Making the Case for Law Firm Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
What’s the first thing you do when you’re considering a new purchase for your family? Odds are, you search online for the product or service you need. According to recent studies, 87% of all consumer searches for new products start online. And searching for a lawyer is no different. A huge percentage of searches for legal professionals starts online too. Brantley Davis knows. He runs Brantley Davis Ad Agency based in Washington, D.C. His firm handles Search Engine Marketing for personal injury law firms from coast to coast.
“At least 70% of car accident victims who don’t already know an attorney search for one online. And they’re hot prospects, ready to hire a lawyer today.” Davis continued, “If you’re running a law firm, you can’t afford to ignore Search Engine Marketing.”
According to Davis, Search Engine Marketing, also known as SEM, is one of the easiest, quickest ways to leverage hot prospects online. An ad campaign can be up and rolling in a week and turned off with a moment’s notice. Maybe best of all, the cost of entry is not prohibitive. Any size law firm can leverage search engine marketing with a small budget, unlike TV where the cost of entry in a major market can cost millions of dollars. And with SEM, small law firms can leverage larger firms’ TV driven, online traffic by targeting keywords associated with the large law firm’s brand.
Unfortunately, thousands of law firms still ignore Search Engine Marketing to their detriment. Many lawyers are too busy practicing law or simply not willing to invest the time and energy to get up to speed on digital marketing. The easiest way to fast track SEM is to hire an ad agency already adept at digital marketing. But before doing that, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the basics of SEM. Here’s a quick primer.
A Primer on Search Engine Marketing for Law Firms
Search engine marketing (SEM) is becoming an increasingly popular way for law firms to promote their services and grow their businesses. With the right strategies in place, you can make sure that your law firm is seen in the right places, at the right times, and by the right people. It can also help you build trust and credibility, as well as give you an edge over the competition. Moreover, a solid SEM program can be a powerful tool to help grow your law firm’s bottom line.
What is search engine marketing?
Search engine marketing (SEM) is the process of bringing targeted traffic to your website through paid advertisements on search engines. The ads include images, information, and a link to your website. You can use these ads to drive traffic to your website, increase brand awareness, and lead generation. SEM is a great strategy for law firms looking to establish their brand online, increase leads, and drive revenue.
Search engine marketing strategies
There are many different strategies that you can use to grow your law firm using SEM. You can use paid search ads, paid placement, and paid discovery to bring targeted traffic to your website. Paid search ads allow you to appear in natural search engine results at the top, middle, or bottom of the page.
Creating an SEM strategy
Before you start investing in SEM, you will need to create an SEM strategy. You can start by defining goals and objectives. What are your law firm’s goals for next year? What are your law firm’s objectives? What do you want to accomplish with your SEM strategy? When you have your goals and objectives in place, you can create an SEM strategy. Choose the best search engine for your law firm, the best keywords, and the best target audience. Create a budget and a timeline to help you stay on track. By creating an SEM strategy, you can make sure that you are investing your money in the right ways and reaching the right people at the right times with the right services.
Best practices for search engine marketing
There are many different best practices to grow your law firm through SEM.
- Make sure that you are targeting the right keywords. These are the words and phrases people are searching for online.
- Ask an SEO expert to audit your law firm’s website to ensure it’s optimized for search engines. Confirm the website is mobile friendly, has great content, and follows best SEO practices.
- Use social media to engage with people, answer their questions, and build trust and brand awareness.
- Develop an email marketing program to engage former clients and potential new ones.
By following these best practices, you can make sure that your law firm is seen in the right places, at the right times, and by the right people.
Measuring search engine marketing success
There are several ways to measure the success of your SEM strategy. Measure your traffic, leads, and conversions.
- Traffic – How much traffic is coming to your website? You can measure this by tracking your website traffic, including where that traffic is coming from.
- Leads – How many leads are coming in? You can track your leads and conversions to see how many leads you are getting and how many of those are becoming paying customers.
- Conversions – What percentage of your leads are turning into customers? You can track your conversions to see how many of your leads are actually buying your products or services.
By measuring your traffic, leads, and conversions, you can see how successful your SEM strategy is.
Tips for successful search engine marketing
There are many tips that you can follow to make sure that your SEM strategy is successful. Create a solid plan and strategy. Know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Diversify your marketing efforts and do not rely too much on one source of traffic. Test, iterate, and make adjustments along the way if needed. Measure your results, adjust your strategy based on those results, and keep moving forward.
The best search engine marketing platforms
There are many different platforms that you can use for search engine marketing, but these three are the best for law firms. The first one is Google Ads. This is the most popular and widely used platform for search engine marketing. The second one is Facebook Ads. This is a great platform for B2C law firms. The third one is LinkedIn Ads. This is a great platform for B2B law firms. There are also other platforms available, including Bing Ads, Twitter Ads, and Instagram Ads. These are also good platforms that you can use for search engine marketing.