Overnight success, in general, is unrealistic and is typically unachievable. Nowadays, the internet-driven world is all about instant gratification, and that instant gratification mindset can make a difference in how attorneys view successful digital legal marketing.
Overnight success in digital marketing for law firms is fed to attorneys in a lot of different forms, and it is one of the digital marketing myths that refuses to go away. Lawyers may be more susceptible to this myth when they do not understand internet and search engine basics.
Are you an attorney who believes any of these digital legal marketing myths?
See if any of these common myths sound true for you or your law firm.
There’s a “top” of Google — and your law firm can get there.
There is a number one ranking position for any Google search initiated, but there is no “top” of Google.
If you run a search for a basic keyword phrase like as “DUI Attorney California,” the results you will receive are going to be different based the browser that you’re using, on the time of day you search, the location that you search from, the device you’re searching on, and the day of the week, among other factors.
Prospective clients will have a similar search experience.
Assuming that potential clients search for generic keyword phrases like the one above is also assuming that they already know they need a lawyer and search for exactly those terms. (That’s rarely the case.) Prospective clients frequently conduct searches by asking search engines specific questions about their problem or case. Those questions could include basic keyword terms, but more often searches are completely unique. And, for each unique search comes a unique set of search results.
A similar, related myth is that you can earn a top ranking for a popular law firm keyword in just a couple of weeks. (Again, potential clients do not typically search for popular law firm keywords.) There is huge competition for law firm keywords, and some of those keywords can become incredibly expensive. If your firm is choosing ”disposable” marketing methods like PPC, then you have probably experienced that competing for popular keywords related to law firms can be very expensive.
With such intense competition, it is nearly impossible to have a brand-new law firm website rank organically for those expensive, high-demand keywords. And, if you do to choose to pay to compete for those keywords through disposable advertising, you’ll be paying large amounts of money to compete for visitors who may not actually be a good fit for your law firm, or even bother to click on your ad– and the cost to you is the same whether they contact your firm or not.
There are some small law firms that rank well for popular law firm keywords, but it is typically the fact that they are publishing lots of informational, original content relevant to those particular keywords. That content most-likely is focused on long-tail keywords and phrases.
A smaller law firm may not be able to compete for a term like “DUI arrest California,” when it comes to PPC, for example, but the attorney can compete for searches on related topics when they write a significant volume of quality content that addresses issues like:
- “I got arrested in California for drunk driving and I had a suspended license. What do I do?”
- “Do I have to explain a DUI arrest on a California job application?”
*Learn more about long-tail keywords
Time, and informative, helpful content are the keys to successful digital marketing for law firms. When law firms create and publish that kind of content often and regularly, it keeps search engines revisiting the firm’s website to index that new content. The more a search engine has to work with, the more it has the ability to offer your prospective clients when they conduct searches.
The more pages you create for your law firm’s website, the better you’ll do in search engine rankings
Not only is this myth not true, it can also damage your law firm’s online presence.
More does not always equal better when it comes to the number of pages in search engine ranking. Of course, there are large law firm’s websites that rank well with search engines. Those law firm’s websites can have thousands of pages. The major difference is that each of those pages is filled with helpful, quality content for prospective clients, and they have an established trend of regularly publishing high-quality content. These pages were not slapped together in a hurry — they were deliberately and carefully crafted to provide potential clients with the information that is most important to them.
A website can be deemed “large” or “small” in terms of the number of pages that it has, but simply adding numerous pages without the high-quality, relevant content to support them can lead to disaster. Publishing lots of pages without adding informative, high-quality content to those pages makes them less valuable to potential clients and is unlikely to increase the search engine rankings of your law firm. Actually, it could even be damaging to your law firm website’s rankings. According to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines:
“One of the most important steps in improving your site’s ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.
However, some webmasters attempt to improve their pages’ ranking and attract visitors by creating pages with many words but little or no authentic content. Google will take action against domains that try to rank more highly by just showing scraped or other cookie-cutter pages that don’t add substantial value to users.”
Confused about what’s fact and fiction in online legal marketing?
At AdInfusion, we know that a successful digital marketing campaign for a law firm requires great content. We can show attorneys how to reliably grow their law firm’s reach and business through content-based marketing while saving them from the unnecessary expense of wasted resources- including time and money- on tactics that don’t garner results for their firms.
There is no “top” of Google, but there are many potential clients with concerns your law firm can help them with. When you connect with those people, you will be providing them with useful information and increasing their chances of hiring your law firm.
There are no gimmicks or quick tricks that will reliably boost your rankings in a search engine’s results. “Overnight success” is a myth. If you’re not sure about what’s real — and what really works for marketing law firms — let’s talk about how to improve your law firm’s digital marketing. Contact us today! 916-798-5707
