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3 Ways to Get More Love From Referral Partners

Referral ImageIf your referrals from local professionals are running dry, it might be time implement new strategies to nurture those professional relationships and keep business flowing again. Rather than just asking for their recommendation, here are three creative ways to add value to your referral partner’s business and make it irresistible to work with you:

  1. Ask to promote their services, no strings attached- Let your referrals sources know that you have a blog or newsletter reaching thousands of families in the local area and that you’d love to tell your clients more about them. Offer to post a guest blog on their behalf or feature their upcoming events in your email newsletter. Besides creating good will with your referral partners, they’ll be more receptive to promote your events and services when approached in the future.
  2. Make Promoting YOU Beneficial For THEM- One strategy we use for our private clients is to craft a beautiful letter and custom certificates that the referral source can send to THEIR clients saying “…because you are so important to us, I wanted to personally send you a valuable gift to say thank you for your business.” The gift, of course, is a free session with the attorney, which we note has a value of $500. The referral partner’s clients feel great about receiving such a valuable gift (increasing business for THEM), while you benefit from all the new appointments!
  3. Share Without Selling- Don’t overlook the importance of sending along helpful articles or resources to your referral partners from time to time. It’s a great way to keep the relationship going without a huge time investment. We always like to include a note along the lines of, “Hey–I thought this information would be helpful to you and wanted to pass it along…hope you are doing well” at the top of the email for that extra personal touch. It’s almost always appreciated and keeps you at the top of your referral partner’s mind.

What are you favorite strategies for nurturing relationships with referral sources? We’d love to hear what gets you consistent results! Leave a comment below and let us know!

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Posted in Law Firm Marketing, Law Practice Management, Marketing, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Are You Gathering The Right Data?

Pie ChartIf your serious about having a greater impact with your legal marketing, it’s time to start gathering the right data so you know what’s working and whether you’re on the right track.

To do this effectively, your receptionist should be asking every person who calls the office how they heard about you. Keep a record, either a spreadsheet or in a database, and document if they are coming from the internet, an advertisement, a particular referral source, the yellow pages, etc.

Many of us know this is important, but it’s a marketing task that easily falls by the wayside when the office gets busy or if you are a solo and doing much of the administrative work yourself. These numbers are critical though, so for the next 30 days, make a commitment to track all calls.

If you don’t have Google Analytics on your website, now would also be a great time to get that installed. You can set up an account and follow the directions to put the tracking code on your website here: http://www.google.com/analytics/ This will help you discover how many people are visiting your website so you can watch for improvements in the future.

Finally, I want you to start tracking your conversion rates. This is the percentage of prospects you are able to convert into paying clients each month. If you are only engaging a small percentage of the people inquiring about your services, this will help you to quickly identify a disconnect in your presentation or procedures in your office where potential clients are falling through the cracks.

You’ll get a birds eye view of where you might be leaving money on the table, and where the majority of your business is coming from so you can continue to nurture those sources. Be sure to discuss these numbers during your staff meetings.

So I encourage you not to go any further into the year without collecting these critical stats. You can’t improve your business if you don’t have an accurate baseline from the start. Put someone from your team to work on this and be sure to keep in touch with us if you have questions about any disconnects you immediately identify in your firm.

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Facebook Timeline for Lawyers – Syncing Your Blog

We’re going through the analytics on our client’s Facebook pages today and we’re really excited about the impact changing over to timelines has had. Everyone’s reach is up exponentially, just by making great use of the new features on the page. With that said, it’s important to be getting your content out there on social media.

Amber recorded quick video to show how to easily sync your existing blog with your facebook page. I highly recommend you or someone on your team take 10 minutes to watch this and set it up on your page!

You can view the video here: http://www.screencast.com/t/IaRu0WDcoYAk


Laura Lee

PS: We had a great response to our April marketing campaigns that will help you reach families with children in your community. I know this is such an underserved market and and their planning is so important! If you haven’t checked it out you can do that here. And since here at LM2 it is ALWAYS Be Kind to Lawyers Day – we have extended the $50 discount on each campaign through this Friday, April 13th. Just use the coupon code “BeKind” at check out!

