Digital Marketing

There’s a common misconception that online marketing for law firms is expensive and time-consuming, but that’s not necessarily true. Sure, some strategies require more time and money to implement.

But, there are plenty of other ways to market your law firm that don’t require you to invest a significant amount of time or money.

No one knows this better than our colleague, Renee, who went from sleeping on a friend’s couch to making six figures in six months.

What Was Renee’s Tactic?

Renee graduated from law school in 2013 and had trouble finding a job. Instead of giving up hope, Renee decided to make things happen on her own.

Her dream was to help online entrepreneurs with their legal issues, so she began to think of ways to target this market.

She realized that there were countless Facebook groups that consisted solely of online entrepreneurs, so she joined dozens of these groups to see what people were talking about.

She quickly realized that many of these online entrepreneurs were seeking legal guidance, so she started to hop in on conversations to answer questions and offer advice. She also started to post content that she thought people in the groups would find interesting.

One of her first posts was a legal checklist for online entrepreneurs, which made it easy for them to understand what they needed to do when starting a business. She came up with ideas for her content by listening to what the entrepreneurs were talking about.

If there was a common misconception about a certain topic, or multiple people had posted the same question, Renee would tackle it in her next blog post.

How Creating Content Lead To Paying Clients

Soon, the entrepreneurs within these groups started to view Renee as the go-to person for legal help.

The admins of some of the groups asked Renee to take a more active role by hosting Facebook live question and answer sessions.

Before she knew it, she had signed roughly 20 clients as a result of her efforts within these Facebook groups.

Renee did not have to spend time on marketing in order to acquire these clients.

When she first started, Renee spent a few hours every day finding these Facebook groups, writing content, and interacting with the members.

However, now that she has established herself as an authority on legal matters, she only spends about ten minutes per day on marketing.

Renee’s story is proof that lawyers do not need massive marketing budgets in order to achieve results.

With a little hard work—and a few innovative law firm marketing ideas—lawyers can grow their practice in no time.

There are countless different legal marketing strategies, but none that are quite as effective as influencer marketing.

Fortunately, you don’t need to have millions of followers in order to be an effective influencer, you simply need to attract the right followers. Here’s how:

Step One: Gather the Required Assets

The first step is gathering all of the assets you will need to become an influencer. Start by putting together a 500-700 word e-book on a topic that is relevant and interesting to your potential clients.

If you’re having trouble thinking of a topic, don’t be afraid to ask some of your current and former clients for ideas. This is a great way to find out what kind of information clients are actively looking for online.

After writing the e-book, visit fiverr.com to transform the simple word document into a sleek and professional e-book PDF.

The next asset you will need to create is a Facebook group for your target audience. For example, if you are a family law attorney, you may want to create a divorce support group.

This is where you will promote your content in the future. It’s better to promote content in a group as opposed to on a business or personal page because of the recent changes made to Facebook’s algorithm.

The final asset you will need to prepare is a landing page. This is where you will send people to enter their information and download your e-book.

Step Two: Advertise on Facebook

Once the landing page has been created, it’s time to launch an advertising campaign on Facebook. Don’t talk about your law firm or promote your legal services in these ads—the purpose of this campaign is to encourage Facebook users to download your e-book.

Anyone who clicks on this and will be sent to your landing page and asked to enter their information in order to get a copy of the e-book. After submitting their contact information, these leads should be given a link to your Facebook group and asked to join.

If you are targeting the right people on Facebook, this is a great way to generate new leads and grow the number of people in your private group.

Step Three: Publish Daily Content

It’s important to publish content in your Facebook group on a daily basis—even if there are only a few members in the group. The content can blog on your website, short videos where you answer frequently asked questions or even links to relevant articles.

Posting content on a regular basis will show that you are an authority on the topic. As your group begins to grow, members will turn to you when they are in need of legal advice.

By following these three simple steps, lawyers can become trusted influencers in no time!

All Lawyers Need to Read These Two Books Most Have Never Heard Of…

How to Get Law Clients to Insert Keywords in Reviews Without Appearing Spammy

Clients usually hire our internet marketing company to overhaul their entire internet marketing presence, but some clients need results ASAP.

Social Firestarter can typically launch a comprehensive lawyer website with all new content in about six weeks, but in the interim, we optimize the content on the existing website as a first step. That increases calls and leads immediately.

What we do is simple. We take a top keyword or phrase from the client’s website – say “criminal defense attorney” or “personal injury lawyer.”

IDENTIFYING KEYWORDS IS THE KEY

We use that phrase to determine what other keywords are used by the highest-ranking pages which also use that same key phrase, we add these other keywords to our client’s pages, and then we watch the client’s ranking improve.

Google relies on synonyms and close variants of those synonyms to determine a page’s content and topic. Thus, to rank for “criminal defense attorney,” your content must have related words and phrases such as:

1. arrest
2. DUI
3. bail
4. legal consultation
5. and scores of other possible keywords

The biggest challenge is determining which keywords are the most important. We use a website called Text-Tools.net. Buy a membership – it’s not costly – or check out the free trial.

HOW DOES TEXT-TOOLS WORK?

When you login to Text-Tools.net, go to “Semantic Analysis” and then click “TFIDF.” When you type in the keyword you’ve chosen – “criminal defense attorney” in our example here – Text-Tools lets you see:

1. which web pages are ranking highest for the keyword you entered
2. what other keywords those sites have in common

The search will take several minutes. When it’s complete, go to the left column, click “Jobs” and then click “Completed.”

You’ll usually see a list of your completed searches, so at the top of that list, find the search you’ve just completed for “criminal defense attorney,” and under the “URL” column, click “Analysis.”

DON’T BE INTIMIDATED – THIS IS EASY

You’ll see a chart. It may look overwhelming at first, but it’s actually simple.

