Archive for March, 2010

In my previous posts I have talked about a lot of traffic and search engine ranking how tos. This time around I am going to tell you abit about how to get your law firm marketing in shape and where it should be this far into 2010. Let’s take a look at what were your goals for 2010 and how you are coming along with them.

Lawyer Online Marketing has to deal with so many aspects, it is quite hard to wrap your head around it right? Well wrong! I have been working with lawyers who typically need to have a blog and need to be generating content everyday. Is this the right or wrong method you say? Well, from my experience in working with metrics that measure success, and keyword research for certain areas of law in different cities around the US, it is astonishing how many websites have tons of content, but yet to be on the first page of the search engines. What are they doing wrong? What could they be doing better? Below is my feedback for you guys. Take this from this post if you take anything at all as this will be shocking to hear for some law firms trying to be the online marketing generators.

Things that DO NOT WORK:

1. Telling people to link to you. Don’t waste your time and efforts. It is hard to get people to link to you but it is also hard enough to get the correct anchor text and link to the specific area you want on your website. ( Get 25 FREE Links HERE)

2. Stealing keywords and content from the most successful competition for you search terms. This is being done even now! If your content is not relevent to the meta descriptions and keywords you are stealing, then why bother?

3. Adding fancy style to your website rather then focusing on what actually works. The internet is a fierce place to practice law. If you are wanting to generate clients from your website, focus on what is working rather then what looks nice. Just because a site looks nice does not mean it converts well.

Things that DO WORK:

1. Creating quality content so people will actually link to you! This is the most important aspect. Why do all the top law firms that do not have the highest amount of content rank better? This is because they have stuff that is actually linkable! People pay more attention to quality rather then a huge load of crappy content.

2. Addressing people’s concerns about what area of law your website deals with. Convey a message, and stick to it. Help people rather then try to help someone. Give them guidance.

3. Give them something for free. Reports, how tos, consultations. Give them something to get their information. This builds leads into clients. Enough said there.

Lawyer online marketing is a how to market of everyone doing something wrong and right. The ones who do the most right are the ones who suceed. If you are one of the law firms or lawyers who are doing something from the above DO NOT DO list, don’t worry. It is not too late for you to turn it around and give your prospects what they want.

You see these lawyer directories all over the place when trying to market your law firm. You think to yourself, do these really work? You also wonder why so many lawyer directories have the same reoccuring theme over and over again, in which they sell the front page to the highest bidder and take your money as well to have a quality link to your website. Well, I am going to tell you what you need to know about lawyer directory websites and if they really work or not, in terms of getting what you paid for.

Let’s start by defining a lawyer directory website. A lawyer directory website is a resource of a combined list of lawyers and attorneys from all over the world, for which consumers or clients can research a law firm and make a informed decision about which lawyer they should choose. Some of these have added features like intergrated blogs and other design aspects, but most are all the same in all avenues. They list the top paying firms on the homepage to grab your attention, and try to drive you back to the firms website. Some examples of this type of site is Hr.org and Martindale.com.  The more of a highbred lawyer directory is considered Avvo.

Ok do these lawyer directories actually work Jesse? Well let me tell you this, if you are gaining any business from these sites ( which you should be measuring if you are or not) then I guess you could say that they are working for you. If you also are gaining a quality linkback to your website, that is also a win in my eyes. As long as the linkback contains quality anchor text to your law firm website, you should have a impact on the search engines in your niche area. *Remember – when linking to your website, use the most targeted word searched for your site and focus on building that up. When you dominate the search engines for these words, you should then move your focus on other areas of practice.

Ok now what? Show me how I should be using these types of websites. These types of websites are all over the net. List your law firms on all of the free ones first (if you want help on listing your firms on these types of sites, contact me). Then focus your marketing dollars on the top lawyer directories. These may be a good ROI based on the price paid. Market and research. See what worked best for you. Using these types of sites is really hit or miss. Use your metrics and measuring to your advantage. And if you are not measuring your search metrics, you may want to reconsider doing any marketing because you need to learn how to measure before you can jump. EasyLegalMarketing can help with a effective marketing campaign lawyer directory services. If you need this type of search use the contact page on this website. Also, if you are a lawyer that needs help measuring their metrics, you can also contact us to help you with this as you will not move forward without doing this first. Overall, use these to your advantage but do not sink a lot of money or investment in these types of sites as they are only good as one quality link to your site. Choose wisely!!