getting your firm working online grow your firm
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TRANSCRIPT
WORKING ONLINE
www.growyourfirm.com.au
GETTING YOUR FIRM
TableofContentsWebDesign
How'sYourWebsite'sNaviga3on?
IsEveryPageonyourWebsiteConver3ng?
IsYourLawFirmUserTes3ng?
IsYourLawFirm'sWebsiteMobile?
What'sYourMovement?
LawFirmWebDesignandContentManagementSystems
EveryPageisaWinner
IsyourLawFirmUpda3ngitsWebsite?
SearchEngineOp8miza8on
How'sYourMeta‐Tags,KeywordsandContent?
IsYourLawFirmMarke3ngStrategyRelyingonDuplicateContent?
GeNngYourLawFirmMarke3ngStrategyLinked
Content,ContentandContent
LawFirmMarke3ngDailyDose
IsYourFirmGenera3ngVideo?
HowtoPerformfortheRingmaster
SEOandYourAccoun3ngorLawFirm
HasYourLawFirmGotaGoodIdea?
IsYourFirmSpeakingAnotherLanguage?
LawyerMarke3ngPlan
ContentSpinning&Duplica3on
Marke3ngLawFirmswithAdWords
HasGoogleFoundYourNewWebsite?
DoesyourLawFirmUseKeywords?
YourLawFirmandtheTectonicShiT
LawFirmSEOandImages
YourLawFirm'sContentStrategy
DomainPurchasingforYourLawFirm
BeCarefulWhoYouLinkto
YourLawFirmanditsMobileApplica3on
ShouldOurLawFirmYouTube?
WillGoogleInstantEndYourReign
PlaceYourFirmNow
WhySmallFirmsCanWin
IsyourLawFirmTrackingCalls?
ContentisKing,ButDesignisQueen
DoesyourLawFirmusePDF's?
YourLawFirm'sLinkBuildingStrategy
LawFirmMarke3ngKingHit:GetContentGetClients
EmailCampaign
EmailMarke3ng:theNeglectedTool
LawFirmMarke3ngStrategyandClientConversion
Marke3ngtoExis3ngClients
IsYourEmailListSegmented?
SocialMedia
IsYourLawFirmFacebooked?
ThePromiseofSocialMediaorNot?
Can'tWorkOutWhyYourLawFirmMarke3ngStrategyisGeNngCrushed?
WillFacebookWorkinYourLawFirm?
HowDoesYourLawFirmCountConversions?
IsYourLawFirm'sWebsiteMobile?
LawFirmsandMobilePhoneApplica3ons
WhyYourLawFirmNeedstoBlog
ShouldMyLawFirmFacebook?
GoogleAnaly8cs
HowtoGetBeYerRankedbyGoogle
IsYourLawFirmWebsiteConver3ng?
Google+1Launch
MeasureEverythingTwice
Marke3ngYourLawFirmonGoogle
SeeYourWebsitewithoutOpeningIt
YourLawFirm'sBounceRate
BeefUpYourAboutPageNow
Welcome
ThisguideisproudlybroughttoyoubyAustralia’sleadingprofessionalservicesmarke3ng
company,GrowyourFirm.
GrowyourFirmisunlikeanyotherprofessionalservicesmarke3ngagencyinAustralia.We
co‐createindividualisedmarke3ngsolu3onsforbothaccoun3ngandlawfirmsthatwerapidlychangetokeepinsyncwithnotonlytechnologytrends,buttheconstantfluxofthe
algorithmsusedbyleadingsearchengineslikeGoogle.Wealsouseadiverserangeofmediatoolstobroadcastyourfirmtonumerousonlinechannels,aswellassyndicateyourfirm’scontentacrossanumberofhightrafficlegalsitesacrossAustraliaofwhichweown.
GrowyourFirmdoeswebdesign,development,SEO,socialmedia,contentgenera3onandsyndica3onandemailcampaignmanagement.
Inaddi3on,wedesignanddevelopmobileapplica3onsandsoTware.MostrecentlywedevelopedacompletelyautomatedonlinewillserviceforoneofAustralia’sleadinglaw
firmsandarepresentlydevisingaweb‐basedapplica3onforpersonalinjurylawfirms.
1300886322
WebsiteDesign
<<BacktoTableofContents>>
How'sYourWebsite'sNavigation?Thereare somegreattoolsouttherethatcanconsiderablyassistyourlawfirmgetits headaround
itswebsite'snaviga3on.
Sitenaviga3onis oneofthose things thataresooTenneglected.Manylawfirmsjustsubscribeto
the view that their sitenaviga3on should just be the stock standard. Youknowwhat Imean,
"About,Services,Resources"ect.Agreatplacetostartisthroughtheuseofcardsor3ng.So,best
prac3cewouldbe todoa contentstrategy,iden3fyeverypieceofcontenttogoupandcorresponda cardwiththatcontent. So,inthecaseofafamily lawprac3ce,youmayhavesomecontenton
"binding financial agreements," and you would simply 3tle the card accordingly. Best prac3ce
wouldalsodictatethatinsor3ngthecards tomapoutyoursite'snaviga3on,youwouldinvolve a
clientclustergroup.
There's somethingpotent about crea3ngsitenaviga3onpathways via this visualmethod that is
alsoengagedwithclientoruserinvolvement.Butspendsome3meintheprepara3onofthecards
beforeinvolvingtheusergroup,thisseemstoworkbest.
Theotheralterna3veistousetheonlineversionatWebsort
Wecanhelpfacilitateallthis.ContactusatLawFirmMarke3ng
IsEveryPageonyourWebsiteConverting?
Nearlyeverylawfirmmarke3ngstrategywhenitcomestowebcontent,spendtoomuchaYen3on
onthe homepage,wronglyassumingthat theotherscountconsiderably less.Everypage,postor
pieceofcontentyourlawfirmgeneratesisawindowofopportunity.
Yes,yourhomepagewillbearthegruntofmosttraffic(ifyou’re doingthingsright)but thereare
mul3ple loca3ons or landingpages of your sitethata prospec3veclientmightfindthemselves
dependingupontheirsearchenquiry.
Ifyour lawfirmhas a content strategy, derivedfromthekeywords you’rechasinginthemarketandthencheckoutyourAnaly3csandyou’ll besurprisedathowpeople findyouandinpar3cular,
whatpageofyoursitewastheentrypoint.Once there,theancillaryinforma3onfora firmcanbe
gold.Forexample,youwill beabletodefinetheaverage3me spentonthepage,the bouncerate
(bouncingoffyour pageandgoingelsewhere)andofcourse,theamountoftrafficcoming inviathiswindow.
Whyisthissoimportant?
Increasinglywiththesheeramountofcontentontheweb,peoplearefarmoreconfidentintheirsearches.Inotherwords,whentheyoncemayhavetypedin “divorce,”theymaynowtypein“how
tooppose a divorceapplica3on” or “canIget adivorceinAustralia if I was marriedoverseas.”
Thesemore descrip3ve searchesare called“longtail”andare sooTenignoredinthe marke3ng
strategyoflawfirms.
Inrespondingtolongtail searches, youneedtoensurethatthepageholdingtheinforma3onis
capable ofconversion. Conversionmaynot necessarilymeanthat the searcher becomes aclient
today,but itmaymeanthat contentonthis longtail page encourages thesearcher that if they
wantmoreinforma3on,theycandownloadyour“Divorce Guide”inreturnfortheiremail address.Now,you’ve got thispoten3al client engagedandpluggedinwhichis farbeYer thanlandingon
yourpageandexi3ng.
Wearehelpinglawfirmsdefinetheironlinemarke3ngstrategy.
IsYourLawFirmUserTesting?Acoupleof yearsago,a guy called SteveKrugwrotea killer ofa bookcalled, "Don'tMakeMeThink."Itwas probably thefirst ofits kind in really accentua3ngthefact that awebsiteisn'ta
trophypiece,butrathera significantmarke3ngtool thathas toworkforyourbusiness,orinother
wordshastogiveyouareturnoninvestment(ROI).
More specifically,Krugtalkedaboutuser‐focuseddesignandthereisthis whole movementthesedayscalledUXdesignwhichlargelyemanates fromsomeofthe tenets ofwhatKrugtackledinhis
work.HehassincewriYenanotherexcellentbookcalled,"RocketSurgeryMadeEasy."
Letme cuttothechase.Let's forasecondagreethatyourlawfirm's website isabouttheuser.So,
yourfirm's websitehastobeaboutcrea3nganexperiencefortheuserthatspeaks theirlanguage.We'reuptoourknees atpresentin buildingoutasiteforleadingAustraliancriminal lawfirmRyan
&BosscherIfyoulookatthe site,youwill overtly seethatit is posi3onedtowardsthepoten3al
client.Prior tolaunchingthesite,weundertookuser tes3ng. Inotherwords,we testedthesite
with8peopleandwe trackedtheirresponse.Asa result,we re‐tweakedandsitewentliveabout6weeks agoandthere havebeentworeitera3ons ofitsince.Why?Becauseatthe backendofthis
sitewe have extensiveanaly3cal datarecording.Wetrackthehotspots andcoldspots all overthis
site,orinotherwords,wherepeople are gravita3ngtowards onthe site,howlongtheyarethere
andwheretheygonext.Wekeeponadjus3ngtoensureitis insyncandwe keeponusertes3ng.Wedothis toensurethatwe havetheuseralways atthe frontofourminds,insteadofwhatwe
thinkworks. There is sooTen agreat disparity between the two.We'vealsojust integrateda
Facebookpresencethatwe'rebuildingoutaswellthatweare similarlywatching.Therearealsoa
numberofotherfeatureswewillintegrateintothesiteaswell.
Steve Kruginhis worktalks aboutnever assumingyouknowwhat the consumeror userwants.
Instead,youusertestandkeeponusertes3ng.
Inthe contextofyour lawfirm,thatdoesn'tneedtobea costlyexercise.Youcandoityourself,or
ifyou'vegotamarke3ngpersoninthefirm,letthemloose.
Steve Krug's got an excellent freeguidehere that I strongly encourageyou to download and
implementintoyourlawfirmwebmarke3ngstrategy.Getithere
IsYourLawFirm'sWebsiteMobile?Inthislawfirmmarke3ng3pweencouragefirmstolookattheirmobilestrategy.
LawfirmshavetoembraceMobileTechnologyiftheywanttoberelevantoverthenextfiveyears.
InApril 2010,therespectedMorganStanleyAnalystMaryMeekerin a preYyrobustreportstated,"It's theera of themobile internet.Within thenext fiveyears moreusers will connect to the
internetovermobiledevicesthandesktopPC's."
Wemen3oned ina previous postsome ofthechallenges for lawfirms inwrestlingwithmobile
technology, but hereare afew3psonmakinga start today to ensure your currentwebsite isreadableona mobile device. Thatsaid,obviouslyfirmsneedtobelookingseriously ata mobile
adapta3onoftheirwebsiteandofferingitseparatelytomobiledeviceusers.
1.Don'tuse FLASH. Flashisa technology thatdespite itsheavy useonmostbigbrandsites, is
largelyunsupportedbymobiletechnology
2.Minimizenaviga3ononyourwebsite,aspanningacrossmobiledevicesiss3llfairlyclunky.
3.Useimagessparingly.Mobile devices canhaveserious issuesintheir resize,slowingdownsite
loading3mes.
4.CommonobjectslikeAc3veXaregenerallyunsupported
5.Don'tgooverboardwithtext.
6.Ensureyourwebsite'scontactformsareopera3onalandeffec3vetotheuserexperience
Be that as it may, if your law firm is serious about being seen well on mobile devices, we'd
recommendcuNngtothe chaseandgeNnga mobileversionup.Ifyouhave acurrentwebdesignousitthatyourhappywith,talkwiththemfirstandsee iftheyhavethe exper3se tocarryoutthe
job.Thatwayyoucanensuresynergybetweenyourcurrentsiteanditsmobilecounterpart.
What'sYourMovement?Inthis lawfirmmarke3ng3pweshowyouhowsomefirmsareaYachingthemselves tocausesas
wayofexpressingtheirbrandessence.
Law Firms that see their brand as one dimensional are significantly compromising other
opportuni3esforgrowth.
Historically,it's alwaysbeenthe casethatsmartfirms alignthemselves withindustrygroups,union
movements orclustersofcause‐basedini3a3ves inordertopoten3allyderiveclients.Butwhile afirmmay sharea physical rela3onshipwitha par3cular group, there hasbeen somewhat of a
lacklusterresponseoffirmsinAustralia toseethepoten3alvalueinins3ga3ngdigital rela3onships
withsuchgroups,orbeYers3llins3gateyourowngroundswellaroundapar3cularissue.
This isn'tdifficultfromanonlineperspec3vewhenyouhavesuchphenomenal tools,oTenfree,atyour disposal. The recent floods in Queensland, in par3cular the huge numbers of people
wrestlingwithinsurancecompanies has promptednumerous lawfirmstojumpintothe space.For
example,MauriceBlackburnCashmanhadapagededicatedtotheissueinno3me.
Thereal trickofcourse, iffirmsare serious aboutmakinga realdentintheissue, is tonot justdedicatea pageonyourwebsite,butrather takeouta fully fledgeddomainname,throwsome
greatcontentatitthatisinnova3velypackagedandharnesssocialmediatocreateacommunity.
Inthecaseofemergingissues suchas thefloods,mostfirmswill dilly dallywaytoolongandthe
opportunity tobuilda community aroundthe issuewill be lost. It's counter‐intui3ve tomostlawyers,buttheapproachinthedigitalspaceismostcertainly,ready,fire,aim.
LawFirmWebDesignandContentManagementSystemsProfessional Services Web Design is oTenwrongly predicated upon aesthe3cs as opposed to
func3onality.
Aesthe3cs arehugelyimportant,butthe gruntofwebsite thatwill workforyourfirmdayaTerdayis about func3onality. Func3onality emanates from firstly and foremostly having a marke3ng
strategythatsignifiesthe roleyourwebsite will playinuserengagementandconversion.Inother
words,howwill yourfirmgenerate content,whatwill thecontentbe,will itbesyndicatedacross
differentplasorms,par3cularlysocial media,the frequencyofthatcontent,whowill coordinate itandof course, whoandhowwill thecontent beuploaded. These ques3ons emanatefrom the
concessionthattoperformwellonline,yourfirmsimplyhastoproducegreatcontent,regularly.
