“SEO is always changing, but Rankings.io is flexible, responsive, and completely on top of it. You couldn’t ask for better quality of service.”
- Richard V. Stevens, Esq., Owner, Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens
Richard V. Stevens is a criminal defense lawyer who travels around the world to protect and defend the rights of military members and their families.
His firm focuses on courts-martial, administrative board hearings, UCMJ discipline, and other military cases.
Highlights
Challenges
- Building a global search presence without relying too heavily on NAP
- Differentiating his firm from competitors
- Building backlinks to overcome poor search visibility
- Improving call volume and the quality of leads
Solution
- Full SEO audit
- Comprehensive onsite & offsite optimization
- Site updates for mobile
- Robust link building campaign including social media and DA sites
- PR including press releases and offsite blog writing
Results
- 1,400 new backlinks resulting in better rankings & international lead gen
- Increased international search prevalence
- 224% more site traffic
- 189% increase in pageviews
- 231% more user sessions
Challenges
Reaching a global audience with a niche offering
Civilian court-martial defense lawyer Richard V. Stevens has always been passionate about ensuring that military members and their families are treated fairly by the military justice system.
To that end, Richard travels around the world to represent and defend clients wherever they’re stationed or serving—including anywhere in the USA, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Middle East, and dozens of other countries.
“My law practice is a unique, niche practice. I’m a criminal defense lawyer, but I only practice military law and I do it around the world,” Richard says.
However, while Richard had successfully positioned himself within a highly specific niche, representing clients worldwide presented his firm with a unique challenge: potential clients in need of his services had to be able to find him, no matter where in the world they were located.
“I needed to ensure that if a military member sat down and searched for a lawyer that they would find us in search,even if they were stationed in Japan, or Turkey, or Oklahoma, or Hawaii, or somewhere else in the world.” Richard recalls.
Unfortunately, back in 2013, Richard's social media presence was small and his backlink profile was practically non-existent.
“We only had 32 backlinks. It was a huge issue,” Richard admits. “And I was on some social media platforms, but I did very little with them and I didn’t have them integrated in a way that was cohesive and effective.”
Richard also faced stiff competition from other attorneys operating within his niche. Civilian criminal defense attorneys who focus on military law are few and far between, but because Richard was competing on a world stage he knew that he needed to stand head and shoulders above his competitors in search results.
“There’s only a small community of criminal defense lawyers who practice military law. I needed my website to highlight our experience versus our competitors’,” he says.
Richard knew that he needed an SEO specialist to solve these problems, but finding the right SEO was easier said than done.
“There are big differences in military law versus civilian law. The same procedures don’t apply, and the same keywords don’t apply,” he explains. “I needed a provider that understood that.”
All these factors led Richard to reach out to Chris Dreyer and his team at Rankings.io to find out how they could help.
“We only had 32 backlinks. It was a huge issue.”
Richard V. Stevens, Esq., Owner, Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens
Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens
Solution
A robust link building campaign and ethical SEO
The first thing that Rankings.io did for Richard was perform a complete website assessment. They laid out exactly which strategies were working and what they could improve.
Next, Chris and his team sat down with Richard to devise a marketing plan. They delved into the specifics of Richard’s niche, and picked apart what separated the Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens from its competitors.
“Working with Chris and his team was a satisfying—and confidence boosting—process for me. We sat down and discussed the unique nature of my practice, and that discussion informed their strategy,” Richard recalls.
Link building for Richard’s website was tricky. Unlike typical law firms which usually relied on local directories to build links, gain local search penetration, and win new clients, Richard’s firm needed to rank well regardless of geographic location.
To solve this challenge, Rankings.io first optimized Richards on- and off-site assets. They wanted to be sure that everything about his site was indexed correctly before they started link building.
Next, Rankings.io developed a link building strategy to highlight Richard’s rich experience in his unique niche.
