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Recent Blog Posts
Illinois Fantasy Sports Update: Expedited Lawsuits Due in Court This Summer
A few weeks ago, we talked about an announcement by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan regarding the legality of online fantasy sports in the state. As sports fans who are proud to call Illinois home, the Attorney General’s determination that Illinois residents cannot participate in pay-to-play fantasy sports without breaking the law has directly impacted many of us at OVC, INC., along with millions of others around the state. Our first post on the subject mentioned that two major players in the online fantasy sports industry had filed suit against the Attorney General, claiming that her interpretation of the state’s gambling laws is incorrect and that the games should be officially declared legal. While similar battles are underway in other states, including New York and, most recently, Texas, the cases in Illinois are on the fast track to the courtroom, which at least one trial expected to begin in Cook County by mid-summer.
David B. Sosin Seeks to Become Third Vice President of the Illinois State Bar Association
In October, David B. Sosin announced his candidacy for the position of 2016 Third Vice President of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA). He has served the region in his private commercial practice for more than four decades, and currently serves as Treasurer of the ISBA, as well as on the ISBA Board of Governors.
David received a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois, and went on to earn his Juris Doctorate from the Northwestern University School of Law in 1972. He is the founding partner at Sosin, Arnold & Schoenbeck, Ltd., a private commercial law firm that has been serving clients in the Chicago region for over 43 years. In addition to his private practice, David has served previously as the President of both the Illinois Bar Foundation and the Southwest Bar Association, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the ISBA Mutual Insurance Company. He is an ISBA Board of Governors Award Winner, and was named a Laureate in 2011, the highest honor available to practicing attorneys. David also earned the David Hilliard Award for Committee Service from the Chicago Bar Association.
Money-Wasting Marketing Traps to Avoid
As you look to expand your online visibility, there are virtually unlimited resources and “how-to” guides suggesting techniques and strategies you should be implementing immediately. Whether you find them online, in print, or elsewhere, when taken altogether, it can be extremely difficult to separate the helpful information from the not-so-helpful. There are so many options and choices to be made when developing or adding to your marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, it can be tempting to try them all. However, there are a few mistakes you may be making right now that are costing you money while providing relatively little return on your investment.
Not Knowing What You Need
You may have a pretty basic understanding that you want for your company and your website: improved search rankings, increased web traffic, and, therefore, more visitors that can be converted into new clients. But what tools do you need to make that happen? If you are already spending time and money on software, programs, or services without knowing how they are equipped to help you meet your objectives, you risk wasting that investment. Using the right tools, including blogs, videos, and analytical programs is crucial to meeting your marketing goals.
OVC, INC. Lawyer Marketing Opens New Office in Downers Grove
OVC, INC. Lawyer Marketing is pleased to announce the opening of its new office in Chicago's west suburbs. The online lawyer marketing company’s new office is located at 5235 Thatcher Rd., Downers Grove, IL 60515. The Downers Grove office is conveniently located just one block east of the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355).
"Our new location has given us the opportunity to not only expand and improve our office space, but to continue to grow our talented team as well. These positive strides we have taken over the past few months have greatly benefited our clients and team alike," says OVC, INC. President, Greg Wildman.
Since 1999, OVC, INC. has launched over 500 websites for attorneys nationwide. The company is dedicated to developing websites, which not only catch the eye, but also meet and succeed their client’s business objectives. The OVC team achieves this by focusing on the two most important elements of an effective website: the design and content.
Viral Marketing Drives Success of Latest Comic Book Film
This past weekend, comic book fans were finally rewarded for their patience as one of Marvel Comics’ most popular antiheroes arrived in theaters across the country and around the world. Deadpool opened on February 12 and has already broken records, enjoying the largest opening for an R-rated movie ever, surging past $150 million in its first weekend—not bad for a movie with a production budget of less than $60 million. Industry experts contribute much of the film’s success to the actors, writers, fight choreography, and cinematography, of course. Many, though, believe the bulk of the credit belongs to unique, pervasive, and borderline offensive marketing strategies that placed Deadpool at the forefront of public consciousness—thanks in large part to social media—long before the movie was ever ready for release.
