The technology known as Rich Site Summary (some refer to it as Really Simple Syndication, or simply RSS) has been adopted by many Blogs and Web sites. RSS feeds are a way of distributing news articles or Blog posts directly from a website to your RSS reader. Typically these come as a feed of one sentence summaries of an article.
If you prefer keyword summaries to see what a blog is talking about, you might like the tag cloud. Tag clouds are simply a weighted list of keywords in a visual design illustrating the most used words on a website. The larger the keyword in the tag cloud, the greater the frequency of the keyword in the associated site.
Want to see an example? Below is a tag cloud of what we've been discussing on our LawyerMarketing blog. You can create your very own free tag cloud from Wordle.
Pew/Internet reported early August that the percentage of internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from about one-third of all users in 2002, to a new high of just under one-half (49%). With this increase, the number of those using a search engine on a typical day is pulling ever closer to the 60% of internet users who use email on a typical day.
The report provides data supporting the fact that those who are using search engines on an average day are more likely to be socially upscale, with at least some college education and incomes over $50,000 per year. Accordingly, search engine marketing continues to increase in importance for law firms. FindLaw's white paper "Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for Law Firms" covers that an effective SEM strategy can be a key competitive advantage for law firms that want to generate more visibility, more qualified traffic and, ultimately, more new clients in the online legal marketplace. Using appropriate keywords and keyword phrases are a key success factor. Effective keyword selection starts with thinking through what makes your law firm unique, in terms of its client base, competitors and practice goals, and working with your SEM expert to build a diverse set of keywords and keyword phrases around those qualities.
A good rule of thumb is that you’re usually better off competing for and winning a higher number of unique, small-volume word combinations (“I need to hire a lawyer because I was arrested for DUI in Pittsburgh”) than going after just a few high-volume, and highly competitive, searches (such as “DUI lawyer”).
Why is that the case?
Because 40% of Internet searches are unique searches; they’ve never been done before.
Because very specific queries usually come from highly motivated prospects.
Because while being #1 in the search engines for a more common search is great, it’s all about converting new clients — and going about it in a strategic (and realistic) way.
The more specific the search, the more likely it is that a person who clicks-through from that search will be a better prospective client for you. If a law firm specializes in dog bite law in Arlington, Texas, a person who finds the law firm through the search query “ArlingtonTX dog bite law” is likely to be a far more qualified lead than someone who found the law firm through the query “personal injury law.”
You can’t anticipate every one-of-a-kind search, and your Web site would be unreadable if you tried. But a firm can improve its odds of generating traffic from specific, one-off queries (known as “Long Tail” searches). The key: maintaining a well-written, content-rich site filled with a broad range of relevant keywords.
By taking that approach, you’ll be more competitive for both Long Tail searches and more popular search terms as well. An SEM expert who understands how legal prospects think and the search terms they use can help you cast a wide net and bring a greater number of well-qualified prospects to your Web site
I thought of this on my way to work this morning, when I got to a stop light and saw a small sign that said “Squeegee Squad” and had a web url that I could not read. And my first thought? What do you squeegee? Why do I need your services?
Now think, a potential client lands on your website, and asks: “What do you do?”
“Well, since my company name ends with ‘Attorney at Law…,’ isn’t it pretty obvious?” Not so much… With tens of thousands of law firms out there, (seriously, go do a search for law firm, I got millions of results) you need to separate yourself.
This is why you need a ‘positioning statement’ on your site. Some attorneys do a great job of this. “California Criminal Defense Attorneys” has a strong, short description on their home page, with the flash in the banner further highlighting the firm’s strengths. This personal injury firm created a tag line that separates themselves from their competition, “Not All Attorneys Can Rise Above the Pack.”
These positioning statements help visitors make the decision to stay on your site, and contact you to determine if you are the one who can handle their issue.
Today’s audience for online video is 300 million people worldwide. With this number expected to increase to 1 billion by the year 2012, is there a better way to reach your customer-base?
FindLaw’s newest online video product, Studio-Shot 1, is an efficient yet professional method for entering this rapidly growing segment. Studio-Shot 1 is a one-minute video clip filmed at a pre-determined location and allows attorneys the opportunity to engage visitors on their Web site.
