Design

Blog posts can be powerful tools for sharing thought leadership, earning trust, and engaging your customers and clients—but of course, they don’t mean anything unless people can actually read them.

That’s why we recommend promoting company blog posts on social media and in your email newsletter. And, it’s why we recommend robust attention to blog SEO.

Indeed, when optimized correctly, each blog post can be a powerful online asset—a way to gain greater visibility for your business and increased traffic for your website.

In this post, we’ll walk you through some of the best ways to make your blog posts more algorithm-friendly.

How to Boost Your Blog’s SEO Value

Do Some Keyword Research

First things first: You can’t optimize your blog posts without knowing which keywords you’re optimizing it for. This is where tools like Google Keyword Planner can be essential; input some keyword related to your topic and you can see a long list of keywords and phrases that search engine users might use. Pick two or three to employ in your blog post.

Use Keywords Effectively

The important thing to remember about keywords is that the days of stuffing as many of them as possible into your content are long gone. You don’t have to overdo it. Just make sure to organically weave a few keywords into strategic places—including:

• Your blog title
• H1, H2, and H3 headings
• Your meta description
• The opening paragraph
• A few organic placements throughout the body content, if possible

Format for Readability

Here’s a secret about SEO: Google wants to give its customers (search engine users) a great product (relevant results), so the best way to improve your rankings is to make your content more user-friendly. One way you can do that is to format each post for easy reading. Some suggestions:

• Use short sentences and brief paragraphs
• Use bullet points and numbered lists whenever you can
• Break up your content with section headings and sub-headings
• Include images so that you don’t just have a big wall of text

Include Links

Linking is another area where it’s best to just be natural. You don’t have to force 100 links into each blog post, but whenever you have a natural opportunity to link to a previous post or to a relevant section of your website, do so. You can also include links to authoritative outside resources, which can provide some SEO juice, but of course, you don’t want to link to competitor sites!

Ensure Speed

Hopefully it goes without saying by now that all content should be optimized for mobile devices—and part of that is being sure your blog posts load quickly. Do a quick speed test, and if it takes more than three seconds for the post to load, that could hurt your SEO rankings.

Get Set Up in Google

Finally, just a friendly reminder: After you publish a blog post, make sure you add it to Google Search Console. And, be sure Google Analytics is set up so that you can monitor your blog’s performance.

Get the SEO Guidance You Need

These steps will help you achieve better Google rankings for your blog posts—but of course, this is just one element of an effective digital marketing strategy.

To take more of a big-picture approach, we invite you to contact us today. Driven2020 is a seasoned marketing agency, known for helping our clients see real results as efficiently as possible. We encourage you to connect with us today so that we can start discussing your SEO and marketing needs!

Design

Content marketing has been a major digital marketing buzzword over the past few years—but what does it mean, exactly? For those who are unfamiliar with it, it’s basically the practice of sharing free, valuable content with your users—blog posts, videos, content on your website, etc.—to showcase your expertise, to drive traffic, and to increase engagement.

A lot of attorneys are on the fence about whether it’s actually worth their time to generate this free digital content—and we’d argue that it very much is. Here are just a few of the ways in which content marketing can benefit your legal practice.

How Content Marketing Benefits Your Firm

1. SEO is changing—and compelling content is key.

Content marketing can actually provide you with a good inroad to improved search engine rankings. Here’s why: Google’s algorithms increasingly focus on rewarding content that the end user finds to be relevant and valuable. As such, you can’t necessarily earn better rankings through the tired old SEO tricks, like keyword jamming. But you can earn improved rankings by developing content that your readers will actually find to be beneficial. In other words, a good SEO strategy is to write primarily for human beings, not search bots—and that’s something that dovetails nicely with content marketing.

2. Content marketing establishes your thought leadership.

How does your law firm stand out from all the rest? One way to distinguish your legal practice is to establish thought leadership—showing that you know your stuff and are respected in your field. Being seen as an industry leader will help you earn the trust of your clients, and one way you can develop that kind of thought leadership is by regularly blogging about legal issues. Start publishing your perspectives on legal questions related to your niche.

