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Lead Magnet Marketing for Lawyers

Every successful marketing strategy begins with capturing leads. Turning leads into clients is the ultimate goal. So how do you capture leads? Lead Magnets Social media posts are not enough to catch the attention of today’s fast-scrolling readers. Lead magnets offer law firms a strategy for capturing the contact information of those interested in learning more about their services. Lead magnets are also referred to as “opt-in” or “freebie” marketing strategies. Think of a lead magnet as something valuable, like an ebook, that your firm can offer in exchange for a qualified lead, an email address, or other useful information. When creating and implementing a lead magnet, there are two goals to keep in mind. The first goal is to obtain contact information from your potential clients ethically. The second is to position your firm as an expert in your field by highlighting your knowledge. Popular lead magnet strategies include: eBooks – content that address FAQ’s, How To’s, etc. Recorded Webinars – pertinent information on a specific topic Checklists – the steps in a process, reminders, etc. eBooks eBooks offer a unique marketing strategy because they don’t seem like marketing tools. In fact, ebooks are a great way to help your audience find you instead of the other way around. Readers who want to access the information your firm is providing will download your ebooks. Things to include in an ebook: relevant and helpful information about a specific topic or area of law testimonials from satisfied clients case studies explanation

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8 Golden Rules of Ethical Lawyer Marketing

There is no arguing that marketing is essential for reaching potential new clients. However, advertising as a lawyer means following the rules or suffering the consequences. From social media to law firm websites, connecting with clients digitally has become the norm for lawyers. No matter what platforms make up your digital marketing strategy, understanding—and following—the lawyer advertising rules and responsibilities is crucial to the success and reputation of your firm. If you work with a marketing firm, be sure they know your profession’s rules and policies on advertising and promoting your legal services. According to the American Bar Association (ABA) Rule 7.2 on Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services, lawyers can communicate their services through any platform, but there are stipulations regarding claims. Rule #1: Avoid using the word ‘expert’ It’s generally against the ABA Rule 7.2 to call yourself an “expert” or “specialist.” Only lawyers who are actually certified as an expert by an ABA-accredited organization can use the term. Instead, try using terms such as experienced, skillful, or seasoned to demonstrate your expertise. Using phrases like “Expert Divorce Lawyer” can be a violation. Rule #2: Refrain from using misleading claims To state the obvious, you never want to communicate an outright lie in your marketing. But, misleading proclamations about you or your services are also a big no-no. Everything you claim, from the results you’ve received to legal fees, should be transparent and accurate. Avoid making any claims or statements that cannot be quantified—for instance, using superlatives such as

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How Client Reviews Will Positively Transform Your Law Practice

Chances are you didn’t have a course in law school about asking for client reviews. However, in today’s world, reviews have become the standard we look to before making any decision. We want to know more about the product or service before committing valuable time and money. Reviews provide insight from a client’s perspective. Ratings signal whether or not your service is worth exploring. When combined, ratings and reviews make up a key component of your Local SEO strategy. What is Local SEO? Local SEO is a marketing tool for optimizing your firm’s digital presence for local searches. Simply put, it’s how clients in your geographic area find your firm. When a client uses Google to search for specific attributes, say a divorce attorney in Boston, Google’s algorithm returns results to meet their needs. If your firm has a solid digital presence and meets a client’s search criteria, you can top the list in the search results. How do reviews and ratings impact Local SEO? Semrush—a marketing insights tool—asked this very question and conducted a study analyzing Local Pack results in Google Maps, Desktop, and Mobile. Here are some of the key takeaways: 91% of people read reviews, and 84% trust them as much as a friend’s recommendation the average number of reviews for a listing had a significantly stronger impact on its performance that average rating affects the placement for the first three positions Google clearly states the three main ranking factors for a Google My Business profile are

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Master Your Google Maps Listing To Get More Leads For Your Firm

