Information Economics

Information economics or the economics of information is a branch of microeconomic theory that studies how information affects an economy and economic decisions. Information has special characteristics. It is easy to create but hard to trust. It is easy to spread but hard to control. It influences many decisions.

The internet has fundamentally changed how people find and consume information.  Information that was once difficult to attain is now only a quick search and click away.  As a result, there is a demand for information online.  

The online marketing "winners" will be the firms that are able to supply that demand for information.  You need to create an online presence where you position yourself as a trusted resource, a supplier of information for your niche.  This is not attained by simply setting up a website that talks about how great your firm is and running some ads to get people to the site.  Sure this might generate a few leads and prospects, but it is not a recipe for long-term success online.

Success online will come to the firms that are putting out information that makes the web better.  As the article states:

Will you:

• Answer someone’s question?
• Make someone laugh?
• Provide a reasoned disagreement?
• Help solve a problem?
• Make some data more easily understood?
• Fix technical errors?
• Provide a different perspective?
• Leave a thoughtful comment?
• Participate in a discussion?
• Share something new you’ve learned?
• Meet someone new?
• Introduce people to one another?
• Create something aesthetically amazing?
• Review a product or service?
• Recommend a colleague?

Not so different from traditional networking concepts, is it?  However, doing this requires creativity and effort.  You actually have to create good content that is helpful for people.  You need to add to the conversation in some way.  Regurgitating news stories and recent verdicts in the area doesn't really accomplish this.  Neither is stuffing a page full of keywords for search engines.  

Some might argue these methods work or one man's spam is another man's treasure.  However, my larger point is that in order to stand out as a supplier of valuable information in the long run, in order to become a resource people come to, you will need to think about how your marketing is making the web better, not just making more of the same noise that already exists.  Easier said than done.

And as I wrote in Solely Social or Used to Promote?, they demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding about how we communicate.

In one box, they would put communications by lawyer "solely for social purposes, to maintain social contact with family and close friends." These they suggest are not subject to the lawyer advertising rules.

In a second box, they would put "pages appearing on networking sites that are used to promote the lawyer or law firm’s practice." These they suggest are subject to the lawyer advertising rules.

And while some communications by lawyers may fit neatly into one of the two boxes, of course we know that the overwhelming majority of communications will include social purposes, as well as, promotional purposes.

But even if we recognize that communications are intended to convey a variety of meanings, there's really another question here. Should the intent of the communication be the distinguishing factor?

In Legal Blogging vs Advertising & Marketing we examined the Horace Hunter blog debacle. In that example the Virgninia Bar took issue with Mr. Hunter's omission of disclaimer on his "blog". They claimed that at least one purpose of his website to market the firm and attract business.

Which raised the question of whether there true distinctions between blogs, other forms of electronic communications, marketing materials, and advertisements.

As I've written before, at least with regard to lawyer ethics rules, the issue shouldn't be whether the intent of the communication was editorial, solely social, or used to promote.

As Professor Goldman puts it:

"The law doesn’t handle editorial-content-as-marketing overlaps very well, unfortunately.”

In my humble opinion, even The U.S. Supreme Court has trouble making the distinction between "pure speech" and "commercial speech" (much this trouble created by the Court).

And so, in the end, lawyers, at least those in Florida, in order to comply with the silly and child-like rules of their State Bar, must regulate their communications to fit neatly into one of two boxes. Those that are solely for social purposes and those that are used to promote.

I challenge you to answer the hypothetical examples listed here.

Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. Adult males, also called silverbacks, range in height 1.65–1.75 metres (5 ft 5 in–5 ft 9 in), and in weight 140–200 kg (310–440 lb). Occasionally, a silverback of over 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) and 230 kg (510 lb) has been recorded in the wild. Obese gorillas in captivity have reached a weight of 270 kg (600 lb).

In other words, they're big.

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians (or "irregulars") use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and less-mobile traditional army, or strike a vulnerable target, and withdraw almost immediately.

