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Legal Marketing Blog

Author: Bardorf Legal Marketing

5 Things To Consider When Creating Your FindLaw Exit Plan

Internet marketing for attorneys is a well-established practice. As more of us spend more time online, using Google to find any kind of professional service has become second nature. Which means it’s more important than ever to have a great website that’s easy to find and promotes your firm well. If you’re like most attorneys, you turned to a professional agency to create and manage your site instead of doing it yourself. Some of you choose FindLaw, one of the biggest, for its reputation and resources. But Internet marketing is more than just a listing in an online directory and a website, and over time, many clients of big companies like FindLaw become dissatisfied, not only by the level of service but more importantly, the

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I have a website I’m happy with. What else can I be doing to market myself?

Successful Internet marketing means creating and leveraging a strong online presence. Your online presence is a combination of all of the ways you are represented on the Internet: your website, online profiles, videos, blog posts, podcasts, social media pages, directory listings, and more. Used separately, each one helps you be found by more prospects and clients. Used together, they will help you get as much visibility online as possible to grow your business. Read my article “Online Lead Generation: Seven Tactics To Grow Your Law Practice” to get more tips about using the Internet for marketing.  

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Is Your Law Firm Ready for Digital Natives?

Younger consumers, especially those under the age of 35, have grown up in a world in which digital technology is ubiquitous. Also called “millennials,” this is a generation that sleeps with their smartphones and multitasks so much they don’t even realize they’re doing it: texting friends, downloading music, uploading videos, watching a movie on a phone or tablet, and posting on Facebook and Instagram and Vine and Twitter and more. Digital immigrants, on the other hand, are those older than 35. They have a lesser degree of digital fluency as a result of being introduced to technology at a later age. While digital immigrants understand social media, smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices, and can also be avid users, their immersion is learned rather than innate.

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I know I need to add content to my site but I don’t have a lot of time. How can I get started?

One great way to add useful content to your site is by collecting and sharing information that you come across during the course of your regular day. This is known as “content curation.” When you curate content from around the web, you choose the most relevant and interesting items that are related to your practice and the interests of your clients and prospects. These can be news stories, recent decisions, current events, or articles on another website. You can then simply add your comments or opinion, recap the article, and tell readers why you think this is helpful or important for them. There are many ways to use curated content to build your reputation and attract more of your ideal clients. Here are three: Blog.

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You’ve Earned Your 1st Page Google Rank, Now Keep It!

Google, the big kahuna of search engines, has a challenge for everyone with a website. It updates its search algorithm 500 to 600 times a year, almost twice a day, every day. [http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change] Most of these changes are minor, but some are major updates that significantly affect how your website ranks and the visibility it has earned compared to all the other sites online. For anyone marketing their business online, this is big news. It means that Google is constantly tweaking how it ranks your website and that a site with strong visibility and a page one ranking today might not have the same visibility and ranking tomorrow. This makes it a challenge to maintain your firm’s visibility month over month. But there’s one straightforward

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Why are client reviews so important for attorneys?

With more consumers using the web to post reviews, you need to make sure you are protecting your good reputation. Avvo, LinkedIn, and your own website are the best places to have reviews. When someone searches for “your name and review” you want these websites to come up first. I can’t emphasize enough how important reviews have become, especially for attorneys. In fact, 85 percent of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses to determine whether these businesses are good or not. (This is up from last year’s 76 percent). Yelp is a common review site for everything from restaurants to hair salons. They have recently started to expand in to professional services including attorneys and law firms.  It’s the least friendly

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How to Manage Your Online Reputation

These days an individual’s or law firm’s reputation can be enhanced or tarnished by what appears in search engine results. This is because so many people rely on online reviews. Check out these recent statistics from at 2013 ReviewTracker article: 85 percent of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses to determine whether these businesses are good or not. (This is up from last year’s 76 percent.) 67 percent of consumers read six reviews or less before they feel that they can trust the local business. Meanwhile, only 22 percent read more than seven reviews. 73 percent say that high ratings and positive online reviews make them trust a local business more, while only 12 percent said that they take no notice

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How can I keep tabs on my name online?

