Being an authority on legal matters in the real world is great but for your law firm to get more clients you need to project that authority online as well because most customer journeys now begin online.

This makes an SEO and content marketing strategy absolutely vital for your law firm’s online presence. While Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a highly technical field, content marketing is where creativity is rewarded and is also relatively easier to execute.

Let’s dive into how law firms can boost their online presence with a solid SEO & content marketing strategy.

Is an SEO & Content Marketing Strategy Important in the First Place?

You might think that you have got a dependable list of clients presently and good enough word of mouth to get new customers that you don’t need to invest in SEO or content marketing.

What’s missing in this argument is that most new customers now begin their buying journey online and more often than not they will visit your website or a search engine to learn more about your law firm and its work.

This means that your law firm is no longer the first place where potential customers start their purchasing cycle, it is the last. And if you’re not expanding your reach online, these potential customers most likely won’t even know that you exist.

Good quality content forms the basis of sound thought leadership, which is coveted in legal circles. It also helps with branding when your content is ‘found’ online. Unlike TV and radio ads this is a relatively inexpensive way to improve top-of-mind recall and brand power.

It’s especially interesting and convenient how good content helps with SEO too. Search engines scour the web for content that is regarded as credible and authoritative in its domain. They ensure that such good quality content ranks higher so that more people can benefit from it.

Creating Your Content Marketing Strategy

Write about what you know best. Focus on your niche and work towards positioning yourself as a thought leader within that niche.

Next, optimize this content for your buyer personas. Content that addresses their pain points and answers their questions will perform the best. Also, keep it uncomplicated, legal jargon might not be as easy to understand for your audience as it is for you.

You should know your buyer personas enough to know where they consume their legal thought leadership content. This can be B2B social network platforms like LinkedIn or more specialized publications like Law.com.

Each channel comes with its idiosyncrasies. To maximize exposure, devise your channel strategy thoughtfully. Create not only blogs or articles but also infographics, eBooks, case studies, and more. Using this approach, you’ll be able to widen your reach to a more diverse audience.

Look at your content creation plan as two tiers. Tier 1 is the content that addresses the most immediate needs of your most profitable buyer persona. This content will be a derivative of the most common questions you are asked by leads.

For example – what to do if you are in a workplace accident and need to file an injury lawsuit.

Tier 2 content on the other hand serves to support Tier 1 content. Even though Tier 1 content will be in-depth, Tier 2 content will dive deeper into certain specifics.

For example – The information you need to gather right after an accident.

Using SEO to Boost Your Marketing Efforts

Building an SEO strategy focused on your niche is the best way to showcase your expertise and differentiate yourself from your competitors. The content that you created for your niche will come in handy when setting up your SEO.

SEO plays very well with content marketing. A quick win would be to create a Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ page on your website. These are the top questions your buyer personas want to be answered.

For a little inspiration, search for your topic on Google and refer to the ‘People Also Ask’ section.

Similarly, checklists describing a legal procedure or a legal library acting as a repository for legal information solve the dual purpose of building good content and being SEO friendly.

On the more technical side of SEO, link-building is vital. You want your content to be linked to popular websites. This will help you earn trust and authority with search engines and your content will be perceived to be important as well as popular.

Embedding meta descriptions, title tags, sitemaps, and strategic keywords into your website is also a good tactic. If you don’t have the expertise to do this yourself consider the help of SEO specialists in Toronto who can help craft an SEO strategy customized to your law firm’s needs.

Lastly, make your website mobile and user-friendly. People will not spend a lot of time on your website if it is difficult to navigate and has a frustrating user experience. A hamburger menu and a logical menu structure for the services you offer are a good place to start.