3. You can use content to guide potential clients through the sales funnel.

You may have some readers who aren’t quite ready to pick up the phone and call you for an appointment—and that’s okay. What you can do is help them reach that inflection point. Provide some more general, high-level content that will catch the attention of people who are just beginning to consider their legal needs. And, augment that content with some more refined topics, for those who are closing in on a decision. Use your content marketing to map out the prospective client’s journey.

4. Stay in touch with clients.

A final way in which content marketing can help your firm is that it allows you to stay connected to past and present clients—ensuring your firm is always somewhere close to the top of their mind. There are a number of ways you can do this, too—through an email newsletter, through regular social media updates, and more. Of course, a robust content marketing plan will also provide you with plenty of fodder for those communiques; for example, a weekly blog can easily be shared on social media, adapted into an email blast, etc. All of this helps ensure that your clients don’t forget about you, and makes them more likely to reach out when they have a legal need.

Get Started with Content Marketing Today

Content marketing is anything but wasted time and effort; actually, for law firms, it offers a range of benefits, and should be a central part of any digital marketing enterprise.

We’d love to tell you more about the positive effects content marketing can yield for your firm. Talk with our law firm marketing experts today; reach out to Driven2020 and set up a consultation at your next opportunity!

Design

It goes without saying that, in order for your law firm to succeed, you need to be visible to potential clients. That’s what search engine optimization, or SEO, is all about—ensuring your law firm shows up when local clients conduct online searches.

It sounds simple, but actually, SEO can be quite complex. Google’s search algorithms juggle a number of different factors, or ranking signals, to determine where your website falls on the results page.

With that said, there are some basic principles you can implement as you seek to position your firm for ideal visibility.

5 Key SEO Principles for Your Law Firm

1. Don’t try to fake it.

A common mistake is believing that you can “trick” Google’s search algorithms—but rest assured that you can’t. Tricks, gimmicks, and surface-level strategies ultimately fall short. Rather, it’s important to understand what Google really wants—namely, to provide its search engine users with access to relevant, valuable content. In other words, your best bet is to focus on making a website that will actually be beneficial to the end user.

2. All SEO is local.

The old-fashioned way of doing SEO was to relentlessly focus on being the #1, page-1 listing for all relevant Google searches. Not only is that an unattainable goal, it’s really not even a worthy goal. Your firm ultimately just needs to be discovered by locals, so the focus should always be on ranking well in localized searches. Things like the Google Map Pack, Google My Business, and Google Reviews are all of much greater significance than the pursuit of a top ranking.

3. Search is always changing.

Something else that’s important to remember is that search behaviors are always changing—and your strategies should adapt in kind. One obvious example is the advent of voice search. More and more people are using Siri and Alexa to assist in their searches, which means that natural-language keywords are increasingly important. The point here is that your law firm can’t afford to let its SEO strategy go stagnant; you’ve got to keep up to date with the latest search trends.

4. White hat is always better.

This one goes back to what we said about tricks and gimmicks. There are a lot of shady ways in which you can try to improve your SEO rankings—for example, buying backlinks, or by jamming a ton of keywords into your content. These are called black hat tactics, because they explicitly go against Google’s stated rules and regulations. Black hat strategies can provide you with some short-term value, but they ultimately lead to penalties in the end. It’s always better to play by Google’s rules, which means using white hat SEO strategies.

5. Give the people what they want.

To sum all of this up, it’s tempting to create website content with the algorithms in mind—but actually, it’s smarter to just focus on providing a meaningful user experience. Remember, Google wants to furnish its users with good, value-adding content. If you can make that happen, it will probably help you land some better rankings improvements.

Improve Your Law Firm’s SEO Rankings

The bottom line for legal professionals is that SEO can be a full-time job in and of itself, and there are always a lot of factors to take into account. All of that points to the value in hiring a skilled, seasoned SEO company.

Driven2020 provides digital marketing expertise to countless law firms throughout California and across the country. Reach out to us today to learn how we can help you generate improved search rankings!

