I just finished checking out the NOV/DEC 2011 edition of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine. I wanted to take a hot minute to share my take on some of the highlights.
The Role of the Web and Word of Mouth Referrals
Posted in Law Firm Internet Marketing, Marketing, Professional ReputationIf you ask most lawyers about their best source of new clients, the overwhelming majority will answer “word of mouth referrals.” Which makes sense. A lawyer develops a relationship with her client, provides great service, and when that client’s friends or family needs a lawyer, the client is motivated to refer people they know to the lawyer.
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.
Legal Services Consumers & The Internet
Posted in Law Firm Internet Marketing, Local, Marketing, Professional Reputation, SEOIn a recent post at SEOmoz, master inbounder, Rand Fishkin made some excellent points on how the internet has changed how people shop for men’s clothing.
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:
What You Should Expect From Your Web Strategist
Posted in Professional Reputation, SEOAre you working with a web strategy consultant? Do you know what they should be doing? Do you know what they are actually doing?
When it comes to web strategy, for most legal professionals, there is a huge knowledge gap. This is at least part of the reason that terms like “search engine optimizer” or “SEO” have become synonymous with snake oil. But whether you call it SEO, web strategy, or internet marketing consulting, the fact is that there are a lot of reasons why working with a web strategy consultant can make a lot of sense.
Choosing to retain the services of a web strategy consultant is a decision that should be made with care after understanding some basics about how people use the web and search engines.
While hiring the right partner can improve the effectiveness of your web properties, as well as, help you save time, hiring the wrong partner can result in a big waste of money and even cause damage to both your website and your professional reputation.
But what should a web strategist be hired to do and how does someone distinguish between the right and wrong partner?
How Long Does It Take to Get Google Rankings?
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, SEO
One of my favorite places to get inspiration for new blog posts is from our organic search traffic. Recently, one of our visitors landed on AttorneySync for the search “how long does it take to get google rankings.” And like most other things, the answer is that it depends.
Let’s assume your register a new domain, set up a new shared hosting account, and launch a website or blog for your law firm. As far as the search engines are considered, you’re brand new to the web.
Extracting Value Out Of Your Work
Posted in Law Practice ManagementI came across this interesting video from Dan Ariely.
The video discusses how we derive meaning from the work that we do. More specifically, it points out that without a sense of growth, purpose, and progress work is unmeaningful and people become disenfranchised.
It’s always been my belief that motivation fades quickly when you are performing work just for the sake of it. I have experienced this in my own career and it contributed to my desire to start my own business. Feeling like you are making progress each day, whether it’s personal growth or literal progress with a task, is important to a sense of professional well-being.
Do you feel that much of your time is spent on work that is unmeaningful or unnecessary? If so, do you think it effects your ability to stay motivated or do you find other outlets to stay focused?
Me On The Web: Google’s Tool For Online Reputation Management
Posted in Professional ReputationA lawyer’s professional reputation is critically important and managing your reputation online can be cumbersome if you aren’t using the proper tools. Fortunately, Google has created a tool to help streamline management of your reputation online. It’s called Me On The Web and it’s accessible from your dashboard when you login to your Google profile.
How To Access Me On The Web
To access Me On The Web, you’ll want to visit the Google dashboard and login to your Google account. From here you’ll see the section Me On The Web right underneath your account details.
What Can I Do With Me On The Web?
However, your online identity is determined not only by what you post, but also by what others post about you — whether a mention in a blog post, a photo tag or a reply to a public status update. When someone searches for your name on a search engine like Google, the results that appear are a combination of information you’ve posted and information published by others.
Today we’ve released a new tool to help make it easier to monitor your identity on the web and to provide easy access to resources describing ways to control what information is on the web.
The first thing you’ll notice, on the left hand side, is a list of links you’ve added to your Google Profile (if you haven’t yet setup a Google Profile I strongly recommend you take the time to do so).
On the right hand side, you’ll see several links including a link to setup a Google Alert for your name and email.
Once you click the link, a box will appear that allows you to easily register to receive alerts each time a mention of your name or email appears on the web.
The remaining links provide access to resources including how to manage your online identity and how to remove unwanted content and the associated search results.
It’s important that you understand how to monitor mentions of your name on the web and take action to respond appropriately should the need arise. These resources will help to streamline that process.
5 Places On Your Law Firm Website To Add ‘Calls To Action’
Posted in Law Firm Internet Marketing, Law Firm Websites, MarketingIf you have a law firm website you are using to drive in new leads and revenue, it’s important to make sure you are maximizing conversion on the site. In other words, you need your visitors to call, email, request a free guide download, etc. The best way to do this is to make sure that you are effectively using ‘calls to action’ on your site.
