I wanted to post a brief update reminding you just how important checking your work for “content scraping” is.  

This has been happening a lot lately in the cyber world, but I was really inspired to write on this after my friend and renowned Virginia personal injury lawyer, Ben Glass,  had content directly stolen off his website by another Personal Injury attorney.  You can read more about the unauthorized use of Ben Glass’s legal marketing and informational materials here.

Whether you write your own web copy/ marketing materials or you may pay someone a nice fee to do it for you, I’m sure you don’t want someone else reaping the benefits of your work.

So to ensure other people aren’t using your content, I recommend you visit www.copyscape.com every now and again and test out some “unique” phrases from your work.    You can also use http://www.fairshare.cc to ensure your blog copy is not published illegally by someone else.

Either way, be proactive with your web copy and assign someone in your office the task of keeping tabs on this.  When you stop someone from making money with your copy, you’ll be glad you took the time to do this. 

Photo Courtesy of Flickr

So you have a website for your legal practice. Great!

The next step is making sure people can FIND your website by implementing some basic Search Engine Optimization or SEO tricks.

Now before you get scared of this “techy jargon,” realize that SEO is not rocket science.  To prove this, I am going to list 5 simple steps that YOU can do immediately to help your site perform better in the search engines:

1.       Figure out what your “keywords” are.

A keyword is a word or phrase that people might type in Google to find your business.  An example of this may be “estate planning lawyer California” or “creating a will in NJ”.   If a potential client types these phrases in Google and the words don’t appear on your site, you will not be listed in the search results.

So, to make sure you can be found when clients set out for legal services, you need to figure out exactly WHAT these people are searching for and re-write your web pages accordingly.

One of the easiest ways to find out what people are searching for is to use the free keyword tool in Google Adwords. 

To get started, simply type in what you THINK people are looking for in your area. 

Maybe you type in “products liability lawyer TX” and immediately notice that more people are searching for “defective product lawyer in Texas”.    You’ll then make a list of what’s actually being searched and keep handy it for the next step.

2.       Change your web pages to reflect your keyword research.

Once you know what people are searching for in your practice area, you’ll need to change (or have your webmaster change) the content on your pages accordingly.

That may mean changing page titles, subheadings and content to include the keywords you found during your research.  So for example, a subheading that previously read “Contact Us” should be changed to something keyword friendly like  “Contact a New York Family Lawyer Today”.

You’ll also want to change the text used to describe the links on the page.  For example, a link that previously looked like this—click here  should be changed to include your keywords like click here for articles from our GA estate planning attorneys.

3.       Grow inbound links through commenting on blogs.

One of the easiest ways to grow inbound links to your site is by leaving comments on other people’s blogs using your URL. 

Inbound links are important because the search engines view them as a vote of popularity.  So for every link you get, the more popular you appear and the quicker you rise in the rankings.

Again, SEO is not rocket science.  You or a staff member should commit to leaving 5 comments a day on other peoples blogs that allow you to put a URL after your name.   So as you check the news for the day and like a story, leave a comment.  Use your link.  This is doubly effective if you start commenting/interacting where your potential clients hang out on the web.

4.       Commit to Article Marketing

Article marketing is another great way to increase inbound links and appear more in search.   There are HUNDREDS of free article marketing sites (such as ezinearticles.com, etc.)  that will allow you to submit articles on any topic with a link back to your site in the resource box.

Ideally, you or someone from your firm should be writing and submitting articles to article marketing sites at least once a week.  Try to write the article with your keywords in mind and shoot to use those terms naturally at least 3-5 times in the text (especially in the title and sub-headings).

5.       Tap Into Local Search

Last month we went over HOW and WHY you should get listed in local search engines.  If you missed that article, click here to read more on Local Search for Lawyers. 

But in a nutshell, local listings are powered by separate search engines, but they often show up next a map before any of the regular listings on Google.  

Therefore, ranking well in local search is a quick way to get your site on the first page of Google while implementing the strategies listed above.

And there you have it–5 simple steps that YOU can take as a lawyer to optimize your website.  Of course, if you are in a really competitive practice area or a town saturated with attorneys, you may want to consider a professional company to take your marketing campaign to the next level (email me at lauralee@thesimplesoultionva.com) if you need help finding a trusted resource).

But in the meantime, these steps will give you a marketing edge over the rest of your competition in the area of search engine optimization.

Image courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons Artist websuccessdiva

Business owners always ask what I recommend for managing  file-sharing and collaboration with a virtual team.

And while there are a number of programs out there that “centralize” your workspace for everyone on the team, I personally like (and use) Central Desktop.