“We talked about my practice and processes. We discussed keywords, backlinks, and SEO. They built a strategy specifically for my firm,” Richard says.
The new strategy relied on building a robust link profile without relying on NAP. They began with core social media sites, such as Google My Business, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
“I’m on LinkedIn, Avvo, Facebook, Google+, Twitter—and I’m constantly updating my blog with new content.” Richard says. “Chris and his team talk to me about my blog all the time, and help me plan my social media posts.”
Next, they started building links on prominent defense attorney sites. They sought out guest blogging opportunities, along with any other paid or unpaid white hat opportunities that might earn Richard an extra backlink—and a visibility boost in search.
“They’re always talking about new things they could potentially do and new ways to get backlinks. They’re constantly submitting my website to things that will generate more visibility search-wise,” he says.
Throughout the auditing, SEO, and link building processes, Richard was impressed by Rankings.io’s communicativeness.
“Chris and his team are always open to phone calls and email communications—they’re responsive, and open to listening to my practice’s particular needs,” he says.
Better still, because Rankings.io is completely transparent in their approach, Richard has peace of mind knowing that his website is ranking well based on its merit—and that he never needs to risk a Google penalty due to slimy SEO techniques.
“A lot of SEOs promise to get you a first page ranking, but if you do it the wrong way then you’ll be blackballed by Google,” Richard says. “Rankings.io did it the right way—with organic SEO and backlinks. They helped me earn my #1 rank legitimately.”
“Rankings.io improved my search presence the right way—with organic SEO and backlinks. They helped me earn my #1 rank legitimately.”
Richard V. Stevens, Esq., Owner, Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens
Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens
Results
Over 1,400 backlinks & first page rankings for key terms
When Richard first reached out to Rankings.io for help, his website only had 32 backlinks. Today, it has 1,400 and counting. Plus, he ranks on the first page—often #1—for many of the key terms he’s targeting, and his leads find him from all over the world.
“Rankings.io changed everything,” Richard says. “SEO, backlinks, website updates, social media—huge changes to all of it. They gave me a comprehensive strategy that points everything back to my primary expertise, defending court martial trials—and those calls have increased too.”
Richard’s now robust link profile has had a profound effect on his site’s health. He’s witnessed steady growth in all key metrics, including a 224% increase in traffic, 189% more pageviews, and a 231% increase in users.
Even better, Richard’s rich content offerings and freshly optimized website have dramatically improved both the quantity and the quality of the calls he receives.
“Rankings.io has had a big impact, not only in the volume of calls but also in the type of calls I receive,” he says. “Now I’m getting more calls from my ideal clients—the specific types of cases I want to focus on.”
Richard’s call volume has increased so dramatically that he actually had to hire an additional attorney just to keep up with his leads.
“I’m getting so many high-quality calls that I either had to turn away clients or bring in another attorney to help handle the volume. I hired help,” Richard laughs.
So has revenue increased since hiring Rankings.io?
“Significantly. Hiring Rankings.io has absolutely paid for itself.”
But even though revenue is up, that’s not the main benefit from Richard’s perspective.
“I run a business, and from that aspect revenue is important. But I do what I do because I want to help military members who need my help. The most important thing to me is ensuring that they get the best representation they can get.” Richard says. “Rankings.io didn’t just increase my business. They increased my ability to help those in need.”
Today, Richard still receives monthly reports from Rankings.io about new strategies and link building opportunities. He’s pleased to see that even years later, they’re working tirelessly to ensure that he always has the best results.
“I like that there are always changes, because it means that Chris and his team are still on top of things. They’re constantly improving my site, not just going through the motions,” Richard says. “SEO is always changing, but Rankings.io is flexible, responsive, and completely on top of it. You couldn’t ask for better quality of service.”
“I’m getting so many high-quality calls that I either had to turn away clients or bring in another attorney to help handle the volume.”
Richard V. Stevens, Esq., Owner, Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens
Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens
