How to Create a YouTube Channel for Your Law Firm [INFOGRAPHIC]

We know that lawyers love words.  But your potential clients love video, and hosting your video clips on YouTube and Facebook is an excellent way to make your case to those potential clients as well as improve your SEO.

Whether or not you have video already on your website, you should create a YouTube channel for your practice that will do double duty for you: persuading potential clients why they should hire you, and boosting your Google ranking.  Here’s how:

Pick your specialty.  You’ve heard me say it before, but it bears repeating:  one of the biggest legal marketing mistakes attorneys make is generalization.  You need to promote yourself as a specialist (in the marketing sense) – you’re a divorce lawyer, or a car accident attorney, or an estate planning lawyer.  Choose 3-4 topics within your area of specialization and develop informational talking points (no more than 3-4 minutes each) that potential clients will find useful.  And remember, you are not shooting a commercial – make it short and informational.

Shoot your videos.  Your clips do not need to be Hollywood-quality productions.  You can get an inexpensive DSLR camera with a built-in USB connection so you can upload each video to your computer, edit it, and create a file for your YouTube channel.

Set up your channel.  With YouTube, you can create your own TV channel (see the infographic below for how-to instructions).  The website will also walk you through the process, including uploading and tagging your video.  Be SURE you title and tag your video with your keywords (i.e., “Atlanta divorce lawyer”) so you feed those search engines.  You will also need to add a description – be as specific as possible and use your keywords. You should add captions since most people watch videos online with the sound off.

Promote your channel.  Add your YouTube channel URL to all your social media pages – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. – as well as to your email signature.  Have everyone in your practice add it to their social media and electronic signatures as well.  You can also search for relevant videos on YouTube and post a video reply linking your channel to those relevant videos.  And, of course, link your YouTube channel to your website and blog.

Online video is a great social media tool for your law firm marketing arsenal that can help you with SEO and attracting new clients.