Attorney Marketing

VOIP Phone Numbers Are a Valuable Website Measuring Tool

January 8, 2015 by Keith Bennett

Knowing HOW Legal Clients Find Their New Lawyer is Critically Valuable

As always lately, something in my daily SEO work spawns a new SEO article. This one is no different. A very select lawyer client called today demanding of me that the VOIP phone number on one of his non-masthead, satellite marketing websites must belong to him – “a zero-tolerance demand.” That conversation hit me upside the head and mentally tossed a monkey wrench into my heretofore smooth daily process.

Yes, it sounds petty and controlling for me to become somewhat upset during the course of his call, and I was flailing about defending my reluctance to agree to his request. Though my thinking cloudy, being caught off-guard, the request is so much bureaucratic bullshit to add to my already overloaded daily workload over a marketing website VOIP number. He has no clue of my daily schedule. It is intense and ever so close to arcing on the 3rd rail of daily insanity. I jealously guard my distance from my years-long-refined 3rd rail of web marketing. My therapy to maintain that distance is more and more work station screens (random people think me a day trader), 100’s of open browser tabs, and working hours that now span 7 am to 11 pm. I decided to subconsciously stew on it while working today and then sleep on it. I’ll then return tomorrow to finish this article. I wanted to start it –as no matter the outcome of today’s call and request– the whole issue of Website VOIP numbers is a good “Basics Topic” for those new to Attorney Marketing…

Savvy Lawyers Publish 2 Types of Websites

Masthead / Corporate Websites

Definition – A “masthead” website is the PRIMARY website for a law practice (or business). The masthead or “corporate” site for a law practice is the one and only website that is ever referenced on a business card.

Phone Numbers – A “masthead” website phone number might be the primary phone number for the law firm or a VOIP number that the law firm might have purchased to (a) measure website calls, (b) separate new clients and vendors from established clients and vendors. If you are just starting out or have the stomach to change your primary hard-line copper number, I would suggest that your VOIP number be your PRIMARY business phone number, your business card number and masthead website number.

A VOIP number is very flexible, easy to accommodate physical office moves, expansions and is yours forever and inexpensive. The number, like all VOIP numbers, is 100% transparent in that it immediately forwards incoming calls (generated from a website visitor) connecting to any published or unpublished office phones or cell phones, or both. A VOIP number can be directed to a law firm’s (a) general receptionist, or (b) intake specialist / case manager. These numbers can be set to forward to the office phone Monday – Friday 9 am to 5 pm and then to a case manager, intake person’s cell or ANY PHONE after hours and on weekends.

This website VOIP number could be a VANITY number and become part of your “branding” — e.g. 1-800-ATTORNEY, 1-855-GOT-HURT, 1-800-HURT-NOW, 1-800-DOCTORS, 1-800-FLOWERS. Vanity numbers, in particular, have value and should —obviously– be owned by the law practice. Even if you picked a random VOIP number to forward a masthead website’s calls to an existing primary office number, a case could be made that this random VOIP number on the masthead site should also be owned by the law practice as some clients, vendors and associates might unknowingly record that website-only number as the lawyer’s primary phone number whether it is or is not. The law firm’s ownership/control of the Masthead VOIP number is no problem for SEO and web-leveraging people like me. Those numbers RARELY if EVER change.

Examples of: Masthead / Corporate / Primary Law Firm Websites:
Wilson Law Firm – wilsonlaw.com
Lathan & Watkins – lw.com
DLA Piper – dlapiper.com

Satellite / Marketing Websites

Satellite / Marketing Websites – A “marketing” website is a specialty website that is designed, built and published for the sole purpose of finding and converting web searchers of legal services to new clients. A general practice law firm might deploy a satellite website for Personal Injury and another satellite website for Estate Planning. Why multiple satellite websites? Does the saying: “Jack of ALL Trades – Master of NONE” ring a bell? Potential legal clients who are facing a huge major legal issue are not going to take seriously a “handyman strip-mall lawyer” who does divorces, personal injury, and criminal law to defend them in against a first degree murder charge. Most of my clients –those with me for longer than a year– have, on average, 3 to 6 satellite websites. Each one of those websites typically has a unique and random VOIP phone number assigned to it as a simple measuring tool that sends to me and the law practice an email notification immediately following the call. More about email notifications in a minute.

Examples of: Satellite / Marketing / Landing-Page Law Firm Websites:
Wilson Law Firm – LamictalClassAction.com
Rand, Smith Partners, LLC – SacramentoDuiDefenseAttorneys.com
Barber & Williams Law – NorthCarolinaMilitaryLawyers.com

Satellite / marketing website’s unique and random VOIP phone numbers will often end up bringing the web searcher into the office for that first consultation that results in a new client. When the new client is sitting across from the attorney’s desk at that initial meeting, the attorney will hand to the new client a business card with the PRIMARY OFFICE PHONE NUMBER and the PRIMARY MASTHEAD website on it. The marketing website and the random VOIP phone number that brought the new client to the law firm will likely never be seen by the new client again and that is how it should be. We do not want the new client –or any existing clients– to use the unique and random VOIP phone numbers on satellite websites ever again.

