Recently, I attended a conference in Seattle, where I asked over a dozen SEO experts about lawyers running scholarship campaigns to get backlinks.
Responses included:
• “The gains are likely to be marginal at best.”
• “We’ve seen lawyers running them, and they experienced a lift in their domain authority.”
• “They might work, but there are better things to do.”
One SEO expert’s immediate response was, “Publish proprietary data, speak at a university, or get a column in your metro’s paper. Do something that legitimately shows that you’re both an expert on your topic and that you are an authority in your community.”
First, I’m not here to say that if your SEO company is helping push a scholarship backlink campaign that they’re doing you harm or wasting your resources. It looks like they’re still working at this time. However, a scholarship does not indicate that you are an expert in your field. So while they work today, they will not work forever because they simply aren’t getting you links that display authority or expertise.
I also don’t want you to go out and switch your entire strategy overnight. If you have an SEO agency and you’re interested in pursuing my recommendation below, please do this with the advice and oversight of your SEO vendor.
Th e following suggestions are for firms that do a lot of motor vehicle cases. With a small dose of creativity, you can tailor this to other practice areas.
Proprietary Data Changes the Game
The idea is that if you publish your own, unique data, then you give people legitimate reasons to talk about your firm within the actual context of what you do.
If you conduct a survey and compile it into an easy-to-consume format, then you are now providing genuinely valuable information to the world (rather than more information about car accidents that everyone else has written about thousands of times).
The issue of having quality content is largely why scholarship campaigns have become so popular. They give other websites a reason to talk about you. Let’s face it; people don’t really care about lawyers. You need to go out of your way to give people reasons to link to your website.
Examples of Proprietary Data
To conduct a survey and provide an analysis, you need to first determine what the topic or scope of the project will be. Start by selecting the practice area for which you most want more cases. Next, consider ways that you can look for interesting information. Here are some ideas…
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Dangerous Intersections
• Ask people which intersection in your area is the worst.
• Take the responses and put them onto a map.
• Have your team members go out to the most complained about intersections and record a video talking about why it poses safety risks.
• Bring in a traffic safety expert to talk about what should be done to improve the safety of those intersections.
• Compile recommendations for the city on ways to improve road conditions.
• Get an interview with a local city official to discuss how they can use the data you found.
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Pothole City
• Ask people where the worst and/or most dangerous potholes are (this is particularly relevant in northern states in the winter).
• Plot the responses on the map.
• Go out and get pictures/videos of what’s needed.
• Get estimates on what it would cost the city to fix.
• Compile recommendations and look for ways to be a part of the conversation.
Roundabouts – Love’em or Hat’em
• Survey people about where roundabouts should be and where they shouldn’t.
• Follow the same steps as above. In the end, be real and be involved.
You can follow a similar process for any of these. It’s all about figuring out what is relevant to both your practice area and to your local community.
Collecting the Data
Don’t get too caught up in which method. It’s best to pick one and run with it.
You can use online survey software. This makes your data collection and storage a lot easier because it’s all contained in a database.
If you want to go a really simple route, post on your Facebook page with your question. Then compile all the data from the comments into a spreadsheet.
You can also explore using companies that specialize in polls and surveys. While this can be more expensive, this can really improve the legitimacy of your work, causing more journalists to take your publication seriously.
This is a PR Opportunity
Don’t just treat this as an SEO opportunity. Conduct your surveys and then get every bit of benefit you can out of publishing them.
Make sure it is visual.
Don’t just report a bunch of numbers or stats or even just a map. Help tell the story of the data you found in a way that people can look at and immediately understand what you’re talking about. This is why I recommended above that you visit the locations of your biggest findings. If a certain intersection is particularly bad, go visit it and talk about what makes it so dangerous.
Explain your methods.
This is good for the sake of getting journalists’ attention. By outlining the methods you took to acquire the data, you give more credibility to your process.
Coordinate the publication.
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Don’t just haphazardly publish this data. Coordinate your press releases, blog publication, social media out-reach, local news interviews, and more. You can use this study to get your name part of the local conversation. Reach out to journalists in advance so that you land interviews to coincide with your publication.
Take it further with advocacy.
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You are advocates for your client. Show your community the type of advocate you are for everyone by taking your findings and looking to create actual change. Involving experts help you make the case that you’re not just out for a publicity grab. This can also result in far more mentions online and offline, driving your brand’s relationship with your community.
This is an ongoing opportunity.
Google loves when you give them fresh content. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to really publish a lot of interesting, outstanding, and authoritative fresh content on a regular basis.
That’s one reason I love this strategy so much. Publish your results as the 2019 results. Then next year, go back and either update the page by adding the 2020 survey results. (Whether you do this on the same page or do a separate page is a discussion to be had with your SEO company. I’ve seen it done both ways.)
You have to decide to do it and then take action! If you are thinking, “This makes a lot of sense. I’d like to do this.” Then here’s what I want you to do:
1. Pick a practice area you want to generate more cases through your website.
2. Pick a question to pursue.
3. Have your staff get the question out to the public. Email your lists, send out mailings, post on social media…
The value of this strategy is that you give people a reason to talk about you, specifically around the topic for which you want more cases. It also cements your relationship to your community. This is one powerful way you demonstrate your expertise and become an authority in Google’s eyes.
