As attorneys in private practice, one of the most valuable yet overlooked abilities is knowing how to acquire new legal clients. Although law school provides the knowledge to succeed in the field, it doesn’t teach the skills necessary to build a successful law business. Starting and operating your own law firm presents unique challenges and opportunities, such as attracting clients to a new practice and leveraging marketing skills to grow your client base.
All law firms want more and better cases, yet the competition for client acquisition is fierce, especially online.
This raises two mandatory questions; How do you ensure clients 1) find you and; 2) hire you instead of one of your competitors?
Can’t answer? Don’t worry. Our comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know to attract and retain a steady stream of clients.
How to Get New Clients as a Lawyer
- 28% of lawyers get new clients from directories
- 31% of new clients you can get by referral from other attorneys
- 40% of clients find a lawyer on Google
- 62% of clients came from friends
So, digital marketing for lawyers may bring you more than 50% of all possible customers.
If you’re a relatively new lawyer, consider yourself fortunate. This is the perfect time to sharpen your marketing skills and master the art of client acquisition. Early in your career, you have the opportunity to establish a stellar reputation and foster relationships that will pave the way for future work. Embrace the advantage of attracting first-time clients without the overwhelming pressure that comes later, while also providing great customer service to paying clients.
Get ready to unlock the key to success as we delve into the strategies and tactics that empower you to thrive in your legal career.
How to Get Clients for Your Law Firm — The Formula for Success
By adequately utilizing all three core components listed below, your law firm will experience meaningful, tangible growth. You will only increase your clientele if you achieve all three objectives. Understanding that these components work together to create the best outcome is essential. When starting your own law firm, marketing skills are crucial, and you may receive client referrals from previous employers if you leave amicably.
All three must be implemented at the same time. Make sure that you know these fundamentals:
Be Easy to Find
You won’t get more clients if you don’t find new customers for your law firm. You have to be where your ideal clients are looking for lawyers and where they’re looking for information regarding their legal challenges or needs.
And here’s where they look:
- Google–Top of the page
- Google–map pack
- Google–organic search results
- Law Firm Directories like Avvo, SuperLawyers, Yelp, etc.
- YouTube–looking for answers to their legal questions
Hint: they are unlikely to look for a lawyer on Facebook or Instagram
Create a High-Performance Website
If you invest correctly in all law firm’s marketing services, such as websites, Youtube channels, and directory listings, your prospects will easily find your online presence. However, the next concern is if they’re met with client-oriented information and a law firm website design that makes them choose your services over competitors. A lackluster digital brochure that leaves them feeling underwhelmed won’t do.
Literally, ALL your other marketing efforts will underperform or fail (and you’ll waste a lot of money) if you don’t have a website optimized to convert attention (visitors) into action (calls to your office or online inquiries, and/or people providing you with their contact info). You need to evaluate your website’s performance to convert your lawyer leads into new clients for your law firm.
Does it merely look nice, or is it designed to convert leads into loyal clients?
We’ll get more into this later.
Ready to create a high-quality website? Discover the factors influencing the cost in 2024 on our blog.
Be Helpful to Get More Clients
Even the most prestigious law firms must incorporate a well-formulated SEO marketing strategy to reach the highest possible placement on Google and other search engines’ search pages. Utilize law firm SEO and other established digital marketing methods to increase your organic traffic through greater authority rankings and better ranking on search engine results pages.
What is the key to getting more legal clients? Answer clients’ questions. The more helpful your content is, the longer you keep them on your site. And the longer they spend on your site, the more relevant your site will appear to Google, and the more people Google will send to your site (there are many other factors Google considers in its algorithm, but this one is considered very important).
Make Good Use of Infographics
Web marketing for lawyers is an effective solution that ensures your website is featured prominently in the search results, thus making your business more discoverable by potential clients.
Adding an infographic to your legal website is a great way to make your content more engaging, informative, and visually appealing. By using visuals to illustrate complicated laws and topics, you provide a clearer understanding of legal concepts while making your website stand out from competitors.
Elevate your marketing efforts by understanding the significance of graphic design in digital marketing. Read our insightful blog post here.
Delivering Business Results: Our Digital Marketing Case Studies
8 Strategies to Get Cases as a Lawyer in 2024
As the legal industry becomes increasingly competitive, so must your law firm. To stay ahead of the competition in 2024, you must take advantage of the latest digital marketing strategies and state-of-the-art techniques.
Our comprehensive guide provides the information and tools to set your law firm apart from the rest and become a sought-after legal professional. We’ll equip you with the process needed to quickly and successfully navigate the digital landscape and tailor your approach to secure more cases and boost revenue.