Satellite-marketing websites are deployed JUST – to hook up with a specific demographic of legal services shoppers. These are new client only web portals. The random VOIP phone number is not of any particular long-time value to the law practice owner. These VOIP numbers are changed by me as regularly as I might change-out various LOGO variations, swap out different or seasonal Call-To-Action badges, adding or changing content, etc. In fact, often out of frustration of expected results, I will often delete a toll-free VOIP number and replace it with a random local-area-code VOIP number to test for client-preferences or for a Google AdWord campaign A/B testing pair.

Satellite Websites are always Evolving and Changing

Satellite legal websites – are used by Law Practice Marketing and SEO geeks like me to search for that “web magic” that results in the most contacts and phone calls going to the lawyer from prospective new clients. These satellite marketing sites, if you are “working the web” as well as you should, are constantly being tweaked or changed so as to be better-liked by both (a) search engines and (b) potential clients. Just as a fisherman at the local lake will change lures, or types of bait on his or her hook, we SEO folks are always changing every aspect of the satellite sites to search for the sweet spot that results in the most CLIENT CALLS.

Value of Email Notification Following Each Website Call

Side Bar – Another incredible reason to use a VOIP phone number on a lawyer’s website is the email notification!

At the conclusion of any website generated call (accepted or missed) an email notification is sent to (a) me –the guy who wants a report card of website conversions, and (b) to the attorney. My primary use is for a measuring tool and encouragement. For the attorney there is an added bonus! Let’s assume it is 12:30 pm, the attorney’s staff are all at lunch and the attorney is on the phone when a prospective new client call comes in. The call goes to voice mail, but the anxious-to-speak-to-a-lawyer RIGHT NOW caller does not leave a message. The attorney concludes his lunch time call and goes back to work forgetting that the phone had rung earlier. He checks his email and sees the email notification of the missed call. He immediately knows that the call is (a) a call generated by a specific satellite website, (b) a potential new client, or (c) a cold-call salesperson from Yodle. If it is a new client, his returning the call might interrupt the lawyer-shopper who is now looking over a competing attorneys’ website, because after calling you and striking out, s/he is determined to “connect” with a real live lawyer THIS DAY. These “new client saves” from responding to email notifications are reported to me ALL THE TIME. On the one occasion in five years, when the email advice system got backed up stalling emails by 4 long hours, I was bombarded by clients begging for me to get the email-notification system fixed! Like power windows, garage door openers, and TV remotes — you cannot go back!

WARNING: While I still have many RingCentral VOIP numbers, I would AVOID RingCentral as they totally screwed-up their once-cool email notification options for ACCEPTED & MISSED calls. Circular firing squad idiots! So sad. 🙁

Okay… So, why did the lawyer’s call of yesterday upset me and spawn this post?

During the call I was a little upset, but it was not clear to me exactly WHY I was upset. I was not being immediately compliant with my client’s request and simultaneously feeling both petty and frustrated for my reaction. Why do I care what VOIP account a website number comes from!?

After some reflection, I’ve determined I care to the degree of getting miffed because I have a very established daily routine and I am currently managing as many assets, servers, computers, screens, open tabs, and numerous accounts as I can manage without getting any closer to the 3rd rail of my mental daily capacity. I am careful to limit my SEO clients — just like a lawyer. And just like the lawyer who ends up in a state bar disciplinary action because he or she takes on too many clients and screws up, I’ve arrived at that mature place in my evolving daily web-marketing activities where I know that taking one additional, non-routine special request or burden will push me closer to that dangerous 3rd rail.

With a night’s rest and a new day I’ve concluded that I was emotionally recoiling during the phone conference because I change satellite website phone numbers like I change underwear and this particular client just added a layer of unnecessary complexity to what I do all day. I’d have to access multiple VOIP accounts, more tabs open, more stress for me. My average day working on already-launched satellite websites involves:

Hours tweaking the look, feel, CTA’s, LOGOs, slider graphics, forms & VOIP numbers of satellite websites.
Most changes are late at night 10 pm – 2:00 am during or following brainstorming sessions.
Content is changed, meta titles altered, new pages published, Calls-To-Action created, etc.
Phone numbers are always ‘on the bubble’ —on the chopping block.
Do clients respond more favorably to a toll-free 888? —or…
What happens if I change to a local area codes: 213, 619, 415, 212? Will we get more calls?
A/B Testing of the EXACT same site on slightly different URLs (with different VOIP numbers).

