Digital Strategy for Law Firms: How to Make Your Practice Stand Out

Lawyers are no strangers to the concept of strategizing. These professionals work so hard on their cases that, come trial time, they’re in a position to never ask a question they don’t know the answer to. Research, numbers, proof — it’s the language of the courtroom. 

However, when we move away from the world of affidavits and appeals, it’s time to call in a different type of co-counsel — the marketing experts. Luckily, just because we’re talking about marketing strategy for law firms does not mean lawyers need to be the ones behind the drawing board.

You can rely on us to guide you through the basics of crafting a world-class strategy. Get in touch with Digital Authority Partners today to begin reaping the benefits of working with an experienced legal marketing agency.

We have more info below, but if you need a brief summary before you get back to writing briefs, here’s Jason with the run-down on working with a legal marketing firm:

What Should a Digital Strategy Include?

We’ve gone over must-haves like:

• Website Development
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

Those are all parts of a powerful marketing plan, but law firm digital marketing (like all regulated fields) goes a bit further.

Talk to your legal marketing agency about:

• Legal and ethical guidelines: Law firms must follow state bar regulations and ethical rules in digital marketing: Ads must be truthful (i.e., no misleading claims allowed). Protecting client confidentiality and settlement agreements is also critical. You know as well as anyone that State Bar Associations (see the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, in particular) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are not to be taken lightly.
• Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity measures, such as SSL certificates, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and encryption for email communications. Add in regular security audits, employee training on phishing attacks, and secure cloud storage.
• ADA website compliance: Websites for lawyers (like all websites) need to be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities: Follow ADA guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1, Level AA.
• Writing content with a client-centric focus: Simplify legal jargon and write about laws in a way that’s easy to understand. Practical content could also mean case studies and FAQ pages. Aim for a reading level appropriate for general audiences (typically around a reading level 8).
• Consistent, reliable updates: Write fresh blog posts on legal topics. Update practice area pages, client testimonials, case studies, and legal content (so that it reflects the most current laws). 

What's the Best Type of Online Advertising for Law Firms?

When it comes to online marketing for law firms, the best approach is a combined approach: SEO, PPC, and social. You go into court with multiple arguments, and the same goes for legal advertising. In the digital marketing world, we call that a multi-channel approach. 

SEO helps improve organic search rankings for long-term visibility and success, whereas PPC ads on platforms like Google Ads are good for immediate, targeted exposure. SEO is more effective and cost-effective in the long run, but paid ads typically bring in more immediate wins. Social media advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can also be effective for reaching specific audiences (who have specific case types). 

Why Is Digital Strategy Important for Law Firms?

Digital strategy for law firms has become more important than ever. Creating the right digital strategy and appropriately employing available online tools is critical for any organization to drive new business. Most consumers research a company online before contacting that business or choosing to purchase a product or service, and this is especially true for lawyers and legal services.

The online digital marketing space is more crowded than ever. An effective legal digital strategy must be unique, engaging, and stand out in the crowd. For law firms, such practices go a step beyond just purchase intent, though. Law firms must curate the right digital reputation to attract new clients.

If your law firm’s digital strategy is not being executed correctly (or worse, is completely nonexistent), your firm could be missing out on a huge swath of potential clients. Since people rarely scroll past the first page to look at results, you’ll want to be first in your class over colleagues’ sites. But how?

Importance of Law Firm Website Design

A website is the digital version of a business card but with even more importance and purpose. It allows potential clients to connect with you any time of the day or night and get crucial information at the exact moment they need a lawyer. It also projects the image you want people to have of your firm.

Any great structure needs a solid foundation. In law, if you have a great foundation of legal knowledge, it’s easier to become a great lawyer. Putting together a group of great lawyers makes it easier to become a great law firm. In digital marketing, a great law firm web design is the foundation for a great digital marketing strategy.

Two essential parts of world-class website design include user experience and taxonomy:

User Experience (UX)

Focusing on the overall user experience of your site is critical. Many businesses, including attorney websites, might focus more on what their sites can do for them, but the best way to think about a site is through the eyes of new users and what they need.

When developing a website, ask yourself questions that someone visiting the site for the first time would ask themselves. 

