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Recent Blog Posts
An Exercise in Memorization: The Importance of The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors for Today’s Practicing Attorney
Do you remember memorizing The Periodic Table of Elements back in the day? Being able to identify the 112 contributing elements seemed an unnecessary evil to achieve a passing grade in chemistry. School age kids are now charting the Table as early as the fifth grade. Do you also remember the collective class sigh of relief when the pop quiz was over? Personally, you may have even felt a fleeting sense of achievement only to realize The Periodic Table quickly became a distant memory of your educational existence.
For those in the legal industry interested in achieving a passing grade when it comes to successful execution of search engine optimization or SEO, a new table has emerged. Although you may not be studying chemistry, becoming familiar with The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors may very well be your next marketing assignment.
The Mythical Land of Search Engine Optimization: Separating Fact from Fiction
Perhaps the recent article posted by Small Business Trends says it best: the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) culture is wrought with mystical and misleading myths. As social media marketing evolves these tall tales not only continue but beg to be debunked as they may thwart your efforts of building and maintaining an effective social media marketing campaign fueled by SEO optimization.
For those in the legal community and just beginning to build their social media marketing platform, do not be fooled by the folklore dismissing the importance of SEO to increase your online presence while also directing traffic to your website. The days of cold calling and slinging slogans is long gone and concentrating on SEO and all aspects of social media marketing are your future.
Google Has the Legal Industry Covered: Flagging Inappropriate Reviews on Google To Protect Your Online Reputation
A well-maintained social media campaign should invite client related reviews to your site, but what happens when you feel a recent review could prove damaging to your online reputation and quite honestly you find yourself strongly disagreeing with the content finding it’s home on one of your Google marketing platforms?
As a leader in the industry Google presents options for such products as Google+, YouTube, and Blogger to post and share personalized content but due to the massive uploading of online submissions, Google does not involve itself in the prescreening of content but relies heavily on it’s users to monitor and flag any material deemed inappropriate.
To thwart this type of situation it is important for members of the legal community to delegate systematic monitoring of all social media content either by a designated staff member or an experienced online marketing firm. Words cut deep and while Google provides policies and procedures to review damaging content the tarnishing of your online reputation may have already occurred.
Choosing the Best Online Marketing Firm: A Recipe for Success
From Alton to Wheaton, the HG.org provides a directory of practicing Chicago attorneys all vying for new business. Locating prospective clients can be a challenge. How attorneys accomplish this may depend heavily on the online marketing firm they hire to define and achieve their social media marketing goals. As each attorney is unique, so should their recipe for success when it comes to contracting an experienced online marketing firm.
As social media marketing expands how do you know you are choosing the best online firm? One that is the perfect blend of meeting your needs but also achieving the highest rate of return on your investment?
Google’s Privacy Policy Favors Paying Adwords Customers: Free Users are Left in the Dark
For many in the legal industry, Google remains a constant in search engine marketing. You may rely on Adwords, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google+ just to name a few methods, but is Google’s privacy policy in everyone’s best interest?
According the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), technology gurus have familiarized themselves with Google's privacy policy revision, effective March 1, 2012. Perhaps we may ask, as a technological layman, what does it mean for legal marketing efforts?
Google consolidated over 70 individual privacy policies, covering separate services available to publishing on the Internet. It now blankets a one-size-fits-all privacy policy for Google users. It allows Google to “data mine” a user's Internet activity across the Google playing field instead of through specific service options. This policy has sparked controversy and has even been labeled as possibly illegal according to an article in The Huffington Post. So what exactly is the bone of contention for Google users?
The Times They are a Changin’: Google's Hummingbird Incorporates Public Relations Value into Legal Online Marketing
As Bob Dylan once sang, "The times they are a changin’." Attorneys view their social media marketing and Public Relations (PR) campaigns differently as Google redefines its search engine optimization (SEO) algorithms.
According to Search Engine Land, with the release of Google's Hummingbird update, page ranking is no longer the preferred method of boosting website visibility. Hummingbird provides the end-user with quality not quantity of search results relying less on key words, internal links and content rankings.
So how should the legal community approach this new turn of events?
As we previously discussed in our article, "Social Media Marketing Now Gracing the Legal Industry's Welcome Mat," legal firms are now realizing the benefits of hiring an internal media specialist or for the smaller or solo attorney, a qualified online marketing firm to incorporate a PR viewpoint into social media campaigns. With Google’s game changing algorithm following suit would be advantageous for some of the reasons stated below:
When Google Takes a Detour: Tips for Maintaining Online Accuracy
You have become a master of maintaining and monitoring your online marketing program. As a monthly practice you Google your firm to ensure that all elements of your well-oiled Search Engine Optimization (SEO) machine are functioning on all cylinders. For months this routine practice has been glitch free, but today Google Places for Business has made a slight detour, driving you to unfamiliar territory.
Surprisingly you detect an additional listing now representative of your firm containing an incorrect address and an unrecognizable telephone number. To make matters even worse, the phantom listing has now pulled rank over your original listing.
A bit stunned, you realize that this non-existent firm location is also being picked up directory listings, ultimately driving all clients and even worse, all prospective clients to an internet impostor. So how do you guide Google and your SEO program back on track? If possible, block off your schedule for the afternoon and map out the following:
Keep the Home Fires Burning: Lawyers Benefit from Local Search Optimization
Social media marketing remains a hot topic. And as a result, attorneys are turning up the heat, especially in their own backyards, by cultivating prospective clients through the use of Local Search Optimization.
The leader in Internet magic, Google now provides businesses with the ability to customize Search Engine Optimization, the process of improving the volume of local website traffic by assigning keywords to achieve a higher ranking on the Internet marketplace and eliminating the need to key in specific geographical locations.
New Top Level Domains on the Horizon: Good News for the Legal Industry
Just when you thought you had it covered, your colleague brings up the benefits of utilizing TLDs, or Top Level Domains. As the water cooler conversation continues you point out that you update your status on Facebook on a daily basis, you ensure that your LinkedIn profile is at its utmost professional best and your fingers fly furiously through informative micro-blogging tweets.
Before heading back to your office to Google "TLD" you leave him impressed with the number of new clients who have graced your door since you began posting relevant blogs and uploading professionally produced videos. Judging by the look on his face, you wonder if you came off a bit rude as you sprint back to your office.
You fire up your tablet and begin the search via Google’s kingdom. And there it is, a top level domain or TLD, the reigning king of all domains supreme. You read on. A TLD is a labeling function of a qualified domain name. It allows for specifying the exact location of a three part domain name with .com rating as the premium option.
9 Tips for Today's Attorney Marketing Strategy
Attorneys cannot afford to lose sight of the fundamental strategies that can often grow their practice. Even though your attorney marketing campaign may be purring like a kitten, revisiting a few suggestions of yesteryear may also prove healthy for your bottom line.
A recent article published by the American Bar Association urges attorneys to turn their best intentions into best practices. These suggestions may trigger a few new ideas for marketing your practice:
- The 80/20 Rule: Referrals still remain an integral component of any law practice. Eighty percent of new clients are referred by the remaining 20 percent of your current clients. Take the time to personally meet with your clients either in-house or on their turf. By building strong client relationships you will surely increase your referral rate.