My workhorse computers and multiple screens are never enough! On each of my 3 primary screens I have open right now 22-Tabs, 16-Tabs 11-Tabs. Many of my clients have never invoked a 2nd tab ever! My two VOIP accounts are there and ALWAYS live as I am constantly buying numbers, writing XMI IVR scripts, deleting toll-free and replacing with locals, etc. Here… I just took a screenshot:

We’ve designed and launched 1,100 legal websites, at any given time I personally am working a half dozen clients each week and their various websites are OPEN on my various screens as I round-robin my hours to work their Internet marketing. If every SEO client insisted that all my various temporary tools were set up in their name I’d have to have a whole multi-computer – multi-screen work station for each client.

The call’s conclusion resulted in pushing the request out 6 weeks – I am not a trained debater like my brother-in-law nor my litigator-clients. It is folly of me to debate a trained courtroom litigator over something so trivial as what account a particular VOIP number is birthed or controlled from: his or mine. But this had never come up before and all I see are speed bumps and that 3rd rail in my otherwise smooth and silky daily drive!

Growth Through Routine Drafting and Writing

As a lawyer, you KNOW that as soon as you hammer out your client’s claim, answer, pleading, petition, contract, trust, or even basic research for a case, that you come away all the better for it. Your client probably will benefit from your growth and understanding acquired just by drafting and writing. You become invested in your client and their plight; you envision new strategies and become more competent in lawyering.

Your future clients too, will all benefit from your keyboard exercises. Same for me. Posting these SEO articles for my lawyer buddies helps me more clearly define, in my own mind, and for my clients what it is I do, how I do it, its folly or benefit, and new possibilities. Writing for others, teaching a class, spending a week preparing a sermon, defending a clients position on paper — or preparing for deposition or trial always seem to make everything more clear.

I’ve concluded that, for me, writing down what one thinks they know often exposes to the author how much they don’t know.

I slept on the matter. This morning the subject is clear. I need to discuss these matters before taking on new clients and come to agreement in advance. I should also write an article on the subject. Thus this posting.

MY CONCLUSION: My client sees this (my 2nd website for him) –a satellite website in my mind and game plan– as his masthead site. I did not, as it is just one of two law sections of his practice. But we never had the Masthead vs. Satellite conversation. Maybe if we had… Thanks Chris for challenging me.

Is it possible that some narrowly focused legal practices have TWO masthead sites?

Family Law
For example it might be that a family law attorney who happens to split their legal practice between (1) all manner of family law issues, and (2) people seeking a divorce attorney. Thus, a Dallas Family Law attorney has a first masthead site [DallasFamilyLaw.com] for all manner of family law matters, including divorce, but because his or her bread-and-butter happens to be divorce and we don’t want that message watered down with clutter, that a second “masthead” website is [DallasDivorceAttorney.com]. For a law practice like this who has a paralegal or associate that had years of QDRO experience, a satellite website for this family law firm might then be [TexasQDROexperts.com].
Criminal Law
A second law section that might be a candidate for 2 “masthead” type websites would be a Criminal Defense Attorney who similarly splits his or her law practice 50:50. For such an attorney, the two necessary websites that are more like “masthead” sites could be: [DenverCriminalDefenseLawyer.com] and [DenverDuiLawyer.com]. If the practice brings an associate aboard at some point, a “satellite” website (just for lead generation) might be [DenverJuvenileDefenders.com].

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* Birthday source
** Half of all adult Facebook users have more than 200 friends in their network.

*** from a book called Disorder in the Courts Disorder In The Court!

Why Every Lawyer Needs SEO

September 27, 2014 by Keith Bennett

Every Lawyer Needs SEO to be Found for FREE in Communities Surrounding His or Her Office

Paid Ads work, but Organically-Found Websites Pick Up New Clients for Free

Is there Any Value to working on Website’s SEO? You betcha! My definition of SEO is more broad than most. I suppose I use the term SEO as a total program of “Web Leveraging” which includes the structure of individual web pages (content), meaningful page titles, meaningful English-like permalinks that support the page title, competent page content, page sub titles, on-page H-tags, paragraphs and sentences that support the page title and re-enforce and expound upon the page title, the meta description and so on.

SEO – How Important is a Website’s Organic Ranking?

Feast or Famine! Literally. Seriously. Most of my clients are law firms. Most of my law firm clients have more than one website. Each website is researched, designed and built for a specific niche and —frankly— engineered for a specific set of keyword strings. If we are able to get a particular website “found” by potential clients needing that SPECIFIC legal niche service, we are golden! A law practice may get a retainer for a particular legal service that could average from $3,000 to $7,000 for some regular legal dilemma that might require a single court appearance. In criminal law, where a client’s very freedom is at stake, starting legal fees can be $20,000 to as much as 100,000 if facing charges that could see a client in state prison for years.

