Marketing is a process. Each piece, from social media to online marketing to TV ads to networking, has many moving parts. Some must be carefully coordinated to function as an integrated campaign. Others, you can work on individually as time permits. While the scope of all marketing activities combined can be considerable, there are things you can do in an hour or two that will advance your business development goals.
Here are ten valuable marketing actions you can take, even...
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Voice search is no longer a novelty. Increasingly, people are using personal assistants like Siri and Google Assistant to ask questions and perform basic searches. In May of 2016, approximately 20 percent of all searches performed on Google's mobile app and Android devices were done by voice. The popularity of products like Amazon Echo and Google Home will only increase consumers' comfort with voice search. Research by ComScore suggests that 50 percent of searches will be voice-based by 2020.
For six years, BrightLocal has been surveying consumers to better understand how they evaluate local businesses and make purchasing decisions. This year's survey assesses how consumers interpret and use online reviews to come to conclusions about businesses. Key findings show that people form opinions very quickly and that online reviews play an important role in developing these views.
Why are reviews important?
Online reviews are a form of social proof. A consumer searching for a service can...
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While the number of algorithm changes so far in 2016 has been lower than average, several no-name updates have stormed through Google's search results, disrupting top-page standard bearers.
In May, Google started issuing outbound link penalties and devaluing media sites. This caused a big shakeup as the ripple affect dethroned many highly-ranked page one listings and introduced some new websites to the top.
On Friday, September 2nd, Search Engine Roundtable reported that search engine marketers and tracking...
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Local citations tend to proliferate regardless of whether you are paying attention. Even if you have done very little active citation building, your firm's local information is likely listed tens if not hundreds of places across the web. If you are working actively on local SEO, you will likely find thousands of sites on which a you can build a listing for your firm.
Ensuring the accuracy of your local citations is critical to your firm's SEO efforts. Search engines...
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Google announced several changes to AdWords last week, targeted for mobile campaigns. The updates further demonstrate Google's position that we live in a mobile-first world, and website owners must adapt. Here is a brief overview, along with some steps your firm can take to plan a mobile advertising strategy that fits your goals and reaches your prospective clients successfully.
Expanded text ads
Expanded text ads will allow businesses to reveal more information about what is being advertised before users ...
Many attorneys are uncomfortable soliciting referrals from clients — and downright adverse to the idea of asking for testimonials. Firms can easily hide behind ethical concerns and bar regulations when cataloguing reasons not to ask for testimonials. And attorneys must, of course, take care to adhere to state bar guidelines regarding client feedback. But your firm can request testimonials ethically and within the purview of bar guidelines. Not only is this possible, it is a necessary element of doing...
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Google has changed the local search equation once again with a big update to its local listing pack. Last Thursday, Google began switching out its local 7-pack for a redesigned 3-pack, or Snack Pack. For all queries that produce a local pack, Google is now showing only three results instead of seven.
The new design eliminates some familiar data. Listings no longer include full addresses or phone numbers. Searchers can see the street name but must click through to the...
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Law firms with multiple locations may find it more difficult to rank well in local search results than those with only a single location. Size, which can be advantageous when building authority, does not necessarily translate into better local visibility. Each office has unique business data associated with it, and citations corresponding to each location can easily proliferate to unhealthy levels without consistent oversight.
Law firms of all sizes benefit from good local search visibility. Most legal issues are handled...
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Nationwide marketing campaigns are neither attainable nor necessary for most firms. The cost is high, and the ads will reach relatively few people who can actually take advantage of the firm's services. Instead, only people in specific areas and jurisdictions need to be exposed to marketing messages. With geotargeting, it is possible to reach very precise groups of people based on location.
Geotargeting is the practice of using information about an individual's location to deliver relevant content,...
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