Monitoring your reputation online can be time-consuming. You want to make sure you’re visiting review sites and searching for your name every day. There are several tools that can make this a lot easier. One of the simplest is Google Alerts. This free service from Google allows you to type in any search term, such as your name or the name of your firm. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your queries. You can enter as many terms as you like. It’s a great way to see where your name is being mentioned and see any reviews as soon as they’re posted. You can also use Google Alerts to keep track of a developing news

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Online Lead Generation: Seven Tactics To Grow Your Law Practice

The Internet has transformed the way we live our lives. The average person consults the Internet to find everything from recipes to yesterday’s game highlights and, of course, legal services. The typical consumer will search Google first, then proceed to the firm’s website or a review site. He or she may watch a YouTube video, “like” the firm on Facebook, or follow it on Twitter. The challenge for today’s attorneys is to understand how these activities work together and how to use them to connect with potential clients. Having a well-defined Internet marketing strategy is crucial for many businesses, but is especially important for attorneys whose main source of business is their local communities. Here are the seven tools and techniques of an effective online

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Question: Snapchat, Vine, Pinterest, oh my! Do I need to stay up to date with all the new online tools?

It depends. When in doubt, the most important thing to ask yourself is, “What are my clients using?” More and more of us are signing up for Facebook accounts every year, including users over 65. On the other hand, the only people I know using Snapchat (the photo sharing app) have an average age of 14. Vine (the 6-second video app) is being leveraged by businesses of all types and some consumers. Pinterest (the image sharing website) is huge among women age 35-44. If any of those are your target audience, you might want to at least read the Wikipedia entry to find out more, in case it comes up in conversation. You don’t need to use every tool, but being up to date is

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Take Your Referral Network Mobile

Growing your practice through referrals is a must. In addition to providing knowledgeable legal advice and excellent service, asking your clients to share your name with their friends, family and colleagues is invaluable. Yet it is one aspect of marketing that many attorneys are uncomfortable with. Even though you have provided good service, you may wonder whether it was good enough, whether the client is truly satisfied, and whether asking for a referral makes you seem salesy or desperate for new business. Nothing could be farther from the truth. People would rather do business with someone they know than with a stranger, and getting a name from a friend is the next best thing.  Clients that you have good relationships with do not mind passing

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Question: Is it true that the more someone clicks on my website, the higher my website will rank in Google?

No. Search engine marketing — on Google, Yahoo, or Bing — is one of the most effective tactics to generate leads, help you promote your expertise, reach prospects and stay connected with clients. Search rankings are notoriously unstable, and subject to a variety of factors such as the location of the person searching and whether they’ve logged in to Google and are using personalized results. But one thing they do not depend on is the amount of traffic coming to your website. Enhancing your website so that it’s listed at or near the top is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Higher rankings can boost your visibility and a drop in rankings can mean a loss of potential consumers. A good SEO project can take three

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Client Spotlight – Simmons & Schiavo, LLP

This Massachusetts law firm specializes in elder law, estate planning, and real estate law, with clients ranging in age from young couples buying their first home to seniors preparing to pass on their estates. The one thing they have in common is that most of them have mobile devices. “We see the Google reports and a good number are searching for us on smartphones and tablets,” said Marco Schiavo, Esq. The firm began offering its clients the “AttorneyConnect” app earlier this summer. The app allows them to share their bios, firm information, legal articles and Q&As, and clients can use it to make referrals, request an appointment and get directions. “People love the layout. It’s easy to use. It does everything we wanted it to,”

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Five Things Attorneys Need To Know About Mobile Marketing

Marketing a product or service on a mobile phone is a new and growing practice. There have been several big turning points in marketing history, and we’re living through another one. Beginning with the first newspaper ads in the 1700s, the first radio ads in the ‘20s, the first TV ads in the ‘40s, and the first Internet ads in the 1990s we’re now seeing the first mobile phone ads, apps, and more. It’s the beginning of a new opportunity for businesses of all types and attorneys would be wise to get on-board. That’s because it’s where your clients and prospects are. Smartphone use is booming in all demographics, not just teens. In fact, 37 percent of smartphone owners are over age 35 (Google). Mobile

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Question: Should I add video to my law firm website?

