Are you being held hostage by a big box marketing agency?
In the legal world, we have some very large companies such as Scorpion, Martindale, Justia, etc offering their digital marketing services to law firms.
Some large companies try to lock clients in with proprietary websites, contracts, or other digital assets being held hostage.
Good news: Leaving is easy.
Problem
Solution
How to Leave a “Big Box” Marketing Agency:
Assuming you have found one of the “good guys”, regaining control of your digital presence is extremely simple.
1. Review your contract.
Find out when your contract ends and plan your escape.
2. Determine ownership.
In most cases, if you have Scorpion, Justia, etc, all of the images, text, and content on your website is yours. You can rebuild your site yourself, hire a designer, or your new marketing team can handle your new WordPress website build. Some big box marketing agencies hold past PPC, Analytics data, or other marketing data hostage. We do not believe this should be a factor in deciding to stay or not because most accounts are so poorly managed at most big box marketing agencies, the data is usually worthless.
3. Rebuild your online presence.
If you’re going to be marketing your firm, you need a WordPress website. We’ll elaborate more below, but in general, your content, pictures, articles, etc can be moved to your new WordPress site which will be fully in your control.
4. Choose a new agency or in-house team.
Research and select a new marketing agency that offers transparency, or hire an in-house marketing team.
How To Switch to WordPress:
There are many proprietary website services out there. In most cases, you own the website assets, such as the website content and graphics. Using Scorpion as an example, here’s how you switch to WordPress:
1. Rebuild website using WordPress.
WordPress is downloaded from WordPress.org and installed on your server. If you don’t have a web host, your marketing team can provide options or better yet, you can obtain your own hosting from Kinsta or WP Engine. Then, your designer will build your website, hopefully by focusing on user experience.
2. Configure redirects.
If your URLs change when you switch to WordPress, it is important to set up redirects. A “redirect” redirects search engines to your new URL, sort of like forwarding your mail at the post office. Example:
Old URL: YourLawFirm.com/accidents.html
New URL: YourLawFirm.com/accidents/
Redirects are important to have in place when your new site goes live to prevent volatility in Google’s search results.
3. Import content.
While there are indeed some companies which are borderline criminal/fraudulent which do technically own your content as seen in your contract, in most cases, like if you have Scorpion, you probably own your own content. There is no easy “export” button, your web designer will copy your old pages and past them into your new pages manually.In good news, once you have a standard WordPress install, nobody will ever need to do this again because WordPress is highly flexible, customizable and open source.
4. Digital assets.
A smooth exit is usually as simple as giving your new agency the thumbs up, so long as you’ve chosen a good agency. They’ll provide a checklist of marketing assets needed such as access to your Google Business Page, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Local Services Ads, and more. Please see the FAQ section below for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Will I Lose Current Rankings by Switching to WordPress?
A properly migrated site almost never loses rankings, “properly” being the key word. People run into problems when changing an entire site’s URL structure. To properly migrate a site, site structure should remain similar, and in the event URLs change, a simple 301 Redirect rule will let search engines know what the new URL is so that there are no problems. We have migrated dozens of sites over the last 15 years and never had a single problem. Getting it right the first time is key, by having all redirects in place and properly submitting a sitemap on day 1.
Is WordPress Really Better?
Nearly all quality marketing agencies require WordPress, and, you own your site and are not held hostage by an agency.
A proprietary CMS works for some law firms. If you are not doing any marketing, not adding content, and don’t mind overpaying for web hosting, a proprietary CMS may be for you.
WordPress is the standard CMS for everyone else. If you look at any top performing Personal Injury Law Firm in Google’s search results in any city in the USA, the top 50 results are almost 100% WordPress websites. It’s easy to use, open source, SEO friendly, scalable, and is simple to support.
Can I Migrate my Google Ads PPC Account?
If a marketing agency is keeping your Google Ads data from you, we strongly recommend ending your relationship with them immediately. It is extremely important that you own all of your digital assets.
Moving forward, if someone needs to manage your account, you should add them as a manager.
- How to add a user: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6372672
- Access levels explained: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9978556
Some data is lost when starting from scratch, but it’s not the end of the world and you’re far better off owning your own account.
How Do I Access my Google Business Page?
Never, never give up ownership of your Google Business Page (GBP). If a marketing agency is keeping your Google Business Page from you, it may be taken back forcefully. That said, in most cases, you already own your GBP, and if you don’t transferring ownership is simple.
If a marketing agency needs access to GBP, invite them as a “manager”.
- How to add a GBP user: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3403100?
Local Services Ads (LSA):
LSA accounts should always remain in your possession. Managers may be added as needed. If someone else has ownership of your LSA account, they simply make you the Primary Owner.
- How to add a user to your LSA account: https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/7652468
- Updating billing on LSA: https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/7435507?
Can I Migrate my Google Analytics or Google Search Console Account?
Google Analytics and Search Console are very easy to migrate to you account if they’re not already in your account. It’s also simple to start fresh from scratch when needed. In most cases, if an agency does have possession of your account, they can simply move it to your Google Account.
- How to migrate Analytics and Search Console: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/44500
