Legal Marketing Blog for Colorado Attorneys

Yellow Page Advertising vs. Internet Advertising

Jon Reiter — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:57:43 GMT

There are a lot of questions out there regarding this issue and I am going to offer my opinion based upon the information I have gathered over these last few years.

Lets go back to the year 2000. Most American households still did not have a computer, maybe 30% and of that 30% I would venture to say that a majority of those did not have high speed Internet access. I know I did not. I was still using dial up and believe me it was SLOW!!!! I still remember trying to download a preview for the first X-Men movie. After HOURS of trying, it never did dowload. My friend Craig Fisher did have high speed and I remember it only took him a few minutes.

Why do I tell this touching story? Because back in the "old days" using the Internet for all those searches was too tedious. The yellow pages was much more efficient at that time. Something else to keep in mind that is VERY important; searching for information online was not as easy 10 years ago as it was today and 20 years ago it was impossible so the yellow pages was really the only place to go if you needed to find information.

Lets skip ahead to today, 2008. I would say most American households have computers at home and of those that do, a majority have high speed access AND using Search Engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN.

Why is this important? Because now people feel comfortable using the Internet to find whatever information they are looking for. In fact, it is far easier to use the Internet instead of the yellow pages.

More and more people go online to find what they need today and that trend will continue to grow.

Now, I work exclusively with Attorneys, and I have asked every lawyer I have ever met with how their yellow page advertising is working these days and 100% of the time I am told that they have seen a steady decline in the amount of business they are getting from their yellow page advertising.

Another factor to consider for those wanting to advertise in the yellow pages is which book? Yellow Book, Qwest Dex, Verizon Super Pages, all the small towns in a metro region???

Is it a waste of money to advertise in the yellow pages? I don't know. I do think the more places you can have people find you the better but at what point does the return on investment become harder and harder to achieve. And yellow page advertising is not getting cheaper, just the opposite. I will say this, if you are not spending a minimum of your advertising dollars on the Internet then you are missing out a huge demographic that has turned out to be a very strong consumer base.

If you have any more questions on what it takes to have a truly effective presence online please go to my website.

David Foley - Criminal Law Site Released

Jon Reiter — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:01:07 GMT

Congratulations to David for the release of his second website with FindLaw. He has enjoyed enormous success with his first site www.davidfoley.net and decided to expand his presence online with www.criminallawcosprings.com. David is a criminal law attorney in the Colorado Springs Metro Region and has been working to help those accused of crimes since 1998. Attorney Foley works with people in the following areas:

Assault and Battery
Bail and Bond Proceedings
Constitutional Law / Criminal Procedure
Domestic Violence
Drug and Narcotic Offenses
DUI-DWAI Offenses
Juvenile Offenses / Delinquency
Probation / Parole
Sex Offenses
Theft, Grand Larceny, and Burglary
Traffic Violations
Violent Offenses
White Collar Crimes

In addition to our criminal defense practice, we also handle legal disputes involving:

Family Law / Divorce
Personal Injury / Wrongful Death
Motor Vehicle Accidents

Again, I congratulate David on the release of his new site and I am sure that the clients who are able to find David on the Internet will benefit from the services he is able to offer them.

Hillyard, Wahlberg, Kudla & Sloane - Personal Injury Attorneys - Congrats On The Launch of Your New Site

Jon Reiter — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:39:40 GMT

Congratulations on the launch of Hillyard, Wahlberg, Kudla & Sloane's 2nd website by FindLaw. This site will be focusing more on motor vehicle accidents such as:

When you get a moment please visit their site.

Some recent verdicts and settlements obtained by Hillyard, Wahlberg, Kudla & Sloane are:

Steve Wahlberg represented a woman who was struck in the rear on I-25, causing a spin-out. She sustained a mild traumatic brain injury and successfully settled her case for $450,000.00 and also
Neil Hillyard represented a student at the University of Denver who was seriously injured in an auto-pedestrian accident. Mr. Hillyard was able to successfully settle her claim for $300,000.00.

To Flash or Not To Flash

Jon Reiter — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:23:13 GMT

With web sites getting more and more sophisticated the question you have to ask yourself is what are you doing to get noticed online? Showing up on the first page of Google or Yahoo simply is not enough anymore. Once the web surfer gets to your site will they stay. A book titled "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell states that your site will be judged in, literally, the blink of an eye. A Canadian study done in January of 2006 backs this (more than) theory up. This study was able to demonstrate and prove that a web site is judged in 1/120th of a second, faster than a blink. People are not evening taking the time to give you a fair shot. You might be the best attorney out there with the best legal record but guess what? If you cannot get that across quickly then they may not stay.

So by now you are asking yourselves.."What can I do?" To help your site stand out from the other 25 billion (and counting) sites you might want to consider adding Flash. What is Flash? Flash can be many different things. You can have Flash that has your law firm name materialize on the legal web site . You can have scrolling text that talks about different legal issues or cases you have won. Flash is also a compilation of pictures that can tell a story, for example, www.rosenthal-law.net! Flash can also be a bad thing for your site. Anytime I go to a web site that starts off by telling me the site is loading (Flash is loading) and I am not seeing what I want to see right now, I click the back button as fast as I can. That is bad Flash. FindLaw does not incorporate that kind of flash into any of our sites. Our goal is to not only provide you with the best visibility possible online (after all if they can't find you I don't care if you are giving away free gold it just doesn't matter) but once they do find you, we want to make sure they want to explore your site further and call you for legal advice.

The Ethics of Online Marketing

Jon Reiter — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:56:13 GMT

As ever-increasing numbers of the legal profession seek to expand their clienteles through Internet-based advertising, the Web site has become the key to a strong Internet presence and marketing plan. While it is important that a legal Web site has the correct mix of legal information, attorney biography and marketing copy, it is even more important that lawyers who seek to enter the online realm understand the ethical guidelines that govern the design and content elements that can (and cannot) be included in their sites.

Much of this regulation is, of course, state-specific. In every state, professional responsibility rules govern the ethical conduct of attorneys. Each state has rules that govern the interactions that the legal profession has with clients, adversaries, courts, potential clients and the public. All states also have rules specific to attorney advertising. Many follow the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Responsibility (www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/mrpc_toc.html) or a variation thereof.

In almost all instances, the ethical standards governing print ads, brochures and radio spots also apply to online marketing activities.

Even more than print, radio, TV and brochures, the Internet has delivered the information marketplace envisioned in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that lifted the ban on attorney advertising. Attorneys can go beyond sound bites to provide substantive information about their law firm, including areas of practice, factual results (provided state-specific disclaimer requirements are met), attorney-authored articles and FAQs. For consumers, meanwhile, the Web makes it much easier to research issues and find legal representation.

It is imperative to understand that it is your responsibility to ensure that your Web site complies with the state ethics guidelines that apply to the online information you are disseminating.

Recent polling shows that more Americans use the Internet to find an attorney than any other source. By familiarizing yourself with online marketing ethics, you can protect your firm from running afoul of the state ethics committee while taking advantage of this dynamic marketing tool.

What Information Is Regulated — and Who Regulates It?

With limited exceptions, most states regulate as "attorney advertising" any communication that is designed to attract clients. This should not be confused with "solicitation." Solicitation is direct communication with a person (not a close friend, former client or relative) known to be in need or thought to be in need of legal services. While the rules and definitions vary by state, solicitation is generally much more restricted than broad legal advertising.

It is important to note that the attorney advertising definition may not apply to all communications made in order to generate business. In some states, ethics rules may only come into play when the message indicates that professional services are available for hire. As a good rule, a communication that both proposes hiring an attorney and discusses non-commercial issues will most likely be regulated.

While the ABA promotes adoption of its Model Rules prohibiting "false and misleading" information, state-by-state differences still exist on the detailed interpretation. Most state rules apply to lawyers whose communications originate within the state or to outside communications targeted at potential clients within the state.

Thus, the key point to remember is that in addition to following federal laws governing spam and other online abuses, attorneys who seek to serve clients nationwide or in multiple state jurisdictions should understand and comply with each state’s attorney advertising rules.

