Case Study: Online Legal Marketing – SEO and PPC
“I always thought PPC would never work. Who would click an ad on Google? But, apparently that works!”
In starting up a new law practice, getting clients can be a challenge. It takes time to build your business with word-of-mouth referrals and recommendations. If your firm is just starting out though, you need cases to start coming in ASAP. Firms starting out have bills to pay.
Some firms build online marketing campaigns to help them simultaneously pay those bills and get their firms on a growth trajectory for a successful law practice.
Steven Cytryn is a family lawyer in New Jersey. After law school, he worked at a firm. While he worked at this firm, he noticed how they had a visible web presence that consistently and reliably generated new cases. He knew that if he were to leave the firm and start his own practice, he would not be able to rely on a robust referral network to provide new clients early on.
“In divorce law, you are not dealing with institutional clients, and you mostly don’t get repeat clients,” he said. He knew that if he were to venture out and start his own practice, he would need online marketing to help supplement his referrals.
In 2015, Steven left his firm to start his own solo practice. Right away, he looked for a legal-focused web design company to help build his website and online marketing. “I spoke to a handful of different companies. I wanted a place that could focus on law firms so they wouldn’t have to learn it from scratch.”
Ultimately, he found Uptime JurisPage. JurisPage is a legal-focused web design and marketing company that helps law firms build a professional web presence and get more business from the Internet. At JurisPage, their expertise and focus on law firms made them stand out, along with their abilities in search engine optimization (SEO) and online advertising (PPC).
“Some firms did only SEO, some did only PPC,” he said. “But, I wanted something well-rounded.”
“I couldn’t handle the case load. By the end of last year, I was overwhelmed. At this point, I don’t think I can take much more in a year, unless I wanted to expand.”
Getting the website live was a quick and painless process, Steven noted. “I remember the guy I worked with for the website, Cameron, was great. We talked about the feel I wanted. And right off the bat he came really close to what I wanted. It was a really easy process, frankly. People have told me they like my website.”
Starting his practice in November 2015, he ended up with his website live just two months later.
Aside from the website, JurisPage has worked with Steven on his online marketing, to get new business for the firm via search engine optimization and Google Adwords advertising.
As part of the process, JurisPage sat down with Steven to understand his practice and the types of clients he was looking to get.
Since JurisPage has had extensive experience marketing for law firms and gathered data along the way, JurisPage could lean on their past experience to lay the groundwork for a successful campaign.
They didn’t need to reinvent the wheel and start from scratch or take up Steven’s busy time to learn from him about the kind of work family lawyers do.
And since launching the campaign, the results have been fantastic.
One year into running his solo practice, he had to hire a secretary. “I couldn’t handle the case load,” he said. “By the end of last year, I was overwhelmed. At this point, I don’t think I can take much more in a year, unless I wanted to expand.”
“I think the broad brush stroke is the best approach. Don’t just do PPC. Don’t just do SEO. Do a wide swath and you’ll have the best return that way.”
And, getting so many cases coming to him means that he has been able to be selective about the clients he takes on.
While he was hoping that online marketing would get him off the ground as his referrals built up over time, Steven has found that his online marketing campaigns have been continually providing a tremendous amount of business.
He noted early into this year that 70% of his retained cases had come via the Internet.
To say the results were beyond what he was expecting is an understatement. “I always thought PPC would never work. Who would click an ad on Google? But, apparently that works!”
Beyond the campaign’s success as far as numbers go, JurisPage has been a close partner with Steven.
The JurisPage team knows that law firms trust JurisPage to handle their online marketing, and that firms do not want an impersonal approach. Every client works directly with a marketing manager on their campaign. Steven noted, “I do very much appreciate the individual attention. It’s not a one-size-fits-all, or ‘this is the thing you need’ and I appreciate that.”
His recommendations for other lawyers thinking about online marketing: “I think the broad brush stroke is the best approach. Don’t just do PPC. Don’t just do SEO. Do a wide swath and you’ll have the best return that way.”
