How to Help a Lawyer Get More Clients Online

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29
Howdy,

I have a workers compensation lawyer client. I did his website and now doing his SEO.
Trouble is, for our location, there is only maybe 100 searches a month for his type of service. And he is on page 1 of Google for all his main search terms.

I think he is thinking about cutting me loose from my monthly SEO retainer
and that would cripple my business as I only have 4 paying clients including the lawyer.
He is talking to the Berry company (yellow pages) about having them do the Internet marketing.

So what can I do to help this guy out? He needs more traffic and clients.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Will
#offline marketing #clients #internet marketing #lawyer #online
  • I would drive traffic using Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media Sites.
    Rank him on Google Places/Local
    Have him create Articles, Videos, Blogs and Press Releases
    Maybe some paid Facebook Ads or Google Adwords, MSN Network?
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  • Is he ranking page on for Google Plus Local? Just having a website on page 1 doesn't mean much anymore.

    If there aren't many searches on Google each month, he won't see much action on Yellowpages. What a rip off. Google + Local is where the calls are. If you're going to do local SEO, G+ Local is not an option, it's a must have.

    I will say something else... in my humble opinion, unless you own the site, counting on a monthly seo retainer is risky. There's nothing wrong with doing monthly seo on a site you don't own, but for a low-comp situation like this (it seems) he can let you go and still maintain rankings and still collect the leads. In the future, I would recommend you not count on the indefinite retainer, and if you want it, work out some sort of rental model. Some clients like this, as they don't have to invest thousands in a website, but instead, pay you a small retainer each month to rent the space you have.

    Anyway, that doesn't help you now, does it?

    Sorry, but if G+ Local isn't working for him, then I'm fresh out of ideas. He's a workers comp lawyer, not a chiropractor or something, so his services are a one-off kinda thing... you could see if he would want to do video marketing. I've seen personal injury attorneys with some snazzy video testimonials from clients and I'd imagine those would get a lot of calls if you could rank them online.

    They'd have to be good videos, though, not Animoto stuff. You could probably find a university film student to do it for a song.
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  • Ok 1 site on page 1, great start, you could also go to rank a video on page 1, a lead gen site on page 1, don't just stand there waiting for this to be taken from you. Looks like you got some more work ahead of you.
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    • Will, I think you have a challenge.

      I just got off the phone with a workers compensation attorney I've been working with in the Puget Sound. Same deal. I have him at the top of Serps for 5 or 6 key terms in the niche and it still produces very little traffic. And he hasn't differentiated himself well, so he's not getting a lot of calls.

      Ironically, he'd just gotten a call off the internet before I called him.

      Here's what we are doing- work from the inside out - from the firm to the product to the message to the channel.

      In other words, don't rely on boilerplate. If there are few searches, people can't get to his site and see - "an injury on the job can create real problems for you and your family, and wc cases are complex and difficult. you need an attorney who has experience...blah, blah, snore".

      I'd go back and ask him what's different about him? What does he have that people will sorely regret missing if they click away.

      I have a couple of attorneys that have told me the faucet got turned on when their site went up. What they have in common is that
      1. they can make strong claims to deliver results
      2. they have proof they can list that they deliver results
      3. they have reasons (a process, precedent they've set, a history of trying cases they can point to) to support why they deliver results consistently.

      The copy I have for these guys is hard hitting
      "We get such good results, so consistently, the cruise lines make us sign agreements not to disclose the sums our clients receive." followed by a list of major cases we've won.

      "Mr. Wallstrom has recovered settlements for his clients in over ninety-six percent of the cases he's handled. And he doesn't win because he takes easy cases. In fact, Mr. Wallstrom has a history of winning the most challenging cases. He wins cases that have been turned down by other attorneys. He wins cases other attorneys have already lost. He gets money when the insurance company offers nothing. He's even won after the Federal Court ruled that his client could not bring a case." Followed by descriptions of cases he's won and how he has a strict process that guarantees he wins.

      So if you have few visits, the case has to be really strong. The people who come have to feel they can't leave or they leave their best chance of winning.

      In my experience, you have to dig to get this kind of copy out of attorneys. Many are very self-effacing or they don't know why they win. We have a process for getting to that kind of copy, let me know if you want it.

      Good luck! You're doing a good thing!
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  • Are you doing PPC and mediabuys? i would not get when my hopes high with social media, just think about it you need a lawyer would you to to facebook of twitter to find you one?
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    • Sure, only thinking of LinkedIn for a lawyer. There are lawyer groups there.

      Thanks,

      Will
  • I'll suggest if you do business listing or local listing. Why it's effective? People search this way, "Legal Attorney in Arizona". So if you're business is already listed and claimed on Google, Yahoo and Bing there's a big chance to have more clients locally.
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  • how about create an authority site/blog for more lead generation? That way if he goes wobbly you can sell leads to his competition. That'll give him a new reason to pay you, just to keep you from helping his competition. Gives you more control.
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  • I've done marketing and copywriting for lawyers before and had to think up lead gen for their business. There's always details that will go into what kind of copy resonates with their target audience (for example, family lawyer vs. personal injury lawyer), but off the top of my head here are some quick and dirty ideas:

    1. PPC
    2. Landing pages
    3. Adding additional pages of copy to his site
    4. Changing the copy on his site to engage the visitor better
    5. Identify the lowest performing pages and improve them with better calls to action

    Again, just some general ideas to get your mind thinking.
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  • Shocking truth: sometimes internet marketing doesn't work. You can have all the social media profiles and SEO the crap out of his site and have 592 videos all pointing back to his website and grab all the keywords related to workers comp...and the clients won't come. If there's hardly anyone searching then it doesn't really matter what you do online.

