How to Get More Clients for Your Law Firm: A Guide

How do you get more clients to:

• Find you?
• Understand how you can help them?
• Retain your services?

Answering those questions sums up what we do at JurisPage: we get more clients for law firms. So, you’re in the right place.

Regardless of how much referral and word-of-mouth business comes through your firm’s door, actively attracting new clients should be a priority for the long-term health of your business.

You have all the tools to do that. Digital marketing allows small firms and solo attorneys to compete with the big guys, winning clients who would traditionally call a number from a billboard or TV ad.

Whether you’re just starting a law firm or need to inject some new “blood” into your efforts to win new clients, this post will help identify and explain the tactics that should be the focus of your digital marketing strategy as you look to grow your firm.

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How do lawyers get new clients?

Despite the huge uptake of digital marketing, lawyers are slow to adapt. Most lawyers still get their clients from referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations.

It is estimated that:

There’s nothing wrong with this — especially when you first start your firm. But what do you do if those leads dry up?

You need to start attracting new leads to your firm with digital marketing.

Among the many benefits of this are:

• It’s more cost-effective than traditional lawyer advertising
• It provides a consistent “flow” of leads for the long term
• Small firms compete on a more even playing field than with traditional marketing/PR methods
• It doesn’t need to eat up valuable time as most of the work can be outsourced to marketing professionals

On this last point, simply passing the responsibility for generating new leads to a digital marketing agency and saying “get me more clients” is one way of doing it.

But, without first doing your homework, that can be expensive. You need to know not only who you’re handing this huge responsibility to (can they really deliver?) but also more about the specific marketing tactics that produce the best results.

Otherwise, digital marketing can be ineffective.

Understanding a little about proven digital marketing tactics helps avoid this. These strategies allow new clients to find your website through organic search or paid advertising and engage with you, building trust and understanding of what you do and how you can help them.

That’s the best way for lawyers to win a steady flow of new clients to sustain the business.

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Start by defining goals, budget, and target market

Any law firm launching a digital marketing campaign wants leads. But it’s important to define goals, budget, and target market before we start implementing strategies.

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Setting goals

SMART goals are specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. Break your goals down like this.

Do the numbers. This will help reveal the marketing activities you’ll need to engage in.

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Defining your target market

What type of clients do you want to attract?

No firm wants to attract clients that they don’t like to serve. Defining this is an important step at the beginning of the process before you start any of your marketing.

Create client personas for the types of clients you want to target.

This is a useful exercise for most lawyers as it gets you thinking in specific terms about the age, location, income, marital status, profession, preferences, etc., of your target audience — a great help in developing your messaging.

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Calculating your marketing budget

In 2021, only 35 percent of law firms with 2-9 lawyers had a marketing budget. The figure was 7 percent for solo attorneys.

Don’t be one of these firms. Settling on a realistic marketing budget will help you get more strategic with your digital marketing. It’ll also help you track and measure the performance of campaigns.

A marketing budget may be anywhere from 2-18 percent of a business’s gross revenue depending on who you read. For lawyers, this tends to be closer to 5-10 percent, with an average of 6.7% of revenue.

A startup law firm may need to spend more than that, while more established firms with search rankings, referral systems, and so on may spend less.

Now that you have defined goals, audience, and budget, you’re ready to start on the marketing strategies that will help you get more clients for your law firm.

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Build a standout law firm website

Getting clients for a law firm starts with building a standout website. You can get some ideas of what we mean from these 101 best law firm websites.

Your website will be the hub of your marketing activity. The main goal is to drive traffic from your various campaigns to your website, where you can inform and engage potential clients and convert interest into paying clients.

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The days of brochure-page websites are long gone. They kill interest. But, it’s amazing how many law firms have not upgraded to more interactive and inspiring websites.

If your website still looks like this, it’s time for a re-vamp.

Your website doesn’t need to be a “hard sell.” Its main purpose is not necessarily to convince people to sign up for services but to generate enough interest to contact you.

A “marketing lead” is considered a call to your office, an email, or an online form submission. A standout, high-performing website can convert as many as 10 percent of visitors into leads.

Most law firm websites convert closer to one or two percent — one or two visitors in 100 contacting the firm. This equates to many potential clients walking out the door, and it’s often due to the website’s poor quality.

Remember, marketing leads are not clients. Only a fraction of the leads you generate will convert into paying clients. Providing you have a solid client intake process, the more leads you generate, the greater the number of new clients you will have.

Here are a few tips to follow to improve your law firm’s website:

• Fast-loading pages: You’re unlikely to get more clients for your law firm without a website that provides a great user experience — starting with fast-loading pages (you can check speeds with Google’s PageSpeed Insights or GT Metrix).
• Clean, uncluttered, mobile-first design: Make sure your website looks the part, representing how professional and accessible your firm is on mobile as well as desktop (over 50 percent of searches are from mobile devices). Here’s a good example from Vest Estate Lawyers in Calgary.