In other words, it's lean and strategic.

They covered some of the basics of blog SEO and how search engines "rank" web pages.

They also provided some actionable tips, specifically applicable to lawyer-bloggers about both what "to do" and what not to do.

And while the specific blog SEO tips were really quite good, it was a point that Kevin made about how a law firm might think about approaching SEO, and internet marketing more generally, that resonated with me.

His point was that if you are a larger firm with a significant marketing budget, who has been aggressively marketing and advertising in the offline world, you will probably approach internet in a much different way than if you're a small firm or solo, with a very limited (or nonexistent) marketing budget.

In other words, how you approach internet marketing will depend, to a large extent, upon whether you're more a gorilla or a guerilla.

And while this might seem like an obvious distinction, failing to consider in advance whether you're more of a gorilla or a guerilla can have a significant impact on whether you meet the goals of your internet marketing campaigns.

Gorillas

Have you historically spent big advertising marketing dollars on yellow book, television, radio, and billboard advertising? Does your firm use direct mailers?

Does it sponsor industry trade shows, seminars, charity events, and scholarships? Does your firm have a recognized brand?

If so, you might be a web marketing gorilla.

Web marketing gorillas typically take an aggresive comprehensive approach to their web strategy. They usuallly commit large budgets to paid search marketing and have professional paid search managers optimizing their accounts.

They may also make significant investments in paid online legal directory advertising, content distribution platforms, and a variety of other internet advertising programs.

Gorillas also invest heavily in web design and development. They often purchase complex websites with custom designs, video integrations, live-chat features, and a host of other web bells and whistles.

Some gorillas will be able to leverage in-house resources like attorney-writers, subject-matter experts (like doctors, engineers, nurses, etc).

Typically, the gorillas we have worked with have benefitted from high-level agency strategy support, managing, maintenance, and consulting.

Whether they're looking for a quarterback for their existing efforts, or want more turn-key solutions, the common theme is that they want to cast a comprehensive online net and measure, track, and analyze how these different moving pieces are working to increase the firm's online footprint, and ultimately deliver new business.

They're usually not interested in getting mired down in all the specific details and prefer the 30,000 ft. view of how the internet is adding value to their practice.

Guerillas

Are you a solo or small firm lawyer? Do you typically stick to only the most proven and efficient forms marketing and advertising? Are you committed to doing most of the heavy-lifting yourself?

Would you rather invest your time than your money into building your practice? Do you find yourself analyzing where the competition is weak and positioning yourself against those weaknesses? Do you prefer the scalpal to the shotgun?

Then you're probably a web marketing guerilla.

Typically, guerillas put a higher priority on efficiency and effectiveness. They want maximum bang for their buck and aren't looking for a lot superfluity.

They put a higher priority on marketing strategies that are lean, versatile, and affordable.

They're willing to spend some of their own time learning and executing proven web marketing strategies.

They want a professional web profile, but not necessarily all the bells and whistiles. They usually handle the majority of content development, link acquisition, and campaign management themselves.

The guerillas that we've worked with have benefitted more from individualized education sessions where they can get answers to specific questions about a specific aspect to web marketing.

They're interested in understanding the role the web can plan in word of mouth referrals.

They usually appreciate someone watching over their shoulder to make sure that they're avoiding common mistakes.

They like having access to professionals to help point them in the right direciton, but prefer to execute the various strategies themselves.

Why It Matters

Determining whether you're a gorilla or a guerilla should be a huge factor in how you build your web marketing program.

For example, if you're a gorilla, you might be disappointed with campaigns that don't provide you maximum online exposure across several channels in a short period of time.

On the other hand, if you're a guerilla, and you elect a campaign that attempts to take gorillas head-on, you might find yourself exhausting your budgets before they are able to generate a return.

Understanding your identity in this respect will help you structure your marketing initiatives in a way that makes the most sense for your specific goals.