Ultimately, a more engaged visitor increases their likelihood of contacting the firm. In fact, a FindLaw study shows that 58% of consumers indicate that video increases their likelihood to contact the firm.
Recently, I was able to experience a Studio-Shot 1 video shoot in Chicago and was extremely impressed. On-site was a FindLaw Video Field Producer along with a fully equipped videographer and sound/lighting technician. The customer, Valerie Leopold of Leopold & Associates, arrived at the shoot location feeling prepared for the interview-style video because a call had already taken place with the Video Field Producer to craft questions that would form the “story” conveyed on camera.
The Video Field Producer put the attorney at ease by guiding them through the questions and directing the camera work. Rather than worry about the details of the shoot, Valerie was able to focus on communicating the benefits and personality of the firm. The Video Field Producer even provided feedback about what she could or couldn’t say based on the rules specific to the State Bar Association.
The final edited version of the video portrayed Valerie as professional, well-spoken and personable throughout the web. After editing the video footage, FindLaw embedded the video on the Leopold & AssociateFirmSite and provided search engine optimization value by tagging and transcribing to add the much needed visibility in search results. A last step is to distribute the video to major search engines like Google Video, YouTube, Yahoo! Video and more. The search engine optimization, tagging and transcription added much needed visibility in search results.
We are all familiar with the quote “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Based on my experience at the shoot, FindLaw online video is an excellent way to make a great first impression and increase the amount of qualified contacts from your Web site.
Do you really know what search terms your firm’s Web site is targeting? More specifically, do you know what the search engines think your site is focused on? You can request a Web Audit, and find out.
This web audit will show if search engines see your site as targeting the search terms consumer are entering to find firms like yours. What if you think you are going after consumers with car accidents in Denver, but the search engines view your target terms as automobiles with spinal cord images?
Other interesting facts a web audit will include are “Which page of your site has the most pull in the search engines?” and “Are your strongest pages practice area pages that can generate visits, or is the most powerful page on your site a page that is not built for generating traffic, like a contact page?”
Remember, not all law firm Web sites are equal, and a web audit can show where your Web site will be found below that of your competition.
Most law firms interested in driving business from the web are appropriately focused on getting more traffic to their Web site. And why not? Using the web as a starting point to search for and find an attorney to hire is becoming more and more frequent. The beauty of online marketing is that the product performance (search, directory or display ad, email campaign or video) is visible to the advertiser in the form of marketing analytics and reporting which makes figuring out the marketing return on investment (ROI) easier than ever. Here at FindLaw our tracking and reporting of online clicks shows one important distinction: all clicks are not equal.
Progressive marketers know that clicks from relevant websites, those that are niche focused or are highly differentiated with content-rich user experiences, produce, per click, many more conversions. As users research topics and create pathways to specific content they reveal a lot about themselves, their preferences and most importantly their intent. Understanding the users “online behavior” helps you to figure out the difference between passive browsing behavior and deliberate activity. My colleague Brian Ledis describes the idea of using granularity, sorting out the good prospects from the bad in a sea of traffic, in a previous post on this blog. In effect, sourcing traffic from highly differentiated destination sites does the sorting: visitors to these types of sites are more likely to purchase goods and services than those on general portals, where many visitors have only a passive interest in the goods and services they are exposed to.
For instance, take the search term “immigration law”. Who might be making that search and what’s their intent? It could be an immigration lawyer looking for a resource. It could be a college student looking for research material. Or a blogger looking for political fodder. Or a law student writing a paper. Or someone looking for an immigration lawyer. Which click would your firm want? Which click would you pay for?
Now, compare that click with one from a user who is on a vertically focused destination site specializing in helping non-experts navigate the law. That user might research “Immigration Law Overview”, proceed to Immigration Law FAQ and then jump to Role of an Immigration Attorney and proceed to a directory of immigration lawyers. The intent of the user is expressed through their “online behavior” and a lot of it is available in the tracking and reporting metrics. Research by FindLaw shows that a click to a law firm Web site from a relevant site, such as findlaw.com, by a user who has been down the legal research path is much more likely to turn into a client than a user who clicks from a less targeted site such as a general search engine.
