Bankruptcy services are extremely specific. Unlike some other legal fields, the majority of people never have the need for this kind of assistance. This is why traditional mass media and word-of-mouth are poor choices for promoting such businesses.
Ideally, a bankruptcy law firm should seek an inbound marketing solution to lure potential clients to the brand. They also need to build a good reputation so that when prospective clients do decide to contact them, they can showcase the brand in the best possible light.
Having said all that, search engine optimization strategy often comes up as the optimal promotional choice. Instead of wasting money on ads that no one will ever see, a bankruptcy attorney should position the company as a reputable provider in the field. In the end, getting to the top of search engine ranking pages will do more for your brand than all other marketing efforts combined.
How does SEO for bankruptcy lawyers work?
As you’re probably aware, SEO is a process of optimizing a bankruptcy law firm website, so it appears higher in search engine results pages. It involves numerous tasks and procedures, such as technical SEO, keyword research, content creation, and link building.
Given the complexity of search engines, they often have trouble properly ranking pages despite all the advanced algorithms. For example, Google might struggle to “see” your pages or might not understand what’s your content all about. There are also issues pertaining to user experience, which can drag down your entire business website.
That being said, here’s how a veteran agency, such as MiroMind, can help your rank higher:
- First off, a marketing expert will assess the state of your bankruptcy law firm website. A professional will primarily focus on existing Google penalties but also anything else that might cause technical issues
- Even if they have been in the business for a few years, many bankruptcy law firms don’t have a clear understanding of their target audience. Relying on advanced SaaS tools, an SEO agency can explore the market, analyzing numerous demographic indicators to create the optimal buyer persona
- An effective SEO strategy, but also other digital marketing strategies, is heavily reliant on keywords. A bankruptcy firm should create content that is most relevant to their business but that can also be easily optimized and provides decent organic traffic
- To reach the top of search results, bankruptcy attorneys need high-quality content that speaks to their audience. These articles are more than just lead-generation vehicles; they serve to educate the public and showcase a bankruptcy lawyer as an authoritative and reliable provider
- Unfortunately, even if you can produce some of the best, most educational pieces in the industry, you still need third-party links that would indicate that the content is of high quality. In the end, analyzing your peers’ reactions is the best way for Google to understand if these pages are good enough to be on top of the global and local listings
- Speaking of local search, bankruptcy lawyers can make the biggest impact by ranking for relevant keywords. As most people browse Google to find bankruptcy assistance in their area, having locally-focused website content can be a difference maker for your profits
Obviously, SEO for bankruptcy lawyers involves numerous specific services that work in a vacuum but also conjunction with each other. This is why your best bet is to hire a provider that can address all these areas and create an all-in-one, cohesive strategy that will propel the bankruptcy law site up in rankings.
What are the benefits of SEO for bankruptcy lawyers?
Ranking high on Google and getting more positive reviews can go a long way in promoting a business. Reaching the first page of Google for target keywords can have a landslide effect on your bottom line, which might not be obvious at first but will pay dividends in the long run.
Specifically, here is how bankruptcy law firms can benefit from this marketing approach:
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High-quality leads
Search optimization drives highly qualified leads to your brand. Most web users are browsing bankruptcy topics to learn about things such as credit counseling or filing bankruptcy. They commonly use “money keywords” or phrases most likely to result in conversion.
In other words, they are probably getting ready to declare bankruptcy or are in the middle of the bankruptcy process. While learning more about the topic, they’re also looking for a suitable provider. So, by appearing at the top of Google, a person perceives you as the right solution to their legal issues.
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High traffic
Another reason why bankruptcy attorneys love optimization is that it can drive much more organic traffic. Approximately 66% of your website visits come from the Google search engine making it the best marketing source, not only for bankruptcy attorneys, but for all global companies.
Although search engine optimization is a process that takes time, you shouldn’t be complacent. Instead, you should invest lots of money to quickly create posts revolving around the most lucrative keywords. Keep in mind that your competition is working at the same time as you, so it’s crucial to outperform them through additional work.
Of course, your placement is mostly predicated on your experience and SEO efforts. Ideally, you should pay for complete services that include creating numerous articles and links during a month.
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Long-term brand awareness
Most people don’t realize this, but SEO is, first and foremost, a brand-building process. Over time, a law firm will cover just about all legal topics possible, gain links from numerous industry-related blogs, and significantly increase domain authority. All these resources work in unison, increasing your overall search engine and social visibility.
The thing you need to keep in mind is that these efforts don’t perish when SEO experts leave the project. You’ll still have all this quality content and links pointing to your platform. In other words, the traffic and brand exposure benefits will work in perpetuity, which doesn’t happen during PPC campaigns.