Nonetheless, whether you're a gorilla or guerilla, before you spend a lot of time or effort on a particular strategy or to hire a consultant, you should:

• Spend some time learning about how the web and search engines can actually serve to complement your existing marketing efforts.
• Think about your specific marketing message, budget, and short and long-term goals.
• Talk to similarly situation lawyers about their experiences with various strategies, consultants, and vendors.
• Before you hire anyone, ask a lot of questions about "how this stuff works" and what level of transparency, accountability, and reporting is available.

While implenting the "right" internet marketing plan can serve as an excellent piece of your firm's greater marketing campaign, getting stuck with the wrong plan can put a dent in your pocketbook, harm your professional reputation, or even get you into legal ethics hot water with your state bar.

There's just no substitute for learning about internet and search marketing before you dive in head first.

First up, Essential Do's and Don'ts for LinkedIn Users by Dan Pinnington. Dan writes:

With over 120 million users in more than 200 countries (including at least a million lawyers) and Web traffic that ranks it as the 13th most visited site on the planet, LinkedIn is the social networking tool of choice for professionals. It is far more than a glorified way for job hunters to put their CV online. LinkedIn profiles are optimized to perform well in search engines, specifically when someone looks for you by name. In fact, it’s not uncommon for a LinkedIn profile to rank above your firm’s website!

With the recent claim, of at least one lawyer, that LinkedIn is a waste of time, Dan's article provides some perspective, as well as, some actionable tips about how to, and how not to, use LinkedIn.

Dan is also right about LinkedIn's performance in search results. If you claim, complete, and optimized your LinkedIn profile, it's likely to be one of the most visible profiles for searches of your name or firm name. As Dan notes, it's even likely to outrank your firm website and blog for branded searches, depending of course on the authority of your other sites.

Next up, Law Firm Marketing: What's the ROI? by Christopher Petrini-Poli and Paul Grabowski. I'm always shocked by how little lawyers focus, measure, and analyze returns on marketing and advertising investments. To me, this article nails the keys: Defining Goals and Calculating ROI.

It's incredible how many law firms explore marketing and advertising campaigns without clear goals in mind. This quickly leads to "black holes", campaigns that run wildly without any identifiable measure of performance.

Further, those that do identify goals, either limit their marketing goals to straight dollars out dollars in and fail to recognize the "one-offs" that various marketing initiatives can have. These one-offs can include network and relationship development and professional reputation enhancement.

Finally, some of the firms that actually discuss goals, fail to put into place systems for measuring, tracking, and calculating whether these goals are being met. Admittedly, whether or not certain types of goals are met can be exceptionally difficult to measure. The authors suggest a 5-step process:

1. Track the number of pieces you are mailing or sending electronically. For advertising, use the number of impressions either in print or electronic form.
   
   
2. Determine the overall cost for production of the piece, including costs for graphics and staff time.
   
   
3. Divide your costs by the total number distributed or impressions. 
   
   
4. Track your responses from recipients. Divide this number by the total number distributed to provide you with a percentage of impact.
   
   
5. Depending on the response from the recipient, if it is a request for work to be performed (or if actual work is completed), estimate the revenue generated versus the cost to produce. This will give you an expected ROI.

Don't continue to spend money on marketing and advertising that isn't carrying it's own weight. Give campaigns enough time to get a representative data set. Constantly analyze each component of your marketing and advertising to decide whether it's "worth it."

Next is Nicholas Gaffney's The Lawyer Raters: In Their Own Words:

Ratings are proliferating across all the goods and services we buy, and the legal industry is no exception. Over the past several years legal rating services and lawyer ranking lists have grown tremendously. Gone are the days where one single institution determines the best lawyers or the top firms. Today, there are many different ways to evaluate legal services and it’s important that as practitioners you have a better handle on what’s happening both online and offline and understand how it impacts your reputation and your business.

Like most people, lawyers are uncomfortable being rated, reviewed, and judged. However, for better or worse, the way people judge professional service providers, like lawyers, has expanding rapidly.