It charts the twenty highest-ranking web pages that use the keyword you’ve entered, and it shows the other keywords those pages are using.

You may see a thousand or more words – don’t let that bother you. At the top of the page, click “Show,” and you can choose to see only 50 or 100 keywords.

Then click “Compare” (top right), and allow several minutes for the comparison to appear. While you wait, go back to your own page and click “Command-A” or “Control-A” to highlight the entire page.

HOW TEXT-TOOLS MAKES THIS METHOD EVEN EASIER

Copy your page, return to Text-Tools, and below the chart, paste all of the content you’ve copied into “Semantic Analysis: Text Input.” Then click “Analyze My Text.”

A new chart will appear, and the “gaps” in that chart will point to the keywords that are on your competitors’ pages – but not on yours. These are the words you need on your site.

Click “Show 100” or 200 or 500 to see even more keywords you may need.

Text-Tools makes it easy, because at the bottom of the page, you’ll see “Adding some of the following terms might improve the ranking of your text,” and a list of the keywords you need is provided right there.

THAT’S ALL IT TAKES

Add a little content to your page, maybe rewrite some content, and write to “weave” your keywords smoothly into your text. When you’re finished, you can go through the process again to check on your improvement.

Just adding a few important keywords can increase the relevancy of your page, the quality of your content, and your ranking. As your ranking rises, so will your calls and leads.

In summary, use Text-Tools to find the keywords you’re missing. Google will associate you with those keywords and will likely start to rank you higher.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND MORE MARKETING HELP AND ADVICE?

At Social Firestarter, we’ve seen clients move from page four or five to page one of the Google rankings using this method alone.

To learn more about how our internet marketing company chooses keywords and raises the rankings for our clients, email us – info@socialfirestarter.com – or call us at 619-607-4300.

We’re always ready to answer your questions about keywords, content, and increasing your Google ranking.

You can generate leads right now – with only a few clicks of your mouse – even for videos that have languished for months with almost no views.

You’re about to read a step-by-step walk-through on how to rank a YouTube attorney video high on Google. It’s a proven method that our internet marketing agency uses and recommends.

It takes five steps:

1. Purchase Wirecast® for YouTube.
2. Set up your YouTube channel for live streaming.
3. Livestream your video.
4. Edit your video.
5. Watch it rank on Google, and start gathering leads.

Step #1: Purchase Wirecast® For Youtube

Purchase Telestream’s Wirecast® software from their website. It’s easily worth the $695 investment – as you’ll see – or check out the free trial version first.

Step #2: Set Up Your Youtube Channel For Live Streaming

With the software installed, login to your YouTube channel and “Creator Studio.” Click “Live Streaming” and enable it.

You’ll get an automated confirmation call or text from Google with a six-digit code. Enter it and click “Create Live Event.”

Let’s say that you want to rank high for “Dallas Personal Injury Attorney.” Put that phrase in the title (or “Cincinnati Divorce Attorney” or whatever keyword is right for you).

How Can You Get The Maximum Impact From Your Title?

Put your phone number in the title, and it will also appear on the Google search result page. That alone may generate calls and leads.

Try to use two keywords or phrases – for maximum impact. Your title might look like “Dallas Personal Injury Attorney – Fort Worth Medical Malpractice Attorney – 555-555-5555.”

Enter a start time for the “event.” Give yourself about thirty minutes to complete the setup. For “Type,” select “Custom” (for more encoding options) and then open “Advanced Settings.”

The key Advanced Setting is “Location.” In this example, our attorney should enter “Dallas” and “Fort Worth.” Click “English” for “Language,” but leave the other settings on the defaults.

Have The Right “Thumbnail” Already Selected

Click “Create Event” in the top right corner. You’ll have the opportunity to pick a thumbnail – think of it like a book cover or a movie poster. It’s an important choice.

You’ll be asked to “Choose Maximum Sustained Bitrate of Your Encoder.” Choose “Custom Injection” and then select “Create New Stream.”

You’ll be asked to “name” the stream – although you’ve already “titled” it – for convenience, you can name it “Wirecast.”

For “Maximum Sustained Bitrate That You Can Support,” select “500 Kbps – 2000 Kbps (480 p).” Then “Save Changes.”

You’ll be asked to “select Your Encoder.” Click “Wirecast for YouTube.” Then, at the top right, click “Save Changes.” You should see the confirmation message “Event Successfully Saved.”

Finally, below the YouTube search engine, click “Live Control Room,” and you’ve done all you can for the moment on YouTube. Open the Wirecast® software.

Step #3: Livestream Your Video

To stream a video you’ve already created, under the “File” menu, select “Import Media” and choose that video. Under the “Output” menu, select “Output Settings.”

Click “Authenticate” to connect the software to YouTube. Click “Allow” when asked if the software can “manage” your account.

Click “Stream,” and the video will begin encoding to YouTube. Return to YouTube and click “Preview.”

Check that the preview is “Good.” After a few moments, YouTube will give you the option to “Start Streaming.” Select it. You’ll be asked to confirm live streaming. Click “Yes.”

Let the video play through two or three times – that helps with editing. When you finish streaming, it typically takes about five minutes to complete processing.

Step #4: Edit Your Video

By letting the video stream two or three times, if there was any problem in processing, you can edit those parts out, and you’ll be able to edit the video for its highest possible quality.

If you’ve done everything else right – immediately, even while it processes and before you’ve selected tags or added a description – your video may be ranking high on Google.

If not, or to learn more about how our internet marketing agency can help you create highly-ranked YouTube videos, email us – info@socialfirestarter.com – or call us at 619-607-4300.

We’re always ready to talk about video and answer your other internet marketing questions.