Successful Online #LawyerMarketing Requires #SocialMedia

Eight years ago many attorneys asked themselves if they needed a website. Today, similar questions now revolve around social media. I still conduct CLE classes at a number of bar associations dealing with online #lawyermarketing and social media and nothing fills the room like a social media CLE. Why? Because unlike a simple website, social media can be far more complex and difficult to understand for a typically attorney. Moreover, social media is best utilized as a much larger piece of an overall attorney marketing strategy.

SOCIAL MEDIA + SEO = SUPERIOR RESULTS

Until recently, most website authority producing measures had to do with the quality and quantity of inbound links generated to a website. In 2012, Google made 665 reported changes to their search algorithm with arguably the two most sweeping changes having to do with active content (Panda) and bad link building (Penguin).

As a result of these changes, we are seeing new sources of authority coming from content distribution points – namely #socialmedia. A recent study by Acend2 indicates that companies with the strongest social media / SEO strategies now produce the best results, and visa-versa. This was further picked up in Search Engine Land when they built on this analysis to point out the important of social media marketing and local SEO efforts. Since most attorney searches are local in nature, this should grab your attention.

 BUILDING AN ACTIVE CONTENT STRATEGY

At the heart of social media is unique content generation and the best place to generate new and fresh content is on a blog. When content is created on a blog, it can be automatically sent to content distribution points where people can more readily see, access, promote, share and act on it. The most effective content distribution points for attorney come from social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google +, etc.). This is what we refer to as an active content strategy – all of the necessary pieces from generation (blogs) to distribution (social media) to conversion (websites) working together.

MOVING BEYOND SIMPLE INBOUND #LINKBUILDING

As the search engines like Google are changing from static to a more dynamic content indexing, they face a number of new changes including which results should have the highest authority (and rank) in the SERP’s. Although inbound links (off-site SEO) still remain a critical component to success online, the search engines are finding new ways to create authority from social media. In short, if inbound links serve as “votes” from other websites, what does active content generation and distribution count as and how should it be measured?

The most effective way to measure social media content distribution is through “#reach.” Reach is nothing more than a simple measurement of the total number of people who see your social media updates. The more people “reached,” the better visibility and potential for new case / client generation you receive. Beyond reach, Google has added one more benefit: authority.

AUTHORITY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Through optimal content flow and distribution of active content, the search engines should be able to source your social media information to a single point. Much like an author will cite their sources in a book, so too will the search engines try to cite the sources of content through citation flows. The more of these citation flows from blogs, news, post, tweets, retweets, Google +, etc., the more potential authority can be gained by the source. For most attorneys, the source is their blog which more often than not resides on their website. When properly executed with all of the pieces working together in an active content strategy, we are seeing around a 30% bump in overall traffic to websites that deploy this strategy compared to firms that do not. This would help reinforce the findings from Acend2 study listed above. In short, authority comes from both off-site SEO (inbound link building) and citation flow (active content strategies).

WHAT EVERY ATTORNEY SHOULD KNOW

Internet marketing has evolved beyond a simple website. In fact, the technology and market is evolving so fast that what was optimal yesterday may be obsolete today in this competitive framework. Due to the limitations of the search engine battlefield, everything online is a function of competition. If you are not consistently moving forward in action and strategy, you will fall behind – plain and simple. Successful attorneys online have evolved beyond simple products (websites) and now follow additional strategies (active content) in order to stay ahead of the game and maximize new case and client generation efforts.  

Successful attorney marketing is a journey, not a destination. How you chose to compete ultimately comes down to this simple philosophy.

#blogs  #socialmedia  #activecontent  #lawyermarketing  #seo

Has #Google Gone Too Far?

Ever since Google first introduced their search engine back in the late 1990’s, there have been a lot of changes – and I am not referring to their secret search algorithm. Google has also fundamentally changed their search results display screens (or SERP’s) and many would argue to only the betterment of Google. An increasing amount of people who follow the changes in Google are lamenting that Google is transforming itself from an independent search engine to a Google product engine.

