Why Every Attorney Should Diversify Their Online Lead Sources

In today’s competitive legal industry, online marketing is essential for any attorney. The internet has become a prime channel for law firms across America to grow their network, reach their target audience, and connect with prospects.

When done right, online marketing can be a gold mine for generating leads.

But many attorneys are focusing all their efforts on only one lead source. Maybe it’s pay-per-click (PPC) or Google Local Service Ads. Maybe it’s just your website.

Those are great avenues for attracting potential clients, but if all of your leads are coming from a single source, you’re building the future of your legal practice on quicksand.

Here’s why every attorney should diversify their online lead sources—and how you can do just that.

Why It’s So Important to Diversify Your Online Lead Sources

We’ve all heard the old saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Let’s say that you have a single online source for lead generation. Maybe that one source is bringing you all the business you need. If it’s working, why bother looking for more?

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having a steady stream of leads. The danger is that it’s easy to get complacent and assume that nothing will ever change. But when it comes to marketing—especially on the internet—things can change in an instant.

What happens if that one source falters due to changes in technology, increased competition or escalating cost? You’ll have to scramble to find a replacement. Where would you begin? Even if return lags a little, your practice could suffer until you can get leads back on track.

Putting all your eggs in one basket is risky.

But by methodically and effectively opening multiple channels to attract leads, you can give yourself more career security. If a top source of leads stops delivering the same historic results, you’ll have backups already in place to pick up the slack. It pays to be prepared.

Plus, there’s always a ceiling to how much you can scale your business when using a single marketing channel. The internet is full of opportunities to expand your professional horizons. If you aren’t taking advantage of them, you’re leaving potential business on the table.

The good news is that diversifying your online lead sources doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, many of the best methods for attracting fresh prospects are quite affordable.

Here are some good ideas to get you started.

The Best Lead Sources to Add to Your Online Marketing Strategy

1. Organic Search Traffic

When people need legal help, they often turn to the internet. Studies show that:

In short, internet users are probably looking for your services. You can help them out by making it as easy as possible for them to find you.

The trick to that is search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO means using various techniques to help your website rank higher in online searches, such as:

Improving the code of your website so that it runs more efficiently
Incorporating targeted keywords into your website content, such as “personal injury lawyer in Grand Rapids” or “Kansas City family law attorney”
Getting backlinks to your website published elsewhere on the internet
Producing content, such as blog posts, relevant to the area of law you practice

An effective SEO strategy can increase the traffic to your website in no time. That means more leads, more clients, and more long-term security.

(Pro Tip: setting up a Google My Business listing for your practice is one of the quickest ways to enhance your SEO game.)

2. Social Media

There are countless social media platforms that attorneys can use to boost their visibility online. Each has its own unique features to help you find new leads, establish credibility, and talk directly to your target audience.

You can use your platforms to publish useful content related to your legal niche, such as:

Handy tips
FAQs
Infographics
Blog posts
Newsletters
Videos
eBooks

You’ll be positioning yourself as an authority in your field while providing real value for potential clients and referrers. That can go a long way to converting them to actual clients and referrers.

3. Live Webinars

A webinar is just like a standard seminar, just conducted over the internet. This is a great way to engage with prospects, demonstrate your expertise, and zero in on common pain points within your niche.

For example, if you specialize in employment law, you can set up a webinar where you discuss workplace discrimination and employee rights. Advertise the webinar ahead of time on your social media pages in order to draw a virtual crowd.

Who knows, you might have at least one future client tuning in.

Webinars can be pre-recorded, but a live stream adds a level of connection with your target audience, and lets you perform a Q&A session at the end.

Best of all, once the webinar is over, you can always save the recording and repurpose it in your broader content marketing strategy.

4. Paid Advertising

Pretty much everything we’ve discussed is free. But sometimes it’s wise to invest in your online outreach. There’s a reason so many law firms pay to have ads displayed on social media and search engines—it works.

Social media ads in particular are useful, as they let you target your ideal client with laser-like precision. In that respect, it’s more targeted than traditional advertising, such as:

Billboards
Print advertisements
Broadcast commercials

And like most digital marketing, it is much easier to measure results and return on investment.

5. Live Chat

One of the best strategies for bringing a new client on board is to strike while the iron is hot. People have short attention spans these days, and many prospects prefer an instant connection rather than sending an email and waiting for someone to get back to them 24 hours later.

Fortunately, it’s easy to add a live chat feature to your website or Google My Business listing. Prospects can use the live chat to get in touch with you (or someone who works for you) immediately, increasing the chances that they’ll ask a question that may lead to a business relationship.

Because of the efficiency of these live chats, they’re becoming more and more common on attorney websites. If you skip such a handy feature, you could end up losing potential clients to any competitors that implemented this technology.

Diversify Your Lead Sources for Greater Security and More Growth

With the unpredictable nature of the internet, it would be risky to build your entire online marketing strategy on a single lead source. Instead, by casting a wide net, you can reach more prospects and put greater faith in the long-term success of your outreach campaigns.

But of course, diversifying your lead sources takes time and energy. As a busy professional, you may not have much of either to spare.

At Let America Know, we give trial attorneys the social media support they need to grow their brand. Best of all, we handle all the headaches and hassle so they can devote themselves fully to their current clients.

Just contact us, and we’ll be happy to design a custom social media marketing strategy that suits your needs. Then, we’ll manage—and even automate—the whole process moving forward.

Click here to learn more about our done-for-you social media program for lawyers like you.