Leadership In Law Podcast

S02E77 Winning SEO In a Saturated Market with Lindsey Busfield

• Marilyn Jenkins • Season 2 • Episode 77

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Lindsey Busfield, VP of Optimize My Firm, shares her journey from managing Amish chicken farms to becoming an SEO strategist for some of the nation's most powerful law firm websites. With refreshing candor, she explains why most traditional SEO tactics fail modern attorneys and reveals the strategies that work in 2023.

For small and mid-sized firms competing against giants like Morgan & Morgan, Lindsey offers hope through strategic positioning. Rather than trying to outspend the competition, she advocates for community-based approaches that leverage your authentic connections and interests. "If you're a motorcycle rider, get involved in that community, make yourself an advocate," Lindsey advises, noting how these grassroots efforts can distinguish you from "settlement mills" with deeper pockets.

The conversation dives deep into practical content strategies, with Lindsey revealing why generic "What to do after a car accident" blog posts make her "skin crawl." Instead, she outlines a sophisticated content hierarchy approach that helps attorneys dominate search results through parent pages and geographically relevant subcategories. You'll learn why Google's recent verification crackdowns are suspending many law firm listings and exactly what to do if it happens to you.

Perhaps most valuable is Lindsey's insight on client acquisition: "If they haven't said yes or no yet, they haven't given you an answer. So it is still a maybe, and there is money in the maybes." She shares examples of firms closing 5-10 cases weekly through persistent follow-up and smart referral strategies.

Reach Lindsey here:

Podcast Link: https://optimizemyfirm.com/podcasts/
Website: www.optimizemyfirm.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-busfield/

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Leadership in Law podcast with host Marilyn Jenkins. Cut through the noise, get actionable insights and inspiring stories delivered straight to your ears your ultimate podcast for navigating the ever-changing world of law firm ownership. In each episode, we dive deep into the critical topics that matter most to you, from unlocking explosive growth to building a thriving team. We connect you with successful firm leaders and industry experts who share their proven strategies and hard-won wisdom. So, whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey as a law firm owner, the Leadership in Law podcast is here to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. I'm your host, marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming my guest, lindsay Busfield, to the show today. Lindsay is the vice president of Optimize my Firm, an SEO and content marketing agency that's behind some of the nation's most powerful law firm websites. Having worked with numerous personal injury attorneys who've been burned by other SEO agencies, lindsay has created a business model that addresses the major issues that plague the industry, namely, over-promising, under-delivering and locking clients in with contracts. Additionally, lindsay is the host of the Personal Entry Marketing Minute podcast that dives into marketing, business development and interesting cases in the personal entry world. She's also the proud mom of two girls, and we'll talk your ear off about pickleball if. Given the chance, I'm excited to have you here, lindsay, welcome. Thank you so much for having me Absolutely Pickleball.

Speaker 2:

That's just something I've never gotten into.

Speaker 3:

But I mean don't, don't give me the opportunity, because I really don't know much about it, but I absolutely love it. I've been playing for years and it's just a great way to get outside, get some fresh air, meet some friends and stay in shape.

Speaker 2:

Nice, nice. So let's go in to talk about you. You specialize in personal injury attorneys and working with their SEO, so tell us a little bit about your journey that got you where you are.

Speaker 3:

So my journey is kind of a weird one. My career started actually working with a bunch of Amish chicken farmers. My family started a pasture raised egg company back maybe 15 years ago almost 20 years ago and it started out of a backyard flock of chickens that my parents had at a bed and breakfast in upstate New York and they partnered with an Amish chicken farmer to turn this idea this idea of pasture raised into a real business. It was before that, it existed before. So as they started building that company, I came on as a special projects manager, started with marketing and moved kind of into operations and compliance but really kind of found my passion for marketing out of that and as the company grew and is now the nation's largest organic pasture-raised egg company, marketing really was an important piece of that and I found my passion in there.

