As a divorce lawyer, you know that family law is as unique a practice as can exist in the legal profession. Unlike almost any other practice, a divorce lawyer needs to be equal parts social worker, mediator, accountant, marriage counsellor, psychologist, and parenting expert.
And every family’s situation is unique, with a variety of legal considerations. Successful divorce lawyers need to draw upon a basic knowledge of such areas as real estate law, estate and trust law, and business law in addition to child custody law, visitation law, guardianship rules, and child support law, to name but a few.
Yet even though family law is such a unique practice, so many family lawyers follow general law firm strategies to generate business. The results are often a failure to get the right messages in front of the right people. If you’re wondering why those free consultations are often with less-than-ideal clients, the answer probably lies therein.
Divorce attorney marketing strategies require a different approach to those of most other lawyers.
Your marketing strategy, from the SEO keywords you choose to website and social channel messaging, needs to be as unique as your area of practice.
Search Engine Optimization for Divorce Attorneys
Consider your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
Family law SEO, if done correctly, tells search engines such as Google and Bing what you’re about, and what your firm does, making internet searches relevant and accurate, which can result in better positioning in a search engine ranking page (SERP) and increased exposure for your firm.
SEO for family lawyers presents several marketing opportunities that are less evident for other legal practice areas.
The process of finding a divorce lawyer is significantly different than that of finding a personal injury lawyer, criminal lawyer, or commercial litigator. The journey to discovering a divorce attorney does not necessarily begin by typing the search term “divorce attorney” in Google’s search bar. Of course, it’s good to rank #1 for the keyword “divorce attorney,” but the buyer’s journey of a family law client will more often begin with a search that is much more informational in nature.
The buyer’s journey is what marketers commonly refer to as going from realizing you need a service, to researching the options, to making a purchase.
In the case of family law SEO, a potential client will often begin by performing a search such as “child support laws in New York state” or “co-owning property after a divorce.”
Such informational searches are referred to as “long-tail keywords,” and are typically conducted by people who may be considering separating from their spouse but are not yet be ready to take such a leap. Prosects for divorce attorneys tend to do a lot more research than those searching for, say, a plumber to fix a burst pipe.
Information on your website such as a family law blog that addresses this person’s inquiry establishes your credibility because it demonstrates your knowledge of the legal issue that they need help with.
Since the buying cycle can often be longer for family lawyers because of how much is at stake, you can make use of this extended research phase as an opportunity to answer questions and build trust. It can establish your firm as a resource and bring them repeatedly back to your website over the weeks or months it takes them to decide to take the next step and contact a divorce lawyer.
Consider how this process compares to someone searching for a personal injury lawyer or criminal lawyer, where the need is often much more immediate.
Family Law Website Content and Voice
Which leads us to website content. Dealing with such sensitive and emotional matters, requires a very nuanced approach to the voice and tone of your family law brand as presented on your website and other marketing channels.
While some types of lawyers rely on presenting themselves as tough and uncompromising, it is often not that straightforward for a family lawyer, where children may be involved, and spousal relationships often remain complex. As a family lawyer you may want to take a different approach with your messaging.
Likewise, you probably want to avoid creating a sense of urgency or aggressiveness. And these considerations should extend to all your messaging including social media and email correspondences.
When it comes to your website, you should also build lots of conversion points, forms, and calls to action into your pages. If someone is reading a blog post and decides that they want to connect, it should be easy to find a form to fill out or a phone number to call.
Want to learn more? Download our Definitive SEO Guide for family Lawyers
Family Law Email Marketing and Newsletters
Because the buying cycle is often more protracted in the case of family law clients, divorce attorney marketing strategies can leverage email marketing campaigns to present the kinds of content prospects find valuable.
The first step can be to capture their details in a newsletter sign-up form on your website.
This simple, low-cost, and effective marketing approach allows you to remain top-of-mind with potential and existing clients and reenforce your expertise in family law.
Newsletters allow you to showcase your thought leadership content including blogs, case studies, attorney profiles, upcoming webinars, podcasts, and links to articles in third party publications. It also drives traffic to your website thus improving SEO.
This is a very effective way to stay top of mind for current and former clients who might pass along your name and generate referrals.
Reviews and Reputation Management for Divorce Atoorneys
Research indicates that 83 percent of law firm prospects use online reviews as an initial step to finding an attorney. Any business that relies on search, word of mouth and referrals needs to have its reviews buttoned down.
Because the buying cycle can take longer, clients will tend to dig deeper when thinking about engaging with a divorce lawyer. This is why reviews and ratings play an outsized role in the decision-making process and success of family law firms to drive growth.
Second only to your family law firm website, reviews are where your story is told to prospects and where the essence of your firm’s brand is presented. Of course, you have far less control of the messaging when it comes to reviews, so you need to be very active, responding to positive and negative reviews and burying the negative ones with a critical mass of positive reviews.
This kind of reputation management is a critical component to your family law marketing strategy.
Most legal practices can rely on a reputation of being professional, experienced and, in many cases, hardnosed. And while many divorce lawyers successfully present these characteristics, many others present themselves in a much more nuanced way.
How many other law practices lean on empathy, compassion, and care as ways to describe their approach to clients? When it comes to reviews and ratings, these are often the descriptors potential clients are looking for when they read online reviews.
And if there is a disconnect between how you describe your firm’s attributes on your family law website and social channels and what clients are saying about you, you need to know this and manage it.
Even if a client comes to you from a referral, they will likely check you out online at some point early in the process of engaging with your firm.
If a prospect can't find you or you're plagued by negative reviews, it will be extremely difficult to win them over.
Without a presence on such review sites as Avvo, Yelp, and Facebook you are missing out on opportunities to attract new clients and earn more revenue.
Even worse, if you have numerous negative reviews, you need to take control of the narrative.
Reviews and ratings also play a central role in the success of SEO for divorce lawyers. Even if you’re not actively optimizing your family law website for search, reviews are important for the discoverability of your site. A high volume of positive reviews, are a signal to search engines that your firm is reputable in your local community and a good match for those searching locally for a family law firm.
More positive reviews help improve your firm’s ranking in both organic search and the search results that appear below the map on the SERP.
This is another way for prospective clients to find your website.
Even if you rely on referrals as the biggest driver of business, reviews and rating must play a critical role in the success of your family law practice.