The ABA provides three helpful resources for understanding each state’s ethics rules:

Links to the rules governing lawyer advertising, solicitation and marketing in all 50 states: www.abanet.org/adrules

An ethics page that tracks new developments in state advertising laws: www.abanet.org/cpr/professionalism/lawyerAd.html

A 50-state comparison to the ABA Model Rules that describes the content, design and disclaimer requirements unique to each state: www.abanet.org/cpr/professionalism/State_Advertising.pdf

In the day-to-day development of a Web site, one way to address this ethical requirement is to be as specific as possible — in the content your firm posts and in writing title tags and other HTML coding — about where your law firm is licensed to practice and the geography where your site is targeted. Another good idea: adding a disclaimer to the Web site that specifies the states where your firm does business.

Targeting a geographic niche limits your exposure to multiple sets of ethics rules. Any law firm or lawyer that advertises "representation nationwide" on its Web site, on the other hand, needs to consider ethics burdens carefully.

Why It Matters

The cost of unethical online client development can include exposure to discipline, malpractice implications, fee forfeiture — even the expense of changing your brand. If your firm was directed to change its domain name, for example, your Web site would no longer be indexed in search engine rankings. It could take months to re-establish it and rebuild traffic. Even if your law firm is forced to take its Web site down for changes, for example, the lack of an online presence can adversely affect your search engine rankings.

Remember that whether you build and maintain your own Web site, or hire an outside consultant to handle it for you, you are ultimately responsible for compliance with the advertising rules in each state.

The Internet is one of the most powerful tools attorneys have to generate leads and develop client relationships. Its importance will only continue to increase. Knowing and observing the ethical guidelines, including the rules that apply in the states where clients are being sought, is a smart investment in the long-term growth of your client base.

If you would like mroe information please visit my website at www.colawyermarketing.com or call me at 303-947-1737.

How Long Will It Take For My Website to Show Up In A Search?

Jon Reiter — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:25:18 GMT

If there is one question I get asked most often it's "When will my website start working?" Unfortunately there is no standard answer. There are many different factors to when a site shows up. Search engines use mathematical formulas called algorithms to determine rank or where your website will show up, whether it's on the first page of Google (www.google.com) or the 100th page.

Here is what Google has to say about ranking:

"When your site is ready:

Have other relevant sites link to yours.
Submit it to Google at http://www.google.com/addurl.html.
Submit a Sitemap as part of our Google Webmaster Tools. Google uses your Sitemap to learn about the structure of your site and to increase our coverage of your webpages.
Make sure all the sites that should know about your pages are aware your site is online.
Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.

Design and content guidelines

Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.
Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.
Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
Make sure that your TITLE tags and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.
Check for broken links and correct HTML.
If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.
Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100). "

FindLaw (www.findlaw.com) follows these guidelines. To expand upon a few of the more important points

Inbound Linking - The more relevant the inbound link, meaning sites relevant to your area of practice, the more "respect" you will get from the search engines.
Content - The more content you have that is relevant to your area of practice the better the site will do.
Design is also critical because if you have a site that is not easy to navigate or is not appealing to the eye, the more people will click on the back button.

Now there are hundreds of components that search engines use in the ranking but these are few. Another important area to consider is length of time your site has been online. Once a site gets published online is when the search engines start to index them or start the ranking process. With over 25 BILLION websites in the world and more added every day this can take time. It's not unusual for a site to take upwards of 9 months to start to be effective. There are no magic wands and anyone offering one should be viewed very carefully.

FOCUSED MARKETING OF MULTIPLE PRACTICE AREAS

Jon Reiter — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:58:32 GMT

FOCUSED MARKETING OF MULTIPLE PRACTICE AREAS

Many lawyers have diversified practices that focus on several different areas of the law. However, when potential clients are searching for a lawyer, they typically want to hire someone they perceive as an "expert" – rather than a "jack-of-all-trades." Effectively marketing each of the practice areas you specialize in can make a tremendous difference in your ability to expand your client base and increase revenue.

One way to successfully target different audiences is through your Web site. Research indicates that 66 percent of American adults use the Internet on a regular basis. In addition, nine-out-of-10 teenagers are now online. As these teens grow up and become consumers of legal services, can your law firm really afford not to market itself effectively online?