The main reason I like Central Desktop as a shared workspace is their turn-key set up process.  You don’t need to be an IT or tech guru to get started and it’s equally brainless for the rest of the team to catch on.

I’ve actually pulled some of the features right off their website so you can scan the benefits of  Central Desktop for yourself:

“Quick Set up—No Learning Curve”

Central Desktop was created for business teams, not the IT department.

• No Technical Knowledge or Programming Experience Required
• Setup Workspaces in Minutes, not Months
•  Choose From Templates To Jumpstart Your Project or Intranet
• Familiar Word Processor Like Toolbar (WYSIWYG Editor)
• Encourage the Entire Team To Contribute
• Achieve High Adoption Rates
• Data At Your Fingertips
• Search A Single Repository for Files & Documents
•  Full Text & Document Search     
• Searchable Conversation Threads
• Search Across Multiple Workspaces Simultaneously
• Access Workspaces From Anywhere (Office, On The Road, Home)
• Real-Time Collaboration
• Web Meetings & Audio Conferencing
• Single Sign-On Access
• Collaborate with Customers, Partners, Vendors - In Real-Time
• Encourage Ad-Hoc Team Collaboration
• Share Screens, Remote Presentations
• Integrated Free Audio Conferencing
• Outlook Calendar Integration
• Online Docs & Spreadsheets
• Track Revision History and Document Versions
• Store online docs & spreadsheets in a secure, password protected workspace environment
• Create, edit and share online spreadsheets in *real-time*
• Import and export online spreadsheets to and from Microsoft Excel
• Create more than 30 types of charts (bar charts, pie charts, etc.)
• Access more than 500 formulas and functions

As you can see by the features listed on their site, Central Desktop really is a great way to keep your team using one workspace for the ultimate in collaboration and productivity.

I encourage you to go to their site and take a free tour if you aren’t convinced of the benefits of using a shared work space with your team.

But if you’re ready to take your virtual team or small business to the next level, click here to be re-directed to Central Desktop’s sign up page.

I can honestly say it’s a necessary tool for any business—especially those that work virtually.

Photo Credit: Blakespot

What does legal marketing mean to you? 

Is it buying a full-page spread in a glossy, high profile magazine?

Maybe it’s starting a blog and hoping someone, somewhere will come and read your posts?

Whatever “legal marketing” means to you, if your campaign does not include the intentional gathering and centralization your email contact list, you are missing out on one of the cheapest and MOST EFFECTIVE ways to generate referrals and additional revenue sources to your firm.

Think about it.  The contacts on your email list are people you already have a relationship with.  Chances are, they aren’t going to delete your emails as “spam” as though you were a stranger.  Instead, a client or former client will generally open your email to see what you have to say.

So now that you have their full attention, you can use this opportunity to build relationships, educate your clients on changing areas of the law that pertain to them, or send out friendly reminders that you and your team are always willing to help—or will at least refer them to another practicing attorney that CAN help if the problem goes beyond your expertise (again, thinking about income from passive referral sources).’

It’s also a great opportunity to ask for referrals from friends and family if the client has been satisfied with your work as an attorney.

But most importantly, email marketing provides that constant contact that you may not be able to achieve during office hours with your client.   It keeps you involved in their life and in their face, without sacrificing countless hours of your time as a busy attorney.

So hopefully by now you realize why the contact list is an “overlooked goldmine” when it comes to generating referrals and repeat clients.

What you may not know is how to get started, or how to centralize your email list so you aren’t manually adding your contacts one by one in Outlook, etc.

In my experience, one of the best (and low-cost) programs to assist with your email marketing campaign is A-Weber.  Not only does A-Weber allow you to centralize your contacts in one database (as well as individual groups), but it also helps you create an opt-in mailing campaigns to reduce the chance that your emails get marked as spam (and hence face the threat of landing on an email blacklist).

Yet for those that want to go one step further and use the list to promote products, services, etc., I recommend using a fully integrated program such as Infusion that offers shopping cart solutions, individual and group email history, fax and voice broadcasting, sale tracking, web forms, etc. all in this one platform.

But whatever program you chose, I encourage you to make a serious effort to not only collect email addresses for each and every client that walks in the door, but to also centralize your contacts into one of these programs to fully maximize your successes in an email marketing campaign.

Are you ready to transform your law business into the business of your dreams?

Are you tired of the “marketing merry-go-round” and “cash-flow rollercoaster” that comes with the territory?

If so, take a minute and check out the amazing resources at lawbuisnesssecrets.com. 

Here you will find over $22,500 worth of FREE gifts from Alexis Martin Neely, a respected and well-known million dollar law firm owner and business coach that specializes in estate planning for families.