In the past, when someone was referred to a lawyer, that person was likely to call the lawyer or meet with the lawyer directly. Today, that person is much more likely to perform some research about the lawyer online. So the questions become, what will they find, and what can a lawyer do to manage that experience?

When someone searches for a lawyer on Google, what will they find:

• The lawyer’s website, that has been +1′d by someone the guy knows on Google+.
• The lawyer’s Google Places listing with several reviews from clients and other lawyers.
• A .pdf file of the lawyer’s resume.
• The lawyer’s Avvo profile with reviews, answers, and license history.
• The lawyer’s LinkedIn profile that contains testimonials and answers the lawyer has provided on LinkedIn’s answers.
• A YouTube video of the lawyer discussing the anatomy of a car accident case.
• The lawyer’s Super Lawyer profile.
• A local Adwords Express Ad containing ratings, address, and phone.
• An article in which the lawyer is quoted on a local news site.
• The lawyer’s JD Supra profile containing guides for accident injury victims.

For those lawyers who embrace the fact that these rating and review platforms are out there, whether they like it or not, there is huge opportunity for competitive advantage.

In fact, as just one example, lawyers that have reviews on their Googl Places profile can steal clients from competitors that have higher search engine visibility.

Finally, Adam L. Stock discusses How Lawyers are Using Video:

Not only do the videos convey what services and expertise the attorneys can deliver, but they also show how they might deliver those services as well.

The web is rapidly evolving. Gone are the days of the read-only text web. Here are the days of the interactive multimedia web. Soon, your clients will begin to expect to be able to find video of you online.

Here are some of Adam's tips:

Understanding that video is an online social medium is critical to its marketing success. We have borrowed what we’ve learned from successful blogs.

Publish frequently: Volume matters in gaining followers and viewers. We publish approximately one new video per week, making them available to clients who access our videos through a subscription.

Keep videos short: Like blog entries, shorter is better. Based on our experience, online video is best at 1½ to 3 minutes. We may go up to five minutes for a very technical topic.

Tag and share: Like blog entries, tag content and share it through social networks and use syndicators to push out content.

Account for a short shelf life. Videos have a limited shelf life, so don’t make one that will take too long to produce, otherwise the information will be outdated by the time you release it.

Integrate. Integrate online video into your other forms of marketing. For example, you may find that marketing both through email and video may yield a better result than each of these media alone.

Measure results. Like all online media, you can measure views, referrals and the number of times videos are shared. Monitor this information and learn what works for you.

You don't have to look very hard to find lawyer videos that are done well, not so well, and just plain badly. Just like everything else you do, both online and offline, you want your videos to put your best and most professional foot forward.

All in all, I was pretty impressed with this issue of Law Practice Magazine. And that's a pretty good endorsement considering I usually think most of the marketing/advertising information in the legal sector is either out-of-date, not very clear, or just downright poor.

Further, the articles highlighted here were certainly not the only good ones in the issue. They just happened to be the ones that I found most applicable to what I do. I recommend you check out the full issue yourself.

And before the internet, the person who was referred was likely to call or visit the lawyer to inquire about retaining the lawyer's services.

And as part of that inquiry, that prospective client would be likely to ask the lawyer about her experience, maybe her background, and probably a bunch of specific questions about their specific legal matter.

And based on this interview, the prospective client would make a decision about whether or not to hire the lawyer.

And this, or something relatively similar to this, was pretty much how word of mouth legal referrals went.

That was, until the internet.

Instead, legal services consumers are more and more likely to research the lawyer online.

They might search for the lawyer in Google. If they have the address, they might visit the lawyer's website or blog directly. Or they might visit a variety of third-party legal websites, directories, informational portals, or directories.

And so the questions become, what will they find and how will what they find influence their hiring decision?

Will they find anything about you at all?

Will they find an obviously outdated website?

Will they find your clients writing positively about you?

Will they find other lawyers writing positively about you?

Will they find that you are regularly quoted and interviewed in the media?