• Simple, logical navigation: Make sure that your visitors can find what they need quickly and easily.
• Informative, problem-solving content: Include pages that answer the main questions in the minds of your ideal clients (more about this in the content section below)
• Trust and authority: Include testimonials, case studies, FAQs, and other content to build trust and authority in the legal services you offer — like this from New Mexico Legal Group.

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Optimize for search

If you aren’t on page one of Google, you’re practically invisible to new clients searching for the types of services you provide.

Most people begin their search for an attorney online, but 75 percent of web visitors never get past the first page of Google.

Still not convinced? Take a look at this graphic from firstpage.com, which estimates the percentage of click-throughs received by websites positioned one, two, and three in the organic search results.

As you can see, the first three results below the ad receive over two-thirds of the total click-throughs — for lawyer search terms, that represents huge amounts of traffic and leads.

So, to get new clients as a lawyer, you need to be easy to find by standing out in search results for your main keywords and your location. Aim for the top position in Google (yes, it’s possible — our lawyer SEO case studies prove this).

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the business of doing that. There’s a lot to it, but here are a few key elements of law firm SEO to pay attention to.

• Consistently deliver more useful information than your competitors, creating pages that are optimized for the main questions of your target audience, like this one from criminal defense lawyer Adam D. Brown.

• Conduct keyword research and use longer phrases (“how much does it cost to divorce in Nebraska in 2022?”) rather than highly competitive shorter phrases (“divorce lawyer”) — and use these phrases in headers and sub-headers as well as meta titles/descriptions.

• Optimize for local search by including keywords related to your location and completing your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) like DWI and criminal defense lawyer Richard Hochhauser.

• Build a strong backlink profile by getting authority sites to link to your content to demonstrate relevance and authority and to improve rankings.

• Answer questions to get “free advertising space” in the featured snippets section of the Google results pages (which is placed above the other organic search results) like this:

Much more goes into successful SEO, but the above elements are a great starting place if you want to attract more clients to your law firm through organic search.

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Create the best content

I’m going to tell you a secret: the majority of content on law firm websites is poor quality.

It’s either poorly written, overly promotional, doesn’t go into enough depth on topics, uses overly complicated language, or isn’t optimized people can’t find it.

Even content that ranks well is sometimes sub-standard. You can do it better.

In fact, content marketing for lawyers should be at the very center of your plan to get more clients for your firm as it is a genuine, sustainable, profitable way to generate leads in the medium and long term.

Consistently providing useful information for potential clients at the start of their “buying journey” with you achieves several things:

• It gets your content ranking and seen by potential clients
• It answers the questions in potential clients’ minds
• It helps position you as a trusted authority
• It engages prospects so that when they are ready to hire, they come to you

Generally speaking, the more helpful your content is, the longer you keep visitors on your site too. This makes your site appear more relevant to Google, which improves rankings and traffic.

Content marketing is a huge topic, but let’s go over a few of the most important areas to get you started.

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Write blog posts that answer the leading questions in clients’ minds

Say you’re a family lawyer in Wyoming state who targets divorcing couples. One of your client’s main questions might be, “what are the child custody laws in Wyoming?”

Law firm blogging provides an answer to this question and is a great way for lawyers to provide informative content that also gets ranking.

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Create extended FAQ pages

Answer each FAQ with 750-1000 words, and it then becomes like a blog post, like this FAQ page from Oykhman Criminal Defence in Calgary.

This is another great way to provide valuable, in-depth information for potential clients, so they come to you when they need to hire a lawyer.

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Prepare gated content to capture contact details

You may like to address legal topics in your practice area in major pieces of content such as eBooks or white papers. You can offer this as downloadable content to capture potential client email addresses.

Here’s a good example from an estate planning and family law firm Kirker Davis LLP.

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Create infographics, video content, and podcasts

Video marketing for lawyers is an underutilized strategy that should be part of your firm’s content plan.

Videos are how many people (not just youngsters) consume content in 2022 — Trey Porter Law in Texas understands this.

If video isn’t your thing, maybe podcasts or infographics are a better fit. Text-only content is generally less engaging and less likely to keep your visitors on your website for extended periods, which won’t help the user experience or your search rankings.

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Develop a law firm newsletter

A law firm newsletter is an excellent way to consistently reach out to new and existing clients through high-quality, informative content — and to capture email addresses.

Using your newsletter to promote blog content relevant to your target audience’s questions will attract potential new clients to your firm.

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Get found through the legal directories

Part of making it easy to get found online as a lawyer, thereby increasing your chances of getting new clients digitally, is increasing your presence in the various legal directories.

You will probably start with the legal directories, such as Avvo, Justia, Lawyers.com, FindLaw, Nolo, and HG.org.

These directories receive large amounts of traffic and spend a lot of money on SEO. They rank highly, so it makes sense to be listed.

Many legal directories offer free listings for lawyers. Most also offer paid listings that boost your visibility in searches. Some have legal Q&As where you can engage with people who need answers to legal issues.

