How To Get Clients as Lawyers: 12 Tips Shared by SEO Expert

Let me share with you 12 tips on how to get clients as lawyers. Tips that work for solo lawyers and attorneys as well as for law firms to get clients. These tips are based on my own experience and expertise. You can use them to land your first few clients as well as scale your client base. 

So, how do you get clients as a lawyer? The secret to getting your first few clients starts with finding a niche where you can excel.

Once you find the right niche for your law career, you can build a website with your service list and get traffic through organic and paid methods. It's crucial to research the right keywords for your attorney niche, develop strong and credible content with those keywords, and implement effective SEO for ranking law firm websites.

You should also be active on social media, posting regular updates on court cases or explanations. This will improve your brand value as a lawyer. But that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Follow my top 12 recommendations to steadily improve your client base as a lawyer. These include content optimization, PPC campaigns, inclusion in directories, and more. The article will expand on the secrets to getting more law clients faster.

1. Develop a Niche Practice

Law businesses are more demanding and competitive than you might anticipate. Instead of practicing in broader legal niches at first, consider focusing on specific niche areas, especially if you don’t have a high marketing budget. This strategic move will not only help you stand out from local competitors but also empower you with a unique selling proposition. With expertise in niche legal areas, you will soon become the go-to lawyer, setting yourself apart in the legal landscape.

A few lower competitive niche areas for legal practices may be:

You may also choose higher competitive niches like personal injury or criminal defense, but it’s highly recommended to target a specific city or nearby cities.

2. Build a Professional Website that Drives Results

You need a website where you should list all your services, portfolio, reviews, contact details, etc. This is the most convenient way for leads to know about you.

A mobile-friendly, easy-to-navigate, fast-loading, and good UX helps your site rank better on Google. It also increases the conversion rate from organic, referral, and paid visitors, which greatly increases the ROI!

Check the websites in the image. 

Let's say you don't know anything about these websites. But you're looking for a personal injury lawyer. Which one would you trust more in the first place? Also, which one would you prefer to provide time to explore more?

The first image shows that the website "Shegirian & Associates" has created a nice legal service website. It shows its primary services, has a clear CTA, case studies and company information are included in the menu, and uses solid copy in the hero section.

But the second website has a very generic, non-convincing structure and copy. 

Now, while the list of optimizing a page for organic rank and higher conversion rates is huge, following are the most crucial things you must ensure on your website:

1. Services page: Your service pages must describe what your law firm offers, making it easy for clients to find the information they need.
2. Case studies page: Highlight a few case studies with appropriate details. It highlights your firm's successes and expertise through detailed case studies.
3. About Us page: Provide information about your law firm's history, mission, values, and team. It must also include your educational qualifications, legal achievements, awards, etc.
4. Contact page: Include multiple ways clients can contact you, such as phone, email, and a contact form.
5. Call to action (CTA) buttons: Place clear and compelling CTAs throughout your website to encourage visitors to take action.
6. Lead capture form: Collect visitor information through a form on your homepage or landing pages.
7. High-quality website images: Use professional-quality images. The images must be relevant to your law firm.
8. Testimonials from satisfied clients: Create a review page to show positive feedback from past clients to build trust.
9. A blog with informative articles: Create helpful content for your target audience and show your expertise there. This is the exact reason I’m writing this blog.
10. A team page: Introduce your legal team and highlight their qualifications and experience.
11. A news page: Keep visitors updated on recent legal developments and firm news.
12. A glossary of legal terms: Define complex legal terms for easier understanding.

As a lawyer, developing a proper law website with all these SEO tricks can be challenging. That’s where my team helps lawyers and attorneys build professional-looking and high-converting websites. 

3. Use Local SEO Strategies for Free Leads

Local SEO would be the best option for you to get organic leads, which have the highest ROI in any marketing effort. 

Follow these primary steps to start ranking in your local area:

1. Create a Google Business Profile (GBP) using your business location
2. Use the business name that you use on your website and at most the primary service to create the GBP name
3. Go to GBP settings and fill out as much information as you can. This is an oversimplification of optimizing GBP, but at least you’ll have a starting point
4. Keep updating the listing every now and then
5. Build citations around the web, especially on niche and location-relevant directories
6. Add your landing page link to GBP, along with a tracking code
7. Get reviews from your clients every now and then

Based on your competition, you might need to implement advanced strategies to start ranking. You can join me for a free 30-minute consultation, during which I can check your website and GBP listing and suggest the exact steps you need to take to rank in your city.