• Does the site offer clear, easy-to-understand navigation, or is it complicated to get around?
• Does the site give users a consistent experience both from page to page and every time they come back? 
• Is the site optimized for mobile use so that it works smoothly from any device?

If you’re not quite sure (or don’t have time to learn HTML in your 80-hour work week), a UX agency can help out. 

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is closely related to UX and refers to how things are classified on your site. Good taxonomy organizes your site in a way that makes sense to the user and allows them to find what they seek with ease. This serves the dual purpose of making the site more user-friendly and helping you drive business to the right areas.

Each of your core services should have a detailed landing page that is indexed and easy to find. Your landing pages should be at least 200 words longer than the top-ranked page and offer a comprehensive explanation of your services. 

How To Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for a Law Firm

The importance of a digital strategy for law firms cannot be understated. Now, let's go over specific digital strategies for lawyers: 

Identify Your Law Firm’s Target Audience

Law firm internet marketing is meant to connect with your target audience on a deep, personal level. Whether you are a leading law firm or an emerging solo practice, knowing your audience is one of the most important factors of digital marketing. 

Creating a consumer profile can help you better position your firm to meet your clients’ needs. For example, a well-crafted consumer profile takes into account demographics as well as psychographics and can target different behavioral traits or clients in specific locations, as many law firms are limited in where they can practice. 

Generate Cost-Effective Leads

Once you have a great website and begin crafting a digital strategy, one large remaining factor is how well your law firm’s website is set up to convert the traffic you bring to the site into qualified leads and, ultimately, actual new paying clients.

Lead generation for law firms includes, but is not limited to these: 

• Call to action (CTAs) in the content so that users know the next step. 
• Analytics tracking provides data that can help point you in the right direction on why or why not leads don’t convert. 
• Website heat maps like Microsoft Clarity offer clues as to how people interact with your site and where the UX could be improved. 
• Chatbots can also help push conversion with live answers to real questions from your target audience. 

Ideally, everything should work together to propel users through the site and sales funnel, ultimately landing as a viable lead. 

Set Goals

You likely put in a lot of hours to claim that “Esquire/attorney-at-law” title at the end of your name, so you’re no stranger to setting goals and following through. Setting intentions is one of the best ways to actually make goals happen, after all. 

The theory also applies when it comes to digital marketing. Set actionable goals (like SMART goals) that allow you to monitor and reassess when needed. 

Measure Success

It’s time to pull in the analytics agency. Having analytics in place is a critical piece of a law firm’s digital strategy. This data lets you know how your audience interacts on your website, what works for you, (and, more importantly) what isn’t and needs to be changed. Data-driven decision-making is one of the factors that sets successful digital marketing apart from the rest.

At Digital Authority Partners, the premier marketing and SEO agency for lawyers, we’re obsessed with data. We set data-driven, research-backed goals. Next, we establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and track them on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. This allows us to re-adjust if needed in the service of a projected return on investment (ROI).

A/B and multivariate testing can also help improve your law firm’s digital marketing. This is a process that involves testing multiple versions of a piece of a digital strategy to see which gets the best response. 

This type of testing can be used in many aspects of digital strategy, from website layout to brand colors to calls to action to content or email marketing headlines. The more you test, the better the results. After testing, you can identify areas of potential improvement and end up with the best option possible.

Top Digital Strategy Ideas for Law Firms

Are you ready for the next stage in your law firm’s digital transformation? If so, read on. Let’s talk about the best marketing strategies for law firms. 

Social Media Strategy for Law Firms

A law firm’s digital strategy should include a vibrant, well-maintained social presence. What you publish on social media should be consistent and thoughtful. Social media is a great way to amplify the reach of your core content and publish supporting content that drives users to your core content, such as your practice area landing pages. 

Supporting your content marketing efforts with social media is a key factor in elevating your law firm’s brand visibility, so make sure it is part of your overall digital marketing strategy. When you use social media to drive traffic to your site through content clicks, search algorithms see that as providing valuable and useful content to customers, ultimately leading to higher rankings on the Google search engine results page (SERP).