A Single Website can generate a Million Dollars a Year for a Solo Practitioner Law Practice

If you are a new lawyer, or a non-lawyer, you might be shocked to learn that a niche market legal website can generate as much as $1.2 million dollars per year in legal fees. That’s $100,000 each month! So do you think it matters if the website is found in the first 10 positions for a specific search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or AOL? You betcha!

Whew! Three whole paragraphs… — Time for a Lawyer Joke?
** Things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down by court reporters:
ATTORNEY: She had three children , right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

Below is a VISITOR Chart for a new Website I am Promoting via Organic, On-Page SEO & Content

If you are new to websites, you might think “big whoop!” Stop… I need to share some facts before going forward. This is NOT a national website offering iPhone 6 accessories. This is a website for a small law practice that caters to potential clients in a 20-30 mile radius. Law is boring to most. People don’t search for lawyers for chuckles, entertainment or casual web surfing. People ONLY search for a lawyer when they are in trouble or have a pressing legal matter. Lawyer websites are LOCAL – not national: there is a very finite, limited pool of potential website visitors. Most lawyer websites get an average of 10-15 visits each day after years of passively hanging out on the web. THIS website is BRAND NEW as of 04-01-14 and we reached 10 visitors per day when most new sites are not even fully “indexed” by search engines for the first month or two. Elbow grease.

After 5 months – this website, that would get 10 visits per day if left to sit passively alone, received, on average 100 visits per day for a very local, very niche-focused site. “Working” a website’s on-page SEO and content on a daily basis can and DOES get results. It’s not cheap. But it is not expensive either when you measure the cash flow that will come into a professional’s office or a business.

What is “not cheap”? For example… My most expensive SEO service at $1,300 a month works out to $43 per day. I had a local attorney in Orange, CA who has his practice located in a cute older Historic Bungalow, share with me that the non-English speaking laborer who he hired 2 years ago to water the plants, sweep the entrance and sidewalk around his small building, empty the trash and clean the glass entry door each day (never exceeding 3 hours/day) is $60 per day and has never brought him a new legal client – let alone $100,000/month in new cash flow. Plus he reminded me when he said I was a bargain, there are no payroll taxes, no potential workers comp claims, no $7,500 for health Insurance or IRS ObamaCare Fines to pay, no office space to carve out; no desk, credenza, chair, phone or $20,000 computer system to underwrite, no need to purchase a minimum of six big screens for an effective in-house web marketing guru to have an effective war room…

Non-Law Professionals and Businesses and the Value of a Single NEW Client

So you’re not an attorney or cannot make the analogy for the value of an easily-found website work in your head? Consider some other professionals and businesses that I have actually built websites for:

A marriage counselor that grabs a new client from the Internet gets an hourly fee of say $135.00 for weekly counseling. That’s $7,000 per patient for a year.
A small hair implant center may hook up with a patient for a $10,000 balding head remedy.
A room addition contractor may book a new family room addition that will go for $90,000.
A swimming pool contractor? Pools are now $40,000 for a basic pool; up to $100,000 for a pool with fake boulders and water features.
A Realtor – In Southern California a “starter home” sells for $500,000. A 6% commission is $30,000. Being found for the farm area the Realtor is working is mission critical to a prosperous real estate office.

A professional person or business owner would be Ninja-savvy to make sure that their professional or business website is found when potential customers are looking to hook-up and connect with them!

EXPECTATIONS: What Does Good Organic Ranking Look Like?

Good Organic ranking is when your website can be found in the first 20 slots of Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL or other search engine for a targeted keyword search string that you are gunning for. That means PAGE ONE is target; Page Two is acceptable in competitive marketplaces.

Example of a site I am currently working SEO…

First let’s look at a client we built a website for in early 2014, but are yet to assist with their SEO. The design and positioning of the new website is to target the county level, but without being “worked” will take considerably longer to reach its goal. The law practice is located in the city of Plantation, FL a city next to Fort Lauderdale, Florida – 1 of 31 cities that comprise Broward County. Plantation has a typical-sized population of 90,000 — but “slim pickings” when you consider targeting the entire County of Broward which has 1.8 million residents. What to do? Go for the County!

Need your website to be found by more people?

Every Lawyer Needs SEO efforts & web leveraging applied to their law practice website so their website can be found by new potential legal clients for FREE. Working your SEO and other web leveraging processes actually works – My business is now mostly “web leveraging and SEO” for businesses who live or die by the stream of new clients necessary to make them successful. Give me a call at (888) 900-9078 and let’s talk about your web goals.

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* SOURCE: George R.R. Martin

** from a book called Disorder in the Courts Disorder In The Court!

Attorney Profile Pictures Ideas

July 30, 2014 by Keith Bennett

By: Keith Bennett

Attorney Profile Pictures to inspire You or Your Commercial Photographer

One little-recognized aspect of web marketing are the Profile Pictures of the lawyers to be sprinkled throughout the law practice website. Creating images that inspire confidence, bolster your professionalism, or simply “connect” with prospective clients can make a dramatic difference in converting website visitors to clients.

