Law firms have been adopting digital marketing at an increasing rate in recent years, making the legal industry more competitive than ever. While online marketing has allowed countless practices to expand their reach to potential clients, many legal offices—particularly smaller firms and solo practices—have been slower in joining the trend because they typically do not have the infrastructure and resources available to take full advantage of it.
This fact has led to a boom in independent search engine optimization businesses that contract with law firms to handle a wide range of tasks associated with digital marketing, including content development, link building, website design, paid advertising, social media management, and other duties.
Many of these SEO companies have had a positive impact on law firms, consistently delivering high returns on investments that have earned them a sterling reputation in the marketplace. Far more, however, fail to fulfill their promises of helping a practice get more clients, and they end up hurting firms with already limited budgets more than they help them.
Almost every law firm with a website has fielded a sales call from an SEO company offering its services. These vendors usually pitch how they can assist a firm in generating more organic visibility on search engine results pages, but without in-depth knowledge of digital marketing, a firm may not even know what it should be looking for in an SEO vendor.
Many SEO vendors can cherry-pick data that sound appealing to a practice but are ultimately unhelpful or ineffective. The following are just some examples of how an SEO can mislead you:
These smoke-and-mirrors tactics lead many firms to paying for a service that will have no effect on bringing in new clients but only drive up the cost of client acquisition.
Finding the right SEO vendor for your firm can be an exhausting and even frustrating process. This is why it’s important to find one with a proven record of success with firms similar to yours.
At Client Chat Live, we have seen the good and the bad in the SEO marketplace over the years, and the following are four of the top SEO vendors you should consider to help your practice enter the digital marketing space.
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Headquartered in Nashville, Digital Law Marketing offers a number of SEO services, including content marketing, web design and development, social media management, and much more, with an overall focus on driving website conversions through a combination of engaging content and scientific data.
When we asked the company’s CEO and co-founder, Mike Edwards, what law firms should look for in an SEO vendor, he advised:
It’s important to hire an agency that gives you exclusivity in your marketplace, as well as tracks your campaign performance through analytics.
Visit the company online to see examples of its work and read testimonials from past clients on how the business benefited their law firm.
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This Idaho-based company works with legal practices across the United States. With a small but top-notch team of some 20 marketers, Nifty Law prides itself on the individualized attention it gives to each of its customers. Whether your firm is looking for a vendor to handle web design, content strategy, paid advertising, online reputation management, or a combination of all such services, Nifty Law has you covered.
When we asked Dax Greener, managing director at Nifty Law, what he believes sets the company apart from the competition, he told us:
A lot of agencies build packaged plans that don’t take into consideration the market conditions–basically, an automated system. We have seen this approach lead firms down a path that doesn’t get them the results they are looking for and forces them to use out-of-date tactics. We deal with a lot of broken relationships and have to heal a lot of broken hearts because of this. In today’s market, you need a custom approach where your
marketing strategy is agile [and] ROI-focused and dials in on the right [key performance indicators]–ones that are pertinent to your success.
Check out the company’s portfolio and read more about what you can expect from its client-focused approach to SEO.
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Since its inception in 2014, MileMark Media has earned a reputation in the legal industry for its tailored approach to digital marketing. The company has the resources and industry knowledge to manage all aspects of a firm’s online presence, from social media strategy and paid search advertising to domain hosting and web design.
MMM has developed more than 5,000 legal websites and has received rave reviews from small practices and large firms alike for its custom-built, unique designs.
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With nearly two decades of experience in serving law firms, Consultwebs keenly understands how the industry has changed with technology over the years and what a firm now needs to remain competitive in the growing field.
We spoke with Tanner Jones, vice president of business development at Consultwebs, on the role an SEO should play in the digital marketing strategy of a law firm, and he said:
A quality search marketing provider today should be seen as an extension of your law firm. They should not be viewed as a vendor to which you stroke a check each month. Your potential clients are using the web every single day to find local businesses, and the web has potential to be one of your hardest working representatives at your firm in terms of driving new clients.
A credible search marketing agency will have a full team of professionals with specialty individual focus areas, including content, link earning and outreach, local optimization, paid advertising, social media, and on-site SEO, all with a singular focus on growing your case load. The web is evolving and is more complex than ever before. Having an agency that is proven in your practice area and similar competitive market areas should be a must in your search for a proven search marketing provider.
Check out “How to Decide the Best SEO Company for Your Law Firm” in one of our Attorney Chalk Talk videos.
This agency has handled digital marketing for a host of practices across the U.S., Canada, and Australia, as well as for a number of regional and national legal organizations. The recipient of a slate of industry awards and a high client satisfaction rating, the company has established itself as an international leader in the legal marketing field.
At Client Chat Live, we provide live operators ready to chat with your website visitors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Trusted by hundreds of law firms and other businesses across the nation, our service delivers a slate of options for customization and branding as well as monthly reports and analytics to help your business increase client acquisition. Call (808) 495-0231 or email us today to get started with a free quote.