That’s not to say traffic isn’t important. Traffic, multiplied by conversion rate gives us a “net converted” metric, which then can be evaluated in an ROI calculation. It’s at this level of analysis that marketers can truly evaluate the effectiveness of the online marketing efforts in producing what really matters: converted contacts that can be turned into clients.
Consumers often have products that include confusing instructions regarding assembly, and/or how to avoid risk or injury. One of the most important pieces from any purchase is an avenue to contact someone when there are questions. Missing parts or pieces? It won’t turn on, off, left, or right as it says it would? Call this number, and ask someone about it.
But this “someone” typically ends up being a faceless, generic person who has a first name but no idea who their client is or what they may actually need. John Q. Consumer, meanwhile, spends much more time having to explain more than they should rather than identifying the key issue at-hand and resolving it in a timely fashion.
Lawyers are consumers too, and marketing on the Internet can be just as puzzling as any other product. FindLaw prides itself in offering to you a face, and a last name, and a sense of familiarity with you once your relationship with us has been initiated. After we assemble your products – your website developed, your spot on our award-winning FindLaw portal secured – you are given a dedicated Account Manager including:
their full name – first and last
their direct telephone number
their direct e-mail address
They serve as your all-around connection from that point forward. Along with your client development consultant, they are your single-handed, multi-talented, jack of all trades. But if you have an inquiry about your FindLaw experience, you will know who you can talk to. Personally. We are masterful at attending to your needs.
Do you have questions? If we can’t answer it ourselves, we will know where to go, and who to go to in order to get a solution for you. We will stay in direct contact with you – via telephone, via e-mail – throughout any particular issue to ensure that you get your answers. We can help you with:
edits to your site once it’s published, live for potential clients to review
any billing questions and inquiries from what you are charged
ongoing services, such as adding and updating your site (at no additional cost)
consulting with you not only on traffic to your site, but also your online marketing objectives
updating your directory products on www.findlaw.com to make sure that they are ideal for drawing clients to you
any changes to your practice or your firm
This is just the beginning of what Account Managers can and will do for you. We are the specific person you will want to call, and we are trained to get you what you need. As quickly as possible.
My name is Sumner Musolf, and I am an Account Manager with FindLaw. I look forward to working with you.
I'm sure at some point in the process of creating a website (or having a website created for you) you looked at your design and wondered that exact same thing. That dummy text filling your page is referred to as Lorum Ipsum and it has been in use since the 1500s. Want to know a little more, check out www.lipsum.com.
The benefits of an attorney profile video, and online video media in general, have been extensively highlighted in blog posts and online articles. It can’t be stated enough that an online video humanizes your virtual interaction with a prospective client and that the moving pictures and sound provide a personal (although one-sided) conversation with your Web site visitors.
Viewing an online video offers both verbal and non-verbal communication, and provides the prospective client with the feeling of having interacted with an attorney. The video will give a good glimpse of the environment; a professional office background with legal books will let the potential client know they are dealing with a seasoned legal expert.
At FindLaw, we’ll not only provide guidance on best practices when shooting your video and script. We’ll also be certain to include a video transcript, as time-honored HTML or plain text is still the best way to fuel the search engine indexes. The conversational or natural language text from your transcript will attract long-tail searches, for example, “When should I hire a divorce lawyer in Boston.” Your FirmSite will already contain plenty of HTML that will attract short-tail search results like “Divorce lawyer Boston” or vanity searches like “Sam Miller Divorce Law, MA” that will point to your Web site. A video transcript provides an additional layer of drawing traffic to your site.
Online video serves many purposes and is far from being just moving pictures with sound!
The growing adoption of broadband combined with a dramatic push by content providers to promote online video has helped to pave the way for mainstream audiences to embrace online video viewing.
Among home Internet users, 79% have broadband and 15% use dial-up., according to a May 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Three-quarters of broadband users (74%) who enjoy high-speed connections at both home and work watch or download video online.1
As broadband adoption continues to grow, video is fast becoming Internet users’ preferred medium for information.
45% of Internet users say online information plays an important or crucial role in major life decisions (e.g., legal issues, health care, finance).2
Video aids a consumer in fi nding the information they are looking for in an engaging and memorable way. Our studies show that consumers research 4.8 Web sites, on average, before choosing an attorney online. That decreases to 1.8, however, when those sites contain video.3
Sources: 1. “Home Broadband 2008” Pew Internet and American Life Project, July 2008, www.pewinternet.org 2. “New Jersey Connected Broadband Summit” Pew Internet and American Life Project presentation, March 2007, www.pewinternet.org 3. “How Consumers Meet Their Legal Needs Online” FindLaw webcast, June 26, 2007, 43:05.
