Legal Internet Marketing Blog

A recent article featured on Search Engine News (“Businesses Sabotaged by Negative Reviews”) discussed some online tactics that are unfortunately becoming more common, and may become more prevalent should Google not take action soon.

The article summarized the problem a moving company in New York recently faced, after a lot of negative 1-star reviews began to pop up on the Place Page for the company. The business owner repeatedly flagged the reviews as inappropriate to have the reviews removed by Google. Then, the owner contacted others within his industry and learned they were having the same problem with reviews, many of which were quite similar. After a Google search targeting a specific phrase from several reviews was conducted (“NOBODY DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY”), the owner and his industry friends found that over a hundred moving companies across the U.S. had been hit with similar reviews. Soon after, many of them were contacted by reputation management companies that claimed they could remove the negative reviews, and even add positive reviews about the company for a fee while promising they have a special relationship with Google, which they of course do not have.

You may be asking yourself what actions Google is taking to prevent such reputation ransoming from occurring. The article reports that they are aware of the situation and are working to remove the fake negative reviews. However, it is taking some time for them to be taken down, which can be harmful for business affected by these unfair and deceptive practices. Obviously, Google should explore options regarding what can be done to ensure such false and malicious reviews are not published, and whether or not a review process can be implemented so potential customers and clients do not read untruths regarding businesses.

This story serves as an important reminder that there are many untrustworthy companies out there looking to prey on others who may not be aware of their dishonest practices, which is why you always need to be careful of who you are doing business with. Working with a company that engages in what you could essentially call black-hat tactics can only serve to hurt you.

It is also critical that you pay close attention to your online reputation, as failing to do so can be damaging, as this story shows. You should work hard to make sure you receive actual positive reviews from your clients, and you should never have to pay for them. Simply ask your clients to review your law firm on Places, which should serve to push down the negative reviews, if any are present. You should take any negative review seriously and work to fix any addressed problems. If you believe any review is fake, immediately contact Google.

You should also keep in mind that Google is constantly evolving, and is now more than ever promoting user-generated content (UGC), as a recent Mashable article noted. Customer reviews are being given very high rankings in search results, meaning you should do what you can to increase the quantity as well as the quality of the reviews your clients write about your law firm.

Additional source: http://mashable.com/2011/08/23/ugc-seo-google/

At our most recent tweetup, the SLS Consulting team discussed press releases, and how, although the Internet has changed since they were first implemented, they still play a critical part in every legal Internet marketing strategy.

These days, attorney press releases have to be carefully optimized, though not excessively, in order to rank well in search engines for relevant keywords and terms. Having an optimized press release gives a website valuable backlinks for credible news sites, which only serves to further increase the ranking of the website for those keywords. Press releases also have long-term SEO value since they are indexed and maintained on third-party sites. It is an important distinction to make that press releases are not blogs; rather, they are more extensive and focus more on unique, newsworthy items, while blogs tend to be more general interest and information pieces.

We also talked about what makes a press release bad, and conversely, what makes a press release good. The following were a few tidbits that were shared:

• If a press release is stuffed with keywords, it’s not readable, and therefore less likely to be shared and distributed.
• If a press release has too many links, it seems like spam. Two links per 500-600 words is a good goal to have, and it focuses search engines on relevant terms.
• It is vital for a press release to have a social element; as in, ways for people to comment/Like/tweet or otherwise share with their networks, otherwise it won’t go anywhere.

Several other helpful tips regarding press releases were discussed, including what should be done once a press release has been submitted. One suggestion is to share the press release on popular bookmarking sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon. According to a recent Mashable article, StumbleUpon now drives over 50 percent of social media traffic.

To read more of the discussion and to learn more tips about press releases, you can read the full transcript of our tweetup, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Press Releases,” on our page on Facebook. You can also send us a direct message on Twitter—our account is @LegalBlogs.