Speaker 3:

But I also found myself traveling to all the different chicken farms a bit too much and wanted something a little closer to home. So I left and worked with a law firm here in Raleigh as a part of their marketing department and they had hired a company to do some SEO consulting for them but they didn't have anybody on their team with the bandwidth to really do anything with it. So I stepped up, raised my hand and said this is something that I would be interested in learning more about. I really didn't know much about it at all and through that fractional relationship I learned everything about SEO and learned really enough to know that that was kind of a perfect blend of marrying my passions with a little bit of a competitive edge, a little bit of a puzzle piece, a lot of creativity, and it was just so much fun. And so from that I ended up meeting my now business partner, len, who had started an SEO agency that exclusively did SEO with personal injury lawyers. So I partnered with him and we have now grown the business that he founded 15 years ago into where we are now. So it's been a fantastic journey and I absolutely love doing what we do.

Speaker 2:

Oh, fantastic, and over 15 years has been so many changes. It's just crazy.

Speaker 3:

It is. It is not the same, the same game we were playing 15 years ago.

Speaker 2:

No, I even remember way back in the day where their link forms actually worked, you know, right. Anyway, things have changed and we learn and grow. What are you seeing? So you know people are seeing changes all the time and I know we've seen some drastic changes in the last few months. What are the few things that you've seen in SEO for law firms coming up recently?

Speaker 3:

So I mean, as you mentioned, you know, link Farms used to work 15 years ago. There are all these kind of black hat ideas of putting you know text in the background of things and of course, you know those things are archaic and don't work anymore. But Google is constantly getting more savvy and, of course, with every algorithm update that they are pushing out, they are trying to narrow down their search results, the top performing search results, to what is the best, most accurate, most relevant content that answers the questions that their users are asking. Because that's how Google stays in business, because people go to Google to find correct answers. They don't want stuff that has been written just for the sake of SEO. They don't want stuff that is inaccurate information. They really are putting their trust in Google for important information as well, as you know, like where's the local pizza place.

Speaker 3:

But Google is really trying to find ways with their algorithm updates to make sure that every answer they're providing is the best, so that people don't start using another search engine and you know buying, you know using ads on another platform. So, with every algorithm, that's what Google is after and, of course, you know, one of the big things that Google has been working towards is this AI feature on their search results. And I think that's the big question that's on everybody's mind is how do I get onto AI, how accurate is AI and how can I optimize my website so that Google is pulling from my content and displaying my website's name next to the AI answer? So that's probably the biggest update that's happened over the past few months.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I've noticed that and we you know talking about how I'm giving the what you're looking for. We call it the zero click search. You know whenever and what I really love about it you ask a question, that there's a YouTube video that answers it. They give you a timestamp before they answer it. So, but they've been doing that for a long time. But I have noticed this more and more almost everything you look up has an AI solution at very top, and I haven't really done an extensive research to see if any of it's hallucinations are real, but you know, I just you got to look at what's what's happening. But you know, optimizing for the AI search I think is important as well. But speaking of importance of SEO, how is it that important for small law firms?

Speaker 3:

For small law firms it's just as important as it is for large law firms. It all comes down to the content that's on your website. That's on your website. So, as a small law firm, if you're competing in an industry with a bunch of other law firms, my recommendation is always to really focus your attention onto one segment of your practice. So if you are a personal injury lawyer and you are involved in the bike community, for example, then I would recommend focusing your SEO efforts onto ranking well for bike-related terms and really niching down into that. And by doing that and building out content and getting links for that content, you have a better shot of both showing up more highly on the search results page for bike-related terms, but also, as you do that, you position yourself better to show up in the AI search results and have Google draw from the information that you're publishing on your website.

Speaker 2:

Excellent. Yeah, I absolutely agree on the niching down. It's just if you're going to market, market to one thing and you can do other things, but be the expert and the top of the search engines for that one thing.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and so I've recently talked to a few attorneys that are in extremely saturated markets. I mean, some of the Morgan and Morgans are right and they're thriving. So how would you, how do you suggest using SEO or whatever type of marketing or content to compete in those markets?

Speaker 3:

That is a great question and one that we hear all the time, because the Morgan Morgans do tend to take over and they have millions of dollars that they're spending every month in these markets. And, I'll be honest, seo is not always the right answer for a small law firm that's competing in one of these giant cities. We honestly turn away more clients than we accept in some of these more saturated cities if somebody doesn't have the right positioning to be competitive in that market, and in those cases, what I recommend is more of a strong, grassroots approach. Again, if you are in one of these Chicago's or you're in a Los Angeles and you're a motorcycle rider, then get involved in that community, make yourself an advocate for that community and send out team members in that community and your community. That you have a genuine care for them is going to set you apart from these giants who are, you know, these giant settlement mills.

