The internet is no longer a novelty that can be dismissed. It can help recruit new clients to a legal business, and traditional marketing avenues can only get you so far. If your law practice predominantly advertises on the radio, billboards, and television, you may be gaining a terrible reputation. Many young people are naturally suspicious of law firms of this type. It is best to try a different angle and boost your online reputation.
When it comes to finding a law practice, almost everyone will turn to the internet. They’ll hunt for law firms in their area and read reviews and testimonials to acquire a complete image of the firm’s service quality.
As a result, it’s vital that you:
- You can be located on the internet.
- You have an excellent online reputation.
- You can contradict, conceal, or remove bad online postings about yourself.
It’s all about reputation management, and it’s crucial to a modern legal firm’s success. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of ten suggestions for maintaining a positive, effective reputation.
Engage The Services of a Reputation Management Expert
First and foremost, hiring a reputation management agency to manage your internet reputation is the best thing you can do for your legal practice. A reputation management company such as ours can:
- Search the internet for positive and negative aspects of your reputation.
- Identify harmful reputation results that should be suppressed or removed.
- Encourage and promote positive reputation reporting.
- Keep an eye out for ongoing reputation issues and take action if necessary.
In today’s world, a legal company is no different than any other business. It must acquire clients, shape its reputation, and be found in web searches, particularly local searches. You may obtain top-ranked positions in your area with SEO, reputation management, and marketing, but only with the help of specialists.
Keep A Close Eye on Your Online Reputation
You must set up reputation monitoring whether you plan to handle your reputation management or want to stay on top of what your selected firm is doing.
This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. The first and most straightforward method is just to Google yourself or your brand daily. Most people who look up your name on Google will only glance at the first page or two of the results and won’t go any farther. Anything that appears on the first few pages is worth paying attention to.
You can also utilize tools to alert you when new content that is relevant to you is indexed. Google Alerts is the most common choice. Set up notifications for your law firm’s name, and you’ll get an email whenever new content mentioning your company is indexed. This is one of the most effective ways to see what Google sees as soon as it happens so that you can take action as quickly as possible.
You can also hire a reputation management company to keep an eye on your online reputation. The reputation tracking program monitors other search engines, social platforms, and specialist directories that may be relevant to your brand. It’s all part of raising awareness of your current brand and reputation and keeping that awareness current at all times.
Individual Lawyers’ Reputations Should Also Be Monitored
The majority of law companies have more than one lawyer on staff. In these circumstances, you’ll need to keep an eye on more than simply your law firm’s name. What will a user find if they find your law practice, identify the lawyer they are most likely to work with, then search for that lawyer’s name?
This means that you should keep an eye on the following when setting up alerts and monitoring:
- The names of your notable lawyers, as well as the name of your law firm.
- The names of additional high-ranking employees at your organization.
It would be best if you also kept an eye on the legal file name for any important cases you’ve been a part of. While some legal records are public and cannot be hidden or censored without a court order, coverage of those cases should be closely examined to see what the public thinks. You might be able to improve your reputation in these situations.
Concentrate on Geographically Relevant SEO Information
In most cases, legal firms are only allowed to practice in specified fields (such as copyright, personal injury, or criminal defense) and in specific court jurisdictions. This implies that you don’t have to be concerned about international or national SEO or your reputation outside your jurisdiction. It doesn’t matter if people in Florida have a different opinion of you than those in California if you’re only licensed to practice copyright law in California.
However, dealing with a bad reputation and building a favorable online profile is always worthwhile. Because of the nature of law, litigation can include people from all over the world. To be sure, it’s a problematic scenario.
It’s essential to keep track of geographically relevant terms, use them in your SEO, and concentrate on local search relevancy.
Positive Testimonials Should Be Actively Solicited
A company’s reputation is its lifeblood, and there are two methods to shape your reputation. Negative evaluations should be suppressed, removed, or countered in the first place. The alternative is to seek out, emphasize, and encourage favorable feedback.
This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. You will have a close relationship with your clients as a law business. Due to confidentiality agreements, you can only divulge so much about any individual case, but you should try to get positive feedback. When you finish a case with a happy client with the outcome, ask them to write a testimonial for you. You can request that the testimonial be published on your website or one of the many review sites for businesses in general or legal firms in particular.
Faking or “astroturfing” excellent reviews is something you should avoid. Almost always, this is clearer than you believe. It’s also problematic in a court situation since individuals can find out if you’ve written in their name, and if you’ve forged names, the cases can be detected as phony. Avoid getting caught because getting caught is far more damaging than not doing it in the first place.
Positive Feedback Should Be Highlighted and Augmented
Positive feedback is a valuable resource. You can copy and emphasize a positive review left by a client on a site like Avvo or Lawyers.com as a testimonial on your website. It’s possible to share a link to it on Facebook. You can ask for a more detailed version of the review on your testimonials page by contacting them. You have a wide range of alternatives to choose from.
Conclusion
Online reputation management is critical to any business. However, for a company that is unable to advertise in traditional ways is even more critical. Do what you can and make sure to hire a reputation management firm if you require one.