You may have heard of a listing but aren't sure what it can do for your law practice. First, let's clarify what a business listing is. A Listing is a digital tool that provides basic but essential information about your practice. Simply put, a listing is a way for clients to find your business online and in person.
So what "basic and essential" information should be included in a business listing?
This simple acronym (NAP+W) will get your listing started. However, your listing should not contain just these four pieces of information. Your listing should encourage clients to explore as much about your practice as possible. In doing so, clients can learn about your practice history, staff, cases, and hours - the details that help clients decide who to hire.
It all comes down to PRESENCE and PRECISION. If a client cannot find your listing online, do you think it can produce results? Additionally, if your listing contains incorrect information, how will clients perceive your practice?
You can quickly generate a presence for your law practice by utilizing the many different digital platforms available. There are directories such as Big Easy Lawyers and Yellow Pages plus search engines such as Bing and Google. But you should also consider social media options such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Here it's a case of "the more, the better." when creating a presence.
Once your law practice has an online presence, it is time to make sure your listings are precise across all digital platforms. This consistency also allows you to build a brand for your law practice.
Now, let's discuss why present and precise listings are essential for your law practice.
Attract clients with easily found and trustworthy business listings.
Mistakes in business listings can cause hesitation. Potential clients may be pushed toward your competition if they are hesitant.
Keep in mind, it only requires one mistake to create this hesitation! You might understand better if you think like a client for a moment. How disappointed would you be if you showed up to the address found on the legal listing only to find they moved? Consequently, now you might be realizing a small but major detail has been overlooked, creating hesitation in the law practice's ability to handle your case's small but major details.
Providing present and precise listings means clients can find you during opening hours. Now you have the opportunity to earn another 5-star review, rather than a 1-start review from someone who simply couldn't find your office. Why wouldn't you want this?
Client reviews, and your approach to them, are key components of building your law practice's brand and online reputation.
Reviews can be a "virtual doorway" to your law practice. Originally reviews were in place to benefit the business in question, so they know how they perform while providing another outlet to extend their customer service. However, these days reviews can make or break new business by creating transparency. This transparency allows clients to better understand your practice and how it fits their needs. Additionally, reviews are a great way to increase your law practice's online presence.
Backlinks are created by each online review or listing. These backlinks can help improve your practice's rank within search engines.
SEO can appear tricky, but it's an excellent in-house approach to market law practices such as yours. You can optimize your SEO rank by ensuring that you have present and precise listing management. An optimized SEO rank will directly impact your presence and thus boost results.
Learn more about SEO by reading this 10-Step Guide to Boosting your Site Rank.
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