Get More Leads for Your Houston Law Firm with These Digital Marketing Tips

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10 Digital Marketing Tips for Lawyers in Houston Must Know

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What's the difference between successful lawyers and those who are not?

Is it intelligence? NO.

The answer here lies in marketing.

Do you know more than 1/3 of potential clients start their attorney search online? 

And, as a lawyer, you cannot afford to lose this. 

Let's find out 10 actionable tips for you to build your online brand.

1. Develop a strong, user-friendly website

It doesn't matter how your client finds you; they will always head for Google to search for more information. A website is the first step to building your online presence. 

 Here are a few tips for developing a strong, branded website as a lawyer: 

• Add critical pages. The homepage, service page, lawyer bio, about us, resource, and contact us page. 
• Ensure your website is responsive and loads quickly. Use tools like GT matrix to know load speed. Here’s an example of a speed test of a lawyer site showing speed and other performances. 

• Use polished, professional images. Avoid stock images. 
• Use multiple calls to action throughout the website. For example, call us today, book appointments, etc. 

2. Invest In Social Media Marketing

If you think, 'No person looking for a lawyer would be spending time on social media, then you are wrong! 

Almost everyone today uses social media. 

Social media is the best place to interact with your potential customers. Showcasing your values and approach will help your client feel more connected to you. 

Here’s how you can leverage social media as a lawyer:

• Choose the best platform: You don't need to be on every platform; you just need to be on the right one. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the best platforms for lawyers. 

Share your content on these channels to help the users. It also helps social media users share it with their connections, as shown in the screenshot.

• Create ‘Relatable’ content: People won't engage with content if it's not relatable. As a result, it's important to understand what your audience wants. Suppose you are a Houston-based personal injury lawyer, you can write a detailed blog on "How to get proper compensation for personal injury in Houston?", etc. 
• Add all the information: Social sites can't help you if they do not have the proper information. Hence it's critical to fill in all the information. This includes description, location, name, website, contact information, etc. 

Read: 10 Top Social Media Marketing Strategies for Local Businesses

3. Get Started With Email Marketing

Although digital marketing is growing rapidly, most lawyers still depend on word of mouth and referrals. 

That's where email marketing comes into the picture. 

Email marketing can help you remain in touch with your past clients engage the current ones, all while fuelling the mouth marketing engine in the process. Yes, it may seem cumbersome to regularly be in touch with several customers. 

Most businesses use email marketing tools like Mailchimp to shoot several yet personalized emails to the target audience. 

Here’s what a mailchimp email marketing window looks like:

Here are some critical tips to follow when doing email marketing as a lawyer:

• Know your goal: As a lawyer, or law firm, your goal might be to keep in touch with past clients, generate referrals from other attorneys, etc. 
• Focus on providing value: With so many emails getting into the inbox every day, it's easy to miss out on emails. Hence, your goal should be to create content that your clients want to read. For example, you can answer common questions that most previous clients have asked you. Or just break down legal jargon into an easy-to-consume format.

Read: Tips to Improve Your Ecommerce Email Marketing

4. Content Marketing Is Essential

Most people looking for lawyers are unaware of legal jargon. That's where content marketing allows you to speak in a language that your audience understands. 

Here is how to use content marketing as a lawyer: 

• Create a content hub for each keyword for all your law practice. For example, if you are a personal injury lawyer in Houston, you can make content targeting 'Personal injury lawyers in Houston', etc. 
• Once you have built these content hubs, internally link them with each other to create content silos. This helps both Google and users to navigate through content easily. 
• Guest blogs on other popular law websites will help you receive quality backlinks and drive traffic to your site. Use the keywords like in the below screenshot to find the law-related sites having quality traffic and authority to pitch them for publishing guest posts. 

5. Get the Google Badge of Trust: Google Screened

Google Screened is an online service provided by Google for lawyers with active licenses. 

Google Screened is a fantastic opportunity for lawyers and law firms to get a badge from Google as a reliable business entity. Clients generally take Google Screened badge as credible, and this will, in turn, generate new leads. 

Here’s are some tips for nailing your Google Screened profile.

• Follow Up To Ensure Screening is Complete: Google uses third-party services to screen lawyers. This means you need to follow up to ensure your screening goes through actively. If they have closed the case without notifying you, you will need to resubmit the application.

Take a look at the below screenshot of how Google displays screened results. 

