Posts Tagged ‘Lawyer Marketing’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

What Are People Saying About Your Law Firm: 4 Ideas To Track Your Online Reputation

July 1st, 2010

With the speed of information travel on the internet, it’s more important now than ever before that you monitor what people are saying about you. In addition, you need to add to the online conversation so that you have a presence and forum for building your own reputation.

What follows are 4 suggestions to help you not only track what others are saying about you online, but also how you can help build your reputation and position yourself as a thought leader.

1. Create a blog and regularly contribute to it – By writing articles about the fields of practice you work in is a great way to build trust and reputation. Others will look to you as an expert and you will build a great catalog of material to “show off” to prospective clients.

2. Use Google Alerts – Google provides this tool to everyone for free. This powerful tool enables you to enter words you want to scrape the internet for. It will email when a new instance of the word you are tracking appears. You can track your name, the name of your firm, and much more.

3. Check Twitter – Twitter allows you to search the stream and follow when others are talking or mentioning you or your law firm. Some desktop Twitter tools such as TweetDeck will allow you enter search terms that will automatically populate when they are found. Utilize the Twitter stream to your advantage.

4. Participate in social media sites and discussions – Getting active in social media is a great way to build your reputation online as well as keeping track of what others might be saying. Answering questions in your area of practice on LinkedIn or submitting new articles on Digg is a good way to build relationships as well.

Fundamentally, interactions on the web are very similar to those in the offline world. As you get recognized as a thought leader in your areas of expertise, people begin to trust you and your reputation gets built. This comes in especially handy if others write negative things about you or have questions about your work.

When others write things that are negative or complain about and experience with your firm, this is an opportunity to track what is being said and respond accordingly. Most often, the situation can be diffused and turned into a positive for your firm.

If you take the time to establish an online reputation and follow up on monitoring it correctly, you will see gains in trust and ultimately more business coming your way.

Our attorney search marketing program is built on transparency and accountability. With too many attorney search marketing solutions out there over promising and under delivering, isn’t it time you tried one that is accountable to you?


Comments Off »

Posted in Law

Tags:

Web Marketing For Your Law Firm

April 6th, 2010

When contemplating marketing your law firm on the The web, do you understand precisely what you need to have to have a thriving Web marketing strategy? Many law firms fail to use all the essentials that are critical to successfully marketing your law firm on the Internet.

Website popularity relates to the overall visibility of your law firm website on the Web. Usually there are two means a possible client can find your site: Through a search engine (such as Google, Yahoo or MSN) or via directories and other legal websites. When it comes to the search engines, if your website does not make an appearance on the 1st or 2nd page of the most prevalent search critical phrases used by buyers when their online searching for a lawyer, your website is not going to be discovered. Usually consumers search by inputting in a geographic modifier, along with a practice area and then the word lawyer or attorney. Does your legal website appear at the top of the search engines for those styles of searches? Is your legal website shown in high traffic legal directories? If the answer is no, don’t expect to yield dependable business through the World wide web. A high Internet visibility is the single most crucial part in effectively marketing your legal practice on the Web.

One of the frequently unnoticed but unbelievably necessary aspects in productively marketing your law office on the Net is having a website design that is visually attractive. A customer will normally make a judgment concerning you and your website within three seconds of visiting your law firm website. If the site looks outdated, has text difficult to read, a navigation system that makes it difficult for a customer to locate what they’re searching for, poor color schemes, etc., well you can say goodbye to that visitor to your site. They will leave and go to the next site and now you’ve lost a potential client. It’s vital to have a visually attractive law firm website that is organized in a way that will make it easy for visitors to obtain what they are hunting for. It’s also necessary that your website is designed in a search engine friendly manner, as certain design elements can prevent the search engines from finding significant details on your legal website. Some of these elements include flash, Javascript, the use of frames and other code that can basically make components of your law firm website invisible to the search engines. Having a search engine friendly website design is a must if you want to be able to rank high in the search engines.

It’s not enough to simply have a couple of lines of text talking about your various practice areas. Customers are hunting for information and the more informative your site is to prospects, the more you look like the expert in your field. Your content must be compelling and basically needs to convince a visitor that you are the right law office to handle their legal matter. In addition, the more original content you have on your legal website, the more search terms your law firm website will potentially show up for. Search engines tend to favor sites with plenty of high quality content since those are the types of websites that are commonly most helpful to buyers.

