As I’ve discussed previously, a big part of marketing a start-up law firm is the use of the internet and search engine optimization. When I say search engine, I mean Google.
According to one source, Google has an approximately 65% market share on search engine use. I know Google is my search engine of choice. Furthermore, they appear to be set to be a major player in the smart phone market with their recent purchase of Motorola.
What does this mean for starting a law firm and marketing? It means, that Google is important and you need to pay attention. With their new foray into smart phones, you can bet that the Android operating system will be in high demand and will be a serious player in the market. I’ve read a lot of articles which say that smart phone/cell phone operating systems are the future of computing and internet use. Check out this post by MyShingle author, Carolyn Elefant, on making a legal marketing app. for smart phones.
There are a lot of lawyer blogs out there, and here is is the main reason why: they help with search engine optimization. Blogging about your chosen practice area creates an immediate link-back structure for advertising your law firm. It is really that simple.
The main reason I blog is for marketing purposes. This blog is not so good for marketing and I would call this a pet project. It is something I enjoy doing and it does give me some link-back potential. My other practice area related blogs are my main marketing sources.
My keywords are family lawyer and/or estate planning lawyer. Those are basic terms. I can branch out with other terms – and I do – but Google Keywords has told me that those are terms that people in the Minneapolis metropolitan area actually use. Go to Google Keywords (Adwords now) and do some basic research on your particular practice area (New York, Miami, small town USA) and the drill down your search terms related to your niche practice (family, personal injury, etc) and you will see what people are searching for.
Once you figure out what your niche practice area is (mine is family law and estate planning) you use your area and start blogging with your keywords. I’ve set up several legal blogs which market towards my practice area. My task now is to put more work into them to start building keywords, links, and content. Eventually, if I do it right, this will result in a high rank on the first page of Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. That should also lead to telephone calls and new clients. That’s it. Pretty simple.
The hard part is blogging and blogging well. Adding content and fresh articles to blogs is tedious work at times. I’ve written about legal blogging for business and discussed why it is work. Try it. You better like writing.
Starting a law firm means going out of your way to do what it takes. It’s a long slog and blogging is a big part of it. The light at the end of the tunnel is that maybe you will build up a practice that means you don’t have to blog all the time. Or, maybe you will enjoy the blogging/marketing aspect so much that new career opportunities will open up. I can confidently say that I could probably get paid to build lawyer websites and do search engine optimization for firms. It is a nice skill to have.
At the end of the day, lawyers need to be cognizant of the power of blogging, search engine optimization and the use of keywords. Believe me, there are lots of lawyers doing this stuff already and it will become the future of legal marketing. I don’t know about you, but I am going to catch the wave and try to be a front-runner.