read, not just to buy. All of these views will eventually let Google know that your website AS A WHOLE is more valuable, and will improve your chances of ranking higher for searches, instead of merely being indexed.

Social Media Sharing

Make sure that you share your blog on all of your social media (which we will discuss further in the next chapter,) and always create a “Call to Action” at the beginning, and again at the end of your blog post. A call to action simply means that you literally ask viewers to act, whether it be, “Sign Up! Call Now! Learn More!” If you don’t ask, how would they know what to do? For example, if your blog post is about a hypothetical slip and fall, include something like, “If you were injured in a Slip and Fall Accident, call me today for a free consultation!” This will make viewers who could be potential clients know that they can call you, and that you offer a free consultation – or more obviously, they only pay you if you win.

Content Writing Services

As we mentioned before, there are a number of companies that offer affordable content and blog writing services. These companies only ask that you tell them the topic you wish them to write about and the keywords you would like them to use!

These companies include, but are not limited to:

• contentwriters.com
• lawyerswritingforlawyers.com
• crowdcontent.com

We have found contentwriters.com to be the most reliable, affordable, and highest quality service, but you can do your own research now that you know that these services exist!

Read more about how to maximize your blogging potential here!

I read a great quote by a man named Ian Cleary of RazorSocial. He said, “A new blog is like starting a car on a cold morning. Slow to get going but soon your engine will be humming. Stick with it!” Blogging is a great way to create content by telling stories, and is definitely the most interesting form of content for viewers. The more viewers you have, the higher you will rank in Google!

Social Media Marketing is the easiest, and most inexpensive form of marketing – in fact, it’s free!

Your Social Media Accounts should always be sharing your latest blog posts, your newest content, and can even be used to offer promotions to potential new clients.

You should always have a Facebook account for your business, complete with information on how to contact your firm and your location. You should also always use a Twitter account because of its ease of accessibility, and its ability to post short, frequent updates. Your LinkedIn can be employed as well, especially for your blog posts, but here are some reasons why your true Social Media accounts are how you can bolster the traffic to your website.

Promoting Your Blog

Because of your new found efforts in Content Marketing and Blogging, you need to find a way to reach a bigger audience! Using Social Media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to share links to your blog post on your website will not only increase the amount of traffic to your website, but will help you to create a sustainable online presence that can grow and find a larger audience – hopefully from which you can cultivate new customer relationships! However, read this blog post on what not to do on your social media accounts, in order to maximize your viewer base.

Update Your Potential Customers

When you create and manage an online presence, through the use of Social Media, it gives viewers the feeling of reliability. In today’s era, there is no department store to browse through in which to find an attorney you can trust, and so when a potential customer goes to do some research on your name and sees that you are actively discussing topics on social media and using it to promote your blog, they will know that you are an active member of the law industry, and are engaged enough to stay up to date!

Diversify Your Market

Because a vast majority of search engine queries exist in Google, essentially, Google has a monopoly on SEO and SEM. Therefore, when you expend your efforts to optimize your site for Google search, you are putting all of your eggs into one basket. However, with Social Media Marketing, there are a number of ways through which to reach new users, and the possibilities of extending your likes, follows, and connections are infinite! Constantly grow the audience through which you can obtain new clients by maintaining a useful Social Media presence. Read more about how to diversify your social media and how it can benefit your content marketing in this blog post!

Advertising comes in many forms, however, old forms of advertising didn’t reach as many potential new customers as new advertisements can. Here are some of the best and most inexpensive ways to employ advertisements on the internet in order to drive traffic and potential leads to your law firm.

Google AdWords (Pay Per Click)

Google AdWords allows you to bid on keywords – the higher your bid, the higher your ad will be displayed. These “ads” look like normal links, and are displayed above the organic results in a Google search query. Different than the normal Google display links, there are tiny yellow boxes next to the ad links that say, “Ad.” Every time your link is clicked, Google charges you the amount of money that won the bid. However, there are more things that Google considers than just the amount of money you’ve bid on the keyword to employ rankings within a search. Google also considers ad relevance, and overall content quality. This allows you to buy all of the clicks for your name, since your ad will be extremely relevant for the keyword that should be displayed all over your website.

Pros of Google AdWords

• Fast traffic to your website.
• Rank high for desirable keywords.
• Control your budget.
• See which keywords work best for you.
• Buy back the traffic on your name inexpensively.

Cons

• Can become expensive quickly.
• No guaranteed Return on Investment.
• Constant competition with other PPC users.

YouTube AdWords

Since Google owns Youtube, and Video Marketing could very well be the way of the future, it is beneficial to create and employ video when embarking on your marketing journey. These videos are exactly like content, except all you need to do is write a short script about a topic, and speak about it on camera. Be sure to dress professional, use relevant search keywords in the title and description of your YouTube uploads, and use AdWords to rank for keywords that are relevant to your videos! Since not many lawyers and firms are employing Video Marketing yet, these AdWords are not as expensive as Google AdWords.

