Lead Generations for Lawyers: The Complete Guide to Attorney Lead Generation

Lead Generation for Lawyers: The Complete Guide to Attorney Lead Generation

Lead generation for lawyers is more important today than it has ever been in the past. With marketing transitioning to an almost exclusively online space, it’s important to know how to get leads for lawyers, especially in a field saturated with legal competition.

Lead generation can be hard to wrap your mind around. You may be thinking that it’s typically used, not as a legal term, but as a business term. And yes, that is right, but it is also a critical component to building and establishing clientele for law firms. Developing high-quality lead generation for lawyers is meant to transition online users to in-person clients. By combining an array of lawyer lead services into your online marketing strategy development, you will be able to grow your business, finances, and roster of clients. Let’s get started!

You May Be Wondering: How Do I Get Leads as a Lawyer?

The simple answer to the question of how to generate leads is by using a collection of marketing tools to attract potential clients to your website.

Though the answer may sound simple, the actual task of attaining leads for attorneys is a process that takes dedication, time, money, research, and deliberate effort. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of generating leads for lawyers, let’s go over some of the basics.

What Is a Lead?

A lead is anyone who is a potential client. 

As you do own your own business, this is the general idea, but the definition can remain loose when it comes to legal leads for attorneys. Maybe a lead for your particular law firm is simply a click on a paid ad. It could also be a phone call or the amount of traffic on a legal blog post.

Whatever your definition of a lead may be, the main idea is that a lead is a person who can benefit from your law services and may be interested in paying for those services. Generating leads means you have caught a potential client’s attention and they are now pursuing further steps for your services.

Is Lead Generation Legal for Law Firms?

Absolutely! Attorney lead generation brings in new leads through a sort of pipeline that is mutually beneficial for both you and the prospective client. In order to convert those clicks to calls, your law firm needs to cultivate an inviting space that also shows your authority in your field of law.

Here are a few steps to break down the process of what it means to have leads turn into clients, and why legal leads law firm marketing is necessary for generating leads.

1. Brand Awareness: Your leads need to first know that you exist. This, of course, is obvious, but the actual practice of being seen on the internet can be a strenuous process. There is much to account for when introducing yourself as a viable law firm online. Brand awareness involves:

• Increasing your SEO (search engine optimization)
• Developing an accessible website
• Creating content
• Outputting advertisements
• Establishing your brand
• And more

Gaining initial visibility is a tricky task, but once online users are aware of you and the services you provide, you are then able to initiate first contact and move on to step two.

2. Provide an intriguing home base: Now that you’ve caught a potential client’s attention, you need to keep their interest. Continue this online conversation by making yourself accessible:
   • Be clear about your authority and expertise.
   • Have a landing page that invites your audience to stay and explore what else you have to offer.
   • Keep their attention with a visually appealing design.

The longer your leads stay on your website, the more exposure they have to your law firm, and hopefully the more interested they will be in contacting you.

3. Benefit Stage: You now have your prospect’s full attention. Now it’s time to begin the negotiation. This is where they decide whether or not to use your services. You want to convince them that you have what they want—and more. Show them how they will benefit from your legal knowledge and services.
4. Success: If the “benefit stage” goes well, the potential client will initiate contact. This may take the form of them:

• Filling out an online form
• Providing their contact information
• Calling you or scheduling a call
• Inquiring about your services

Lead generation for lawyers is a multistep process and, in the end, your success can be measured by, among other things, how many leads become clients!

How Do Law Firms Generate Leads?

To generate legal leads, it’s necessary to implement digital marketing strategies that make you highly competitive in your niche. Your competitiveness still makes you stand out to those who have a legal need. There are three main techniques for how to get leads for lawyers:

1. SEO
2. PPC or PPL
3. Law firm lead generation companies

Can Lawyers “Pay for” Leads?

You can definitely pay for advertisements in order to generate legal leads. However, it is not the only option.  To get the best law firm leads, you need to have patience, which involves employing marketing strategies. These strategies do cost money and time, but the payoff is usually well worth the price when you start to increase your volume of leads.

You can pay for leads directly, but the direct payments are typically short-lasting—such as one paid advertisement—whereas if you implement marketing strategies custom-made for you, either on your own or via law firm lead generation companies, you can have long-lasting lawyer lead gen.

Lead Generation for Lawyers Option #1: SEO

Search engine optimization is one of the most important ways of optimizing your visibility and credibility online. SEO is a powerful tool that takes time, strategy, and commitment.