Stay active on social media and interact with your firm’s followers. Social media is a great way to put a human face to your practice. Being inconsistent or not posting with a purpose can be a major social media mistake.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn, home of job posters, job hunters, and like-minded professionals, is a great place to showcase your law firm's expertise. There, you can connect with colleagues and potential clients alike. 

When it comes to LinkedIn marketing, the major theme is "thought leader." Craft insightful legal content, from case studies to industry updates, to position your firm as a thought leader. The goal is to make meaningful contributions to legal-centric discussions.

Facebook

Facebook has an expansive reach. Not only is it wildly popular, but it also has users across a wide range of ages, from teens to retirees. Share legal tips, client testimonials, and informative videos in a friendly yet professional way. 

Additionally, Facebook Ads can help you target specific demographics and retarget potential clients. Encouraging interactions in the comments section boosts user trust and can help bring your posts to others' feeds.

X (Twitter)

X (Twitter) is unique in its ability to encourage people to communicate in real time. Create a community with legal insights, news updates from your local area, and relevant case studies (your wins) to relay your expertise. Hashtags can extend the reach and help your posts infiltrate legal discussions. Engage with followers, respond promptly to inquiries, and don't forget about ads. 

SEO Strategy for Law Firms

We can’t talk about digital strategy for law firms without mentioning one of the biggest players in the game: SEO. 

What Is SEO for Lawyers?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It focuses on improving a law firm website's visibility and ranking on search engines like Google, with the goal of attracting more organic (non-paid) traffic. 

• SEO for lawyers: the process of optimizing a law firm's website to improve its visibility on search engines like Google.

This digital strategy for law firms involves using (well-researched) targeted keywords, writing/editing/posting high-quality content, and building authoritative backlinks — all in the name of bringing in potential clients. Law firm SEO strategies essentially bold and underline your practice, making you the clear choice for potential clients. 

Local SEO for Law Firms

Although there are exceptions, the majority of law firms get the bulk of their business locally — from their towns, cities, and states. When this is true of a practice, local SEO becomes incredibly important. Local SEO (as opposed to SEM) can help you rank higher organically, without paying, in local search results for prospective clients searching for legal services in their area.

Why Local SEO Is Important for Law Firms

Searches including “near me” or “close by” have increased enormously — just under 50% of all Google searches are for local information. However, over 90% of people will pick local businesses on the first page of the search results. These stats should drive home how important local SEO is for law firms.

SEO for Lawyers: How To Succeed

Winning at local SEO starts with finding the right keywords and then integrating them into your content. 

Here’s a very basic summary of law firm SEO:

Use an SEO research tool such as Ahrefs or Moz to find out what the monthly search volume is for potential target keywords. Compare that to your domain authority. The higher the domain authority, the better chance there is at ranking for your ideal keywords. 

Check keyword volume to see if it’s worth your time to produce content. You also want to look at the competition to rank. If your direct competitors hold the top spots and it is relatively easy to outrank them, go for it. If the top spots are held by prestigious outlets like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal or a .gov site, you might want to move on to another set of keywords. 

To rank for any local keywords, you need to set up your website’s pages appropriately. Let’s say you want to rank for “personal injury attorney in Chicago.” In this case, you’ll need a locations page plus individual pages for each specific service. In this example, the page’s URL would look like this: locations/chicago-il/personal-injury-attorney. 

These elements mean the difference between local SEO failure and success. When set up correctly, you can dominate the local keywords in your area and be front and center when potential clients search for your legal services.

You’re not done yet: Regularly check to see how your pages are performing and update them. Google sees old pages as outdated pages. Update with new information (like with relevant legislation passed in your state) or summaries on cases you’ve won. Then, re-index the page (on Google Search Console) to let Google know you’ve made changes. 

National SEO

Unlike local SEO, national SEO targets far beyond your town or state. National SEO is particularly popular with large firms that operate in several states. 

To harness those national SEO wins, triple-check that your website is optimized, do heavy research into relevant keywords, and make sure your backlink strategy is flawless. This broader reach increases brand recognition and drives organic traffic — all vital for sustained growth.

Consider additional avenues like adding your firm to national directories and legal listings. This broader reach can increase name recognition, send organic traffic your way, and strengthen your domain authority. However, make sure to look at the ROI on this. Many of these directories can be pricey — check that the cost per lead makes sense. 

