attorney marketing

Facebook Ads vs. Adwords: What’s the Best Value for Lawyers?

This is a good question. There are times when you want to leave a friend or family member a review. Someone like Steve Hernandez, a DUI lawyer may not get as many reviews as another type of attorney. Not many people want to get online and say, Steve Hernandez sure helped me when I got caught by a DUI stop last month. That is just not the kind of thing people want to post. But, I would have no trouble posting, “If I was in New Jersey, I would call Steve Hernandez if I got a DUI. He knows the law. He is knowledgeable, and he cares about his clients.” None of those things are not true. It would be the same with a criminal defense attorney. Google would not look kindly on people posting a fake review, but there are real ways to recommend an attorney without saying he represented you. You can leave character reviews. “I have known Bob Smith for 10-years. He is honest, and an asset to his community. I have recommended him to several friends Atlanta and they have all been happy with his service.”

It is a good idea to get character reviews until you can get client reviews. It is not important that they come from members of your friends and families. Some attorneys trade reviews with other attorneys until they get their practice rolling. Just remember to keep it honest and you will be okay.

Your Clients

When your clients begin coming in, it is even more important to get them to leave you a review. Even if it is just a first name and no details. Offer them a gift card to Starbucks or something and pull up the site so they can do it in your office. It is a small incentive for a much-needed review. The number of reviews you have matters a lot. Some people do not even read the reviews, they just glance at the numbers, so a nice cup of coffee is a small price to pay.

Recently I was asked by a personal injury attorney how he can weed out “tire kickers” from his law firm. That is to say, how to weed out a potential client from someone who just wants free advice. Most attorneys will tell you that this happens, all the time. However, it is strange that they are doing that to a personal injury attorney. In a personal injury case, everything is free to a client. You pretty much want everyone that is injured on any level. You can’t say, I only want clients that are seriously injured. Please contact me if you have back injuries, head trauma, whiplash, or if you are left with injuries that have changed your quality of life. Of course not. You are going to represent any victim, no matter what the injury is. Since there is no charge for your consultation, these potential clients are probably not tire-kickers. There are exceptions. If a potential client has injuries that are so minor that it would be impossible to prove they were hurt, and if that slight injury should in no way affect their lives they probably are“tire-kickers” and they are shopping for an attorney that will take his case.

So, when it comes to a personal injury lawyer, I cannot answer this question for you. “How do you get rid of the people who only want free advice in personal injury?” When it comes to a criminal defense lawyer, a divorce lawyer, family law, or bankruptcy attorneys that tell you, I only want free advice, they want advice that will get them to the desired outcome. What they are asking you is if you can get them to their goal.

What Do They Want To Know?

So, maybe you are a divorce lawyer or a family law attorney. The potential client asks: “How do I make sure that I am getting the right amount of child support?” They may ask “What do I do if my ex won’t pay his or her child support?  I don’t have the money to pay a lawyer, so what can I do?” The first thing you are going to do is show them the value of your fee versus how much they stand to lose and how much it will actually cost them if they do not have an attorney and if they try to do this alone. I am sure you have a lot of stories you can fall back on but here is an example.

Time To Do The Math

Tell the potential client something along these lines, “I understand what you are saying. My fees for doing something like this run about $4,000. But, considering that you have a 4-year-old son and you are going to be getting child support for the next 14-years. You are trying to fight this on your own. A little free advice is not going to be much help to you. Let’s say on your own, you missed out on $500 per month. That is $500 per month for 14-years! That is over $80,000 that you were entitled to. That is money to raise your child and give him the things he needs to prepare for adulthood. You missed out because you tried to do it by yourself, with some free advice.

This is the approach you need to take. Nobody really expects an attorney to work for free. Just because someone says they do not have any money doesn’t always mean that they don’t have any money. Sometimes it means they do not want to spend any money. People rarely call on an attorney for a good thing. When something goes bad, they run for the phone. People assume that lawyer’s fees are more than they can afford without even asking. You have to remember, people without money in their bank accounts have access to money. They have credit cards, they can get loans (even payday loans) they have ways to get money. People find money for vacations, cars, clothes, and going to the movies. If they apply their tactics they can afford legal fees in order to secure a better future.

Recently I Did A Podcast And I Was On The Phone With A Family Law Attorney. He Had To Take Another Call And He Put The Phone Hearing It In Action

down that we had been speaking on. I was able to hear what he was saying and it fits right in with this post. He said, “Well, we are out of money in your retainer and this case is going to continue going on and you need to go out to your mailbox and start filling out those pre-approved credit card offers because you need to. This case is not over and you need to find the money so that they can achieve whatever outcome they want.”

I talked to him a few days later and that person had come in with a credit card. They filled out the pre-approved credit card. Don’t listen when they say they have no money. Remind them of what it would cost not to hire an attorney.

Find It Now

No matter what kind of law you practice, you have to prove to your client that now is when they find the money so they can live better in the future. These are some great lines to remember:

• I don’t have money for that
  • Well, isn’t that why you are here in the first place? If you want money in the future, you have to find money now.
• If you want the right amount of child support in the future
  • Find the money for an attorney now
• If you want to buy a house in the future
  • Consolidate your credit cards ad get rid of all the interest and fees now so you can afford a bankruptcy attorney now

My Favorite “Free Advice”

My favorite free advice was given to a client cam from a DUI attorney. It goes something like this.