In a direct comparison of daytime cable TV airtime schedules for Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami & New York – we found the average cost per 30-second TV commercial ranges from $226 up to $1,800.1 For example - in New York:
With the increased popularity of Digital Video Recorders like TiVo
there is no guarantee that the commercial will even be seen by the 18+ target audience.What’s more - TV rates continue to climb even though the total number of viewers continues to decline.
Unlike TV, your online video doesn't just air at a certain time on a certain date; it is always there to stay. Anytime a user is searching for you, they can fi nd your video and meet you online.
Sources: 1. SpotRunner.com Airtime Schedules created May 21, 2008 for Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York 2. Source: SpotRunner.com Airtime Schedule created 5/21/08 with run dates from 6/9/08 – 6/16/08 for Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens
Analytics are a powerful business tool. Organizations use analytics to measure value and help make better business decisions. There’s a variety of operating and performance metrics businesses can analyze.
For example, one valuable metric used in Internet Marketing is conversion. Conversion, or conversion rate, refers to the number (or percentage) of Web site visitors that are converted into paying customers. The conversion rate can be maximized by attracting more qualified visitors to the Web site. This can be done by using a successful Internet Marketing strategy, such as Findlaw provides to attorneys.
Conversion tracking can also be used to measure the return on your Internet Marketing investment, by assigning value to each converted prospect. To get the most value, you need to attract the most qualified customers. Targeted Internet Marketing will drive both conversion and value.
Efficiently spending your advertising dollars is an art form. It’s a bit like writing a book – you have to use skill, intelligence, creativity and planning to secure the highest return on your investment. Properly targeting your advertising is the best way to accomplish this. With online advertising we want to target with high granularity.
What is granularity? Granularity is the relative level of scale, depth or detail that characterizes an activity. For some people, the word granularity brings the image of sand to mind. So to simplify the notion of granular online advertising, imagine an hourglass – grains of sand slowly being narrowed and diverted at a finely tuned and precise pace. One by one they carefully slip through, automating the measure of time.
Now, imagine that the hourglass is your practice, the grains of sand are potential cases and the narrow gap between the two halves of the hourglass is your job. You must set the pace to select the cases that will provide the most positive outcome so you can maintain a successful business. Should you consider every case at once? How can you ensure that the cases you do consider will be within the correct scope of your practice? What if you could tailor and automate the screening process to save time?
This is how the granular approach to online advertising can help build a more successful practice.
We begin with a large pool of potential clients (lots of sand), with some being more qualified for your services than others. Rather than screening every single one you must devise a way to pull in the most qualified (narrow the gap to set the pace). This is why we advertise, and we want to get granular. Categories such as practice area, geographic location, and experience are important granular topics. Provide these details in your advertisements and your traffic – the stream of potential clients that seeks you out – will become more qualified, thus allowing your business to run more efficiently.
Now, how can we automate this effort to achieve maximum potential? Effectively, it would be nice to turn a key and let a process or system take over so that you’ll always be assured a steady stream of qualified traffic. This is the benefit of online advertising.
Online advertising is growing at an exponential pace. Every day millions and millions of potential clients search the web for legal services. Being an electronic medium, it is only natural to automate legal advertising so that the targeting is always precise. Somewhat like designating that a TV commercial for golf clubs always plays on the Golf Channel. Setting the ad targeting and trafficking parameters by utilizing granularity increases the likelihood of qualified traffic clicking on your ad and taking action to contact you. And, with automation we can target qualified traffic with precise granularity every time, thus effectively turning a key and letting a system do the work of delivering highly qualified prospects to your growing practice.
Search Engine Optimization is best explained through a real life scenario. Would you park your car and leave it unlocked in a questionable neighborhood? I’m guessing the answer is no. For many reasons you would think twice about where you would leave your vehicle and how secure it is.
Naturally, your best bet would be to park in a safe neighborhood, a concept Linda Palecek talks about as it pertains to Web sites in her Power of Association blog post.