Why does SEO matter? Google search engine results pages (SERP) show the top results in response to a search query. The better your SEO, the more likely you will appear on the first page of a Google search page.

Not only is SEO meant to bring people to your website, but it is also measured by the quality of your website itself. SEO considers:

• The quality of content on your site
• Backlinks incorporated
• How accessible your site is
• What keywords are included in your content
• The quality and quantity of traffic visiting your website
• If your website is procured for user experience

When your website continuously improves these SEO components, you can increase your SEO. Growing your SEO steers organic lead generation for law firms.

Lawyer Leads Can Be Generated Through an SEO Optimized Website

Your website’s design and content go hand in hand with search engine optimization. Here are some of the ways you can generate lawyer leads by optimizing your website.

• Strong Foundation: Your website’s code is an important aspect of your SEO performance.
• Credible Content: We cannot stress enough the role that content plays in SEO development and growth. When you publish content, Google pays attention to the syntax, readability, keywords, accuracy of content, and other attributes to more or less grade your website. Your content is your primary way of communicating your voice, expertise, and authority to your potential clients.
• Professionalism: Your website is the online face of your law firm. Your website’s design should reflect your professionalism and who you are as a law firm. Along with professionalism comes “user experience,” which is how your users interact with your website. Leave a lasting impression by using design elements to enhance your brand.
• Make it Personal: Providing direct ways to talk to your law firm is necessary for generating leads. It also makes your potential clients—aka, generated leads—feel welcomed to your site. Including bios and pictures of each attorney can be a nice introduction, too. Having an entire page for contacting your firm makes it clear that they can easily reach you.
• Accessibility: Your website should be accessible to everyone who needs to use your services. Take this into account when designing your website navigation and design features. If your audience is hard-of-hearing, do you have closed captioning on your videos? If they have strained eyesight, are they able to read your content at the font size it is at? Accessibility needs to be accounted for when adhering to your audience’s needs.

Consider Hiring an SEO Agency to Generate Leads for Your Law Firm

SEO takes a lot of work, and having SEO experts on your side to help generate leads can only be beneficial. Making a lasting impression on viewers can generate leads and ultimately lead to clients. A law firm SEO digital marketing agency can conduct keyword research, develop an SEO-friendly website, create designs for advertisements, write content, and provide other optimization services.

Lead Generation for Lawyers Options #2: PPC or PPL

Paid search campaigns get your law firm to the forefront of someone’s computer or phone screen. Gain visibility and brand awareness by using PPC or PPL.

What Is PPC?

PPC stands for pay-per-click. In this lawyer lead gen strategy, you pay for the number of clicks that your law firm receives. This can be done on any platform, including search engines, social media, and websites. Your ad pops up, someone clicks it, and you pay for that click.

PPC is not quite as easy as just paying for an advertisement, though. To get the best law firm leads, you need to conduct targeting and keyword research to know where to place your ad and what content to include. Then comes creating the advertisement copy itself. Next, you then need to continue to develop your ad and do follow-up research on where your ad functions best.

PPC with data-driven display placement and targeted search terms can completely change the trajectory of your lead generation.

What Is PPL?

PPL stands for pay-per-lead. This narrows PPC to a more advanced step in generating leads.

The general principle is this: the amount you pay for an advertisement is dependent on the leads you land.

You may set the conditions of what a lead is in your PPL agreement. Once you establish your agreement, you will only pay for the leads generated, not simply for visitors. Your parameters of lead must be met for payment.

PPL is usually quantified by the number of people who sign up, or give their contact information, to your law firm. If you are working with a third-party lead-generating service or other attorney lead generation services, it is worthwhile to conduct an audit of your leads. There may be potential companies that charge you for false leads. That’s why it is essential to work with a law firm marketing agency that is transparent in their communication with you.

Google Advertising as a Lead Gen Opportunity for Lawyers

Google Ads is a fantastic way to generate legal leads. When potential clients are searching for law firms, Google can present your law firm on Google Search and Google Maps. Google has created a comprehensive PPL strategy to promote your law services. You can even set a cap to the budget on how much you’re willing to pay for leads. Show yourself off to people who need your services using Google.

Optimizing Your Law Firm’s Website for Conversions

PPC is a great way to generate leads, as it spurs visibility. When it comes to initiating that first interaction, PPC can drastically increase your odds of generating a lead. Spotlighting your law firm with paid advertising kick starts your engagement.