Secondary to this batchof ques3ons is "What plasorm will best enable your law firm to do
whateverittakes,dayaTerdaytokeepinnova3ng,genera3ngandsyndica3ngcontent?"
WehighlyrecommendandprincipallyuseWordPress forall ourownplasorms andthosewebuild
forourclients.Why?Becauseofthe open‐source natureofWordpress,the goodwill ofdeveloperswithin the community and the absolute sheer elas3city of the plasorm. For example, we're
workingwithaclientatpresentwhowants his firmtoberenownedforinnova3ve,engaginglegal
service.Inresponsetohisspecificques3ons,WordPresshasalwaysanswered.
Butbeforeyougetthere,thinklongandhardaboutthe content,its genera3on,coordina3onandsyndica3on.
Learnmoreaboutcontentspinningandduplica<on,here.
EveryPageisaWinnerMarke3ngLawFirmseffec3velyonlineisn'tonedimensional.
Most lawfirmsandinfact lotsofwebdesigners neglect the fact thatwhileyourhomepagewill
bear thegrunt of significant traffic (if you'redoing things right)therearemul3ple loca3ons or
landingpagesofyoursitethataprospec3veclientmightendup.
So,ifyourlawfirmhas a contentstrategy,derivedfromthekeywords yourchasinginthemarket,thencheckoutyour Analy3csandyou'llbe surprisedat howpeoplefindyouandinpar3cular,
whatpageofyoursitewastheentrypoint.
Oncethere,the ancillaryinforma3onfora firmcanbe gold.Forexample,youwill beabletodefine
theaverage3mespentonthepage,the bouncerate(bouncingoffyourpage andgoingelsewhere)andofcourse,theamountoftrafficcominginviathiswindow.
Whyisthisimportantintheschemeofthings?
Well,increasinglywiththesheeramountofcontentontheweb,peoplearefarmore confidentin
theirsearches.Inotherwords,whentheyoncemayhavetypedin"divorce,"theymaynowtypein"opposing a divorce applica<on" or "can I geta divorcein Australia ifmarriedoverseas”.These
moredescrip3vesearchesarecalled"longtail"andare sooTenignoredinthemarke3ngstrategy
oflawfirms.
So,inrespondingtolongtail searches,youneedtoensurethatthepage holdingtheinforma3oniscapable ofconversion. Conversionmaynot necessarilymeanthat the searcher becomes aclient
today,but itmaymeanthat contentonthis longtail page encourages thesearcher that if they
wantmoreinforma3on,theycandownloadyour"Divorce Guide"inreturnfortheiremail address.
Now,you'vegot this poten3al client engagedandpluggedinwhichis farbeYer thanlandingonyourpageandexi3ng.
The other obvious feature of tracking your pages is that you may invariably find one page
performing extraordinarily well. If that's the case, it may be worth following the trend andthrowingmorecontentuplikeit.
Thinkabouteverypage,every postandevery pieceofyour lawfirm'scontentthat'souttherein
theether.Isitworking?
OursoontobereleasedLawPublisherprogramdesignsandgeneratesyourcontentintoguides,e‐booksectLawPublisherisinclusiveinmostoftheGrowyourFirmMonthlyPackages
IsyourLawFirmUpdatingitsWebsite?Yourlawfirmmusthaveawebsite,fullstop.
Ifyouare consideringa websiteorupda3ngyourcurrent,thethingyoumustrealize is thatboth
designandsearch engineop3miza3on(SEO) areintrinsically linked.But don't expect your webdeveloperordesignertobe across bothofthese.Weareamazedouthowmany lawfirmsites
comeonline,yetare ignorantofthebasisSEOprinciples.Toputitbluntly,ifyoursitelooks great
buthasn'tgotacoreofgreatSEOfunc3onality,yourfirmjustwon'tbefoundonline.
Oneofthemostcommonreasons wehavefoundforsites notbeingwell op3mizedordesignedforthatmaYer,hasbeenthelawfirm'sconfusionthatIT=WebDesign,Development&SEO.Itisn't.
Growyour Firmprovidedesign,developmentandSEOservices,but ifyouwant tocontractyour
own, ensurethat the bases ofgooddesign, effec3vefunc3onality and SEOarein the mix and
preferably that each of the par3es are conversing together. Not to men3on, if your firm isconsideringasocialmediabent,itsimilarlyneedstobecontemplatedduringthedesignmark‐up.
YoucannotdesignwithoutagoodunderstandingofcontemporaryLawFirmSEOprac3ces.
SearchEngineOptimization
How'sYourMeta‐Tags,KeywordsandContent?Yep,it's a huge,huge issuefor lawfirmsandcangrindtheirlawfirmmarke3ngstrategy toa halt.
This is whathappens OK.They invariably ringupa webdesignerwhocomesoutwithhis bagoftricksandsays,"whatdoyouwantthe site tolooklike?"In response,all andsundryprovide him
witha list,hegoes away confusedanddoesupsomethingthat is middle‐ground.Hereturns to
showthe product,fullyexpec3ngvaria3onsandthengoesaway andaYendstothem.Thesite is
built,the clientissortofOKwithhowitlooks,thewebdesigncompanygetspaidandtheynever,everseeeachotheragain.
OK,wethinkdesignis very,very importantbutitplays less ofa roletogeNngfoundbyGoogle.
Years ago, all thesegreat sitesthatwent whizz, bang, popwerenever found by Google. They
played beau3fully for the ar3s3c heart of the designer, but were wretched in driving traffic.ContentisKing!
Lastweekwewenttoworkwithaclient,lookedunderthe bonnetofthewebsite andbyCrikey,it
washorrendous.Notone piece ofuseful contentthreadthatGoogleor any other searchengine
wasgoingtofind.A73pagewebsite,withsomucheffortfromtheteamoflawyers andnowonderforthelast twoyears they'vebeenwonderingwhat's wrongwiththem.What's was wrongwith
themwastheywent offtoa webdesigncompany thatcaredliYle fortheirfirmandless about
asser3ngthe importanceofcontentandsearchengineop3miza3on.MyteamatGrowyourFirm:
TheLawFirmMarke3ngCompanydealwithitexcep3onallywellatourTipssec3ononoursite.
But,inthemeanAme,ifyou'realawfirmcontemplaAngare‐design,don'twhateveryoudofall
intothetrapofthinkingawebsiteisallaboutaestheAcs.Instead,contactusandfromourcollecAveexperienceofworkingwithagreatbunchoflawfirmswhoarekickinggoalsonline,
we'llputyouontherighttrack,guaranteed.Ringmenowon0421950355orattheofficeon
1300886322
IsYourLawFirmMarketingStrategyRelyingonDuplicateContent?You see this so oTen. Law firms wan3ng to rank well whofall for the old trickof duplica3ngcontent, or worse, supply their content to third party sources for a fee, some3mes at the
recommenda3onoflawfirmmarke3ngconsultants,andhavetheircontentre‐spunonothersites,
aswellastheirown.
It's abigmistakeandcanseeyourfirm's websiterelegatedtothebackofthefield.Thatsaid,there
maybe somelegi3mate reasonsastowhyyouneedtoduplicate content.Ifyourfirmisduplica3ng
largeblocks ofcontent, thenyoushouldbe across canonicaliza3on,whichessen3ally is advisingGoogle whichcontentyouwant themtoconsideras themost important. Accordingly, any links
thatmay derivefrom the pagethat youhavetheduplicatecontent on, will bedirectedtothe
original page.It's abittricky,butifthereissomeoneinyourfirmwithaheadfor it,theyshould
readthisfromGoogle.
Thetakehomemessageis really this. Ifyouhave someoneinor outside yourfirmlookingaTer
content,thaninsist that they arenotduplica3ngcontent, and incircumstanceswherethey are,
havegotredirects ac3vebetweenthecontentpages.Youcanalsodoa snoopbyusingthetools
wepointedoutinthislawfirmmarke3ngpost.
Infact,priortohiringa consultantorSEOcompany,plugthemintothelinktool thatis discussed
inthatpostandsee whatitreveals.Ifthey're runningduplicate contentall overthe place ontheir
ownsite,chancesarethey'lldoittoyoutoo.
GettingYourLawFirmMarketingStrategyLinkedAlinkbuildingstrategyjusthastobe anintegral partofyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategy,yetfrom
ourexperienceinworkingwithfirmsinAustraliaandmostrecently,NYC,itisoTenignored.
Alinkis essen3allya linkfromawebsite toyourwebsite.Now,thereare a coupleofdifferen3a3ng
featureswhenitcomestolinks.Alinkmaybeappearingona referringwebsitejustlike thisSmithLawyers,linkingthephrase"SmithLawyers"totheirwebsite.Alterna3vely,andthisis wherethere
is somereal potency,a linkwhichfeaturesthekeywords forwhichyourlawfirmis wan3ngtobe
foundfor.So,forexample,itmightbethecasethata greatlinkonawell rankedsiteforyourfirm
wouldbe"personal injury lawyer"withthis phrasehyperlinkedbacktoyourwebsite.This adds aliYlemoreGooglejuicebecauseofthefactthatthe linkingtextcontains keywords forwhichyour
lawfirmwantstodominatefor.
GeNnga senseofwhatlinks yourcompe3tors have isobviouslyagreatplacetostart.Inthis case,
gohereandtype inyourcompe3tor's address anditmaywell belikelythatyoucanacquiresomelinks fromtheverysites thatare linkingtothem.Ofcourse,thebestlinks will be thosethatderive
fromasitewitha goodpagerank.YoucanfindoutGooglepagerankhere.Yourfirmshouldbe
tryingtoacquirelinksfromthosesitesthathaveaPageRankof3orhigher.
Undoubtedly youmay turnup links that your compe3tor has from obscure sites that bear no
connec3onwhatsoever tothefirm'sprac3ce. I'd recommendstaying clear of these. Thesearetypically referredtoas linkfarmsitesandGoogle hasbeenunrelen3ngof latein penalizingsites
thatareassociatedwiththem.
Content,ContentandContent
It's nolongeramaYerofchoice.Intrinsictoyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategyhas tobeyourfirm'scommitmenttogenerateuser‐centriccontent.Fullstop.
Everyday,via a desktop,laptop,a mobilephone,aniPad,Androidandevena televisionpeopleare
consuming informa3on at a phenomenal rate. The internet has become the quintessen3al
informa3ontool, asevidencedby thegrowing trendofpeopleconduc3ng long tail searches. Alongtail searchbeingonethatis specifically targe3ngthe informa3onyouaretryingtolocate,as
opposedtotheuseofgeneralterms.
Butdespitepeople nowwan3nggoodqualityinforma3on,whenitcomes toa lawfirm's response
totheprovisionofsuchinforma3on,formostfirms its3llremains incrediblybland.That's tosay,insteadofbeinguser‐focusedinitsproduc3onandfacilita3on; itnormally is longpiecesoftext,
full of legal terminology. While deconstruc3ng legalrhetoric is easier said thandone, it has to
becomeentrenchedinyourcontentstrategy.
Whenspeakingaboutcontentstrategygenerally,Kris3naHalvorsonisaterrificresource.AccordingtoKris3na,yourwebcontentisuselessunlessitdoesoneorbothofthefollowing:
(a)Supportsakeybusinessobjec3ve;
(b)Supportsauser(orclient)incomple3ngatask.
Whenyou'retakingstockofyour currentweb‐presence, askyourself is every pieceof content,every pageandevery form achievingtheseobjec3ves. Is the siteeasy tonavigate?Are people
findingwhatthey'relookingfor?
Integraltoyour lawfirmmarke3ngstrategy has tobe theability tounderstandthe Analy3cson
yoursiteandofcourse,the abilitytolocateanyuserimpediments.Forexample,we wererecentlyworkingwithaclientwhounderstandably thought thatthelowbouncerate(percen3le measure
ofhowlongsomeoneis onpages orposts ofyoursite)ontheirsite was a greatthing.However,
theexit rates wereincredibly high,indica3ng thatusers morethanlikelymay have becomelost
andnot surewhat todo, so they lingeredlonger, but ul3mately exitedat alarming rates. YourAnaly3cs is a great place to start, not only in the iden3fica3on of issues, but of course
opportuni3es aswell. What are best performing pages or posts on your website? Is there a
possibilityofgenera3ngmoreofthatcontent,orwri3ngotherunrelatedcontentinasimilarway?
If you're convincedthat your firm isgenera3ngclient‐focusedcontent but theuptake is low, is
there a naviga3on issue, or does the informa3on need to be broadcasted using a different
medium.Isavideowarrantedinstead,oranaudioclip,awebinarorscreencast?
Contentstrategy is undoubtedlyacomplicatedundertaking,butwhendonewellpays excep3onal
dividends. Ideally, a content strategy is the primary deriva3ve of which your web plasorms
emanate. So, ifyou'reconsideringre‐design, thanmostcertainly incorporate a content strategy.
Conversely,ifyoudon'twanttogodownthattrackofre‐design,acontentauditmayworkforyourfirm.
Wecanhelp,butifyouwanttohelpyourself,readContentStrategybyKrisAna.Agoodprimeris
hereforfree
IsYourFirmGeneratingVideo?Weusevideoas akeylawfirmmarke3ngstrategywithall ofourclients.Why?Because itworks.Togive youa heads‐up, a deadin thewaterwebpresenceofonesuchclient went fromminimal
traffic toover 1,100in just fourweeks. Sure,wedid a heapofotherstufftoo,butby andlarge
whenwecrawledthroughthe analy3cs(whichwedoeverythinginresponseto)thetrafficwas
goingballis3cover the videoandconver3ng. I hada great chatwithLawFirmMarke3ngLegendLarryBodinelastweekandhesaid,"video,videoandmorevideo."Wecouldn'tagreemore.
