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Most law offices don’t have a marketing department.
This means that important online marketing tasks, such as website development, blog writing, SEO, and paid ads (PPC), aren’t getting the attention they require. Maybe they’re not getting done at all.
As a lawyer, you don’t have enough time in your day to focus on these additional marketing tasks, which is why finding the best marketing agency for your law firm is crucial in 2023.
In the highly competitive space of legal marketing, having the support of a dedicated marketing agency will make all the difference to generate case leads, increasing visibility, and establishing a strong digital presence.
Just like your clients hire you to handle their legal problems, so too, should you hire a marketing agency that understands the competitive online marketing space to meet your goals.
In this guide, I’ll explain how to partner with the best marketing agency, so your law firm can stay one step ahead of your competition, reach your target client base, and grow your business in 2023.
Schedule a strategy session with Kaleidico to grow your firm in 2023.
New client leads for your law firm in 2023 begin with Google
Back in the days before Google when people needed legal advice, they’d ask friends and family for referrals and reviews.
These days, 96% of people turn to Google to research legal advice first, with 43% of people using Google to research and find a lawyer.
While browsing Google, prospective clients are clicking on blog posts related to their legal scenario such as “How to File for Divorce” or “How to Sue for Medical Malpractice.”
And guess who’s writing these articles? Law firm websites! Because blogs are the foot in the door that you need to get more online leads.
If you want to capture your future client’s web traffic, then you need to write content that will attract their clicks.
What you’ll need to generate leads from legal-related Google searches:
- A concisely designed website
- Regularly published blog content about your services and expertise
- The right keywords throughout your web pages, i.e. “car accident lawyer” (SEO)
- Lead paths and contact forms throughout your website to convert visitors into new client leads (lead generation)
Google Maps and the problem with old-school referrals
Referrals are great!
However, they’re not very scaleable compared to stepping up your digital marketing resources such as increasing paid ad spending, stepping up social media, and publishing original content.
Instead of waiting for former clients to refer you to their friends and family, start establishing your online presence to set up the ultimate referral source—Google and Google Maps.
Around 85% of people use online maps, like Google Maps, to find legal services near their location.
If you want to rank well on Google Maps (and I think you do) then you need to establish a web presence now, and that includes:
- Claiming a Google Business Profile
- Creating a legal website optimized for lead generation
- Regularly publishing legal blogs on your website
- Getting backlinks to your website (websites that link back to your website)
- Gaining positive reviews on Google Maps (read this guide on ethical regulations for getting reviews)
- Adding photos of your office
- Keeping hours accurate
- Verifying your location
The 4 best law firm marketing essentials for a strong online presence
To rank high in the Google search engine results pages (SERPs) and win more web traffic from your competitors, you’ll need to establish a strong online presence.
Developing a well-designed legal website will serve as the first impression for potential clients online, and act as the main hub that ties all of your other channels together (social media, email marketing, paid ads, and Google Maps listing).
Make sure your law firm has these crucial components to play a significant role in attracting new client leads and growing your business.
1. A high-quality law firm website
Just as lawyers need to dress the part, your website needs to dress its part too, meaning you need to have a high-quality and professional-looking website.
Remember, how I mentioned people use referrals and Google to pick a lawyer? Well, given the choice between two law firms—one with a nice website, and the other with an outdated or ugly website, which one do you think the client will pick? Exactly.
Plus, you need a website to generate leads. Lead generation strategies without websites aren’t possible—unless you plan on buying all of your leads, which according to a new FCC action, might no longer be an option going forward in 2023.
Also, without a website, where would you be publishing your blogs? You need a website to act as the main hub where you can upload blog articles and attract visitors to fill out the conveniently placed contact forms throughout your website for lead generation.
Ultimately, all the content you’re producing is meant to direct people to your website, where they will fill out the form and become new client leads.
2. Law firm SEO for increased visibility in Google searches
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy for making your website more visible in a Google search.
Essentially, it boils down to adding the right keywords to your website i.e. (car accident lawyer, truck accident lawyer, etc.) so Google can match the language in a Google search (car accident lawyer near me) to the text on your website (car accident law firm).
The higher your website’s Google SEO ranking is, the more traffic it will receive.
It’s the aim of every legal SEO strategy to get your law firm’s website on the first page of Google’s search engine results page (SERP).
The difference between traffic generated from websites on the first page of Google, and the second page of Google are staggering — everybody wants to get on the first page!