Speaker 3:

So position yourself within your community as an advocate is one way to do it. Another thing to do is to use platforms like YouTube that haven't been completely dominated by other law firms. So making videos that are relevant for your community, that are relevant for different niches within your practice, and answering questions that somebody, not on a national level would ask, but somebody, let's say, in an Englewood, colorado, would ask you know what happens if I'm a cyclist and I'm injured in front of you? Know you know what happens if I'm a cyclist and I'm injured in front of you? Know, colfax Avenue in Englewood, like you know, really honing down on your geographic market and attracting your specific prospective clients.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, awesome, yes. And again what is your opinion of like local events I mean you talk about like motorcycle? You know, if you're focusing on motorcycle I do know that they have not necessarily rallies, but get togethers. You know, if you're involved in the community it's a very good way of even if you're not a biker, you can at least meet your prospective clients.

Speaker 3:

Well, there are. I mean, and the motorcycle sector in particular is amazing because these guys and gals are so active in their communities and, honestly, have some of the biggest hearts. And, yes, they have rallies, they have events. A lot of times they're charity events, so they are so much fun to get involved with.

Speaker 3:

I remember when I was growing up, there was a Toys for Tots style event that a bunch of the motorcyclists in Denver would put on and they would meet over at Aspen Grove and they would all bring tons of teddy bears and toys and they would load up their bikes and take down the street and have Santa riding a Harley in the front and they would all ride their bikes down to the children's hospital. And these events are taking place everywhere and I love it, and so this is a great community to get involved with, to volunteer with, to sponsor their events and just wonderful people to advocate for. And so, as you do sponsor their events, a lot of times you're able to get a link back to your website. So, for SEO, that's something that is powerful for you, but also just to build those relationships.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, exactly, and every biker knows someone who's had an accident or has had one, so it's always a good number to get into. But again, it comes down to the niching down and work in your market. I love that, yeah, and I, you know. Even though most attorneys work, obviously, statewide, they focus on their local area and that's you know. So get involved in your community, especially if you're small. Be that one that stands out differently. Yeah, exactly, and that's where you know, we talked about niching down. So let's talk a little bit about the Google business profile, which is one of my favorite topics. How, what are you seeing is happening now? I noticed that we've noticed that there's been, across the network over in about the last week or two, updates on services and stuff like that are causing a lot of issues with having to be re-verified. Are you seeing anything happening in the market there, anything good or bad?

Speaker 3:

Yes, so both across the board.

Speaker 3:

There are a lot of law firms that we work with who have had their listings suspended, and it has been an absolute nightmare over the past couple of weeks, because it's not necessarily that you've done anything wrong, but Google is again trying to make sure that all the information they're putting out there is accurate. So anything that is even like a quasi flag could get your page suspended and it is a real pain in the neck to to get it re-verified. So and I mean it involves knowing the process of what to do, what Google's looking for to get it re-verified, and essentially what they're looking for, if anybody is in this boat is you have to make a video that shows the signage out in front of your building, shows you know a sign on your door and some sort of you know interior, interior and says this is an actual office, it's not just an empty satellite location. So you need to demonstrate that this is an actual, reputable office so that Google will get that suspension listed for you. They crack down a little harder on some places than others and then some industries than others, so making sure that you do that right, keeping your video to about 60 seconds, any sort of photo evidence that you can show that has your name and address on the location, like a business card or a package that can go a long way as well.

Speaker 3:

Other updates that are happening within Google business profile not necessarily an update update, but something that's important to keep in mind is always your reviews.

Speaker 3:

So, as law firms, in some practice areas as opposed to others, it's easier to get reviews. But everybody needs reviews, regardless of whether you're a family law firm, a personal injury law firm, corporate law firm. Those reviews are going to make you stand out not only to prospective clients who are vetting different law firm. Those reviews are going to make you stand out not only to prospective clients who are vetting different law firms. But Google is looking at your review recency in addition to your review quantity, when it's deciding whether to show you on the local pack, and that is a really important factor if prospective clients are searching for a law firm is a really important factor if prospective clients are searching for a law firm. So those, your proximity to your users, as well as your review recency, are two of the biggest factors that Google's looking for if they're deciding to show your firm in that local pack, that map area that so many law firms are fighting against each other to be on yeah.