Traditional Attorney Profile Pictures

NOTE: Images of lawyers in military uniform, fatigues, with guitar, with babies, kids, dogs — are variations of attorney profile pictures that will end up on attorney profile pages under “home and leisure activities” to humanize the lawyer to better-connect with prospective clients…

CLICK on any IMAGE to View Original Size

Wider Attorney Profile Images can be more helpful for Web Designers

Wide Attorney Profile Pictures used for Website: Sliders, Headers, Banners, Etc.

If you are taking your own pictures or your commercial photographer is creative, your web designer will appreciate some wide lawyer pictures where the lawyer, paralegal, or staff are photographed the left or right of the total image so we can lay LOGOs, Taglines, in an “overlay” on top of the extra image area that can promote your skill-sets and law-sections.

Notice the LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT placing of the attorney — Providing Needed Room for Text-Overlay?

Criminal, Corporate Litigation and Federal Cases…

Most prospective clients instinctively know that lawsuits that seem to be headed to court always take place in County, State or Federal Buildings which are scary and intimidating places in the potential client’s mind. But you can demonstrate in a picture that these places are your home where you are comfortable advocating for your clients.

Seems a DUI Attorney thinks the above walking photo a good choice (same LA Palm Trees – Different street)

Group Pictures: Partners, Associates, Paralegals, Investigators & Staff

Most Photographers Carry a “Green Screen” to Field Shoots. Probably a good Idea to Take a Couple Shots

That way we can overlay you in front of a Courtroom, Jury or DUI Check Point as in the next 2 Images:

Creative Ideas for Taking Law Practice Attorney Profile Pictures

Posing is difficult for any person – lawyer or layman

It is not natural. Some of the best photos are action pictures taken outside of the office such as and attorney “climbing stairs” with coat over arm, briefcase in hand, etc. NOTE: most city, county, state, and federal buildings have steps big, wide steps and all can “look like” a courthouse. Another good substitute that has NO PEOPLE to interfere is the local library where homeless people are the only patrons left in the Internet age. They often have steps and the “court-look.” A suit coat over a shoulder on the street, steps, or entering a large downtown building can likewise make for an engaging “action profile picture”. Be creative! A corner street sign (alluding to “downtown” where clients’ legal battles are waged…) can be a good image for a criminal lawyer or courtroom litigator.

Take advantage of Public Speaking, Press Conferences, Verdict Days

Photo Ops – If you happen to represent a client “in the news” and you are going to have microphones shoved in your face leaving a courtroom, or are scheduled for a press interview, have a trusted friend or staffer take a good digital camera and get some shots to be used on your website HOME or ATTORNEY PROFILE page. These look terrific. The staffer can “appear” as some interested 3rd party, news type or legal blogger.

Venues for Military Lawyers and International Business Attorneys

International & Military attorneys might drive to an airport with out-of-focus airliners parked or landing in the back ground will visually tell the tale.

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A Website is NO LONGER Enough for a Powerful Web Presence

July 15, 2014 by Keith Bennett

By: Keith Bennett

Your Legal Website is NO LONGER Enough to Create a Powerful Web Presence

Web Assets Come Together to Work as a Whole

It has been a few years since it is no longer enough to just have a solo website for your law practice. Your legal website is just the CORNERSTONE component that needs to be surrounded by a network of web assets that will work together to promote your website. When your website is surrounded by the necessary web assets, you will better project your brand and share your expertise with potential clients who are ACTIVELY SEARCHING for someone like you in search of a solution to their legal matter.

Multiple Web Assets work together to Create a Powerful Web Presence

A law firm that deploys 4 to 10 web assets can create a powerful web presence. A powerful web presence will bring together you and prospective clients giving you a HUGE competitive advantage. Creating a powerful web presence is a complex process that includes your website, a blog connected to your website or stand-alone on separate URL, 2 or more social media profiles, and your listings in the better business directories.

The Solar Thermal Plant photo is a Perfect Analogy — But it can be a Double-Edged Sword!

I really like the visual analogy that the above photo makes. I think it is perfect and if you really want to start marketing your law practice, remember this image. For years I drove past one of the first Solar Thermal Plants in Yermo, CA – a desert community on the way to Las Vegas and Laughlin Nevada from Southern California. The more mirrors “in service” and pointed at the tower’s collector/boiler the more that sucker glowed! I swear to you that the analogy is 1:1 for leveraging the web to make you and your firm a boatload of money. All you have to do is not screw up by taking on too many clients too quickly and end up with disgruntled, overlooked, under-served clients who will then pen Rip-off Reports and crippling YELP RANTS that can similarly leverage the web with horrifying blow-back. I have helped dozens of lawyers who were so deep in the cow poop that they considered legally changing their names. BE CAREFUL!

Time for a Lawyer Joke?