Firstly, capitalize on Google—which more people use to find lawyers than any other channel—and unlock the secrets to success as you propel your business to new heights.
You must invest in organic search visibility to draw clients to your law firm.
1. Attract More Legal Clients Using a SEO
Suppose your firm does not appear on the first page of a search engine’s search results for relevant keywords associated with lawyers who provide the same services or when searching for information related to a specific legal issue. In that case, your firm is virtually invisible to potential clients.
Did you know the first website to show in search results historically gets about 30% of clicks, while the second only gets 15%? By the time you’re on page two of search results, you’re looking at less than 2% of clicks. This means missing out on attracting paying clients, which is crucial for growing the income and client base for lawyers.
But if everyone wants to be on page one, how do you get there amidst such tough competition?
- Deliver more useful information than your competitors on a search engine-optimized website (SEO).
- Run ads on page one of Google.
Steps to Get More Clients for My Law Firm Using SEO
Consider on-site and off-site SEO strategies to maximize your visibility in search engine results.
- On-site SEO talks about content on your site and the keywords you include. You want to include words and search terms that help Google index you as an expert in your field. But it’s more than just your website copy. SEO also weighs in on where to include keywords (for example, a keyword can be stronger when used in headers, titles, and URL slugs). And how about metadata (descriptions and tags) used on your blogs and photos? Absolutely every element on every page can be optimized.
- Off-site SEO refers to your website’s relevance according to the rest of the internet. The more external sites you have linking to your own (and the more relevant and higher ranking those sites are), the more your content will be indexed as helpful on topics you want to rank for. This is where active profiles on online directories come in especially handy—keep reading to see how we get into it in another section.
The big question in SEO for lawyers is knowing what keywords to use.
Our two cents: think like your prospects. What do they want to know? Can you think of an example? Good, but you’re not there yet. Take that example and ask, “How would I ask that on Google?”
We’ll give you a hint: your prospects are more likely to google “what happens in a personal injury case” than they are “liability and financial compensation for personal injury law.”
2. Attract New Legal Clients Through Content Marketing
Next in Findability comes producing and distributing value-added content. Attract your clients by giving them helpful information.
Remember that question, “How helpful are you to prospects before they choose to hire you?” Well, content is where you make yourself useful. This is your long-term strategy to get more clients using content marketing for lawyers.
Yes, your law firm website is filled with content. But content can get a lot more interesting—and a lot more practical—for your prospects.
For example, do you offer prospective clients white papers, resource lists, or how-to guides on your blog? What about FAQs?
Examples of Content Marketing Strategies for Attorneys That Will Increase Leads
These are examples of content you should create for your prospects. And we’re not talking about checklists for the grocery store. No, we’re talking about valuable content that answers your prospects’ questions.
Forbes has something to say about how to do content marketing the right way, but we’ll give you an example:
Say you practice estate law. You have clients who are bereaved, sometimes overwhelmed with paperwork and legal mumbo-jumbo. And so they’re digging for answers and google, “what does an estate executor DO?”
That’s where your blog should pop up. Google sees you’ve written an article about that very topic. And in that article, you offer a free checklist of all the paperwork an estate executor needs to get—and in what order. All prospects have to do to get it is enter their names and email addresses to download.
You collect those names and email addresses, then you continue sending those prospects resources. You already know what legal issue they’re facing, so it’s just a matter of sending them more information and tools that will be useful.
Basically, that’s how you get more clients using law firm content marketing. Most of the hiring process is done through online research before a call, so you must make yourself useful to all prospects still “doing their homework.” Give them value and help them through the process so they’ll remember you when they are finally ready to hire a law firm.
3. Get More Prospective Clients for Law Firms with Google Ads
Typically, lawyers get their clients through the following mediums:
- Family and friend referrals
- Online search
- Referrals from other lawyers
- Legal directory
But in 2024, times have changed, and more aggressive modes of outreach (via inbound methods) are required.
Your website will rank up in search results if you get SEO done right, but that will take time. If you’re a new lawyer and want to get your first customers, you can do it through some marketing channels.
What can you do to maximize results fast?
You can pay your way to the top; there’s no shame in doing so. All types of business entities—large and small—advertise through Google Ads.
The first three to four search results on Google are ads served through Google Ads. These companies compete for potential law firm clients’ attention.
