I’ve talked to hundreds of attorneys over the last several years about how to grow their business.

Many listen – some don’t.

But the other day, I had a prospective client ask me, “How do I make more money with my online presence?”

I’d never been asked that question before.   Prospective clients always ask how they can get their website on the first page of Google.  Many think that by just having your website reach the first page for lucrative search terms, riches will follow.

And I’m partly to blame for that thought process – I even guarantee it as part of my business model.

Truth be told, it’s a little more involved that that.  So, I’m going to answer the question, “How do you make more money with your online presence?”

They’re are four parts to Internet Domination for your law firm. They are:

1. Show up in Google Local (or Yahoo and Bing Local) almost every time a prospective client does a search related to your practice area.
2. Show up in normal search results (right below Local or map results) every time a prospective client does a search related to your practice area.
3. Set up a Pay Per Click campaign so you show up at the top of the search results page (above Google Local) or on the right side of the page, almost every time a prospective client does a search related to your practice area.
4. Have great content that builds trust and connects with prospective client when they get to your website or blog – as a result of the effort in part 1, 2 and 3.

When you dominate perhaps the most valuable real estate in existence – AND – build trust with your website visitors….

You cannot NOT make significantly more money.

How much money?

How about tripling your revenue within 12 months. For consumer related practices, I’ve seen it over-and-over again (I’ll be introducing a case study on this shortly).

Add a systematic referral system to your practice, and the numbers get exponentially higher…but that is story for another day.

Trey Ryder, in one of his recent newsletters, talked about the fear that potential clients have about calling an attorney on the phone. Think about it.

Most have no idea who to call for legal help, don’t know how to find a good attorney…and they are afraid.

Potential clients are afraid to pick up the phone?  Are you serious?

Certainly am  – and Trey even gives solid reasons why they are afraid.

• He or She is afraid you may refuse to talk with him over the telephone.
• He or She is afraid you may try to pressure him into making an appointment.
• He or She is afraid you may charge him for the phone call.
• He or She is afraid you may not handle his type of problem.
• He or She is afraid you may not have time to help him.
• He or She is afraid you may charge more than he can afford.

To remedy this problem, Trey recommends you make it very clear that you:

• You welcome their calls.
• You’ll gladly talk with them over the telephone or in person, without charge.
• You’ll return their calls promptly, if you aren’t available when they call.
• You won’t pressure them in any way.

Sounds simple, right?  Yet so few law firms make it a point to insure that the visitors to their website see these assurances.

Why not try it – your phone will ring more.

Here’s one additional step I ask my clients to do – you might want to consider it as well.

After they add the assurances, I have them add this statement.

“And if for some reason I can’t help you, I will put you in touch with the very best attorneys in town…that’s my promise to you”.

With this simple addition of 27 words, these attorneys are establishing even more trust with the visitors to their website.

And when they do get a call, and they can’t help, they refer the work out to another attorney.  The potential client is now happy – and the attorney you referred work to is happy.

And that attorney will return the favor.

When everyone is happy….bottom lines improve.

In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft is buying Yahoo – with regulatory approval expected sometime in 2010.

I’m thinking that this deal will result in Yahoo starting to dismantle its search engine shortly thereafter and dropping Bing (Microsoft’s Search Engine – a darn good one too) in it’s place.

With this merger/buyout, Microsoft will get an immediate bump in market share…from around 10% now to 30% after completion.

So what does it mean for law firm internet marketing?

Well, although a 30% market share is not a huge threat to Google, Bing now becomes a search engine you can’t ignore.

From the research I’ve done, search engine optimization for Bing is no different than Google.  In fact, my clients rank equally well on either search engine for the search results they are targeting.

If your law firm website or blog is not doing well on one of them, it’s probably not doing well on the other either – so maybe a little work on your internet presence is in order.

One other thing you should do prior to this merger – register you law firm with the Bing Local Listing Center.

This product is similar to Google’s Local Business Listing…..and participation will result in client contacts, although at a rate less than Google’s. No surprise there with the market share Bing has/will have.