    And this guy - if he's talking to Berry Co about his internet marketing, he obviously thinks there's something that you're not doing. So you need to find out what that is. Maybe it's videos, or social media, or whatever. It sounds like this guy isn't doing any other advertising, like direct mail, partnerships with other businesses, radio, etc. In other words it sounds like he's put all his advertising eggs into your basket, which is a dangerous thing to do for any company. And, since he's not seeing much new business, he's going to take his basket and give it all to the yellow pages - with similar results.

    I mean in the end it sounds like this guy is just a victim of his own carelessness, and not the kind of client you want. If I were you I would try and get him to stay on board one more month and then spend that month booking new clients as fast as you can. Don't be a victim yourself. Don't leave your income to chance by having X number of clients and living in the fear of them dropping you every month.
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  • My suggestion would try the following:

    1. Get him going on Google Adwords & Microsoft AdCenter. In smaller towns, they're more likely to click on the PPC ads because they're not as web savvy. Even in LA, I have a lawyer client getting a town of calls just from her PPC ads.

    2. Media Buys - just use Google Display Network, along with retargeting. Don't target keywords like "Worker's Comp". Target a radius, like 5 miles around his address. Then his Ad will be seen by everyone in the community (that's called saturation).

    3. Lastly, this is for all the non-web peeps: EDDM - https://eddm.usps.com/eddm/ . Do a direct postcard piece to say 4-5000 residents in a certain zip code.

    At least... that's what I would do.

    PS - this is a good reason to have call tracking for clients. I've had to reprimand my clients because they were screwing over deals either by how the receptionist was taking the calls, how they were talking prospects or plainly just basically giving them every reason to not work with them.
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  • Maybe online isn't where he should be focusing.

    If he was my client, I'd be instructing him get to know heads of labor unions and trade associations.

    Union reps are going to know who is having trouble and who's been fired wrongly, and if you befriend these people, your lawyer client could become the "Official" worker's comp. lawyer for the union or association.
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  • Hi Will!

    QUICK!

    Rank him with videos! Drop his phone number or website in the title of the video, create the video, and dominate multiple keywords for his lawyer-ish subject.

    Do it, and then tell him you usually charge an extra $200 a month for this, but since he is your number one client, you have done this blast free of charge.

    It is a very quick thing you can do, very effective, and VERY impressive.

    The best part? A video result will draw more clients into see him over anyone else.

    Do not wait, do it today!

    Andrew
  • hi welcome to this site its my saying to use Google for a inter net and find all web pages
    thanks
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    give detail information about laywer on his website.write an article on this website so that client can get proper information about him.you can use different social media network for advertising.
  • Stop! Calm yourself. Now think. Last time you needed a lawyer how did you find him?

    Let me tell you how first my mom found her lawyers and then how I found the one I used.

    My moms first lawyer when I was a teen was actually a new lawyer. He had went to the college where my grandmother worked and had worked for her in the bulk mailing room. So my grandmother refered my mom to her because she knew him and trusted him and because she knew he would be affordable since he just started.

    My moms second lawyer was a referal from her first lawyer. He was better at the type of trial she had that time.

    My mom's current divorce lawyer? Yep once again her first lawyer referred him.

    My custody lawyer? My caseworker referred me to him.

    Notice a pattern?

    Now stop and think. Hell stop and ask people you know how did they find their lawyer. I'm not sure 1 out of 100 would say online. That is not to say online should be ignored. It should be part of an overall branding.

    If a lawyer has built a brand he will get customers multiple ways.

    1. Those who when they need a lawyer automatically think of him.
    2. Those who when asked for referrals for a lawyer suggest him even though they have never used him. "Why not call Jack Swatz. Everyone knows he is a great lawyer."
    3. Those who start searching for a lawyer and keep seeing his name. They look online and see him. They drive to work and see his billboard. They are watching TV and see him.

    Now I am sure someone could brand themselves completely online. Viral videos, social media and etc.

    Remember the terms you are talking about have just 100 searches a month.
    1. How many are potential clients?
    2. How many are Web Marketers like yourself?
    3. How many are other lawyer's checking out the compeitition?
    4. How many are paralegals or law students looking for firms?
    5. How many are reports researching a story?
    6. How many are clients of a firm who can only find the firm's address via google(yes these people exist).

    etc etc

    Just stop and think how many of those 100 really are not even potential clients.

    Thoughts like these are why I never get why people promote lawyers and such great clients. Web marketing and much of what you see consultants talk about here isn't a great value for them. Sure they need websites and such and the basics but I always hear people talk about how they are such high dollar clients. And I am sure that is true of the bigger firms but it seems that people here target the small one lawyer operations. And trust me if you are doing offline marketing successfully you make more than those lawyers do.

    You have to remember this when it comes to lawyers.
    1. Their billable hours will always be less than they work.
    2. They have expenses for offices, paralegals, and etc.
    3. They often do not get fully paid. This is why retainers keep going up in price. So they have to put some accounts into various piles of bad debt.
  • Hey just to ask are you using keywords that show commercial intention eg

    Legal services manhattan
    Divorce lawyer in london
    defence solicitors in Boston


    you get what I mean those type of keywords are the keywords that show the searchers are actually looking for some1 to hire.

    whereas keywords like 'solicitor' 'lawyers' are just generic words that only wikipedia should target.
  • I suggest that you can submit the site on classified posting sites, social bookmarking sites and also make a facebook marketing.
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  • I have a lot of respect for Mr. Doud, has read many of his posts, but I completely disagree with everything he said. I know people who search online for a lawyer, I myself would find one in this way, and I judge people I find online based on their presence and how their brand looks online, is it pretty, does it look like they respect their business to make it look the way they see fit online, if yes I consider at least calling to see their quote.
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  • I would go social & buy out some local ad space on blogs etc.

    WILL-
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