THE EVER SHRINKING GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS SCREEN

A recent study released found that on average only 13% of the Google search results display real results. In short, Google has now pushed the natural “organic” results to less than 13% of the screen display above the fold (or scroll). So who owns the remaining 87% of the displayed results? You guessed it: Google. This includes Google paid advertising PPC (29%), Google Navigation Bar (14%), Google Maps (7%) and the rest is Google dead space.  

As you can see from the images to the right, we compare a typical Google results screen from 2001 to one from today to illustrate this point. When comparing the 13% organic results today to the nearly 70% organic results displayed in 2001, you can clearly see a trend here. It is true that long-tail searches can typically display more organic searches if there is less competition from PPC but then again, when competition is present, many search results move us back to the 13% again – even with an absence of maps and local results.  There is also a qualitative change as well. Notice the contrast from the heavily colored “Sponsored Link” #PPC ads in 2001 to the seemingly subtle colors of the “Ads” displayed today. Coincidence?

Some would argue that the advent of universal search along with localized searches screws these results and they have a point. However, where their arguments lose steam is when you consider that all of these new elements beyond organic search results are Google owned properties which they sell and monetize to varying degrees.  

WHAT ABOUT MOBILE SEARCH RESULTS?           

As we have previously discussed, #mobilesearch is expected to exceed PC search to websites by 2016. If you don’t believe me, simply look at a group of people ages 10-28 waiting in line and see if they are still twiddling their thumbs. When I compare the same “divorce attorney” search in my iphone 5 (see example) with Google, I see roughly 25% of the screen displaying organic results – the rest are Google properties. Moreover, of the top three results, the top two are PPC ads and one includes a click-to-call feature…something the organic listing does NOT provide. Once again, advantage Google.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ATTORNEYS?

Google makes their money from advertising and they have added a lot of vehicles to help them accomplish this over the years. The problem for the average user is that as more display options have increased, the space on their computer screen has not. In fact, with the advent of mobile search, the screen is now increasingly shrinking for most search engine users. Google has made it very clear through their actions that organic search results (the stuff they don’t get paid on) will be minimized to the point where they can maximize their revenues and still keep people coming back for more. If that number has fallen from around 70% in 2001 to 13% today, will people still see the value in Google?

Here are a few things to consider:

If you run PPC with Google, you need to make sure you are changing your focus to mobile ads along with your user base. It is also important to note that being in the top two PPC positions on mobile may be the only effective answers to being crowded out of a dramatically shrinking screen. This may mean better search results but it also comes at a very high price you mayneed to pay to Google.

Long-tail search results increasingly give you the best chance for real results in the organic search world. As people become more sophisticated in how they search, they are becoming more specific (ie long-tail searches) in what they are looking for. When attorneys spend high amounts of money for organic vanity search phrases like “Personal Injury Attorney…” or “Divorce Attorney…”, aren’t they really competing with Google PPC? In this case, why not pay Google instead for these top of the page results (PPC) and stick with the money searches in the long tail? Economists would argue that pricing parity will eventually be reached if a keyword PPC result for “Personal Injury Attorney…” came at the same cost as organic. And who do you think Google would prefer to be the benefactor of this search spend? Welcome to the 13% solution.

A mixed marketing plan may be more effective moving forward. A combination of Website, SEO, PPC, active content (blogs) and social media tend to be the most effective combination of web marketing today. The search engines reward each to varying degrees and by having those all work together, you have a rising tide that lifts all boats.

You need to consider both traffic generation and conversion. Gone are the days when #attorney search was weak and cases were easy to generate online. Search results are a function of competition and you now have a lot of it. If you have invested in ways to generate traffic to your web properties, you must now determine how best to convert them into new cases and clients. Remember, the average person will look at 4.8 attorney websites before they contact a firm and your referrals are also making judgments about you online before they ever call. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression…and conversion.

 

The biggest threat to Google is not another search engine like Bing – it is those little black devices that everybody is carrying around with them…and in ever increasing numbers. The time spent on smart phone APPS is far outpacing the flat-line of time in search and this means that people are finding APPS more useful than search engines for many of their daily needs. Do you need an APP for your law practice? That’s like asking if you need a search engine for your law practice – it is not the point. Marketing 101: “fish where the fish are.” If the eyes of your clients are moving to APPS, then why not advertise your services on them. This after all was how a small project at Stanford University ultimately became known as Google. 