We’ll be taking a break from our weekly tweetups for the Labor Day holiday, so the next tweetup will be on September 9. We plan to discuss Facebook fan pages, and how attorneys can best utilize them in their legal Internet marketing campaigns. If you would like to participate, find us on Twitter at 10 a.m. on Fridays, and include #knowSEO with your tweets, or send us a direct message for more information. Talk to you soon!

LinkedIn and how attorneys can best utilize this important social networking site was the topic of SLS’s most recent tweetup. Along with a few other participants, the SLS Consulting team discussed and shared several valuable tips.

Many people fail to see that LinkedIn can be a critical component of a legal marketing strategy, and simply pass it off as another Facebook. This is nowhere near true, and for attorneys particularly, it is a place business professionals can establish themselves as an authority in their field. LinkedIn also offers attorneys and other professionals a place to interact with one another, which may result in referrals.

Regarding best practices for attorneys using LinkedIn, several of the tips our team shared were the following:

• If another language is spoken, have a profile in that language (a user is able to have their profile in more than one language)


• Include blog posts, display Twitter updates, and include the firm’s AV rating on profile


• Participate in industry networking


• Keep an eye on competitors


• Participate in relevant LinkedIn Groups & Answers to enhance credibility

Other suggestions were shared as well, in addition to discussing many of the most under-utilized aspects of a LinkedIn profile, and how attorneys can be sure not to forget these subtle, yet vital details that further enhance their profile. For example, many LinkedIn users use their names for their vanity URL, but they are not limited to doing so. Attorneys can use relevant keywords and phrases to help market their brand. For example, http://www.linkedin.com/in/SLSinjuryattorney (obviously replace SLS with a location).

For many other LinkedIn tips, you can read the transcript of this tweetup, “Why Lawyers Should Like LinkedIn Lots,” on our Facebook page, or tweet at or direct message @LegalBlogs on Twitter.

During our next tweetup, we will be talking about press releases, and how they can be utilized by attorneys as part of their legal Internet marketing strategy! To join us, you can find us on Twitter on Friday at 10 a.m. PST. Just include #knowSEO with your tweets, and if you get lost, send us a direct message! See you there!

During our most recent tweetup, the team here at SLS Consulting talked about Twitter, and how lawyers and law firms as well as other businesses can best utilize this valuable marketing tool.

While most attorneys are aware that they can use Twitter to share links to their blog posts and press releases, many forget that Twitter is another social media platform and fail to actually be social. Talking with other attorneys, discussing what’s happening in their local community, answering legal questions… there’s unfortunately so much lawyers fail to do on Twitter. Showing online audiences your personality can make them want to engage with you further.

We also talked about many common mistakes lawyers and law firms make on Twitter, such as only sharing links, and not including a description of the link when posting the tweet. Both actions scream, “SPAM!” Attorneys should also shy away from including trending hashtags with their tweets in order to appear in Top Tweets searches, unless including the hashtag is actually relevant. Consistently tweeting is also key; users will be turned off if an account has a flurry of activity only to not tweet for days or even weeks at a time.

Importantly, links on Twitter are valuable, particularly when tweeted from established accounts. In particular, when a link is retweeted, doing so is found to translate to rankings increases in organic search. Search engine giants Google and Bing incorporate data from Twitter as well as other social media platforms into their search results, making the activity on Twitter all the more valuable.

We also discussed what can make Twitter accounts successful. For that information and more, read the transcript of this tweetup, "Successful Twitter Accounts and SEO", on our Facebook page or send @LegalBlogs on Twitter a direct message or tweet.

This coming week, the topic of our tweetup will be the value of LinkedIn for attorneys. To participate, join us on Twitter on Friday at 10 a.m. PST and include #knowSEO with your tweets. Be sure to search the hashtag to follow the discussion, and feel free to ask questions! We hope to talk to you soon!

In Part 1 and Part 2 of our three-part series on the legal Internet marketing cycle, we examined the importance of establishing a rapport with people via well utilized social media profiles, and then discussed how blogging should be used to really sell yourself as an authority on the particular area of law that you practice. Therefore, the third area of the cycle that we will talk about is your primary means of marketing yourself: your website.

