Legal Internet Marketing Blog

What makes you trust a company? There are a variety of acceptable answers for this question, but one of the most important answers, particularly from a marketing standpoint, is WORD OF MOUTH. In today’s age of instant access to information, positive feedback from customers can quickly find its way to the friends of those satisfied customers…and their friends…and their friends (the same goes for negative feedback, but this shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a bad thing). In short, customer reviews can give a potential customer a good idea of what a company and its products are really like from the less biased opinion of a fellow consumer.

In the world of legal Internet marketing, word of mouth is most often associated with customer reviews. These reviews can be found on local listings sites, such as Google Places, professional networking sites, such as Linkedin, or social networking sites, such as Facebook. Regardless of where these reviews are located, they’re important, and for a variety of reasons.

Reviews on Google Places, which are generated on both Google and some third party sites, such as Insider Pages, are important because they are factored into search engine rankings. In short, the more reviews you have, the better. Reviews on Linkedin and other professional networking sites, such as the attorney rating site Avvo.com, are important because they accompany individual profiles that highlight an attorney’s experience and skills. These sites are often turned to by consumers to help differentiate between attorneys when deciding on whose legal services should be retained. Reviews on Facebook are important because they are the most viral of the bunch, appearing on the newsfeeds of friends, which may then be shared by those friends and so on and so forth. Ultimately, in social media, word of mouth is vital to a successful marketing campaign.

People tend to ask their family and friends for their advice when making important decisions. Hiring an attorney is certainly important, so it stands to reason that people are going to talk about such a decision with others. And, seeing that discussion these days has found its way onto the Internet, it’s important for attorneys to remember that online reviews and word of mouth are an essential part of marketing a business.

Remember, reviews, whether good or bad, present opportunity for you to address potential clients, regardless of whether or not you are directly corresponding with them. People see reviews, they read reviews, and they consider reviews. Make sure your legal Internet marketing campaign has them.

Want more clients? SLS Consulting can be the difference you need in your legal Internet marketing campaign. Call us today at 323-254-1510 for a free growth assessment of your law firm.

Mid August, Forbes very briefly ran a story entitled “Stick Google Plus Buttons On Your Pages, Or Your Search Traffic Dies”. Forbes quickly removed the story from its website, a sign that Google may not have been happy with the implication that was being made, namely the idea that search results will be directly impacted by the Google+ button, and those who don’t incorporate the button into their site will suffer the consequences. Given the considerable number of updates on the part of Google since the beginning of the year, it’s safe to assume that Google has a significant end goal in mind, and that the Google+ button will play a prominent role whatever that goal may be.

For attorneys and law firms, incorporating the Google+ button into your website should be a no brainer. Just do it. Regardless of how significant an impact the Google+ button may have on search results at this time, the impact is only going to undoubtedly grow as time passes. So why not be prepared and make the Google+ button part of your legal Internet marketing strategy? What do you have to lose? Especially when one can only assume, and rightfully so, that there are only gains to be had in adding the Google+ button, it makes sense to metaphorically “get in on the ground floor” before your competitors, and their search results, leave you behind, way back on page five even!

So, bottom line, put a Google+ button on your site. But, be careful along the way. If you choose to enlist the assistance of a marketing company, be sure that “black hat” tactics aren’t used to help bolster your rankings, especially using the Google+ button. While you may experience momentary success, Google will catch you, and your rankings will take a hit. When it comes to legal online marketing, hard work and proven “white hat” tactics are the only way to achieve strong search results for keywords and phrases you’re trying to rank for. Don’t trust a company solely because it promises you page one search results. Look to their past work as an indication for whether or not they are worth hiring. Remember, happy clients, both past and present, are the best indicators of a legal Internet marketing company that knows what it’s doing. Check out SLS Consulting’s testimonials to see what I mean!

In case you missed our tweetup last week, the SLS Consulting team discussed the importance of Facebook fan pages and how law firms, and businesses in general, can benefit from them.

We started off the conversation by pointing out that a Facebook fan page should be different from your personal, private Facebook page. Why have a Facebook fan page at all? It’s a great way to reach a wider audience as well as a more targeted one. Believe it or not, a lot of discussions happen online now, which is why it’s called “social networking,” and Facebook is first in the lead. If you’re not in the loop, you may miss out. Another benefit of a Facebook fan page is that it gets indexed by search engines, thus increasing your online presence and making your law firm easier to find.

During the tweetup, we also discussed how to get people to “Like” your Facebook fan page. Ultimately, if you put time and effort into your fan page, in addition to participating on other fan pages and profile pages, you will help make yourself known as an authority in your field. If you’re interesting and offer others insight visitors consider to be valuable, there’s a good chance they will want to share your fan page and your information with their friends.

Having a successful Facebook fan page requires you to be consistent and aware of what tools to utilize. Post relevant pictures, links, and videos to engage people more. Update your status regularly and don’t always make it about you. Notes are a great tool because you can use simple html to include links back to your site or other sites of interest.

Deciding to create and manage a Facebook fan page may seem like a giant leap at first, but you’ll get the hang of it. To learn more about how to make the most of your Facebook fan page, read the entire transcript of our tweetup, “Do People LIKE You?”, on our Facebook page. Also, feel free to direct message us on Twitter – our account is @LegalBlogs.

To join the discussion next time, find us on Twitter at 10 a.m. on Fridays. Include #knowSEO with your tweets or send us a direct message for more information.

In the world of legal Internet marketing, everyone is always looking for the next best thing, even if that thing isn’t necessarily a new concept. These days, one thing is clear: video is a good thing. Since Google’s Panda update, it’s no secret that the search engine giant loves video. In fact, including video on your website will not only make your content more interesting and interactive, but it may help you rank better in search results.