Reviews on your profile enhance your credibility. Another benefit of a legal directory listing is that most provide a valuable backlink to your website.

Remember that many of these directories crawl the web and will create and post a profile of your firm, which is discoverable by anyone searching.

Until you claim this profile and update the details, it will look like something like this (not a great look).

You cannot control what is said on unclaimed profiles. It’s best to claim all active profiles in directories or request that they be removed if you don’t wish to have a profile there.

Don’t forget to look at listing in non-legal-specific directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages.

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Get more immediate leads with PPC advertising

Most of the strategies outlined above are slow-burners. They will provide leads if you execute the plan properly, but it may take a little time.

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a way to get new clients for your law firm immediately.

You’ll need to bear in mind the data privacy and advertising rules and regulations for lawyers (actually, you need to know these rules for all lawyer marketing). Still, they won’t prevent a successful PPC campaign if it is managed well.

Generally, when we’re talking PPC for lawyers, we mean Google Ads or Facebook Ads.

Google Ads listings sit at the top of the results pages from Google. The page’s first three to four search results are normally ads, like in this search for “criminal defense lawyer Minnesota.”

While Google Ads for law firms is generally more expensive than Facebook Ads, it can achieve spectacular results in generating new leads if you manage campaigns professionally through people who know what they’re doing.

Online ad campaigns require some investment, and mistakes can get expensive. To be effective, your Google Ads spend will range from $500/month at the low end to $25,000 or even $50,000/month at the high end.

With figures as high as these, you can see the importance of placing the responsibility for results in the right hands. But how much are new clients worth to your firm?

Know the numbers before you launch any Google Ad campaign to get new clients for your law firm.

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Social media marketing and social proof

Another way to get more clients for your law firm is to post engaging content on the social media channels where your target clients spend their time.

There are very few surprises here. You only need to look around to see that people spend increasing amounts of time on their smartphones, engaging with friends, colleagues, and businesses on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and so on.

Unless you strike gold, social media is unlikely to generate huge numbers of hot leads for your firm, but you can’t afford to not be there. Again, it’s a longer play that will raise awareness, increase traffic to your website, and may help organic rankings.

Most people who want to hire a lawyer or have a question about a legal matter will search for it on Google. But they will tell their friends about it on Facebook.

So, social media marketing for lawyers is not going to replace SEO for getting new clients for your firm, but it’s still important for social proof.

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Social proof

I’ve already mentioned how testimonials are important in establishing credibility on a law firm’s website.

Social media marketing can help you gather these reviews and build social proof. In all but a few exceptions, it’s fine to solicit genuine reviews from clients.

Make it easy for them by sending a link to Facebook, Google, one of the directories, or wherever you want them to post the review. Here’s how one personal injury lawyer in Texas stands out on Facebook.

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Manage your reputation

It’s best to appoint someone in the firm to manage social media accounts. Reviews should be responded to — good or bad.

If you don’t control the narrative about your law firm, somebody else will. By managing reviews, you can make right with clients who have gripes and protect your reputation.

In the example below, William Bly from the Maine Criminal Defense Group responds politely but firmly to the one bad review received in over 130 reviews left on his Avvo profile.

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Webinars and offline events

Presenting on legal matters to groups of prospects can work well online or offline, and you should consider both — whether in a local church or using the latest law firm webinar software.

Hosting events like these means you present to many people at once — a great way to attract new clients to your law firm. It’s not suitable for all practice types but could work if you’re an estate planning lawyer targeting retirees in your local area, for example.

You could promote an event that provides free advice on estate planning, sharing your legal expertise with your audience, demonstrating your expertise in the subject area, and opening the door for more potential clients to walk through.

Just like McCandlish Lillard, an estate planning firm in Virginia.

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Ready to create your digital marketing plan?

Now that you know more about the main digital marketing channels and how they work together to get more clients for your law firm, you can start on your plan.

This is important. Take what you know about defining your goals, target market and budget, and your knowledge of the various marketing channels and write a plan.

This document will provide a point of reference to come back to as needed. It will also help you prioritize where you spend your time. No law firm can master all of these strategies straight off the bat — select the most suitable ones to attract clients from your target audience.

By including ways to track and measure the success of your campaigns, you can understand the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing efforts.

Ask questions like the following:

• How many extra visitors have come to my website because of the marketing campaign?
• How many have converted into paying clients?
• What was the average cost of a lead/opportunity?
• What was the average cost of new client acquisition?

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Implementing your marketing plan

Few small law firms (and virtually no solo attorneys) have the in-house time or expertise to consistently bring new clients into the firm, no matter how good the digital marketing strategy is.

That’s where a professional law firm marketing agency like JurisPage comes in. Our success stories from past and present clients demonstrate how tenacious and consistent we are in generating leads and increasing client numbers.

Don’t expect instant results from your digital marketing strategy — but do expect results.

Most of the strategies focus on the long-term generation of new leads and clients, so be patient and set realistic expectations.