A Web site enables lawyers to connect with large audiences to showcase their services, reinforce their credentials and expertise, and demonstrate what sets them apart from the competition. It also serves as a point of reference for a referred, potential client to learn more about your firm before making a decision on which firm to contact.

But, developing a successful online marketing presence that targets specific client groups separately and improves conversion can be challenging. First, how can potential clients find you? And second, once they do find you, how can you best present your expertise in different practice areas without being viewed as a generalist? There are a few things you can do to enhance your Web site that will help you attract and convert potential clients.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)

Search engine marketing (SEM) is one of the best ways to convert potential clients into actual business. Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, etc. are the most common ways for new clients to find you on the Internet.

The goal of SEM is to achieve higher rankings within the search engine results list, which then translates into more potential clients. The closer you are to the highest ranking, the more likely you are to get noticed and be chosen by an attorney-seeking Web user.

Here is how SEM works. Search engines send out "spiders" that automatically visit millions of Web sites on a regular basis and collect information about those sites. For example, the spiders look for keywords or keyword phrases that occur frequently on the Web site and then index these results. Once this information is indexed, Web sites are ranked based on the number of times a particular word or phrase appears in the content or title tag of a Web page.

Another factor that determines Web site ranking is how many other Web sites have a link that directs users back to your Web site. These links are important because search engines view them as giving "credibility" to a Web site.

Overall, the best way to evaluate the success of your SEM program is to review the results. Make sure you ask potential clients how they learned about your law firm, read your traffic reports, and consistently check your search engine rankings.

SPECIALTY WEB PAGES AND WEB SITES

Most law firms have a general Web site that offers an overview of the firm, areas of law practiced, and a snapshot of its attorneys. This is a good way to provide potential clients with background information about your firm, but not such a good way to maximize your rankings in search engines and drive potential clients to your Web site for topic-specific searches.

When you are trying to target a specific type of client, a general Web site is too broad to effectively get your message across. Therefore, if you wanted to grow your personal injury practice to emphasize an expertise in truck accident cases, for example, you might consider adding a specialty Web page to your current Web site, or creating an entirely separate Web site focusing on that single topic.

In addition, a specialty Web page or Web site can be peppered with marketing terms that aim to keep your law firm placed high in the search engine results list for that specific practice area. These top rankings suggest to consumers that your law firm is the "go-to" firm for resolving their legal matter.

PRACTICE CENTERS

Everyday, thousands of people search online for a lawyer. These potential clients are not only seeking general information about the firm, but they also are hoping to gain a better understanding about their own legal situation.

Practice Centers can help by enhancing any Web site with six to eight page of regularly-updated content, including articles, frequently asked questions, tips, and other relevant information relating to a specific area of law. Practice Centers improve the odds of attracting quality clients because it speaks directly to the legal issues at hand and positions you as an expert in that area of law.

LANDING PAGES

A law firm landing page is a Web page customized to emphasize one particular practice area. A landing page looks similar to the firm’s main Web site, and is designed to increase traffic from search engines by attracting a specific, targeted audience, concerned with a specific legal issue.

A landing page enables the law firm to promote the expertise of its various attorneys, and helps the consumer looking for a lawyer with that particular expertise to find him or her faster.

CONTENT

Now that a Web site visitor has found you, how do you turn them into a client? Once you attract a potential client to your Web site, you only have a few seconds to capture their attention and convince them to keep reading. Therefore, the content on your home page is probably the most critical copy on your entire Web site. When it comes to your home page, first impressions do count!

When creating copy for your home page, consider what distinguishes you from other attorneys and law firms in your area. Keep your content short, concise and relevant to your target audience. The more compelling your Web site copy is, the more likely it is that the Web site visitor will pick up the phone and call you.

BLOGS

Currently, there are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 legal blogs nationwide, and that number continues to grow. In the past, blogs were more of an online journal or diary that chronicled personal events. Today, blogs have evolved into a critical marketing tool that allow lawyers to communicate expertise, express opinions and increase the online visibility of their law firms.

Blogs can effectively be used to communicate a ruling, event, or decision to potential clients and what that would mean to them. It’s an easily updateable tool, which is highly favored in search engine rankings.

