Legal Search Marketing – Four Common SEO Myths

February 10, 2011

By Ian M. Bardorf Do you Google? More and more people do. In fact, search engine use around the world is growing. Last year there were more than 131 billion searches worldwide, representing a 46-percent increase over the previous year according to comScore, a leading digital marketing intelligence provider. This number represents more than 4 billion searches per day, 175 million per hour, and 2.9 million per minute! Search engine marketing allows you to reach

Question – I’ve had success networking at local events. Do I need to use Google too?

February 10, 2011

Most attorneys are fantastic natural networkers, connecting with current clients and prospects through colleagues, peers in other professions, trade and bar associations, and networking events. They know it’s a necessary part of generating leads and growing their practice. Only a few attorneys have chosen to use this ability to attract and retain clients via the Internet. These early adopters are using Facebook, Twitter, Google Places, Avvo, Justia and other social media to gain a competitive

Question – I’m getting a lot of spam email. How can I tell which ones are real?

December 8, 2010

Our email inboxes fill up quickly these days, often with unwanted junk mail, solicitations, ads and special offers. Although most email providers are working diligently to filter out this spam, some get through and it’s not always easy to identify a legitimate inquiry. Attorneys are especially prone to receiving this type of email. Many of these spam emails are intended to get you to give them your email address (by replying) so they can spam

Question – Should I reduce my advertising with the Yellow Pages?

October 1, 2010

We all grew up with the familiar yellow book. Now there are many variations on the original and it’s still on the shelf in my house. But when was the last time you opened it up to look for something – a vendor, restaurant, or service? If you’re like most people, you haven’t done that in a while, and I suspect most of your clients haven’t either. With more than one billion searches a day,

Legal Search Marketing – The value of your search rankings

March 10, 2010

By Ian M. Bardorf Generally speaking, people who are in business are not inclined to give their company’s strategic assets away to the competition. However, many attorneys and law firms do exactly this and they don’t even realize it! When it comes to online marketing, what many attorneys fail to realize is the actual value of their online presence. All too often, “beach front property” in the form of a top website ranking on any

Legal Search Marketing – Claims of 1st Page Google Rank

February 15, 2010

By Ian M. Bardorf Many attorneys are looking for effective ways to market their legal services on the Internet. Done properly, Internet marketing is undoubtedly one of the most cost effective and productive ways of growing your firm. However, attorneys suffer from the relentless bombardment of inbound solicitations that claim will change their business, and drive highly qualified clients to the doorstep. Claims like “Guaranteed 1st page Google ranking” and “We’ll put you on the

Question: Why doesn’t my ad show first when I increase my budget?

February 3, 2010

The days of simply spending more money to buy a top placement in Google’s sponsored ads section (not the natural listings) is long gone. Yet, there still remains a misconception among many that if you simply increase the amount you’re willing to spend on a keyword, you can buy top placement. Not true. Google changed its criteria for serving ads several years ago as it became abundantly clear to Google that they could make more

Legal Search Marketing – 2010 Best Practices for Lawyers and Law Firms

January 15, 2010

Competition among lawyers, especially in today’s business environment, is as fierce as ever. As a sole practitioner or small law firm, every little advantage that you can create against competitors is going to benefit you. Many attorneys put themselves at a distinct disadvantage without even realizing it. For those attorneys who are not Internet savvy, here are three simple online marketing suggestions that address common mistakes, are easily implemented, and will give you an advantage

Question: How do I get the best rankings on Google?

December 29, 2009

Well, you’ve got to love the enthusiasm surrounding this question. I’ll assume your asking about getting great rankings in the organic search listings as opposed to the Sponsored Listings or the local business listings which comes at the top of the search engine page when someone search with a geographic reference, like “Boston, MA divorce lawyer“. This is referred to as SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Although there are many components to a well optimized

Search Marketing Tip – Building links for law firms

December 15, 2009

If your law firm sponsors an event make sure you ask the host to add a link to your website from the online description of the event. Here’s why. Many times an event coordinator will ask an attorney to speak at an upcoming event on an area of their specialty or focus. In their own marketing efforts the coordinator will publish the details of the events highlighting the speakers invited. The value of publishing your

Legal Search Marketing Newsletter

December 8, 2009

You will find a lot of helpful information and tips regarding Internet marketing for attorneys in our newsletters. We’ve provided an archive of past editions as a resource. We encourage your to subscribe to our Legal Search Marketing Newsletter and get the information you need to effectively market your firm on the web. Past feature articles of Legal Search Marketing. Enjoy the knowledge! How Attorneys Can Protect Their Online Reputation 8 Critical Website Elements Attorneys

Question: Isn’t SEO just adding keywords

November 10, 2009

Isn’t “optimizing” a website just the task of adding lots of targeted keywords? Although adding appropriate keywords to any web page is a critical step in properly optimizing a site, it is just one task from various interdependent actions and processes required to effectively optimize any site. Perhaps the most important factor regarding the “process” of adding appropriate keywords to your website is specifically ‘how its done’. The most severe ramification for improperly optimizing your

Legal Search Marketing – Internet Marketing for Attorneys

November 6, 2009

The practice of search marketing has significantly progressed over the past few years and businesses from Fortune 100s to the two attorney law firm in South Boston, are reaping the benefits. However, still most businesses fail to embrace what is arguably the most cost effective means of marketing and advertising their services by continuing to believe that effective marketing on the Internet is simply having a website. Search marketing is a continual process of integrating

Search Marketing Tip – Check if your site is indexed

August 28, 2009

A quick and easy way to determine if your website has been indexed or is even being recognized by the search engines is to do a simple search engine index check. Here’s how: To determine how many of your web pages the search engines have discovered and indexed use the following techniques. If your website has 50 pages and you see that the search engines have only indexed 25, then you know that half of

Excuse me Twitter, can you hear us?

May 22, 2009

Twitter is getting a good ol finger wagging, browbeating, reprimand from its users. Why you ask? Well, its simple. And its kind of complex too. The short of it is that Twitter has decided to remove a feature that allows users to “Reply” to all users who are part of the conversation, whether they follow you or not. Twitter says they implemented this change because: “based on usage patterns and feedback, we’ve learned most people

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