Technical SEO for Law Firm Websites

Technical SEO refers to all the technical aspects of your site that allow it to be crawled and indexed by search engines. Properly done technical SEO means Google (and other search engines) puts your site at the top of their search results page. Good vs. bad technical SEO can make a huge difference in whether or not a law practice meets its goals.

Most search engine users click on only the top two organic results. As a result, it’s critical to show up high on a Google search page. Don’t let bad technical SEO hinder your success. 

What’s bad SEO? That’s a long list, but it includes pages that aren’t optimized for mobile devices or pages that load too slowly.

For example, if a page takes longer than three seconds to load, many mobile users will abandon the page. Ask your Dev team about improving your site speed. 

Some common ways to improve site speed are to:

• Compress images before uploading them
• Use caching
• Lower the number of HTTP requests by decreasing the images, CSS, and JavaScript files on each page
• Implement lazy loading (when images load only when the viewer scrolls down to see them)

Other technical SEO issues such as broken links, no internal linking (aka orphan pages), or a lack of meta tags (aka HTML tags) can kill your rankings. If you’re stressed thinking about how to learn programming while managing your caseload, we don’t blame you. Let a law firm SEO agency write code while you focus on the code of law.

SEO Best Practices

Following SEO best practices in your content marketing campaigns is a huge key to success. 

Here are a few to keep in mind for your law firm:

• Long-form content should be 200 words longer than the leading page
• Keep paragraphs short
• Use images frequently
• Use a readable font size
• Use headers to get people to scroll
• Create a compelling, clickable title

Content Marketing for Law Firms

Content is a valuable asset. Statistics suggest excellent content (and content marketing strategies) can increase organic traffic by 300%. 

Law firms need to create relevant content to engage audiences. For instance, you can create relevant thought leadership content like white papers that speak directly to the people you want to reach. People looking for lawyers are searching using specific online terms; you need to capitalize on those keywords.

Let’s talk more about keywords:

Keyword Optimization: What To Know

When you find keywords with good volume and reasonable difficulty, the next step is to start creating content that cleverly (yet naturally) uses these keywords. You want to create a long-form pillar page (often in the thousands-word mark) that uses your main keywords, such as “intellectual property law firm.” Blogs will support that main pillar page; this is known as a pillar and spoke strategy. (Pillar and spoke is not the only strategy — your legal marketing firm can advise you based on your particular situation.)

You don’t want to overuse keywords, though — A practice known as keyword stuffing. The best practice is to use the keywords naturally (every 200 to 400 words). 

Online SEO tools can help you find the right secondary keywords, which should relate to your main keywords and help you rank in more than one search query. For example, if your main keywords are “estate planning lawyer,” your secondary keywords might be “lawyers for estate planning” and “estate planning attorneys.”

Need a helping hand? Check out our content marketing services.

Email Marketing for Lawyers

The first email was sent in 1971, but that doesn’t mean this mode of communication (and advertising) is outdated — far from it, in fact. Any five-star digital strategy for law firms likely includes an email campaign. It is still one of the most effective marketing tools that brings the most bang for your buck.

An effective email marketing campaign helps boost conversions. To create and manage a great email marketing list, your site must be set up to capture emails from leads who visit the site. Using tools such as banners, pop-ups prompting newsletter signups, and more, you can curate a list that you can then use to engage and build an audience.

Email marketing is also a perfect way to augment your content marketing strategy. You don’t want to send out emails only when you want to advertise something. A great email marketing strategy provides subscribers with useful content. This helps position your law firm as a thought leader and create brand ambassadors who feel like they are part of the team.

Google Business Profile (GBP)

Another easy way to dominate local SEO is to take advantage of Google’s free and easy-to-use tool, Google Business Profile. This tool allows you to manage your law firm’s online presence on Google Search, Google Maps, Google Reviews, and more.

A Google Business Profile allows law firm owners to verify their business, add an extra layer of trustworthiness, and make sure all the pertinent information is front and center. It is quick to set up and can have significant impacts. 