The power of linking is incredibly valuable. Inbound links from a business partner’s Web site have the power to boost your site’s page rank. You can also return the favor by linking to their site – a client testimonial posted on their Web site or blog can both serve as a legitimate reference for a prospective reader and will also be seen favorably by the search engines. SEOMoz even suggests asking customers to link to your URL on correspondence such as invoices.
Like parking your car in that dimly lit neighborhood, you want to be certain the site you are linking to is legitimate and indexed by the major search engines. A number of credible blogs in the industry have found Bad-Neighborhood.com to be a good resource to scan a Web site before linking to it.
You also want to avoid linking to a “Link Farm” or a “Spamdex.” These are Web sites that solely hyperlink to other sites with pages consisting of only lists of Web sites and the Search Engines nearly always penalize Link Farms as soon as they find them. While you certainly can’t control what others link to, be aware whom you link to. You wouldn’t want to devastate your ranking on search engines because of a Web site’s questionable content.
The Internet is no doubt a powerful marketing tool
for attorneys. Internet marketing done correctly will attract more clients and
better qualified clients to a firm. However, many attorneys struggle to find
reliable, expert advice on how to successfully market their practice online.
FindLaw seminars offer attorney’s the chance to learn
Internet marketing strategy best practices from industry experts in a practical
and easy to follow format. These educational seminars provide attorneys insight
on the latest trends that a firm can leverage to attract prospects and convert
them to paying clients. Topics also covered by these seminars include how to
develop effective Web sites, improve search-engine rankings, market ethically
online and measure return on investment.
Almost 100 of these seminars are presented by FindLaw
each year throughout the U.S. in partnership with various bar
association and educational providers. In many cases these seminars are offered
for CLE credit. For a a schedule of upcoming events, to learn more about the
seminar program or to suggest a partner you’d like us to work with please
contact me.
1) These are still just estimates. Without someone totally sharing their traffic data with you, you can't ever get a precise read on someone's traffic. That being said, any inaccuracies should be comparable across most sites, so comparisons of two sites should still be pretty spot on.
2) Unlike the aforementioned traffic rating sites, Google has one big advantage; they're Google. And being Google, they have access to all the data they choose to share with themselves. According to Google, Google Trends for Websites "combines information from a variety of sources, such as aggregated Google search data, aggregated opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in consumer panel data, and other third-party market research..." This is an example comparing FindLaw.com to Lawyers.com. FYI, the graph is showing DAILY UNIQUE VISITORS for each site. Click the picture if you want to see this analysis "live" on Google. I posted just the past 12 months, but you can pick from a variety of time-frames.
On May 29th, FindLaw hosted two web casts on video under the title "Video: the Next High-Impact Marketing Tool for Attorneys." Our guest speakers included Laura Hamad, FindLaw Video Field Producer, and Don Sowers, Partner with Takakjian, Sowers & Sitkoff LLP in Los Angeles. Don is very active in the online legal field, and it's always exciting to hear his insights into the world of internet marketing. His comments below share in detail why video has become an important component of his online marketing plan.He specifically covers why video is a natural fit for law firms, how his potential clients have been influenced by their video, and how it has boosted his ROI.
Video Is Extremely Relevant To Law Firms “When I do the initial interview with a prospective client, I’ll often ask them: ‘Where did you learn about our firm?What was it that stood out for you?’More and more people are saying ‘Your video. Your video is something that really stood out to us.’Video is a natural marketing tool for law firms because the practice of law is really about communication and advocacy on behalf of a client.A prospective client is more likely to call your firm if they have heard and seen you speak.”
Video Creates Contact Opportunities “With video, the prospective clients are able to size up the firm, size up the lawyer and decide if this is someone they really want to speak to, which leads them to develop a level of trust to make them pick up the phone.”
Video Conveys Your Personal Image “Online video presence has become the word of mouth of yesteryear, a substitute for a referral from a friend or a neighbor. You are really communicating your own personal image, presence and character, just like a referral would be, but going out to a huge audience and making an opportunity to really get out there in front of your prospective clients.”
