It Is All About the Leads: How Online Legal Directory Listings Can Increase a Firm’s Bottom Line

 Posted on March 23,2015 in OVC Lawyer Marketing

For the practicing attorney, it is all about the leads. No amount of traditional advertising or newly adopted social media marketing can completely replace the importance of referrals or viable leads as a means to increase a practice’s bottom line. With 87.7 percent of all American consumers turning to the internet to search for an experienced attorney, will they be able to locate you?

Benefits of Legal Directory Listing

With one quick click of a mouse, online legal directories can provide prospective clients with comprehensive and relevant information about a specific lawyer or firm. Participating attorneys benefit when prospective clients turn into current clients and current clients remain satisfied clients. Inclusion in legal directories also creates more inbound links to to an attorney's professional website. Not only does this produce an increase in marketing efforts but it also provides effective online reputation management, drives traffic to the site, and ultimately elevates Search Engine Optimization (SEO) page rankings.

Legal Directory Options

Before scheduling a consult with your in-house marketing manager or contracted online legal marketing firm, it is important to understand which directory options best suit your practice or firm. Although there are numerous free online legal directories offered by AVVO, Bing Maps, Cornell, Google, Justia, Lawyer Central, OYEZ and Yahoo, premium sites are also available to those opting for a higher level of online visibility.

Optimize Your Listing

As consumers turn to the internet to learn more about an attorney or law firm, the advantages of listing with reputable online legal directories is priceless. The first essential step, however, is understanding your firm’s needs and suitable listing categories. Since most directories categorize listings by geographical location and practice areas, strategically placing your directory listings will ensure inclusion in relevant search results. That is why it is critical to fully understand your marketing needs and suitable categories to best utilize SEO strategies. Ignoring this critical piece of the puzzle can only be classified as a missed opportunity, potentially resulting in a decreased rate of return on your marketing investment.

Professional Online Marketing Strategies

For more information on how listing your firm or practice to online legal directories can enhance your online visibility and bottom line, contact the experienced online marketing team of OVC, INC. Since 2008, we have been providing state-of-the-art online marketing services to attorneys just like you. Our team understands the value of properly placed legal directory listings and due to our volume, we can offer special pricing for directory listing bundles, including posts to both free and premium listing directories. As part of our legal directory package we will also draft your listing or provide a revision of an existing listing. Contact our team today at 630-635-8000 to schedule your consultation today.

About the Author: Greg Wildman is the President of OVC, INC. Since 1999, Greg has developed hundreds of websites for attorneys from his company's inception as Online Video Concepts, LLC to the modern era's OVC, INC. Greg's knowledge of law firm marketing has helped many attorneys establish online presences through custom website development, Search Engine Optimization, legal directory partnerships, social media marketing, content writing and more.