What follows are 5 places on your website you should try using a call to action.
Choosing A Domain Name For Your Law Firm
Posted in Law Firm Internet Marketing, Law Firm Websites, Search Engine Optimization
Choosing a domain name is an important decision when setting up your website. The domain you choose has far reaching implications extending from your visibility in search results to your use of the domain in offline advertising and marketing.
Unlike in the offline, brick-and-mortar world, websites don’t offer any visual cues about what exactly they are until you visit the site. All domains have the exact same format (http://subdomain.rootdomain.tld for example http://www.attorneysync.com). Because of this, it’s important that you choose a name that helps identify you as a law firm and better yet, one that can help a client understand your practice.
All things being equal, it is my belief that you should use a keyword rich domain if you have the option. For example, if you are a bankruptcy lawyer in Montana named John Doe, I would recommend securing Montanabankruptcylawyer.com over JohnDoe.com. This helps not only with search visibility, but it also provides cues to the site visitor about what your site is about. Montanabankruptcylawyer.com provides much more information than JohnDoe.com. While there are reports about Google dialing down the effectiveness of a keyword rich domain in search results, there is still value for the user and I believe it will always play some role in the search algorithm even if that role is “dialed down.”
Using our example above, a lawyer might choose to use their name John Doe instead. In this instance, I believe you are better off adding “law” or some legal modifier to help identify your website as legally related. In other words, JohnDoeLaw.com is more advisable than simply JohnDoe.com.
All The Best Domains Are Taken
I understand that the legal space online is brutally competitive and many of the best domain names have already been secured. This means that in order to secure a keyword rich domain you will have to get more creative. For instance, in our example above there is a good chance that MontanaBankruptcyLawyer.com or your local, geographic permutation for this name is already taken. You can try adding a suffix such as “group”, “blog”, or “info” to your desired domain name and check it’s availability. You will simply need to get more creative than just checking on the availability of an exact match domain and calling it a day.
That being said, here are a few things to avoid when choosing your more creative domain:
Avoid uncommon top-level-domains – A top-level-domain is the extension that proceeds the domain name you choose (.com or .net are top-level-domains). Avoid registering TLD’s such as .info, .cc, .ws, and .name as they are indicators of spam.
Avoid domain names longer than 15 characters – Names that get too long appear spammy and are difficult to type into the address bar. The following is a real website domain name for a law firm http://nursinghomenegligencemalpracticeaccidentsabusephiladelphiapa.com. Needless to say it is too long and filled with too many keywords to be an effective domain.
Beware of permutations – In the book Search Engine Optimization Secrets the author gives a good example of this. the owners of ExpertsExchange.com built a brand and large website before they realized that the name could be misinterpreted as ExpertSexChange.com.
Finally, when you are researching possible names to use, I recommend using a domain search engine such as domize to make your life easier.
Photo by Ivanpw (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28288673@N07/)
The Importance of Titles & Headers Within Your Blog Posts
Posted in Law Firm Websites
I read a lot of articles on law firm websites and blogs. One thing that I notice is consistently lacking on many legal blog entries is the effective use of titles and headings within the posts. Titles are an important component because they help break up and provide better context for the article.
Read this paragraph:
The first thing you need to do is separate the items into different categories. You can use size to separate, but you are not limited to just size. For instance you could use the type of care each item needs too. After you have completed separating the items you need to rinse them. You will want to assess the amount of room you have available and how each item will fit best. Finally, place one item in the machine at a time until full. Start the machine.
Trying to make heads or tails of what the paragraph is talking about is difficult. But if we use that same paragraph with a title:
Using A Dishwasher
The first thing you need to do is separate the items into different categories. You can use size to separate, but you are not limited to just size. For instance you could use the type of care each item needs too. After you have completed separating the items you need to rinse them. You will want to assess the amount of room you have available and how each item will fit best. Finally, place one item in the machine at a time until full. Start the machine.
The paragraph is still terrible, but at least you can figure out what it’s referncing now.
Titles Provide Context
Titles provide context for the content that comes after it. They help to cue your brain about what to expect next and get it in the right mindset. This is important especially when we are dealing with heavier concepts that are more difficult for the general public to understand (ie: legal issues).
Additionally, the titles help to break apart the content in more bite sized chunks which are easier for people to digest, especially when reading on the web.