When designing your legal website, it’s important to remember three things:

One, the site should be easy to navigate. This is extremely important for any website, and should not be ignored during an initial website design or even redesign. If it’s even slightly difficult to maneuver from one area of your website to another, visitors to your site are going to want to navigate away from it. The best way to ensure that your website is properly laid out is to retain the services of an experienced web design company who not only talks the talk, but has positive client testimonials to validate its work. If other attorneys have been satisfied with a particular web design company, chances are very good that you’ll be satisfied as well.

Two, the site should be informative, while also being interesting. The best attorney sites on the Internet find a good balance between discussing the law, which in technical terms can be relatively dry and explaining their legal services in such a way that website visitors feel invited to contact their law firm for more information. It’s relatively simple to place a snippet of civil or penal code on a practice area page, but it takes well written and engaging content to explain that code to non-lawyers. While it may make sense to you to incorporate as much legal jargon as possible as a means of establishing yourself as someone who understands the intricacies of the law, be sure to actually show that you understand the law and explain it in laymen’s terms that anyone visiting your website will be able to understand.

Three, the site isn’t going to be found on the Internet without search engine optimization. If you don't have an optimized website, it is not going to rank well, and is consequently going to be difficult for potential clients to find. Once your keywords have been carefully chosen and your site is optimized to rank well, be sure to regularly update your website content to reaffirm your credibility as an authority in your particular area of law (this is important for not only clients, but search engines as well). Remember, once a person finds their way to your website, that person is more than likely close to making a decision about who they want to retain as their attorney.

Keeping all of the above information in mind, think of your website like an engagement. After a visitor sees your website, and you inform them to call your office, are they going to say yes? Make sure that you always put your best foot forward to help ensure that you don’t get rejected. Create a well rounded legal Internet marketing experience via social media profiles, blogging, and a well designed website, and hopefully you’ll soon find a lot of people want to say “yes” to your firm.

To read the transcript of one of our tweetups on the topic of the Internet marketing cycle, check out our Facebook note.

For our sixth weekly tweetup, held on August 5, the SLS Consulting team discussed the popular social networking platform Facebook, as well as using it as a part of an effective marketing strategy for attorneys, law firms, and other businesses.

Many attorneys balk at the idea of marketing themselves or their law firm on Facebook, but doing so can be incredibly valuable. Having a Facebook Page provides an opportunity to highlight the firm’s strengths, facilitate discussion by sharing interesting articles relating to the community or law, as well as a place to interact with others, which is critical.

Facebook users are looking to interact with a real person behind a business, so it is of vital importance that Facebook Pages be real, and not just a place to automate your blog posts and only talk about your law firm. It’s also important for lawyers to address comments made on their Facebook Page, whether good or bad. Responding to negative comments can speak volumes about them as a person and of their law firm. In our tweetup, we also touched on several unique ways lawyers can interact with users on Facebook, as well as some do’s and don’ts when it comes to etiquette.

If you’d like to read the transcript of this tweetup, as well as learn more about how to market your law firm on Facebook, you can visit the SLS Consulting Facebook page or reach out to us on Twitter. We’re tweeting from the @LegalBlogs account.

To join our weekly tweetup, find us on Fridays at 10 a.m. PST on Twitter. All you need to do is include #knowSEO with your tweets to participate. This Friday, we will be discussing Twitter, and how it can be utilized best by lawyers and law firms, as well as other professionals and businesses.

If you have questions, send us a tweet or direct message! We hope we will be talking with you soon!

According to Mashable, Google Realtime Search will be returning, and this time, it will include data from Google+, as well as other social media sources.

Back in 2009, Realtime Search was launched in which real-time search integrated into search results pages. The search would incorporate information as things happened around the Internet—for example, live tweets from Twitter, news articles, data from public Facebook Pages, Yahoo! Answers, and more, would be on the actual result pages for a search. Anytime a major current event was making headlines, Google Search would display Facebook updates, live tweets, and data from other social media services that discussed the recent news, making the search engine more relevant during these major events.

