Kasra Dash: Today, we’re talking about how to generate leads using inbound marketing strategies. There are a lot of ways to do inbound marketing, so I’ll kick it off. One of the most famous methods is Facebook ads. Some people think it's interruptive marketing, but over the years, Facebook’s algorithm has become much smarter.

For example, if someone searches “lawyers in Manchester” on Google, the next time they open Facebook, they’ll see law-specific ads. So you are reaching in-market people. But aside from Facebook ads, what’s your strategy?

James Dooley: I think the main strategy for inbound marketing is SEO — search engine optimization. There are two forms:

Local SEO (Map Pack / Google Business Profile SEO)

Website SEO (Organic listings)

For the map pack, you want your GBP to rank high. That means getting reviews, posting regularly, adding photos, and staying active. If someone searches “lawyers in Manchester,” you want to appear in the top three.

Then you have website pages and organic listings. You need quality content, topical authority, and backlinks — which act like votes to your site. SEO can drive a lot of traffic, and because those users came out of their way to search, read your content, and then inquire, they’re much warmer than outbound leads.

For me, one of the best inbound strategies is SEO. But what about PPC?

Kasra Dash: Yeah, PPC is the last strategy we’re discussing. PPC is the top section above SEO — you pay per click. It can get a lot of leads if you know what you're doing, especially if you’re using the correct negative keyword list.

A big mistake agencies make is failing to add negative keywords like “jobs,” “careers,” or “university” — so law firms accidentally pay for irrelevant clicks. That burns through the budget quickly.

You also have to worry about click fraud — competitors clicking your ads or bots burning your daily budget. There are tools that mitigate this, but again, this is why you need a specialist who knows what they’re doing.

James Dooley: The same applies to SEO. Most people don’t write quality content or know how many articles they need. They don’t acquire the right backlinks. And when you don’t understand the strategies, it becomes expensive.

If you're trying to generate inbound leads, sometimes the best way is to partner with a lead generation company. At FatRank.com, there are two inbound models:

Commission-based lead generation

Pay-per-lead generation

Both models use Facebook ads, PPC, and SEO — the same strategies we talked about. If you qualify for the commission-based model, you pay nothing unless you convert the inquiry. It can save you time and money compared to building an in-house team.

Kasra Dash: And don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Try one or two other companies as well, see who gives you the best ROI, and track your KPIs. When generating inbound leads, look at all the angles.