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What Attorneys Need To Know About Facebook’s Timeline For Pages

Introducing TimelineIf you have a Facebook Fan Page, tomorrow it will convert over to the new Timeline for Pages. This is something that will require your attention (or the attention of someone on your marketing team!) to ensure it’s set up right and best representing your firm.

To make things as easy as possible for you, we’ve put together a comprehensive article highlighting the new features below. We’re really exited about the changes, as we’ve personally seen a huge increase in reach and engagement just by transitioning over to the new timeline.

Of course it may not seem like a huge deal, but your reach on social media matters! Even when you’re not immediately getting huge exposure or ROI, if you keep doing it, you’ll get noticed at just the right time!

In fact, our COO Amber, (whom many of you know as my right-hand gal) got an email today from an editor on Facebook asking her to write an article for a large New Jersey family magazine. And just last week, one of our LM2 clients landed her very own blog within a huge family magazine in her area because of a connection she made on Twitter.

It goes to show that there are people out there interested in your expertise, so stay consistent and active in the social media space! Get your timeline updated, make it look wonderful and fully utilize it as a tool for marketing your firm!

In other exciting news, I’ll be a guest teacher at a class at Suffolk University Law School next week called the Business of Practice. It’s a practical course designed to help students run their own successful law practices after they gradate. Many thanks to attorney Andrew Garcia for the invite. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity!

Have a great week , and do reach out to us if you have any questions about social media or converting your Facebook page over to a timeline this week.

Laura Lee

What Attorneys Need To Know About Facebook’s Timeline For Pages

For attorneys who use Facebook as a marketing tool, you’ve likely heard that your page will be convert into a public timeline on March 30th.

Besides learning how to manage the new layout, we’ve heard from many lawyers who want to know how to best utilize these changes to expand their reach and maximize social media ROI.

After converting our client’s pages and keeping a close eye on the stats, we are excited at possibilities Facebook is now giving to business owners to better connect with their target market. Social media marketing is about building relationships, and for us, the changes make reaching and engaging with prospects easier than ever.

If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, or you simply want to know how to leverage your new timeline to the fullest, here is an overview of 10 key changes to your Facebook fan page and easy ways to use them as part of your overall marketing strategy:

1. No default landing tab- If you were using a custom landing tab to encourage people to like your page and engage with your content, you may be disappointed to find out that your tab is now gone. Well, it’s not entirely gone, but it’s no longer the default landing tab for your page. Instead, visitors will be taken directly to your timeline where they can see all of your posts and interact with your content without having to become a fan first. Don’t worry though, as you utilize some of the other tools we’re going to discuss and post great content, people will naturally be inclined to hit “like” and follow your updates!

2. The Timeline Cover Photo- Your landing tab may be gone, but the new cover photo gives you significant real estate to showcase your firm. The dimensions for your new cover photo are 851 x 315 pixels. There are some limits to what you can put in this space, however. According to Facebook, your cover photo can NOT contain:

  • Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
  • Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
  • References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
  • Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

In other words, you cannot use your cover photo to ask for “likes” or overtly promote your business. You can’t even include your phone number or URL! You can, however, use this space to display a little personality and use a tagline or bullet points listing the types of matters you handle in your firm.

3. Small profile picture- In addition to your cover timeline photo, you’ll also have the opportunity to upload a square 180 x 180 photo to use as your profile picture. For attorneys, it’s a great idea to use a picture of your face here instead of a logo. The reason for this is that your small photo will show up next to your updates in the ticker on the right hand side of the page. People are more likely to pay attention to your posts if they appear to be coming from a friend, rather than a law firm marked by a logo or cartoon.

4. About Section- What you can’t promote in the cover image can safely be promoted in the new About Section, which is the box located below your small profile picture. You have 130 characters to tell the public who you are, what you do and leave a live URL back to your website or blog.