4. Use Paid Advertising for Instant Leads

If you need immediate traffic to your legal website, paid advertising could be a good idea. It can drive immediate traffic to your funnel without ranking.

You can use PPC campaigns through Google Ads to target keywords like "best personal injury lawyer" or "estate planning attorney". The Google Ads will make your practice visible to users searching for those terms.

Use social media ads to warm up your target personas who might be interested in your services. For you, B2C service providers, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok should work the best. 

Note that the cost per click on search engines will be much higher than on social media. So you can use socials to create brand awareness and search engines to get leads.

This is how Google places the ads on top of their search results:

5. Provide High-Quality Legal Content to Show Your Expertise

Content marketing is an excellent way to show your expertise. You can position yourself as an authority in your law field. You can target an entire funnel of leads through it. Publish content on your website as well as social media.

Topic Ideas for Blogs

To find topic ideas for your blogs, use any premium keyword research tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs. There are cheaper alternatives too. 

The easiest way is to search for your target keywords, say personal injury, and then filter by question keywords. However, check the keyword difficulty column in the image. It means how difficult it might be to rank for these keywords. This metric is not that accurate, but can give you an estimate to start. If you don’t rank for many competitive keywords yet, try to target 0 to 30 KD keywords, even if they don’t show a search volume. 

Again, it’s an oversimplification, but that should be enough if you want to manage your SEO yourself. 

Topic Ideas for Social Media

If you write blogs, which is important to drive organic traffic, then repurpose those blogs and create short but insightful posts for social media.

You can also check your competitors' blogs for topic ideas and then create original social media posts.

There’s one upside and one downside to social media posts.

• Upside: You don’t need to think about search volume. Just think if your audience will find it interesting.
• Downside: Social media posts are not evergreen like blogs. A blog can drive traffic for years, whereas social media posts can work for a few weeks only. 

Other Ways of Content Marketing

You can publish eBooks and guides. It could be downloadable PDFs on legal checklists, step-by-step contract guides, etc. Your website should also include appropriate and in-depth infographics. Create visually appealing infographics that explain complex legal processes. You can then share the infographic on social media.

However, different platforms require different types of content.

• Google: in-depth, highest quality, covering an entire topic
• LinkedIn: mostly infographics and slides
• Insta: reels

6. Leverage Social Media Platforms 

You can show off your skills, communicate with your audience, and sell your services through social media. I use my LinkedIn profile to do this. Feel free to connect with me.

Here’s a quick overview of how different platforms can help you.

LinkedIn

Use it to create a professional image of yourself. Share your thoughts about different topics in your niche, post infographics, connect with other professionals, and possibly your audience. You can create carousels or single-image infographics. However, I found that single-page infographics with tons of values stuffed work really well. 

X (Former Twitter): 

Use Twitter to engage in legal discussions. You might share quick legal tips with the right hashtags. Also, answer the legal questions as transparently as possible. When you continue writing short legal tips on X, people will follow you. And some of them will likely contact you regarding their legal needs. 

Facebook 

Use your Facebook profile for casual conversation. Do whatever you want, don’t just stick to boring business talks. Make friends, engage with them, share your case studies occasionally. Your friends will reach out to you for help.

Also, engage in different niche-relevant groups. There you can share your expertise. If you can represent yourself as a subject expert, leads will contact you.

Instagram & TikTok

Use these two platforms to create reels on different niche related topics, answer questions, and share case studies. They are very strong platforms for personal branding. 

In all social media platforms, engagement is critical. So, you must regularly interact with followers.

7. Get Your Business Listed on Top Directories

There are some directories that people visit to search for services. You may list your business there to get some exposure. But most directories are just spam and low value, and nobody visits.

You may explore these:

• Avvo
• Justia
• FindLaw
• US Attorney-Lawyer Database, etc.

However, they’d charge you to get featured on their list, as you can see in the image:

My team at Lawyer SEO Expert creates citations for our client's local businesses. We pay for such placements only when the page gets some organic traffic. Otherwise, it would just be a waste of money.