TRACKING YOUR MARKETING SUCCESS

If you are going to spend the time and effort on marketing your various practice areas, you need to commit to tracking your success and ensuring that your marketing dollars are being well spent. Make sure you track the phone calls and e-mails that come into your law firm.

Many lawyers claim that the prospective clients who find them via the Internet usually end up hiring them. The reason? By the time a potential client calls or e-mails you, he or she has already thoroughly researched your capabilities and expertise online, and is prepared to make a decision. By implementing some or all of these Web marketing strategies, you can help ensure that the lawyer they hire is you!

Want to learn more? Go to www.colawyermarketing.com for more information on getting the best presence possible online for your practice.

New Site Released - John R. Fuller

Jon Reiter — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:42:31 GMT

This is the recently released home page of Attorney John R. Fuller, a Personal Injury attorney in Aurora, Colorado and the Denver Metro region. John brings years of experience and knowledge to his clients and they benefit significantly as a result. John can help you in any number of areas such as:

John can be reached at 303-597-4500 and please check out his website for more information at www.personalinjuryco.com.

Do People Really Look for An Attorney On the Internet??

Jon Reiter — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:44:45 GMT

The simple answer is YES. As the Internet has become more accessible for people, more people are going online to find a lawyer to help them with whatever issue or concern they may have. Why is this? Well, only about 30 percent of this country had computers at home and of those 30% a majority of them had dial up access. Very slow and tedious. Not conducive to "surfing the net". Jump ahead to today. Almost 70% of this country (according to Internet World Stats http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm#top) has a computer at home (you can buy one now for $100.00) and most of these people not only have access to the Internet, but also have high speed access. Now surfing the "Net" is easy and fun. It's almost shocking when someone says they only have a dial-up connection to the Internet.

So what is happening then? Well, whereas most people looking for an attorney got a name through the yellow pages, or a referral or some other method, most people are first going online to research their situation and then looking for a competent attorney to help them with their situation.

What about referrals? People getting referrals don't need to go online. YES THEY DO! They now go online to research the referral given to them because it is so easy. Why wouldn't they. Think about your own habits.

Landing Pages

Jon Reiter — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:04:34 GMT

What is a Landing Page? A Landing Page is a way to help a law firm focus on either a geographic region or a specific practice area like DUI or divorce or wills or car accidents or even bankruptcy.

Key Features of a Landing Page:

Keyword dense custom content targets a specific audience, market or geographic region
Landing page URL is tracked providing customers with traffic reports to monitor results
Intake Form provides prospective clients an avenue to contact the firm

A Landing Page is a tool used to grab the attention of a well-defined audience with the intent of leading potential clients into a website.

Adding a Landing Page as part of an existing websites URL avoids the sandbox and improves performace across all search engines.

FindLaw is able to get Landing Pages up and running very quickly, maximizing the Return on Investment.

FindLaw will develop a single, optimized page including targeted keywords, content and meta data within the site for specific search terms (which mostly corresponds to the page name on the site map) and will write 500 words for the Landing Page.

Poll finds nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults go online

Jon Reiter — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:49:12 GMT

I came across the following article today and wanted to make sure you understood just how important it is to have an effective presence online. If 80% of the adult population is online and they are UNABLE to find you then just how much potential business are you missing out on??

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Do you find yourself going online more and more? You're not alone.

Four out of five U.S. adults go online now, according to a new Harris Poll.

The survey, which polled 2,062 adults in July and October, found that 79 percent of adults -- about 178 million -- go online, spending an average 11 hours a week on the Internet.

"We're up to almost 80 of adults who now are online, or are somehow gaining access to the Internet. That's a pretty impressive figure," said Regina Corso, director of the Harris Poll.

The results reflect a steady rise since 2000, when 57 percent of adults polled said they went online. In 2006, the number was 77 percent.

When Harris Interactive, a market research firm, first began tracking online use among adults in 1995, the group found that only nine percent of the population -- or 17.5 million -- said they went online.

The poll also found that adults are spending more time online at home and at work, up two percent each at 72 percent and 37 percent respectively, from 2006. More dramatically, 31 percent of those surveyed said they went online elsewhere, up from 22 percent in 2006.

"They are finding however possible to get online...A third of the people who are online, that's how they're getting there - some alternate way," said Corso.