Will they come away with the feeling that you are the right person to help them?

These are just some of the ways that the internet can influence word of mouth referrals.

And while not every person who is referred to you will necessarily search for you online, more and more people are.

So ask yourself, what do people who are referred to you find when they go online?

If this isn't a good enough reason to start learning how to develop your professional profile online, I don't know what is.

And I don't mean to pick specifically on 1&1 MyWebsite websites either. Other major hosting providers also provide cheap sitebuilders that I usually don't recommend.

Unfortunately, due to lack of understanding about what's available, many small businesses, including law firms, are attracted to these basic sitebuilder applications provided by hosting companies. Which, when you consider what some legal website deisgn firms charge for a new site design, is completely understandable.

Now look, I'm not saying that making a considerable investment into your firm's website design and development is necessarily wrong. The design of your site will have a huge impact on the way the internet users and searchers view your firm. An unprofessional, outdated, or simply poor design can have a very negative impact on your firm's web presence, and may cost you clients.

On the other hand, you better know what you're paying for. I have yet to see a law firm website design that is worth tens of thousands of dollars. And let me tell you, there are firms that still pay that much for a design today.

That's not to say that there aren't websites that may be worth that kind of investment. For example, if part of the site build includes professional photography, videos, live chat, and extensive pages and content, then a firm should expect to make a considerable investment.

Firms should spend some time learning about what's available and shopping around to see what are reasonable prices for site design, development, and of course marketing.

Opting for the most affordable sitebuilder solutions, like 1&1's MyWebsite product, typically isn't the best balance in terms of price, affordability, professionalism, and functionality.

Since Rand did such a nice job articulating the differences between interruption and inbound marketing, I thought it worth applying these concepts to some ways legal services consumers use the internet to when they think they need a lawyer.

Here's a recent television commercial I saw here in Chicago:

So that's there's no confusion, I don't know this attorney. I don't know what the cost of this campaign was. And I have no idea what kind of return it generated.

However, I do know that when their potential clients think they might be in need of a lawyer, they might do this:

And they might see this:

And some folks might not know whether they even need a lawyer yet. So they might ask a question like this:

And some of those consumers may have been referred by friends. So those folks might do this:

And they might see this:

And this:

And they'll eventually find this:

And they may even get to this:

Whether they're directly searching for a lawyer, trying to get answers about their legal issues, or vetting a referral that they received from a friend or family member, the way legal services consumers find information about their legal issues has been forever changed by the internet.

I don't know if interruption marketing will ever completely die. However, I am pretty confident that providing your potential clients with content that demonstrates your knowledge, skill, and experience, when they are looking for it is much more likely to motivate them to contact and hire you than when you interrupt their favorite television show or sports game.

And the internet provides a variety of ways for you to do that. And most of these are much less expensive than their interruption counterparts.

What is Double Ad Serving?

Double ad serving happens when one advertiser tries to show more than one ad on a given search result page. Here is what Google says about it:

To protect the value and diversity of the ads running on Google, we don't generally permit advertisers to manage multiple accounts featuring the same business or keywords except in certain limited exceptions. Furthermore, Google doesn't permit multiple ads from the same or an affiliated company or person to appear on the same results page. We've found that pages with multiple text ads from the same company provide less relevant results and a lower quality experience for users. Over time, multiple ads from the same source also reduce overall advertiser performance and lower their return on investment.

Whether it's because Google isn't very good at enforcing this policy, or really doesn't care as much about protecting the value and diversity of the ads running on the platform as they claim, double ad serving occurs much more frequently than Google would like to let on.

Recently, while performing some competitive analysis for medical malpractice terms in Washington, DC, I noticed yet another example of double ad serving. In this case, it was being done on behalf of a local DC malpractice lawyer.

