In the legal sector, reputation means everything. Word of mouth recommendations have secured client instructions at law firms for decades. Provide a quality service and you will be rewarded by having previous clients point their friends, family and colleagues in your direction should they ever require a solicitor.

Word of mouth recommendations will undoubtedly continue to play a prominent role in the decision making process of those looking for a solicitor. However, as the business landscape evolves and clients demand different experiences, failing to keep up with the curve could prove costly. Getting the fundamentals of digital marketing for law firms correct is something firms of all size should be investing in.

In this blog post we will discuss the basics of digital marketing for law firms, highlight some useful tools and prove why investing your time (and maybe money) into digital is absolutely key.

The three key areas we will cover are:

• SEO
• Social Media
• PPC

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It is a well known fact that getting high quality backlinks for your site is one of the hardest elements of search engine optimisation (SEO). But, if done well it can set you apart from your competitors. However, the main challenge remains –  how to get high quality backlinks.

So, what is a backlink?  

Well a backlink is quite simply a link from another site back to yours. They are important for SEO as they signal to search engines that your site is trustworthy and contains good noteworthy content. However, with Google’s penguin update you need to make sure that links coming to your site are high quality. Links should be from good quality relevant web pages and not spammy link farming sites…

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Understanding your goals and achieving a return on investment (R.O.I.) is crucial when embarking on a social media campaigns. There are so many different perceptions of “success” when it comes to social media that you could easily invest a large budget into a campaign and fail to achieve your goals – We did and we were left feeling pretty stupid!!

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Whether you have a blog, E-commerce site or try to sell new cars using the power of the internet like me, then the SSMM course at Salford University will teach you that Google Analytics will be key. It will help you to distinguish what sinks or swims and help you to understand your website visitor traffic.

So where do you start with Google Analytics?

Create an account for you and your website here or get an existing user to add permissions for your login and you’ll be able to see the incredibly useful and anonymous tracking data Google Analytics collects for visits to your website including

• Location
• Device type (mobile, tablet, desktop)
• Operating system
• Screen resolution
• Internet provider
• Age
• Gender
• Language

Along with many other values to ultimately understand your audience so you can target and optimise your website whether you’re selling or creating content.

It may take a while, but spend a little time familiarising yourself with the toolbar at the side. It has taken me around ten weeks to remember all the different options and hidden treasures that can be found.

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So, couple of years ago now I had a fancy website designed, which to all intents and purposes was not my intention at all at the time.

I contacted a local web design guy, his website looked great and I liked his style, he was pretty cool.  He was enthusiastic, confident and he knew a damned sight more than me about this whole website design game.

We met and I presented him with my idea, all I wanted was a little website, nothing too flash, just a gentle introduction into the worldwide web but an hour later, I’m not quite sure what I’d agreed to, but it sounded great! What a guy!

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As a recruiter I have gone through a journey. Gone are the days where I could solely rely on newspapers and company websites to find and attract talent. Although these methods are still used, with the growth of the Internet and social media combined with a competitive market, I recognise that social media recruitment is an essential tool to finding top talent. Not only do I recognise this, I am excited by this!

How do we know this?

A global social recruiting survey completed by LinkedIn found that more than 50% of jobseekers now use social media to assist them in their job searches. With this in mind, it is important to understand and develop a social media recruitment strategy. Not only is social media an important recruitment tool to attract and source top quality candidates, it’s also an exciting opportunity to create and develop your digital presence.

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The Search and Social Media Marketing course at Salford University has some brilliant SEO and digital marketing tips . Small businesses like mine need to be able to market themselves online. We all know we have to be at the top of the rankings to get noticed. Here are the ten most important lessons we’ve learned so far:

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10 Weeks of Search and Social Media Marketing

The SSMM class after their final session

This year’s Search and Social Media Marketing Course was brought to a close on the 5th of November, after 9 weeks of all things digital marketing. The evening was a celebration of the work and dedication demonstrated by our professional cohort throughout the programme. Read more…..

Coming from a web design background, the course has offered me a great insight into the world of search and social media marketing and how I can adapt the skills within my business and for my clients. I would highly recommend the course and I hope this blog helps you decide whether this it’s right for you.

SEO Key Areas

Having some knowledge of SEO marketing you would think, “Why is he on this course?” but after 9 weeks I’ve learnt that there’s much more than a few input of keywords needed to improve your marketing on and off you’re website. The key areas I found most helpful to develop my marketing strategy are as followed.
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Over the past 5 weeks on the Salford Uni course we’ve listened to our tutor and 5 industry speakers share more than 300 slides of the latest digital marketing goodness. Question is, how do we use these tools in the real world of limited time, people and budgets?  To investigate, I’ve done a digital marketing strategy audit.

My client Trafford Builders is a growing family business. They do home extensions, loft conversions and open plan living. My challenge is to use digital marketing gracefully to help them build their brand and win new customers through enhanced word of mouth.

And here’s the rub –  I’ve only got at most an afternoon a week to achieve results. Here comes my digital marketing strategy audit.

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