Also in 2009, Google’s main competitor Bing made deals with both Facebook and Twitter to integrate status updates into its search engine. Recently, Bing further expanded on Facebook integration in its search results, displaying much more data from Facebook profiles and the Facebook Like button.

Last month, Realtime Search was taken down after Google failed to reach an agreement with Twitter regarding continued access to Twitter’s data. Without a constant stream of live tweets, Realtime Search was nowhere near as useful. However, in a recent panel, Google Fellow Amit Singhal disclosed that the Google Search team is working actively on bringing back Realtime Search. He also said that his team was running tests that incorporated data from Google+ as well as other social media sources. It was not discussed whether or not a deal had been made with Twitter, or whether Google saw such a deal as being important for its new version of Realtime Search.

Interestingly, it was also announced at the panel that the Google Search team is working on creating a search engine exclusively for the Google+ stream.

Sources: http://mashable.com/2011/08/04/google-realtime-search-revive/, http://mashable.com/2009/10/21/bing-facebook-twitter/ and http://mashable.com/2011/05/16/facebook-bing-integration/

In Part 1 of our three part series about legal Internet marketing techniques, we discussed social media and the role it plays in the grand scheme of an attorney’s legal Internet marketing cycle. Whereas social media should be considered the icebreaker of the relationship, blogging should be likened to the conversations one has after introductions have been made. However you want to look at it though, a legal blog represents an opportunity to establish yourself as an authority on the particular area of law that you practice.

Have you ever sat down at your computer and read legal blogs (Blawgs)? Unfortunately, a lot of them offer little insight into the legal profession. More specifically, a lot of attorney blogs read more like advertisements than they do informative writing meant to captivate or inform the reader. For example, if there are two attorney blogs out there, and one of them merely recaps the details of a recent accident while the other one examines the various aspects of the accident and what those details may possibly mean for individuals involved in such accidents, the blog that has the greater degree of analysis is going to be better received. More importantly however, the latter, more informative blog, is going to have a much greater chance of promoting return readership than the blog entry that merely rehashes the details of a local news story or article.

When it comes to blogs, it’s important for attorneys to realize that blogs represent an opportunity to show they understand something that a lot of people don’t. If everyone out there understood tort law and the criminal defense process, there would be no need for lawyers. During the first meeting between an attorney and client, the client needs to be reassured that hiring the attorney is going to be the right decision to make. In order to come to this determination, the attorney needs to show that he or she understands the law and can offer a sound legal strategy to be put forth on behalf of the client. If the attorney fails to do this, the client will not retain the attorney’s services. This process is very similar to acquiring an audience for a legal blog. Unless you can sell yourself as an authority on the particular area of law you practice, you are never going to have a substantial blog audience.

Ultimately, blogs are a way to continually show that you are a knowledgeable attorney. If your blog is interesting and informative, readership will steadily grow and positive word of mouth will drive more traffic to not only your blog, but your primary website as well. Blogs represent the courting stage of your relationship with a client. Don’t blow it!

Legal Internet marketing campaigns range from minimalist to extreme. It’s no secret though that the more time you put into your advertising campaign, the more likely it is that you will acquire new clients because of your efforts. While many attorneys scoff at the idea of using social media as an outlet to connect with potential clients, its use, when coupled with relevant, well-written content posted on both a website and a blog, can be a very effective tool to establish a relationship with a large audience. The end goal, of course, is to create positive word-of-mouth chatter that may ultimately lead to referrals.

By now, everyone has heard of Facebook, Twitter, and, thanks to the success of its recent IPO, Linkedin. As an attorney interested in expanding his or her Internet marketing campaign, it only makes sense to establish a foothold on each of these social media websites, particularly since they are not only FREE and heavily trafficked by Internet users far and wide, but because search engines are constantly reworking their algorithms to take into consideration social media relevance. So, when it comes to social networking, how much is enough, and when does social media participation become excessive?

