Just having a website is not enough to generate leads for your criminal law firm. To get found online, you'll need to generate content and optimize your website for search engines.
If you’ve created a criminal law website, you’ve probably already covered the basics. You have a homepage and a list of your practice areas. Maybe you’ve even created a contact form, a blog, and a button for visitors to book a consultation. Producing a website is a great way to reach potential clients, but it might not earn you additional clients until it starts ranking in search engines.
If you want to get your criminal law website found online, you’ll have to optimize for search engines and enhance your targeting.
Earning clients is becoming increasingly competitive for lawyers in a number of practice areas. According to law firm strategy consultant Altman Weil, 62% of law firm leaders believe that falling demand is a permanent trend and 95% see increased price competition as a permanent trend.
With the introduction of non-traditional legal services into the market, competition is getting even tighter. That means your criminal law firm needs to reach the right people through the channels they use most, namely online and mobile.
To get your criminal law website found online by more potential clients, here are some places to start:
Identify Keywords
Keywords represent the terms that your potential criminal law clients will type into a search engine when they are looking for services online. Some good examples might be “criminal lawyer” or “criminal defense attorney.” However, shorter keywords are generally harder to rank for.
A good practice is to identify longer keywords based on your law firm’s location and your particular practice areas. For example, you might have an easier time ranking for “Washington drug possession lawyer” if you are based in Washington, D.C.
While you may be tempted to only use short keywords, keep in mind that at least half of all search queries are 4 words are longer. If you’re struggling to create a list, marketing professionals can help you determine which keywords you should try to rank for.
Optimize Posts and Pages with Keywords
To get your criminal law website found online, you need to include your targeted keywords within all of your blog posts and web pages. If you have web pages dedicated to specific practice areas, you’ll want your keywords to be aligned with those topics so that web searchers can find the page when conducting a search online.
Any blog posts should be optimized for keywords based on blog topics. Often the best course of action is to derive keywords directly from the title of the blog post.
If your homepage ranks for any keywords, it should rank for the name of your firm or your brand. Often, homepages don’t rank at all, serving as a backlink for your other optimized pages, instead.
These are some important locations for keywords:
- Page Titles
- Headings
- Body Copy
- Image Alt Texts
- Meta Descriptions
- URL’s and Slugs
Generate Additional Content
Generating additional content isn't just a great way to get your criminal law website found online. It can also convert your visitors into leads. When you create content, it’s important to write for both the reader and for search engines.
That means using targeted keywords naturally in the body copy of your posts. At the same time, you'll provide the reader with answers, advice, and an easy way to connect with your services.
To generate additional content, you can create a blog and post regularly on subjects that may interest your potential clients. As a criminal lawyer, you could elucidate upon the details of various crimes, how they play out in a court case, and what potential clients should expect if they’ve been accused of a crime.
You can also generate additional web pages about particular practice areas, or based on the locations you intend to target.
Use Images
Blog posts, web pages, and any other content you place online should be accompanied by images. Studies have shown that articles containing relevant images get 94% more total views than articles that don’t. Images can also contribute to your website's aesthetic, and the right images can even speak volumes about the quality of your criminal law firm.
Target a Local Audience
When people used to look for a lawyer, they would ask their friends, family, and coworkers for referrals. Although this still happens, more and more people are turning to the internet to find legal assistance. Despite this, many individuals in need of legal assistance still find it important to hire a lawyer that is local.
To take advantage of this, you can create additional web pages based on your locality so you can rank for local keywords. Also, you can publish more blog posts that deal with local events, interests, and legal matters. For example, different states may have different criminal statutes. It may be important for your potential clients to know how your state differs from others.
Get Your Criminal Law Website Found Online
As a lawyer, you may be too busy to practice SEO, generate additional content, or spruce up your website. These activities can be time-consuming. Furthermore, you need people with the right skills to do them properly. You may be struggling to get your criminal law website found online.
If you don’t have the time to fix the problem, consider outsourcing the effort to a team of professional marketers. Not only will it be less expensive, you’ll have the time to keep doing what you do best: practicing criminal law.