#lawyermarketing  #google  #seo  #ppc #apps

Facebook Adds #hastags, Will #attorneys Take Notice?

Hashtags have been around since 2007 and unless you are an active twitter user / follower, you likely haven’t noticed their importance. Now is a good time to take notice since Facebook has now adopted them and in effect, tripled the total share of social media users that can now utilize them.

You may recognize hastags when you see a word that starts with a “#” in front of it. Examples for attorneys would look like: #attorney, #mesoattorney, #probate, #regulan, #wrongfuldeath, #policebrutality, etc. By placing the “#” sign in front of words, it creates a metadata signal to services like twitter and now facebook to help categorize the message based on the keyword with the hastag in front of it.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER TO ATTORNEYS AND FACEBOOK USERS?

Facebook has around 170 million users in the United States – nearly twice as many as twitter. This equates to around 50% of ALL Americans!  The average Facebook user spends 7.5 hours on Facebook each month compared to just 3.3 minutes on Google +.  As the old saying goes: “fish were the fish are”… and the fish (your clients) are on Facebook.

One of the greatest advantages to Twitter users was that information on topics could be grouped together (through the use of hashtags) and searched without having to be connected to a user beforehand. In short, hastags allowed unconnected users to share information with anybody  - something Facebook has lacked until now.

Facebook announced this week that hastags are now fully supported in their messages and can now be searched on in Facebook. You can now click on a keyword displayed with a hastag and/or search for messages containing the same. For example, here is a search for “#medicalmalpractice”: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/medicalmalpractice  - note that you can change the last portion of this address bar (in this case /medicalmalpractice) and replace it with any other words, just make sure to not include any spaces.

HOW ATTORNEYS CAN USE HASHTAGS TO THEIR ADVANTAGE

Most attorneys create an active content strategy to better stay in front of their current clients, referral partners and generate new clients and cases. Experts agree that you need to touch your clients 7-10 times a year for them to actively remember you when they need you. Why else would brands like Coke continue to spend millions reminding you about them?  The same applies to your brand and image. Gone are the days of effective attorney email lists and newsletters and instead attorneys are turning to more effective means of marketing through blogs and social media.

When attorneys create effective active content strategies, they will commonly author to blogs and disseminate that content throughout their social media properties such as Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, etc. The challenge at that point is to build audience (or reach) so that your pages are being followed and people will be able to find and see you regularly. This is where most law firms fail – they create great content but fail in creating reach…thereby hosting nothing more than an expensive billboard in a cornfield.

Beyond the means in which to build audience and reach through actively publishing and promoting your social media properties OUTSIDE of these vehicles, hashtags now allow you to create better reach within them. Here is an example: Risperdal is a drug that was involved a lawsuit involving the drug companies downplaying of complications. When I search for “Risperdal Lawsuit” in Google, I see 66,700 results – many of which are news sites, attorney websites and blogs. When I search by the hastag #risperdal in Facebook, I see ZERO results – except for my own. Wow! Really? 170 Million users and no mention (in a hastag) for Risperdal? No facebook pages to follow on the subject? No blogs to keep me updated? No attorneys that want my business if I or somebody I know could be a client for this case?

This of course is merely one example but illustrates a point – hastags now allow you to open your practice up to search within Facebook and 170 million potential clients. Want to build reach as an attorney and improve your #attorneymarketing, this is a great way to get started!

WHAT TO DO NEXT

If you have not already created an #activecontentstrategy for your law firm, get started now – it is the #1 driver of traffic to your website according to the most recent studies by SEOMoz. Once you have your strategy in place, make sure to incorporate hashtags within your content in the proper locations and with the proper density to have an impact. This includes in your subject lines, the beginning of your content, etc.

