6 Easy Wins to Improve Your Law Firm Lead Generation

Law firm marketing and lead generation is notoriously difficult. Thanks to the high level of competition, law-related keywords rank among the most expensive on Google, with the word attorney costing more than $47 for a single click. And that's before we even get into the significant time required to build a marketing strategy that sets you apart from competitors who, in the eyes of your audience, are just like you.

But success is possible; you just need the right strategy. Focusing on inbound marketing and lead generation, for example, can come with significant benefits for your law firm.

That focus will require time and effort, particularly when it comes to optimizing your website. But at the same time, a successful implementation complete with a data-heavy agile approach, will save your practice time while at the same time maximizing its marketing success.

How a Lead Generation Optimized Website Reduces Waste

When you think about agile, what comes to mind? Even if you don't know about the marketing or software development variation of the term, chances are you're thinking about a concept that allows you implement, adjust, and change any of your marketing efforts swiftly.

Given the constantly changing digital marketing environment, this emphasis is absolutely crucial. Especially when trying to grow your law firm, you need to make sure that you get as much as possible out of your marketing efforts with as little time or money wasted. A lead-optimized website can achieve just that.

Think about it: if your ultimate goal is to attract clients, leads are the next best thing. They are, in essence, potential customers just waiting for the right moment to become your clients. To generate leads, you can spend significant money on purchased lists, work hard to manually get them into your sales funnel--or automate the process through your website.

Once you follow the below 6 steps, your efforts will be streamlined. As you generate new website content, that content will automatically go to work in helping you generate more leads. With an emphasis on the right areas, you can optimize your law firm website for lead generation and maximize your marketing success.

1) Streamline Your Navigation

A confusing navigation is the death of any successful lead generation effort. If you manage to attract your target audience to your website, but they get lost on the site and don't find any opportunities to convert, your promotional efforts will be wasted.

Instead, streamline your navigation. Focus on fewer, longer pages rather than creating a large and confusing sitemap. Add a search function, as well as a path that shows how visitors got to their current page along with an opportunity to navigate back out as needed. 

Finally, test your navigation thoroughly. Ask test subjects or members of your law firm to find important information quickly, and see how long it takes them. The more often they find it quickly and without questions, the better.

2) Include Relevant (and Limited) CTAs

Lead-optimized web design follows a few cardinal rules. One of them: always provide a next step. Never leave your audience feeling that once they've read a page, they can simply leave without taking an action.

Enter call to action (CTA) buttons.

Through effective CTA buttons, you can direct your audience's attention. Following a number of best practices, you can engage your audience while simultaneously directing them toward a page where they can convert to leads. 

At the same time, it's crucial to keep a balance between including relevant CTA buttons and overwhelming your web visitors with them. The paradox of choice is a psychological conundrum, as your visitors will become less likely to choose anything if they are presented with too many options. To prevent that from happening, keep your CTAs to only the most relevant next steps to the specific page on which they live.

3) Build a Compelling About Page

In most industries, it's treated as a throwaway. But for law firms, the About page is a crucial element of your website. Here is your chance to convince your audience exactly why you are the most logical and credible choice for their legal needs.

In fact, the About section is the second-most visited page on most law firm's websites. Here, you can introduce your attorneys as well as their history and areas of expertise. This is also your opportunity to showcase your most important accomplishments. 

Finally, you can use your about page to add a personal touch. Rather than simply sounding like yet another law firm touting their expertise, write engaging copy that your audience actually wants to read. 

4) Incorporate Social Proof

The most convincing and credible type of content on your website doesn't come from you. Instead, it comes from current and past clients who act as independent verifications that your claims of expertise are actually true. 

That's what makes social proof such an important element of any lead-converting law firm website. To get potential clients to give you their contact information, they need to trust you. And the easiest way to accomplish that trust is by showcasing past clients who have benefited from working with you.

That social proof can come in a variety of forms. A case study, for example, can go deep into a recent case and how you won it. Meanwhile, shorter testimonials throughout your website explain exactly why visitors should become leads and (eventually) clients.

5) Emphasize Lead-Converting Landing Pages

At this point, you may be wondering how any of the above can actually get you leads. After all, an about page, testimonial, or case study will not result in any sign ups for your web visitors. That's where landing pages come in.

Within the larger inbound marketing philosophy, landing pages are a crucial element. They house your sign up forms, while at the same time making a specific case how visitors can benefit from becoming leads. 

The details of successful landing pages range from optimizing the form itself to building convincing (and visual) supporting content, and deserve their own blog post. For now, what you need to know most is that all of your website design, from the streamlined navigation to the strategically placed CTA buttons, should ideally lead to landing pages. This is the action you most want your audience to take.

6) Use Your Blog as a Lead Magnet

Finally, any website that's optimized for lead generation should make strategic use of a business blog. Here, you can use a variety of legal topics that are specifically designed to attract your audience's interest.

Ideally, these topics should be based on keywords that your keyword research has found to result in a high chance of lead generation. In addition, they can add as more in-depth content that (gated behind a sign up form on your landing page) acts as the natural next step.

In other words, well-run law firm blogs turn into lead magnets. They attract your visitors through high-quality, interesting, and engaging content, then present the opportunity to learn even more--all your audience needs to do is sign up to become a lead.

Using these six steps, you can automate your lead generation through your website. Each new blog post will be connected to a streamlined navigation and relevant CTA, leading to landing pages with gated content that funnels contacts into your database.

Meanwhile, your About page and social proof build your credibility to maximize your visitors' chances of converting to leads.

Emphasizing Continuous Improvement for Maximum Success

That leads us to the final step you should take for maximum success: when it comes to your website, emphasize continuous improvement. Rather than considering your online presence a finished product, constantly look for opportunities to optimize its lead-generation abilities even further.

A/B testing, for example, should be a natural and common thread within your website strategy. Landing pages, blog headlines, and CTA buttons can always be improved to nudge your conversion rates just a bit further upwards. 

Ultimately, to succeed in marketing your law firm, you need to make sure that your website acts as a centerpiece for your digital efforts. Depending on your strategy, that can mean a complex, time-intensive process, or a dynamic and automated alternatives that saves you time while maximizing your success.

So why would you choose the former? Instead, contact us to learn more about what your website needs to accomplish your lead generation efforts for you.