As you can see, the number one paid search ad is for wilsonlaw.com:

You will also notice another ad a little further down the page for the website: http://www.medical-malpractice-lawfirm.info/. Curiously, that ad appears to be another advertisement for the same lawyer:

Hmmm... That's interesting. The same advertiser, serving the same looking website on two separate domains, on the same results page. Looks to me like a clear violation of Google's double serving policy.

Should I Do This?

Like other issues involving lawyers and online marketing, many readers will look at this example and contemplate, whether this is something that they should be doing. My short answer is no, as it could jeopardize your ability to advertise on Google altogether.

But some will argue that this is an excellent way to "dominate" search engine results pages. In fact, it's my guess that the lawyer doesn't even realize that he's advertising in violation of Google Adword's policy.

In my humble opinion, each advertiser, whether doctor, lawyer, or plumber, needs to make an informed decision about how they advertise and market themselves. Further, specifically for lawyers, there are rules of professional conduct with which lawyers should comply.

Who is to Blame?

So who is to blame for non-compliant advertising? There appear to be three probably suspects: The lawyer-advertiser, the advertising/marketing company, and Google.

Unfortunately, in most cases, lawyers don't have the time, desire, or knowledge, to be able to make informed decisions about their online advertising and marketing. Obviously, this is no excuse for "bad advertising" practices and they are the ones ultimately accountable for their reputation and license. However, it seems that at least some blame must be attributed to their advertising/marketing agency.

As you've probably experienced elsewhere, many advertising and marketing companies aren't in the business of adhering to advertising rules, or lawyer rules of professional responsibility. And in fact, there are some lawyers who insist on gaming the system. So not all blame can be attributed to them either.

Finally, there's Google. Google's incentive is for their users to click on ads. That's how they make money. Do they have incentize to police violations of their policies? Sort of. They contend that if they don't maintain the integrity of the engine and the ad platform, people will search elsewhere. But since Google has become synonymous with search, it isn't realistic to think that people will abandon Google for these types of infractions. In fact, most users wouldn't even notice this form of double ad serving.

Does it Matter?

Undoubtedly, some readers will ask whether it even matters that advertisers participate in double ad serving. Which is a fair question. It's almost a victimless crime. The only groups that may suffer are users, who my be misled that there are more options on search result page than there actually are, and other advertisers who comply with the ad policies.

On the other hand, perhaps the advertiser is taking some risks too. There's a chance that they are penalized for double ad serving by Google. Additionally, they may take a reputational hit or even face ethical issues with their state bar.

Despite the competitive advantage it might provide, I strongly recommend that you don't double ad serve. It is one more reason to learn about online marketing and advertising before you dive in head first.

UPDATED: Was it an Accident?

It was suggested to me that this might have been an accident. For example, the firm might have been handling their paid search in-house and then subsequently decided to outsource to an agency and forgot to turn off their in house campaign.

I think that's a fair possibility in this case. However, I've seen several other instances where an advertiser is working with multiple agencies. In those cases, the "accident" card isn't as easy to play.

Google Co-founder Larry Page once described the “perfect search engine” as something that “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.” We can’t claim that Google delivers on that vision 100 percent today, but we’re always working on new technologies aimed at bringing all of Google closer to that ideal.

And while many search engine optimizers study how Google works to deliver perfect search results, you don't need to be Rand Fishkin to understand some basics about how you can help Google deliver perfect results. In fact, if we apply Larry Page's perfect search engine definition to websites, it might go something like this:

The perfect website is something that understands exactly what the site's visitors (that it is designed to attract) want and gives them exactly what they want.

Obviously, understanding exactly what your visitors want and delivering that to them, is a great challenge. But focusing on this single aim is likely to have the most dramatic impact on improving your visibility in search results, as well as, converting more visitors into clients.

Before we get to what your visitors want, it's worth thinking about who your visitors are. If you're an injury lawyer, it might seem logical that your visitors are injury victims. And if you're a criminal defense attorney, you might assume that it's people that have been investigated and/or charged with a crime. And these are most certainly some of the people (and in fact some of the most targeted visitors in terms of becoming new clients) that might visit your website. But if you stop there, you are probably not considering a wide variety of other visitors that are visiting your website.