• Update Your HeadShot: Google Screened shows the headshot in search. Consider it a dating profile; people will judge you from the look, so make sure you are presentable. 
• Get at least one review: Google requires that Local Service ads have at least one review with an average rating of 3.0 out of 5.0. So, try to get consistent new ratings and reviews to appear more frequently in search results. 

6. Leverage Bing, Apple Maps, and Yelp

When it comes to digital marketing for lawyers, everyone seems to be fixated on Google My Business and Google Maps. 

Although Google has a large market share, it's not the only search engine. You are missing out on opportunities if you just focus on Google. 

Here’s how to leverage Apple Maps, Bing, and Yelp as a lawyer: 

• Apple Maps: For lawyers, Apple Maps bring a significant share of high-ticket clients. How? Most US citizens use iPhone, which means Siri is their default assistant. For customers searching for lawyers in Houston, Siri directs them to Apple Maps since it's a default feature. 

• Bing Places for Businesses: Bing doesn't have large traffic. However, it's a default browser for many Americans. This means ranking higher on Bing can bring significant leads for your law practice. 
• Yelp: Yelp is a popular local business directory in America. Listing on Yelp will not only rank on Apple Maps but also rank for many important searches like 'Car accident lawyer' and 'Personal injury lawyers near me' on search engines. 

Take a look at the screenshot where yelp pulls up lawyer firms on maps. 

7. Use The Power Of Google My Business

Nothing can beat the power of Google My Business listings regarding local lead generation. Securing a position in a local 3-pack can do wonders for you. It lets users look nowhere else for the lawyers. 

Here are some key tips that will help you improve your listings: 

• Get positive ratings and reviews: According to the Whitespark survey, the two most important factors to improve listings prominence are a high number of ratings and positive sentiment in reviews. So, don't forget to encourage your client to rate you. 
• Fill in all the details correctly. This is another ranking factor for GMB.
• Ensure you reply to most of the reviews, both good and bad.
• Flag the spam reviews so that Google can remove them. 

8. Use Targeted Keywords To Drive Traffic

Your client's first thing when they are in legal trouble is search engines. And that’s your opportunity to grab their attention and bring them to you. But, keywords need to be targeted properly to drive traffic. 

Here's how to find the target keywords : 

• Add A Location Identifier: Since your law practice is bounded by geographical location, targeting common keywords won’t work. You will need to add location identifiers. E.g., as an accident lawyer in Houston, you can target keywords like 'Accident Lawyer in Houston, Texas'. Take a look at the below screenshot showing a similar example. 

• Use Online Forums: Many laws-related forums have real customers sharing their queries. Filter them to find the most popular ones. Use these queries to target the audience. 
• Use Keyword Research Tools: You can also make your task easy with popular keyword research tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Keyword Planner.

Read: Complete Guide to Dominate Your Ecommerce Keyword Research

9. Leverage Paid Ads 

Law is not an easy industry, especially regarding PPC advertising. According to Wordstream, the word ‘’lawyer’ and ‘’attorney’’ are the two most expensive words on Bing, each averaging up to $100 per click. 

And when you are paying over $100 per click and don’t see the results, it's easy to abandon PPC ads altogether. But, if done correctly, the benefits are multifold. Here’s such an example. 

Here are some tips for lawyers to leverage PPC ads: 

• Prioritize Calls Over Everything Else: Because a $100 phone call is worth so much over a $100 click to the website. Leads at the bottom of the funnel are more to look to talk to the lawyer directly. Ensure you are tracking all the calls. 
• Set Up Geo-Targeting Correctly: If your office is only located at two locations, it's not worth targeting the whole state. Make sure your ads mention ‘Houston’ when setting up retargeting. 
• Ensure you target correct search intent: A person searching 'Hire Personal Injury Lawyer in Houston' is much more likely to become a customer than someone searching for 'How can a lawyer help me?'. 

10. Consider Hiring A Digital Marketing Expert

Digital marketing is already complex and time-consuming, especially when it comes to the legal field. 

So, it’s time to stop your assistants, interns, and admins from being responsible for your online marketing strategies. 

It's because neither will ever get enough time to build an email list, manage social media websites, create content alongside managing clients. 

That's where digital marketing experts make your job easy.

A reliable digital marketing firm will have a team of PPC, SEO experts, content writers, social media managers, etc. They can help you take your goals and turn them into reality. Take a look at below screenshot showing the wide variety of services the firm is offering. 

