3 Online Legal Marketing Updates You Should Know About
There’s only one thing certain about marketing your practice online…and that’s constant change.
Practice owners and their teams always need to be on their toes and adapting to the latest changes in SEO strategies, social media techniques, email marketing best practices and more.
This week brings a few new changes in the online world that I thought were important to share with our readers.
1. Google Will Now Encrypt Most Keyword Searches
In plain English, this means that you will no longer be able to see the keywords that people are using to access your site when browsing through your Google Analytics account. This article http://blog.hubspot.com/google-encrypting-all-searches-nj explains why this is happening and some workarounds for accessing at least some of that valuable data.
And while this month also marks the death of Google’s free keyword tool, this article http://kimgarst.com/rip-google-keyword-tool-4-free-alternatives-keyword-research from our friend Kim Garst offers 4 alternative tools that you can use to find the best keywords from the start. Remember, SEO and optimized content still matter…you just won’t have that end-result confirmation of exactly which keywords are causing people to visit your page. So choose carefully from the beginning!
If this is still too complicated (or annoying), we always recommend talking to local friends, family and neighbors to ask how they would search for your services. You may be surprised to hear keywords with specific geographical slang that you wouldn’t have thought to use otherwise (i.e. bankruptcy attorneys in South Jersey) or more layman’s terms to describe your services (i.e. will lawyer vs. estate planning lawyer)
2. Fake 5-Star Reviews Are A BIG No-No
For local search engines like Google Plus, Yahoo Local and Yelp, reviews are a MUST. Most firms know this….and they also know how hard it is to get clients to visit each and every site to leave a review. It’s not uncommon when a client sends in a testimonial for a staff member to post their happy experience on these sites for them as a matter of convenience.
Of course, some firms post fake reviews with ill-intent. But regardless of motive, the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/technology/give-yourself-4-stars-online-it-might-cost-you.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 reports that local search engines are cracking down on these practices BIG TIME….even imposing hefty fines on offenders. Lawyers are specifically mentioned in this article, so it’s important to take note and make sure all reviews are from legitimate clients and referral sources ONLY.
3. Attorney Charlie Thomas is Blogging
While we mostly focus on marketing for estate planning lawyers and large membership organizations, more than half of our newsletter subscribers are in other practice areas and email regularly for assistance or referrals to trusted help. This week, we were excited to learn that a very good friend of LM2, Charlie Thomas, has decided to pursue his passion of writing about the law, rather than continue to run his solo practice. For those of you who have emailed us about ghostwriting and blogging services for your criminal, immigration, real estate, business firm (etc!), Charlie is your man. With some of these new SEO changes, having great content is more important than ever, so don’t wait to get in touch. You can email him directly at charles.thomas.esq@gmail.com and let him know we sent you!
Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.