Google is synonymous with change, so it should be no surprise that the Google My Business platform is undergoing another transformation. Not to worry, this popular local business management tool has been through many names over the years. What does this mean for your firm? Single business listings are now being encouraged to manage their presence directly on Google Maps. Google My Business will be rebranded as Google Business Profile to support larger businesses with multiple locations. Like before, your Google Maps listing is an essential marketing tool for generating client leads. However, it’s not enough to list your firm. In order to be discovered by new clients and outshine your competition, your listing needs to rank high in the search results. There are several factors in addition to proximity used by Google Maps when ranking business listings. Results are based on relevance, distance, and prominence. Boost Your Relevance You can take several steps to optimize your firm’s listing for a higher ranking among local search results. The more information your listing provides, the better chances it has to rank higher in results. To start, ensure the name and address of your firm is consistent across all digital platforms. Minor variations, such as Main St vs. Main Street, can make a difference. Next, always provide a local telephone number with the area code of your location. If your firm uses call tracking, list your tracked number as your primary business phone number and your main number as your secondary number.

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Start Planning 2022 With The Ultimate Marketing Plan For Lawyers

With the new year fast approaching, the only way to outperform your rivals in 2022 is with an effective marketing strategy. Get a leg up on your competitors and position your firm for success next year by planning now. Follow the strategies below to create your ultimate 2022 marketing plan. Establish Realistic Marketing Goals What is your primary marketing goal for next year? Have you considered how you will achieve this goal? Creating goals is the easy part. Establishing steps to make sure they are realistic, however, is where the work begins. If your ultimate goal is to generate more clients, realistic marketing steps will include: Establishing your firm’s brand Developing your firm’s reputation Highlighting your expertise as an attorney Marketing your firm is always a good investment, even if that means hiring professionals to help you set and achieve your goals to grow your practice. Qualify Potential Clients Stop wasting valuable time. This sounds like a no-brainer, but many attorneys waste too much time on prospects that are never going to become clients. Avoid investing time and resources by qualifying clients prior to a consultation. Create a list of qualifying questions for staff to use prior to scheduling a consultation. These questions should determine the client’s motivation to ensure they are a good fit for your service. A receptionist or paralegal can use the following as examples of screening prompts before connecting a prospect to the attorney: What is the nature of your legal issue? In which town/ city

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Attorney’s Need Reviews Too: Follow These 5 Tips

Client reviews are vital to the success of any business, including your law firm. You’d be hard-pressed to find a prosperous business or law firm that doesn’t have favorable reviews published online. Google loves reviews, consumers love reviews, and you’ll love the business that positive reviews bring to your firm. Online reviews should play a significant role in your internet marketing strategy, and getting reviews is easier than you think! Tip 1: Just Ask There is always some eye-rolling from a few attorneys, but those of you who are hesitant to ask for client reviews are missing out on a great marketing opportunity. Most clients who are happy with your service are more than willing to publish a positive review online. If the attorney is uncomfortable asking their client personally, there are several other ways to ask for reviews that leave the attorney out of the equation. For instance, having an assistant or paralegal ask instead. Simply create a process for requesting reviews with your team. Be sure to convey to clients that you will give them the opportunity to remain anonymous or use an alias when publishing a review for your services. Tip 2: Ask Through Multiple Formats Whether from yourself or a member of your staff, always start with a verbal request. Ask the client directly if they would write a review of your legal services. Once they have confirmed, you and/or your team can follow up with an email including instructions and a link to your review

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Top Three Local Search Ranking Factors For Your Law Firm

Google provides nearby results in places like Maps and Search whenever someone searches for a business or service. Does your firm make the list? If you want to maximize how often users find your law firm in local search results, your Google My Business information must be accurate, complete, and engaging. Start by ensuring your listing provides a physical address and phone number, the correct category for your law firm, and relevant attributes. Next, you’ll need to verify your location. You can find instructions on how to verify your firm in this Google My Business Help article. Your firm will have the option to verify by mail, email, phone, or Search Console. After verifying your firm’s location, you’ll want to make sure your hours are up to date and accurate. Don’t forget to include special hours for holidays and events to let clients know your availability. Always respond to reviews promptly. Reviews are essential in today’s digital age, and by responding to reviews, Google acknowledges and credits your level of engagement. Plus, high-quality reviews from clients can increase your firm’s visibility. Finally, showcase your firm and tell your story through photos. You can add photos directly to your Business Profile. Doing so will help potential clients relate to you and your team. Once you’ve accurately updated your firm’s information, you’re ready to go a little deeper into Google’s local result algorithms. Google’s search algorithm is highly intelligent. Results are provided according to relevance, distance, and prominence. This means firms aren’t