Paid Ads: PPC for Lawyers

Law can be a very niche industry, which is why legal marketing in the past focused on niche marketing. Industry conferences, trade publications, and targeted ads are ways marketers in the industry find their target consumers. 

While there is nothing wrong with targeted marketing, only focusing on that can close doors to new clients (or whole communities of potential clients) you may have never even considered. That starts with a solid law firm PPC strategy.

Good digital strategy for law firms can straddle the line between two types of marketing. It can be targeted enough to reach your key audience while being broad and useful enough to find its way to outside audiences. When your content does this, it can open doors you never knew existed and create new revenue streams to help grow your practice. A PPC agency can help set up paid ad campaigns and track KPIs so you can focus on your client list. 

Digital Strategy for Law Firms: Frequently Asked Questions

What Are the Four Digital Marketing Strategies?

The four main digital marketing strategies are:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing website content to improve visibility and ranking on search engines like Google.
• Content Marketing: Writing, optimizing, and sharing helpful, people-first content to build trust with possible clients.
• Social Media Marketing: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• Paid Advertising (PPC): Targeted ads, often through Google Ads or social media. Geofencing and retargeting are often part of this. 

Do Law Firms Need Digital Marketing?

Yes! Law firms need digital marketing to stay competitive and bring in new clients. More people use the internet to find legal services (and just about everything else), making digital marketing strategies like SEO, PPC, and social media vital to build trust and stay top-of-mind.

Well-executed digital marketing for law firms means reaching a broader audience, generating more leads, and ultimately growing a practice.

What Method of Advertising Is Used by Most Lawyers?

Most attorneys use a combination of SEO (especially local SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising (particularly through Google Ads) to target specific legal keywords and attract potential clients. Social media advertising is another important part of digital marketing for lawyers. 

Most law offices rely on marketing professionals to do this for them. A Big Law practice usually has an in-house team, but that's rare. Most other firms outsource advertising to a legal marketing firm (often paired with a fractional law firm CMO). 

Curious about working with a fractional CMO? Here’s Jason with the details:

What Software Do Law Firms Use for Marketing?

Law firms that value much-needed data for their campaigns will likely be familiar with tools like Google Analytics for tracking website performance. Salesforce or HubSpot are good for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) needs, and more. Ahrefs, Moz, and SemRush help guide SEO research. Yoast SEO (for WordPress) helps marketers optimize their content. Google Search Console helps with site optimization and indexing. 

How Do I Get My Website To Generate More Conversions?

For a website that draws in new clients, it needs to attract users, be easy to use, and inspire trust.

One of the main ways websites attract customers is by offering what they need in the form of content that is easy to find and valuable to site visitors. Finding this info must also be easy. When potential customers click on a law firm’s website, it must be well-organized and user-friendly. 

If your site is creating a bad experience or isn’t letting users easily find what they need, you will likely lose business. All the great content marketing in the world won’t make a difference if your site isn’t on point. Creating a great site is the foundation upon which all the other digital strategies for law firms are built. Start with that, and the rest flows from there.

How Can a Law Firm Utilize Client Reviews and Testimonials?

Client reviews and testimonials can bolster a law firm's reputation and attract new clients. First, show off positive reviews on your website and social media platforms for social proof of expertise and trustworthiness. 

Testimonials also work well when integrated into marketing materials, such as brochures or advertisements, to reinforce credibility. Actively encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews on prominent review sites like Google Business Profile or Yelp. This can boost your legal practice's online visibility and search engine rankings. 

Get Help With Digital Strategy for Law Firms

Lawyers are generally competitive by nature, and the right digital marketing strategy can help you stay ahead of your online competitors. Law firms around the world are using digital strategies to open doors to new audiences, deal with changing buyer habits, and establish thought leadership and a trustworthy reputation. With the right game plan, you can do this, too — and do it better than the rest.

To make this work, know your audience, create a website that is a solid foundation for your digital strategy, and implement tools and techniques that help you stand out, such as local SEO, analytics and tracking, and content, email, and social media marketing. 

If you are interested in learning more about any of these digital strategies for law firms, contact the law firm digital marketing experts at Digital Authority Partners to find out how your law practice can truly stand out.