Sponsored Social Media Posts

There are features included with your Social Media accounts that allow you to “boost” your posts, for a price.

For example: if you spend 5-10 dollars on Facebook to give one of your posts a boost, Facebook will display your update to people that do not currently exist within your network, which can increase engagement, find new followers, and reach a potentially larger audience for your brand.

You can even promote your post in a certain area, say 25 miles, so that local viewers who would be able to hire you for a legal matter can see your post more accessibly – even when you are not directly connected to them yet.

Twitter is similar to Facebook, however it is extremely expensive to purchase a trending “hashtag,” which could spark a conversation about a product or idea. Small boosts on Facebook seem to work the best for interactions and likers of your posts.

Facebook and Twitter do however, seem to have a lot of fake accounts which can create false interactions and give you an inflated sense of how your social media marketing is performing. This traffic will not hurt you, just beware of the statistics attached with boosting your posts! Engagements are important, but always remember the end goal is to find a lead and convert them into a customer!

Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing is really the end goal of all previous marketing attempts. Of course, in their own rite, Social Media Marketing, Blogging, and Content Marketing can bring revenue to your firm, but all of those efforts combined will purport your higher rankings in search engines. Yes, with Social Media, there is an unlimited amount of viewers and audience, but there is no way to trigger a search query with a response on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn like there is with Google. Your website, content, blog, social media, should all be the answer to a question that a potential customer has – and they ask it in the Search Engine.

Old School SEO and SEM of course posit that strong, relevant backlinks are the way to prove power and authority to Google. Backlinks and referring domains still play their part, however organic search keyword data is the reigning king of search engine result pages; in other words, the better and more popular your content is, the higher Google will display your website so that others can enjoy the same. The way to do this, is with CTR or, Click-Through-Rate.

Keyword – Topic Matching

Always focus on your desired keywords and topics. To do this, make sure that your title or H1 displays your focus keyword, so that readers know right from the beginning that they are in the correct place for their search. Also, include the keywords in your content, to ensure that Google knows your title corresponds with the actual wording of your piece.

Metatag

Make sure that the brief description on a SERP (Search Engine Result Page) contains your focused keywords and gives an accurate, precise, and succinct description of the article that the reader will interact with. This brief description is called the Metatag, and while it does not necessarily influence Google’s ranking of your site, it is an important tool used to capture the attention of a reader. Metatags can be up to 156 characters, so make sure you use at least 125 to give a sufficient description to your readers!

Headers

Like I mentioned earlier, Headers are extremely important to capture the eye and attention of your reader. Guide them through your page with the relevant keywords they want to see, and make sure to use H1, H2, and H3!

Having an answering service as a lawyer, is a necessity in today’s era. Emergencies happen at all hours of the day, including the middle of the night – your phone service is not suspended after 5 pm and reactivated the next morning at 9 am, it is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and so there must be an agent to answer your phone at all hours of the night!

Think of it this way: Would You Call 911 and Leave a Voicemail? The answer is a resounding: no.

If you or a loved one is arrested in the middle of the night and needs legal representation for the next morning, hiring an attorney must be immediately done, so as to ensure that your case is handled promptly and not left to circumstance. However, simply having an answering service to take a message is not enough. Here is why your law firm needs Answering Legal.

Answering Legal Serves as an Extension of Your Practice

Our legal intake receptionists integrate fully with your firm, and answer calls exactly how you have pre-determined them to do so. Their script, protocol, and call transfer procedure only occurs according to how you prefer, and so the possibilities of integrating with Answering Legal are endless:

Customized Greetings

For example, if you are the Law Offices of Answering Legal, your legal intake receptionist will answer, “Good Morning/Good Afternoon, thank you for calling the Law Offices of Answering Legal, how may I help you?”

New Client Intake

f a new client is attempting to hire you and your firm, your legal intake receptionist will ask a series of questions designed to give you the highest propensity to convert the caller into a new customer. It also makes the caller feel as if their needs are being met, especially when they are told that their legal intake receptionist will now patch the caller in to speak with the attorney! If you are unable to speak with the caller, your messages will be sent to you instantaneously via SMS Text and/or Email.

Answering Legal Ensures 100% of Your Calls Will Be Answered by a Live Representative

When a new caller is attempting to reach you, and instead encounters your voicemail or an automated greeting, the new caller perceives an indifference, which is absolutely the wrong message to exert. In today’s era, new callers do not leave voicemail because of the ease of access to another attorney on the internet! If a new caller attempts to reach you and you do not answer the phone, your chances of converting that caller to a paying customer drops drastically. With Answering Legal, you can reduce your overhead because our pricing is less costly than hiring a full-time receptionist, while simultaneously increasing your revenue by capturing the new clients your normally would have missed when not answering the phone!

Benefits

1. 24 Hour Support
2. Become Completely Mobile
3. Treat Your Customers Better
4. Obtain New Business
5. Save More Money