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The Truth About SEO And Marketing Your Law Firm

You won’t read a single marketing article without the mention of ‘keywords’ or ‘search engine optimization’ these days. And for good reason. SEO is crucial to getting ahead of your competition, but there are a few things you need to understand in order to truly master this marketing tactic. Truth #1 SEO is essential to your firm’s marketing success, but that doesn’t mean results are instantaneous. One of the reasons it’s recommended to include paid-per-click advertising and social media ads in your marketing strategy is that using keywords to generate organic search results takes time. Results from SEO efforts depend on several different factors, such as your firm’s website content and technical SEO and obtaining high-quality backlinks to your site. Not only does the content on your site need to be unique, but you also need to post new content to stay relevant. This requires a lot of researching and writing. Additionally, the days of stuffing keywords like ‘family law’ or ‘malpractice suits’ into copy and getting results are over. Keywords need to be thoughtfully incorporated into your content to achieve successful SEO results. Technical SEO refers to the aspects of your site that take place behind the scenes. For example, your site speed, meta descriptions, and the technology driving your website all need to do their part when it comes to driving traffic to your site. These components can be managed and maintained by your site developer or an SEO professional. Finally, backlinking is the slowest component of your

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The Three Pillars of a Balanced Law Firm Marketing Plan

With so many digital marketing strategies out there, it can be challenging to figure out which ones are right for your firm. A balanced marketing plan will incorporate multiple strategies and is necessary for today’s competitive market. Pillar I: Content Marketing When it comes to creating content, think authority and authenticity. Clients want to feel connected to a business before they buy into a service. This is especially true for legal services, where issues often affect clients on a personal level. So what is content marketing? Content marketing covers everything from blogs to social media posts. To get the most out of this strategy, you need to utilize your content to build your brand, engage your prospects and clients, and drive sales. Effective law firm content marketing builds trust and authority in you and your law firm by creating client-centered content that helps your audience solve their problems. This can be accomplished by providing consistent content. Schedule your content a month or more in advance so you can meet your audience’s expectations. Pillar II: Inbound Marketing Inbound marketing is a key content marketing strategy. Simply put, inbound marketing is all about getting found online by sharing valuable content that will help your potential clients solve their problems. The goal of inbound marketing is to form connections with prospects. Tactics such as SEO, PPC, blogging, and social media are used to execute effective inbound marketing plans. The most successful inbound marketing strategies attract, engage, and delight clients. Start by sharing content

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You Didn’t Go to Law School to do Sales and Marketing

When you decided to follow the path to becoming a lawyer, what did you envision as your primary job duties? ‘Sales’ probably wasn’t on the list. However, like a salesperson, being a lawyer involves building relationships, commanding trust, and getting clients to say “yes”. How To Sell Your Legal Expertise Luckily for lawyers, effective sales is about asking questions, not performing a song and dance. Asking the right questions puts you in control of the conversation while showing what a caring lawyer you are. Asking pointed, strategic questions is the best way to influence prospective clients and referral sources. As you are well aware, clients may understand the symptoms of their legal situation but not the cause. Your attorney sales strategy (i.e., asking questions) is how you uncover the cause, which is likely a problem you can help a client solve. While you didn’t go to law school to become a salesperson, you need both marketing and sales to build a successful law practice. While sales is about the questions you ask, marketing is about the message. Sales without marketing is too difficult, and marketing without sales is cost-prohibitive. Now that we’ve discussed the importance of sales for your practice let’s talk about marketing. Marketing Isn’t Advertising Marketing involves everything you and your firm do to tell people about the firm and its practice areas. This involves narrating messages about who you are, what you do, and the unique value your firm delivers. Your marketing messages can be delivered through