5. Custom Apps- A great feature of the new Timeline For Pages is that you can now install custom apps on the top right side of your page that help people connect with your other content, free reports, event page signups and even subscribe to your mailing list–right from Facebook! There are also apps that display your most recent blog posts, YouTube videos and updates from other social media accounts. Some apps are push-button, while some do require a little html know-how to set up. If you can’t do it yourself, get help and leverage this space to introduce people to more resources offered by your law firm.

6. “Pinned” Posts- If there’s a post you want to draw more attention to, you can now “pin” it to the top of your timeline for up to 7 days. To do that, hover over any post, click edit pencil and pin to top. This is a great feature if you’re promoting an upcoming event or have a great article you want to be highly visible to your fans.

7. Private Messaging- In the new timeline format, fans and visitors can now send private message to page administrators. Prior to this, communication with a company or brand could only be done publicly on the wall. This feature can be turned off, but why do that when you can spark more communication with prospects? Remember, legal questions are often private matters and people are hesitant to call law firms. Private messaging gives people another non-confrontational way to inquire about your services easily thorough Facebook!

8. Starred Posts- Similar to starred posts on personal profiles, you can highlight a post and have it feature across the width of your timeline. This is a great feature if you have an image or video you want to showcase prominently on your page.

9. Milestones- Milestones are another way to highlight significant events and important moments for your firm. Milestones will also be shown across the entire width of your page, making them impossible for anyone to miss!

10. Preview feature- If you’re overwhelmed by these changes and afraid you’re going to mess up your page, take comfort knowing Facebook has a preview feature so you can see how everything looks before you actually go live. Just look for the preview link at the top of your Fan Page in the old design.

Finally, as an additional resource, Facebook has a great video tutorial that you can watch highlighting these changes at http://www.learnfacebookpages.com. Use this free tool to get up quickly up to speed and put your team to work creating a Facebook presence that’s actively promoting you!

PS: Be sure to check out and “like” our Facebook Page where we share tips additional tips and resources.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Spread Awareness in Your Community with Your Legal Marketing

I hope you have had an excellent week and you are looking forward to the weekend. We have had some very nice spring weather here in Florida and last weekend I had some time to unplug and relax.

As I reflected, I thought about how much things have changed for me personally over the past few years. Many of you know my story but I’m sure others do not and wonder why the heck does this woman do legal marketing for estate planning attorneys? What does she know?

Well first and foremost, I have worked with estate planning attorneys and tax attorneys for well over 20+ years, as a senior paralegal and office manager for many of them. I shifted into the marketing side of things about 8 years ago when my husband was diagnosed with cancer for the first time.

During the past eight years, I have cared for and lost my dad, my mom, my mother-in-law and my husband. I understand both professionally and personally how important planning is.

I don’t say this for sympathy; yes it has been really hard and I’ve experienced more loss than anyone should endure in such a short period of time. But, it has also increased the passion that I have for helping estate planning and elder lawyers get their message out about being prepared for life’s unexpected twists and turns and making things as easy as possible for your loved ones when tragedy strikes.

Since I can not create legal documents or serve clients as an attorney, I instead pursue my passion in this area by creating great marketing content and campaigns– in easy to understand terminology–to get consumers to take action instead of leaving the planning on a to do list that they never get around to.

Next month is National Health Care Decision Day (April 16th). I want to encourage you to take this opportunity to get the message out about the importance of documenting health care wishes and having conversations with family members and the people you trust. It’s also a great opportunity to spread your message to the community at large!

We created our entire campaign for our DFY marketing program for March around this topic. This campaign includes a professionally designed postcard/display ad, a flyer designed to spark action, letters for prospects and clients, Facebook ads, an article/blog post and social media feeds.

Because this topic is so near and dear to my heart I am doing something I have not done in the past and I’m going to make the campaign available to those of you who want the materials but aren’t quite ready to join the monthly done-for-you program (provided your territory is not already taken by one of our members). You can click here to see what all is included for this low price of $397.

Regardless if you decide to use our materials or create some of your own, please reach out to the members of your community regarding this important topic. We also encourage you to partner with hospitals, nursing homes or any other potential referral source who has witnessed the dangers of not making your health care decisions known.