“You are a cheat!” shouted the attorney to his opponent. “And you’re a liar!” bellowed the opposition.
Banging his gavel loudly, the judge interjected,
“Now that both attorneys have been identified for the record,
let’s get on with the case.”

Just as you might Write Up a Client Defense Checklist — WRITE Up a Web Marketing Checklist

A written strategy for your web marketing efforts.
Research (or list) your target demographic. Who do you want to learn about YOU and your Legal Services?
Create a list of terms, keywords, or keyword-strings that you want to be found for when searched. (e.g. divorce, divorce lawyer, Miami divorce lawyer)
If you need a domain name, search for a domain name that is a .COM or U.S. TLD (Top Level Domain) – not a .CO or other non-U.S. domain.
Make sure your existing or new Website is on a decent hosting solution (shared servers are sometimes so SLOW as to negatively-affect Google ranking).
Existing Website – Take a detached look at it – is it well-designed and easy to understand?
New or Existing Website – make certain that your website is mobile and tablet responsive (Google tests for this).
Existing or New stand-alone BLOG – make sure your BLOG is privately hosted – NOT on a FREE site (WordPress.com / Blogger, etc.)
If you have a BLOG connected to your website consider what to call it. (e.g. BLOG, BLAWG, ARTICLES, NEWS, etc.).
Is your current or new website built on a CMS platform (WordPress, Drupal, etc.)? A CMS website allows you to easily add daily, weekly or monthly new content (Pages, Posts, BLOG posts, etc.) without the need to pay a programmer.
Are your current website permalinks “long-tailed?” That means are they meaningful and in English? Example:

THIS: www.SEOforLawyers.pro/blog/a-website-is-no-longer-enough-for-a-powerful-web-presence
NOT: www.MyCluelessLawFirm.com/^073-&__$061#@.html.

What Web Assets Should You Consider? — Here are MY TOP SIX — In Order of Web Leverage Value

BLOG – You MUST have co-branded BLOG / BLAWG — preferably a “stand-alone” BLOG on a separate Domain/URL that is different that your website URL where you can post regular content that makes you an “authority” in the law section(s) that you work and points back to your website: Linked / Back-Linked to your website.
Google+ – You ABSOLUTELY must have a Google Plus account (That is visually Co-Branded and connected to your website).

Google+ Author Page is your initial Google Plus account about YOU the individual –Author Page– that is visually Co-Branded and Linked / Back-Linked to your website, and
Google+ Publisher Page is the 2nd page you will create – a Google Plus Business Page about the ENTITY (the Law Firm) –Publisher Page– that is visually Co-Branded and Linked / Back-Linked to your website.

Facebook Business Page – You should have a Facebook (Local Business or Place) account (That is visually Co-Branded and connected to your website).
Twitter – You should have a Twitter account that is visually Co-Branded and promotes the BLOG posts that you write taking Twitter users to your website. Argh you protest… “I’m not a Twitter type!” Yes I know. Neither was I – it seemed silly, distracting and not something a professional needs to embrace. I was wrong and SO ARE YOU.
LinkedIN – If you use your LinkedIN page, you know its value. If you have ignored LinkedIN – SHAME on you. It is a powerful Social Media tool that Lawyers, in particular, embrace to their benefit. You should have a FULLY set-up LinkedIN Profile that is visually Co-Branded to your website.
AVVO – You should have a FULLY set-up AVVO Profile that is visually Co-Branded and Linked / Back-Linked to your website. You do not need to fall into the trap of paying AVVO.

Websites Leveraged By Multiple Web Assets Grossly Overpower Solo Websites

Once your website is supported, bolstered, and amplified by a BLOG and Social Media sites, you will break out of the basement where SOLO WEBSITES are now piling up in mass. New Bar Members be encouraged! If you just passed the bar you are stepping out on a somewhat level playing field in that most lawyers do not have a decent web marketing plan. Most lawyers wear so many hats that web marketing is hit and miss. This large demographic will POP UP every year or two when the “marketing bug” bites them. They will upload a profile picture to LinkedIN; maybe set up a Google+ account —but they won’t really finish it. They won’t follow through and verify their ADDRESS, PHONE, EMAIL, WEBSITE, or create a co-branded cover image. Every week while doing research for a client, I stumble across these never-finished Google+ accounts. Lost opportunities! YOU can leave these floundering, unfocused lawyers in your rear-view mirror: GUARANTEED!

You can even take on and PASS BY long-established, prosperous competitors…

Lots of larger, established and prosperous law shops are able to pay Scorpion, FindLaw or LexisNexis their silly-ass exorbitant fees —the equivalent of a house payment every month giving them a false sense of having their attorney marketing under control. SILLY BOYS… YOU can PASS THEM BY. Many of these smug and arrogant (maybe “clueless” would be nicer) lawyers think that because they pay so-called professionals some serious scratch, that their shinny new website can and will naturally bury younger, newer UPSTARTS by the power of their wallet. These “clueless” lawyers assume their expensive investment in a single website is all they need to do; put their marketing hat in the bottom drawer and return to lawyering — incorrectly assuming that their overpriced site will magically attract clients with no ongoing elbow grease.