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Generate More Traffic, Develop More Leads, And Convert More Paying Clients With Video Marketing – PART II

PART II In Part I of Generate More Traffic, Develop More Leads, And Convert More Paying Clients With Video Marketing, you learned how to identify your audience and create the perfect video script. This article will focus on producing and distributing your video. It’s likely that you don’t consider yourself an expert cameraman or video editor. Few successful video marketers are! You certainly can hire outside help for the production of your video; however, if you are on a tight budget, there is no reason you can’t produce a high-quality marketing video yourself or with the help of your team. Today’s smartphone cameras and webcams provide high-quality results and can sufficiently get the job done. Quality video is important, however potential clients will be more interested in your message and whether they believe you can help them than ultimately the quality of your video. Lights, Camera, Action When creating your marketing video, there are several aspects to consider, starting with the camera. Whether using a high-resolution camera, a smartphone, or a computer webcam, be sure to stabilize the camera while shooting. This may require using a tripod. No one wants to watch a shaky video. Next is lighting. Proper lighting will make all the difference in the overall quality of your video. Make sure the room where you are recording is well lit. Avoid backlighting which will make the subjects in the video appear dark. Sound quality is as equally important as lighting. The shooting location should be free from background

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Generate More Traffic, Develop More Leads, And Convert More Paying Clients With Video Marketing – PART I

PART I So you want to generate more traffic, develop more leads, and convert more paying clients for your law practice, but you don’t know where to start. It’s time to consider video marketing. This one digital marketing strategy ticks all the boxes! Most attorneys misguidedly believe that video marketing is either too difficult or too expensive. Others view this strategy as one that doesn’t fit into their brand. The truth is, video marketing is among the most significant business trends. Marketers who incorporate video into their campaigns experience 34% higher conversion rates (Aberdeen Group). According to Elite Content Marketer, 48% of video marketers found it easier to convince others in the business of its value, and 47% believe it’s become less time-consuming to create video content. The data in support of video marketing are endless. However, the proof is in the pudding, as they say. So let’s get started! Understanding Your Audience As is the case with any marketing strategy, you need to start with your audience. It’s crucial to have a solid understanding of your target audience in order to properly market your legal services to them. If you haven’t already created a “target client profile”, consider the following questions: Where do your clients live? How old are they? What industry do they work in? How much income do they earn? What cultural beliefs and values do they have? Answering these questions will help you determine who your targeted clientele is and how to appeal to them. All

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Increase Your Law Firm’s Visibility With Pay-Per-Click Advertising

As an attorney, competition is steep both on and off the web. Your only way to fight back is through a strong marketing strategy. Your digital marketing efforts will make all the difference when it comes to outshining your competitors. If you’re not utilizing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to compliment your other marketing initiatives, you’re missing a big piece of the online marketing puzzle. Not so long ago, having just a website may have been enough to produce new business. Then the internet became more intelligent, and search engine optimization (SEO) changed everything. With the right SEO, your website competed for placement at the top of search engine results through organic searches. Unfortunately, this too is no longer enough. Great SEO can still help your digital marketing; however, utilizing only SEO means your website is often displayed below the well-known local Map Listings and is pushed even further down the page to make room for the paid advertising (PPC) that typically dominates the top of the page. This means a well-rounded digital marketing strategy utilizing both organic and paid listings is critical to any successful online marketing program. What is PPC advertising? Pay-per-click ads are just that; you pay for these ads per click rather than by how many times they are shown. In order to understand how PPC ads work, you need to understand keywords. Keywords are the specific terms your audience uses to search for you. When terms such as ‘attorney’ are typed into a search engine like Google,

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Optimize Your Law Firm’s Website for Mobile Users in 3 Simple Steps