So hop on over to Bing and get your law firm set up on Bing.

I’m all for a company monetizing a website, but AVVO is beginning to turn to some questionable revenue generating models.

They’ve worked very hard in building traction by offering a great service to those looking for legal assistance.  And they’ve created a good buzz in the marketplace that’s helped them tremendously with the search engines….while managing to not help any of the attorneys listed on the site in that regard (they no-follow every outgoing link).

AVVO has thrived so far (traffic numbers are very good) because they offer an individual the opportunity to review attorneys in a given practice area.  AVVO will even include past client reviews and colleague reviews as well.  It’s all there for the potential client to see – and make a decision if they want to contact that attorney or not.

Now they’ve moved on to squeezing the attorneys in order to drive revenue.

In the last couple or months, they’ve done two things.

One, they offer what’s called AVVO Pro – an opportunity to “Take Your Profile to the Next Level” – their words, not mine.

In my opinion, it doesn’t do much for driving business to a law firm – but it does protect you from the second product they’ve introduced – AVVO Advertising.

This is a sponsored type listing at the top of a practice area search – see this example of an AVVO search for a Los Angeles DUI Lawyer. (FYI – I got an e-mail from an LA Divorce Attorney that said AVVO wanted more than $500 a month for the AVVO Advertising sponsored listing).

There are three attorneys shown – no problem with this at all.  It’s a smart way to monetize the space.

What gives me the heebie-jeebies is this -

If you are not an AVVO PRO member, AVVO is adding one of those Ads to every single attorney profile in that practice area.  In some cases, there are two ads on a profile.

So if I’m an attorney and want to get the other attorneys ad off my profile, I have to pay $49.95 a month for AVVO Pro to accomplish that.

What B.S. – and if was an attorney that worked hard to build my AVVO profile, I would be livid if I saw some attorney that’s willing to write a big check…pollute my profile.

From my perspective…it’s just plain wrong.

Almost a year ago, I was gushing about how wonderful Justia was (see this post) by offering law firms across the country access to a directory where they could list their firm for free while leveraging the power of the Justia URL.

You could set up a profile about your firm and even set up links to point at your website a blog – a huge help in solid search engine ranking.

It was so refreshing to see a competitor of Findlaw offer this service as a counter to the Findlaw directory where they charge an arm-and-a-leg to take advantage of the benefits their directory offers for search engine rankings.

Well, in the no-to-distant past, Justia has turned to the dark-side.  They set their techs loose and did some black-box magic which resulted in this….

Unless you are a paying client of Justia, you will not get any help from being in their directory.  Those that are Justia clients get a lot of Google love.  Those that are not….get none.

In fact, Justia sales reps are now using scare tactics in an effort to force clients to stay with them.

Yep, I’ve had two law firms call me recently – both said the rep indicated that if they left Justia, their directory profile would be impacted and their web presence would disappear.

Shame on you Justia….for changing how your directory was managed internally…and by threatening clients.

You’re no better than Findlaw….and if you read this Tim, that’s a shame, because at one time, you had an ethical and honorable company.

If you own or manage a small law firm, have you ever looked at search engine results in your area and wondered why “Big Law” was not plastered all over the first page of Google for search terms related to your practice area?

After all, they certainly have bigger marketing budgets than you, right?

Yet, you rarely ever see Big Law dominate – it’s always the solo and small firms that do.

Here’s an example – if you did a search for “new york injury lawyer” you’d find only one firm (Stark & Stark) shown in the top 10 natural search results that I would consider “Big Law” – and they’re down the page at #8 which is not a premium position.

Nine of the ten are websites or blogs owned by solos or small firms.  That’s amazing, given how how many times that search term is typed in each month (almost 10,000 times) and how lucrative it is.

So the question is, why doesn’t Big Law show up?

The reason is simple – many of them rely on Content Management Systems (CMS), which are complex, database-driven web sites.

That is the complete opposite of solos and small firms which utilize static html, asp or php sites – or blogging platforms like Wordpress.