Speaker 2:

And you can be. You can get in front of someone rank higher than someone with more reviews if yours are more frequent and more newer, Right. So the interesting review and use of reviews I heard from another firm that is in a very saturated market was they went to the large competition and went to the one stars and saw what's the one thing people were complaining about and they made sure to start their firm addressing those issues, Because when those people are unhappy and walk away for whatever reason and just choose not to use that firm, they're still looking for someone.

Speaker 2:

Right, so they're going to go right back and look, but so I thought that was a very back in the day. We called it guerrilla marketing, style you know to be, to beat the person who's taken the market by doing the one thing they don't do.

Speaker 3:

well, that's a really interesting perspective. It's a very interesting technique, and I'm sure that you know that can lead to a handful of great clients, as well as probably a handful of interesting calls where you know they didn't really have a case that was viable, probably a handful of interesting calls where you know they didn't really have a case that was viable. But there is some low hanging fruit there that can at least be engaged with as well, as you know, getting an understanding for some of the trouble spots within the legal industry as a service. So I mean the complaints that we hear across the board from people's reviews are usually lack of communication or a law firm not being willing to take on a case, and so you can either, you know, help out with a case that somebody either didn't have the bandwidth for, or provide better communication and just better service in general. Then you can make yourself stand apart and get some of that low hanging fruit.

Speaker 2:

Sure, and this one particular case that they're running fame through the one stores was lack of customer service. Yeah, you know, and it's unfortunately whenever you get to a certain size, sometimes that goes by the wayside. So, and I think it's those of us that are smaller than the big guns, you know, can make a point of doing that, having good customer service.

Speaker 3:

Those conversations- Well, and customer service as well as intake, because a lot of times those prospective clients are lost right during that intake process, and we see it so many times. Where we can, you know, get somebody's website to rank, we can get their phone to ring and then intake just drops the ball because they aren't showing empathy or they don't have the right information for a prospective client, or they've hired out to a virtual service that isn't providing the right information or isn't sending along the information in a timely manner where the lawyer is able to get in touch with the prospective client. So making sure that your intake team is well-coached, well-staffed and responsive in an appropriate way is a huge piece of that puzzle.

Speaker 2:

And following up. That is by far the first and most important thing. You know, we can send all the expectations and clients that we want, but if you guys are listening and you're not following up with your leads more than once, I mean, I've asked clients, they're complaining. You know, none of these leads are closing. Well, how often are you reaching out? Well, I send everyone a text, yeah, a text. That is not enough. No, you know, think about your day and it gets interrupted. Some it's spilled milk, as they say. Life gets in the way and you don't finish. You know calling that attorney or whatever. You don't take the call. Call back. You know reach out, you've got to. I like to think of it as if someone's raised their hand and said they're interested in your service. It's my duty to follow up with them until they let me know that they're no longer interested, yes, so and that's makes a huge difference.

Speaker 2:

I've got a client that closes five to 10 cases a week because if the lead is unqualified, she asked for referrals. I'm like awesome. I mean, that's fantastic. You don't know where your next case is coming, but if your phone's ringing it's a potential case.

Speaker 3:

Right, and if they haven't said yes or no yet, they haven't given you an answer. So it is still a maybe and there is money in the maybes.

Speaker 2:

That's right. That's right. So when you're, when you're doing your SEO strategy, you're obviously working with your Google business profile and the website. And tell me about your content strategy. Do you what you do for your clients in that side?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so our content our content is probably about 80% of what we do behind our SEO strategy, and having the right content on your website is so important. And we we talked to a lot of law firms and we're like, well, you know what kind of content do you have on your site and they'll go. Well, you know, we make blogs. You know, like, what to do after a car accident, and like that just kind of makes my skin crawl. Everybody has that one, everybody has that one and Everybody has that one. Nobody's going to read it. No, but it's a warm fuzzy that people have on their site because they feel like they need to have it on there.

