Legal Internet Marketing Blog

Ten years ago, cell phones were predominantly used to make phone calls. Five years ago, most cell phone users were relatively acclimated to communicating via not only voice call, but text message as well. Today, cell phones are used not only to communicate, but to research, locate, entertain, and perform a multitude of other tasks. Consequently, mobile websites for attorneys and law firms have never been more important, particularly since the mobile Internet market is still in a somewhat young state, and will undoubtedly expand exponentially in the years to come. Just as technology will inevitably improve over time, so too will the relevance and importance of well optimized and fully functional mobile websites.

Today’s legal Internet marketing campaigns are more extensive than they were just half a decade ago. From blogs to mini-sites to social networking profiles, attorney and law firm marketing plans now include more than just a single website. Functional mobile sites are merely another example of the ever expanding world of effective legal Internet marketing, and making sure that your firm has a mobile site is becoming more and more necessary.

According to mobile statistics, more than 85% of new cell phones in 2011 will be mobile Web ready worldwide. In the United States and Europe, 90% of mobile phone users already have mobile Web capable phones. In the very near future, it’s safe to assume that all mobile phones will be mobile Web ready, which means that the practice of searching the Internet on a cell phone rather than on a desktop computer or laptop will become much more commonplace. Couple that notion with the ever expanding world of fast mobile Internet services (3G, 4G), and surfing the web on one’s cell phone is becoming easier and easier.

So what does this all mean for attorneys and law firms in regard to their legal Internet marketing strategies? Well, for anyone who’s recently upgraded their phone or purchased a new one, it’s very likely that applications like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr were already pre-installed on the phone, namely because these services are so popular amongst cell phone users. So, while it may not seem terribly relevant to have a presence on social media sites, a lack of presence will only ensure that mobile web users will never come across any sort of information related to your law firm. And, if you don’t have a functional mobile site that users can get to from those social media profiles, then you are certainly missing out on reaching billions of mobile web users worldwide.

In part two of our mobile site blog series, we will discuss the importance of having a mobile website that compliments your primary website and social media profiles.

Source: http://mobithinking.mobi/stats-corner/global-mobile-statistics-2011-all-quality-mobile-marketing-research-mobile-web-stats-su

Recently, Bing paired up with Facebook and rolled out its Social Search, which is similar, but not an exact replica, of Google’s system with the same name. While Bing’s search is solely Facebook-orientated, Google’s Social Search system integrates data from Flickr, Google Buzz, Twitter, Quora, and YouTube, in addition to the soon-to-launch +1 Button by Google.

To access Bing’s Social Search, users need to log into Facebook. Search results through Bing are then filtered by what a user’s friends “Like” on Facebook. As in, when a user is searching for something, Bing takes into account what their Facebook friends have liked and returns results based upon that information. Bing has dubbed the practice the “friend effect” and believes that people are more likely to trust what their circle of friends Like on Facebook. For example, if a user is searching airline tickets and finds that many of their friends clicked Like for Southwest, the assumption is that the user is much more likely to book through Southwest rather than United or other airlines.

Additionally, Bing will populate users’ Facebook feeds with search results if a user clicks Like for the results. For example, if a user searches Bing for flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco and clicks “Like” for the results, their Facebook profile will be updated with new offers of flights to San Francisco. While many Facebook users may view this as spam, other users may find it convenient. Many users may also be uncomfortable with linking search results to their Facebook, and it remains to be seen whether Bing will share users’ preferences with Facebook.

Bing’s launch of its own Social Search makes it more relevant than ever for attorneys and law firms to have a quality Facebook page that engages with and encourages users to Like. It is also important to consider finding a way to effectively integrate the Facebook Like button on both legal websites and blogs, making use of other relevant coding and tags in order to appear in search results. And hopefully, by being optimized socially for Bing, it will generate more likes for your Facebook page.

While the integration of social and search continues to evolve, think about what your legal Internet marketing goals are in relation to your target audience and reputation. To find out what kind of plan you need to fulfill these goals, contact the law firm Internet marketing team at SLS Consulting. Call 323-254-1510 today for a free growth assessment.

Source: http://www.searchenginenews.com/se-news/content/are-you-optimized-for-the-new-bing-social-search

A new Arava side effects website has just been announced by the Philadelphia pharmaceutical litigation lawyers at Anapol Schwartz. In supplying important and resourceful information on Arava side effects, liver failure dangers, FDA black box warnings, liver failure wrongful death, and Arava lawsuits, http://www.arava-lawyers.com/ provides resources for those who have sustained injuries and other harm from taking the arthritis drug or may know someone who has suffered from taking Arava (leflunomide).

In creating a website dedicated solely to Arava, the PA products liability attorneys at Anapol Schwartz hope to assist Arava injury victims and their families in better understanding the extent of potential side effects and possible litigation. The drug maker of Arava, Sanofi-Aventis, has been required to add a black box warning after the FDA reviewed the drug’s side effects in which 14 fatalities and at least 49 cases of serious liver damage were linked to Arava. The pharmaceutical product was approved in 1998 by the FDA to be used by patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

The new website also addresses Arava liver failure and other serious side effects due to Arava use such as jaundice, joint disorder, chest pain, brain disease (encephalopathy), blood clotting (coagulopathy), joint disorders, peeling or blistering skin, blistering on the inside of eyelids, nose or mouth, and other afflictions.

Legal websites that focus on such specific information, especially when it comes to a potentially dangerous prescription drug, do a great service to visitors, who are typically individuals hoping to obtain more than just a piece of valuable data – they want the full story. Creating a website for your law firm with detailed, relevant, informative, and interesting content is one of many important steps toward getting noticed by search engines and helping those searching for answers to difficult questions.

So do you want to know how to make a great website for your law practice? A website that will rank on the first page of Google results for the keywords you want? A website that not only attracts a lot of visitors, but also compels those potential clients to contact your firm to hire you? I’m about to tell you how to do it in this blog article. This is the formula that our firm, and anyone else who has built a successful legal Internet marketing campaign has followed to success and I’m about to reveal it here for you now, for free:

To build a great legal website, you need 3 things:

1. A well-structured and properly designed and optimized website


2. Relevant, compelling content about your law practice


3. Links to your website from relevant outside sources

That’s it. End of story. This is the formula that your competitors, the ones that show up on the first page of Google results for the areas of law you practice, have used to get where they are. This is the 3 step process that any internet marketing firm, legal or otherwise, employs to insure ultimate success.

Now go out there and make it happen for yourself!

... still here? I’m not surprised. I neglected to mention one thing: Volumes of books, articles and "self help" white papers have been written about each of these 3 small steps to Internet dominance. The reason I can tell you this ‘industry secret’ and not fear for our firm losing all of its clients is that very few Internet marketing firms put forth the time and effort required to launch a successful marketing campaign properly. As the homepage of our website states, ‘It isn’t magic, it just takes HARD WORK’.

Continue reading "How to Build a Great Lawyer Website" »