So why do small firms have an advantage by using these types of systems?

Because the systems they use are designed to be search engine friendly, while many of the CMS offerings that Big Law uses are:

• Not Search Engine Friendly (or Management does not know how to make them that way). Examples would be dynamic URL’s that look like this (http://www.biglaw.com/practice.php?categoryid=1&productid=10) which the search engines can choke on, and duplicate meta tags or tags that are not search engine friendly;
• Managed by outside vendors that don’t have usability or SEO experts on staff.
• Paralyzed by fear because of the huge investment they’ve made and are unsure of what to do.

So while solos and small firms keep adding search engine friendly content to their sites (with a blog) or regularly post to their blog, Big Law keeps spinning their wheels.

My advice to the solos and small firms – keep on adding content and posting to your blog.

Because unless Big Law ‘”gets it” in the very near term, it will be extremely difficult for them to catch you in the search results…never mind leapfrogging ahead of you.

Michael Stelzner, of whitepapersource.com has authored a new report, “Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses.”

It’s probably one of the best reports I’ve seen to date about the use of Social Media tools like Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., for your marketing efforts.

What I didn’t see is this….Can a businesses gain an increase in revenue by using all these social media tools.

The report has a number of  statistics that lend credence to the benefits of using social media tools, but like most reports about this hot topic, there’s no hard numbers.

We all know that blogs lead to an increase in revenue.  But what about Twitter?  What can that do for the small business.  Does it work for them?

Until I have Law Firm Clients tell me that the hours-and-hours they’re spending on Twitter is fattening their wallet….I will continue to say….if a marketing effort is not working – cease doing it.

I saw a bumper sticker on a car the other day.

It said….

The Shortest Distance Between Two People is a Good Story.

True statement, isn’t it.

We all enjoy stories….and so do your clients.

So, why not do yourself a favor and check the content on your website.

If it’s the typical boring effort that most web design firm’s slap on a website….change it….and tell a story.

Here’s a snippet from a web page for one of my newest clients – a PI attorney that has had some success in the past representing clients that were injured in accidents involving semi-trucks.

Several years ago, I was contacted by the paternal grandmother of a 6 year old boy whose mother, maternal grandmother and 2 year old brother had been killed after their car was struck by a semi-truck.

The truck driver had choked on hot coffee, lost consciousness, and crossed the median of I-75 in Northern Kentucky.

As you can imagine, she was extremely upset.  The reason she called me was that she was now the young boys’ guardian and really didn’t know what to do.

At a time in her life when she should be planning her retirement, a horrible accident meant that she would be raising this young child.

And as you would expect, she had many questions and concerns.

She wanted to know how she was going to care for her grandson.

What was she going to tell him when he asked “Where’s Mommy” or “When will I be able to see her”?

She was concerned about how she was going to going to pay for his education.

And her biggest fear – What would happen to her grandson….if something happened to her?  Who would take care of him?  What if Grandma couldn’t take care of herself and this young man had to do it as a teenager?  What would happen if Grandma was no longer around?…..

He then goes into a bit of detail on how he handled the situation and what he does for new clients.

So tell me….If a potential client looks at a couple of websites and see’s the typical content on law firm sites….and then see’s this guys, what do you think will happen?

I’ll tell you what happens….the other law firms don’t have a chance in hell at getting this client.

You have between 10 and 15 seconds to build some trust with your visitor….and by using a true story that targets the PC’s emotions and makes it crystal clear that you understand what’s going on in their life….you can do what none of your competition is doing.

So….tell a story.  Your bottom-line will thank you.

I ran across an interesting post from Eric Turkewitz, a New York Personal Injury Attorney who offers up his wisdom on his blog – the New York Personal Injury Law Blog.

His post, titled  Twitter: A Review was a lucid overview of a social media/micro-blogging tool that’s generating a lot of buzz in the legal world (and elsewhere) as a great marketing tool.

