getting your firm working online grow your firm

55
WORKING ONLINE www.growyourfirm.com.au GETTING YOUR FIRM

Upload: lawfirmmarketing

Post on 08-Sep-2014

1.418 views

Category:

Business


1 download

DESCRIPTION

 

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

WORKING ONLINE

www.growyourfirm.com.au

GETTING YOUR FIRM

Page 2: Getting your firm working online   grow 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

Page 3: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 4: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

[email protected]

1300886322

Page 5: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

WebsiteDesign

Page 6: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

<<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.

Page 7: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 8: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 9: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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?"

Page 10: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 11: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 12: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

SearchEngineOptimization

Page 13: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 14: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 15: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 16: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 17: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 18: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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…”

Page 19: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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?

Page 20: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 21: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 22: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 23: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 24: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 25: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 26: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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."

Page 27: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 28: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 29: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 30: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 31: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 32: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 33: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 34: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

EmailCampaigns

Page 35: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

<<BacktoTableofContents>>

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

Page 36: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 37: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 38: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

SocialMedia

Page 39: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

<<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

Page 40: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 41: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 42: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 43: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 44: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 45: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 46: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

recentresearchhas shownthatoutofdatewebcontentgenerallygives usersa poorpercep3onof

yourfirmgenerally.

So,workoutwhois goingtomaintainitandofcoursepulltogetherandcoordinate whatgoesup.

This person,orpreferablyagroupofpeopleshouldalsobethinkingabouthowsome contentcan

bepackagedwithflairofinnova3on.

AtGrowyourFirmweknowthiscoordina3onandofcoursemaintenancecanbedifficultandwecanprovideitinourbundleofservices,ifnecessary.Or,ifyourLawFirmis s3ll wrestlingwiththe

idea,oritwantsmoreinforma3on,wecandothattoo.

LearnmoreaboutLawFirmStrategy.

Page 47: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

GoogleAnalytics

Page 48: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

<<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

Page 49: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 50: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 51: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 52: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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.

Page 53: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

Page 54: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm

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

NeedHelp?

[email protected]

Page 55: Getting your firm working online   grow your firm