Buthereis yourfirm's problem.Youhaven'tgotthecapacity todoit. Conserva3vely,itwill cost
youinthe vicinityof$5,000‐$8,000for25‐30videos produced,edited,syndicatedonyourown
siteandacross mul3plechannels. ThelaYer is so important! sure, thereare plenty of puntersaroundsayingits simple,justgoout,by acamera anddoitall yourself.Wrong,wrong,wrong.In
the very least, you're going to need a great set of lights, microphones, booms, post‐edi3ng
soTware andyouwillhave tojigyourwebsitetoaccommodateit,aswell as syndicate thevideo.
It'snotsimple!
Instead,come andseeGrowyourFirmandwe'll takecare ofeverything,includingwebdesign(on‐
going), development, SEO, social media, video produc3on, edi3ng and syndica3on, content
genera3onandsyndica3on,emailcampaignmanagementandawholelotmore.
Notpersuaded.Contactuson1300886322andwe'llgiveyouthecontactdetailsofourclients.Youcanaskthem.
HowtoPerformfortheRingmasterItmight soundlike a stupidques3on, but “whatisyour LaworAccoun3ngFirm’s website being
foundfor.”
Toput it another way, “What keywords or phraseswoulda poten3al client have to type into
GoogleSearchtofindyourlaworaccoun3ngfirm?”
Ifyoudon’thaveaclue,that’sbynomeans unusual andinfactis themostsynonymousresponse
totheques3on.Butitinvariablyisthecaseforthosefirmswhoareoblivioustowhatthey’re beingfoundforwhousuallyranksopoorly,ornotatallinGooglelis3ngs.
Thereare ofcourseexcep3onstotherule,par3cularly inthecasewhere throughsheer luckthe
firmregisteredadomainname thathadsomepreYypotentkeywords containedinit,orwhenthe
internetwas apup,jumpedonquickly,gota site upandhave beenaddingcontentiteversince.Forexample,we’reworkingwithafirmatpresentthathas gotexcep3onal posi3oninginGoogle
throughnorealconcertedeffortontheir partotherthanbeingaroundfor avery,very long3me
online.
Whenitcomestoonlinesearch,Googleis theringmaster.Sure,thereareothersearchengines andplasorms,butbyandlarge Googleis whoyour laworaccoun3ngfirmhas toperformfor.Sheis a
toughringmaster,butfair,eventhoughat3mes sheis pronetochangingthe rules withoutbroad
consulta3on.
Herorganizingmethodologyhastwomainfunc3ons:
1.Indexing(iden3fyingthetypeofinforma3onitfindsandanalysesit)
2.Authen3ca3ng(assessingtheusefulnessoftheinforma3onanditsquality)
Intheiden3fica3onoftheinforma3on,herspiders orbots crawl throughall thepagesandposts of
yourwebsite,grabbingatkeymessagesembeddedintothe code ofeachentry.Morespecifically,thespiders primarilypull keywordsdenotedinthe3tles anddescrip3ons thatyouhavepurposely
placed there. These3tles anddescrip3onsreferred to in geek speakas meta‐descrip3ons and
meta‐3tlesappearintheGoogleSearchlis3ngs.
Now,the searchtermyouwishyourinforma3ontobefoundforshouldbe placedfirstinthemeta‐3tleandthe meta‐descrip3on,ina commercial senseshouldbesomewhatofanelevatorpitch.It’s
thisdescrip3onthathasthejobofprimarilypersuadingthesearchertoopenupthesite.
Inconjunc3onwiththesekeyelements,thespidersandbots examinethe contentonthepageor
postandintheabsenceofa 3tle anddescrip3ontheywill grabatanythingtheythinkdefines whattheinforma3onisabout,andthenofcoursebroadcasttheirinterpreta3onofittotheWorld.
Themeta‐3tleandmeta‐descrip3oncanbe addedeasily via thecontentmanagementsystemon
yourwebsite. Ifyouhaven’t one,youmostdefinitelyneedoneora developer closebywhocan
addthem.Remember,this isn’tjustthehomepage,buteverypage orpostonyoursiterequires
thesekeycharacteris3cs.Don’twronglyassumethatall trafficwill enterviayourhomepage.Every
pageorpostonyoursitehasajobtodo.
Itfollowsthat thosefirms whoareaYen3vetothe keywordstheywishtobefoundforandplace
thembothinthemeta‐3tles andmeta‐descrip3onsandinthe textcontent itself,all thingsbeing
equal, theywillget foundfor thosekeywords or phrases. BeYer s3ll, if thefirmhasconducted
somekeywordresearchandas a resultconsidertheycanrankwell forthosewords,andthentheymayfindexcellentrankingopportuni3esforthem.
Letmeexplaina liYle more.Ifyou’rea criminal lawfirmandintendtowritecontentinrela3onto
drinkdriving, then insteadof justwri3ng it upandpos3ng it onyour website, head across to
GoogleAdwordshere:
Google AdwordsKeywordTool providesausefulgauge as tohowpopularpar3cular searchterms
are. Ifyour lawfirm is already involved inapay per clickcampaign, thenthekeywordsinyour
adver3sementshouldderivefromthistoolorequivalents.
Enterthekeywordorkeywords andensurethesearchloca3onis Australia.Let's say itwas "drinkdriving."
Following thefirst returnof results,go totheleT handsideofthis page, uncheck“broad” and
check “exact.”Youwill nowbeprovidedwithanexact local monthly searchofpeopleentering
“drinkdriving.”
According to theKeyword tool, 3,600 people every month are entering thisexact phrase into
Google eachmonth.Butitmaywell be likelythatthetermis s3ll toobroadtoreallyacquiregood
conversiongiventhatyou’reaBrisbanelawfirm.
Accordingly, youmay nowwishtobemorespecific andsearch“drinkdrivingBrisbane.”This iswhatcommonlyis referredtoas a “longtail”search.Itreturns approximately58monthlysearches.
Nowthat is thereturnforpeople typingthat exactphraseandtherewill beofcourse significant
varia3ons that peoplewill enter whichwill translateintoahigher volumeofpeoplepoten3ally
hiNngonyour pageor post ifyouhad3tles,descrip3ons andcontent rela3ngto this keywordterm.
TheGoogle KeywordTool alsoprovidesaninforma3onbar rela3ngtocompe33veness.Wehave
found it tobenot that accurateandcandissuadefirms fromgenera3ng content because they
wronglyperceive thattheywouldnotbe capable ofpenetra3ngthemarketforcontentrela3ngtotheprecisekeywords.Wehave workedwithsomefirmswhobecause oftheweighttheyholdin
Google canliterally dominatesearchresults for whatever keywordtermthey choosesome3mes
overnight.
Be thatas itmay,returningtothecaseofthe lawfirmwan3ngtodominatethemarketfor“drinkdriving,” the proposedpageor postmeta‐3tle shouldbe“Drink Driving Brisbane| John Smith
Lawyer.”Themeta‐descrip3onshouldalsopickupthe keywordsas well andmay besomething
like,“HaveyoubeenchargedwithdrinkdrivinginBrisbane?Areyouconcernedaboutlosingyour
license?JohnSmith…”
Themeta‐3tleshouldbenolongerthan12wordsandthemeta‐descrip3on,25words.
Inthe firstparagraphofthecontent,youwouldagainusethosekeywords,butbecarefulnotto gooverboard.Googlecanspanksites fairlyseverelyforkeywordstuffing.Thebestruleofthumbis to
ensurethatitreadswellandisn’ttoorepe33ve.
Inour experience,most lawandaccoun3ngfirmsdonot ever consider keywordresearchwhen
markingupanycontentfortheirwebsite.Hence,the firmsthathaveanonlinemarke3ngstrategywith a focus on content, in par3cular well‐craTed content that derives from good keyword
researcharedomina3ngthemarketandfromallreports,willdosointhefuture.
Ifyouneedmorehelp,contactus
SEOandYourAccountingorLawFirmDionAlgeriopeneda canofworms inhis postonSEOforLawFirmsona LinkedinGrouprecently.It's well worthalook.Headvocates a philosophy thatis alignedwithGoogleandthatis,generate
greatcontentconsistently,abidebya fewofthebasicSEOtechniques andGooglewill rewardyou.
Ifyourfirmisdoingeverythingitself,thenreadthepostandits comments,thenwatchthe video.
YouwillbebeYerinformed.
Watchvideoatwww.youtube.com/embed/tQQmq9X5lQw
HasYourLawFirmGotaGoodIdea?With thesheer online tectonic shiT, smart lawfirmsareincreasingly consideringhowthey canautomatesomeoftheirservicestobothreducecoststothelegalconsumerandthefirm.
At present, we're building out a couple of automated solu3ons for law firms, in par3cular a
completelyautomatedonlinewill kitanda webplasormthatengages personalinjuryclients ona
number oflevels inrela3ontotheirmaYerandofcourse,takesomeclientrelatedstress offthelawyeroraYorney.
Ifyourfirmhas a headforinnova3on,butarelackingthecapacitytoimplement,thencontactus.
Perhapswecanco‐create?
IsYourFirmSpeakingAnotherLanguage?Ge]ngstartedintryingtogeneratecontentthatspeaksthelanguageofapotenAalclientandis
capableofbeingfoundbythesearchenginesisn'tforthefainthearted.
Ifwecan offer any advice from our experienceinworkingwitha host of leading professional
servicefirmsinAustralia,itistostartthinkingfromtheclientperspec3ve.
In this landscapethat is undergoing a tectonic shiT, your firmhastoconcedethat content is
fundamentally important and is intrinsically linked tosearch engineop3miza3on (SEO), GooglePageRankandul3matelyonline dominance.Inotherwords,yourfirmcandoverywell onlinebut
itmustcomefromaparadigmshiTwithinyourfirmthatseesthe produc3onandprolifera3onof
excellent,useful,andwell‐thoughtoutcontentas a keyelementofyourmarke3ngstrategy.Ithas
tobecomepartofyourfirm’sDNA.
Butwhen it comes tothegenera3onof that content, youneed todo your homework. Simply
genera3ng content without thought to the personaof the poten3al personwhowill read it,
whetherthey'reinterestedandhowwill theyfindit,are the integral ques3ons intheproduc3onof
anygoodcontentintendedtobeeffec3veforyourfirm.As lawyers,oraccountants wecantendtoreverttolegalspeakandbeforeweknowit,thecommunica3onthreadbecomeslost.
Oneof thegreatways toalways havethe clientperspec3veinmindis todevelopa personafor
them,orifyouhaveadiverseprac3ce,aseriesofpersonas.
Apersonais yourfirm's veryownin‐house client thatyourunevery marke3ngmessagepast. Inworkingwitha firmrecently,wecreatedRobertWells,a38yearoldfatherofthree,whoworks at
thelocal meatworks,enjoysa fewbeerswithhismates everyFridaynightatthelocal HockeyClub.
Hewas schooledun3lGrade9 at theStateHighSchool andmarriedhis childhoodsweetheart,
Mary‐Anne.Theirmarriagenowisontherocks.
Robert represents a reasonable slice of the firm's family law prac3ce. In craTing marke3ng
messagesandcontentgenerally,wenownever lose theopportunityofconsideringwhatRobert
wouldthinkofit.Is itinhis ownlanguage?Isittooverbose?Will itworkforhim?Will itaddvalue
tohim?Howcanweinfluencehim?
Ofcoursefirmswithacommerciallawbent shouldn't bereluctant inadop3ngsimilarmethods
either.Whois thefirm's "perfect"client?Is itJohnEmery,the PropertyDeveloper?Howcanyour
firmcraTmessagesthatwill cutthroughtohim?Whatisthebestmediumtou3lizeinreaching
Johnandthoselikehim?
Crea3ngpersonas is anincrediblyusefultool.Segmenttheprac3ceareasofyourfirmandcreate
personasforeach,orevenafewdifferentpersonas foreacharea andnever,evergeneratecontent
without runningit by them. Inevitably, thiscontent shiTwill dictatetoall themarke3ng touch‐
pointsinyourlawfirm.AlignmentforthebeYerdon'tyouthink?
OurTeamaretrainedandaccreditedinBelbinTeamRoleTheoryandtheEnneagram.Webring
anotherdimensiontomarkeAngyourlawfirm.Contactus.
LawyerMarketingPlanWhat'syouraccountantorlawyermarke<ngplan?
Itmaysoundlike a ridiculous ques3on,butinarecentchatwithLarryBodine,possiblythe World'smost renownedlawfirmmarke3ngexpert;hereiteratedtheimportance oflawyers inevery firm
beingac3vepar3cipantsasopposedtobystandersinmarke3ngthefirmgenerally.
Larry, in a forthcoming podcast feature, iden3fied 4 strategic parts to a lawyer's individual
marke3ngplan.Hesuggestseachlawyerintheprac3cetaking4piecesofpaper.
OnPageone,isthesales planwhichshouldmarkupa listofyour lawfirm's top10clients.Larry
suggestsseNngadatewhenyoucanvisittheclientandreallyengagewiththem.
OnPage twoofthe plans iden3fy thetop10referral sources ofyour lawfirm.Again, youmeet
withthesereferral sources bothtoengageandofcourse iden3fy thepoten3al reciprocal referralsyourfirmmaybeabletooffer.
Theother 2pages oraspectsofthe planareabsolutely essen3al toany robust andeffec3velaw
firmmarke3ngstrategy.
Itequallyappliestoaccountants.
TheLawFirmMarkeAngPodcastFeaturewithLarryBodineandotherLawFirmMarkeAng
Expertsisavailablehere:www.lawfirmmarkeAngpodcast.com
ContentSpinning&DuplicationTherearesomescurrilousprac3cesout therebeingadoptedby internet marke3ngservices onbehalfoflawfirms,oneofwhichiscontentspinning.
ContentSpinningisessen3allywhere yousupplyablogar3cleonanarea ofprac3ce,submittoa
personorunknowncompany thatliterallyseedtheblogpostonnumerous otherunrelatedblogs.
Forexample,werecently notedone marke3ngspecialistwhohadablogentry spunonmul3pleblogs includingthose withdubious3tles likeBrisbaneCarRental Blogs,AustralianHandBags and
Op3mumDryCleaning.Now,the purpose ofdoingthis is essen3allytoescalate yourposi3onupa
fewnotchesinGoogleas aresultofthelinksfromtheseblogs backtoyoursite.It'ssoughtoflikea
sugarfixandcangiveyoursitealiYlerushthatmore3mesthannotwillnotsustain.
