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Recent Blog Posts
Attorneys Need to Visualize the Versatility of Facebook
It engages over 1.11 billion monthly users, launched a movie, had its share of legal issues, and brought Mark Zuckerberg to the forefront of social media, but are attorneys visualizing the full benefits of Facebook as a branding tool? Probably not.
For most practicing attorneys, creating a Facebook page was part of the vision when developing a social media marketing plan, but once created, it may have only received a nonchalant second glance. There is more to Facebook than meets the eye.
If you only update your Facebook page with the occasional comment, you are losing sight of all Facebook has to offer. By focusing on Facebook’s full potential, you would be able to see an increase in connectivity and interaction with prospective clients all at a minimal cost of only your vision and your time.
Legal Websites 101: School is Back in Session
With the advancement of legal online marketing and all the new responsibilities the management of your firm’s online presence brings to the table, it is possible the basics of maintaining or even constructing a relevant legal website representative of your firm has not taken place.
The 2013 numbers from Statistic Brain reveal the number of Google searches per day has increased to 5,922,000,000. It is imperative that your firm's marketing specialist understand the importance of maintaining a website. With a refresher course below, Legal Websites 101, the relevance of a Grade A website as well as review of domain names, design, and content can help bring an understanding of important basic elements a strong law firm website contains.
First Day of Class
Review of website basics.
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Choosing a domain name - keeping it short and easy,
Social Media Marketing 101 for New Attorneys
Congratulations, you have arrived. After 12 years of school, four years undergrad and four years of law school, you are finally ready to join the ranks of practicing attorneys available for hire in the Chicago area.
With the Chicago Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service listing over 300 qualified attorneys, how you plan on standing out in this impressive but competitive market may hinge on your understanding of the importance of social media marketing as a means of growing your practice in today's expansive legal industry.
Understanding how today's consumer narrows the field of competent attorneys to resolve their legal issue is just as important. At least 60 percent of prospective clients turn to the Internet to learn more about their options and choose the attorney that will best resolve their legal needs quickly and effectively.
Overlooking LinkedIn: Attorneys Could Be Missing Valuable Networking Opportunity
LinkedIn, the business-oriented social networking service founded in December 2002 and launched early in May 2003, was designed to promote electronic professional networking opportunities. The brainchild of Reid Hoffman, who also recruited former key players of Yahoo!, Inc., PayPal, and SocialNet, boasts a valuation of approximately $1 billion but is still often viewed as the red-haired cousin of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media marketing platforms.
LinkedIn can become an integral and productive member of an attorney’s social media marketing campaign. Not only does it enhance online visibility, it also provides a solo practice attorney or legal firm with the ability to reach 225 million members as a means to cultivate new clients and increase referral rates. It is estimated that LinkedIn produces two new members per second daily within the global market.
Increasing Your Likeability Factor: Facebook Survival Tips for the Ages
Everyone wants to be liked. According to Psychology Today, it remains one of our basic primal instincts. We strive to attract, create and maintain a strong social network. Reaching as far back as the Stone Age, it was simple. Individuals hunted for food, water, shelter, and intimate relationships.
Essential to survival, groups were formed based on these four elements of these essential survival quests. As we continually evolve we still seek to fulfill these primitive but essential needs. Psychologically, this quest suggests the creation of groups who are now defining modern methods of survival in the Internet age.
Facebook appears to be our technological answer. So much so, that the Facebook Help Center provides us with a clear definition and instructions for increasing our professional and personal “likeability” factor.
Darwin and Digital Branding: Stepping into the Future of Electronic Marketing
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." -Charles Darwin
Remarkable. How could Darwin forecast our future? This quote can surely capture the essence of how we as a legal community are now conducting our business.
Gone are the days of branding via television and radio as a way to market our practice, symbol or design that will differentiate our services from all others. In today’s market, SEO or search engine optimization is the ultimate source of change in digital marketing.
It appears as the social media marketing evolution continues, digital branding has become just as important as creating and maintaining a relevant professional website for introducing your services to your target audience. It is now imperative for online marketers to focus on increasing their brand visibility by sourcing the most effective social media branding tools to capture consumers with bursts of significant and relevant material.
An Exercise in Memorization: The Importance of The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors for Today’s Practicing Attorney
Do you remember memorizing The Periodic Table of Elements back in the day? Being able to identify the 112 contributing elements seemed an unnecessary evil to achieve a passing grade in chemistry. School age kids are now charting the Table as early as the fifth grade. Do you also remember the collective class sigh of relief when the pop quiz was over? Personally, you may have even felt a fleeting sense of achievement only to realize The Periodic Table quickly became a distant memory of your educational existence.
For those in the legal industry interested in achieving a passing grade when it comes to successful execution of search engine optimization or SEO, a new table has emerged. Although you may not be studying chemistry, becoming familiar with The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors may very well be your next marketing assignment.
The Mythical Land of Search Engine Optimization: Separating Fact from Fiction
Perhaps the recent article posted by Small Business Trends says it best: the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) culture is wrought with mystical and misleading myths. As social media marketing evolves these tall tales not only continue but beg to be debunked as they may thwart your efforts of building and maintaining an effective social media marketing campaign fueled by SEO optimization.
For those in the legal community and just beginning to build their social media marketing platform, do not be fooled by the folklore dismissing the importance of SEO to increase your online presence while also directing traffic to your website. The days of cold calling and slinging slogans is long gone and concentrating on SEO and all aspects of social media marketing are your future.
Google Has the Legal Industry Covered: Flagging Inappropriate Reviews on Google To Protect Your Online Reputation
A well-maintained social media campaign should invite client related reviews to your site, but what happens when you feel a recent review could prove damaging to your online reputation and quite honestly you find yourself strongly disagreeing with the content finding it’s home on one of your Google marketing platforms?
As a leader in the industry Google presents options for such products as Google+, YouTube, and Blogger to post and share personalized content but due to the massive uploading of online submissions, Google does not involve itself in the prescreening of content but relies heavily on it’s users to monitor and flag any material deemed inappropriate.
To thwart this type of situation it is important for members of the legal community to delegate systematic monitoring of all social media content either by a designated staff member or an experienced online marketing firm. Words cut deep and while Google provides policies and procedures to review damaging content the tarnishing of your online reputation may have already occurred.
Choosing the Best Online Marketing Firm: A Recipe for Success
From Alton to Wheaton, the HG.org provides a directory of practicing Chicago attorneys all vying for new business. Locating prospective clients can be a challenge. How attorneys accomplish this may depend heavily on the online marketing firm they hire to define and achieve their social media marketing goals. As each attorney is unique, so should their recipe for success when it comes to contracting an experienced online marketing firm.
As social media marketing expands how do you know you are choosing the best online firm? One that is the perfect blend of meeting your needs but also achieving the highest rate of return on your investment?