Some of the products she is giving away include:

• Law Business Manifesto “How Every Law Practice Owner Can Get Beyond the Broken Law Firm Business Model and Into Your Dream Law Business”
• Audio Class “How to Get Off the Marketing Merry Go Round and Cash Flow Roller Coaster and Find the Freedom and Money You Deserve”
• Free Subscription to Alexis’s highly acclaimed weekly Law Business Revolution briefing memorandum
• AND, over $22,500 of practice-building gifts… absolutely FREE!

And because I know Alexis personally and have witnessed her in action, I can honestly tell you this is NOT a legal marketing ploy.

Instead, Alexis is offering proven and time-tested resources for engaging clients, earning revenue and creatively marketing your services in the field for which you specialize.

So if you feel burnt out or tired of the daily law grind, check out the resources offered at lawbuisnesecrets.com. 

After all, the stuff is FREE. What do you have to lose?

For any lawyer starting to dabble in the world of online marketing and blogging,  Google Alerts is an invaluable tool for keeping up with online legal chatter.

Basically, this program allows Google to “alert” you any time a particular word or phrase is mentioned on the web or in the blogosphere.

I’m going to explain how to set this up in a minute, but first lets discuss some useful and practical ways to utilize Google Alerts for your law practice.

First and foremost, Google Alerts is great  reputation management tool. Law firms should always set up an alert with their company name and name of each attorney to monitor what people are saying online regarding your business or or personal brand.

Google Alerts is also a great way to keep up on breaking news within your particular practice area. For example, a products liability lawyer may set up an alert on the words “FDA recall” for an instant notification the minute a recall hits the web.

And obviously, the quicker a lawyer knows about these breaking stories, the quicker they can start “quick strike” campaigns to grab some of the clients that may have been affected by the recalled product.

Finally, Google Alerts are great way to find relevent blog topics.  For example, an estate planning attorney may set up an alert on “lost assets” or “poor legal planning” to find stories across the web of people that may have faired differently with proper estate planning or some of your services.

So now that we’ve discussed some of the ways to properly use Google Alerts, the following is a brief tutorial on how to get  set up.

Step 1: Log into your Google Account. Do this by going to http://www.google.comand signing in at the top right hand side of the page. If you don’t have a Google account, you will need to create one to sign up for Google Alerts.

Step 2:Once you login, click on “Alerts” under “My Products” on the main dashboard.

Step 3:Enter your desired term in the “search term” box. Then choose how often you want to receive the notifications (once a day, as it happens, etc) and make sure the alert will be delivered to the proper gmail address. *Note: use quotation marks on your alerts to keep specific words together– such as “medical malpractice” in the image shown below

Step 4: Hit “create alert” and you’re all done! Now just sit back and wait for the notifications to start hitting your inbox!

One of the challenges of running a virtual team is making sure everyone has access to the same, up-to-date administrative files.

It’s also nice to have access to document revisions at every step of the way– just in case a mistake was made and saved over the correct draft.

Fortunately, such a program now exists thanks to Dropbox.

Dropbox is an amazing application that allows you to store 2 GB of files , which can then be accessed using any authorized computer from the web or local desktop.

Yet the desktop function is probably the most unique aspect of this program, as you can drop a file from your local computer directly into a dropbox file and it will automatically synch the information to your online storage account.

So basically, if you are working on a project with your team, you can save the file on your local computer and it will automatically update online for everyone else to view/edit if necessary.

The program also allows you to go back through every revision of a document incase you need to reverse a mistake that’s been made along the way (which again is nice when managing virtual staff).

Furthermore, you never have to worry about deleting or losing a document, as all files can be restored via the web application.

But the best part for anyone working virutually is that Dropbox’s interface is compatible with mobile browsing, thus allowing you to access your files or documents from an iphone or similar device at anytime of day or night.

So if you’re interested in using Dropbox for your business, there are two versions to choose from—the free version (which gives 2 GB of storage) or the $99 dollar a year version for 50 GB of storage.

I’m actually an affiliate,  so if you sign up for either account from this link you’ll get extra space with your registration.

And if you’re already a dropbox user, please leave your thoughts on the program in the comment section below.  I’d love to hear your take on this wonderful productivity tool.

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons Artist Guierrmo Esteves

For legal professionals, getting signed up and active on Twitter is an important step in any social media marketing campaign. 

But what’s the point of signing up if you can’t be found?

That’s where twitter directories come in.

Twitter directories are third party apps that allow you to submit your twitter handle and profile so that potential clients or colleges can find you and follow in a matter of minutes.

