Law Firm Marketing Tips By 2 Top Attorneys

A lot of what you read on the internet about marketing your law firm usually comes from highly qualified “experts” that have dedicated their professional lives to learning the in’s and out’s of internet marketing, SEO, web development, etc. That’s why we decided to start a new program where we ask the experts within the legal field on marketing what they do - so that you don’t have to read the jargon and garbled language of the marketing people, we’re bringing you this advice straight from the horse’s mouth.

Our first attorney is Michael Palumbo, a traffic ticket attorney in New York, who makes sure that he is on top of everything when it comes to marketing, but knows when things need his personal touch, and when things need to be delegated.

We asked Mike all about the marketing for his firm. Here’s what we got:

Mike Palumbo opened his own practice in 2005, and knew that advertising would work. He also knew that internet marketing was the key to success - you have to have a website. “Your website is basically your anchor. I still believe that your website is the one thing that holds everything else in place when it comes to advertising and marketing,” says Michael.

“Who handles your website and your SEO?”

Michael originally used Westlaw to build his website, and from there, experienced a lot of trial and error. “Unless you want to go to school or learn all about SEO while not paying attention to your practice, you need an SEO company.” Running a practice is about owning a business and making sure that all parts of the machine are working properly. This means that Michael cannot focus all of his attention on one single thing, rather he has to make sure that everything is performing as well as it could, and allocate time and energy to things that need to be improved. For example, Michael let’s his SEO company handle the day to day maintenance of the website as well as the technical backend things, but Michael writes all of the content for the website including the blog posts, himself.

“Who writes the content on the website?”

“I interpret the analytics of the website to make sure that my marketing people are on top of it. You have to write your own blogs, otherwise it won’t be relevant, but doing whatever it takes to get to the first page cannot be you. You don’t have time.” Michael’s best advice is to run your practice like a business, and to make sure you aren’t focusing all of your energy on simply getting to the first page of Google. Michael states that, as the owner of a business, you need to oversee everything. Your job is marketing and sales - you don’t really practice law (you do, it’s just a figure of speech.) Your primary job is to keep the phone ringing and have a system that processes the cases. “I have defined myself not as a lawyer, but as the owner of a business. Of course, I am a litigator, but my main job is to keep the business healthy by participating in the sales and marketing aspect of obtaining new clients.”

“What types of additional marketing and advertising do you use?”

Michael will try anything when it comes to marketing and advertising. In fact, he will throw money at just about anything and accept a loss just to see if it would have worked. But Michael says that isn’t the important part, because once you get someone to your website, it is your job to be PERSUASIVE when you are found. Make sure you are a complete and utter expert in your field, and that you give the viewer absolutely zero reason to use anyone else for the matter they need help with. Michael also stresses the importance of testimonials. Mike has more than 300 reviews on Avvo, which greatly help him to influence callers that he is the right man for the job - 344 other people can back up that statement for Mike Palumbo.

“Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

Finally, and without even really asking this, Mike stressed the urgency of hiring an answering service, because he had originally made the mistake in the early days of opening his practice of not having an answering service. “The reason I never had an answering service in the beginning is because I didn’t want just anyone to answer my phones - you need a QUALITY answering service, especially when you are just starting out. If you have few cases, then every phone call is important, and if someone calls you at 3 am and you miss the call, you just missed an opportunity right there for new business.”

Our next attorney is Eric Dirga, a criminal defense attorney in Orlando, Florida, who has a very different approach for all the hands-on people out there. Eric handles all of his SEO and web development himself.

We asked Eric all about the marketing for his firm. Here’s what we got:

“Back in 2002, I went out on my own, and I created my website using a microsoft product that isn’t even around anymore. When you first start a website it doesn’t have much traction, but back in 2002, it was a little easier than it is today,” says Eric. In 2003, Eric says he tried phonebook advertising which was a “complete disaster and waste of money,” which was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.

“How did you originally go about marketing your firm?”

Eric decided to learn how to make his website more SEO friendly. “I bought a bunch of books about SEO and I read a bunch of other stuff about html and css, so basically my website is the entirety of my advertising. After I spent a ton of money in the yellowpages, I didn’t want to work for those people so I just did it all myself.” Basically reading, “SEO for Dummies,” Eric followed all of the Google guidelines and built a website jam-packed with useful content that drove users over and over again to spend a lot of time learning about the issues Eric handles, before they would eventually trust him enough as the authority on the issue and give him a call.

Eric Dirga and Social Media

We asked Eric if social media was important to his website’s success, and he said: Yes, it’s important to have social media because it will pull people in to read your material and it shows Google that your brand has a pulse, but the main focus of your website and marketing should be the content. “A lot of attorneys don’t like to put in a lot of content - they like to hide the ball and not tell you how to do things. What I’ve done for my website, for what I’m really interested in, is I don’t only put what my practice is. I put cases and specific things in subpages, so that if you really wanted to you could dig really deep and learn a lot of stuff about the law. I’m not worried about my clients finding that out because they still need me to help them, and Google really likes when you have extra information. Plus, if my competitors come to my website to look at something helpful on my website, that only benefits my website!” It’s extremely important to ensure that your website’s retention and engagement rate are high, which means that you need to captivate your reader with interesting enough material to keep him/her on your page. If a page has a high bounce rate, that is an indication to Google that the content on your page is not interesting or helpful, and for whatever reason, users tend to leave the page quickly or “bounce” from it.

“What types of additional marketing and advertising do you use?”

Eric has tried various forms of advertising, and these days, he only focuses his attention on SEO, and he says that has helped his practice and his business become much more stable. “I had tried direct mail which is a timesink and does not bring back returns. Sure, it works for other attorneys, but for me it didn’t work,” says Eric. I asked him what he does these days, to which he responded, “SEO is by far the most successful thing and it’s all I do now. The problem is that everybody is always trying to guess what Google is doing and stay in front of it. It’s been challenging and you have all these experts trying to explain everything and I admit I’ve stopped listening to them. I just focused on my website and providing as many answers as possible to someone who wants to find out about it.””

Eric’s website is the lifeblood of his firm. It is a wealth of knowledge on Criminal Defense matters in Orlando, Florida, it helps people learn more about the law, and it brings him new clients! Not only did Eric build the website himself, but he taught himself SEO. We are proud to have Eric Dirga as one of our longest customers.

Putting It All Together

You don't always need to have a million dollar budget to be a successful marketer in the field of online law firm marketing. All it takes is a passion to help people, great work ethic, and a little bit of elbow grease, as exemplified by Eric Dirga. Eric teaches us that we don't have to be beholden to the marketing gurus, and that Google isn't only concerned with backlinks, writing really helpful content that benefits your user will ultimately push you up in the rankings. Michael teaches us that we shouldn't be scared to try new things because you never know what's going to make you go viral. You need to manage the content on your website and be persuasive! Both of these great law firm marketing minds offer different perspectives but are both successful in their own rite.

This will not be the last post featuring top attorneys in their respective fields. No one knows the industry of legal marketing better than the lawyers who occupy the space, so we’ll continue to bring you the best and brightest in law firm marketing minds. If you'd like to be featured, or have any questions about law firm marketing, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. Subscribe to stay updated, and until then, happy hunting.