If you are a lawyer or have a law practice in any capital city in Australia; Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth you are going to need the help of a professional SEO agency if you are going to get any new business or attract any new clients.
Why?
Because like most people searching for a product of service, if your law firm or legal practice is not on page 1 of Google for an area of law they are looking for then the chances of you attracting that client will be very slim.
SEO can and will help you get those new clients that will help grow your business and the BEST MARKETING move you can make for your business is to find the right SEO agency. So, if you want to drive enormous amount of traffic to your website and get heaps of those juicy new clients then you better start a search engine optimisation campaign going ASAP – call us now here at SEO SYDNEY EXPERTS on 02 9360 8514 and start getting new clients today.
What Should Law Firms Focus on in regards to their SEO?
1) Essentially they should start by focusing on their local area. For example if you have a law practice in Sydney, then you should be looking to rank for a local search keyword like; ‘law firms Sydney’ or ‘ legal practices Sydney’. Because marketing in the legal environment is so competitive it is going to be a huge challenge and almost impossible to rank for the main keywords like ‘law firm’ so it’s a lot easier and a lot quicker to commence a SEO campaign and look to rank within your local area. If Sydney is too large and you want to be even more focused, then why not look at suburban locations like, ranking for lawyers Parramatta, Lawyers Newcastle or even Lawyers Toorak.
If you go for these suburban locations, especially if you have a new website the chances of getting higher rankings sooner are much better.
One has to be very realistic when it comes to SEO, even for businesses in the legal profession as Google does not discriminate or favour any particular industry. The rule of thumb is that no matter what niche you are in, you have to be extremely realistic about time frames when it comes to ranking your website.
When it comes to SEO and a strategy, you have to think very long term. Start off thinking locally, then once you have established some authority within your URL, you can then start expanding. Again, this is for the long haul so be prepared to stick it out.
2) A great SEO strategy for lawyers is to look at their areas of practice and devote one website page for each of them. The content of this page should be no less than 750-1000 words and be very focused on all the positive reasons why your law firm is the best in this area. Google absolutely loves fresh, new content that is targeted to a specific area.
If you follow this rule then this page will rank very high. Let me give you an example. If your law firm specialises in divorce law, then you should have a page within your site totally dedicated to this area.
Alternatively, if your niche is in commercial law, workers compenasation law or contract law then you need a specific page completely focusing on these areas. Once these have all been written up it will make the job of the SEO company so much easier.
3) One really important area that a lot of lawyers ignore is the way their actual website looks. Is it converting browsers into actual customers or are people coming to your site and leaving it without making an inquiry?
There is no point going to the trouble of ranking your website if it is not geared up for conversion. Make sure you take a good look at your website, see when it was last updated and take positive steps in making it more user friendly and perhaps more sales focused.
Give clients a good reason to call you and make sure that once they find your website they are be reluctant to leave it. There are so many ugly, out dated, template style lawyers websites out there that all you need to do is put a bit of effort into the design phase and you will see a massive improvement in inquiries.
Also read: Must ask questions for your SEO agency
What Are The Next Steps in finding the right SEO company to handle your Law Firms Internet Marketing and SEO Campaign?
This is so much harder than it looks as finding the right SEO agency is like finding a needle in a haystack. I’m not exaggerating here when I say this, cause there are so many dodgy SEO operators out there pretending to be something they are not. They come across as legitimate, caring operators and have fine tuned their sales pitch to such an extent that even the most seasoned lawyers fall victim to these scams.
So I though I would list 4 ways to find the best SEO companies that if followed will ensure your survival online.
1) Never and I will repeat this, NEVER EVER sign any types of SEO contracts. The aim of the game (for some SEO agencies) is to get you to commit your law firm to a 6 or even 12 month contract where you have to pay each and every month, no matter the kind of ranking results they are delivering.
They sign you up, lock you into a very binding contract and do the bare minimum. This is a MASSIVE problem and I can’t begin to tell you the amount of lawyers I speak to who are really angry with themselves for signing up to these contracts. Generally, they are half way through the contract term and they have seen; no results, no customer service and are basically angry that they have to wait out their contract before they can go else where.
SEO contracts are for suckers and I really hope that reading this will help you not make this very grave mistake.
2) Watch out for SEO agencies that promise miracles on very tight budgets. I know that businesses, (even law firms) want the best value that their money can buy, BUT when it comes to SEO, unfortunately this is one area where you have to be prepared to pay.
Why?
Because ranking websites in competitive areas, especially in the legal field is going to take a lot of work. Cutting corners, doing things on slim monthly budgets are a recipe for disaster and I am sorry to say this, that most SEO agencies operate in this fashion.
Again why? Because they are so desperate for your business that they are going to quote you absolutely ridiculous cheap SEO prices and promise unrealistic quick short term rankings. So many and I mean SO MANY people fall for these lies and claims that all I can say is that if you are reading this, I hope that you take note of the gravity of believing these scams.
GOOGLE will pick up on dodgy SEO ‘black hat’ techniques and they is no way you will ever be able to rank your website. This is a certainty!
3) Don’t ever fall for the ‘no rank no pay’ or ‘money back guarantees’ .
Again, these are scams and I urge all lawyers reading this to be very aware of these types of marketing ploys used to get your business. I don’t want to go too far into the reasoning behind this, except to say that you will never get your money back and they will never be able to rank you. These guys use these candy coated, pie in the sky lies to lull you into thinking that you have nothing to loose, but the reality is far worse. The tactics they will use will be incredibly non Google compliant and you will suffer a online penalty. DON”T BELIEVE ME…..THEN TRY THEM OUT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS….I will still be here to help resurrect your website once they have finished with you.
All you need to do is Google ‘SEO Sydney’ and you will see the way these guys are advertising for this…..it’s a real scam so be on the look out for this!
4) Make sure that your prospective SEO firm knows what they are talking about. Go in have a chat with them, go and visit their office and see them at work. Avoid doing everything over the phone or email and make sure that they are locally based. If you get the feeling that they are just out for the sales and are hiding the real facts about SEO and not telling you about realistic timings then give them a miss. Go with a firm that is being totally honest and transparent about what it will take to rank your website. If they seem to be overly ‘salesy’ over the phone and wanting your to sign up to a contract then be really cautious…
IF YOU ARE STILL IN DOUBT AND UNSURE ABOUT WHERE TO GO OR WHAT TO DO to kick start your SEO campaign then please give us a call here at SEO SYDNEY EXPERTS…ask for me, Steven and I will explain the ins and outs regarding SEO and be completely open, honest and ‘non geek’ speak when I tell you the best and most Google compliant ways that we can rank your website.
CALL 02 9360 8514. It’s totally free and if you are a lawyer you will appreciate my no nonsense approach to business and internet marketing.