Once a law practice website starts get good traffic, the question then becomes, “What can I do to increase conversion rates of those visitors?” Conversion in this situation is when you get a website visitor to call your office or send a case evaluation request via an email or web form on your website. Certain elements can help increase the conversion rate of your site.

Anything that can help convince a website visitor to contact you will help the conversion strength of your website. For example, a case results page that shows some of the results you’ve achieved for other clients or even a video on your website that tells people with regards to your legal practice and why they should call you. The bottom line is your law office site needs to sell your law law office to your website prospects.

Web analytics is the process of monitoring customer behavior of your law firm website visitors. It’s not enough to simply have a stat counter that tracks the total number of visits to your legal website. Your law firm website needs a web analytics program that can inform you of how many new prospects your website is getting, where those readers are coming from, how long they stay on your legal website, how many pages they are viewing on average, which websites are referring you traffic, which keywords someone typed in to obtain you and much more. Every firm should have a web analytics program installed as it can help you improve the overall performance of your firm’s law office site.

lawyer web marketing on the Internet requires technical skill, creativity, and scientific measurement. Learn how to effectively perform online lawyer web marketing methods.


Comments Off »

Posted in Attorney Marketing

Tags:

Grow Your Law Firm With Internet Legal Marketing

March 8th, 2010

If you’re looking to massively expand your law firm, the best bang for your buck is to learn and implement internet legal marketing techniques.

As managing partner of a small firm I’ve rolled up my sleeves and dove into learning online marketing with excellent results. In fact, I can’t believe how effective quality internet marketing is in getting the precise clients we want.

What makes me an expert? Not much except that I’ve spent the last 2 to 3 years implementing, what is now a very effective online marketing campaign for my firm. I’ve had some false starts, but I learned from those and now I can say that I know how to get results marketing online.

The main point of this article is to tell you that internet legal marketing works extremely well AND there is still massive opportunity for you. The fact is many lawyers and firms don’t bother with investing in an online marketing campaign.

What’s also so great about online marketing, especially at this stage, is you don’t have to do it exceptionally well to get decent results. Don’t think perfection, just go out and do it. I strongly recommend learning it yourself so if you do hire some or a firm, you know what to look for.

I’ve discovered that the fraction of the amount I used to invest offline gets me a ton of internet legal marketing services. Now I manage our online campaign and outsource a good portion of it. The key is I now know who to hire and who to avoid.

Attracting clients is the name of the game

The beauty about online marketing, especially search engine optimization (SEO) is when done well, you attract clients to you rather than you having to go to clients. Old school marketing efforts were you going to clients with your message via TV, radio, print, etc. With SEO your clients come to you.

Take Yellow Pages for example. Yellow Pages is expensive because you are paying to market to everyone. The problem is everyone is not your prospective client. Only a small fraction of a population will require the services you offer. The internet, on the other hand, enables you to let your services be discovered by only those people who are looking for your services. This is done primarily through search engine optimization.

Great search engine optimization entails optimizing your website and blog as well as generating and publishing content outside of your website. If you think simply putting up a website and/or blog is sufficient, then you’re missing out on many clients. Great SEO requires both on and off-site efforts. That said, when both on and off-site efforts are done will, the results are exceptional.

Take the time to learn SEO; it’s the new real estate in business. Once you know how to get great search engine rankings, you can pretty much start and build any type of business, law firms included.

In a nutshell, internet legal marketing is the surgical marketing method and is extremely effective for lawyers. There is still a huge opportunity for lawyers online at this time because many lawyers don’t bother to do any internet legal marketing.

If you want learn more about surgical SEO for lawyers, get our free search engine optimization guide when you visit the Paperless Lawyer blog – an online practice management and lawyer marketing website and blog for your firm marketing and management needs.


Comments Off »

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags:

Attorney SEO Tips

February 11th, 2010

Lawyers and law firms are building websites and blogs like crazy. Lawyer SEO is an industry. If you or or an SEO expert hired by you are not optimizing your sites, read further and think about getting SEO going for your firm.

