First Steps to Building a Strong Online Presence for Your Law Firm

For your law firm to grow and thrive, clients need to be able to find you. At one time, that meant simply listing your firm in the phone book and possibly even paying for an ad. However, the Internet has changed the way consumers look for information. With so much competition for online search rankings, it’s important that firms find a way to stand out.

Today’s businesses use social media and online content to capture the attention of search algorithms. Here are a few things you can do to make sure customers searching for an attorney can find you.

Think Local

According to Google, local searches are growing 50 percent faster than mobile searches as customers use a variety of devices to find information relevant to them. This is especially important for law firms, which often spend the vast majority of their time catering to a local clientele. To reach out to someone nearby who has recently been involved in an injury-related car accident, for instance, a firm will need to be recognized as being local to that customer, as well as handling personal injury cases.

One of the most important things you can do is to set up your Google My Business profile, which will provide an overview of your information during searches, and show your business information in the map:

This will also put you on Google’s map, another feature that will help local customers find you. You should make sure your page has the name, address, and phone number for each of your firm’s offices. If you cover a specific area of town that might be called up in Google searches, be sure to mention that somewhere in your content. Your “About Us” page could specify that you “serve the areas of” and list various communities nearby by the name locals call it rather than the city names the postal service uses.

Set Up Social

It’s important to know the difference between various social media platforms and which ones are most likely to attract your target customers. For many law firms, Facebook is the ideal place to reach out to local customers, since so many adult consumers focus the majority of their social media time on that platform. Start by setting up a page and ensuring it has all of the information customers need to contact you.

Invite your own clients and colleagues to like your page and consider boosting a few posts to expand your reach in the first few months.

Once your page has established followers, regularly post and interact with those who comment. Your followers will begin to see your page as a place where they can get useful tips and advice. Join local community groups and chime in when someone has a legal-related question. Soon you’ll find that local people recognize you as a vital part of the community. Try to avoid constantly requesting that people contact you for more information on their cases, since this will be seen as self-serving and spammy.

Establish Thought Leadership

Law firms are in the enviable position of having information consumers want. This gives them an edge online, since their advice can dominate search rankings. If you haven’t already, set up a blog on your firm’s website where you regularly cover topics of interest to potential clients. Link those posts on your various social media feeds to create content that your followers will find useful. In addition, regularly link other insightful articles related to your specialty area. This will give your followers a reason to keep coming back, especially if the content can help them with their own legal battles.

Guest blogging is a great way to boost your online presence. Search for posting opportunities that allow you to link to your own law firm within the content, even if it’s only in your bio. Google rewards sites that are linked on external sites, so the end result will be an improved search ranking. You’ll also be introduced to the audience for the blog where you’re posting, increasing recognition of you as an authority in your field.

By building a strong online presence, your law firm can ensure that when nearby customers seek legal representation, your firm will be among the first they find. The key is to maintain active social media pages while also working on ways to remain prominent in search rankings. Use analytics to regularly evaluate results and determine which efforts are working to avoid wasting time.