The strategy is straightforward: if you have a successful website that converts visitors into phone calls and digital inquiries for more information, you can benefit from paid ads. For instance, your law firm might invest $1,000 in digital marketing and earn an average of $5,000 worth of engagement. Some legal professionals are even able to generate higher returns!
A $1,000 investment for a $5,000 engagement may seem pricey, but what’s the alternative? Continue getting by on sporadically trickling-down referrals? No. This is the way to grow systematically. Those lawyers that know get it.
Attract more clients and grow your law firm with PPC for lawyers. Learn the strategies now!
Before hiring a good marketing company to run Google Ads for you, make sure to calculate your numbers:
- What my typical client is worth to my firm?
- How much am I willing to invest in getting a new client?
Like an experienced stockbroker, knowing your numbers will help you have a steady hand and make better decisions.
4. Create Remarketing Campaigns to Turn Leads into Customers
Let’s say you’ve done your SEO right, have a Google Ads campaign running, and you’re absolutely crushing it in website traffic.
Some people will reach out immediately, while others may not be ready to converse. Yet. That second group is much larger than the first. How do you ensure you stay top of mind with these people?
Yet Again — Use Infographics
Without going into technical details, remarketing for law firms works like this: after a potential client visits the website, they will start seeing banner ads on other websites reminding them about the website they have visited.
This is enormously important, as the decision to converse with an attorney may take weeks or months. Potential clients may need to interact with your law firm several times before making contact, with each interaction helping to deepen their level of trust or familiarity with your business.
Learn the best law firm marketing ideas to attract more clients and grow your business. Click here to read our blog post!
5. Leverage Legal Directories To Get More Customers
Google itself is a directory of local listings, but it’s one of a hundred. In addition to curating your Google review ratings and keeping your profile up-to-date, there are other directories you should be on, too.
Here are some of the top directories for lawyers:
- Avvo
- Justia
- Lawyers.com
- FindLaw
- HireMeLegal.org
- Nolo
- HG.org
- Jurist.org
- AllLaw.com
- BestLawyers.com
- Lawyers And Settlements
Why Are Legal Directories Beneficial for Lawyers?
The “why” here is important. You should use directories as part of your law firm’s internet marketing for three main reasons.
- Directories rank you higher on Google. Here, Google is constantly crawling the web to figure out which websites serve what purpose. That way, it knows you’re giving users good results when they type queries in. Your directory profiles tell Google what you do and where you do it.
- Directory listings linked to your website boost your search engine visibility. Let’s come back to those Google algorithms again. You want to be findable, and to be findable; you have to be as visible as possible. The more external sites (like directories) you have pointing to yours with data describing what you do, the more visible you’ll be within search terms for your practice areas.
- And people just like directories. Directories provide a great resource to people searching for service because they have lists that are easy to view and reviews and ratings that clients highly value.
Expert tip: If you want to rank higher than your competitors in listings, you can pay directories to do so. For example, when a prospect searches “personal injury lawyer in Chicago,” you can use paid rankings to get more clicks. Be sure to talk to your marketing company about the metrics and costs associated with this strategy.
6. Bring New Clients Into a Law Firm with Social Media Marketing
Some marketing firms make it seem like social media is the best thing since sliced bread, but the truth is that it isn’t likely to produce astounding results for attorneys.
Think about it this way… people use Google when they need something (like legal services), and people use Facebook for entertainment. Professional service providers promote on Google to sell services, and Facebook to… well, branding, to show that they are human, not faceless businesses.
Lawyers should utilize social media marketing for law firms and share insightful blogs and content that helps create an online presence and nudges readers towards their websites as part of an extensive digital marketing strategy.
Seeking effective strategies to acquire clients for your law firm? Check out our comprehensive guide for expert tips.
Get Good Reviews
Consumers trust reviews on Google, TikTok, Yelp, Avvo, and Facebook as much as they trust recommendations from their friends. The more positive reviews your prospects see, the higher the probability clients will retain your services.
Ask your clients to post reviews. Some will, some won’t, but never fail to ask.
To make leaving a review easier, send them a link to the listing where you want them to leave a review (Google, Avvo, Yelp, Facebook, wherever) so they can just click it and post it.
Strangely, Google makes it somewhat complicated to leave a review, so here is the link to the 4-step instruction on how to add a review on Google.
7. Reputation Management Is Key for New Lawyers
Your reviews will inevitably be a mix of both positive and negative responses. Ideally, more positive than negative! Accordingly, it is essential to handle all of the negative reviews appropriately.
Your answers should demonstrate the integrity and reliability of your services and reflect your commitment to providing quality services and addressing customer complaints. Furthermore, negative reviews can be an excellent chance to learn where to improve.
