The Attorney Marketing Blog

Four Part Strategy To Internet Domination For Your Law Firms Website

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:40:40 +0000

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 I do 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:

Show up in Google Local (or Yahoo and Bing Local) almost every time a prospective client does a search related to your practice area.
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.
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.
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.

Law Firm Internet Marketing Case Study – Personal Injury Attorneys – Part II

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:55:33 +0000

Just 13 days after beginning work on the website of Gertler, Gertler, Vincent and Plotkin, Google has picked up on the minor change I made to the title tags for the home page.

Prior to modifying the title tags, the website could not be found anywhere in the first 15 pages of Google for the primary search terms that relate to their practice.

Take a look at the video to see what happens.

To see a larger video, click here.

Next, I’ll show an update on early results from initial work on the firms Google Local Business Listings.

Law Firm Internet Marketing Case Study – Personal Injury Attorneys – Part I

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:21:29 +0000

I thought it would be interesting to conduct a case study on a very competitive practice area in a mid-size market – and post about it regularly so you could follow along if you’d like.

On 2/22/10, I signed an agreement to conduct search engine optimization on the website owned by Gertler, Gertler, Vincent & Plotkin – a Personal Injury firm in New Orleans.

This firm is one of the most successful plaintiffs firms in Louisiana and is recognized as one of the most successful firms in the Southeast, if not the U.S., for mesothelioma cases.

They’ve been successful because of their reputation – but have done little in regards to marketing their law firm – and almost nothing online. They do have a website but it’s an older design and the hosting company they use is poor – the site takes forever to download.

Let’s take a peek at what I have to work with.

For a larger video, click here.

I’ll continue to work on the site and keep you updated on what I’m doing – and what happens as a result.

Your Law Firm On The First Page Of Google In 2010 – For Free

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:06:53 +0000

Late in 2008, I wrote a three-part series titled How To Get On The First Page Of Google in 2009….For Free.

This guide focused on what Google’s Local Business Listings were – and how any law firm could get on the first page of Google for lucrative search phrases using this tool.

In fact, it was relatively easy. All it took was a little time and effort and you could be shown regularly in the business listings – and your efforts could be seen in as little as one hour – even in hyper-competitive markets.

Well, that all changed in late October – early November of 2009 because Google changed the algorithm for this product. The local business listing not only showed different results but trying to figure out what they wanted to rank well was a bear.

Well, after countless hours, I’ve figured it out. So it’s time to update the guide.

For those new to search engine marketing, take a quick look at the video that gives you an overview of Google Local Business Listings. Everyone else, please continue on.

This product is still far-and-away the best way to make your phone ring quickly – and best of all, it’s free.

If you’re in a mid-major city or rural area, you can certainly put the time and effort into this yourself and do very well.

If you are in a hyper-competitive market, be prepared to spend a ridiculous amount of time on building-up your Google Local Business Listing…and even then, you might have to get help.

At the end of the day, it’s worth two – three clients a month.

Okay, on to Part I – Setting up you law firms Google Local Business Listing.

Preparing To List Your Law Firm on Google Local Business Search

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:05:50 +0000

(See the introduction to Google Local here)
(See Part II here)

In order for your Business to do well on Google’s Local Business Listing, you have to do a bit of work up-front.

For law firms that already have a Google Local Listing, but it’s not showing, review the simple steps shown below and get to work.

For those that do not have a listing…roll-up your sleeves – you have some work to do.

First, make sure your Business address and phone number is on every single page of the website.

Second, if possible, add location meta tags your home page like so:

If you know what the code shown above is, you should know how to add it to your home page – all others, skip it.

Third, the title tags on your site must be in sync with what you do for a living. If your title tags say Home, Welcome, or refer to you personally, stop right now and get some help. To check your title tags say, place you cursor right in the middle of some text on your site, right-click the mouse, and select view source or source.

Near the top of the page, find the content that is between this – and this – . That’s the Title of the home page.

Fourth, edit or register your business with the directories shown below. Google Local Business relies on publicly available information to power its listings. So it makes sense to have your business listed in the biggest business listings available on the web. This is important, so don’t skip this step.

Go to each site, and where you can search for your practice, do so. If you find your business, register with the site then go back and claim it. If you are not listed, you typically see an invite to add it.

***Important note: spend 45 seconds writing-up a nice business description…..and use the same one on every single site where you are permitted to add it – or modify what is there. Be sure to include your City, State, and as many of your important practice areas that will fit. Save it somewhere because you’ll need it when you build or modify your local listing.

(Ed’s Note: To have your info added to these directories, some will require you to register. And I know at least three of them will call you and try to market their services.)

InfoUSA Add Your Business Listing

And lastly, register your firm with any other guide or directory you can find that shows up on searches in your area.

Just do a Google Search for business, business directory and business listings plus your location and note any business guide or directory (non-legal) that shows up on the first 4 -5 pages of Google search results. Here’s what I mean.

Do a Google Search for your practice area and location and note any guide or directory (non-legal) that shows up on the first 4 -5 pages of Google search results.

Also a search for your location + attorney and your location + lawyer.

Also, do a search for general business directories and listings. Just search for your city + business directory, your city + business listing.