However, the risks of geNng caught up with marke3ng services that adopt this type of
methodologytotheirworkarefraughtwithrisk.Notonlyis Googlewellawareofthis prac3ceand
spankingthosewebsites involvedinit,butitcansignificantlydenigrateyourserviceifyourcontent
is aYachedtocompletelyunrelatedanddubioussites.Infact,we recentlyno3cedonone occasionthat the legi3mate businesswebsite was ranking #1 for a par3cular search term, only to be
followedbyablogentrygeneratedbythefirm,butplacedonablogwithaverydiscriminate3tle.
Thetakehomemessagehereis treatyourfirm's contentwithrespectanddon'triskitwithathird
partylinkbuildingspinservice,nomaYerhowgoodthepromise.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmMarkeAngStrategy.
MarketingLawFirmswithAdWordsIsyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategycontempla3ngGoogleAdWords?
It goeswithoutsaying, but effec3vesearchengine marke3ng(SEM) is dependent upona really
goodunderstandingofnotonlywhatpoten3al clientsarelookingfor,butalsoaresponsethat islikelytoconvertthesearcherintoaclient.
Ifyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategyalreadyconsistsofaGoogleAdWords campaign,thenit’s likely
you'vebeendisappointedwithit.Likeanywebplasorm,be ityourwebsite oruseofsocial media,
anAdWords campaignatbestwill onlyconverta personwhois attheendofthe"buying"process.Nowthat'snot tosay thatyoucannotengagewitha personwhoisn't thereyet. Inthisregard,
whenitcomes toprofessional servicefirms,a clientconversiondoes nothavetonecessarilymean
a payingclient,butrathershouldalsoinclude people whoyourfirmthroughits campaignis now
engaged with by providing them with an eBook, newsleYer or some other subscrip3on tosomethingofvalue.Anotherwayofsayingthis, is toensureyour lawfirmmarke3ngstrategy is
clearaboutwhatROIlookslikeandhowitwillbemeasured.
Once your firm is clear about this, keyword research is obviously fundamental to having a
successfulAdWords campaign.Inaddi3on,ensure youcreateclear, compellingmessages todriveupyourclickthroughrates (CTR)anddosomeusability tes3ngonthemby crea3ngthree orfour
differentads anddeterminewhichis thebestperformingvia yourGoogleAnaly3cs.PoorlydraTed
messagecontentcanbeexpensiveandwillinevitablydriveyourcampaigntoahalt.
Last,butbynomeans least,havingalandingpagespecificallycreatedforthecampaignis a must.So,insteadofdrivingyourAdWords traffictoyourwebsite andrisklosingthepoten3al clientinan
array of different messages, a landing page with one purpose and one clear message can
significantly increaseyoursuccess.Alandingpagedoesn'tnecessarilyhavetobeasta3cwebpage
though.We'reworkingwith aclient at present andareusingthefirm's Facebookpage as thelandingpage.Why?Well,inworkingwiththis firm,our ini3al conversiongoalistobuildastrong
Facebookfollowing.
Keepwatch,weplanondoingacasestudyonit.
HasGoogleFoundYourNewWebsite?Plenty ofnewlawfirms wholaunchtheir site canliterallywaitmonthsforGoogletofindit.You
canspeedGoogleupbysupplyingaXMLSitemap.
Simply put,whenit comes toyour lawfirm's webdesign, an XML sitemap is integral. AnXML
sitemapis a textdocumentthatsetsoutwhereallthepages onyoursiteare,andhowusersare to
navigatetothem.Itliterally reveals toGoogleall ofthe separate pages,howthey’relinked, and
helpssearchenginestoindexyourlawfirm'swebsite.
Now, some content management systems like WordPress have plug‐in that easily generate
sitemaps,butyoucandoitormakesureyourdeveloperdoesitrighthere
NowyouwillneedaGoogleWebmasterAccount.OnceyouhaveonevisitGooglehere
GetaWebsiteAnalysis,visitushere
DoesyourLawFirmUseKeywords?DoesyourLawFirmWebsiteincorporatekeywordop<miza<on?
Rememberakeywordis awordorphrase thatyou’vedonesomeresearchonandyouthinkyour
lawfirmwebsitecandominate themarketwithit. Ifyou’re notsurehowtodokeywordresearch
thanGoogle keywords isa preYy goodplace tostartandifyoulookinour3ps, I give yousomeguidancethere.
Buthereare43psthatIhighlyrecommendifyouwantanedgewithyourlawfirmwebsite.
Thefirst ruleis tofocus onone keywordphraseforeachpostor page. Inotherwords,ifyou’re
wri3ngcontent onmakinga will, thanyou should usethat term regularly inyour copy andofcourseitshouldalsobeinyourmeta‐3tle.
Second rule is that themore content onthatpagethe beYer. FortuneCookie’sDavidDeutsch
recommends a minimumof400words,but800is good.Nowbecareful youdon’tgoberserkwith
jammingthosekeywordsintoyour copy. Keyworddensity is a tricky thing. The right density willgive youa liT,buttoomuchandyou’ll findyourfirm’s siteis penalizedbyGoogle.The bestrule of
thumbisthatifsomeonereaditanddidn’tobservethe repe33ous useofthe term,thanits likely
you’llbeOK.
Rule3,againwithkeyworddensityinmind,thekeywordphraseneedstobeusedoTen.
Rule 4,dedicatethe pagetothe keywordphraseandleaveothertopictopages craTedspecifically
forthekeywordsthatrelatetothosetopics.
Letmebe honest,there’s fairbit tobothkeywordresearchandimplementa3ononyourlawfirm
website,butit’snotinsurmountable.Letusknowifwecanhelp.
IfyouwantmoreinformaAon,besuretosignupforfreetoourFreeMarkeAngGuide.
YourLawFirmandtheTectonicShiftTherearesomevery,verybadlawfirmwebsitesoutthere.
TheteamandIhavebeenlookingatthe vastterrainrequiringcul3va3onandit's endless.Inanyonemarket,thereareatbestoneortwostand‐outsandtherestarestragglingwaybehind.
MaYBarrie,theBRWEntrepreneuroftheYearandCEOofFreelancersaysthis:‐
"Thereare6.8billion peoplein theworld. Thereare2 billionpeopleon the internet.Fivebillion
peoplearenotbutthey'recoming.ThisisthenexttectonicshiQ."
Mediocrityisaperilousprac3ceforthosefirmsasleepatthewheelwiththeironlinepresence.
Wanttogetbeaerprepared?ReadourFreeLawFirmMarkeAngguide
LawFirmSEOandImagesWhenitcomes touploadingorgenerallyusinganyimages onyourlawfirm'swebsiteoranyother
plasormforthatmaYer,thecredohas alwaysbeennotonlyuse themsparingly,butifyoudousethem,ensurethattheyareproperlysearchengineop3mized(SEO'd).
Itgoeswithoutsaying,butimages addanotherlayerordimensiontoyourwebsite,butyouhave
tomake sure thata coupleofthings areright.Thefirstofcourse istoensure you'renotuploading
heavyimagesontoyoursite thatwill slowdowntheloadingspeedofit.Agoodruleofthumbis totry andaimtokeepall your images under50KB.Thesecondthing is tomakesureyour imageis
namedappropriately andthat the image hasalterna3vetext and tagsin thecode,or inother
words,hasastringofmeaningfulwordswhichletGoogleknowwhattheimagerelatesto.
Forexample,ifyourfirmPulse Lawyersuploadssome images ofyourstaff,insteadofnamingthem"staffphoto1," it is far beYer to consider "Pulse Lawyers |Rachel Smith" or throw in relevant
keywords thatyouwantyourlawfirmtodominateonline. Itmaybe,"MooneePonds Lawyers |
RachelSmith."
NowyoualsowanttoaYachsomealterna3ve text.Remember,Googleoranyothersearchenginecannotpenetrateandseeyour image,sotheyrelyuponits nameandalterna3vetext.Again,use
textthatrelatestoyourkeywords.
Ifthis is all a bitgeeky,thenintheveryleastopenupa pageonyourwebsite,gotoyourbrowser
op3ons ontopofthe windowandchoose"View."Followthe menudownun3l "Source"or"ViewSource."Openitandyouwill see what essen3ally Googleis seeing. Trackdowntosomeofthe
images inthis sourcecodeandsee whattheysay.It'sa preYygoodchancetheywon'tsayanything
ofmeaning.
Whilegoodwebdesigners,conversantwithSEOalways aYendtothis,theynotoriouslyuse words
that they consider relevant.Ofcourse,whereit goesall a liYle pear‐shapedis whenwhat theyconsiderrelevantis atoddswiththekeywordsyourfirmis chasingnotonlyonthesite asa whole,
butspecificpagesorpostsaswell.
Needhelp!Giveusayell.InthemeanAme,readourFREELawFirmMarkeAngGuide.
YourLawFirm'sContentStrategyIfwecanofferany advice fromourexperienceinlawfirmmarke3ng,it is tostartwitha contentstrategy.
Yourfirmhastoconcede that inthe current landscape content isfundamentally important and
nowisintrinsically linkedtoSEOandGooglePageRank.Inotherwords,aswe'vesaid repeatedly,
yourfirmcanwinonlinebutitmustemanatefromaparadigmshiTthatsees theprolifera3onofexcellent, useful, well‐thought out content. It has to become part of your firm's DNA. So
passionate about this, we simply won't work with afirm that is not commiYed to genera3ng
content.ItisjustwaytoodifficulttogivegoodROIwithoutit.
Ifyouwanttogoitalone,whichweobviouslydon'tendorse,thena goodplacetostartis toreadKris3na Halvorson's, ar3cle "TheDiscipline ofContent Strategy" In essenceshe definesa good
strategyas one that considers: key themesandmessages,recommendedtopics contentpurpose
(i.e., how content will bridge the space between audience needs and business
requirements) content gapanalysismetadataframeworks andrelatedcontent aYributes searchengineop3miza3on(SEO), and implica3ons of strategic recommenda3onson content crea3on,
publica3on,andgovernance.
Toexpand, theseconsidera3ons needtobeexploredwithinyourfirmpriortodesignworkbeing
doneandofcourse, youneedtohavewellthoughtoutwhowill beresponsibleforthecontentgenera3on in each prac3cearea and a frequency scale, that iswhensuch content that fulfills
Harlvorson'sblue‐print,canbeexpected.
Ifyouneedhelpwithyourfirm'scontentstrategy,readourLawFirmMarkeAngGuide
DomainPurchasingforYourLawFirmIfyou'reanewlawfirmandyou'rethinkingaboutpurchasingadomainnameandwebhos3ng,orevenifyou'reanexis3ngfirmlookingtobuildamicro‐site,considerafewthingsfirst.
Greatdomainnamesare somewhatdifficult tosource,par3cularly names that arekeywordrich.
For example, ifyou'relawfirm is basedin Townsville, youmay no3cethat theremay beafair
amountoftraffic forthekeywords,"Townsville Lawyer"andconsequently youmaywanttoownandpopulatethedomainnamewww.townsvillelawyers.com.au.Nowjusttobacktrack,youcan
get a preYy goodidea ofhowpopular yourchoice ofkeywordsare by doing someresearchvia
GoogleKeywordsTool.
So,ifthedomainnamewasavailable,youwouldobviouslypurchaseit.Howeverifitwasn'tdon't
always assumethat it is going to be used for thepurposes you intended to use it for. Lotsof
domains areboughtbypeoplewholiterallysitonthemforyears.Whyyoushouldnevergiveupon
keyword rich domainnames is that they're likea good boYleof redwine, they're aged. Ageddomains arelikedbyGoogleandby payinga fewdollars for thedomainname, itwillprovidean
ini3alsearchthrustthatwouldbelosttoyouifyouboughtafreshdomainname.
Nowyoucanfindoutwhoowns adomainnamerighthere.Youcancheckdomainagewhileyou're
there.
Werecentlypurchasedakeywordrichdomainnameforalawfirmclientwithanageof6yearsfor
$800.Inourview,adamngoodinvestmentingeNngagoodheadstartondrivingqualitytraffic.
Moreonge]nggreatdomainscanbefoundinourFreeLawFirmMarkeAngGuide
BeCarefulWhoYouLinktoIsyourlawfirmbeingaskedforreciprocallinks?
Recentlytherehas beenasurgeofemailcorrespondencefromlinkfarms wan3nglawfirmstolink
topar3cularsites andinreturnthey'll linktoyou.Here's anexcerptfromanemail thatone ofour
clientsreceivedthisweek.
"My name isSandy Keiths,WebMarke<ngConsultant. I'vegreatly enjoyed lookingthroughyoursite........................andIwaswonderingifyou'dbeinterestedinexchanginglinkswithmywebsite,
which hasa related subject. I can offer you two homepage linksback from any ofmy related
websitesallinGooglecacheandbacklinkswhichare:
alaskasciencewriter(dot)com PR4arsdonand(dot).com PR5
Ifyouareinterested,pleasesendmethefollowingdetailsofyoursite:
TITLE:
URL:
I'lladdyour linkassoonas possible, inthenext 24 hours. Assoonas it's ready, I'll sendyoua
confirma3onemail alongwiththeinforma3on(TITLEandURL)regardingmysitetobeplacedat
yours.
Ihopeyouhaveanicedayandthankyouforyour3me."
Google is becomingincreasinglyawareofSEOprac3ces like this,par3cularlyfromagents whooffer
links ina completely unrelatedfield. Ifyour lawfirmwas torespondtosuchrequest,it is moreprobable thannotthatGooglewill declarethelinkas irrelevantandyourfirmwon'tacquire any
benefit fromit. Insomecircumstances, ithas beenreported,thatGoogle may actually penalize
youasaresult.
Thebestlinks yourlawfirmcanacquire are thoseofcoursethatareorganic.Inotherwords,linksfrom websites that are of significant relevance to your prac3ce and belong to reputable
organiza3ons. How does Google know that? Simply by the quality and page rank of the
organiza3onsthatlinktothem.
Wanttoknowmoreaboutlink‐building?GetourFreeLawFirmMarkeAngGuide
YourLawFirmanditsMobileApplicationIsyourlawfirmconsideringbuildingamobilephoneapplica3on?