Not so fast! Unfortunately, for them, by failing to “work their web presence” their website is dropping in rank just like the majority of websites. You can quietly TAKE THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED, and work the web with purpose and superior knowledge benefiting greatly. All your need is a decent website —no need to sell your first born— and kludge together a collection of a half-dozen supporting web assets like a BLOG, Google+ and some other social media sites. YOU can leverage the web to where you will earn Google respect and consequently, Google PAGE ONE results for dozens of competitive keyword-strings resulting in new clients and cases.

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Why Every Lawyer Needs a Website

July 13, 2014 by Keith Bennett

By: Keith Bennett

Why EVERY Lawyer Needs a Website – REALLY #!? – Can’t Believe I’m Writing This Article.

I surprised myself that I am writing this article today. I mean, as Homer Simpson says: “D’oh!”

Doesn’t EVERY Lawyer have a website by now? Just from the peer-pressure or the embarrassment of not having a site for opposing council to check out… Shocking.

American Bar Association: 4 out of 10 Lawyers DO NOT Have a Website!

While, I did not choose to spend the $350 bucks required of non-members to buy the latest 2014 Legal Technology Survey Report: Law Office Technology I was able to look through the American Bar Association’s 2012 version and was shocked to see that almost 40% of solo practitioners DO NOT HAVE A WEBSITE! With the crappy economy that continues to this day (2007-2014), I assume that statistic is still viable. Again, I am shocked…

Lawyers in their 60’s and 70’s Represent a Large Segment – But NOT Why You Might Think

I’ve been marketing lawyers since 1998 and I have witnessed that lawyers in their 60’s and 70’s, who graduated law school in the 1970’s and 1980’s, seem to be the late-comers to the web.

On the face of it, I suppose you’d think it makes sense that “old-school lawyers” might not embrace technology with the same enthusiasm of their younger peers. Not so fast. I am often blown away how up-to-date the law offices are of this older, seasoned demographic. These are the very lawyers who leased $12,000 pricey Lanier Word Processors in the late 1970’s and purchased Radio Shack TRS-80’s, IBM Personal PC’s, and Osborne I’s sporting Word-Star Software — coupled to $4,000 Daisy Wheel Printers in the early 1980’s while most ‘current day lawyers’ were riding their Big Wheel or trying to cop-a-feel of their lab partner in Junior High Chemistry.

Interesting TRIVIA: Are you aware that George R.R. Martin, (about the same age as our lawyers who started in the 1970’s) the author of the book behind the popular HBO Series “Game of Thrones” —to this day— works with WordStar on a DOS computer (not connected to the Internet)? Martin prefers an old DOS operating system and WordStar 4.0, which was the most popular word processing program of its day. *

Older, Seasoned Lawyers likely have a Stream of Referrals, so… Why Have a Website?

For older pre-Internet Lawyers, securing legal clients has always been referral-driven bolstered by print media (directories, magazines and Yellow Pages). Moreover, long-entrenched lawyers, with 1,000’s of clients and cases behind them are likely comfortable with their repeat and referral clients and case load. When the topic of a website arises they likely entertain these questions:

I’m doing fine, so why do I need a web presence?
How much more successful could I be if I publish a website?

EVERY Lawyer — Established or Just Starting Out — SHOULD HAVE a Web Presence

Building a legal website, for me, is virtually a lost leader item, so I say this with the utmost love, compassion and sincerity: Get a FRIGGIN’ website #!@. You need a website so that potential clients can learn about you, get in touch with you, and find you. Potential clients who might consider hiring you for the “big bucks” you charge will want to learn more about you before they pick up a phone to actually call you. Let’s face reality here. My phone book goes from the driveway to the recycle bin. EVERYONE uses the Internet: preschoolers to grandma. While having a legal website is no guarantee of new clients, if you don’t have one or have a crappy-ass “Website-Tonight-fiasco,” people are probably going to contact the next lawyer on their list — instead of you.

“I’m a lawyer, can you make a credible case for having a FRIGGIN’ Website?” — Yes… I can.