Lawyers from all walks of life, practice areas, and firm size are getting on the internet. Some even use social media marketing.

More and more clients use the internet to search for a law firm. Guess where those searches start? On the search engines.

It’s a shame to see some awesome lawyer websites languish in search engine obscurity. There’s no point to great graphics if no body lands on the website.

Even a 2 hour per week investment can yield pretty good SEO results. The basic approach is using good search terms in the site and getting good links to the site.

Once you understand the big picture, execution is easy, but does require some work. Optimize each page of a firm’s site and then get tons of links to the site. The how is where there’s some work required.

You can use search terms on every web page. Take full advantage of each page. Plan it out and get every specific.

For example, “criminal lawyer”, “New York criminal defense lawyer”, “criminal attorney”, “New York DUI attorney”. You get the picture.

Once you list and insert you key search terms for every web page of your website and/or blog, you need inbound links. Link building is so important for SEO it cannot be overstated.

There are a myriad of ways to get links. You can link exchange with other lawyers. This works, but it’s not my favorite method. Writing terrific unique content works well, but takes time. That said, if you write great legal content and become an authority, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how many links you’ll acquire over time.

Going forward, get links, write keyword-rich content, get links, write content, get links, etc.

Looking to find the top SEO services for lawyers, then visit The Paperless Lawyer to find the best information on attorney marketing.


Comments Off »

Posted in Attorney Marketing

Tags:

Why A Blog Should Be The Cornerstone Of Your Lawyer Marketing Efforts

February 7th, 2010

If a lawyer asks me how to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services to generate more clients, one of the first things I ask is if they have a blog. Even though social media can be very powerful promotional tools, having a blog gives you something to promote.

Advertising for lawyers with social media: I want quick results please.

I like the thought of a quick, easy return as much as the next person. However, this approach does not lend itself to long term success when lawyer marketing with social media. An occasional comment or status update will never offer the substance of a good blog post. Sharing your blog material through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites is a great way to enter the conversation.

If your lawyer marketing efforts are simply status updates on Twitter and Facebook, without any longer, thought out content of your own, then you will be making comments about many things, but adding nothing of substance to the conversation.

Writing a blog and posting frequently will provide you with two advantages in social media communities:

1. Your blog will gain exposure through the social media outlets. When you write thoughtful blog posts, people will get a better understanding of your ideas and offerings. This will increase the likelihood that they check out your blog or website where they can be converted into prospects.

2. You will become a thought leader in your field. Commenting in social media can’t compete with the substance and depth you can produce through a blog.

The point is that this involves some amount of work on your end. You have to write thoughtful, engaging content. But when you accomplish this, sharing your blog through social media is terrific exposure.

Learn how to build your professional reputation online with our free attorney marketing tools. Find out advanced attorney marketing techniques and strategies.

categories: lawyer marketing,law firm advertising,law marketing,traffic generation,social media,blogging,internet marketing,legal,marketing,twitter,facebook,linkedin


Comments Off »

Posted in Law

Tags:

5 Ways To Increase Click-throughs On Your Legal Blog Post Titles

February 6th, 2010

We have all heard the proverb “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Unfortunately, we are victims of our human nature and every day we filter out the “noise” by quickly judging things to determine if they are worth our time. We must learn the art of creating captivating blog post titles so that when people are checking out the proverbial “book covers” on the web, they stop to see what we have to say.

Your best content will remain undiscovered if you don’t make the effort to write effective titles.

Here are five ideas to improve the effectiveness of your legal blog titles:

1. Structure your title as a question – People often read blogs to find out the answer to a question they may have. By posing the question as the title to your post, you will intrigue those readers that want to know the answer to read your article. This is even more true with legal blogs because often the material can be confusing and overwhelming for those who aren’t legal professionals.

2. Check Out Magazine Covers for Ideas – Magazine copywriters are some of the best around. A magazine is located on a rack with hundreds of other choices surrounding it. They have just a few seconds to grab your attention with an attractive cover and create the desire to read more with headlines about the articles. Pay attention to the words they use and how they structure the headline. You can learn a lot from professionals that have been doing this for a long time.

3. Create titles that include lists – Consumers on the internet like lists. They are short and easy to digest. Blog posts and articles I’ve created using lists in the title have consistently been some of the most popular and frequently read.

