If Shakespeare were alive in today's Internet-based, search engine optimization (SEO) obsessed world, instead of asking What's in a name, he might well have had Juliet ask  "What's in a [key] word?"  Because when it comes to SEO, keywords matter, as Jay Fleischman emphasizes over at Legal Practice Pro.   But whereas Juliet idealistically believed that "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," her observation wouldn't apply to SEO where subtle differences in terminology can yield less-than-sweet SEO results. 

So how can you determine whether the keywords will be effective in attracting traffic to your site?  Jay's Legal Practice Pro post offers a couple of starting points.  In addition, there's an even more recent post by Marshall Sponder of Entrepreneur that identifies seven free tools for evaluating the potential effectiveness of key words.

One tool suggested by Sponder is Microsoft AdLabs, which can help determine whether your intended service has commercial value based on the words you're using to describe it.  From the post: 

For example, "Ultra-Thin Insoles" is considered to have a 68 percent commercial value while "Comfortable Shoes" is considered by the tool to have a 96 percent commercial value. Finding the right way to describe what you're looking for will help you find it faster and cheaper, and help you monetize your offerings once your products or services are ready.

Other tools include Quantcast Marketing which you can use to obtain demographic information on customers which in turn, can inform keyword selection, and Wordstream Keyword Search, which will generate keyword suggestions.  For example, if you select "bankruptcy law," you'll see that many searches relate to the changes in bankruptcy law.  Since this term drives traffic, you may want to use it as a keyword and also target blog posts or web content to address this topic.

By using free tools to select effective keywords, you can create a rosy presence for yourself online without spending a bundle.  And that is sweet, indeed. 

A search engine like Google or Microsoft's recently released competitor Bing are great tools for a global search of the entire web.  And that's great for those lawyers who have a dominant presence or a unique niche that appeals to clients nationally.  But where most search engines have a hard time is at a more granular level, i.e., in helping users find local businesses and services -- be they restaurants or nail salons or daycare centers or law firms -- right in their own backyard. 

For lawyers who target clients in surrounding communities, the search engine's "local" blind spot creates an enormous disadvantage.  Large "mill" law firms with regional or state-wide practices are able to dominate solos and small firms in search engines, pushing them down to the second or third page of rankings.  And while these larger operations may not have offices in close proximity to a prospective client, that client may choose the firm by default because a more convenient solo option never appeared in the search engine.  

As I've written previously, blogging can help close the search engine gap.  For example, lawyers can improve local SEO by choosing a domain name for a blog that is very location-specific, such as BlueHillTennesseeLawyer.com, or referencing the names of local communities within posts.  However, if you're not inclined to blog, Google just launched another tool which can help improve your visibility on the local level and, more importantly, generate data that can help you to better target local clients. (As a disclosure, my husband is a Google employee, but he does not work on any of the search tools and in fact, never mentioned this tool to me -- I learned about it independently online).

As described at Tech Crunch, Google is attempting to build up its Google Local application, which generates local search results and provides listings that pop up in Google Maps.  But in order for the tool to be effective, small businesses need to claim their listing profile.  As I've already discussed, listing a profile at Google Local can help improve your SEO in local markets.  In addition, Google Local also lets users include photos and create "coupons" (though you'd need to check with applicable bar rules to determine whether you can ethically offer discount coupons).

But as if that wasn't enough incentive to add your profile, now Google is offering this Small Business Dashboard which provides free data that can help businesses evaluate the effectiveness of their local marketing efforts.  The Dashboard provides statistics on how many times a business comes up in search results and which keywords generated those results, how many times people generate driving directions to the business on Google Maps, and, most importantly, where those people come from.

How can Google Local and the Dashboard help your marketing?  For starters, let's say that you continuously receive calls about bankruptcy matters, notwithstanding that you specialize in estates.  By checking the keywords by which users are finding you, you may discover a phrase on your website that attracts clients with bankruptcy problems.  You can use that information to tailor the text on your site to lure clients with matters in your specific practice areas.  Or, let's say that you learn that for some reason, many clients are coming to your firm from another part of the state -- perhaps as much as 40 miles away.  You could consider adding a virtual office component to your practice, or holding office hours once a month at a temporary office closer by as a convenience to these clients.

Through the Internet and powerful search engines, all of us have the ability to search and be found globally.  But for those lawyers who serve the surrounding communities, none of that matters unless clients can find them locally.  So why not act locally and set up a Google Local listing for your law firm?

If you're like most lawyers, you probably use Wikipedia for a variety of purposes, from finding a layperson's explanation of a legal concept to getting the back story on current events.  Some of you may be avid enough users that you may have even registered for a Wikipedia account and contributed to some of the entries.  But chances are, you never considered creating a Wikipedia page for yourself or your law firm.