If you need more help on any of these subjects, contact a legal marketing consultant today to help you out…

Google SEO Ranking Factors Study

A VERY interesting study was completed recently by Business Bolts about how web pages rank and why in Google.  Although not a scientific study, it does provide a pretty solid analysis on what factors play a significant role in the rankings of top web pages on a website. Here are a few findings and our thoughts on each as they apply to attorney marketing online:

ONSITE SEO IS A COMBINATION OF BALANCE AND PRECISION  

Onsite SEO has evolved over the years and although much can be gained through good onsite SEO, you can also be penalized for bad SEO and overdoing it.  Here are a couple of key factors in reviewing their top performing web pages online:

• Top performing pages typically have a significant amount of text - on average of around 900 words per page. Since the average paragraph on a web page is around 100 words, this equates to roughly 9 paragraphs of content per page.

• Top pages also incorporate targeted keywords in both the title tags and page headings (H1 tags). These pages also typically have up to 6 sub-headings as well (H1-H6 tags).  With the best pages averaging 900 words, this would mean a page should be broken up into sections for better reading and indexing.

• Targeted keywords are also sparingly used in the content draft with an average of once per every 200 words (include sub-headings). In short, don’t keyword stuff your content.

• Images are present but not necessary on top performing pages. The same applies further to video. Since video is largely a conversion tool, this should not come as a surprise.

OFFSITE SEO IS STRONGEST ON WEB PAGES WITH HIGH AUTHORITY

Offsite SEO has historically been a process of strategic link building and still is today.  However, with recent changes involving Google Penguin (2012), Google Localization (2007 on) along with the strong emergence of social media, off-site SEO has become both complex and diversified.

• Top performing pages typically have 5X the amount of domain links. The reason why they count domain links instead of hyperlinks is to discount multiple links coming from the same domain. Subsequent same-domain links are often discounted due to bleeding link syndrome. These domain links were also links going DIRECTLY to the page of that site – not the home page. The only exceptions were pages that sometimes stemmed from a home page with high authority and links to it.

• Social media citations (or signals) are highest on top performing pages. These citations include Facebook shares and likes along with Twitter Tweets. Although there is no reporting from Google that these citations impact ranking, clearly the evidence of this study shows otherwise. We have also found from our own analysis that website that incorporate a strong active-content strategy involving social media typically see a 30% bump in overall website traffic.
  

• 88% of the top performing web pages were NOT home pages of a website. If you do not have targeted practice area pages and a campaign to build authority to them, you are missing out on 88% of the game.  Since many attorneys have pursued multi-site strategies over the years working on the notion that the home page of each site typically has the highest authority and number of links, this should give pause. Moreover, the increased emphasis on local optimization further complicates a multi-site strategy since Google Local will only designate one website per listing/company.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR ATTORNEYS

Top performing attorney websites must be structured both onsite and offsite for optimal performance. Every year an increasing number of attorneys are competing online and many are getting better at the game. In short, everything online is a function of competition and you need to always strive to stay ahead of the game

Online content creation, structure and management is critical to top performing pages. Much like a book, content is indexed and presented in the search engines based on what sells best in the search engines.  Keyword placement and density, content length and page structure are critical to attorneys who want to generate targeted cases and clients.

Webpage authority is not longer limited to simple link building alone. Diversity of link sources, social media citations and deep linking to practice area pages are now the best and most effective way to get top performance out of your onsite SEO work. Multi-site strategies can still work, especially from a conversion perspective but with localization and targeted page performance, a monolithic site strategy, when properly executed on, can still provide excellent results and a strong ROI.

90% of Consumer Buying Decisions Are Influenced By Online Reviews

A recent study was published today that sheds more light on the importance of consumer reviews when searching for and evaluating attorneys online. Here are a few of the key findings:

• 90% of respondents who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive online reviews influenced buying decisions versus 86% who said negative reviews did the same
• Sites with the highest frequency of positive reviews were Facebook and company websites while those cited with the highest ratio of negative reviews were Yelp and Twitter
• Levels of trust in companies was cited highest for those who provided the highest level of customer service followed by price, branding and stability. 

As we had discussed this time last year, 70% of people indicate that they trust online consumer opinions. As a result, we provided 4 steps for attorneys to create an effective online review strategy. When it comes to consumer reviews, you must be both aware and proactive in how best to manage and promote reviews to help grow your practice.