And finally, please remember that we are here as a resource for you, so if you have further questions about how to spread the word, please do not hesitate to jump over to our facebook page or leave a comment below and let us know how we can be of assistance to you.

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Posted in Law Firm Marketing, Outsourcing, Social Media, Time Management, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

5 Ways To Spark More Engagement With Your Law Firm Email Newsletter

Law Firm Ezine EngagementOne of the biggest frustrations I hear from attorneys sending email newsletters is that people seem to ignore them and open rates suggest they aren’t being read.

If you’re also concerned about this, or you just want to make sure your email marketing is bringing in maximum results, take a few minutes and read the 5 strategies I’ve outlined for you below.

As a quick freebie -try sending your newsletter on Monday morning, Thursday morning or the weekend instead.  Studies show those are the days that get the most eyeballs!

Just pay close attention to your stats and don’t be afraid to try new things.  Email newsletters are powerful business tools…when you use them right!

Enjoy and have a great week!

Laura Lee

5 Ways To Spark More Engagement With Your Email Newsletter

If you’re sending an email newsletter but feel like it’s not getting much attention….or perhaps not even getting read at all, it may be time to change your approach.

The purpose of email marketing is to build relationships, not just occupy inbox space.  It’s one of those low-cost “touches” that help people get to know, like and trust you, so that they feel comfortable doing business with you down the road.

But if you’re not being heard, or worse, your email is not being delivered–all of your efforts will be in vein.

Before we get into the 5 steps you can take to get more mileage out of your ezine , an important first step would be figuring out your current email marketing “stats” as they stand.  This will help you to track your results as you implement some of the suggested strategies below.

Specifically, pay attention to your current open rate and deliverability stats if you have them.  Then try some of these small, but powerful changes to increase your engagement and help ensure your hard work doesn’t end up in the virtual “trash”:

1. Spark curiosity with your subject lines- If your email open rates are low, start using creative subject lines that make opening your email irresistible. Pull something from the ezine that leaves them hanging so they feel the need to click and learn more.  Here’s a few examples of highly clicked titles we recently used for our clients: “My Valentine,” “I stole the chairs,” and “I never saw this coming…”.

2. Open with a personal note- People want to do business with people–not law firms.  Don’t be afraid to add a few personal tidbits before your article each week to help people relate and connect with you on a personal level.  Talk about your family, vacations, weekend activities…and even include some pictures, too!

3.  Avoid too many “promotional” or “spam” words- One reason your emails may not be getting opened is that you are using too many words that cause your email to be filtered into spam.  Free is a big one, and so are other promotional phrases like “50 % off!”  and “call now !”.  In some cases, email providers won’t even deliver these messages to their users at all…filtering them instead into the black hole of the internet.

4.  Make your email newsletter interactive.  Ask your readers questions and seek out their opinions.  You can even go outside the box and ask questions that have nothing to do with the law.  One of our clients recently moved into a new office, so we asked readers to share their favorite places to find inexpensive artwork and décor.  Responses came pouring in from people she hadn’t heard from in years.  It’s great to know that people are listening, asking questions helps to build relationships without sacrificing too much of your time.

5.  Tell people what you want them to do- If people aren’t taking action after reading your newsletter, it might be that you aren’t telling them clearly enough what to do. Don’t be afraid to include clear calls to action asking readers to sign up for an event, take advantage of a discount, follow you on social media or forward your email to a friend.  As long as you are providing quality content and are not being overly promotional, people will appreciate you helping them take the next step.

Try implementing these changes and pay close attention to your results.  If more people are interacting with you and open rates improve, you’re on the right track!

Have any other tips to increase engagement with your email newsletter? Please come share them on our facebook page.

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Posted in Law Firm Marketing, Law Firm Newsletters, Marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Does the Rule of 7 Apply to Law Firm Marketing?

Have youConsistency ever dropped a bunch of money on an ad campaign or marketing strategy and felt like no one even noticed it?