FindLaw Offers Unique Video Expertise “I was contacted by a number of companies that do video in L.A. (we have dozens) but I was not contacted by any that had worked with attorneys.Video has the same rules as print. FindLaw can protect you because they are sensitive to these [legal] issues. You want to make sure you are dealing with a company that is used to dealing with attorneys.That’s quite frankly one of the things that has put me at ease when dealing with FindLaw for so many years.”
Video ROI Is Much Stronger Than Yellow Pages “A number of years ago we’d spend 1 dollar [on Yellow Pages] and we’d probably get a 4 to 5 dollar return on that.And then, over the course of the last several years, Yellow Pages, with the advent of internet advertising, has taken a back seat.And now, if we spend 1 dollar, we probably only get a $1.25 return.So, the return on investment that you hear about, is just not there like it used to be. Well, we have obviously moved our dollars into internet marketing and the Web site, and for that, we have been seeing 3 to 4 dollars for every 1 dollar.
Now here is the good news: for the last couple of months that we had video up, we have seen a 6 or 7 times return, per month, on what we are spending for the cost of the video versus the amount that is coming in.Online video is certainly the vanguard here and it is something that the dollars are backing it up, for what you spend and what you getting in return as well.”
You are able to view the archive of the event by clicking here.
Today’s business owner is generally well aware of the importance of being found on the Internet to generate new leads. Even so, many folks still think that as long as they have enough clients and prospects today, they’ll continue to be able to sustain their future business growth based on referrals from today’s clientele. If that happens, great, but more likely is the case that you’d be missing a large QUANTITY of future business if you’re not easily found on the Internet.
Maybe even more important is the fact that you might also be sacrificing the QUALITY of potential clients and prospects if you are not using the Internet to bring in business. Just because your shop is running at max capacity doesn’t mean you are getting the highest returns from your invested resources!
The only way to establish an Internet presence that ensures both the QUANTITY and QUALITY of existing and future leads is to use a reputable company with extensive experience in the right areas.
With years of professional experience in the legal vertical, FindLaw services and solutions provide you the strong Internet legal presence you need to establish a foundation of quality contacts, both now and in the future.
Small businesses are rapidly venturing into social networks. A recent research found that 28% of small-business owners had registered for at least one social networking site. Nearly half of these respondents (49%) stated to have done this to "market and promote a business by creating a profile page," the second most named application after personal use.
For law firms that decide to take this step, it is a good idea to insert a link to their Web site in these profile pages to gain even more benefit from this presence.
Further background on this topic can be found here.
Remember when you were a kid and adults told you to pick your friends carefully because their reputation also reflects on you? This continues to hold true as adults, especially when you think about marketing. In a previous time I did media buying and planning for a large national retailer. I received solicitation after solicitation to advertise on anything from a milk container to a car door to the Super Bowl. I’m not going to say every option was considered equally, but we did read a lot of them. The thing we always kept in mind was what does that say about our brand? Is this something we want to be associated with? Does this relay the message of who we are and what we stand for?
I think these same questions hold true in legal marketing. It’s important to look at whom you partner with and determine if the reputation of this “friend” accurately reflects what you value.
You’ve likely heard the stats before, but they bear repeating: the majority of Internet users have watched online video and many do it regularly. This has you thinking that maybe you want to do online video too. There are many options to choose from and because this video will represent you and your firm, you want to select the right one. For instance, it’s important to compare the quality of the videos you’ll receive with the price you are going to pay. Look at what you’re getting. Does that final video reflect who you are and what you represent? Does it meet actual consumer needs? Would you watch the video if you were a consumer? There will almost always be a cheaper option just like there’s a high-end option – the key is to find the option that meets your needs and reflects your brand.
Another example I recently saw has to do with Web site linking. You can link your Web site to just about anything. You may even be frequently contacted to exchange links with a variety of different people. Again, it’s vital to think about what this link says about you. Does this site’s reputation align with your values and brand? Is it something you are proud to be associated with? Sure, it might help drive more traffic, but is it really the kind of traffic you want to have? Also, the more links you apply also provides more opportunities for the consumer to leave your site. Make sure they’re going to something you want to be associated with.
These are just a couple examples, but it’s important to consider these types of questions with any marketing you do. It’s important to continue to drive toward new clients, but in order to attract the type of clients you value as important, you need to carefully preserve the image your Web site through the use quality video and marketing, and by creating a network of trustworthy links.
