Every Lawyer Should list Their Law Practice on These Directories
Before widespread use of the internet, people relied on the good ol’ phone book to find the services they needed. For lawyers, getting in touch with these potential clients was as easy as calling the phone company and purchasing an ad in the Yellow Pages.
Now it’s 2020 and things aren’t as clear-cut as they used to be. There are hundreds of legal and non-legal directories for you to consider when listing your business. How do you know which directories are worth your time?
Allow Beam Local to help you. We’ve put together this list of the top 8 directories every lawyer should list their practice in.
Once you’ve added yourself to these 8 directories, you’ll be well on your way to getting found more often by new potential clients and partners.
Kyle Godon is a legal marketing expert.
He’s personally helped over 128 lawyers. He’ll help you attract ideal clients for your practice.
Google My Business for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice with Google My Business
The entire world is searching on Google. You can turn those searches into clients. Google My Business lets you create a free listing for your law firm that displays your firm name, contact information, and hours. This listing will show up in your local area when people search Google using phrases such as “family lawyers near me”.
Google My Business is at the top of our list because internet users are very likely to search Google before they search any other directory when looking for a lawyer.
How To List Your Law Practice with Google My Business
To create or verify your listing, visit the Google My Business website and click “Manage Now”.
First, you’ll need to fill in your business details. After that, Google will mail you a postcard with instructions to validate you as a real business. Once this confirmation is complete, your listing will go live.
Avvo for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice With Avvo
An estimated 4 million Avvo visitors each month have an urgent legal issue. If you’re not listed in this directory, you have a 0% chance of being found by users browsing lawyers here.
Avvo proudly states that 97% of all practicing American attorneys are listed with them, so it’s easily one of the most comprehensive legal directories available.
How To List Your Law Practice With Avvo
Claiming your profile in Avvo is free to do. Fill in your information using their form, including your license details. After Avvo confirms your license status, your profile will be included in their directory and search results:
BONUS: Avvo has premium features starting at about $100 USD/month, which let you remove ads from competing attorneys on your profile page, display your contact information in more search results, measure performance with lead conversion tracking, and further customize your personal profile.
LinkedIn for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice on LinkedIn
An estimated 93% of lawyers use LinkedIn*. Despite this high engagement, most of these users are lawyers at big law firms, and the platform remains underused by sole practitioners and small firms. If you don’t have a personal page, you’re likely missing out on big networking opportunities.
Create a free personal page that highlights your individual strengths, education, and unique approach. Then, find other lawyers you know on LinkedIn and request to connect with them. This will help you continue to build your referral and word-of-mouth network.
Once you’re done, you can also create a Company page for your firm. This will improve the visibility of your practice on Google as a business entity as well.
How To List Your Law Practice on LinkedIn
If you don’t already have a personal page, visit LinkedIn’s website to sign up.
Once your account is created, you can create a Company Profile under “Work” settings.
FindLaw for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice on FindLaw
FindLaw by Thomson Reuters is a lawyer directory available in both the US and Canada. The directory ranks well when potential clients are googling phrases such as “real estate lawyers in my city.” With so much traffic going to their website, it’s wise to make sure you’re listed so you’re getting a fair piece of the share.
FindLaw also makes it easy for users to find a lawyer in their area based on very specific issues, such as adoption, deportation, or employee wage disputes, so any leads that arrive to you via FindLaw are likely to be highly qualified.
How To List Your Law Practice on FindLaw
If you’re in Canada, check to make sure you aren’t already listed. If you’re not already listed, you can request your FindLaw listing.
If you’re in the US, your profile will likely already be available. Do a quick search for your firm name and once you find your listing, there will be an option to update your profile.
Facebook for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice on Facebook
2 in 3 Facebook users surveyed globally said they visited a local business’s page at least once a week. Although Facebook might not be the first platform you think of when it comes to listing your practice, these numbers mean that there is a ton of opportunity to be seen by individuals and businesses in your area who are looking for legal services.