If your website isn’t optimized for mobile users, you’re at risk of losing potential clients! The everyday web-user is now accessing the internet from a mobile device more frequently than a desktop computer. This means that the majority of Google searches are now performed from cell phones. Have you viewed your site via a mobile device? How does it perform? With Smartphone internet use growing, your law practice website needs to be optimized for mobile users. But, what is mobile optimization, and how can your firm implement this strategy? Simply put, mobile optimization ensures that your website works the way it’s supposed to on mobile devices. Even if you’ve done all the hard work to rank at the top of Google search results, if your site doesn’t load correctly, the user will move down the line to the next option—your competitor. Today’s internet users have developed a higher standard for their viewing experience. Issues like slow load time, menu bar malfunctions, and content that can’t be viewed will cause frustration and ultimately result in lost business. Your website needs to be formatted for content to fit a small screen, be easy to navigate, and load quickly. Your site should provide cell phone users with an option to contact your firm with a single click. Additionally, your content needs to be concise to ensure a speedy experience for users. You can take the following steps to ensure your webpage is user-friendly, allows seamless navigation, and provides users with a positive experience.

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Why Your Law Firm Needs to Make LSA Verified Reviews a Priority

Local Service Ads (LSA) offer a new way to reach potential clients by connecting your firm with people who search for the services you provide. There are many benefits to running LSA, such as pay-per-lead pricing and ranking above ads on search results. However, for your LSA to be seen by your target audience, you need reviews. Seven ranking factors affect the placement and visibility of your LSA. Both your review rating and number of reviews affect your LSA ranking. This means you are more likely to convert leads into clients with higher ratings and more reviews. There are several different ways to get reviews. For starters, those with Google My Business (GMB) listings can link GMB reviews to an LSA account. Clients can also leave reviews directly through the custom URL provided by Google when you set up an LSA. Keep in mind that your firm will need at least one review with a minimum of a 3.0/5.0 average rating for your LSA ad to go live. While ratings can come from your GMB listing, there are several benefits to obtaining reviews directly on your LSA. First, having separate LSA reviews protects your ad if your GMB listing is ever suspended or removed. If your GMB profile is taken down for whatever reason, all of your reviews will be removed as well. If your LSA only has GMB reviews and those reviews no longer exist, this can result in the removal of your LSA. However, having a review directly

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Video Marketing For Attorneys and Law Firms

If you are a sole practitioner or small law firm looking to generate more leads and convert more paying clients, you need to seriously consider adding video to your marketing strategy. Video marketing has become an effective and influential marketing tactic and is a key component to any successful digital marketing program. There are a number of different types of videos that can be useful for marketing your law firm. It’s essential to utilize various techniques to demonstrate not only your firm’s capabilities and your area of expertise but also to convey who you can help and how you can help them. Branded Videos The first step in your video marketing strategy is to create a branded video for your website. When creating your branded video, keep in mind that your audience already has an awareness of a legal issue they are facing and are looking for the best possible solution: you. The video should include: Your value proposition to demonstrate what sets you apart from other attorneys A few behind-the-scenes snapshots of your firm to build audience trust and engagement A snippet about why you started your firm or became an attorney Comments from other key personnel at the firm Promote your brand by placing your branded video front and center on your homepage. You may also include your branded video in social media display ads for targeted geographic reach.   Testimonial and Case Study Videos Clients want to work with someone they view as trustworthy. Prospective clients will

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Promote Your Law Firm With Instagram

You may be wondering if Instagram is the right platform for lawyers, and the answer is a resounding yes! According to SproutSocial insights, 71% of Instagram users are under the age of 35, and 37% of the users earn more than $70,000 a year. Additionally, an estimated 71% of U.S. businesses are on Instagram. So while Instagram may seem like an unlikely tool for your law firm, it’s a great way to reach new clients and show them who you are. In today’s social-media-driven world, many prospective clients want to interact with companies before calling on their services. Clients want first-hand knowledge of what you’re like, how you work, and what services you have to offer. A Few Things You Should Know First, the time it takes to manage an Instagram account is minimal compared to other marketing strategies. Post a few times a week to keep your profile current. Second, lawyers haven’t yet dominated Instagram, which means it’s easy to stand out in your area. Tips For Getting Started For starters, you’ll need to create your Instagram profile. The look and feel of your Instagram business account should immediately grab the attention of your clients and followers. Your profile image should be a business headshot or your firm’s logo. Make sure you complete every aspect of your profile, including a short, but interesting biography, and provide a link to your website. In the public business information section, you can add or edit your law firm’s contact details. A contact