Using a Third-Party Lead Generation Service for Lawyers

Utilizing lead generation services can greatly improve your online visibility and result in a rush of new clients. And using a third-party service specifically made for lead generation for lawyers can expedite your process of generating leads.

What Tools Are Available to Law Firms for Lead Gen?

The following lead-generating services are authorities in the field of attorney lead generation services. We’ll give a brief overview of what we consider to be some of the top lawyer lead services.

Avvo

Avvo is one of the leaders in the legal industry. People with legal issues flock to their website, which includes free Q&A services, legal advice, and directories. Avvo’s main service is their lawyer review. Working with Avvo could promote good reviews for your law firm and boost your marketing plan. Avvo also produces tons of connections—650,000 per month—for lead generations.

Nolo

Nolo has an incredible amount of traffic, receiving millions of viewers every month. Nolo’s websites take SEO seriously, producing large numbers of websites and articles that focus on whatever specific legal issues are relevant. Nolo’s keyword research is admirable and has the power to send searchers to exact geographical locations for their legal needs.

Nolo sells leads to attorneys that are in the same geographical region as an inquirer. The leads can be decently expensive as well as shared with other lawyers in your area—unless you pay a higher price for exclusive leads.

FindLaw

FindLaw is an online directory that offers forums, legal guides, and articles. They also work with lawyers.

FindLaw provides paid PPC lead generation, as well as website development, campaign management, and more. They offer PPL services through targeted online advertising. Their ads then generate leads, and those leads are sold to lawyers. Unlike Nolo, the leads are given to you and only you when you pay.

Unbundled

Strictly a lead-generating service, Unbundled works on giving individual leads and puts a cap on the number of attorneys that can work with them in a specified location. This way, the attorneys that work with Unbundled have consistency in lead generation. Unbundled is known for having quality leads and high conversion rates for those they work with.

Lawyers.com

Another directory site, Lawyers.com, provides lawyer searches, reviews, and a direct pipeline for users to contact lawyers. You can pay to be listed on their site, and pay more to show up higher on their search results (similar to a Google SERP).

Are These Tools Worth it?

If you have the capacity to take on an influx of new clients, then by all means, yes! Using third-party lead-generating services can help with your present and future success. Know that generating leads is not a one-time occurrence. By working with these services consistently, you will grow your leads and online visibility over time.

Lead Generation for Lawyers Option #3: Hire a Specialized Agency

Generating leads is no walk in the park. It can be a full-time job that requires time, effort, money, and deep knowledge in the field of digital marketing. Lucky for you, generating lawyer leads is something that we do daily! We concentrate our efforts on applying our expertise to meet your goals. Let us use our skills matched with your needs to get you leads!

Metric Marketing Is a Full-Service Digital Marketing Agency for Attorney Lead Generation

We believe that the different aspects of digital marketing operate best as a full team. You cannot have one aspect of digital marketing while lacking in another area. That’s why our team members combine forces to offer a well-rounded, full-service digital marketing experience. Here at Metric Marketing, we work hard to offer you:

• Strategy development
• Search engine optimization
• Paid social campaigns
• Paid search campaigns
• Content marketing
• Graphic design
• Web development

We offer these lawyer lead services to maximize your lead generation.

Cross-Functional Marketing Team for Tailored, Comprehensive Digital Marketing Execution

Metric Marketing is a digital marketing agency that specializes in creating and applying marketing strategies specifically for law firms. We are well equipped in the field of lead generation for lawyers. By combining our services, you get a well-rounded digital marketing service that generates leads.

We operate on the belief that because your law firm is a unique business, your digital marketing strategy must be tailored to your specific needs and goals. By individualizing your digital marketing, you will stand out from your competitors. We can help build a plan based on data-driven analysis, then execute it to reach ever-growing goals.

Reach Out to Metric Marketing for a Consultation Today

To meet your goals for legal leads, law firm marketing companies can help create expert marketing strategies. As a law firm marketing company, we provide attorney lead generation services based on data-driven techniques. We pride ourselves on our transparency and communication. We want you to understand our process and want to work with you to maximize leads. If you have any questions about lead generation, our process, or are ready to start your journey in intentional lead generation for law firms, we’re just a click away. Give us a call at (734) 404-8714 or fill out an online form today. We can’t wait to hear from you!