SEO is an overall strategy that comprises many small tactics, that add up to make your website very visible:
- The right keywords throughout your website i.e. “Medical Malpractice Attorneys”
- Consistent content the keywords to attract the right traffic i.e. “How to Successfully Sue for Medical Malpractice”
- A website that’s structured according to Google’s guidelines
- Sitemap
- Footer
- Individual pages (about us, contact us, our story, etc) around each of your key practice areas using variations of the right keywords in the copy (law firm, attorneys, lawyers, legal advice, legal service, etc.)
3. Writing and publishing blogs that will get clicked on in a Google search
Usually referred to as blogging, content marketing involves creating free, high-quality content that draws people to your law firm’s website.
Blog writing is often the biggest driver of traffic to a website (besides paid ads).
People search for legal help online, find legal advice blog posts in Google results, click on the website, and then fill out the contact forms to hire a lawyer.
Also, blog writing goes hand-in-hand with SEO. The more blogs a website has, the more visible it will be in search results because there are more articles and keywords that can be discovered.
Not only that, publishing blogs regularly will increase a website’s organic keywords — if you write enough blogs about car accidents, eventually Google will recognize your website as being a “car accident lawyer website” and it will improve your searchability.
However, because it takes time (a few months) for new blogs to get indexed in Google’s search results, content marketing is thought of as a long-term strategy.
But remember this, once a piece of content has been published, it will last on the internet forever and continue to draw people to your website long after it’s been written.
4. Google Ads and pay-per-click (PPC) ads to drive traffic to your legal website
The third part of the digital marketing trifecta is PPC or paid ads, like Google Ads or Facebook Ads.
Combined with SEO and content marketing, PPC ads are another vehicle to get your website seen in a legal Google search.
The difference between blogging and PPC ads is that blog posts are organic, or free listings below the Google search, whereas paid ads are shown above the organic search results.
Ads must be specifically labeled as “Ads” in the Google search results to differentiate between free and paid listings.
To get your ads shown in a Google Ads campaign, you must specify the exact keywords you want to “bid” on. And because online lawyer marketing competition is steep, so too is the price for bidding on these keywords.
The last time I checked, truck accident lawyer and motorcycle accident lawyer were among the most expensive paid keywords online.
PPC ads aren’t limited to plain-text Google search ads. They can also include:
- Video ads
- Banner, or image ads
- Facebook Ads
- LinkedIn Ads
- Microsoft (Bing) Ads
If you want to drive traffic to your website within a couple of days and have the cash to do it, PPC ads are the ticket.
Just remember, ads stop showing when you stop paying for them, whereas content (blogs) lasts forever.
For these reasons, content marketing, SEO, and PPC are often used together.
Download your free 90-day proven law firm marketing plan.
How to choose the best law firm marketing agency
First, make sure the marketing agency you pick specializes in legal marketing—don’t immediately trust just any marketing agency.
Because legal marketing has extra rules and regulations, it’s best to pick an agency that has experience creating law firm websites and working with lawyers.
Next, you’ll want to size up the company to see if they’re equipped to meet your goals.
When picking the best law firm marketing agency, ask these questions during your initial meeting:
- How many legal clients have you worked with?
- How comfortable are you dealing with legal marketing?
- What experience do you have with SEO, content marketing, and PPC ads?
- Do you have any case studies we can look through?
- What’s the average number of leads you can help us bring in?
- How many clients can we expect to convert from the new leads?
- How long will it take before our website goes live?
- Do you have writers on staff who can write our blog posts?
- Do you have content strategists to pick the right topics and keywords to target?
The top 11 best law firm marketing agencies in 2023
Many agencies on this list are one-stop shops that can handle every aspect of marketing your law firm. While others are one-trick ponies that excel in one specific field, usually law firm SEO.
If you’re looking to improve your law firm’s SEO, website, or content marketing strategy, consider these seven legal marketing agencies.
1. Kaleidico
Kaleidico is a Michigan-based, full-service digital marketing agency and lead generation company for law firms, mortgage lenders, and financial technology companies.
Our agency is equipped to handle every marketing task to generate new case leads for your law firm.
This includes:
- Website design and development
- Branding
- Graphic design
- SEO
- PPC ads
- Social media management
- Email marketing
- Content creation, including blog writing and creating eBooks
We’ve created websites and run PPC campaigns for some of Metro Detroit’s finest law firms. We’ll partner with you to fuel your firm with high-quality leads.
2. Rankings
When it comes to SEO for personal injury lawyers, Rankings pretty much promises to get elite firms on the first page of Google results.
Unlike other agencies on this list, which offer many marketing services, Rankings pretty much offers one main service — SEO for law firm websites.
