Legal Internet Marketing Blog

Over a month ago, Facebook announced the most expansive and innovative update to its site to-date: Facebook Timeline. However, the general public has yet to experience this new update for itself (at least those users who haven’t already gone out of their way to add the new layout to their profiles). While Facebook has hinted at multiple release dates over the course of the past month or so, the redesigned profiles have yet to become official, which has some people asking what the hold up is about.

For anyone who has kept on top of Facebook news since the social network’s f8 conference, it’s no secret that Facebook Timeline has fewer fans than the company anticipated it would. Given Facebook’s poor track record of user-pleasing platform updates though, it’s really no surprise that the general sentiment towards Timeline was less than positive. This time, however, it’s another web company that is possibly the most displeased opponent of Facebook’s new update.

Timelines.com is suing Facebook for the exact same thing that Facebook has gone after a variety of other companies for: using a term that it feels is directly tied to the branding of its company and is therefore off limits for all others to use. While it may be safe to speculate that Facebook will eventually make this matter fade into the past, a pending lawsuit could be the very thing that is tying up the release date of Facebook’s new profile layout. So, until this legal matter is cleared up in court or some sort of settlement is reached, Facebook Timeline will continue to sit on the shelf, waiting to be made available to the public, whether with open arms or not.

As far as legal Internet marketing campaigns are concerned, any updates to Facebook’s site should be examined, learned about, and utilized in whatever ways possible to help market one’s brand. In the meantime, the best strategy to maintain in regards to Facebook should be to maintain a complete and active profile. That is, if Facebook gives you an opportunity to reveal information about yourself, use it. That way, once the Timeline update does take place, you won’t have to worry about completing your new-look profile, but will merely have to embrace it, continue to be an active participant on it, and look for ways to help promote your company’s message.

We all have cravings. Whether they are for candy during the Halloween season or success as 2011 closely comes to an end, how can you discipline yourself not to binge?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but it’s important to know what it really means because it’s your key to establishing a strong online presence and achieving desirable search rankings. SEO comes in many flavors and can be viewed as a full course meal with many stages that require extensive planning and preparation. However, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. Simply, depending on where you’re starting from – an existing website or no website at all, what terms you want to rank for, etc. – it will take time to see and use the results.

An effective Internet marketing plan integrates keyword research as well as a balanced use of relevant links on websites, blogs, social media platforms, and much, much more. The brilliant and challenging thing about SEO is that how it is crafted can be different for everyone as the Internet continues to change. A universal factor, however, is that rushed and messy SEO will leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Tons of SEO and Internet marketing companies out there will tell you that they can easily create hundreds of websites for your business without telling you that this will be pointless if you don’t establish a foundation first. “Black-cat,” I mean, “black-hat” SEO tactics are tempting, but these are likely to be shut-down by Google and other search engines.

So where do you start? Best to take things one step at a time. Think this won’t be fast enough? If you are consistent and stay aware of the competition, then ethical SEO practices will pay off. To know where you want to go and how you’re going to get there when it comes to lasting search engine results, it’s important to look back at where you’ve been, but focus mostly on the present moment and what efforts need to be made NOW.

At SLS Consulting, for over 11 years our Legal Internet marketing team has been helping attorneys and law firms obtain successful search engine results that last. Applying effective SEO to custom website design, content management, social networking site development, and more, we are dedicated to helping our clients grow their business online. For a free growth assessment, call (323) 254-1510 today.

In our last blog post, we discussed how editorial calendars can help save businesses and law firms a lot of time, effort, and essentially, money.

A major thing that is great about editorial calendars is that they make it easy to see how much content is being created, how often, and when it will be published. This type of arrangement is beneficial when several people need access to content requirements, responsibilities, and scheduling.

An editorial calendar will also earmark what type of content is being written, on what days, and how frequently. In a nutshell, the editorial calendar gives you the big picture. It can combine Twitter, blog, and newsletter activity to keep you on task and ensure that your message is reaching your target audience and in different ways. A friend or personal trainer may have told you that if you do the same workout all the time, you might not actually be building the muscle or losing the weight you could if you mixed up your routine. The same goes for Internet marketing. If you only stick to one way of marketing online – only blog, only tweet, etc. – you may not notice the differences you’re seeking and may not achieve your desired results.

To hit your target and achieve your goals, you can’t just shoot in the dark. To make the most of your content, you must tie in the who, what, when, where, why, and how. In order to get started with how, contact SLS Consulting for a free growth assessment. For over 10 years, SLS has been helping law firms and attorneys achieve successful search engine rankings through legal content development, custom website design, and social networking. Call (323) 254-1510 today!

Keeping track of your marketing efforts and staying ahead of the competition can be exciting, but let’s not fool ourselves here; it can be exhausting too! Have you ever wondered if there’s a simpler, more organized way that you could be managing your content? Because content comes in so many different forms – web pages, blogs, press releases, articles, newsletters, etc. – keeping track of ideas, scheduling, and making sure it is effective, can send anyone into a frenzy. But there is hope!