The Internet is how people find BASIC information these days. In fact, 90+ percent of adults use search engines to find information on the Web.
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Even a starter website with just the basic details of your legal practice (practice area – what you do, attorney CV, and contact information) can keep your law firm in the selection process.
Your law school buddies and competitors are already online and visible to potential clients 24/7 while you are virtually invisible to modern-day digital-savvy consumers. While they have embraced a powerful and inexpensive marketing tool, you are stuck in obscurity. If your competitors websites are halfway decent, well organized and easy to navigate, they’ve established professional credibility while you remain invisible and irrelevant to a potential clients’ consideration.
The 24/7/365 availability of websites offer immediate gratification to our want-it-now culture seeking information and choices about available legal services. If you have a legal website, your law practice information can be available online and edited and updated anytime you desire: not so with many of the huge and impersonal attorney directory websites. Your story, practice area expertise, and attorney bio will allow prospective clients to familiarize themselves with you in an anonymous and noncommittal way –which is how virtually every new client prefers to select a lawyer. Prospective clients are NOT comfortable just cold-dialing a lawyer from a scrap of paper or business card. Familiarity breeds comfort.
Prospective clients will often feel anxious calling a lawyer. Their legal matter, as so many are, can be embarrassing to share and there is severe reluctance to make that first call. Some potential clients are apprehensive that calling you will resort in a hard sell; others will be reluctant because your skill set might not be right for their legal issue. Still others will be concerned that they will be wasting a lawyer’s valuable time.
Conversely, potential clients who visit a lawyer’s website will become knowledgeable and empowered. Fluent with the details about your law firm and your legal expertise, he or she can better evaluate if it seems that your law practice can help with a legal matter. This fore-knowledge paves the way for a phone call where apprehension and anxiety are significantly reduced or totally eliminated. In fact, many of my clients who have some videos on their sites have told me stories where they will answer the phone with an abrupt ‘not so friendly voice’ and they can literally sense that they’ve crushed the already bubbly, expectant demeanor of a new client that already considered themselves a friend because of watching and CONNECTING with the attorney through the video experience. Websites are also responsible for that first email or CHAT communication to the firm that wouldn’t happen without the site.
The Internet is THE attorney-marketing venue. Yellow Page listings have gone the way of the buggy whip. Printed ads shoot from the hip to an entire population; are expensive and ineffective. Websites can be accessed at any time from any computer in the world connecting the EXACT quarry to the prospective client-searcher: to the benefit of BOTH.
Even with personal referrals a lawyer website will close the sale. In many situations, individuals looking for a lawyer will collect a few referrals from friends or colleagues. In such cases, if they can review the qualifications one lawyer online but not the other lawyer, the law firm without a website is at a huge competitive-disadvantage. Similarly, when more than one person (husband and wife, or business partners) are lawyer shopping — often in family, estate planning, and business law matters, the decision to hire a lawyer might depend on the approval of multiple individuals. The ability for all deciding parties to review a lawyer’s website may be critical in coming to agreement on a particular law firm.
You need a legal website as the CORNERSTONE of your attorney marketing efforts. Yes, word-of-mouth referrals will continue to be valuable, but lawyers need to market themselves in today’s super-competitive business environment.

Whew! Lot of Bullet Points… — Time for a Lawyer Joke?
** Things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down by court reporters:
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?

If You Don’t Have a Website for Your Law Practice, GET BUSY. — Then We Can Get Marketing!

Any lawyer who conducts their legal research on the Internet can appreciate that potential clients have come to rely upon that very same convenience. Yellow Pages are DEAD. Even referrals are “fleshed-out” online before reaching for a phone. There is NO mystery why seekers of legal services favor lawyers who have websites.

In addition to providing your law firm’s online presence, a well-designed website can be an important branding instrument for your law practice. Work with a professional website designer to get an attractive website that presents your law firm’s information in an organized and easy to comprehend format. There is NO need to spend ungodly monthly sums as many of the well-known firms will attempt to persuade you to part with. It you go that route, there will come a time when you will count the months down till you unburden yourself of that insidious ongoing cash drain. These companies are, for the most part, hawking overpriced snake oil solutions by making promises of fluffy rainbows and magic unicorns with no contractual recourse to remedy lackluster results. You can better market yourself on your own or find a smaller, focused expert for a fraction of the marketing investment.

Your Lawyer Website is the CORNERSTONE of your Web Presence — but not the Holy Grail…

Once you pull the trigger on a website, you need to remember that a website alone is not sufficient to getting your web presence “out there” in a significant way. Blogging, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networking sites will work together at bringing increasing numbers of visitors to your new website and to you. Don’t freak out! You don’t have to use nor become expert at all of those social media channels I listed.

Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time.

In conclusion – you simply need to take a few baby steps in order to leverage the web and enhance your digital reputation to where you will stand back and wonder: WHY didn’t I start this 5 years ago !#?

Need a new website or a website makeover? – While our business is now mostly “web leveraging and SEO” we build new legal sites and do “makeovers” weekly. Here is a link to some recent “from scratch” web designs released in the past year or so. And yes, if referred by an attorney we will craft a site for their family members or clients; so there are some non-legal screenshots included. Give me a call at (888) 900-9078 and let’s talk about your web goals.

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* SOURCE: George R.R. Martin

** from a book called Disorder in the Courts Disorder In The Court!