The perfect law firm website takes into consideration all the different people that might visit your website. Here are a few to think about:

• Journalists
• Other Lawyers
• Law Professors
• Legal Bloggers
• Law Students
• Judges
• Jurors

From planning, to design, to development, to management, these people should be foremost in your mind when launching a new website. And in order to work toward publishing the perfect law firm website, you also need to give these visitors what they want.

What Do The Visitors of The Perfect Law Firm Website Want?

Understanding what your visitors want, is probably the most challenging aspect to Internet strategy. You need to get some idea of how your visitors use the Internet and what they are looking for. Obviously, if you're an injury attorney, you might expect that they would go to Google and search for "personal injury lawyer." And the truth is that they do. However, this directory-style searching is by no means the only way that people might use the Internet to find an injury lawyer.

In fact, they might not even be thinking about finding a lawyer at all. Instead, they might be researching how they will pay their medical bills. Or perhaps they are looking for answers about their insurance policy. Or maybe they are the parent, family member, or friend of an injured person and they are researching more information about the injury. Does your website provide them the answers that they are looking for?

The perfect law firm website should strive to provide the information and answers, for which the visitors that it is designed to attract, are searching.

How Do I Build The Perfect Law Firm Website?

Which brings us to the central question. And here is the answer: Listen.

Listen to your clients. What questions are they asking? What problems are they trying to solve? Listen to your colleagues. What issues are they facing? What questions are they asking? Listen to relevant legal bloggers. Listen to journalists that cover topics that impact your practice. Listen to your state bar. Listen to what writers in various legal publications are talking about. Listen to your online social networks. Listen to your web analytics data. How are your visitors finding you? Where are they looking for you? What searches are they performing to find you?

And once you've listened, spend the majority of your effort on publishing helpful information and answers.

What follows are 5 places on your website you should try using a call to action.

This is one that seems obvious yet is often missing on law firm websites and blogs.  People will enter your site on many different pages.  If they find you through a long tail search result or via a link from a blog, they are most likely going to land on an interior page, not your homepage.  This is why having a call to action at the top of your sidebar is a good idea.  You want to make it very easy for an individual to contact you no matter how they enter your site.

Additionally, it's a good idea to have the call to action or contact form as the very first thing on your sidebar.  The further down the page it slides, the conversion of the call to action will be effected.

2. After A Post or Article

It's a good idea to try a call to action at the end of a blog post or article.  However, don't assume that just inserting "If you have been injured as the result of an accident call us at....." is the best call to action at the end of the article.  Offer a free guide download relevant to the article or perhaps offer the ability to subscribe to your blog like they do over at the Crime In The Suites blog:

The advantage of using a call to action in this space is that the visitor has just finished reading your entire article so obviously there is a higher level of interest once they reach the end as opposed to a casual browser to the site.  

Additionally, the call to action is directly in line as they read so they aren't as likely to "miss it" due to banner blindness.  I'd also recommend mixing it up to see if using a call to action with simple text or a graphic like Crime In The Suites uses is more effective.

3. On Your Attorney Profile Page

I'll bet if you dig into your analytics you'd find that a lot of visitors check out your attorney profile page before making a decision on contacting you.  With that in mind, why not use this as an opportunity to capture a visitor's attention?

4. Using A Lightbox Pop-Up

This one is a little more controversial because a lot of people think it's quite annoying. I'd say that this can be quite effective, but it really depends on your audience.  People serving higher-end clientele should probably avoid this type of call to action.  However, for more volume based law firms dealing directly with consumers, this is a good technique to try out.

The lightbox pop-up could include a request to join a newsletter, a free consultation offer, a live chat, etc.

5. Your Website Footer

While not everyone makes it down the end of your page, when it does happen usually they are checking your site out more closesly.  This is why including a call to action in the footer of your website is a good idea. 