Truth is, up until a few weeks ago, I didn't either.  But as I described in this post at Legal Blogwatch, most major law firms already maintain pages on Wikipedia.  What's more, the
UK Law Society points out, Wikipedia has enormous reach:

Wikipedia is one of the largest reference websites -- 684 million visitors yearly. For a sniff of its power, whether you like it or not, cogitate on this snippet from the New York Times 'Bits' technology blog on 30 March, entitled 'Microsoft Encarta Dies After Long Battle With Wikipedia': 'Microsoft delivered the coup de grâce Monday to its dying Encarta encyclopedia, acknowledging what everyone else realised long ago: it just couldn't compete with Wikipedia... In January, Wikipedia got 97% of the visits that web surfers in the United States made to online encyclopedias, according to the internet ratings service Hitwise. Encarta was second, with 1.27%.' That's how powerful Wikipedia is.

With that kind of traffic, a listing on Wikipedia could theoretically bolster a firm's search engine visibility.  So I decided to test my theory and ran a couple of searches on some of the law firms listed in Wikipedia.  Sure enough, the firms' Wikipedia listings came up within the top five to ten front page search results on Google.

Still, is a Wikipedia entry worthwhile for solo and small firm lawyers?  For starters, what kinds of information would you include in the listings?  Many large firms with long histories describe the firm's origins and provide bios of firm founders and well-known alumni.  But solo and small firm lawyers might not have enough background material to include.  A smaller firm might also link to reported cases or cross-reference practice areas described on Wikipedia.  For example, a bankruptcy lawyer could cross-link to the entry on Bankruptcy in Wikipedia, thus providing a good resource for clients with basic questions.  Likewise, lawyers could cross-reference the city where they practice or hobbies they enjoy.

Ultimately, I don't think that Wikipedia is an indispensable component of a lawyer marketing portfolio in the same way as a website or blog or business card.  But for lawyers looking for something different or who can devise a unique use for Wikipedia, it might be a marketing tool worthy of further consideration. 

In the past few months, most of us have seen stories such as this one about how newspapers are facing extinction, victims of widespread content available online free and recession-driven declining ad revenues.  But could television be far behind on road to obsolescence?

This past weekend's Washington Post carried this interesting article, "Click Change: The Traditional Tube Is Getting Squeezed Out of the Picture" which describes that more and more, consumers are cutting the cord to their television, opting to watch shows online.  And of course, even those consumers who aren't yet willing to part with their little black box (or large, flat plasma screen, as the case may be) customize their viewing experience with TiVo or other recording devices such that their television habits bear little in common with those of viewers of ten or fifteen years ago.

All very interesting.  But as a reader of this Legal Marketing Blawg, you're probably wondering "So what does declining television viewership have to do with me?  I don't advertise on T.V."  Yet, that's precisely why this trend should interest you.  Because while television is dying, you still have a chance to get a first-mover advantage on those advertising techniques that are most likely to work in the post-television age.  Moreover, studying today's trends in television viewership offers insight into what kinds of messages work with 21st century consumers.  Now, I'll step back and explain.

1.  Positioning Yourself for the End of Television Advertising.

Traditionally, television advertising has been the domain of large law firms or networks of firms.  After all, who else can afford the enormous cost?  Lawyers who pay for television advertising are playing a numbers game, figuring that by getting in front of thousands of viewers, they can capture just a small percentage and thus make the cost of the ad worthwhile.  However, when viewers stop watching television, ads won't be as effective -- and these mass marketers will look for other avenues, including the Internet.  They've got the resources to potentially dominate, too -- by gobbling up keywords and employing high-priced SEO Consultants.

By acting now, you can fight back.  For example, by setting up a blog (as I noted last week, only two percent of lawyers are currently blogging) you can start gaining visibility in local domains and specific niches.  By starting a blog now, you can get yourself comfortably entrenched on the first page of Google's search results by the time the mass television marketers find their way online.  And once on top, it's harder to get dethroned.

Even if you're not committed to blogging, you have other options to establish visibility online.  In previous posts, I've discussed how article archiving sites like JD Supra, circulation of eBooks, and other do-it-yourself techniques can bolster your online presence.

2.  What Do Consumers Want?

Continue reading "What the End of Television Means for Lawyer Marketing" »

You know the old maxim, a picture is worth 1,000 words? These days, online video may well be worth 1,000 site visits.

According to a recent article from the International Herald Tribune, Internet users are increasingly turning to video-rich sites like YouTube to locate information rather than conventional, text-based search engines like Yahoo! or Google.  As a result, consumption of online video has soared, with 146 million Americans watching video online, twice as many as 20 months ago.  More importantly, searches on YouTube edged out those on Yahoo!, and the site now ranks as the number 2 search engine behind Google.  