If you want your Internet marketing campaign to be effective, it’s important to be everywhere your audience is. If there are half a dozen densely visited sites out there that can all potentially benefit your law firm, then it’s important to establish yourself on all of them. Many attorneys often make the mistake of solely creating a presence on one social media site, often applying the logic that it’s better to have some presence than none at all. While this does apply, a well-rounded, multi-site traversing social media presence is always better, if only because you are not ignoring portions of your potential audience and reaching out to as many potential clients as possible. Ultimately, it’s a numbers game: the more people you interact with, the more people there are who can potentially retain or recommend your services to others.

Bottom line, social media should always be likened to an important social event. It’s important to be there, it’s important to mingle with as many people as possible, and it’s important to be interesting so that those people want to continue listening to you. As for what you should be saying, be sure to allow your knowledge and experience to shine through and you’ll establish yourself as a trusted authority figure that your audience can and will turn to in the event they need legal assistance. Social media should be considered an avenue for virtually meeting your potential clients. Blogging, on the other hand, should be utilized as a means to engage your audience on a more technical level, and should be used in tandem with social media and a great website to help establish your online presence.

Part 2 and Part 3 of our blog series on Legal Internet marketing techniques are just around the corner, so keep an eye out!

On July 29, the team here at SLS Consulting hosted our fifth tweetup, an ongoing discussion on Twitter that discusses key issues that relate to attorneys and Internet marketing. For our fifth tweetup, we talked about blogging, and why so many attorneys are resistant to the idea of blogging—and why that opposition should be overcome.

There are many benefits to an attorney or law firm blog. In addition to building links and helping web content get indexed, blogging can showcase how much experience an attorney has in their area of law. However, lawyers need to take care not to overwhelm readers with legal jargon. Blogging provides attorneys with the opportunity of disclose legal information in a less formal way. Having a blog also offers lawyers with the chance to discuss other relevant issues pertaining to their area of law, in addition to talking about local issues, firm news, and more. Blog comments from users also supply attorneys with a place in which they can have an honest discussion and a place to respond to feedback, negative or positive. This discussion can also cause users to return to your blog, which is the ultimate goal of a blog.

To read the transcript of our tweetup in its entirety and learn more about attorney blogging, visit our page on Facebook. Next week, we plan to talk about Facebook, and in the weeks after that, we’ll continue to get specific and share our tips and knowledge regarding Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

If you’re interested in joining our weekly tweetup, you can join us on Twitter every Friday at 10 a.m. PST! We’ll be tweeting from the @LegalBlogs account, and to participate, all you have to do is include the hashtag #knowSEO with your tweets. Be sure to ask questions and respond to the questions we and others ask. Hope to see you there!

During our most recent weekly tweetup, the knowledgeable team here at SLS Consulting continued to discuss important issues relating to Internet marketing. Specifically, we talked about web content, and why it’s an important part of websites and online marketing strategies that can often be overlooked.

There’s been a lot of chatter about content recently, particularly since Google’s most recent algorithm change, Panda. Such search engine algorithm changes serve as a reminder that well written content is king; not content that is stuffed full of keywords and isn’t written with a target audience in mind. We also covered how content helps in establishing yourself as an attorney and/or your law firm as an authoritative figure by boosting search engine rankings and business. In addition, we discussed several helpful tips in making content more appealing to readers. We talked about the most beneficial way to add new content, and how to draw readers in with your new content by using the “social media cycle”: sharing it on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

You can read the transcript of this tweetup in its entirety on our Facebook page. For our next tweetup, we’ll be conversing about blogging; and after that, we’ll get specific and share our knowledge and tips on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. To join us, find us on Twitter at @LegalBlogs every Friday at 10 a.m. PST! All you need to do is include #knowSEO on your tweets, ask questions, and respond to what we and others ask. We hope we will be talking with you soon!