4. Solve a problem – The readers of your posts often have a problem or curiosity they are trying to solve. By offering a solution to a problem that a reader identifies with, you will entice them to read your article.

5. Explain to the reader the right way to do something – Offering practical advice about a common situation or event can be a great way to formulate a good title. People are looking for solutions to problems they have. If you promise to offer a solution in your title and follow up on that promise in your article, you will be well on your way to increasing your readership and writing effective titles.

Remember to keep your titles short when possible. A good rule of thumb is 9 words or less. Also, be sure to capitalize the first letter of each important word in your headline.

Download the lawyer internet marketing guide library. The library includes: 5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes, Retaining A lawyer SEO Consultant, Getting Found On Google, The Top 7 Google Tools Attorneys Should Be Using, lawyer Websites Done Right, and many more.


Comments Off »

Posted in Law

Tags:

Do You Know The Secret?

February 3rd, 2010

For too long, search engine optimization companies have played the “secret” card claiming to know the inside scoop on how to rank in various search engines like google, yahoo, and bing. However, most of these claims range from misrepresentations to flat-out lies. It is truly amazing how much money is generated for bad SEO.

One of the largest investors in search engine optimization services is the legal profession. From solo practitioners to two-hundred lawyer law firms, the legal profession has bought-in to the promises of search engine optimization. The problem is that many of these consumers of law firm seo have no clue about what it is they are paying for.

Search engine optimization for your law firm should not be mysterious at all. What it comes down to is some technical know-how, effort, time, and even some skill. Even SEO-savvy lawyers are learning that it’s more about having time to perform the strategies than anything else.

While some search engine optimization can be effectively performed by attorneys themselves, many others are better performed by experts in lawyer internet marketing. Even if you don’t completely outsource your law firm SEO, getting guidance and assistance is likely to make your efforts both more effective and efficient.

Trying to decide whether or not to outsource your law firm internet marketing begins with a cost-benefit analysis of performing SEO yourself. If you think you can successfully get results from your campaigns on your own, then it might make sense to do it yourself. However, if you don’t have the time, or if your time is more valuable than the cost of outsourcing, well then, outsourcing your SEO is probably the best bet for you.

There are really 3 considerations that must be made before your decide whether or not to hire a law firm SEO consultant. First, do you have the technical know-how to properly execute search engine optimization for your firm? Second, do you have the time to effectively implement these strategies day in and day out? Third, is the cost of your professional time more valuable than the cost of outsourcing?

Want to learn 5 of the most common law firm internet marketing mistakes? Download our Free E-Book: 5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid. Learn more about law firm internet marketing from our pros.


Comments Off »

Posted in Attorney Marketing

Tags:

Advertising For Lawyers: Using Multiple Calls To Action On Your Website

February 1st, 2010

When you design your website with the needs of the client in mind, you will see very good results. In the following article, I will explain why having multiple calls to action is so important.

When advertising for lawyers on the web, be sure to use multiple calls to action: Different people respond to different stimuli

When designing our website, we can’t really tell how others will respond to the design since we all have unique tastes. Just because we like it does not mean someone else will. This is the reason that we offer different ways to contact our law firm.

For example, if I am offering a relevant e-book to prospects, I should post a graphic that is a professional looking picture of the book which links to a download page. In addition, underneath the graphic should be text that a user could click on leading to the same download page. This way I am capturing users that the graphic appeals to as well as others that the text link appeals to.

If you were to place another picture with an offer to get a free consultation, as well as a text link for the same thing, and include your firm’s phone number you will appeal to prospects ready to talk now. Some potential clients will want to download a free guide while others are ready to talk today. Giving multiple ways to get in touch with you will increase the chances of visitors to your site converting to prospects.

“If a prospect wants to contact me they go to my contact us page!”

I agree that your website should have a contact us page, but you have to think about why a prospect wants to contact you. Think about things from their perspective. They have a problem they want addressed. Give them help with that problem in the form of a free e-book or consultation. When you do that, the prospect will have more incentive to call or fill out your form.

Your website can be a powerful and effective tool. Advertising for lawyers on the web can bring in more clients and help increase your case flow.

