Legal marketing has acquired a dubious reputation over the years as audiences have been exposed to a slew of cheesy billboards and under-produced late night TV spots. Certainly not all attorneys participate in these tactics, but the ones who do are very visible. And as marketing moves online, some of the same bad habits are coming with it.
Attorney ads and websites tend to be ego-driven and focused only on the lawyer, proclaiming years of experience and a tough...
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If you received a manual action or unnatural links penalty on your website, it is not forever. The penalties, which may range from months to years, do have an intrinsic end date and are related, according to Distinguished Google Engineer Matt Cutts, to the “severity of the problem that Google sees.” There are no notifications sent when a penalty expires and if one has expired, the manual spam actions viewer...
Attorneys have to write. A lot. Writing for judges, colleagues, clients and blogs requires a different tone and level of formality depending on the audience. Online writing can be much less formal than official writing — sometimes throwing in an occasional, intentional grammar error is ok. Blog entries should be conversational enough to hold a visitor's attention, after all. But conversational does not mean sloppy. You are trying to be an authority, and repeating routine grammar errors works against...
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A website is only as effective as its ability to deliver leads. An aesthetically beautiful site is not functional if users do not immediately understand what you do, why they should contact you and how to do so. Successful sites employ a mix of attractive design, intuitive navigation and thoughtful calls to action. Here are some ways to build a website that is designed with conversion as a top priority.
1. Simplify. You are immersed in the culture...
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Attorney bios and about pages are underutilized resources. A website's home page and a firm's practice area offerings understandably receive a lot of attention. Such landing pages are a priority since they are in many cases the first page a visitor will see. However, attorney bios and about pages offer an opportunity for both individual lawyers and the firm as a whole to provide visitors with memorable reasons to become clients.
Analytics show that attorney bios are some of...
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The search marketing landscape is constantly changing. Google will continue to strive to stay one step ahead of companies trying to find an easy trick for achieving page-one rankings — and it will continue to succeed. Google is very open about what its algorithm is looking for in a quality site. It is also very willing to share what tactics it considers to be spammy and what can earn your site a penalty. Regardless, some old SEO habits are...
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Content marketing is not a new idea, but the growing ease of online media distribution has prompted a surge in the number of businesses wishing to take advantage of the trend. Content marketing is the process through which a business uses information to build brand awareness and trust. By providing helpful facts to an interested audience, the business becomes a thought leader and a resource for consumers.
Branded recipe books are an example of offline content marketing with which...
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When Yahoo and Yelp got together, no one expected that they would lose years of positive reviews from their Yahoo local listings. Although, the agreement did specifically state that Yelp reviews would be used on Yahoo local listings. However, the agreement went forward and virtually overnight, some local businesses lost their complete history of local reviews.
Now, when someone comments or reviews a restaurant, dry cleaner, flooring store or a law...
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On April 14, the Products and Services tab was removed from all LinkedIn Company Pages. With the Products and Services tab gone, recommendations are no longer available. The recommendations feature has caused debate among attorneys in the past, some of whom believe it may be unethical to display recommendations on a firm's Company Page.
LinkedIn announced the move in March, and it is allowing businesses who wish to save their recommendations to request copies from customer service until May...
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After a long, long winter, spring is finally here.
Spring is a time of new beginnings – and the start Q2 2014 – making it the perfect opportunity to take a look at old marketing goals and begin brainstorming on new ones. Why hang on to ideas and procedures that no longer work for your firm? Pausing to regroup and introduce fresh approaches can help your firm connect with prospects and build authority. Websites, social profiles and strategies...
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