Many times this happens when our efforts are not consistent.  If you’ve never heard of the “Rule of 7″ or thought the pleas for consistent marketing were just slick ways marketers or ad reps could get more business from you, please check out the feature article below.   I know you’ll pick up some very cost-effective and savvy ways to maximize your marketing results.

If you’re an estate planning attorney, don’t forget that the opportunity to save $200 per month on our Done-For-You monthly marketing package expires on March 5th.  You can go here now to check your area’s availability.

Have a great week!

Laura Lee

P.S.  We are putting the finishing touches on March’s campaign materials and they are out of this world.  The focus is National Health Care Decision day and we are giving you a vast assortment of marketing collateral to allow you to shine in your community.  Be sure to check out our portfolio on facebook for an example of some of our materials. Then check to see if your area is available.

If you’re not consistent, you’re non-existent

If the marketing for your law firm is not producing the ROI or results you want, you may have a problem with being consistent.

Consistent marketing isn’t just slick sales lingo from a marketer or advertising rep. trying to get more business from you.  In order for people to know, like and trust you, they have to hear from you regularly.

If you’ve never heard of the “Rule of 7″, it’s an old marketing adage that says a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing at least 7 times before they’ll take action and buy something.

If you think about this in light of your own buying habits, you’ll probably find it to be true.  How often do pick up the phone and call a high-end service provider based on a one-off advertisement coming from someone you don’t know?

But when you start to hear from someone regularly…and then maybe a friend or a independent 3rd party (like the local news media) drops this service provider’s name too, your relationship with the company can quickly move from ice-cold to warm and receptive.

Now consistent marketing doesn’t mean you have to buy expensive ads in local magazines or the yellow pages every single month, either.  That may work for your particular business, but here’s a few other places where you can increase your marketing results by committing to consistency:

•    Email newsletter- Pick a frequency that you are confortable with and start sending your email newsletter regularly.  If you decide to send it bi-weekly on a Friday, make sure it goes out bi-weekly on a Friday!  Be a consistent presence in your prospect’s inbox.

•    Social Media- Building a presence on social media requires consistency! With so much happening on sites like Twitter and Facebook, you can’t expect to post an update once a month and get noticed!  At the very least, commit to posting and interacting on your channels at least once or twice a day.

•    Blogging- Great SEO results depends on posting regular content.  You don’t have to post daily–but shoot post on your blog at least once or twice a week.

•    Follow-up- There MUST be consistency in your follow-up!  Every client and every prospect needs to be hearing from you the exact same way, every single time.  If you’re not sure how to put a consistent follow-up strategy in place, or you’d like do train your staff how to  follow-up more effectively with the prospective clients of your firm, grab our free audio training on follow-up in the law firm here.

These are just a handful of places where implementing consistent marketing can maximize your efforts. Take the next 60 days, try our advice and track your results. We guarantee you’ll see a much greater return for your marketing dollars!

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Posted in Blogging for Lawyers, Law Firm Marketing, Law Firm Newsletters, Law Practice Management, Marketing, Productivity, Public Relations, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Time Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Take a break from your legal marketing this Spring …(yes, really)

If you’d like to simplify your life and stop worrying about marketing this spring without having to jeopardize new clients coming in the door….

…then take a peek at the special we have right now on our Done-For-You monthly marketing packages for estate planning attorneys.

DFY SamplesWe know that you are so busy taking care of your business, servicing your clients and building referral relationships that your marketing sometimes takes a backseat to everything else going on.  That is why we created this program specifically for you.

These are high-quality, professionally done marketing materials with a proven track record of helping estate planning attorneys gain more clients, more page 1 search rankings, better conversions, newspaper and TV coverage, increased referrals, new speaking opportunities and more!

Each month, our DFY program includes:
•    A direct-response marketing campaign and step-by-step instructions on how to implement it (i.e. free reports, landing pages, postcards, brochures, follow-up scripts);
•    A press release and media pitch letter for maximum local publicity and SEO;
•   A weekly blog post professionally written and optimized to dominate the search engines (…for many DFY clients, our blog posts show up on page one in Google before any other page of their website!),
•    A done-for-you print newsletter to stay in-touch with clients by mail;
•    4 video scripts for video marketing; and
•    Area exclusivity!  We will not work with your competition.

