4 Tips to Create Compelling Content for Attorney Websites

Bardorf Legal Marketing

Creating compelling content is important. Well crafted content has the ability to generate interest and bring in potential clients, as well as establish and maintain trust with your existing client base. But’s it’s not as simple as writing an article and posting it to your website. When you create online content, there are two audiences that you need to keep in mind. The first audience and the one you are likely most familiar with is your website visitor. This is anyone who views your content, including current clients and potential clients, other lawyers, potential employees, and casual visitors. The second audience is the search engine (ie Google, Yahoo, etc.). These search engines use algorithms to rank the relevancy and validity of web pages. Both audiences

Has Your FindLaw Marketing Gone Stale?

Bardorf Legal Marketing

When was the last time you had an earnest marketing meeting with your FindLaw representative? One where you had a meaningful discussion about promoting your law practice that didn’t include paying FindLaw an additional $500. a month to implement – because that is considered a sales call, not a marketing meeting. Let’s face it, your FindLaw rep is a sales person, not a marketing strategist. If your FindLaw marketing has gone stale and you’re not getting the results or personalized attention you need and deserve given the cost, we encourage you to start your exit plan by speaking with us first. For 15 years Bardorf Legal Marketing has helped attorneys and small law firms successfully and seamlessly transition from FindLaw. We implement robust, customized marketing

Why Attorneys Should Have A Live Chat Receptionist On Their Website

Bardorf Legal Marketing

One of the primary ways people research and select attorneys nowadays is through the Internet. The attorney’s “front door” is no longer the physical door to his law office, but rather the home page to his website. And as in other business interactions, the first impression made upon the customer is of vital importance. That being the case, it only makes sense that the marketing-savvy attorney needs an online “receptionist” to welcome any and all visitors who come through that virtual front door. And that is where Live Chat comes into the picture. The Benefits of Using A Live Chat Receptionist Live Chat has been proven to increase conversion rates and customer engagement. For instance, one study found that “live chat is the most preferred

How Attorneys May Unknowingly Put Their Reputation and Website Visitors at Risk

Bardorf Legal Marketing

So you succeeded in creating and launching your law firm website —it’s polished, professional, and providing your firm with that online presence we all understand these days is of such importance…and is growing more and more crucial. What many attorneys don’t understand, however, can be truly detrimental to their website and in the long run detrimental to their legal practice–not just financially but also to the attorney’s professional reputation. Think of the website you so carefully built as a home or perhaps more appropriately for attorneys, your office space. Your clients and welcomed visitors should feel safe as they browse helpful information from your site and learn more about you and your legal services. They expect a level of professional responsibility while visiting your website

Attorneys Beware – Top 4 Internet Scams Busy Lawyers Need To Know

Bardorf Legal Marketing

Attorneys are busy professionals with a lot on their minds; primarily clients and their cases and they don’t have time to get caught up in Internet scams targeting their vulnerabilities; mainly their need to be visible on the Internet and their lack of time to properly research Internet and marketing services. Below are four of the top Internet scams all attorneys need to watch out for and avoid. Domain Renewal Scams Before you launch a website on the Internet, you select and register a domain name. An example would be (mylawfirm.com). There are hundreds of domain registration companies, but some of the most notable are GoDaddy, Network Solutions and Register.com where you purchase a domain for usually under $20, and you typically renew the domain

How Attorneys Can Protect Their Online Reputation

Bardorf Legal Marketing

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. That is why your online reputation and Google results are so important. Competition among attorneys is fierce and to make sure that what your potential clients are seeing and reading about you is accurate; you need to be proactive in managing your online search results. Busy lawyers often neglect how they appear on the Internet when someone Google’s their name. It’s important to understand that the Internet is now the primary research source to find attorneys. Managing your online presence is critically important to growing your law practice and maintaining your good reputation. Why Your Online Reputation is Important We live in a modern, technical world and the first place people turn when they

8 Critical Website Elements Attorneys Need to Convert Visitors to Clients

Bardorf Legal Marketing

We are living in a technological era. All you have to do is survey the landscape of Google, YouTube, social media, and of course the ever-expanding universe of websites, and it becomes all too clear just how critical it is not only to have a website, but also to ensure it delivers all you need. If you follow some simple guidelines, your website will provide potential clients who land fresh on your page, the information and confidence they need to contact you to discuss their legal issues. The bottom line—your website needs to be a stunning reflection of you and your legal services, providing the information and credibility needed to convert visitors into paying clients. We all know how important time is, and as our

Is Your Website Secure? What Attorneys Need To Know About Upgrading to SSL.

Bardorf Legal Marketing

Trust plays a critical role in lawyer/client relationships and a lawyer’s ability to acquire and retain clients. The same holds true in the online world as well. Visitors to your website need to trust that your site is safe and secure to browse. Additionally, search engines like Google place greater value on websites that make the extra effort to ensure their visitors are viewing a safe site. In today’s age of Internet hackers, spammers, spoofing, and phony sites, it is not only responsible to secure your website but it is a distinct advantage as well. A Brief History of SSL SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, but don’t let technical jargon get in the way of knowing what goes into making your HTTPS site secure.