Even if you one day decide to switch to another marketing approach, all the work you’ve done on the site will help your future efforts. For example, having lots of content on your blog can help people who come from referrals or social media platforms. These visitors will also enjoy the good technical functionality of your platform.
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Connections
During an SEO campaign, you will create numerous connections with industry influencers. In most cases, this occurs during the link-building phase, but it’s also not a bad practice to reach out to people via social media without asking for anything in return.
While marketers are well-aware that these contacts are rarely benevolent in nature, they still tend to engage with other entrepreneurs, even if they’re direct competitors. For the most part, this is because personal connection can help them boost their own platform somewhere in the future.
The biggest benefit of meeting other bankruptcy attorneys is that it allows you to acquire more links and shares in the future. That way, you can increase exposure with minimal investment. However, these contacts might provide even more tangible perks, allowing a bankruptcy lawyer to organize events and offer joint services.
Focus on local SEO
Out of all the things you can do for your legal site, local SEO stands out as the most lucrative strategy. In the end, most bankruptcy clients only browse bankruptcy-related topics when looking for assistance. They don’t necessarily want to learn more about the practice, and instead, they only browse these subjects when they want to hire a professional.
Of course, given the sensitivity of the topic, some clients prefer looking a bit wider than just local businesses. They might browse global results when looking for a legal service provider who can get them out of the pinch. Still, given our experience, you’ll likely get many more leads from local searches than you are from global ones.
Here are all the steps of this process:
- Adding schema markup to your site
- Adding the law firm site to online listings such as Google My Business
- Making sure all information is up-to-date and the same across the board
- Creating content that revolves around local topics (“Best bankruptcy law firm in San Diego”)
- Asking your clients to leave positive reviews on Google and other directories such as Yelp
- Managing online chatter and perception of your brand
An interesting thing about local optimization is that it’s every bit predicated on a bankruptcy lawyer as it is on an SEO professional. To reach the top rankings, you need a constant stream of 5-star reviews, which is something marketing experts can’t help you with. Instead, it hinges on the quality of service you provide to the users.
In that regard, local optimization can even be considered a PR activity. Your main task is to improve the online perception of your brand while eliminating and moderating any negative feedback. Utilizing these practices can help you land in Google’s local snipper, which can exponentially increase your law firm’s exposure.
Importance of content
Content marketing is often seen as a glue that ties everything together. It’s a vital ingredient not only for good SEO but also for paid advertising, social media marketing, and everything else you do online.
Quality, well-optimized content is the best way to rank on top of Google. By adding the right keywords and implementing best writing practices, you increase the likelihood of being indexed for target phrases. When visitors land on a site, quality content is usually the thing that forces them to stay longer, sending a strong signal to Google’s algorithms that your articles are worth the trouble.
Most importantly, having good content helps you establish the brand as the top information source. It showcases your bankruptcy law firm as one of the best in the business, which is especially true if you manage to rank among the top 5 results for relevant industry keywords.
The risks and benefits of using an SEO firm
After deciding to pursue SEO, a law firm can decide to hire an expert provider or create an in-house team. Based on what we know, most brands prefer going with a reliable marketing agency such as MiroMind. In the end, legal firms are usually small practices that don’t have the need to form large teams, so having a dedicated team wouldn’t be cost-efficient.
Hiring external providers comes with a set of perks as well as risks. Here are all the positives and negatives you should consider when signing such a contract compared if you were to perform optimization yourself:
Positives
- SEO for bankruptcy lawyers is the best promotional method for your practice. It can significantly boost your online visibility, and it can be used in combination with other marketing efforts. However, due to high online competition, you need someone who can provide reliable results
- Due to the technical nature of the process, inexperienced users can make major errors when trying to optimize their site without professional assistance. The most noticeable issues pertain to Google penalties that can set back your professional site months back
- Veteran SEO experts who have been working with bankruptcy attorney practices have an established framework that can often be used interchangeably between companies. They don’t have to perform keyword research as they already know which phrases work the best. Furthermore, they have lots of connections that would help during outreach
Negatives
- When hiring an SEO agency, you’re basically relinquishing control of your site to a third-party provider. This is a troublesome proposition, especially if you’re already gaining visits from different sources
- In an attempt to drive traffic and leads, some providers are willing to implement shady practices. They might introduce risky link-building or use AI-generated content, both of which might negatively affect your reputation
- Hiring a top-tier marketing expert can be costly, presenting a major financial burden to new practices. As SEO needs time to yield results, you might struggle to stay afloat during the initial months
While some of these risks are hard to completely eliminate, your best bet is to hire a reputable SEO provider who will keep your best interest in mind!