If you've ever spent any time online (or even using email), someone has probably told you that you need links to your website in order to "rank better in google."  Next, they probably tried to sell you some links.  Sound familiar? What they aren't telling you is that not all links are created equal.

Link Farmers

Unfortunately, many legal web marketing services sell links like hay. They will say something like, "get 100+ PR 3+ links to your website for $100."  In other words, they are selling links in quantity. Of course, when you push them to tell you where these links will be coming from, there is either no response or we begin to travel down the mysterious rabbit-hole of jargon that many legal SEO service providers will concoct to obfuscate their scam.

Further, some of these "link farmers" will actually groom websites for the purpose of selling links.  Not to mention that this is a clear breach of Google's webmaster guidelines, it just doesn't work very well. So, at best, you spent a lot of money for these completely worthless links, and at worse, you spent a lot of money to get "kicked-out" of Google (yes, that can happen).

Link Magnets

Instead of building or paying for links like bushels of hay, you should think of ways to attract links to your website like a magnet. And while there are several ways to attract links, there is really no better way than to simply write something that is interesting, useful, and linkable.

Now admittedly, this is often more easily said than done, which is why it actually works. You see, Google's main goal is to organize information on the web based upon relevance to your search query and popularity.  And when we say popularity, we mean true popularity, as in other people who have websites (or administrative access to websites), who actually link to your website through a citation or endorsing link.

SEO for attorneys is much more about attracting quality links by developing, publishing, and publicizing valuable pieces of content than it is raking link-hay into bushels.

Author: Gyi Tsakalakis is now taking your questions and socializing at: gchat: gyi.tsakalakis | @gyitsakalakis | LinkedIn | Facebook. Hire me at AttorneySync.

Photo By: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/drb62/459468443/)

This really should come as no surprise. As it has been since ancient times, people call upon advocates to help them solve their problems. Whether it be answering questions, counseling through difficult decisions, or litigating their matters at court, lawyers have always been called upon to solve our problems. And so, the first step to any online professional reputation development should be brainstorming your potential clients' problems.

What Is The Problem?

Unfortunately, many legal professionals conclude that the problem their prospective clients are facing is that they don't know enough about them. That is why they spend so much time and effort adding biographical information about themselves. They write about how hard they work and how much experience they have. They include images about professional awards that they have won and the number of years it has been since they first got their license. But is this truly the problem that prospective clients have? Are they out looking for this information? Perhaps eventually, but not at first.

Solving Their Problems

The first problems they are trying to solve have to do with them. How can I get out of this financial mess? How will I pay my bills now that I can't work because of an injury? What amount of jail time may I be facing for my drunk driving arrest? These are the problems that Internet using prospective clients are trying to solve. And these are the problems that legal professionals should be helping to solve online.

And so, your online professional reputation building should be invested in techniques that solve problem. Here are some excellent ways to help solve-problems online:

• Blogging - Blogging about the problems that your prospective clients are facing, and more important, how you can help them solve them, is one of the most effective ways to communicate the value of your services online.
• Q & A Sites - Sites that provide forums for questions and answers are another great opportunity to help prospectice clients solve problems online.
• Content Syndication - In addition to developing problem-solving content, it's important to get that content in front of those that have the problems that you're trying to answer. That is why content syndication is so important.
• Commenting on Blogs - You may be surprised as to how effective blog commenting can be in terms discussions and problem solving.
• Educational Materials - Whether in the form of guide downloads, e-books, traditional books, or videos, providing a variety of educational materials geared at solving problems is extremely effective online.

So the next time you find yourself tweaking your "about us" or "attorney profile" pages, spend some time thinking "about them". What are their problems? How do you help them solve those problems? How can you effectively communicate your ability to help them solve those problems.

Once you have addressed their problem and how you may be able to help them solve it, only then is it time to communicate your adeptness for solving those problems. Interestingly, it has a lot less to do with where you went to law school and how long you have practiced than it does about how you are able to communicate your ability to solve their specific problem.