Rankings isn’t meant for the small-to-mid marketing agency and really focuses on what it calls “elite law firms” that have steep budgets and want a national focus.
As such, their minimum monthly engagement is $15,000. That may be too expensive for most law firms just looking to get their toes wet in SEO, or are more interested in local SEO.
3. LawRank
LawRank is an award-winning legal marketing agency located in San Diego that specializes in SEO, PPC ads, local SEO, and web design for law firms and attorneys.
According to LawRank’s website, the company was founded with one particular goal—getting its clients on the first page of Google’s search results.
To achieve that goal, LawRank specializes in SEO, PPC ad creation, and developing and creating optimized websites for attorneys and law firms.
Unlike many others on this list, LawRank also hosts a recurring podcast on legal marketing called “Tip the Scales” that you can subscribe to today.
4. BluShark Digital – Law Firm Marketing
BlueShark Digital is an internet marketing company located in Washington D.C. that specializes in law firm marketing with a focus on SEO.
As part of its SEO services, BluShark will:
- Design and build an optimized website for SEO
- Set up landing pages built around specific keywords
- Write blog content to attract traffic through Google searches
- Optimize local SEO listings (Google Business, local directories)
- Get more reviews for Google Maps listings
5. Foster Web Marketing
Foster Web Marketing is a Virginia-based web design and Internet marketing company that focuses on digital marketing for law firms and doctors’ offices.
Foster Web Marketing provides website development and design, online and offline marketing, as well as SEO, PPC, content writing, professional book writing, social media management, email campaigns, video, and newsletters.
FWM also implements its own proprietary content management system (CMS) called Dynamic SElf-Syndication (DSS) that gives clients an easier way to build websites and manage their blogs and web content.
6. SmartSites
SmartSites is a digital marketing agency located in Paramus, New Jersey with over 500 five-star ratings on Google Maps, calling themselves “America’s #1 rated digital marketing agency.”
SmartSites specializes in web design, PPC marketing, organic SEO, and email and SMS marketing.
SmartSites, unlike many others on this list, doesn’t particularly have a legal focus but builds websites for all kinds of companies, including auto parts, retailers, e-commerce, as well as doctor’s offices and law firms.
7. iLawyerMarketing
iLawyerMarketing is a law firm marketing agency based in California.
They specialize in SEO, website design, PPC, video production, blog writing, and legal content strategy.
iLawyerMarketing prides itself on its ability to get clients on the first page of Google’s search results.
Unlike other agencies on this list, they can produce video content, in addition to blog writing and written content.
8. The Modern Firm
The Modern Firm is an Ann Arbor-based website builder for solo lawyers and small law firms.
They excel at creating and designing websites and have an extensive portfolio of legal websites.
In addition to website building, they offer SEO, PPC, consulting, and blogging services.
They also have a perfect 5-star Google Review rating. This shows they offer excellent customer support and service to their clients.
9. Scorpion
Scorpion is as much a technology company as they are a full-service marketing agency for law firms.
Scorpion’s offers SEO, website designs, email marketing, social media, lead generation, and more for law firms.
When it comes to accessing these services, lawyers have two options. They can download the Scorpion Platform to do it themselves, or purchase services to get experts to do it for them.
10. NOMOS Marketing
NOMOS Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency for law firms and the legal industry.
What sets them apart from others on this list is that they are 50% woman-owned, with a significant number of team members who are women.
NOMOS is a one-stop shop for law firms. They offer websites, SEO, branding, design, PPC, photo and video, and social media management.
When it comes to websites, NOMOS created beautiful, elegant, and modern websites that will wow your web visitors.
Because of NOMOS’ strong female presence, if your law firm’s target audience is predominately female, NOMOS Marketing might be the right agency for you.
11. Gladiator Law Marketing
Gladiator Law Marketing (GLM) has over a decade’s worth of online legal marketing experience.
They specialize in web design, SEO, PPC, social media management, consulting, and auditing services.
GLM focuses on small to medium-sized law firms who, according to GLM’s website, feel priced out of the market.
If you’re a smaller law firm that wants a great website and customer service, GLM might be right for you.
Download your free 90-day proven law firm marketing plan.
Kaleidico — the best law firm marketing agency for lead generation
Kaleidico is your expert law firm marketing agency for generating monthly case leads that fuel your business.
We not only build websites for lawyers, but create custom content strategies, including SEO, keyword research, and content writing to make sure your website is regularly publishing high-quality blogs.
With your new website and blogs comes organic search traffic that can be leveraged to create qualified case leads.
We work with law firms of all sizes, from small agencies to large law firms with multiple branches.
