Consultwebs Law Firm Marketing FAQs

Did you know that the ABA found that around 60% of firms indicate that their marketing efforts are not including vital client services information such as: scheduling meetings, court dates, case status reports, etc.? In addition, the ABA states there’s currently a “lack of strategic approach to marketing taken by many firms.” Around 37% of firms of 10-49 lawyers, 68% of 2-9 lawyers firms, and 86% of solos did not have an annual marketing budget. Garnering success from digital marketing doesn’t have to be complicated, and you shouldn’t be part of any of the percentages mentioned above. There is help right around the corner!

Today the practice of law is accompanied by many additional business efforts, and digital marketing is one of them. Digital marketing matters for firms looking to survive and, especially, thrive in today’s competitive space. Most importantly, with a robust marketing team handling all your digital efforts, you’ll establish your presence online and reach the users with precision targeting.

We understand you need a marketing strategy with a tangible impact. With this said, we’d like to help you get started by providing answers to some of the top FAQs Consultwebs gets. We hope that with these answers, you’ll be better equipped, to make the most financially sound decisions for your firm moving forward – especially if you are looking to outsource your digital marketing efforts to some of the most talented experts in the legal marketing field.

The Top Law Firm Marketing FAQs We Get

1. What Content Management System (CMS) do we use to build websites? And, does the client retain ownership?

Consultwebs only builds and manages sites in WordPress. We understand that a robust website goes beyond aesthetics and requires easy usability, a pleasant user experience, your firm’s points of difference, SEO optimization, and quality design.

We’ve previously covered the entirety of WordPress and ran thorough research about the differences between WordPress and .NET, a Microsoft platform used for building web applications. Give our blog post about WordPress a read, and learn all about what it is, what it means for your firm, and overall, why we chose the WordPress platform as our CMS.

We’ve also created a chart so you can see some of the significant differences between .NET and WordPress:

As an answer to the second question, Consultwebs’ clients own all the content and design elements that we produce for them.

2. What is better for your firm: PPC or SEO?

With over two decades of legal marketing experience, we’ve learned that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Think of it as patients going to a hospital check-up. Patient A might only need a pain killer, and they’re good to go, while patient B might need a more thorough check-up and more medicine to thrive. The same goes for law firms opting for digital marketing. No two firms are alike! With this in mind, we have handcrafted the ideal methods to fit your firm’s wants and needs, no matter what they are!

In our experience, we have seen that effectively using both SEO and paid advertising has consistently been the most effective way to maximize case sign-ups in the market. It’s essential to think of digital marketing in short-term and long-term goals, which is the beauty of opting for PPC and SEO. On the one hand, PPC works best if you’re urgently seeking results based on short-term goals, e.g., increasing the number of visitors to your site from day one. On the other hand, SEO works best for effective long-term strategies. Our SEO experts keep up to date with the latest SEO trends and understand that your site and its content need to rank in popular search engines like Google to be found by users who need your services.

From a “what you see first” standpoint, PPC is better because it places your ads on top of the page. However, many users today scroll past ads or don’t trust them as giving the best results to their search query, so it is often just as valuable to have strong SEO positioning. Ideally, the two should work hand in hand to provide you with the best results today and tomorrow.

3. “If I have SEO, do I need to have my website redesigned?”

This is a common question firms that already have a website ask. The truth is that it is very likely a law firm needs a website redesign to effectively compete with other major players in the SEO world. Your website should reflect your firm’s personality, and most importantly, it should convert prospects into clients, by showing a modern aesthetic, adhering to all webmaster guidelines and keeping up with current website usability standards.

Because your website is a digital extension of your firm’s personality, it’s critical now more than ever that firms create a solid first impression. It takes users seconds (precisely 50 milliseconds) to form an opinion about a website. During this time, they decide whether they like your site or not and whether they opt to stay or leave it.

Besides your firm’s websites’ aesthetics, usability is also paramount. Rarely is Consultwebs able to take over a dated or non-WordPress website, as is. We take our clients’ websites very seriously and work through a 330+ point checklist to ensure a high-performing website. A focus on site speed, user and mobile experience, and building trust are only a few key areas we emphasize with our design services.

4. How long does it take for law firms to achieve first-page search visibility?

Remember the previous example about two patients needing different treatments for a hospital check-up? Similar applies here. First-page search visibility is dependent on several factors including, but not limited to:

The age and history of your website.
The amount of resourceful and relevant content you already have on your site
Your backlink profile
The level of competition around your target market.