According to recent search data, YouTube is the second largest search engine (in terms of general searches made on the site each day). Think about it. When was the last time you visited YouTube? What did you do after you watched that first video? If you’re like most people, you probably didn’t just stop after that first one. You probably watched more than one video, maneuvering from link to link, not even realizing how long you’d actually been on the site. In short, the immense popularity of video could be linked to one simple concept. People like to be shown things. While reading through website content or a blog entry can certainly inform an audience, videos can help enhance the user experience, which results in users spending more time on your site and hence assisting your site in ranking better.

So, what does this mean for a legal Internet marketing campaign? Basically, it means you should be willing to put your face, your firm’s message, and your knowledge center-stage on video. If people are willing to give your video a chance, they will naturally be willing to give your photo a chance, and may then take an interest in information about your firm, which could ultimately lead to them poking around your website. And that’s the end goal, isn’t it? Attracting new users to your website should always be priority number one.

Having video is but one component of any successful attorney’s Internet marketing campaign. Combine that with an effectively optimized website, a well-written blog, and a host of social media profiles, and you’re bound to rank well in search results and reach the computer screens of potential clients in your area. And remember, as with all aspects of marketing, don’t overdo it with video. You don’t need hundreds of videos to make your marketing campaign better, just don’t neglect video altogether.

SLS Consulting has been helping attorneys and law firms obtain high Internet search engine results for over 11 years. Our team implements search engine optimization and custom website design to ensure successful online results. To learn how we can help you grow your business online, call 323-254-1510 today.

Are you on Twitter? Did you know that for even the least social person in the world, Twitter is a great place to interact with other users and post links to your own work? And did you also know that, as an attorney, there are many people that may turn to your legal prowess on Twitter during their time of need? In you answered “no” to any of those questions, you’re unfortunately missing out on one of the best ways to promote your online brand, and interact with others who have already done a good job of marketing themselves.

Twitter is the world’s most recognizable micro-blogging service. In 140 characters or less, users are able to talk about anything they want, and are even allowed to post shortened URLs to web addresses that would otherwise be too long and cumbersome to include. Pictures can be posted, links to social media profiles can be shared, websites can be promoted, and links to blog articles can be automatically posted. Twitter users have “followers,” not “fans” or “friends.” Unlike Facebook, where users are likely to personally know the people whom they interact with, Twitter users generally follow individuals and companies whom they typically do not know in real life, but are interesting enough to subscribe to, nevertheless.

For law firms and attorneys, having a presence on Twitter can only be beneficial. Not only does it allow for a forum to address client questions, concerns, and complaints, but it also allows companies to post links to photos, videos, blog articles, and other interesting web pages. For Twitter users who establish themselves as authorities in their respective fields of law, priority ranking amongst search results can be another benefit. That is, Twitter accounts that are recognized as authoritative, and that have a fair amount of “real” followers, are awarded by search engines, such as Google, and are often highlighted in search results. Obviously, if an account benefits from this search engine boost, so will all links that the account Tweets about.

Bottom line, it’s good to Tweet. While it may seem as though no one is listening to what you’re saying via Twitter, gaining followers is a good indication that people are listening. How do you gain followers? Be interesting, be informative, and be yourself. People want to follow people and companies that are real, those who are clearly willing to interact with others and engage in discussion. Remember, if you’re just posting links, and not doing much else, the whole social component of this social networking site is lost. Talk to people, like you would bumping into them on the street, direct them back to your brand, and you’ll be followed in no time.

Using social media can seem overwhelming at first, but the team at SLS Consulting helps guide lawyers in the right direction. We utilize the latest in social networking, web development, and blogging to help our clients establish and maintain a strong web presence. Call us today at 323-254-1510 for a free growth assessment.

For a law firm or any type of business, the Internet can be a treacherous place where your competition may jump at the chance to destroy you. A recent blog post of ours addressed online business reputation ransoming in which moving companies were being given false negative reviews on Google Places by reputation management companies who later contacted them for business. Now, people are not only spamming the Google Places profiles of their local competitors with fake, negative reviews, they are also reporting their competitors’ businesses as CLOSED.

A Search Engine Guide article discusses these recent and upsetting events occurring on Google Places. About 97% of consumers use the Internet to find a local business, which is why the majority of businesses create and manage a Google Places account. If business is that slow that a person needs to falsely report their competitor’s business as closed, then this creates a big problem in an already struggling economy. An even bigger problem, however, is why Google has allowed such deceptive practices to take place. Why aren’t Google Places owners notified through a confirmation email that their business has been reported as closed? Wouldn’t this provide an effective and reasonable way for accounts that reported the business closed to be manually reviewed so they can be banned? Sure, you could say that spammers will always find new ways of slipping through the cracks of the system, but shouldn’t every possible precaution be taken, especially when a businesses’ reputation and profits are on the line? We all know how hard it is to get a good Google Places ranking and the hoops Google puts you through to get it… so why is it so easy to get your listing shut down???

As Google works on making false closure reports more difficult to manifest, businesses and marketing companies should frequently check Google Places listings for false closure reports. Equally important is for Google Places users to keep their heads on straight. Don’t give in to the temptations of false reviews and false closure reporting. This will not benefit you. If everyone starts making false reviews and false closure reports, how will people be able to trust Google Places local listings anymore? If your business can’t be found on the Internet, a free perk Google Places makes possible, your profits will diminish.

The potential threat of Google Places sabotage should not deter you from having a Google Places account and it certainly should not stop you from establishing a presence and authority online. In the end, your ethical practices will outshine the unethical approaches to Internet success. In the meantime, you can still be tough and ethical at the same time by arming yourself with knowledge about these events and how to prevent and solve them. If you back down, then the other side wins. The power of knowledge is your first defense.