Through a proactive campaign, astute firms can position themselves to gain market share through relatively low cost search initiatives, while competitors are losing qualified leads and busy explaining why general counsel won’t be searching for them online.
Firms marketing directly to consumers, such as personal injury, criminal defense and bankruptcy lawyers were the early adopters of search engine optimization (SEO). Some invested in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns using Google adwords or similar programs; others relied on organic rankings, which places a website near the top of search engine results based on its relevancy to the search term, and many firms implemented both tactics. The firms that recognized the opportunity early on captured more than their share of qualified leads with an investment in SEO/PPC while their competitors were explaining why SEO wouldn’t work for their firm. Today, however, with more plaintiffs firms using SEO as an effective marketing tactic, it has become increasingly competitive and costly to achieve top rankings.
Firms still have an opportunity to get into the game before everyone has caught on to search’s effectiveness. Implementing a search initiative right now, does not mean that SEO will be your primary source of leads today, but its role in your business development will continue to grow as more businesses, institutions, entrepreneurs and in-house counsel turn to Google and similar search engines first. By being proactive and positioning yourself to capture top search engine rankings now, whether through PPC or SEO, you can create a solid footing to avoid chasing after other firms later.