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How To Optimize Your Law Firm Marketing For Mobile Users

Did you know that just over half of all web traffic comes from mobile phones? If your site isn’t optimized for mobile users, 50% of your potential clients won’t even consider your services. Let’s fix that! What is mobile optimization? Mobile optimization is the process of altering your website content for easy viewing on mobile devices. For example, making sure your content adjusts to fit on smaller screens. Changes you make for mobile viewing won’t be reflected on the desktop version of your site. The goal of mobile optimization is to create a consistent user experience. The following steps will help you do just that! Step 1: Testing Your Site Before taking any action, you need to know how your site currently functions on mobile devices. There are two ways to test this. First, using all your different devices, pull up your website to see for yourself how well the design works on a smaller screen. For a deeper analysis of how your site functions on mobile devices, you can use Google’s free testing tool: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly. Simply type in your site URL and select ‘Run Test’ to generate a report. Step 2: Use a Responsive Theme Many website themes come preloaded with tools to optimize your site for mobile users. Look for themes that are ‘responsive.’ This means that regardless of what device, browser, and screen size it’s viewed on, your site’s design will be delivered properly. Step 3: Check Your Site’s Loading Times You have mere seconds to make

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Lawyers and Law Firms on Instagram? You bet!

The way you market yourself and your firm has changed drastically over the years. The days of all professionalism all the time are over. Clients today want to see a more personal side of attorneys. This can be easily accomplished by building a network of followers on Instagram. At the end of the day, you want to be where your potential clients are. Instagram is an often-overlooked platform, yet, over half of the top 20 law firms in the US use Instagram to promote their firm and connect with clients. Coming in behind YouTube and Facebook, Instagram is the third most popular social network among adults. Over 200 million Instagram users view at least one business profile daily, making this social media platform ideal for marketing your firm. Instagram can be used to build firm awareness within your local community through posts, Stories, and long-form video called IGTV. Instagram also allows you to utilize a small advertising budget to achieve a significant result by targeting potential clients who recently searched for legal services. Getting Started To get started, you need to make an account and download the Instagram app to your mobile device. You can create a new account using your Facebook account, phone number, or email address. Using your firm’s name and contact information will help clients find you as you build your Instagram following. Be sure to match your username to your other social media networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. New profiles are created as personal

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Lawyers Get Qualified Leads With Google’s Local Service Ads

How would you like your law firm to rank above organic results, pay-per-click ads, and Google My Business listings? It’s possible with Google Local Services Ads (LSAs). Signing up for this new service for attorneys will certainly provide a marketing advantage, but of course it comes at a hefty cost. With LSAs, your sponsored picture ad appears at the very top of Google’s search page and prospective clients are directed to a Google landing page with your firm’s contact information, professional credentials, reviews, and other promotional facts about your legal services. One of the best features of LSAs is the Pay-Per-Lead pricing, which means you only pay for qualified leads. The prospective client must be from your predefined geographic region and practice area. The only way for a prospective client to connect is through a call tracking number which records the phone conversation. You may dispute duplicate leads, or those that do not match your qualification criteria. Let’s dig a little deeper into the benefits of Google LSAs. SERP Lowdown SERP is a search engine results page that appears in search engines, such as Google. As previously mentioned, LSAs show up as a strip of three ads at the very top of the SERP. This will maximize your firm’s online visibility for targeted practice areas, which will translate into more leads for your firm. It’s no secret that most users never go beyond the first search result page. If your firm takes advantage of LSAs, and appears in the maps

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