Design

The Internet affords your business a number of opportunities—but those opportunities aren’t just going to fall into your lap. You have to seize them, which means making sure your company can be discovered by search engine users—and in particular, local ones.

This means a robust local SEO presence, something that isn’t always easy to come by. Indeed, there are some common local SEO errors that can cause your efforts to come up short. In this post, we’re going to highlight some of the most common local SEO mistakes and also show you how they can be avoided.

Local SEO Errors (And How to Avoid Them)

Here are some of the local SEO errors we notice most often:

• Not including the right contact information. Every page of your website needs to have your NAP data—that stands for your company name, address, and phone number. This is how Google knows where to categorize your business, and it’s vital if you want to show up in local searches!
• Including inconsistent NAP data. A related point: Your NAP information should be presented in exactly the same way on each page of your site, as well as on all your social media pages, local citations, etc. Don’t use different phone numbers or abbreviate your business name, which can muddle the SEO impact of that NAP listing.
• Failing to claim a Google My Business account. Google My Business accounts are important local ranking opportunities—and you can sign up for one completely free of charge! There’s no reason not to create a Google My Business account and fully optimize it.
• Selecting the wrong keywords. Entire volumes can be written about keyword selection, and we won’t get into all of it here. For now, we’ll just note the importance of using resources like the Google Keyword Research tool to find the right keywords, and to strike the right balance of competition, intent, and traffic.
• Not securing local citations. Does your local Chamber of Commerce have an online directory? What about local business organizations? Any opportunity you can find to claim a directory listing or citation, do so—and remember to use your NAP information!
• Not seeking local reviews. Getting reviewed on Google is an important way to juice your rankings—so be proactive in asking your customers and clients to leave you some feedback.
• Not including your city anywhere in your content. You don’t have to shoehorn your location into every line and every paragraph on your site, but do include it where appropriate—like in your meta data, title tags, and throughout your content.
• Writing content that’s thin or lacking in value. Finally, note that great content is always at the heart of a successful SEO campaign—so if you’re not getting the rankings you’d want, it may be time to look at your site and beef if up a bit. Make sure it has plenty of substantive, valuable content that helps the reader make an informed purchasing decision.

Talk to an Expert About Local SEO

You can’t just assume that your business will be discovered by local customers—no matter how great your products and services. You’ve got to actively seek out an audience, and that means investing in local SEO.

And that’s something we can help you with! Driven2020 has worked with countless local companies, helping them connect with consumers and enjoy higher Google visibility. We’d love to talk with you about your search marketing needs. Start that conversation by reaching out to our team at your next convenience.

Design

It’s human nature to crave positive feedback. We all like to be told that we are doing our jobs well, that we are making a difference, that none of our efforts are going unnoticed. By the same token, however, few things can sting quite like negative feedback. Yet in this digital age, where everyone is empowered to publish their opinions for good and for ill, negative feedback is all too easy to find.

That’s certainly true for law firms. Hopefully, your legal practice gets mostly positive marks on its Yelp, Google, and Facebook reviews. Sooner or later, though, you’re bound to hear from a disgruntled client—and how you respond to that client makes a world of difference.

Cool Down

In fact, your response to bad reviews can sometimes make things exponentially worse. Getting a one-star rating may seem really awful, but imagine how it will look to potential clients if you respond to that review with a long, all-caps rant.

That may seem like an exaggerated example, but the point is this: It’s natural to get angry about bad reviews, especially when you believe them to be unfair, but responding in anger just makes you look petty. Take some time to cool off before you respond to any negative review.

Show Some Customer Service

When you do respond, view it as an opportunity to show off your customer service skills. Some bad reviews may come from folks who simply like to complain, but most are based on real problems that you can address.

Some specific steps to follow include:

• Always acknowledge the problem; let the reviewer know that you truly understand what they are saying.
• Ask how you can make things right. Seek a way that you can make amends with the wronged client.
• Attempt to de-escalate. Politely offer to move the conversation to a phone call or private email, rather than hashing it out in public.
• Affirm your commitment to always providing each client with the highest standards of service and care.