Speaker 3:

But when it comes to content strategy, the way that we do it for true SEO is we look at all of the different practice areas on the site. And so, let's say, you're a personal injury firm, because that's who we work with. We make sure that you have in-depth content for what are called the parent pages. So your car accident page, bike accident, motorcycle accident, dog bites, slip and falls. So we make sure that each of those pages are built out with a lot of really robust information that answers questions that somebody on a high level might be asking when they are searching for an attorney From there.

Speaker 3:

We take a more granular approach. That way you are able to show up for more varied types of keywords. For example, let's say we have your car accident section of your website. So we have your car accident attorney, all that great information. Then we create sections that are kind of subcategories of that. So you know car accidents at intersections, car accidents caused by failure to yield, you know car accident injuries like the most common types of car accident injuries, and we make all of those geographically relevant so they're actually showing up for the city that you're targeting. So we build out that type of content hierarchy for each accident type within a personal injury firm and that way your law firm is able to show up really well for kind of the wide net of personal injury terms as well as the wide net of long-tailed keywords that somebody might be searching for some more specific information about their specific case type.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic. So we call those like circus and city pages. I've heard of people that do really get really granular about their neighborhoods and their counties. That's awesome. That's fantastic. And getting more detailed into that, it gives Google so much more information to be able to say, and you have the opportunity of being. It's an authority listing as well, so I'm sure some of your clients are authorities, so it has multiple tabs under it. So instead of one link, you're getting four or five, which is fantastic. If your client owns more than your estate on the search page, that's great.

Speaker 3:

Yes, absolutely. And then you go and you get backlinks that are leading back to those key pages that you're wanting to show up well, and that gives them a boost in their credibility, and so those pages will rank higher and you can take up more real estate on the Google search result page.

Speaker 2:

Nice, and do you do anything with like press releases or anything like that?

Speaker 3:

We can. So we typically tend to reserve press releases for things that a law firm is actually doing that's newsworthy. So, for example, if a law firm is hosting an event that is a children's day event, or one of the law firms that we work with did a world record breaking event and invited members from their community in to participate in that. So if there is something that a law firm is doing within their community that is newsworthy, then absolutely, because a press release in and of itself isn't necessarily going to help your SEO. While you might get links from the network of syndicated sites for that press release, those links are typically no follow links and they aren't going to add any power back to your website. What they can do through this press release is get organic news attention. If what event that you have going on, then you'll be able to get a link from that news site and that will help from an SEO perspective.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it sounds like instead of doing online distribution, it'd be better just to call the local yes and submit it locally and get it out into the community Right and build relationships with local reporters.

Speaker 3:

Find out who's covering what types of pieces, cause there's typically a reporter who will do your pieces on dogs or pieces on crime, or cover recent accidents or cover hit and run. So, find out which reporter in your area is most likely to cover whatever kind of topic. It is that that you are wanting to issue.

Speaker 2:

And it's always the feel good reporter. So yeah yeah, we all like to have at least one, a little bit of good news on the news.

Speaker 3:

Right, if there's a cat fashion show that you have going on, then perfect.

Speaker 2:

There you have it.

Speaker 3:

I didn't mind that one, that one's fun.

Speaker 2:

All right, fantastic. Well, this has been a great conversation. I hope any personal injury attorney that's listening review. You know. Look at your SEO. Give Lindsay a call if you have any questions, but how would they reach out to you, connect with you, if they wanted to chat further?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, if you want any more information, if you want to have a conversation, feel free to reach out to me through the Optimize my Firm website or email me directly at lindsayatopt, my firmcom.

Speaker 2:

And I'll make sure that we have those in the show notes and we also include your LinkedIn as well. Lindsay, thank you so much for being here. This has been a great conversation. I appreciate your time.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 4:

Thanks for joining me today for this episode. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take the next step with a digital strategist to help you grow your law firm, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to lawmarketingzonecom to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, thanks for listening to Leadership in Law podcast and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. Remember you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the same success. Head over to our website at lawmarketingzonecom. From there, connect with other listeners, access valuable resources and stay up to date on the latest episodes. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with vision and keep growing your firm.

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