Clearly, this is an extremely valuable tool when it comes to networking with other legal marketers, attorneys, and members of the media that may be looking to use you as a source.  Likewise, these directories allow potential clients to search by practice area (i.e, personal injury, criminal, estates), so if you don’t utlize the 5 minutes it takes to get listed, you might miss out on a great case!

You also want to make sure you are following the key players in your industry and Twitter directories make it so much easier to do that.  They also help the key players find YOU and follow what you have to say.  Obviously, it’s a win- win situation as far as networking is concerned.

So without further adieu, here are a handful of Twitter directories to get started with.  The first two are specifically for the legal profession, while the rest offer general directories and categories in which your twitter handle and profile can be named:

• LexTweet (A service of LexBlog): http://www.lextweet.com/
• Legal Birds (powered by Justia): http://legalbirds.justia.com/
• Twitter Fan Wiki: http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Apps
• Twellow: http://www.twellow.com/
• Just Tweet It: http://justtweetit.com/
• Twitter Packs: http://twitterpacks.pbwiki.com/
• Gov Twits (Find Gov’t Employees & agencies): http://newthinking.bearingpoint.com/2008/11/20/govtwit-directory/
• Book Trade (List of publishers & book execs- great if you want to get published!): http://www.highspotinc.com/blog/2008/12/a-directory-of-book-trade-people-on-twitter/

For lawyers entering the world of social media and web 2.0, the concept of blogging is a tough thing to grasp.  You may be wondering “Why do I need a blog?” or “Who in the world will even read my blog?” Better yet, “I just don’t have time for a blog” is something that frequently gets thrown out there in regards to online marketing efforts

Well this article from Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog may just convince you to make time for your blog once and for all.

Essentially, Kevin’s article explains the “whys” behind the “what” of legal blogging, while offering concrete steps on how to make the most of a blog to bring in clients and media opportunities. 

Here’s a short snippet from the article:

The results of such effective blogging are far reaching. People conducting relevant Internet research, both lawyers and prospective clients, will see your name over and over again. You’ll receive regular calls from reporters looking for commentary from a knowledgeable lawyer. Ultimately, word of your passion and expertise as a trusted authority in your niche will spread by word of mouth – both on and offline.

“Easily 80 percent of my new business comes from people who found me through my blog,” says Seattle lawyer Philip Mann, who publishes the IP Litigation Blog (www.iplitigationblog.com). “The Internet and blogs are the great equalizer. No longer do the large, established firms have a monopoly on the power to get their name out and attract business.”

One hundred years ago, lawyer marketing was all about entering into conversations with opinion leaders, business associates, and the public to spread word of one’s passion, expertise, and care and to further enhance one’s reputation as a trusted authority. Today, it’s still the same, except that the conversation has moved online.

You, too, can enter the conversation through blogging.

Canadian Bar Association Website.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons Artist Cambodia4kidsorgs

For law firms seeking to market their practice through social media and search engine optimization (SEO), creating a YouTube channel is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get started.

Brief YouTube videos are sort of like mini-commercials for your firm– without the $50,000 price tag. They allow you to create a personal and visual connection with potential clients as you show off your personality, expertise or educate the public on a particular area of law.

Similarly, YouTube videos can also help with your SEO campaign, as Google continues to add more videos directly above the regular search results. And while having YouTube videos may not directly bring in clients, seeing your video next to a pay-per-click ad or a  few organic search listings helps further dominate the page and reinforce your branding efforts.

So How Do I Get Started?

Setting up a YouTube channel for your law firm is easy and requires approximately 10 minutes of your time.  To get started, go to the YouTube homepage and click “Sign Up” in the upper right hand corner, as the arrow shows below:

You will then be taken to a page where it asks you to create a username and password for the account.  Fill out the prompts as directed and confirm your registration via email when you are done.

The link to confirm your registration via email will take you back to the main page, where you can then click on your username at the top right hand side of the page.  You should end up at the page below that gives you the option to click the “Edit Channel” button:

Click on the “Edit Channel” button and you’ll  be taken to a page that allows you to enter some vital  information about your firm.

Optimize Your Page Wisely

When entering a title and description for your firm, remember to keep good SEO practices in mind.  The keywords you use in this section will determine how you are found by clients or by search engines that display videos before their rankings. 

Therefore, use the most specific and keyword rich description as humanly possible.  If you’re not sure what I mean by this, see the example i’ve created below:

In addition to optimizing videos, you can also use the links on the left to organize the placement of your videos or customize the background colors on the channel page itself.   

When you’re finally done customizing, save the information and start uploading videos by clicking the yellow “upload” button at the top right side of the page. 

It’s really that easy!   Now relax, have fun and start creating videos as part of your overall Internet marketing strategy.