If they allow you to submit your information for free, do so. And if it’s a paid directory, consider investing in it if it’s not too expensive.

Also, if you have clients that own their own businesses and have a website, ask if they will put a link to your site someplace on their site – you reciprocate as well.

When you’re finished with this effort, the hard part is completed.

Whether you already have a Google Local Business or do not – it’s on to Part II – Modifying your Google Local Listing or setting up the initial listing.

Building Your Law Firms Google Local Business Listing

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:04:58 +0000

(See The Google Local Introduction here)
(See Part I here)

Part II

To take advantage of Google Local Search, go to Google Local Business Center and login if you already have a Google Account. If you don’t have an account with Google, go ahead and create one when you get to the login page.

If you have an account and login, and are not taken to your listing, click on the large Google graphic seen at the top left. You should then be taken to your listing where you can edit it. If you end up looking at a report of how your listing is doing, click on the large Google graphic seen at the top left again – that will take you to the edit area.

For new users, once you’re logged in, click on “Add New Business”.

For new users follow along – for those with an account already, modify based on the information below.

Begin to add your business information. Pay particular attention to three areas.

In the “Company/Organization:” field, you’ll put your firms name.

Google does not want you to add any other information there. But I’ll be honest – much of your competition is.

They are adding key terms to the business/organization name field.

This is what the Company/Organization field would like if your firms name was the “Law Offices of Walter Thompson”

Walter Thompson Law Offices

But this is what your competition will occasionally do – the example shown is for a Criminal Defense Attorney in Abilene, Texas.

Walter Thompson Law Offices: Abilene Texas Criminal Defense Attorney

This keyword stuffing is against Google’s Terms of Service and could get you kicked out Google’s Local Business Listings.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide what Business/Organization info you wish to to use.

The second area to watch is the e-mail field. I’d recommend using an e-mail address that matches your URL. Don’t use a gmail or other e-mail address if you can avoid it.

The third area that’s vital is the Description Field. Grab the description you wrote earlier and used on the directories and add that to this section. There is only room for 200 characters so if your description is too long, modify it. But keep your city and your major practice areas intact.

Now click “Next”

If Google already has a listing set up for you practice, they’ll show it and ask if you want to claim it (do it) – or you’ll be led to the next page.

You’ll then have the chance to complete the rest of the information fields – complete all that apply to you. One that I like, and is extremely important, is the “Categories” field. There you can add practice areas that are important to your firm.

So, if you’re a PI attorney, you’d enter terms such as “Injury Lawyer”, “Wrongful Death Attorney”, etc. You must, however, choose one of the main categories that Google uses to classify your practice. For the example above, the a normal reference to a PI attorney is “Personal Injury Attorney”.

So if this attorney began to type Personal Injury…..Google would populate the field with choices, one of them being Personal Injury Attorney. Experiment a bit if you are having issues here – you’ll find one that will apply. If all else fails, just choose “Attorney”.

Google gives you five categories – use them all. As long as you have one of their categories, add your other areas below it.

Next, you can add small images or even a YouTube video, hours of operation and payment options. The more you complete, the better the listing will do.

The last step is the Google verification process. You have two options. One, you can choose to have Google mail you a postcard with the PIN you need. Or, you can choose to have them call you with their automated system.

Choose the call feature because their postcard system can take a while. The call verification can make the process move much quicker – I’ve seen businesses listed in as little as a couple of hours. Just make sure you’re at the phone number you used when setting up this listing because the phone will ring immediately.

Just enter the PIN and you’re ready to go.

Here’s a little secret before I go.

To really boost the power of your Google Local Business Listings, have your clients add reviews and work on getting user content.

When you’re phone starts ringing a little more….you’ll know why.

Potential Clients Fear The Phone?

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:44:34 +0000

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.

You Cannot Bore People Into Buying

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:33:38 +0000

The headline above was repeated over-and-over again by one the most successful Madison Avenue ad men ever. I won’t bore you with his life story but I’d wager his efforts increased his clients revenue by tens of billions over the years.

He made this comment in response to the dreary, mindless and repetitive ads Madison Avenue was, and still is, famous for. Most ads did not, and still don’t, increase revenue.

I can make that same comment, with a slight twist, about many law firm websites. Here it is:

You Cannot Bore People Into Calling

When a visitor hits a law firm website, what do they see?

Well, on 99% of law firm websites in the U.S., they see dreary, mindless and repetitive content.

This visitor to your website then clicks the back-button on their browser, never to return….right after they wipe the sleep out of their eyes and the drool off their chin.

Most content on law firm sites….stinks.

And when I get the chance to “suggest” to a potential client that their content needs a little work, I hear every excuse in the book as to why their content is fine – or that their client base is educated and expects a certain image.

Hogwash…..

Many of these law firms are sitting-pretty in the search engines. They get thousands of visitors a month. And revenue is down 30% – 50%.

Why?

You Cannot Bore People Into Calling

Give them content they can use.

Tell them how you can help.

Tell them a story.

Do anything – just change what you have on your website now.

Your bank account will thank you.

Need help with your content? Call me at 859-816-3344.

Bing and Yahoo Merger

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:51:52 +0000

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.

Is AVVO Turning To The Dark Side?

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:01:29 +0000

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.