These are just some of the basic guidelines you can use to turn bad reviews into customer service opportunities—and in doing so, to potentially turn some of those negative ratings into positives!

You Can’t Force Anyone to Change Their Review

While there is much you can do to redeem those bad reviews, it’s also important to remember that you can’t make someone change their mind about your law firm—nor can you make anyone change a bad review.

While a bad review hurts, it’s not the end of the world. It certainly shouldn’t slow your efforts to build a sterling reputation for your legal practice. To that end, it’s vital to consistently seek out positive reviews from satisfied clients—enough of which can really dampen the impact of the occasional low score.

Make Reviews a Part of Your Marketing Strategy

One thing we recommend is that you consider online reviews as part of your overall law firm marketing strategy. That means actively monitoring and responding to your reviews, as well as soliciting them from faithful clients.

We would love to talk with you more about the big picture of law firm marketing, and about ways to create a sterling reputation for your legal practice. Reach out to the seasoned legal marketing pros at Driven2020 today and let’s brainstorm together about how you can better brand your firm.

Design

Starting a blog can be one of the best marketing decisions your law firm ever makes. Consider some of the benefits of blogging at your firm’s website:

• It allows you to exhibit thought leadership and industry authority.
• It educates and informs your clientele, giving them a better grasp on the legal process.
• It provides you with content for social media, for email newsletters, and beyond.
• It improves your site’s SEO prospects, as well.

The bottom line: Blogging enhances the reputation of your firm, and it can also provide you with greater search engine visibility. With that said, effective blogging can sometimes feel elusive; here are some tips we’d offer to make your firm’s blog a true marketing asset, not just a boondoggle.

Better Blogging for Your Law Firm

Choose Your Topics Wisely

One of the most challenging aspects of blogging is simply knowing what to blog about. As you consider potential topics, keep these guidelines in mind:

• Remember your legal niche and stick to it.
• Blog about things your clients care about—issues or pain points affecting their life.
• Avoid too much “inside baseball.” Remember, you’re blogging for lay people, not for fellow attorneys.
• Be willing to blog about tough issues that relate to your field, even the ones other lawyers shy away from; after all, these are probably the issues where your clients need the most help.

Write Compelling Headlines

The headline is arguably the most important piece of each blog post. Why? Because without a compelling headline, nobody is ever going to click, read, or share the post. Some tips for good headlines:

• Promise value; your headline should let readers know what they can expect to get out of it.
• Don’t use clickbait or be otherwise misleading; your content should always accurately reflect the title of your post and vice versa.
• Sometimes the best titles are phrased as questions; in other instances, they simply promise knowledge on a particular topic—e.g., 5 Things to Know When Choosing a Divorce Lawyer, etc.

Use Multimedia

Nobody likes to stare at an all black-and-white screen, so enrich your posts with images, infographics, or even embedded video. The right media will augment your writing, not detract from it.

Format for Easy Reading

You may write the most insightful post in the world, but if it’s presented as one huge chunk of text, nobody’s going to want to read it. Make sure you format your post to be easy on the eyes. Some tips:

• Keep paragraphs short whenever possible.
• Use bullet points and numbered lists when appropriate.
• Include plenty of empty space in the margins, between paragraphs, etc.
• Use section headings and subheadings to help readers navigate your post.

Be Consistent

This may be the hardest step of all—but for your blog to be effective, you really need to stick to a consistent schedule. Make an editorial calendar in advance, denoting:

• When new posts need to be written.
• When new posts will be published.
• Who is writing each post.
• Topics/categories for upcoming posts.

Include a CTA

Finally, while the point of your blog posts is to be informative, that doesn’t mean you can’t end with a strong call to action—simply advising readers to call you with any further questions. Make sure to include the appropriate contact info and/or links, as well!

With these guidelines, you’re ready to launch your firm’s blog—and we’d love to help! Reach out to Driven2020 today for questions about legal marketing strategy, content creation, and beyond.