Marketing for your personal injury law firm can be a little intense, to say the least. Just the cost-per-click for “personal injury lawyer” or “personal injury attorney” can be north of $100 per click, depending on your area. Competition is fierce in this space and every little edge you can gain for your firm is crucial. Our guide below walks you through the five most vital steps you can do to get clients online.
1. Local Citations
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. If you’re a local business that serves a local area, get your local citations in order. We’ve talked about what local citations are in past content, but we’ll give you a five second recap so you don’t have to leave this post.
Local citations are publications of your core business data on the internet, including your NAP: business name, address and phone.
The more accurate citations you have, the better you’ll rank in local search results. Most sites you can list your business on allow you to publish more than just your NAP, such as hours, photos, a link to your website, descriptions, etc. The most important local citation of all is your business profile on Google My Business. Now, if you’re a personal injury law firm, I’m assuming you’ve at least claimed this listing. If not, stop what you’re doing and go do that right now.
Make sure all your local citations are consistent and accurate. If your hours change, you need to make sure you update them on every platform. Industry-specific directories that serve as local citations are even better, and the most authoritative one you have access to is probably your local chamber of commerce website.
Google My Business
Once you’ve created your business profile on Google My Business, the next step is to optimize it for local search rankings. Optimizing your Google My Business page increases your odds of appearing in the Google Map Pack–the three businesses Google highlights when someone searches “personal injury lawyer near me.” You can click the link above to get more detail on how to optimize your GMB, but here are the quick hits:
- Claim it – if you haven’t already.
- Reviews – Make sure clients are leaving Google reviews for your firm and you are responding to them.
- Photos – Photos of your staff and office help your profile stand out and put a face to your business. Aim for more than 10 photos if possible.
- Great business description – Make sure your business description includes the services and areas you serve.
- Regular posting schedule – Having regular posts on your GMB is a great way to signal to Google you are an authority on the personal injury subject.
Local Citation Audit
Look at your local citations regularly and keep them up to date. This is time consuming, we understand. That’s where we come in. We are an extension of your firm and can assist with keeping things up to date and accurate so your firm can excel at what it does best.
2. Content Marketing and SEO
If you’re looking at boosting your personal injury lawyer marketing, content marketing and SEO has to be a big part of this. It’s one of the more time-consuming parts of an effective digital marketing strategy, but it’s essential in such a competitive industry. Remember, every organic click you get can be worth near $100 if done correctly.
Personal Injury Frequently Asked Questions
Chances are, if you find yourself answering the same questions from clients, there are plenty of people googling those common questions. That’s why it’s a good idea to create an FAQ page. Taking this a step further, research and understand what people are searching for, then create blog articles that address their questions and concerns. This kind of content is the most likely to get picked up by search engines and drive people to your website.
Video and YouTube Marketing
Video has taken the Internet by storm in recent years. Given the option of watching a video or reading content, many visitors to your website will watch the video. Yet only 26% of law firms are using video on their websites, according to a recent ABA study on marketing. That means there’s an opportunity to stand out. You don’t have to shoot expensive brand videos to get started with video marketing. Q & A videos (with topics pulled from your FAQ page), can be shot right in your office. Create a YouTube channel for your practice and upload your videos there. This way you can optimize everything from titles to descriptions and tags, unlocking the potential of the 2nd largest search engine on the Internet. Finally, client video testimonials are another good way to boost your credibility on the web.
3. PPC and Google Ads
If you’re looking for a less time-intensive, short-term boost in visitors to your site, a pay-per-click campaign on Google Ads is a must. Setting up a PPC campaign isn’t all that difficult, but understanding how the ever-evolving Google Ads algorithm works, and learning how to measure success can take time and practice. That practice won’t come cheap, so make sure you have a game plan to differentiate yourself and drive conversions. Here are a few things you should doing:
Geotargeting – Make sure your address is accurately tagged (see local citations above) so you show up when people search “personal injury lawyer near me”. Local Services Ads, a relatively new Google Ads feature, takes this a step further by only showing ads to people in your service area, and only charging you if a customer calls you directly through the ad.
Search Intent and Relevancy – Research and understand what people are searching for, how they’re searching for it, and how far along the marketing funnel they are: Are they laying in a hospital bed on a mobile device? Do they need a personal injury lawyer right now? This brings us to the next point…
Prioritize Phone Calls – Set up a call-only campaign for those urgent calls and searches made from mobile devices. Call-only campaigns can be costly, so it’s important to analyze results closely to see if it’s right for you. Make sure you have Google call tracking enabled, so you can feed keyword data, call duration, and other data points back into Google Ads.
Ad Extensions and Landing Pages – Ad extensions and landing pages go hand in hand. Ad Extensions give you more real estate in Google SERPs and create a better web experience, sending people directly where they want to go. The three important Ad Extensions are call extensions, local extensions, and sitelinks. The first two display your phone number and business address. Sitelinks are links to specific pages on your site, known as landing pages. Use sitelinks to increase click-through rates and give prospective clients a targeted landing page experience, directing them to specific practice areas whenever possible. For more on creating a good landing page, see our in-depth article on content marketing.
4. Social Media
A common assumption among personal injury lawyers is that social media is a waste of time. But would you ever hear a lawyer say that word of mouth is a waste of time? Well, they work about the same way. Social media doesn’t skew as young as it used to. Different platforms attract different demographics and age groups. Facebook and LinkedIn are two of the more established platforms where you should definitely have a page for your practice. (Also great places to publish local citations.)
Social media can also be an opportunity to show that your firm is made up of people, with interests and connections in the communities they serve. But you have to understand how the platforms work and how each can be used to grow your online presence. These are our three favorites:
Facebook – a good place to share useful articles as well as any charitable activities you engage in. Facebook also allows you to run ads just like you can on Google and YouTube.
LinkedIn – better for sharing blog posts with colleagues and potential clients on legal matters, establishing yourself as a trusted authority in your areas of expertise.
YouTube – we mentioned YouTube in the section on video content marketing. It’s also a major social platform where you can interact directly with prospective clients.
5. Conversion Rate Optimization
All this marketing is great, but if you’re not converting your visitors into clients, it’s all for naught. Conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total number of visitors and multiplying the result by 100 to get a percentage. If you have a PPC campaign with Google Ads and your site is configured to track events like form fills and calls, this number will be calculated for you, along with how much you paid on average for each conversion. So what can you do to get that percentage as high as possible while keeping the cost down?
Calls to Action
A call to action is exactly what it sounds like. Calls to action should be clear, well-placed, and compelling–at the end of a text ad and, depending on page length, either above the fold or at the bottom of your landing pages and blog articles. We discuss that a bit more in-depth here.
User Experience
Make sure your ads and landing pages are on the same page, so to speak, and that your site is optimized for mobile devices. Consider connecting your website to a CRM, such as Salesforce, to make it easier to track and follow up with prospective clients who filled out your form.
Mobile Optimization
This follows from the above point, but we can’t emphasize it enough. More than 50% of all searches are from a mobile device. The desktop experience is still important, but it’s absolutely essential for a personal injury firm to have a mobile-friendly website.
Final Thoughts
Local citations, content marketing, PPC campaigns, social media, conversion rate optimization–we’ve covered a lot here, and frankly we’re just scratching the surface. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a full-service digital agency specializing in personal injury lawyer marketing that could do all this stuff for me, so I can focus on winning cases for my clients? Glad you asked. We understand the personal injury landscape. We look to the data to create better PPC ads that drive potential customers to beautifully designed landing pages with clear calls to action. The results? Significant bumps in traffic and conversion rates for our clients. Schedule a call today to see how we help you unlock the full potential of your digital presence.