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when looking to outsource your digital marketing need:

• Ensure that the agency understands the regulations of the legal industry. The more experienced they are in legal marketing, the better. 

• Look for online reviews. What are past clients saying about their services? Has anyone benefitted from them?

• How are their websites and social media? If they do not have a website. 

Bonus Tips

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1. Promote Your Legal Firm in Top Houston Legal Citations

Citation is a ranking factor for local SEO. When you register on popular online directories, Google signals that people can trust your business. It also helps them know that your business exists in real life. 

Here's a list of popular Houston Based Legal Citation Websites:

1. Findlaw – Findlaw is one of the top lawyer directories in the world. 

2. Yelp – Yelp is a popular directory that attracts more than a million visitors. 

3. Lawyer Legion – It's a directory for non-profit legal organizations. 

4. Dnb – Dnb provides legal services insights. 

5. Justia – Justia is one of the largest databases of US Supreme Court decisions. It also has a directory for lawyers, law firms, etc.

6. Biz Journals – It's a news site that features top businesses from 40 plus cities across the US.

7. Internet Legal Research Group - It was created to provide comprehensive resources and information regarding the law.

2. Network With People in Houston Legal Associations

If you want to remain competitive in the law field, you need to grow your network continuously. 

Networking allows you to broaden your horizon and advance your career. 

Here You Can Find This List of 6 Top Houston Lawyer Associations in Houston

1. Houston Lawyers Association – HLA seeks to address injustice, educate members and the community and improve legal services. 

2. Houston Bar Association – Its mission is to promote professionalism and access to justice. 

3. Houston Association of Legal Professionals – Every Tuesday, they conduct an educational dinner meeting where lawyers come together and discuss topics of ethics, corporate law, real estate, etc. 

4. Houston Young Lawyers Association – HYLA has a diverse membership of lawyers under 36 years. This club hosts networking events, CLEs, volunteering opportunities, etc. 

5. Houston Chapter Association of Legal Administrators – Established in 1974, it's one of the oldest legal chapters in Houston. 

6. Women in Houston's Legal Community – Founded in 1976, it's a non-profit community of attorneys, judges, and law students who want to promote women's interest in the Houston Legal Community. 

3. Follow Popular Houston-based Law Firms Social Media Pages

Since social media is an essential pillar of digital marketing, you can look at top social media pages creating popular law content. It will give you a rough idea of what content people want to consume and which medium is more popular. 

Check This List of 5 Popular Houston Law Firms Social Media Pages

• Abraham Watkins Law Firm–The firm consistently posts law-related content on its Facebook page. The content is a mix of text posts, videos, and visuals. 

• The Bowen Law Firm, PLLC – The firm’s Facebook page is filled with interesting content revolving around their practice.

• Thiessen Law Firm – Thiessen is the country’s most distinguished trial lawyer firm, with over 1.7k tweets on Twitter. 

• Tran Law Firm- Tran shares law-related memes and videos to help translate legal jargon into easy-to-understand language.

• The Hill Law Firm – This firm runs an active Facebook page with content ranging from personal shots to promotional videos. 

4. Follow Top Lawyers in Houston

As a lawyer, one of the best ways to learn new things is by following expert lawyers. 

After all, your growth is determined by the people you interact with. 

Here is a small list of top lawyers in Houston: 

• Jim Walker attorney – Jim Walker is a renowned personal injury attorney based in Texas. To date, he has helped his clients recover a million dollars. 
• Carmen Roe - Carmen is a criminal defense attorney specializing in aggressive and knowledgeable defense. Carmen has over 1000 followers on Twitter. 
• Reshard Alexander - Reshard is a Houston-based truck accident lawyer popular for helping auto wreck victims receive care and compensation. 
• Terry Bryant - Terry is a personal injury and accident lawyer with over 6.5k followers on Twitter. 
• Chris Hanslik - Chris practices in law areas, including business, litigation, securities, oil, gas, etc. He is pretty active on Twitter. 

Key Takeaways

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• Leverage PPC ads to attract high-quality leads. 
• Use targeted keywords with proper search intent.
• Invest in social media marketing. 
• Use the power of Google My Business listings to drive local traffic. 
• Get Google’s Badge of Trust, i.e., Google Screened to boost trust. 
• Create high-quality websites with E-A-T guidelines.
• Power up your digital marketing with content marketing.