Yes! Video has many benefits for attorneys. Website visitors in general are getting more visual and enjoy viewing video online. It’s a great way for prospects and clients to get to know you quickly and easily. You can share your expertise on a particular topic without having to write a long article. And according to a new study, having video on your website can improve your search engine rankings. In fact, according to Forrester Research, an indexed video has a 50 times greater chance of ranking on the first page of Google results than a text page. Videos can be hosted on YouTube and link to your website, and other online profiles like LinkedIn, AttorneyConnect, Avvo, and Justia. Adding video to your marketing mix is a smart

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Why Your Law Practice Needs a Mobile App

The mobile phone is the most widespread and most rapidly adopted technology of all time. In the past few years, usage has grown dramatically. There are now almost 6 billion active mobile phone subscriptions around the world – almost 84% of the people on Earth have a mobile phone! In 2011 more smartphones were sold than all types of personal computers added together including desktops, laptops, and tablets like the iPad. Mobile Apps for Attorneys One way for individual attorneys and small law firms to take advantage of the boom in mobile phones is by offering their clients a mobile app. A mobile application (or mobile app) is software designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. Most importantly, a mobile app

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80% of Mobile Time is Spent on Apps

Mobile phones are a growing part of everyday life. We get directions, find local businesses, play games, and more. Here are the latest statistics on how Americans use our phones. Accessing maps and directions is the number one mobile activity, followed by social networking, finding local information and reading news (comScore). Mobile searches have quadrupled in the last year (Google). One in seven searches are now mobile and one in three mobile searches are local (Google). After looking up a local business on their smartphone, 61 percent of users call the business and 59 percent visit (Google). 80 per cent of mobile time is spent on apps (Flurry). People are now using more apps than ever, launching 7.9 per day (Flurry). When given a choice,

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Mobile Apps Keep Your Clients Connected

There are more than 6.5 billion mobile devices in use worldwide today, significantly more than the number of Internet users. Consumers are adopting new technology as fast as it becomes available and expect to be connected at all times in order to find the products and services they need. Today’s multi-tasking consumers depend on their trusty smartphones for so many important activities. And to stay in front of these phone-dependent clients, savvy attorneys who want to advance their businesses and leverage technology are jumping into mobile. It’s like the first days of the Internet when early adopters launched websites for their law practices – got ahead of their competitors – and have reaped the benefits ever since. Mobile Apps Are Exploding One way to connect

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How can lawyers reach prospects who are using smartphones and iPads?

Here in the Northeast we’re “on the go” and tend to be early adopters, rushing out to buy the latest thing. We’re using all kinds of mobile phones and tablets more than ever. What’s interesting is that as the demand for mobile devices grows so does the need for local business information like your firm’s name, address, and phone number. According to a recent study, search for local business information on mobile phones continues to grow with nearly 86 million people accessing this info on their mobile phones last year, a 63% increase since 2010. Two things lawyers can do now to make sure prospects can find you via their mobile phone are 1) make sure your website is readable on a mobile phone and

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Is Your Legal Directory Profile & Advertising Worth the Cost?

A directory listing is one of the most traditional ways to promote your services. It used to be that attorneys would be listed so that other attorneys could find them for referrals. Now that most directories have moved online, more and more consumers are using them to find the legal representation they need. Some of the biggest providers include FindLaw (a part of Westlaw) and Martindale-Hubbell. These are established companies that once produced only print directories and have since moved into the world of online attorney directories and marketing. Many of you have paid to appear in their listings and have hired these venerable firms to create and host your websites, and advertise your practice in their online directories.

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