And the buzz is almost deafening.  Attorneys by the thousands are rushing headlong into hourly twitter use – many having no idea what to even do with it – or it’s strengths and weaknesses.

Eric has decided to “noodle with it” but doesn’t plan to fall in love with it like many other attorneys.  I’ve never even met the man but I know this….he knows how and where to spend his time and money on marketing his practice.

Now don’t get me wrong – Twitter is a great networking tool. I even have an account but spend little time on it.

But it is a lousy marketing tool.  Those that benefit from Twitter are ones with a national presence.  They are continually building their Brand with folks lining up to follow them.  It’s a sweet tool for that.

For those serving a targeted geographical area – like most law firms – you are not a Brand.  So it’s an absolute waste of time to even use Twitter for marketing yourself.

I was up-to-my-eyeballs in the Internet hysteria earlier this decade and I learned what works and what has no chance.  Twitter is a fad that will hang around until the next great “idea” comes along.  And then the herd will rush after that.

I’ll pass along one of the rules I live by – if a marketing effort is not making you money…stop it….and focus on what works.

And for law firms, what most should focus on is referrals, a website or two, a blog or two and video.

Do you want more visitors to your web site? Then take a look at this new opportunity.

Within the last several months, Justia and Cornell University have joined forces and are now offering attorneys and law firms a free listing on their branded directories.

I would imagine Tim Stanley (CEO of Justia.com) and his folks initiated this and in my humble opinion, it’s a wonderful offering to make available to attorneys and law firms.  Is this new offering all about “love” for legal practioners?  No – Tim’s a smart guy and I’m sure he’ll find a way to leverage the data their collecting.  But it’s still a nice thing to do.

Okay, so what do these directories mean to you?

It’s an easy way to have your law firm show up extremely high in the search engines for search terms that relate to your practice.

For attorneys and law firms that practice in large metropolitan environments, it’s a great way to show up for search terms related to your practice that you might not show up for otherwise.

For those practicing in smaller population centers…it’s like putting your search engine rankings on steroids.  These directories can help you dominate your practice area.

For example, here’s a search on Google for “akron new york attorney” – a Buffalo, NY suburb.  It shows the Akron NY Law Firm of Friedman & Ranzenhofer shown 6 times on the first page – two from their own site, one from the Google Local Business Listings and three results from the new Justia – Cornell Directories.

What does that mean to this firm?  It means that more than 80% of those using Google to search for an Akron NY Attorney….will be calling this firm or e-mailing them because the first page of the search results are dominated by this firm.

Are you ready to set up your profile?  Good – this is how it’s done.

Go to Justia and at the top of the page, search for your last name, city and state.

You’ll then be directed to a page where you’ll hopefully see your name. Just to the right, you’ll see a link that says “View Profile” – click on it.

You’ll then be taken to a page where you can “Claim and Update your profile” – click on that link (upper right) and then select “Claim By Phone”.

Be right next to the phone number of record shown on this page because their automated verification system will call you immediately.

When that’s completed you’re on your way.

Now don’t make the same mistake a majority of attorneys that use this service make.  Add as much information as you can. This is valuable space – take advantage of it.

If you set up your profile correctly, it will do wonders. Here’s how.

Just below are a few examples of how to set up your profile correctly. If you set up your profile like these, you’ll notice a huge difference. (Ed’s Note: I assisted these Attorneys with their profile – and note the extensive use of geographical terms, websites and practice areas)

Attorneys in Buffalo – a general practice law firm.
Northern KY Injury Lawyer – a PI Attorney
New York City Criminal Lawyer – Criminal Attorney

Two more things. One, you only need to complete the Justia Profile.  That profile will automatically transfer to the Cornell University site.

And two, if you have a blog or other web property, set up a backlink to your new profiles.  This will force the search engines to index your new profiles quicker, resulting in the profile showing up on the first page of search engines much more quickly for search terms that relate to your practice.

Enjoy.

Tags: justia+directory cornell+directory google+search+results yahoo+search+results law+firm+internet+marketing seo attorney lawyer