Social media. It’s familiar territory for some lawyers, and a foreign world for others. Whether you are a social media veteran or have yet to test the waters, having a social media presence can benefit your firm in many ways. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and the like help you connect with people, keep up with current events, build a name and reputation for you and/or your firm, and reach an audience beyond your geographical range. Read more
Tag Archives: Lawyer
Matching Online Authority with Law Firm Capabilities
Law firms use a number of different techniques to differentiate themselves from others. Some attorneys boast case victories or superior law school credentials, while others use testimonials or awards as external validation. Understanding attorney competition is rather complex – firms compete across many different geographies, demographics, and practice areas.
The most concrete venue in which law firms compete is practice area. A firm that focuses on a specific practice area will devote attention towards mastering the law, the business, and the courts – just to handle matters in that area. Once the capabilities are established, the attorney or firm then must compete for clients with those particular matters. Using online marketing is a great first step in ensuring that the firm’s online authority matches the law firm’s capabilities. Read more
5 Ways for Lawyers to Get the Most from LinkedIn
Be Professional & Stand Out
As a legal marketing expert, I receive a lot of questions about the importance of social media, especially LinkedIn. Many lawyers are already up and running on this business-centric platform, featuring a detailed profile and professional headshot. LinkedIn can be a fantastic resource for your law firm and is a great tool to add instant credibility. If potential clients can see that you have a strong LinkedIn presence, you may generate new business as people feel more comfortable working with a vetted, authoritative brand. Below are some tips on how legal professionals and practicing lawyers can benefit from being active on LinkedIn. Read more
Google Algorithm Change 2014 Year in Review
Year in Review
With 2014 coming to a close it is safe to say it was a wild and crazy ride for many legal websites. The year started slow but late May introduced us to Panda 4.0 which continued to push website owners to produce quality content. Any type of thin content that has been repeated across multiple domains and networks was neutralized and sometimes penalized. Creating quality content that is 100% original is imperative for any law firm looking to rank near the top of Google search; especially with each subsequent Panda update. Read more
Evolution of Online Search
What once was lost now is found
With the popularity of the Internet, more and more consumers are searching online for products, businesses, and lawyers. As such, a key skill in legal marketing success is understanding how to find new clients on the web. Today, search engines (such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo) dominate online marketing.
Let’s take a look at 4 main elements that have shaped the evolution of online search: Types of keywords, the paid search marketplace, location-based results, and new conversational search. Read more
Increasing Your Caseload by Tracking and Targeting Clients
Bullseye!
How great would it be if you could hand-pick the most qualified clients for your practice? The main goal of legal marketing is to increase the number of qualified people who are interested in retaining you as a lawyer. Expanding your online marketing presence involves two important elements that you should be aware of: tracking and targeting. Optimizing tools to track where your clients come from is a pivotal step. Additionally, there’s an entire pool of new business that you may not even be aware of, and gathering all of this data can help you learn how to gain more clients, and also put you ahead of your competition. That said, let’s look into a few different ways to get the most bang for your legal marketing buck. Read more
What Google Hummingbird Means for Your Legal Marketing
Google likes to keep their mechanics under wraps, but new information about their latest update has come to light. Google recently upgraded its search algorithm in order to provide higher quality search results to its end users. Rather than traditionally targeting keywords in searches, the new algorithm focuses on answering the searcher’s questions and better determining the intent behind their search. A focus on “conversational search” is what drove the recent major upgrade. However, it is up to the lawyer or law firm to create fresh website content that will tell Google to bring searchers to that specific page. Read more
Google AdWords 101 by Lawyer.com
Reply
Shop for New Clients!
Lawyer.com is committed to help our clients enhance their overall online presence. A great way to extend your reach is by using Google AdWords, which is the only way to guarantee being listed on the first page of search results (depending on your budget!). AdWords is often referred to as “leads on demand”. When starting this type of search engine marketing, you want to make sure you are directing the person who clicks your ad to a sensible location; a good idea would be right to an optimized website. Here’s a rundown of how AdWords works and how you can get started right away! Read more
LinkedIn For Lawyers (Part 1)
With 200 million users and counting, LinkedIn is one of the most prolific social media networks. What makes LinkedIn so unique is its focus on career and professional development. This feature makes a LinkedIn presence a key component of a Lawyer’s overall marketing campaign.
LinkedIn is primarily composed of professionals across all industries. These are all prospective clients with resources to support your practice. This is especially true for Business, Employment, & Corporate lawyers. The client likely has a presence on LinkedIn and having a comprehensive profile will increase the likelihood that relevant clients contact your practice.
Understanding the importance of LinkedIn, here are few tips for lawyers:
By default, LinkedIn users have a long URL for their profile. This is not very SEO Friendly. Follow the above steps to change your URL to something along the lines of LinkedIn.com/ln/johndoe. I recommend that the custom url be the same as your Twitter handle. In the case the lawyers Twitter handle should be @johndoe
Add As Much Content As Possible
Lawyers should enter as much information as they can on their profile. This includes their past employment and links to their website and other social media profiles.
Share Your LinkedIn Profile
At the same time, it’s important to share your LinkedIn profile on your website (along with your other social media profiles). One can even include these links in their email signature.
This establishes your brand as a market leader. Lawyers should look for as many ways as possible to remain connected to their clients and have a presence where new clients can be found.
Social media is still fairly new when it comes to its applications in business, especially for its use in the legal marketing space. As this technology becomes more mainstream, lawyers who embrace its benefits will be uniquely positioned to grow their practice.
Stay tuned next week for the conclusion of LinkedIn best practices for lawyers. We’ll discuss what to do on LinkedIn and how to create a firm profile for your practice.