The client said, “I don’t have the money for this. The attorney answered, “But, what’s going to happen when you lose your license and then you can’t drive to work so you lose your job? How are you going to have money in the future? You won’t have a job and then, on top of that, you actually have to check that “I’m a convicted felon” box on every job application in the future. So, if you want to have money now, you better find money now. You better find the money now. So, this is the scenario I usually push when someone is trying to get free advice on their legal case from me.

There is no way you can give free advice in 5 minutes and without knowing the details of a case. This includes the details that the speaker is leaving out. But, you can use this as an opportunity to nudge this person to make an appointment. Then both of you will walk away happy.

18 Sneaky & Ethical Law Firm Marketing Hacks for More Law Clients

This is one of the most common questions lawyers ask me about business listings. Sometimes they are called citations and they are really important if your goal is high ranking in Google Maps. But, they are not as important as they once were.

The way they used to be set-up is this. If you searched for something like “Baltimore personal injury lawyer” the ad comes up. Below that there is the map section and below that there are the organic listings. To get in those maps you had to have a ton of citations, a ton of business listings. Google has backed away from that a little bit. While it is no longer important to have tons and tons (like thousands) of directory listings. But, certain directory listings are very important.
What we do for all our clients
There are a few things that we do for all of our clients. It is the first order of business for each client and we take it seriously.

● We make sure our clients have a handful of really, really good directly listings.
● We always ensure the listings have the correct name, address, and phone number, and they are always 100% accurate.
● We make sure each business listing is unique – we never take a business listing and copy and paste it. We always have a writer write a unique business description for every citation, every business
Which business listings should you use?
In a meeting with an Attorney, he will soon ask me which citations, which business listings should they should use. The reason behind this is, you can end up spending a lot of money, fast if you do not know where you are headed. Some of these business listings are a couple of hundred dollars for just one listing. It is easy getting carried away. You can get stuck in the rabbit hole and spend a lot of money and not get the most bang for your buck.

My SEO Team and I have named the top 5 most important citation or directory listings just for you.
I wanted to create something really special for you. I wanted to help clear the path to the top five most important directory listings, citations or whatever you want to call them. I will list the five most important directory listing sites for a lawyer in no particular order.

1. Yelp
I hate Yelp. I do not think that they treat businesses fairly. It annoys me that people can a review for you, clients can leave a review, and Yelp will hide the review and say it is not recommended. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what Google thinks. Google loves Yelp, so make sure you have your Yelp listing completely optimized. I do not think you actually have to necessarily need to advertise with them, but be sure it is clean. Make sure your name, your address, your phone number, and everything is correct. Be sure to check your business hours and add a business description. Add photos to it and add everything you can to get Google to rank you higher in Google maps.
2. Better Business Bureau
Better Business Bureau is an important place to list your business. Google is all about returning trustworthy businesses in searches. One of the things Google looks at is, have you paid for a Better Business Bureau listing? They are about $500 per listing, so fly-by-night companies are not going to open these things. It is a little more expensive, but I think it is probably one of the more worthwhile directory listings to get listed in. We recommend all of our clients and all of our SEO clients to get listed in the Better Business Bureau.
3. InfoUSA
You have probably never heard of this business listing before. Most people haven’t. It may seem like a generic, so it may seem strange to you. But, for some reason, Google really likes this directory and if you get listed here, you’re much more likely to appear in the knowledge graph. — you have your knowledge graph listings appear, and that’s a little bit more technical, but good things happen if you get listed in InfoUSA, so definitely, definitely, definitely make sure you get Yelp, Better Business Bureau, InfoUSA. Get your name, your address, your phone number, add photos, add a business description — a unique business description — make sure your website URL is correct, all that good stuff

These three business listings a kind of generic. Any business should be in these directories. Now, let’s talk about some of the sites that we can specify for lawyers. There are so many different ones out there specifically for lawyers. How do we know which ones are trustworthy? How do we know which ones are garbage?
4. Findlaw
I do not like Findlaw. But, Google likes Findlaw. Google thinks Findlaw is an authoritative site and Google also knows that pretty much every lawyer that is anybody has a listing on Findlaw. So, with that said, you need a listing on Findlaw. Go with the cheapest option possible. It may even be possible to get a free listing on Findlaw. Findlaw is definitely one you want to go for. Get the trust and relevancy to being a lawyer. You have to have Findlaw.
5. Avvo
Last but not least is Avvo. Avvo’s is an up and coming directory. It is owned by Martindale-Hubbell now. So, it’s a good one. You will need to set up an Avvo profile. Make sure it is filled out completely. Get some reviews on there. I do not necessarily know that having a 10 out of 10 ratings on Avva has any impact on your Google ranking but be sure you have your name, address, phone number, and other information accurate. By verifying your personal and business information on each of these five sites, Google will see you as relevant and trustworthy. Having phone numbers, websites, addresses, and information exactly correct on all the sites give Google the information it needs to judge you in an authoritative light. That’s what we all need. That grows our business.

I hope this gives you the help you need to begin. I just wanted to drop a quick piece of information here that you will find useful. If you have any questions at all, let me know. But otherwise, I hope everyone has a great day. Talk to you soon.