Upun3l nowa reasonable deterrent forfirmswhowant todoit properly has beenthelackof
accessibility to data via iTunes (Apple's distributor of Apple Mobile Applica3ons) rela3ng to
purchaser informa3on. Inother words, ifyou'reserious about engagingwithclients andinthisinstance,peoplewhohave purchasedyourmobileapplica3onthenitwas impossible todrawsuch
datafromiTunes,otherthanthevolumeofsales.
Well,thanks toMail Chimp,inpar3culartheirChimpKitwhichhas justbeenreleasedallows the
developertodropintothefirm's mobile applica3onsomecodethatnotonlytracks purchasesbutallows the firmtodialoguewiththeowneroftheappvianewsleYer.ChimpKitis free uptoaround
2000newsleYers,soifyou'rea firmcontempla3ngamobileappvia iTunes,youshoulddefinitely
considerit.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmWebsiteMetaDescripAon.
ShouldOurLawFirmYouTube?Asyoumightbe aware,acouple ofyears agoGoogleboughtYouTube.Hence,whenyousearchfor
anythingonlineviaGoogle,YouTubevideosappear inthesearchresults.There’s goodreasonwhy
yourlawfirmshouldbe thinkingvideo,because byandlarge searchers haveapreferen3al op3on
toviewvideos firstas opposedtoopeningothertextpages.Butthe trickis,toensure yourvideoshavekeywordsinthemthatsearchersarelookingfor.
Todo this, headacross to GoogleKeywordsandkey in somewords and seewhat the results
generate.Whenyoudothis,ensurethatyouhavecheckedyour loca3onandyoucandothisvia
theadvancedop3on.Theresults thatturnupare essen3allysplitintoglobal andlocal.Ifyourfirm
has a local presence, thenobviously thoseresults will be relevant.Toget somewhatofanexact
analysisof thekeywords, followingyourfirst search,gototheleTcolumnanduncheck“broad”andcheck“exact.”Theresultthatnowfollowwill indicateanaccuratedepic3onofsearchenquiry
forthekeywordsyouhavechosen.
Thenextstepis toensure that youhavethese 3tles inyourYouTubevideo3tle.BeYers3ll, also
whenyousaveyourvideo,saveitas this 3tletoo.ThenaYendtothedescrip3onofthevideoandwhiletagsare becomingirrelevant in Googlesearchgenerally, YouTubetagwordsare reportedly
s3llusedbyGoogleindefiningyourcontent.
Lastbutnotleast,greatvideoproduc3onis all aboutligh3ngandsound,andtoalesserextentthe
camera.Sure,a HDcamera,beita FLIPHDora KodakZI8weseeareessen3al itemsforanylawfirmwan3ngtouse thisspace well,we’ve seenreally goodcontentgeneratedbyoldercameras,
butundergoodlightsandgoodsoundinput.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmWebDesign.
WillGoogleInstantEndYourReignInthis lawfirmmarke3ng3p,youmighthave no3cedthateach3me younowtype intoGoogle,it'ssecondguessingwhatyou'reabouttotypein.
Google Instant is the latest innova3onwhichGooglecall ‘Searchat thespeedofthought’.While
themo3va3onforGoogle is that it cansaveyou2‐5 seconds every 3meyousearch, ifyourlaw
firmischasingthelongtailkeywordsthanitmaywellbelikelyasearcherwillnotgettoyou.
Watchhap://www.youtube.com/v/ElubRNRIUg4
Inotherwords, if youwerewan3ngtotypein"Sydney Family Lawyersprac3cinginBlacktown,"
Google Instantas soonas youtype"SydneyFamily Law"will offeryou"SydneyFamily Lawyers."Whileit’s probablytooearlytotell whatthe impactmaywell be,ini3al researchis showingGoogle
Instantresults asbeingaquickerpreferredop3on.The problemforthefirminBlacktownis that
theirpoten3alclientwillnowbeimmersedinthesquillionsofSydneyLawyerresults.
Wedon'tthinkit’s 3meyettoredefine yourlongtail keywordstrategy,butinsteadmaybelookforthekeywords thatGoogleis offeringupinits GoogleInstantresults anddosomekeywordresearch
onthem.Foraclientrecently,wewere abletopurchasedomainnameswhichwerea snugfitfor
theGoogle Instantkeywordreturns.We'llnowbuildasiteandcontentaroundthemaccordingly.It
mightwork!
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmMarkeAngStrategy.
PlaceYourFirmNowInthislawfirmmarke3ng3pfindoutwhyyouneedtobethinkingaboutPlacepages.Ifyourlaw
firmhasn'tgotaGooglePlacePage,youbeYerjumponitquickly.
Inthelast monthGooglere‐tweaked their searchalgorithmwhich is givingGooglePlacePages
preferen3altreatmentoverothersearchresults.Inotherwords,itmaywell bethe casethatyour
placepagewillbeposi3onedhigherthanyourownwebsite.
AYendingtoaGoogle PlacePage isdeadeasy.GotoGooglePlaces,adyourdetails andmake sureyouspendthe3me droppinggreatcontentthereanddon'tforgettodrawpeople toyourwebsite
andsocialmediaplasorms.
Doitnow!
WhySmallFirmsCanWinInthislawfirmmarke3ng3p,findoutwhythesmallsfirmswillwininthenewonlinelandscape.
Whenit comestobeYer posi3oningyour lawfirmonline, don't be in3midatedby thebigfirms
withbigpockets.
Big law firms oTen suffer from layersof bureaucracy whichslowsthem downconsiderably in
playingwell inthe newlandscape.Agilityandthecapacitytocreateandsyndicate contentquicklyis the newyards3ck.LawFirm's that arecaught intherhetoricalspinof"aim,aim,aim"cannot
competewiththeinnova3vefirmswhohaveadoptedastrategyof"ready,fireaim."
Recently we caught up with a midsized firm with a real propensity of crea3ng content. It
manufacturedcontent likewidgetsinafactoryandwithinonemonthwouldprobably quadruplethe content disseminatedby a larger firm in oneyear. When a firm has a cultureof content
crea3onthey're halfwaythere,butwheretheyneedtobecareful is ensuringthatsuchcontentis
predicatedby innova3ve design,packaginganda syndica3onmethod.Contenthas tobefocused
onthe enduserwhilecovertlyfollowinga contentstrategythatis mindfulofthe keywords thefirmiswan3ngtodominate.
Smartthinkingaroundcontent,alongwitha commitmenttocrea3ngitis the defini3vedifference
betweenthefirmsthatwillandwon'tmakeitinthefuture.Readmoreaboutcontentstrategy.
IsyourLawFirmTrackingCalls?Inthis lawfirmmarke3ng3p, findout why youneedtobetrackingcalls emana3ngfromyour
onlinepresence.
Whileworking with agreat liYle lawfirmover the last weekwhowereabsolutely diligent in
watchingtheirGoogleAnaly3cs,theycouldn'tunderstandwhytheywere geNng loads oftraffic,
butminimalenquiry viatheir contact forms, or in otherwords notmuchconversiondespitethe
numbers.
Well,the truthofitall wasthata quarterofall trafficweresoakingupthecontentthenheading
straighttotheContactpagetopull the phone numberandmake thephonecall.Whilethe firm
weretrackingwheretheirclients werecomingfromattheini3al interviewwiththeirsolicitor,that
data wasn'tbeingcapturedina useful way.Also,neverforgetthatitis oTenthecase thata clientwill cometoyouvia numerous ways.Forexample,afriendmayrecommendyourfirmandthento
validate, they checkoutyourwebsite.Nowthesite may well have beenstrongly responsiblefor
theconversion,butdespitethatatthefirstconsulta3ontheymaytell youa friendwas thereferral
point,thusnotanaccuraterepresenta3onofwhatreallyoccurred.
Theonlyway togetanaccuratedepic3onofhowsuccessfulyourwebpresenceis,is tomeasure
everything.Despitehowgreatcontactformsaredesignedandwheretheyare posi3oned,people
lovetheimmediacy of pickingup thephone. Thebestway tomeasure phonecontact viayour
websiteis notbyhavingrecep3onasktheques3onofwherethepoten3al clienthascome from.Whatyouneedisacompletely uniqueanddifferent number onyour website. You candothis
easilybypurchasinga Toll Freenumberandforwardingthatnumbertorecep3on,butcapturingall
incoming on forwardedcalls. Theother alterna3ve is purchasing anonline number viaSkype,
whichatthe 3meofwri3ngis approximately$30forthree months.Yousimplychoosethenumberandvia account administra3on, key in the number youwant it forwarded to. Allonforwarded
calls,includingthe3meofthecall,are recordedinyouraccount.However,ifyou're forwardingthe
onlinenumbertoyourfirm's recep3on,expecttheretobeafairlysignificantdelaywhile thecallis
portedthrough2numbersbeforeitispickedup.
Theoldadage'youcan'tmanagewhatyoucan'tmeasure'is truewhenit comestoseeinghow
successfulyourwebpresenceis.Don'twhateveryoudo,leavephonecontactoutofthe equa3on
inmeasuringyouranaly3cs.
ContentisKing,ButDesignisQueenInthislawfirmmarke3ng3p,findoutwhyyoucannotignoredesignaesthe3cs.
We'vebeenplayingaroundwithCrazyEggforawhile. CrazyEggis ananaly3cs tool thatapplies aheatmaponyourwebsitewhichcanshowyouwhere peopleareclickingonyourwebsite.Whyis
thisimportant?
Well, itvisually tellsyouthehotspotsonyourwebsiteandthose thatget liYle aYen3on. For
example,wedone aliYleconsul3ngworkfora firmrecentlywhoweregeNngloadsoftrafficontheir site, but very liYle aYen3on to their "subscribe to our newsleYer" func3on. The firm
generatesamassofgreat content, andthe NewsleYer of courseprovides it all andmoreona
monthlybasis.It'sfreeandyetthesubscriberuptakewaspoor.
So,weintegratedCrazyEggjusttotakea peekandloandbehold,itwas true,no‐onewas headingtothemid‐sec3onof the page wherethefunc3onwas located. Wemoved it to the top and
watchedthesubscribersgrownearlyovernight.
Thelessonhere is greatcontentis numberone,butdon'teverlosesightofthedesignaesthe3cs.
CrazyEggisagreattooltohaveatthebackendofyourAnaly3csToolbox.
DoesyourLawFirmusePDF's?Inthislawfirmmarke3ng3p,whyyouneedtobethinkingseriouslyaboutusingPDF'sonline.
Thegreatesttragedy is whenyousee lawfirmsinsistentoncrea3nggreatusercontentwhothen
packageitallintoaPDFandhaveithostedsomewhereontheirsite.
PDF's aregreatwhenyouwanttocreate a guideore‐bookthatusersleavetheiremail address in
return for, andthen youshoot thePDFacross tothem. But, if youareusing PDFas away of
dis3llingsomegoodcontentonapar3cular issue,thennothingyouhavemen3onedinyourPDF
will bereadbyGoogle.Inotherwords,ifyou've gotagreatliYlepieceon"consentorders,"richinuseful keywords thatpeoplemaybesearchingfor informa3onon,andyou'vewrappeditupina
PDF,Googlecan'treaditexceptforthe3tle.
Google sees PDF'sas images, so itwill grab thePDF3tle, providingyou've gotonethatmeans
somethingandthat'sit.Thealterna3veandthe solu3onis that youensurethatall that contentabout"consentorders"isonaHTMLpage(apageonyourwebsite).
Thetrickis toonlyusePDF'sas somethingyougive toauser inreturnfortheiremail address.Go
berserkwithyourguides,e‐books,butdon'twhateveryoudo,wastegreatcontentby lockinginto
animpenetrablefilesuchasaPDF.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmMarke<ng.
YourLawFirm'sLinkBuildingStrategy
Inthislawfirmmarke3ng3p,weaskwhatyourlawfirm’slinkbuildingstrategyis.
RarelydoesaLawFirmMarke3ngStrategyhavewithinitanyreferencetolink‐building.
We recently had the pleasure of doing somework with a large Australian law firm who are
similarly compe3ngwithsome otherlarge firms.At theoutsetwedida liYlecompe3toranalysis
andstaringatus inthefacewas theveryevidence as towhythis firmstandssopoorlyinGooglepagerankings.(PageRankiswhereyourlawfirmappearsinGoogleforasearchterm)
This firm's compe33onhadazealouscommitment tobuilding linksandthey simply didn't and
werepayingconsiderably for it.Now,alinkis aninboundlinkfromanotherwebsitetoyours and
youpreferablywantlinksfromthoseorganiza3onswhoGoogle loves (thosewhohaveahighpagerank).
Linksarefundamentallyimportantbecause asGoogle becomes increasinglyhuman‐likeinwan3ng
tooffertosearchersthebestqualitylawfirmsatthetopoftheirpage,theyconsiderthatifsucha
firmhaslotsofotherorganiza3onslinkingtoit,thentheymustbeacredibleousit.
GeNng great links to your website is a lot easier than you think. Law firms that are
philanthropically inclined should be reques3ng in the very least a link on the respec3ve
organiza3on’s website. But just don't leave it there. Think of all the business to business
rela3onships your firmhas,writethemdownandget someonetodetermine therelevant webaddresses andshootanemail across askingthemiftheycouldplacea linktoyoursiteontheirs.In
returnyou'll dothe same.Ifyouhaven'tgota linkspage,getyourwebdesigner todooneup.It
shouldcostyoupeanuts.
So,ifyourfirmhasamarke3ngstrategy,ensure thatlink‐buildingis anintegral partofit.Ifyou'refirmdoesn'thavesucha strategy,youneedoneandwhenyougetit, thinklink‐buildingandyou
mightbeamazedouttheresults.
LawFirmMarketingKingHit:GetContentGetClientsIfyourLawFirmMarke3ngStrategyis all aboutpayperclick,skinnycontentandpreYypictures of
thefirm'spartners,giveupnow.
Itcan'tbesaidanystraighterthanthat.TheLawFirms thatwill doextraordinarilywell inthe future
will be those whosimply have a steadfast commitment to online user engagement. Toput it
anotherway,those firms whocanthink"client"as opposedtothinking"ourfirm"are winningand
willcon3nuetowininthenewlandscape.
Whiletherearesomefundamentalreasonslawfirmsshouldbe genera3ng user‐focusedonline
informa3onandresources,ithas tobe packagedina waythatwill translatebesttoyourpoten3al
client.We all know that wecomprehend informa3ondifferently andfirmsneedtobe thinking
about their mul3‐dimensional communica3on strategy whenpos3ng anything online. Can thisinforma3onbebroadcastacrossmul3ple channels?This is theprimaryques3onthatfirms should
beasking. Thesetypes of ques3onsof coursedonot emanate from your IT department, they
shouldcomefromyourpassionatelawyers whoarepreparedtocommunicateacross channels and
just require a liYle impetus. Grow your Firm provides it if you haven't got peoplewithin theprac3cetothinkinnova3velyaboutinforma3ontransfer.
The takehome here is that to play in the new landscape well, get great content, package it
innova3vely,broadcastitbroadlyandjustkeeponengaging.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmMarke<ng.
EmailCampaigns
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EmailMarketing:theNeglectedToolIt usetobethecase that there was this hugeresistancefromnot only lawfirms,butbusiness
generallytosendHTMLemails (emails thatlookpreYywithimages ect).Well,withtheenhancedcapabili3es ofemail servicesgenerally,youjusthavetobe usingHTMLemail asanengagement
tool.Butdon'trelyonyourownemail servicetohave the capacitytobothmanageemaillists or
buildemail newsleYers. Youhavetobeusingathirdparty ESP tonot only ensureyour email
draTingiscompliantbuttosignificantlyimprovetheprospectofitnotgeNngcaughtasSPAM.
LawFirmssooTentendtoneglecttheircurrentclients asnotonlya resourceforfuturework,but
ignorein a networkedworld,thesheerpotencyofa clientreferringanotherpoten3al clienttoyou.
Buttodothis,you'venotonlygottodogreatworkforthe origina3ngclient,butyouhavetobe in
themindofthisclientinthefirstplace.
Email Marke3ngdonerightwill bothsustainandvalueaddtoyourrela3onshipwithyourex‐client.
Inother words, tokeepthemengaged, youneedtogivethemuseful informa3on, innova3vely
packagedthatwillkeepthemlikingyou.Simple.
Ifyou'rea firmwithamul3‐disciplineprac3ce, thenyou'vegotendless tools atyourdisposal toengagewiththisperson.Ifyou'renotsodiverse,thatdoesn'tnecessarilymeanyoucan'tengage,
butyouwill doit differently.Forexample, if you're a PIFirm, youmay providesomestories of
completedcasesandvaluablelinkstootherareasofinterestfortheclient.
Toassist,thereareaplethoraofemailmarke3ngsoTwareplasormsoutthere.MailChimpisgreat,sotooCampaignMonitorthatnotonlyprovidegreattoolstodevelopemailcampaigns,butboth
havetheabilitytohandleemaillistsandtheanaly3cstoseeifyou'rehiNngthemark.
LawFirmMarketingStrategyandClientConversionIfyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategyisn’taboutgenera3ngleads,thanitsmissingoutonclients.
Lawfirms,likemostprofessional servicefirmsgenerallyrarelycul3vatethemarket.Inotherwords,mostlawfirmmarke3ngstrategyconsiderclientconversionas beingthefirstpaidconsulta3onand
neglect a fair chunkof themarket that just aren’t ripefor conversionyet. Take for examplea
personcaughtupina tumultuousmarriage contempla3ngsepara3on.They'renot thereyet,but
their searching online to put their legal issue in somecontext. Thefirm likely tocapture andeventually convert this person into a client is the firm with a marke3ng strategy that offers
somethingfornothing,butthen,maintainstherela3onship.
Without a doubt, oneof thebestwaystodo this is viaproduct crea3on. Givea persona free
family lawguide, access tosomeresources not readily available onyour site inreturnfor their
email address.Onceyou’vegotthis contact,you’reabletoengagewiththeclientthroughongoing
provisionofuseful contentdistributedtothem ina mannerthey choosevia anemail marke3ngcampaignmanagementsystemlikeMailchimp.Thecontentofcoursehastobeusefulandcannot
bethrownat themrepe33ously.Thebestrule ofthumbistoprovidethecontentfortnightly and
nomore.For example,a popular podcas3ngprogramrecently lost aconsiderablenumberof its
subscribersduetofrequent,emptycontact.
Ifyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategysees clientconversionas whenthe clientis paying,it’s 3meto
reconsider and when you do, and it may well be 3me to think about integra3on of client
rela3onshipmanagementsoTware.Inanupcomingpostwe'llreviewthebest.
GrowyourFirmcreatesproductsforourclients
MarketingtoExistingClientsLeadgenera3onis rarely consideredinthe contextofexis3ngclients.Somany lawfirmmarke3ng
strategiesare basedupongenera3ngnewleadsandneglectthosealreadywithinthefoldofthe
firm.
Agreatplace tostartinconsideringyourcurrentclientbaseis tosimplyask,"Whenweclose this
file,howwillwestay engagedwiththisclient?" This is par3cularly thecase for general prac3ce
firms,but it hasreal relevancealsoforspecialistfirms. Atpresentwe'reworkingwitha firmon
their marke3ng strategy that predominantly prac3ce personal injury law. During the course ofac3ng for a par3cular client, therewas considerable rapport established, the client stayed in
regularcontactwiththefirmposthismaYerandsince,hasreferrednumerousclients.
One of the greatest strategies we've found in maintaining engagement is email. In a diverse
prac3ce,thepos3ngofweeklyemail law3ps thatare ofreal use is anexcellentwayofmaintaininguseful engagement.Infact,ourEmailMarke3ngManagementSystemdoesthis automa3callyfor
yourfirm,pos3ngHTMLemails toyour emaillist.What's more, the systemiden3fiesopenrates
andthoseonyourlistwhoactuallyopenedtheemail.Ifyourfirmhas thecapacityofdoingthis
itselfandour experiencesuggests that's rarely thecase,therearea number ofemail campaignmanagementsystemsthatwilloffercomparableoutcomes.
Be that as itmay,cul3va3ngyourcurrentclient list canbea potent tool. Dosomethingabout it
thisweek.
GetaFreeWebsiteAnalysis,visitushere
IsYourEmailListSegmented?
You'reusingemailasakeymarke3ngstrategyinyourlawfirmright?
Well,ifyou'renot,accordingtothe2010ForresterReport,yourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategyisneglec3ngthenumber#1arsenalforROI.
That'sright!It'snotTwiYer,it'snotFacebook,it'snotLinkedIn,andit’stheoldworkhorse,"email."
Email isa potent marke3ng tool that when usedproperly by your firm can literally turn your
impotentlawfirmmarke3ngstrategyintoonesuperchargedonviagra.
Thesheer beauty of email these daysis that youcanget very, very targetedwith somesmart
segmenta3on. Inother words, ifyou're ageneral lawprac3ce, segmen3ng your email list into
prac3ceareas isagoodstart,but ifyouwant toget agoodthinggreat, thansegment by age,
genderandevenpersonality.Nowthismight sounda liYleoverthetop,butthis is exactlywhatcompanies like Amazon, iTunesandEbaydoanditsoneofthepredominantreasons behindtheir
success.Theyknowtheircustomer.
Whywouldyourlawfirmwanttodothis?
Well,lawfirmstendtoneglecttheirbiggestprospectsandadvocates,theirexis3ngclients.
Ifyou're sa3sfyingyourcurrentorhavesa3sfiedyourpreviousclients (notall ofcourse)there are
likelyupsellsorreferralslyingthereonthetableforyourfirmtopickup.Forexample,afamilylaw
clientmaynowneedtoupdatetheirWill,theymighthavejustfinishedthe propertyseYlement
andarelookingat apurchase.Nowinthesecircumstances, email isagreat,subtleway toaddleverage.
Butgetthis.Whenconsideringanemail campaigndon'twhateveryoudouseyourexis3ngemail
provider(MicrosoTMail ect).Oneclientwe'reworkingwithatpresentthoughtthatitmightbe a
goodidea andcrashedtheirserver.Youneeda thirdparty clienttodothis.Thereare somegoodones onthe market.We recommendMailChimp,butyouneedtodoa bitofhomeworkonlist
integra3on.Whackitintoyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategynow.
Buttomakeitveryeasyonyou,joinourgrowingallegianceofGrowyourFirmclientsandwe'll
takegoodcareofitforyou,evenassisAngyourfirminsegmenAngyourlist.Giveusacall.1300886322
SocialMedia
<<BacktoTableofContents>>
IsYourLawFirmFacebooked?Iknow,Iknow,I know!Everyoneis saying,"yougoWabeonFacebook”,andyou'rethinkingwhat
theheckis itandmy lawfirmshouldn't touchitwitha 40metrebarge pole.Butyou'recuriousright?
Thebiggest thing Facebookhastooffer your firm is "community." Sure, it lets youmark upa
differentstoryor brandmessageaboutyour firmandpeoplegettoseea different side,but the
realgruntofthisplasormiscommunitygenera3on.Howdoyoudoit?
Get yourselfaFacebookFanPageandthinkofitas a channeloranotherplasormtoyourfirm's
onlinepresence. Irecommendthatyouoffer content onyour Facebookpage that isn't onyour
websiteas away tomigratepeoplebetweenthetwo.Again,Idon'twanttorave aboutit,butbe
innova3ve inthecrea3onandpackagingofthiscontent.Videoisgreat! Short,sharp,straight tothepointwith, getthis,an80%higher rate ofconversionthantext. Next, startpromo3ngyour
Facebookpageonyourwebsite,email andall othermarke3ngtouchpoints in yourfirm.Cul3vate
thecommunity, keepthemengaged, communicate withthemusefully, frequently andifyoudo
this,whatisthelikelihoodofthemcontac3nganotherfirmwheneverythinggoespear‐shaped?
OK,amIpersuadingyou?
Well,at theriskofbeingaliYle "geeky,"the FacebookMark‐UpLanguage (FBML)has nowbeen
replacedbyHTML,whichis thelanguage onwhichyourwebsite is built.Whatthis meansforlaw
firmswhowanttopushtheenvelope isthat youcanandmorphaFacebookpageintoapreYyamazingwebplasorm.
So,whoisdoingitwell?
Fenwick&Westarealwayshelduptobeleadersinthis.
NewOrleansFirm,WolfeLawdoesitOK
Sotoo,TrilbyMisso
We'reworkingononeatpresentwhichwethinkwilltopplethelot.
Bethatasitmay,ifwehavepersuadedyoutothinkmoreaboutaFacebookpresenceforyour
lawfirm,we'dlovetotakeashotatit.Infact,becomeaclientandyougetitfreeasapartofallourotherintegratedservices.Notconvinced?Ringmeon0421950355
ThePromiseofSocialMediaorNot?IsyourLawFirmseeingtheresultsofsocialmedia?
It was recently reported by Social Graf that research conducted by ForSee indicated thatapproximately1%oftraffictowebsites intheirstudywasbeingspunbysocial media.Theresearch
reportedlyemanatedfromastudyof300,000consumersurveysacross180websites inboththe
privateandpublic sector.However,the researchalsofoundthat18%ofpeoplewere influenced,
amongotherthingstoul3matelyvisitthesite.
Whilethe researchis interes3ng,itdoes reveal thatwhenitcomes tosocial media,quan3ta3ve
research has its limita3ons. In contrast, the qualita3ve impact of social media can be of
considerablevalue,yetcannotbemeasuredinmetrics.Goodsocial media inlawfirmmarke3ngis
about good content genera3on, sharing and community building, all of which are intrinsicallydifficultforthebeancounterstoassertROIisn'ttherewiththistypeofmedium.
Learnmore.ReadourFreeLawFirmMarkeAngGuide
Can'tWorkOutWhyYourLawFirmMarketingStrategyisGettingCrushed?Ifyour lawfirmjust cannotworkout why a compe3torwithanemptywebsite iscrushingyou,
perhapstheirlawfirmmarke3ngisusingaGoogleproduct?
SeanOdominhisSEOfor2011suggestedthatwhenitcomes tobeYerposi3oningyourlawfirmin
Google,usingGoogleproducts maygiveyourfirmanedgeinthepercen3lerangeof5%.While at
firstblushitmightnotseemmuch,but ifthemereintegra3onofaGoogleBlogSpotblogonyour
site pushed you a couple of places closer to the topof the page, then it’s got to beworthconsidering.
Interes3ngly,foraUS‐basedclientwe arepresentlyworkingwith,wejustcouldn'tunderstandwhy
this firm's site whichwas deprivedofgoodqualitycontent,was beYerposi3onedthanourclient's
presence whichwas transfixed with providing lots of great content. Well, we haven't goYencompletely totheboYomof itjustyet,butwhenwedug intotheanalysisof this compe3tor,lo
andbeholdhereisGoogleBlogSpot.
Ifourpreliminaryresearchiscorrectanditmarries upwithOdom's thoughts onthemaYer,then
perhapsyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategyshouldincorporateGoogleproducts.
Also,rememberthis.Don'tneglectcontent.
Wanttoknowmoreabouthowyourfirmcangetanedge?GetourFreeLawFirmMarkeAng
Guide
WillFacebookWorkinYourLawFirm?AustralianlawfirmMallesonsStephenJaques(MSJ)hasembracedFacebookasa key strategy in
theirrecruitmentcampaign.Todate,1108employeesofthefirm,orprospec3veemployeeshave"liked"thefirm.Thatsaid,otherMSJgenericFacebooksites don'thaveanywhere nearthetraffic
that this specifically targetedcampaigndoes. Therewas of coursean iPad compe33on to add
aYrac3on.Notsurprisingly,a numberofotherfirms, includingBlakeDawsonhavejumpedonthe
trendandlaunchedtheirowntargetedFacebookcampaigns.
Itsaysa coupleofthings.Targetedsocialmedia campaignsaren'tsucha badidea.Otherindustries
have been all over it like a kid over a jelly bean for years. But the trick for MSJ, like their
predecessors inusing abig bang strategy, is to try andmaintainengagement aTer thesmoke
dissipates.
Asmall, regional lawprac3ce inCaboolture,Lember &Williamshavetheir pagequietlyworking
away for them, primarily as a communica3ontooltothoseinthe foldof thefirm. Sure it’s not
bells,whistlesandfrontpagestuffontheAFRlikeMSJ,butits servingits purpose,likemanyother
lawfirmFacebookpagesthatarecul3va3ngcommunity.
Whatyouhavetolovethough, is thattheparadigmshiT is wellamongus. It's allabout crea3ng
valueforyourtribeasSethGodinwouldputit.
WecanhelpyourfirmoutwithFacebookdesign,integraAonandofcourseplanningifyouneed
it.Contactuson1300886322
HowDoesYourLawFirmCountConversions?Asweconsultandworkwithlawfirmsontheirlawfirmmarke3ngstrategy,onesynonymous issue
always rears its head. Conversions! It normally goes like this. A firm hasn't defined what a
"conversion"is,isn'tseriously recordingthemfrommarke3ngtouchpoints,or if they are,aren't
surewhattodowiththemnext.
OK.Leadgenera3onisfundamentallyimportanttoanybusiness,includingyourlawfirm.Weknow
fromexperiencethatwhena personisenmeshedina legalconundrumtheydonotalways contact
a lawyerimmediately.TheyoTenwill trythemselves toputtheirissueintocontextandinvariably,
assearchengineresultsreveal,increasinglywillgototheinternettosourcesuchinforma3on.
In thecycleof aconsumer, they're oTensimply not at thestageof commitment yet. Inother
words,theyarenaviga3ngforinforma3ontofulfill theirspecificneeds.Shoulditbethe casethat
theyarrive atyourfirm's website,is therea likelihoodthatyouwillgive themthe informa3onthey
require? Let'ssay youdo,what happens next? Invariably they read theinforma3onand if it's
wriYenul3mately toencouragethepoten3al clienttocontactthe firm,theyjustmight,theymay
nottoo.Let'sdealwiththeformerscenariofirst.
ATerreadingyourexcellentcopy,the clientcalls yourfirm.Arethey callingauniquenumberthat
is differentfromyourmainnumber?Iftheyaren't,whatareyourelyingontoascertainthatthisis
a websiteenquiry?Havingrecep3on,oryourlawyeratthefirstconsultasktheques3onis prone
toerror. Researchonthis has shownthat peopledon't always offer anaccurate response, or ifthere is a lapse of 3me between first contact and first consult, they can forget. We highly
recommenda1300number. Notonly will it sharpenyour judgment onwhat is working froma
marke3ngpoint of view inyour firm,but if your webdesigncompany is worththeir salt, they
wouldwanttobecrawlingalloverthistoencourageabeYerop3mizedsite.
Now,inthe case ofthe laYer,thatbeingthepoten3al clientwhohasgatheredupthecontentfrom
yoursite andgoneaway,whatstrategydoyouhavetofurtherencourage contact?Probablynone.
Havingcontentonyoursite wrappedupas aneBookorPDFwhichyourfirmoffersinreturnforan
email address is a greatwaytomaintainengagementwiththeinquisi3veprospect. That's nottosay thatyourwebsite becomes abarrengroundwithonly eBooks andPDFs (definitely notgood
from a SEO perspec3ve) but ascertaining pockets of content that could be compiled and put
together is a greatway to start preparing for leadgenera3onwith aprospec3veclient andof
coursebeginthenextstep,engagement.
Finally, at what point does a conversion becomea conversion? There's something about the
psychology oftrea3nga conversionas notnecessarily apersonwhois eyeballingyouacross the
deskaTerthey've signedtheclientagreement.Ifa conversioninyourfirmwas a personwhohad
made contactwithyourfirmas aresultofanymarke3ngtouchpoint,itmaybelikely justby thelanguagethatyouwill treatthis persondifferently.Inotherwords,ifa personisengagedwithyour
firmdespite the depth of that engagement, the roleof your firm is to shiT the person from
lukewarm, towarmer to hot. Accordingly, this person needs tobe engaged at different levels
duringthetransforma3onandhastoberespectedandtakencareofwithkidgloves.
Sotowrapup, thinkseriously aboutyour en3re firm'stouchpointsandwhether by their nature
they areencouragingflight,asopposedtoengagement.Whatcanyoupackage upthatmaybea
useful resource(oTenyourGoogleAnaly3csis a greattool indefininghowpeople are findingyou
anyway)?Howwillyourfirmrecordcontact?Whatisyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategy in movingapoten3alclientfromwarmtohot?Lastbutnotleast,is itworththinkingdifferentlyaboutwhata
conversionisatyourplace?
Ifyou'restuckwecanhelp.Wecanassistinnotonlydefiningthestrategy,butofcourse,our
LawPublisherserviceprovideseBookandPDFcreaAonandourwebdesignanddevelopmentteamcanintegratethisintoyoursite,alongwiththeemailcapturefuncAonality.Giveusacall
1300886322
IsYourLawFirm'sWebsiteMobile?Smartpunters everywherehavebeenclaimingthat2011 is the year ofthe thirdscreen,mobile.
Well,DamonScarrofYahoo7reckons thatit'sthedecadeofbobile andwhenyoulookatthestats,youhavetoagree.
Mediaconsump3on and screen3me inAustralia is going through the roofwithpeople inthis
countrynowconsuminginthevicinityof52hours ofmedia everysingleweek.Mostofthat3me,
oratleast3outof5ofAustralians aremul3‐taskingbetweenTVanda mobiledeviceanddespitethis,mostlawfirmwebsitesjustwon'trenderonasmallscreen.
How's yourfirm'swebsiteperformingundertheshiTingpopula3onofpoten3al clientstryingto
findyour firmontheir iPhone, Samsung or whatever? I'd say fromour experienceat crawlingacrosslawfirmwebsitesallovertheWorld,notrealwell.
The Integra3on amobile strategy into your law firm is becoming less difficult daily, but the
plasormhastobe rightinthefirstplace.Ifyou'rehardupforcash,thenintheveryleastgetupa
WordPress blog, jamit full ofcontentandintegrateit intoyourexis3ngwebsite.Therearesomeadd‐ons out there whichwill ensure all renders well on the third screen. If you want some
pointers,givemeayell.
InthemeanAmeponderthis.GrowyourFirmdoeswebdesign,development,SEO,socialmedia,
videoproducAon,syndicaAon,contentgeneraAonand,waitforit....mobilephonewebdesign.Contactuson1300886322orifyou'reoutsideorinsideAustraliaforthatmaaer,gohere
LawFirmsandMobilePhoneApplicationsLawfirmsconsideringMobilePhoneApplica3onDevelopmentshouldpondera fewotherthings
first.
Theuptakeofmobiledevicetechnologyhas beengrowingexponen3allyinAustralia duringthelast2 yearswithes3mates that our useof suchdevicesis atone of thehighest rates in theworld.
According to the NeilsonReport, 43% of onlineAustralians now own a smartphone, over one
quarterofsocial networkers (26%)par3cipatedinmobilesocial networkinginthepastyearand66
%ofmobilesocialnetworkersare under35yearsofage.Ofcourse ontopofthis,therehas beenahugespikeinpurchasesoftablettechnologyliketheiPad.
Whilemobiledevices havedras3callychangedcommunica3on,they'veimposedbothexci3ngand
challengingpossibili3esfor lawfirmswhowanttoengagewiththis growingmobile traffic.How
youengageisthefundamentalques3on.
TrilbyMisso, the Personal Injury LawFirmrecently launchedtheir ownaccidentappwhichnow
joinsothers onthemarket.Whileitprovidesanovelway toengagethefirmifyou'vesufferedaninjury,paradoxically the firmhasinvestednoeffortintomakingtheir ownwebsitereadable ona
smartphone.Thestrategyatfirstblushappearsverymuch"cartbeforethehorse,"but is byno
means a remoteexample offirmswan3nganappwithoutproperlyconsideringtheirwideronline
strategy.
Whenyou'vegot great brandrecogni3onin the market, ensurethat all your online marke3ng
touch‐points are effec3vebeforespendingwhatcanbeaninordinate amountofmoneyonmobile
applica3ondevelopment.Ifyouhaven'tgotgreatbrandrecogni3oninthefirstplace,forgetit.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmMarke<ngStrategy.
WhyYourLawFirmNeedstoBlogLawFirmswan3ngtomarkettheirprac3ceonlinehavetoblog,fullstop.
Thesynonymousques3onwe're oTenaskedby our clients is thatwhydoweneedablogpage.
Thesimpleresponseisthatyoucan'taffordnottohaveone.
Whenitcomes tobeYerposi3oningyour lawfirmonline,ablogis notonlya greatway toshare
some of your firm's personality, but it cancount considerably inhelpingGoogle findyou, thus
helpingyoubefoundbyapoten3alclient.
Whenyouthinkofa blogentry,donot thinkofanepistle.A blogentry is as manywords asisnecessarytogetyourmessage across.Ablogentrymaywell beoneofyourlawyer's reflec3onson
a piece oflegisla3on,atopical legal issueora currentaffairs item.Itdoesn'tmaYerwhatis,orhow
long itis,but itmaYers for everything inensuringits content thatyoucouldimagineapoten3al
clientwan3ngtoread.
Theother thingyoumust covertly consider ina blog post, arethe keywordsthat thepoten3al
client would type into Google, and those handful of words should preferably be in the first
paragraphofyourcontentorbeYers3ll,makingsureoneofthewordsatleastisinyour3tle.
YourLawFirmcan'taffordnottobloginthis newlandscape.Users are becomingmoreselec3ve intheirsearchwords anditmaywell belikelythatyoumightnotgetfoundfor"SmithsLawyers,"but
justmightturnupfor"WhatisaConsentOrder?"
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmMarke<ng.
ShouldMyLawFirmFacebook?Theperennialques3onaskedbysomanyfirmsisshouldmylawfirmfacebook?
Well,I’ll giveyoua lawyer response,“itdepends.”ButbeforewegettothatletmetellyouwhatFacebookis,andwhatitisn’t.
SoFacebookis a social networkandisusedbyover350millionpeople anditis bya longway,the
mostpopularonlinenetworkingsite.Now,whenitcomestoFacebookyou’ve got3op3ons.You
cancreateapersonal Facebookprofile, a Facebookpage, a Facebookgroupor aFacebookFanpage.NowwhatmakesFacebookseriouslygoodis its abilitytoseamlesslyintegrateothertoolsor
whatwecall API’s. Sofor exampleyoucanpost somethingonyour Facebookpage andhave it
automa3callyfedintoyourtwiYerstream.Ifyoudon’tknowanythingaboutTwiYer,we’ll gettoit
inanothervideo3p.
So, returningtothe Facebookop3ons. AFacebookprofileisaperson’sliYlespotonFacebook.
Anyonewhois connectedtothis personandby connected, I meanconfirmedas a friendofthe
person,cancomment onthatperson’s Facebookwall, whichis sort of like apage. Now asthe
ownerofthis profile,you’re able touploadmedia,like video,imagesandreallyanythingtoitandthatmediacanbeaccessibletothosewhoyouhaveconnectedwith.
Now,a FacebookFanpagemayberelevantforyourlawfirm.Apersonwhois a representa3veof
thefirmcancreateaFacebookpageandmaintain itvia theadministra3onpartofthepage.As an
administratoryoucansimilarlyuploadanythingandcommunicatetothosepeoplewho“like”yourpage. In other words areconnectedto it.Now hereiswhere its important, recipientsof your
communica3on,whateveritis,cannotrespondtoit,butiftheydon’twantit,theycanoptout.
A FacebookGroup canbecreatedby any Facebookuser,andcanbe takencareofby mul3ple
administrators.Youcanhave agroupclosedoropen,openmeaninganybodycanjoin,closedbeingbyinvita3ononly.
So,thosearetheop3onsandobviouslya FacebookFanpage is themostappropriate fora lawfirm
giventhefactthatyoucancontrolit.
Nowwhy wouldyour firmwant toFacebook?Well thesheer numbers ofpoten3al andexis3ngclients thatusetheplasormwouldprobably shockyou.Forexamplethebiggestspikeis women
between55and60.
A Facebook Fanpage allows users to see another dimension of your law firm. Sure, you will
probablyduplicatesome ofthecontentfromyourwebsite,butitallowsyourfirmtopostdynamiccontent, like images, videos and publica3ons to a community of people who visit their own
facebook presence are connected to your law firm. It allows your firm to have an ongoing
conversa3onwhichreallyawebsitedoesn’tafford.
Butbeforeyouconsidera Facebookpage,whichin yourfirmis goingtoberesponsibleforit?Thisis where itall falls down.Ifyourfirmisn’tgoingtokeepyourpageupdated,don’tgothere.Some
recentresearchhas shownthatoutofdatewebcontentgenerallygives usersa poorpercep3onof
yourfirmgenerally.
So,workoutwhois goingtomaintainitandofcoursepulltogetherandcoordinate whatgoesup.
This person,orpreferablyagroupofpeopleshouldalsobethinkingabouthowsome contentcan
bepackagedwithflairofinnova3on.
AtGrowyourFirmweknowthiscoordina3onandofcoursemaintenancecanbedifficultandwecanprovideitinourbundleofservices,ifnecessary.Or,ifyourLawFirmis s3ll wrestlingwiththe
idea,oritwantsmoreinforma3on,wecandothattoo.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmStrategy.
GoogleAnalytics
<<BacktoTableofContents>>
HowtoGetBetterRankedbyGoogle
Thesynonymousques<onaskedbylotsoflawfirmsintheirlawfirmmarke<ngendeavorsishow
dowegettopage#1onGoogle?
GeNngrankedwell by Googleor other searchengines for thatmaYer is dependentuponafew
things,themost importantofwhichisforwhat keywordor setofkeywords your firmwishes to
dominate.OnlyaTerdefiningthe keywords canyougeta clueonwhatyourfirmwill needtodoto
rankbeYer.Whilewe'repleasedtosaythatall the lawfirmsthatare ourclientsarerankinginthevicinityof#1or#2onGoogleforthe keywords thatwe'retarge3ng,ifthestrategywastochange
andwebeganchasingthegeneric term"lawyers,"thanwewouldhave toconcede thatit’s going
totakea fairamountof3me,persistenceanddedica3on.Youseerankingwell is dependentona
number offactors like,theageofyourdomainname,howlongyoursitehas beenaround,howprevalentarethekeywordsinbothcodeandcopy ofyourwebsite, howprolific isyourcontent,
howfrequentlyis contentadded,thenumberoflinkstoyoursiteandthequalityofthoselinks and
increasingly,socialmediaprofile.
Now,whilethatis generallythecaseformostkeywords yourfirmmightbe chasing,itis surprisinghowmanylongtailterms yourfirmcancapturewell.Remember,longtailkeywords arethose that
are more specific.So,peoplewhooncewere inclinedtotype"willsandestates,"now, they will
type,"Whatis probate,"or"whatanenduringpowerofaYorney is."Ifitwerethecasethatyour
firmwhospecializes inwillsandestates,generatedfrequently goodcontent inrela3ontothoseterms,evenpoten3allybuildingamicrositearoundthemora coreofrelatedques3ons,yourfirm
maydominatesearchresultseasierthansay,"WillsandEstatesLawyers."
I repeatedly talkabout theimportance ofderivingyourwebsiteand its keywords fromarobust
content strategy andwhen it comes to ranking well, cannot overstate it. In fact, with a greatcontentstrategy,anda collec3vededicatedresponse tocrea3ngexcellentcontent thatabides by
soundSEO(searchengineop3miza3on)principles youcandoextraordinarilywell onmanyfronts.
Yourfirmwill becomerenownedforgenera3nguser‐focusedcontent,renownedforits innova3on
incommunica3ng that content broadly andGoogle willaccordingly; reward your firmfor it bybeYerrankings.
Bethatasitmay,ifyourfirmisgrapplingwiththewholenoAonofSEO,hereisagreatresource
fromtheteamatSearchEngineLandGetithere
IsYourLawFirmWebsiteConverting?
ThereisoQenconjectureinrela<ontowhatisa"conversion."Ratherthandealwithithere,Iurgeyoutotakealookatthispreviouspost.
So,forallintents andpurposes, let’s just concedethatconversionsmay lookdifferentacross the
spectrumof lawfirms, butessen3ally canbe categorizedas contactbetweenanonlinesearcher
andyourprac3ce.Whileactuallymeasuringconversions canbeproblema3cdependinguponhowyou do it, what shouldn't be problema3c is your firm's commitment to Conversion Rate
Op3miza3on(CRM).
CRMisall abouttryingtoimproveyourwebpresencetoencouragemoreconversions.WhileI've
repe33velyspokeabouttheimportanceofgreatcontent,whatoTencanbeignoredishowsuchcontent is integrated into thesite or blog. In other words, is your site both aesthe3cally and
accessibilityfocused?Rarelydoes this evergeta lookintobecausebyandlargelawfirmsconsult
withawebdesignerwhodesigns thesite,providesa contentmanagementsystem(allowingyouto
addcontentvia siteadministra3on)andno‐onegives a secondthoughttohowit’s all performingun3litallgetsabitstaleacoupleofyearslaterandare‐designiscommissioned.
It's anexpensivemistakebecause rarelyis itthecasethatdesigners will hitthemarkstraightaway.
Thesites thatworkaremostcertainlythosewhereCRM is a keyelementoftheonlinemarke3ng
strategy.
CRM is most commonly conductedby a closeanalysis ofyouranaly3cs data derivedfrommost
notably, GoogleAnaly3cs itself. There areother tools that workwell withGoogleAnaly3cs, in
par3cular Crazy Eggwhichprovidesaheatmapbehindyour siteshowing agraphical display of
howusersareinterac3ngwithit.
Whenyoulookatthedata setscollec3vely,itbecomesapparentwhatisworkingaesthe3callyand
whatisn't.Deadspots areeversoobvious andsotoo,designcharacteris3cs thatare workingwell.Butratherthansimplyditchthewholelotandstartagain,webdesigners whocareaboutyourfirm
will nearlyalways encouragetheuseofABormul3variate tes3ngtools.Inotherwords youcanput
outtomarketovera setperioda numberofitera3onsofyourwebsite,watchtheanaly3cs and
determinewhichis performingbest fromaconversionpoint ofview.Obviously, ifyouhaven'tastrongandrobustconversionrepor3ngmechanisminyourprac3ce,thanitallfallsdown.
Google's WebsiteOp3mizeris themostcommonlyusedtool tomeasure the itera3ons andis a free
tool.Ifyou’reseriousaboutyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategy,you'vejustgottointegrateit.
CRMiswellworthits valueandifyou'reconsideringyour lawfirm's webpresenceseriously,thanyoujusthave tobe doingit.You'll besurprisedhowat3mesa slight varia3ontoa website ora
contactformcanhavesuchaconsiderableandmeasurableimpact.
AtGrowyourFirmwedoit,becausetodootherwiseisseriouslyshortchangingyourclientwitha
productyoujusthaven'taclueisgoingtoworktoexpectaAons,despiteusertesAngandpersonaresearch.
Google+1LaunchWatchvideoatwww.youtube.com/embed/4RyY2‐ofP4g
Ifyoueverwere askep3cinrela3ontotheimportanceofgenera3nguser‐focusedcontentforyour
webplasorms,wellyoumightjustenduppayingforitsignificantlyifGooglehavetheirway.
Lastweeksawtherelease ofGoogle+1, anapplica3oncapableofbeingplacedonall websites,
blogs andthelike,allowingtheuser togiveyour lawfirm'scontenta voteor recommenda3on.
AccordingtoGoogle,theywill payconsiderableheedtothevotecount,impac3ngpoten3allyon
whereyourlawfirmwillrankinGoogle.
Our searchengineop3miza3on (SEO) team is s3ll trying toget their head around it like their
counterparts throughout the World. But if it takesoff, andsomearesayingthat itwon't given
Google's fairly ordinary history insocial applica3ondevelopment, itwill rewardthoselawfirms
amongyouwhoarepuNngoutgreatcontentconsistently.
Myadvice,getonit,itwon'thurtyouanditmayjustpaysignificantdividends.Wecanhelpyou
integrateitinajiffy.Openaposthereandyou'llseeitdowntheboaom.Whileyou'retheregive
usaAck.1300886322ifyouneedus
MeasureEverythingTwice
MarcGagne fromAdobemadesomecogent comments recently inB&TMagazineinrela3onto
op3mizingyourwebpresence,andhewasn'tjusttalkingaboutSEO.
SooTen kneejerk reac3onswhen considering how your lawfirm is performing onlinecan be
disastrous.Wehavebeendoinga liYle consultancywithoneofAustralia's largestprovideroflegal
serviceswhohavebeenlonglamen3ngthattheirwebpresenceisdead.They're right.Butrather
thanrace towards acompleteoverhaul,we'vepersuadedthemfora small periodof3me,torunextensivetes3ng, plugging ina diverse rangeofanaly3cal tools.Why?Because despite theweb
presence being lame, it is in receipt of loads of traffic and to kill it now, wewouldmiss an
opportunityofascertaininghowpeople cometothesite,thetrafficpaths theyleavewhilethey're
thereandloadsofothergreatinforma3onthatcansmartlyinformtheredesign.
Gagne opines that when it comes to measurement, most companies "don't provide enough
investment intheareasofanaly3cs andmeasurementandsooTendon'taccess tothedata and
resultstheyneedtomakeintelligentand3melydecisions."
I couldn't agreemore. Your webpresence if it isn't already should bea major touchpoint inyourlawfirmmarke3ngstrategy.Treatitlikethat,andifyou're remiss inhavingsomeoneinyour
firmunderstand the analy3cs, get themsometraining or alterna3vely, consider an agency like
ourselveswhowill takecareofitandreportaccordinglyandofcourse,panelbea3ngyourstrategy
ifnecessary.
MarketingYourLawFirmonGoogleLawFirmMarke3ngisallaboutgoingwherethepoten3alclientsare.
GeNngseenonthewebis thesecondarygoal togeNngseenbyGooglefor thekeywordswhich
epitomizeyour legalprac3ce. In other words,we regularly see law firms inves3ng heavily ina
websitethathasall the bells andwhistles,butneglectthe basicfundamentals ofonlinelawfirmmarke3ng.
Let's getmomentarilytechnical.TheGoogle Spidercrawls throughwebsites tryingtocapture who,
whatandwhereyouare. Itscurries aroundtheback‐endofyour site seekingsomeinforma3on
indicators that althoughsparse, tell Googlewhat they should communicatetothe Worldaboutyourfirm.YoucangetapreYygoodidea whatGoogle is tellingeveryonebydoingthis veryeasy
task.Pausenowandopenupyourwebsite.
Gotothetopofyour browserandclickon"View."Now, followdownthemenuandclick,"View
Source."Youdon'tneedtounderstandall thisgeek‐speak,butinthatliYlepagethathasopeneduparetwoincrediblyimportantpiecesofinforma3onthatGooglethinksalotabout.
Findthestringofwordsthat followthe3tle tag.This phraseofwordsis incredibly important. If
you're afamily lawfirmprac3cinginWangaraYa, thensimply havinga3tletagthatsays,"Smith
Lawyers"won'thelpposi3onyourfirmthatmuch.Butthinkingaboutwhata poten3al clienttypeintoGooglewouldmay suggesta moreuseful term. For example, itmay bethecasethatmost
people lookingforafamilylawyerinWangaraYamighttype,"WangaraWaFamilyLaw".So,having
a 3tletaglike"WangaraYaFamily Law|SmithLawyers"will widenyourscopeofsecuringthose
poten3alclients.
Theotherreally important thinginthe sourcedocumentisthemeta descrip3ontag. This islike
yourelevatorpitchandshouldbe provoca3ve enoughthatonceapersonseesyourrevised3tle in
Google,theyreadthebriefdescrip3onbelowandbecauseofitspotency,openupyourwebsite.
LookingatthesetwothingstoensurethatthestringofwordsaccuratelydescribeyourlawfirmisagreatstarttoyouronlinemarkeAngacAviAesandwon'tcostyouacent.
SeeYourWebsitewithoutOpeningItInthislawfirmmarke3ng3p,werevealaGoogleStrategythatjustmaybehur3ngyourlawfirm.
Google InstantPreview(thesearchtool thatshowsa sitepreviewonGoogle)is greatforlawfirms
thathaveanaesthe3callygreatsite,butabsolutelyhorrendousforthosewholookshoddy.
The impact of Google Instant Preview for law firms who have treated their web presence
apathe3callywill bestar3ngtoreveal themselvesas increasingnumbers ofpoten3al clientssearch
online. Paradoxically,evenforthosefirms whohave investedconsiderably inSEO(searchengine
op3miza3on) strategies, ranking in thetop threeof organic searches will meannothing to themorediscerninguserwhoisusingGooglePreviewtofiltertheirchoices.
TheotherimpactofcourseifGoogleInstantPreviewtakes holdas akeytoolforthesearcher,is for
webdesigners tobeable toaccentuatecalls toac3onthatwill translatedespite the small sizeofthepreviewpanel.
All saidanddone,Google InstantPreviewis sharply remindingbothlawfirmsandesigners alike,
thatdesign,contentandSEOaretheholytrinityincrea3ngawebpresencethatworks.
YourLawFirm'sBounceRateInthislawfirmmarke3ng3p,weexposebouncerate.
If your Law Firm hasn't got Google Analy3cs fiYed to the back end of your website, thenunequivocallyyou've gota very hitandmiss online marke3ngstrategy. Ifyou'reinthis boat,get
ontoyourwebdesigner/developer,tell themtheirnegligentandyouwantitintegratedatnocost.
Itisdead‐easytodo(about5minutes)andthesedayseverysiteshouldbebuiltwiththisincluded.
Forthose lawfirmsenjoyingthe breadthofinforma3onthatGoogleAnaly3csis tellingyouabouthow"s3cky"yourwebpresence is,most likely youcouldbegeNngcaughtupwiththe "bounce
rate"as beingthedefini3vetestforhowwellthe siteis doing. Ofcourse,bouncerateis a kindof
standard‐bearer metric for measurement and simply gives a percen3le indica3on of how long
people arehangingonyoursite for. Simplyput,its suggestedthathigherthebounce ratethelesseffec3veyoursiteis.
Well, a simplis3c applica3onof bouncerate as themeasurement for site effec3veness can be
misleadingformanylawfirms.Prac3ceManagerscanoTengethunguponhighbouncerates anddemand that something aesthe3cally be done toget people to stay. The problem with that
approachis,bounceisn'tnecessarilybad.
Itcanbethe case thatalawfirmmayhavea bouncerateof65‐70%yethaveastellarrecordof
conversionontheirsite. Oneconclusionthatcanbe drawnisthatnearlyall discerningusersofthesiteare successfully calledtoac3on, andthoseless discerningbounce‐off. Now,that's nota
badthingright?Youdon'tnecessarilywantbigtraffic,lowbounceratesandliYleconversions.
So,whenyourfirmis consideringbouncerate,don't ever lookatit inisola3on. Itneedstobe
considerasanimportanttoolthatresidesinatoolboxofotherequallyimportantanaly3cstools.
LearnmoreaboutLawFirmMarke<ngTips
BeefUpYourAboutPageNowOneofthegreatstrengths ofGrowyourFirmis thatwe solelyspecialize inlawfirmmarke3ng,and
becauseofthis,thecollec3veanaly3caldatawearegatheringfromouren3reclient's websites istrulyinsighsul.
Tosharejustaskerrickofinforma3on,ifyourlawfirmhasgotapreYyordinary"AboutUs"page,
then I highly recommend youmake it extraordinary, or in other words in the very least add
considerablecontentdepic3ngwhoyourlawyersareandofcoursetheirexperience.
Our analy3cs strongly tell usthat secondtoyour homepage, your about uspage is themost
commonly viewed. If there is nothing there tokeep them, thebounce from that pagecan be
astronomical.Now,aswefind,somefirms area liYle reluctanttogloataboutthemselves,getover
it,andpopulateyourpagetoday.Youmightbesurprised.
GetaFreeWebsiteAnalysis,visitushere
Hopeyouhaveenjoyedit?Pleaseletusknowatwww.growyourfirm.com.au
OtherResources
www.growyourfirm.com.auwww.lawfirmmarke8ng.net.auwww.lawfirmmarke8ngpodcast.com
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