Learn how to build your professional reputation online with our free attorney internet marketing tools. Find out advanced attorney internet marketing techniques and strategies.

categories: advertising for lawyers,lawyer marketing,legal websites,online advertising for lawyers,law firm marketing,law firm advertising,legal marketing,legal advertising,online advertising,internet advertising,internet marketing,website design,advertising


Comments Off »

Posted in Attorney Marketing

Tags:

5 Sales Pointers For Attorneys

January 28th, 2010

Being a great lawyer and having success running your own practice do not always correlate. The skill set required to handle the business aspect of a law firm is different than that of practicing law.

In today’s competitive legal landscape, it is more important now than ever before that lawyers understand the art of the sale. Lawyers don’t want to think of themselves as salesmen and women, but the truth is that without the ability to sell you services, you firm won’t be around very long.

Here are 5 things attorneys need to know about sales:

1. Taking Orders Isn’t Selling – It would be a wonderful world if clients walked in your door and asked how much they should write the check for. Unfortunately, this isn’t how things play out. Potential clients are in all different stages of the “buying cycle”. Some are looking for answers to legal questions, others are shopping around, some aren’t even sure if they need a lawyer or not. Your job is to convince them why retaining your services is their best option. The key is that many will need to be convinced…not simply sign up with you.

2. Listening Is Key – Many people think that being a skilled salesman is having the gift of gab. The reality is that listening is the key to successful sales. In order to Understand the concerns, questions, emotions, and needs of a client you need to listen, not talk. You can best solve their problems when you understand what they are.

3. Communicate How You Will Help The Client – A prospect sitting in your office is really concerned about one thing: How are you going to solve their problem. They aren’t that concerned with your awards, your practice. or even you. They are concerned about themselves. Learning how to address the needs of the client and communicate to them your ability to effectively handle their issue is important for your success.

4. Network, Network, Network – The key to sales, especially in the legal field, is networking. Building contacts, relationships, and networks will lead to a successful practice. Ignore this at your own peril.

5. Refine Your Sales Systems – You need to develop systems at your firm for each aspect of the sales process. Think about how you want to handle incoming prospect, intake interviews, follow ups with potential clients, etc. Much of your success rests on your ability to be organized, persistent, and have good follow through. You can’t afford to be disorganized when handling your potential contacts and clients.

Our law firm marketing services for attorneys are designed to generate more traffic, leads, and ultimately clients for you. We aren’t trying to sell you rankings for a few keywords, we build a law firm web marketing program that works.


Comments Off »

Posted in Law

Tags:

Trouble Cranking Out Blog Posts? 5 Ideas To Get You Started

January 26th, 2010

A blog should be a fixture of your attorney advertising efforts. A legal blog takes a lot of focus and energy to implement. I think one of the hardest things is consistently coming up with new ideas for posts. Here is a list of 5 ideas for legal blog posts.

1. Make a List – People surfing the web love a good list. They are short and easy to digest.

2. Reference good links – It’s difficult to find the needles in the haystack that is the web. Your followers will appreciate a good set of helpful links to articles, resources, etc.

3. Write About A Story – There is nothing quite as interesting as a great story. Writing about an experience you had with a client or a personal life experience is great fodder for a blog post. It gives your blog an original voice and shows your human side.

4. Provide Insight & Expertise – You have acquired a great deal of knowledge over the years, leverage that knowledge into writing legal blog posts. People have questions and look the leaders in the industry to get them answered. Establish yourself as a leader by writing about it in your blog.

5. Stay Current With Fellow Legal Bloggers – Take the time to subscribe and read the posts of fellow bloggers. They will provide insights and ideas you can piggy back off of for your own legal blog posts.

If you take the time to consistently write good legal blog posts, you will see a big gain in your lawyer marketing efforts. A blog will help you get found by search engines, establish your credibility in your niche area of the law, and provide a valuable resource to potential clients looking for examples of your expertise.

Learn how to build your professional reputation online with our free lawyer internet marketing tools. Find out advanced lawyer internet marketing techniques and strategies.

categories: legal blog,writing for blogs,lawyer marketing,advertising for lawyers,attorney advertising,writing,blog,blogging,law,legal,marketing


Comments Off »

Posted in Law

Tags: