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imperative for acquiring new business on a consistent ba- sis. If your information is incorrect, your potential clients will likely go to your competitor if they are unable to reach you.
Before proceeding to step 3, log into your GMB account and verify that all of your information is both listed and correct.
3. INCORRECT INFORMATION.
Displaying incorrect information is actually worse than not displaying information. For example, if your hours of operation is incorrect, and potential clients try to contact you only to receive a voice mailbox, that not only makes you look bad, it will frustrate them. I had a client tell me about a case he had acquired because of this. His client went to an injury law rm that advertised “24-hours.” She called multiple times a er her evening shi , only to be sent to voicemail on each attempt. She could have tried again the following day during normal business hours, but she did not. She lost trust in the law rm as they provided her with incorrect information. She retained their com- petitor, my client, the very next day.
4. REVIEWS/QUESTIONS.
I’m not sure why, but the area of responding to negative reviews is always a struggle for my clients. Granted, no one likes being yelled at, and if a person is leaving a bad re- view, you’ll probably want to tell them to kick rocks. How- ever, it is imperative that you respond to EVERY review, whether it is good or bad. e reason for this is because it shows your peers that you are actively engaged with your audience, and you care. It helps build trust between you and your potential clients, and it gives you an upper hand against your competition.
Responding to negative reviews can feel a bit awkward. Some ways to reply to a negative review:
• We would like to discuss this issue with you to nd a resolution. Please contact our o ce and speak with [attorney name] directly. We will look forward to speaking with you.
• ank you for your feedback. We will address this issue and ensure that it does not happen again.
• Hi, [client name]. We’ve reviewed your comment and would like to invite you to contact us so we can address this issue with you directly. ank you for your con- structive feedback.
Google client missed Q&A. e Q&A section is a fairly new feature and is o en overlooked. is section is actu- ally crucial for your law rm. Your potential clients are looking for a quick answer to their questions, so they’ll likely browse this section to see if they can discover what they are looking for. If they can’t nd an answer, they will likely browse your competitors Q&A.
GMB allows business owners to post their own ques- tions, so it is best practice to post any FAQ’s as they are asked. Build up that pro le!
5. NOT ADDING THE MAP TO YOUR WEBSITE
Having worked with numerous attorneys, I can attest that this is a huge asset to increasing your local ranking position! You can easily add the map by clicking the “di-
rections” button on your GMB listing, as depicted below:
Once the map loads, click on the menu button on the upper-left-hand side of the screen.
Select “Share or embed map”
Select “Copy HTML” and add the code directly to your website!
WordPress users can easily add this map into a footer widget or in the page editor. For complimentary assis- tance, you may contact me directly.
Follow the above steps, ensure your webpages are op- timized with local keywording and I’m con dent that you’ll see your local rankings and monthly tra c increase signi cantly!
Taylor McArthur is an experienced law rm marketing consultant and expert writer for Attorney at Law Maga- zine. She’s spent most of her professional career working to level the playing eld between the smaller law rms with minimal budgets and the larger “billboard giants” with hundreds of thousands to spend on advertising. roughout her career, she has helped her readers achieve equal exposure and opportunity in terms of online law rm marketing.
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