It’s all of your marketing, professionally done for you each and every month, without theDFY Brochures aggravation or expense of hiring in-house staff.  All of the materials are delivered to you in editable format so that you can customize and edit as you see fit.

To head off March, we’re offering these marketing materials at just $797 per month–a $200 monthly savings off the regular price of $997.   There’s no time commitment either; try it out at the discounted price and cancel if it’s not for you. No worries, no hassles.

This is like hiring a part time legal marketing professional for your firm for only about $12 per hour, that is a huge savings while still giving you expert results.

This offer is only good until March 5th, so to learn more about the program and request exclusivity in your area, visit http://www.legalmarketingmaven.com/dfy

Of course if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to just post a comment below or shoot an email to help at legalmarketingmaven dot com, we are happy to help.

To your success,

Laura Lee

P.S.-  Please feel free to browse through our Portfolio photo gallery on Facebook to see real results that our clients are getting and samples of materials that you will receive in the program.

 

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Posted in Blogging for Lawyers, Law Firm Marketing, Law Firm Newsletters, Marketing, Outsourcing, Productivity, Public Relations, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Time Management, Virtual Teams | Leave a comment

Social Media for Lawyers: 4 Places To Find More LOCAL followers on Twitter

For lawyers, having 10,000 followers on Twitter means nothing if the majority of your network is located halfway across the country from where you are licensed to practice law.

That’s why any good social media strategy for attorneys depends on connecting with LOCAL followers, media contacts and potential referral sources on a regular basis.

If you’ve been trying to expand your social media network up until this point with no real strategy behind who you are following and why, here are 4 places where you can begin to find great people and prospects, right in your own backyard:

1. Advanced Twitter Search – This search tool from Twitter allows you to find and follow people based on geographical location (i.e. people within 15 miles of your office). You can also add specific keywords to your geographical preferences to narrow your search.

2. Wefollow – WeFollow is a social media directory that allows you to search for users by their geographical location and interests.  Both options are very helpful when building the follower list for your firm.  Make sure to add yourself to the directory while you are there, too!

3. Twellow is another social media directory that allows you to search for people by geographical location and interests, similar to WeFollow. You can add yourself for free to this directory as well.

4. Muckrack.com – Search for key members of the media in your area by utilizing this directory of journalists, show hosts and producers on Twitter.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a great way to get started finding more targeted followers to connect on social media.

Have any other favorite sites that you use to find more local followers online? We’d love to hear about them! Leave a comment below with your favorite tools and strategies!

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How Do I Know I’m Targeting The Right Keywords For My Law Firm Website or Blog

keyword research Targeting the right keywords on your law firm website or blog is a critical step in attracting clients who are looking for legal services online.

But how do you know if you’re using the right ones?   How do you know that you are using the same language potential clients are typing into Google?

The only surefire way to tell is research.

Many times in the legal world there is a huge disconnect between how attorneys describe their services and what an average person would search for online.  For example, an estate planning attorney may call their services as such–but an average person unfamiliar with that term may simply look for an attorney who specializes in “wills and trusts”.

That’s why it’s so important to do the research and find out what your prospects are actually searching for.  Here are 3 easy ways for you to do this:

1. Ask Google- Google has a great keyword tool that you can use for free here.  Start by typing what you think someone would search for, so you can see just how accurate your hunch was.  Then check out the related keywords Google provides for a better understanding of how people are finding you in search.

2. Ask Your Family and Friends- Talk to people who aren’t familiar with the jargon and formalities of the law. Ask them to describe what you do and how they would search for you in Google if they needed your help.

3. “Spy” On Your Target Market- If you are a bankruptcy lawyer, check out online forums of people who have bankruptcy related questions and see what they are asking.  If you are a divorce attorney, spy out popular books on Amazon related to divorce and see what real people are saying in the comment section.  Pay close attention to the language they are using and how they are framing their questions so you can target them on your site.

So get researching and in the next article, we’ll tell you what to do with your top keywords once you’ve identified them!

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