Editorial calendars provide an efficient way for various businesses and law firms to stay on top of their Internet content marketing game. As highlighted in more detail in TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog, editorial calendars help business owners and writers alike determine what content will be created, when it will be created, in what format, and for which content outlet. Even better, digital editorial calendars monitor the distribution and rechanneling of that content throughout social media platforms. If repurposing content is done correctly and you have something noteworthy to share that will catch someone’s eye, you may find that you can reach a more targeted, or even a new, audience.

Editorial calendars also remind us about the different media we can use to emphasize the points we’re making in writing. Often, we forget the value of adding photos, graphs, and videos. For instance, if you have a WordPress blog, watch this video to see how an editorial calendar can make your life so much easier and make your work more efficient:

Visit our blog again for more information on how editorial calendars can help keep you sane!

For companies looking to create new business opportunities on social media sites, social networking can either be a blessing or a curse, and is often a combination of the two.

In some cases, companies fail to realize what social media is all about: being social. They fail to interact with people via social media, and are merely content to have profiles/pages on the most popular social media sites. The other half of the time, businesses fail to promote their company and its services, instead relying on witty (often non-business related) banter, jokes, and other less professional interactions to help acquire fans and followers. However, this sort of behavior is typically counterproductive, and often yields few, if any, potential client interactions. The trick is to find a happy medium between the two; to be both interesting and fun, but at the same time never loosing focus that your social media presence is for business purposes. Let’s discuss how to accomplish this.

1. First of all, always, always, ALWAYS take a second to think about what you’re posting. Is it appropriate for the workplace? Would you discuss it with a potential client during a meeting? Be sure to take these questions into consideration before every post and you’ll safeguard against inappropriate social media behavior for a business.
2. Next, be sure to focus your discussions and posts on your industry. While many companies post information about themselves, don’t be afraid to post information about others as well. If the information is industry-related, don’t be afraid to post about it. Your fans will appreciate the change of pace and your company’s willingness to talk about something other than itself.
3. Finally, be sure to keep up your profile, particularly where it asks for biographical information, and be professional and not too personal. Photos from your family vacation may be fun to look at for your fans, but they don’t say much about you in terms of your business. Be sure to regularly monitor your online reputation and begin to do so by making sure that your profile is an extension of your business self, not your personal self.

When it comes to legal Internet marketing campaigns, social media is essential these days, and the best way to approach social media interactions is to relate them to real-life situations. Every time you post, tweet, or update your profile, think of yourself as doing so during a business meeting with not only your current clients, but a large group of potential clients. Are you going to tell that crowd about your favorite type of food or what you thought about the movie you saw this past Saturday night, or are you going to display to them that you are a business professional, an authority in your field, and someone whom they can trust and count on for pertinent information about your particular industry. Social media sites call on individuals to be more social, but working professionals should never lose site of the fact that their profiles are being used for business purposes. Being an interesting authority on social networking sites isn’t easy to do, but it is possible. For more information about how to make the most out of your social media presence, connect with the legal Internet marketing team at SLS Consulting. Call (323) 254-1510 today!

One of the most common questions we receive from clients is whether or not social media marketing can result in new clients. In short, the answer to this question is YES, but it needs to be clarified.

Social media can net you new clients, but only if it’s properly utilized. That is, social media should be used to help foster relationships with both past and potential clients, and should positively promote a company and its services. Indirectly, this positive portrayal can (and probably will) lead to new clients, but it must be allowed to do so naturally. Specifically, you shouldn’t push your services on fans, followers, or connections. Simply show that you’re an authority in your respective field, take every opportunity to interact with your audience, and be as interesting as possible.

Social media is where word-of-mouth travels these days. People use social sites to praise products, criticize companies, and help their friends make decisions about purchases. If a company has a social media presence, it is then able to interact with those individuals (both supporters and opponents) who choose to talk about the company while online. Criticisms should carefully be taken into consideration and publically addressed whenever possible. Remember, just because someone negatively reviews your company, it doesn’t mean that your company is or should be viewed in a negative light. Take every opportunity you can to defend your company’s reputation, interact with others, and your company will build a foundation that is respected and paid attention to by potential customers.

Think of it like this: the odds of someone stumbling across your Facebook fan page and retaining your services is very slim. However, if you regularly update your Facebook page with information interesting enough to create discussion amongst your fans, and you engage in conversation with your fans, people are going to view your page as a place where discussion takes place. Knowing this, people may turn to your Facebook fan page for answers, will associate your company as an authority in its respective field, and will begin to place more stake in what you say than they do in what your less social media savvy competitors are talking about. This in turn can lead to positive word-of-mouth, and ultimately may lead to new clients.

Remember, unlike your website, which is a basically a screen shot of who you are as a company and what you are capable of, your social media profiles allow you to thoroughly depict your thoughts, ideas, and feelings about industry-related matters. For lack of a better description, social media allows companies to be more social, and social is what people want to experience these days before entering into a business relationship with a company.