Chicago Attorney Files Class Action Against Avvo
Building a strong professional image takes years, if not decades, of tireless work and meticulous attention to detail. While you cannot control every aspect of the industry in which you work or the customer base that you serve, you do have authority over how and where your name and identity may be used, especially as it relates to commercial gain. When another company benefits financially from your professional identity without your permission, there is certainly cause for concern.
Online Directory Misuse?
This is exactly what has led a Chicago attorney to file a class action lawsuit against Avvo, an Internet legal directory that allows would-be clients to search for lawyers by geographic and practice areas. According to reports, the lawsuit attacks the Seattle-based company on the grounds that it creates profit by using the professional information of attorneys and law firms without their consent as a method of enticing them to pay for higher visibility and rankings. The attorney in question has never been a paying customer of Avvo, but has been listed on the site for some time, as the site utilizes public records, including bar admissions and other court and regulatory documents to build listings for as many attorneys as possible in a given area.
At Age 12, Facebook Celebrates Bringing People Closer
In 1967, an American social psychologist named Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment that tracked chains of acquaintances between people in the United States. Through a series of packages sent by mail, Milgram looked to test how closely connected we are with our fellow humans, even those living halfway across the country. The study became known as the “small world experiment,” and among Milgram’s test subjects, he found a median of five people between any two selected individuals, or as it has been referred to in pop culture and Hollywood trivia games, “six degrees of separation.”
Over the years, even while his conclusion has gained traction among average people, the scientific community has challenged its validity and the reliability of his experiment. Regardless of the conclusion’s veracity, the small world of Milgram’s theory has become even smaller with the introduction of the internet and social media. This is especially notable today, as the social media giant Facebook celebrates its 12th birthday.
OVC's Top 10 Tips to Grow Your Law Firm
Since 2008, OVC, INC. Lawyer Marketing has helped many attorneys and law firms grow their practices. The progress we have witnessed can be measured in several ways including increased revenue, the quantity of attorneys on staff, and the number of office locations for these successful clients.
As an online marketing firm, our first line of business focuses on options such as websites, blogs and content, Search Engine Optimization, social media, and legal directory partnerships. However, successful lawyers also participate in activities and investments beyond what OVC offers. Included here are other suggestions we highly recommend based on what we have seen time and time again from successful attorney clients. In fact, the most important takeaway from these tips includes what do not offer in our product line, but without exception, is the number one factor required to grow a prosperous law firm.
Testing Your Website’s Mobile-Friendliness
Last year around this time, Google announced plans to release an update to its search engine algorithm that, if the volume of press it received was any indication, shook the world of website design to its very core. The online giant scheduled the upgrade—which quickly became known as “Mobilegeddon”—for mid-April 2015, giving site builders and webmasters just a few short months to prepare. Despite its ominous name, the online world was not ending, of course; instead, the update reflected Google’s recognition of the importance of websites being mobile-friendly, and rewarding those that are with higher placement in search engine results.
Aftermath of Mobilegeddon
In the months that followed the algorithm update, mobile-friendly websites did, in fact, see a bump in search rankings, which, for many has resulted in increased traffic. Those that are not, conversely, have fallen in search rankings, not as a punishment, but in response to the mobile needs of more and more users. Experts point out that this was exactly what Google promised and, rather than threatening web designers with an ultimatum, the announcement two months prior to the release even offered tips and instructions on how to optimize sites for mobile access. But now the big question is: Is your site mobile-friendly? Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to find out.
Google Partnership with Twitter Expected to Grow in 2016
In the ongoing battle between social media outlets, Facebook has long dominated the competition, with about 1.1 billion estimated unique monthly users. The site in the number two spot may depend one’s definition of social media. While YouTube claims the next-highest market share when included, when it is not, Twitter sits in second place with more 300 million unique visitors each month. Setting YouTube aside for now, this means that the behemoth frontrunner is nearly four times more popular than its closer competitor.
As you might expect, Twitter has not remained complacent in recent years, as it tries to reclaim a portion of the social media landscape. Early in 2015, the company announced that “tweets”—or posts on the site—would be indexed by Google, making them searchable and increasing site traffic. According to various reports, the partnership began very slowly, with less than 1 percent of all tweets actually being indexed in February 2015, the effort’s first month. The good news is that by summer 2015, the indexing rate had grown more than four and half times; the bad news is that more than 95 percent of tweets were still not being indexed.