Every response to a negative review should either be an offer of assistance (“Please contact me directly, I want to make things right”) or a refutation if it’s a false statement.
Part of reputation management also comes back to those directories we discussed above. Many of those directories crawl the web to create business listings automatically, so it’s important to “claim” your pages to check details and ensure correct information. This has to be part of your reputation management, so you know where to find any mention of your firm.
There’s a lot more strategy behind this, and knowing what tools to track new reviews is another thing altogether.
Want to boost your business’s credibility? Discover effective strategies for obtaining quality online reviews in our latest blog post.
8. Build a High-Performance Website to Attract Clients
Having a high-performing website is a huge factor that will impact your success. But how is that measured?
A poor-performing website convinces (converts) less than 1% of all visitors to pick up the phone and call. And even if 1 out of every 3 to 4 people you talk to become your clients, that still means only 0.25-0.33% of all the people who visit the website trust you to handle their legal matters.
Now, a high-performing website can convert as many as 10% of visitors into callers. And with the same 1-of-4 closing ratio used above, 2.5% of all website visitors turn into clients.
If you have 500 visitors to your website in a month, that’s 12-13 new clients.
Here’s a checklist of some key factors that determine your website’s success:
- Competitive design. Yes, we judge a book by its cover. What would happen if you showed up to a meeting in a wrinkled suit? Your website has to look good or better than your competitors; otherwise, you may be perceived as a lesser option before they even talk to you.
- Visitors want you to be an expert (their) problem solver. Does your website convince visitors that you can solve their specific problem? Use case studies and/or reviews that speak to your expertise in solving problems like theirs.
- User experience across devices. Was your website designed before 2013? Then it’s not optimized for mobile. With over 50% of searches for attorneys from mobile devices today, an optimized mobile experience is a must.
- Speed. Simply put, a slow-loading site is a bad user experience, and a bad user experience leads to bad (slow) business.
- Prospects want to feel safe when hiring an attorney. Does your website convey an authentic message that is easy to read, understand and relate to? The best way to relate is by providing the information your prospects search for and featuring case studies and reviews.
Here’s How Comrade Grows Lawyer’s Practice
Becoming a successful personal injury attorney is a highly competitive feat in Central LA. With 220 million web pages competing for the best position in a search engine result page, achieving the top ranking is not easy – but rewarding for those who succeed.
Turn your website into a lead-generating machine. Learn the latest personal injury law firm marketing strategies
Why does this matter? Well, remember, 40% of clients find a lawyer on Google. So if you are not active online, you’re missing out on a substantial amount of new business.
For your legal practice to thrive, your website needs to rank highly in organic search results. High visibility is crucial because potential clients may not be interested in your services.
If your objective is to expand your legal practice and help people, obtaining professional marketing assistance is necessary to achieve that goal.
The good news is that Comrade can help.
We specialize in SEO for Personal Injury Lawyers and attorneys in competitive markets to rank for the most coveted keywords.
Skeptical? Take our personal injury law client, The Stracci Law Group, in Indiana. We helped them rank #3 for “DUI attorney.”
client resultsArea: Personal Injury
GEO: Indiana
Current Result: #3 for dui attorney
Here’s What It Comes Down to…
It’s a dog-eat-dog, attorney-eat-attorney world out there. And Madison lawyers who know how to hire the best Madison digital marketing firms and maximize results from law firm marketing and web design get more clients.
Take a look at your goals — and at your marketing vendor. Are they a good fit for you? Are you a good fit for them?
Make sure to hire experts and keep them accountable. Have them report the following metrics to you monthly:
- How many visitors have they brought to your website
- How many of the visitors reached out to you
- What was the average cost of a lead/opportunity (CPL)
… and be sure to tell the marketing firm how many of the people you spoke to have already become or are expected to become your clients. This is how do lawyers find clients.
If the numbers are not where they should be, talk to us. We’ll get you more clients with a plan that considers all parts of digital marketing for law firms.
Comrade is a digital marketing company specializing in law firm website design and digital marketing for lawyers. Read more about our content marketing service for law firms.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Where does your company offer digital marketing services?
Comrade originates in Chicago, but we worked all around the United States. We can help your business grow and increase revenue whenever you are. We have offices across most major cities in the US. For example, we can offer digital marketing services in Orlando or Jacksonville. You can even find our internet marketing experts in Philadelphia! If you want to know more about our Washington D.C. digital marketing agency or find out how exactly we can help you, contact us via the phone or email.