8. Networking Within Legal and Business Communities

Networking is very effective in every type of service business. When your network refers someone to you, you need the least amount of effort to convert them into clients, and they usually end up being the highest-paying clients.

Join local events, business fairs, and charity works. Build good relationships with local communities and other business owners. When they know who you are and what you do, they’ll definitely refer leads to you if someone asks for a recommendation. 

Let’s say you hired me to do SEO on your personal injury law firm website. After a couple of months, my friend asked me if I knew a good personal injury lawyer. As I don’t offer this service myself, what would I do? 

Obviously I’ll refer him to you. And as my friend trusts me, he’ll not look for any other lawyers unless you su*ck at selling your services. 

But one important thing to note. If my friend comes to me and says you are a terrible lawyer, then you’ll lose any further referrals from me. 

That’s why I always prioritize clients acquired through referrals.

9. Ask for Referrals to Your Friends & Old Clients

"I know a guy who knows a guy... who knows a guy"

This is how Saul Goodman introduced Gus Fring in Breaking Bad Season 2 when Walter White asked for a high-ticket client.

Well, do the same. 

Even though your friends should refer leads to you even without you asking for them, most old clients will just forget about you.

So it’d be wise to occasionally ask them if they know someone who might need your help.

But just don’t ask the same person again and again. It will ruin your relationship.

10. Offer Free Legal Consultations

I highly recommend that you provide free, limited legal consultations. This builds a level of trust with your leads. Why and how should you offer it?

Have you ever noticed that I'm providing my audience with free 30 minutes of SEO consultancy? I do this because so many SEO professionals are out there, and many even charge less than me. But how would my leads know that my service is the best value for their money?

They can do it by assessing my knowledge, expertise, and experience about their pain points.

This is exactly what you should do. Clear the confusion of your leads. Align your expertise with their pain points. Only then will they trust and hire you. 

11. Host and Participate in Webinars and Seminars

Attend national and international seminars and webinars on legal topics to share expertise and learn from others. Also, host educational workshops on topics that align with your practice. This will position you as a go-to legal expert in your community and attract potential clients.

Sharing legal advice through webinars on your niche relevant topics like "Legal Rights in Employment Termination" or “Understanding Workers' Compensation” will build trust among the viewers. Chances are high that a few will contact you when they need legal help. 

12. Request Client Testimonials and Reviews

Positive reviews and testimonials are required to build credibility and attract new clients. Always ask for feedback and reviews from satisfied clients. Also, encourage them to leave testimonials on platforms like Google Business Profile, Avvo, and legal directories.

Add testimonials on your law firm's website to showcase your positive reputation. Create a dedicated testimonials page or feature them on the homepage.

To make it easier for clients to leave reviews, provide them with a review request template or a direct link to the review platform. If you need help creating the testimonial outline or template, Lawyer SEO Expert can help you.

Conclusion

Aspiring lawyers must combine multiple strategies to grow clients steadily. It includes online strategy, SEO practices, personal networking, and robust content marketing. However, it could be challenging to maintain your website, SEO strategies, and write-ups single-handedly.

An expert lawyer SEO could be handy for expanding your business. You can contact me for a free consultation to develop your website and SEO strategy for acquiring clients. I am happy to share my SEO knowledge to help you grow your law career steadily—so reach out, meet, discuss, and see the difference! 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How Can Social Media Help Lawyers Get Clients?

Lawyers can use social media platforms to share valuable content with their targeted audience. I suggest you create videos and reels on legal tips to engage with clients. It could include detailed case studies, summarized versions of legal terms, etc., to build credibility and an audience base for future clients. 

2. Is Paid Advertising Effective For Lawyers?

Yes, paid advertising can be very effective for lawyers if it’s done right. However, the CPC in this industry is very high. So many new law firms with small budgets easily exit the market before optimizing their campaigns. You should create an effective strategy for PPC otherwise the cost per client acquisition will be very high and might not be profitable at all. For proper guidelines, check out our PPC services for lawyers. 

3. Should Lawyers Offer Free Consultations?

Yes, I highly recommend you provide your leads with a free limited consultation. Your leads are just confused about who the best lawyer is for them. So offer a free consultation, understand their pain points, and offer necessary solutions. When they trust you, they’ll convert.