Facebook facilitates conversation. Individuals who just purchased their first home or incorporated a new business are likely to thank or appreciate their lawyer publically. Having a business page will help you secure more referrals because you’ll be able to share your contact info directly on Facebook, respond to comments, and engage with potential clients using Facebook Messenger.
How To List Your Law Practice on Facebook
To create your Facebook page, visit Facebook’s Create a Page website.
You will need to be logged into your personal Facebook account to get started; however, your personal profile can remain separate and hidden from your new business page by using a different email address during the sign-up process.
Facebook will prompt you to add a payment method if you want to invest in some advertising. If you’re not ready for that just yet, you can skip this part of the process.
Yellow Pages for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice with the Yellow Pages
Creating a simple listing is free to do with the Yellow Pages. In doing so, you’ll automatically gain visibility via Apple Maps as well.
They also suggest that you’ll gain visibility where Yellow Pages profiles rank high on Google. Although this may be true for some businesses, it’s worth noting that the Yellow Pages do not tend to rank very high for legal services on Google.
There are options to pay for premium spots if you’re interested in sponsored advertising, which is a great way to jump ahead of the other listings.
How To List Your Law Practice with the Yellow Pages
In both Canada and the US, creating a listing and having it verified is quick and painless.
If you’re in Canada, visit Yellow Pages for Business website to create your listing.
If you’re in the US, visit the Yellow Pages ypProfile website to create your listing.
Martindale-Hubbell for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice with Martindale-Hubbell
Martindale-Hubbell is one of the more distinguished directories having been around for generations. Martindale has always placed a large emphasis on peer ratings, giving lawyers a chance to highlight the quality of their legal services without resorting to boasting.
If you’re not already listed in this directory, you can create a free listing that shows up when users look you up online. If you use the peer-rating feature, you can also publish these ratings on your website and on LinkedIn.
Listings with peer ratings and client reviews are more prominently featured, so if your listing is new, it will take some building-up to rise to the top. However, by publishing your listing here you’ll automatically be published in Nolo.com and Lawyers.com, so you’re essentially taking care of 3 directories at once.
How To List Your Law Practice with Martindale-Hubbell
Martindale makes it really easy. You can create your profile using their submission form.
Yelp for Lawyer Marketing
Why You Should List Your Law Practice with Yelp
Yelp remains one of the top directories for reviewing a local small business online, and that includes lawyers. With over 178 million unique website visitors each month, it’s no wonder so many lawyers have claimed and maintained their listing.
Yelp is driven by testimonials and it’s important to remember that clients are likely to leave a negative testimonial before they ever leave a positive one on their own accord. If you create your listing, be prepared to respond to negative testimonials appropriately from the bad apples. You can outweigh and overcome the negativity by asking your happy clients to leave a positive review.
If you’re not prepared to manage your reputation in this way, then we suggest only registering your listing with Yelp if you have an unclaimed profile, that way you can at least monitor your profile and respond to reviews should they occur.
How To Register Your Law Practice with Yelp
Whether or not you appear in Yelp may be outside of your control, so check to see if you already have an unverified listing.
Yelp does not remove business pages, even if you request it. So if you have an unverified listing, you should claim it and monitor it.
If you do not have a listing and you decide you want to register, visit Yelp’s website to create your new listing.
Now that we’ve covered the top 8 directories you should list your practice in, you’re in a good position to get found by your ideal clients in two ways:
Firstly, for the potential clients who are surfing legal directories for services, you now have a profile, so you are there to be found!
Secondly, listing your business in these top 8 directories with your business information and links to your website will also improve your website’s findability. That means when clients in your local area are looking for a lawyer, they’re more likely to find your website.
If you’re looking for ways to improve your law firm website and its findability, we can help with that! Contact Kyle to talk about your marketing goals.
Let an expert guide you.
Beam Local helps professionals launch better websites, outrank their competition on Google, and attract better customers for their businesses.
Or Call +1 (855)-831-4530 and Ask for Kyle