Ever feel nostalgic for the good old days of law firm marketing SEO? We do. Those were the days when all you had to do was build a website, add some pictures and pages of relevant content, and if you were really an adventurous type, add a lawyer video. That put you head and shoulders ahead of your peers in estate planning and Elder Law. Those days are long gone. To succeed in local search today, law firms have to be more actively engaged with search engine marketing in general and local search in particular. The bare minimum just isn’t enough anymore.
Put the “local” back in local search. At IMS we make sure that your site is optimized both in terms of organic content and NAP (name, address and phone number). But you’ll need to make sure that NAP information for your firm is correct, and most importantly, consistent, in other sites.
One vulnerable spot: when the firm changes its name or moves. If your firm has undergone either of these changes since its first website went live, conduct a thorough search of the web to ensure that old information is gone and new information is consistent.
Directories and local listings matter more for local search. Think of the websites you go to on a regular basis: Facebook, Linked In, Google Maps, Yelp and others like them. Do an audit for your firm and find out where it appears and whether or not all of the information is correct.
Use your law firm’s website in all communications, from individual emails to eNewsletters, and digital outreach to clients and colleagues. The more opportunities you provide for people to click on a link to your website, the better.
Remember that successful marketing, digital and traditional, requires multiple touches. One email blast isn’t going to get the job done. That’s why strategic planning creates a long-term approach. Right now you should be starting the second quarter of your marketing plan, and have taken the time to look back at the first quarter data to see what worked and what didn’t. You should also be looking at year-over-year data to see how your first quarters did over the last three to five years. Data is a marketing strategies’ best friend.
Talk with us about a link strategy. Links can be powerful, but they must be authentic. Linking was once the purview of “black hat” SEO hackers, and Google is well-equipped to combat link campaigns it finds suspicious. Real links that connect you with other sites that have good authority should be a part of your digital strategy. An example of a good strategy: publishing an article or a guest blog on a related website.