These trends show that lawyers who rely on the Internet to market a practice should consider incorporating video into their online marketing strategy.  However, video carries with it plenty of other advantages besides SEO.  A video gives clients a peek at your demeanor and personality, and establishes that you're a real person.  At a time when recent scandals like the Madoff Ponzi scheme have shattered public confidence in professionals, video can help re-build trust. 

Still, despite the obvious benefits of video, for some lawyers who are just now creating an online presence, the thought of including video is likely overwhelming.  Other lawyers may feel discouraged, figuring that once again, the same deep-pocketed firms that dominate Yellow Pages and television advertising will have the resources to implement video marketing and once again gain an overwhelming advantage.

The good news is that even if you're on a limited budget, you can still experience the benefits of video.  Though a professional videographer may be outside your price range, you can generate a reasonably good quality video on a home video camera.  With good lighting and an external microphone, the sound and image quality will suffice.  Some lawyers, such as video guru Gerry Oginski, use Mac-based tools to edit their videos, though most PCs also support video editing applications.  If you need editing assistance, check out local colleges with media programs or websites like e-lance where you may be able to find economically priced editors.

So what should you say on your video?  That's entirely up to you.  Some lawyers use video as an opportunity to simply introduce themselves and their firm to site visitors.  Other lawyers try to make videos more educational -- for example, by offering explanations on how a case is filed or why a client might need legal representation.   Practice what you'll say a few times, but avoid teleprompters or notes.  Ultimately, aim for sounding as you would if you were meeting your viewers in person.  

Exploring online video sooner rather than later will give you a first-mover advantage and enable you to distinguish yourself from other lawyers, most of whom have not yet adopted video.  Why not get started now?     

Okay, so you've written an interesting article for a client newsletter or a local media publication.  Trouble is, your newsletter only goes to subscribers, while the local media publication isn't even Internet accessible.  And while you can scan the article and upload it to your website, even that may not buy you much more mileage because the document's text may not get picked up effectively by search engines.

Truth is, without a decent presence on the Internet, that article just doesn't have much of a shelf life, marketing-wise. And when you realize that, you'll probably find yourself less likely to write another article, which will reduce your marketing efforts even more.

Fortunately, there's a simple solution to this problem:  Article archiving services -- such as JD Supra, DocStoc and Scribd, to name a few -- don't just enable you to easily post your documents online, they can actually help supercharge the search engine visibility of your written work.

The theory behind article archive sites is to give authors a chance to share their work product with others and to provide a convenient way for others to view the article without having to go through the trouble of downloading a cumbersome PDF file.  JD Supra is geared specifically toward lawyer work product, while DocStoc and Scribd serve as repositories for a wide range of written materials.  You needn't limit yourself to just one site, however.  Starting out, you might experiment with uploading the same document at several sites and evaluate which produces the best result.

Why Lawyers Have Nothing to Fear from Sharing Documents

As far as I can tell, lawyers haven't been using article archiving sites pervasively or regularly, though that is starting to change.  Still, some lawyers shy away from using article archive sites for several reasons, all of which I'll address.  First, some lawyers harbor concerns about posting pleadings or other public filings that might infringe on their clients' privacy.  Though most courts offer electronic filing and house court files online, these are generally not visible in search engines.  Concerns about client privacy are valid, however, and you should seek a client's approval before posting filings from an active case online.

Continue reading "Why Sharing Documents Online Can Help You Get A Share of SEO" »

You know the old teaser that if a tree falls in the forest with no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?  Well, the same might be asked of your law firm's web page or blog -- if no one can find your site online, does it really exist?  That's where the concept of SEO - search engine optimization - comes into play.  As explained in Wikipedia, SEO is the "process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to an online site from search engines, via search results." 

So what can you do to improve your SEO?  Some would argue that you're best off leaving SEO to experts instead of doing it yourself, but I disagree.  First, professional SEO services done right can cost a good chunk of change, so often, they're not really an option for small firms or lawyers just starting out who need SEO the most.  Second, even those lawyers who have the financial means to purchase SEO services should educate themselves about SEO basics to make an informed decision about an SEO provider.  Some SEO companies use unscrupulous tactics that can get your site banned from search engines, while others employ means that aren't particularly effective.  If you know a bit about how SEO works, you can avoid the bad apples.

Below, I've provided a couple of tips and resources that will let you start learning about SEO.

1.  Good SEO Isn't Rocket Science.  First and foremost, achieving good SEO isn't rocket science; it's common sense.  Ask yourself a basic question:  What kinds of terms are prospective clients likely to use if they're looking for a lawyer in your practice and geographic area?  For example, a woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma who wants to find a lawyer to handle her divorce is likely to search terms such as "divorce lawyer" and "Tulsa Oklahoma," or perhaps "Tulsa Oklahoma family lawyer."  Once you have a good sense of how a client might look for you, use those search terms regularly at your website or blog to make it easier to be found.

Continue reading "How A Lawyer Like You Can Get Found Online Even If SEO Concepts Have You Lost" »