Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing Trends For 2021
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Running a law practice comes with its own fair share of pitfalls, risks, and problems, especially in this day and age of online searches. Any law firm would want its phones to ring off the hook and enjoy a consistent flow of legitimate clients.
But, how can all that be achieved in a cost-efficient and ethical manner while overcoming the various challenges that come with operating in a digital business landscape? Well, one way would be to leverage SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
However, SEO for law firms has always been a complex topic. Often, such firms find their efforts going to waste. Well, in this blog, we’re going to look at how law firms should ideally utilize SEO. After all, SEO is more than just keyword research and implementation.
Let’s take a look at some of the “less known” strategies that law firms should make use of to boost their leads.
Video marketing
Video marketing is one of the best ways to boost your website’s rankings on Google search. However, many law firms still fail at it. Well, this is primarily because these firms are unaware of how to link video portals like YouTube to their website.
It is never enough just to put up a video and hope that things will work out.
One of the most basic things that law firms need to do is include the link to the site on their uploaded videos. Any link from a popular video sharing portal like YouTube is highly valuable. Now, you may argue that users don’t follow YouTube links. However, the key goal of SEO is traffic; not purely rankings.
So, connect your website to your video channel. Make sure you link pages that are relevant to the content of the video. These links will drive traffic to your site, which will eventually boost your rankings.
Use long-form content as the primary content
Statistics tell us that long-form content (1000 words or more) tend to do better with regard to search rankings. Of course, creating long-form content can be quite difficult. However, the results it can deliver is worth the effort.
Long form content plays a very significant role in the area of SEO. Content that offers in-depth coverage of certain topics, especially legal topics, tend to enjoy higher engagement. More importantly, they position your agency or firm as an expert on the topic being discussed.
Discuss primary practice areas
Search engines, such as Google, do factor in aspects such as ‘focus’ in order to rank sites. What that means is you need to be clear about what your law firm is all about, if you want to see a good ranking. So, make sure you offer brief or detailed information about your core practice areas.
When you do this, you make it possible for Google’s search algorithms to determine the focus of your site and rank it appropriately.
On the other hand, if you fail to discuss your core areas of practice, Google will ignore that content and rank it much lower.
Now, one way to make sure your core content remains noticeable is by positioning it strategically. Make sure core practice information goes to the front and center of your homepage. When visitors see this, they’ll immediately know what you specialize in.
Also, when listing your services, make sure you list each practice separately, instead of clubbing it all under a single category. However, it’s okay to club your secondary or tertiary practice areas.
Leverage the power of social media
Social media has a huge impact on your search rankings. For instance, using hashtags that are relevant to your strategy can help clients find you in a much easier manner. You can also use photos to present yourself as an approachable practice. Photos on social media are a sure-shot way to boost your engagement and generate traffic.
Limit your use of keywords
There’s such a thing as overusing your keywords. It’s more popularly referred to as “keyword stuffing.” As we stated earlier, SEO is much more than just using keywords. So, don’t make the assumption that keywords are everything. There is a strategic way to leverage keywords.
To begin with, the keyword must fit into your content naturally. Stuffing it out of context isn’t going to help you. You’ll end up with low-quality content, and that’s a bad thing in terms of search rankings. There must be a certain amount of relevance to your chosen keywords.
Secondly, make sure your keywords are placed where they’re most effective. Generally, apart from the body of the content, keywords need to go into your title tags and your meta-descriptions. Other than that, you can use what’s known as an “alt tag.”
Alt tags are basically text alternatives to the images you use on the site. These alt tags are read by screen readers to determine what kind of pictures will show up along with the content. Alt tags are a great way to incorporate keywords into your content while avoiding “keyword stuffing.” But, alt tags also need to be used in moderation.
Conduct an SEO audit
Finally, make sure you conduct an SEO audit. An SEO audit a core part of your overall SEO strategy because it’s basically aimed at fine-tuning your strategy. It helps you identify problem areas and correct them. Statistically, it is possible to bring up your website traffic rate by almost 200% with just a simple audit.
You can use tools such as a web ranking software to measure your progress as well. The advantage with these tools is that they can offer insights on what’s effective and what’s not. A good example of such a solution is Google Webmaster Tools or Google Analytics. You can also use the Google AdWords Preview Tool for manual tracking and observe listing according to regions.