Generally, Consultwebs-created sites will begin experiencing traction within a few months of launching an updated website. Most markets require at least 12 months to start outpacing competitors, whereas hyper-competitive markets may require 18+ months for full maturity in search rankings.

5. “How long will it take for my law firm to start seeing PPC results?“

We’ve previously mentioned that PPC results are based on short-term goals. Yet, no single recipe states PPC guarantees results in, e.g., 3 or 5 months from the starting date. Your firm’s PPC campaign will be dependent on the following factors:

The practice area.
The competitive level.
Timing.
Location.

For example, some of the most competitive practice areas in the USA are family law, criminal law, and personal injury. However, other practice areas are growing, such as estate planning and bankruptcy. There will be a clear difference in costs per click for the campaigns of each one of these practice areas, and even within the same ones, there will be geo-based factors that will make them more or less costly.

With this said, your firm should leverage its dataset in order to get the most of paid advertisements. In the database, one should be able to find all the firm’s stored aggregations of data information including raw data, forms, reports, and tables stating factors like:

Audience size.
Financial reports.
Performance reports.
Annual revenue.

This initial process usually takes about 30 to 60 days to build. Although with more extensive (national) campaigns, it may take less time. As a first step, we will strategize how your campaigns will look, based on the information you provide on what your primary goals and audience are. After launching and allowing the campaigns to run their course for a set amount of time, we will revise how your key metrics (i.e. cost per lead, click through rate, conversions, etc.) are developing and make adjustments to them to enhance their performance.

It is also worth noting that since the ultimate cost PPC may imply is dependent on the four factors mentioned above, we could run the same campaign at two different times of the year and/or in different markets and get wildly different results from an ROI standpoint. It is not the type of thing that you run for a month for one practice area and use that to generalize the ROI for paid as a whole. This would be similar to judging the price of toys on eBay, based on the auction price of the hot Christmas toy 3 weeks prior to last Christmas.

6. What information should law firms bring to the digital marketing team to ensure an even more successful campaign? And what level of access do law firms have with Consultwebs?

By providing the valuable information you already have, we’ll be able to do an even better job. In order to help us understand your firm’s current situation better and the direction you want to go, it’s best to come prepared with case data, i.e., how many clients did you sign up from the ad campaign based on the leads report, how much did each lead cost, what metrics are important to deep dive into, etc? Above all else, we need your trust. We continuously strive to push your firm’s business forward because, ultimately, it’s our business too.

As far as the access you have, your firm can have full access to the Adwords account, as well as the call tracking platform we work with. Transparency is key in our eyes, and so we are happy to lay everything out on the table for you to review whenever you like.

7. What makes Consultwebs different from other digital marketing companies?

Since Consultwebs was founded in 1999, we have worked exclusively with law firms and have come to know the ins and outs of how firms operate. Throughout the past couple of decades, we have finessed the art of making law firm marketing work and can confidently say that we know the intricacies of it like the palms of our hands. In addition, unlike other vendors focusing on metrics such as impressions and exposures, we focus exclusively on leads and cases, and how much they cost you. That distinction alone puts us in a very rare position in the marketplace.

We think it’s essential to work with a company that understands your industry. Beyond that, we would encourage prospective clients to research and find an agency that aligns with their business. Already have a different agency in mind? Check out our Vendor Comparison Checklist to evaluate which agency might be your best bet.

8. Who will be your firm’s account manager, and how often will you hear from our team?

Your firm will be led by a Digital Marketing Manager (DMM) and an entire team (4-5 members) driving your firm forward each month. As stewards of your investment dollars, they will focus on how they can best apply your monthly marketing dollars most productively and efficiently. We call it our ‘what’s-best-next?’ strategy.

Their primary focus is on growing your viable leads and case sign-ups from the Web each and every month, tracking the most important business metrics to you: Cost Per Lead and Cost Per Case.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns along the way, they’ll always be there to help. In addition to that, there is a formal monthly meeting where we’ll discuss performance metrics and learn how many cases resulted from the leads generated. But, as we said earlier, we’re always available to answer all your questions!

9. If you opt for Consultwebs, how long will it take to get a proposal?

Depending on the depth of the initial website and market analysis required, Consultwebs can provide an analysis and full proposal within three (3) business days.

10. Last but not least, what results can law firms expect from our digital advertising?

Although this isn’t set in stone, our clients have seen up to 236% more cases within their first 12 months. Not every web marketing provider is equal, and you should always encourage a transparent conversation around benchmark expectations and timelines.

Takeaway

Your firm’s marketing team should be able to answer all these questions more confidently. If you have any more questions, concerns, comments, or better yet, get a head start with us, we’re here to talk.