6 Things Every Attorney Should Know To Rank Well On Google

Bardorf Legal Marketing

Have you ever “Googled” yourself? What did you see? If you searched specifically for your name, your website is probably listed right at the top of the results page. But if you typed in a more general term related to your practice, you may find your website on the second page or even lower. That’s because Google – the search engine giant – rank results according to a complex algorithm. This mathematical formula takes into account hundreds of different criteria when deciding which websites are the best match for a searcher’s query. There are many factors, but in general, Google is looking for credible websites with high quality, relevant and recent content. But ranking well is challenging so it’s important to have reasonable expectations and

What to Look For When Hiring a Marketing Firm For Your Law Practice

Bardorf Legal Marketing

To survive and thrive in this competitive economy, your firm needs a well-designed and well-executed marketing plan. An effective marketing plan will raise your profile, establish your reputation, and generate leads that can be turned into new clients. Most attorneys understand the need for a strategic marketing plan, but few have the time or expertise to implement one. The rise of the Internet, Google search, social media and mobile phones have changed the way attorneys reach and engage their clients. Traditional tactics such as yellow page ads and face-to-face networking used to drive prospects. Now people expect real-time access to information about your firm on their phones and make decisions by reading reviews – the online equivalent of word of mouth. This means that attorneys

How can I be sure I’m making the most of my marketing budget?

Bardorf Legal Marketing

If you would like to get more out of your marketing budget, you may want to consider hiring a firm to help. Here are some questions attorneys and law firms should be asking themselves and thier potential marketing partner. Questions to ask yourself: Can you meet with a local account representative who can make immediate changes to your marketing campaign? Is it a long-term relationship or is it always a new rep? Are you getting the results you expected? Do you feel you’re getting your money’s worth? Can you be spending your monthly budget better or more effectively? Have you considered taking your budget and reallocating it across more opportunities? If so, how? Who will help you manage all these different relationships? Questions for your

Using the Law to Protect Your Online Reputation

Bardorf Legal Marketing

Reviews are very important these days. Eighty-five percent of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses to determine whether these businesses are good or not. But with more people reading and posting reviews, you need to make sure you are protecting your good reputation. Part of reputation management is monitoring review sites and your search engine ranking. You want to make sure that when someone searches for “your name” that the positive reviews outweigh any negative ones. We encourage our clients to be proactive and obtain favorable reviews on selective review sites. But more and more we are hearing from clients who get inaccurate, misleading, or defamatory reviews and are unable to get them corrected or removed entirely from online properties, namely

Google Penalizes Non-mobile Responsive Websites

Bardorf Legal Marketing

On April 21, 2015 having a mobile-friendly website will become more important than ever. That’s the date Google has picked to start penalizing non-mobile responsive sites. Google is going to start lowering the rankings of any site that isn’t mobile ready. Google wants to give searchers the best results possible, and sending someone to a site that’s difficult or impossible to read via mobile is not a good experience. Mobile-responsive sites are those that “respond” to a user’s screen size. According to a recent study, 60% of U.S. adults now choose smartphones or tablets over PCs to find information before buying products and services offline. With more people spending more time on their mobile devices, the pressure is on to make sure your website is

Legal Marketing Year in Review

Bardorf Legal Marketing

2014 was a big year in Internet marketing. Some of the hottest trends – the rise of mobile and the explosion of apps – were plain to see. But many of the biggest changes happened behind the scenes. These affected Internet marketing dramatically but were invisible to the average Internet user. Staying up to date in this evolving landscape is a challenge. In this issue, find out about the big changes in 2014, five lessons for 2015, and how we work very hard to keep you safe, secure, and visible. 5 Factors That Influenced Your Online Visibility It seems like every year there is big news in Internet marketing. The tools and techniques continue to evolve. This forces attorneys who market themselves online to get

Yelp For Attorneys: Marketing Opportunity or Reputation Nightmare?

Bardorf Legal Marketing

Good reviews are a great way to connect with new clients and build your business. Avvo and LinkedIn are preferred places for attorneys to share reviews. But last spring, an online survey claimed that Yelp is the most popular and trusted website for legal reviews. I read the report shortly after it was published and didn’t give it much merit. However, it received recognition from industry influencers who re-published the findings on their blogs. Yelp starting pushing the positive claims to my clients who in turn asked me about the benefits of advertising their legal services on Yelp. Yelp is undoubtedly a well-liked site, with reviews on everything from hotels and restaurants to barbers and mechanics, and even some attorneys. But is Yelp really the

5 Things To Consider When Creating Your FindLaw Exit Plan

Bardorf Legal Marketing

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

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

Bardorf Legal Marketing

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.

Is Your Law Firm Ready for Digital Natives?

Bardorf Legal Marketing

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.

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

Bardorf Legal Marketing

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.

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

Bardorf Legal Marketing

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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Legal Marketing Blog

Has Your FindLaw Marketing Gone Stale?

Why Attorneys Should Have A Live Chat Receptionist On Their Website

How Attorneys May Unknowingly Put Their Reputation and Website Visitors at Risk

Attorneys Beware – Top 4 Internet Scams Busy Lawyers Need To Know

How Attorneys Can Protect Their Online Reputation

8 Critical Website Elements Attorneys Need to Convert Visitors to Clients

Is Your Website Secure? What Attorneys Need To Know About Upgrading to SSL.

6 Things Every Attorney Should Know To Rank Well On Google

What to Look For When Hiring a Marketing Firm For Your Law Practice

How can I be sure I’m making the most of my marketing budget?

Using the Law to Protect Your Online Reputation

Google Penalizes Non-mobile Responsive Websites

Legal Marketing Year in Review

Yelp For Attorneys: Marketing Opportunity or Reputation Nightmare?

5 Things To Consider When Creating Your FindLaw Exit Plan

Is Your Law Firm Ready for Digital Natives?

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

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

Bardorf Legal Marketing

Supreme Internet Marketing for Attorneys