Demographically, the poll showed the online population aligning more with the general population.

For example, the poll showed that 25 percent of adults who went online were between 18 and 29 years old -- the same age group makes up 22 percent of the U.S. adult population.

Hispanics make up 13 percent of the adult population, and also made up 13 percent of the online population surveyed.

The poll also found that while online access is still dominated by younger adults, nine percent of those that go online are 65 years old and older, compared to the 16 percent of adults who are 65 and over.

"We're getting closer. Every year it's getting more and more like the general population picture," said Corso.

"Baby boomers are online. As they become more and more part of that population, we're going to see larger swings there."

As the online population gets closer to 100 percent, Corso said the next step was to see how people are getting online.

"It's not just a laptop or a desktop anymore. How many of these people are using some kind of hand held device for all of their online activity?"

(Reporting by Solarina Ho)

Marketing Multiple Practice Areas

Jon Reiter — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:03:12 GMT

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)

SPECIALTY WEB PAGES AND WEB SITES

PRACTICE CENTERS

LANDING PAGES

A landing page enables the law firm to promote the expertise of its various attorneys, and helps the consumer looking for a lawyer with that particular expertise to find him or her faster.

CONTENT

BLOGS

TRACKING YOUR MARKETING SUCCESS

"I Don't Need A WebSite, I Have Plenty of Business"

Jon Reiter — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:49:16 GMT

I often hear from attorneys that they do not need to market their services because they have all the clients they can handle and besides, they say, "I never get any work from the Internet anyway". Of course not!! Nobody can find them online so how will they get any work from online.

So what are the benefits of having an effective presence online?? Well for one, potential clients who have been referred to you can "Google" you and learn more about you and what you can offer them. I can tell you this, if they are looking you up online and cannot find anything or what they find is very minimal then you may have lost business as a result.

Also, something very important to consider, 10's of thousands of people in Colorado are looking for attorneys in all practice areas every month. If they cannot find you then I can guarantee they are going to find another attorney online. I know that most attorneys do not want to more work but what I hear quite often is how they would like a greater pool of potential clients to pick from. Having an effective presence online can absolutely do that for an attorney's practice. An effective presence online can serve as a very three dimensional view of that attorney online all other forms of marketing and advertising. Yellow pages and newspaper and even T.V. offer a two dimensional view of attorneys and can only offer so much information in such a limited media. Why not offer the potential clients as much information as possible? Why not show these potential clients how you can help them with their issues?

Check out www.colawyermarketing.com for some more information.

Keys to Effective ROI Measurement - Part 2

Jon Reiter — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:11:16 GMT

3. Leverage the web
A law firm’s web site can be its most powerful ROI measurement tool. That’s why a growing number of firms prefer to route all client leads through their site.

To make the most of your web site, feature your URL on business cards, ads and in other promotional efforts. Consider purchasing exposure on legal directories and search engines. And ensure that once prospects arrive at your site they can easily find key information, then connect with you to follow up.

One advantage of a web-centric approach is that you can use software programs to analyze site traffic. These programs often are included when you sign up with a web site provider. They can help you determine:

The most popular areas of your site.

Where visitors arrive from — and what sites they visit when they leave.

Keywords and key phrases that drive prospects to your site via search engines.

That’s invaluable information for sharpening your marketing strategy. You might choose to purchase ads on your prospects’ favorite sites, for example. Or edit your promotional materials (print, online and broadcast) to stress high-impact, business-generating keywords.

Whatever decisions you make, with ROI measurement tools you can base them on objective, long-term data. The kind of information that chance conversations with clients, or the occasional one-off report, can’t provide.

4. Measure impact.
To accurately measure ROI, take both the tangible and intangible benefits of your marketing efforts into account.

You can crunch the numbers by calculating the dollars earned by an ad or other promotion versus its cost (factoring administrative time and other "hidden" expenses into your total investment):

Amount of $$ Earned - Investment x 100 = ROI (i.e., 400% or 4:1)

Investment

Of course, ROI is not an exact science. Some strategies — volunteer efforts, sponsorships, community outreach — may score low in stark financial terms but still deliver for your firm by generating new leads, or rewarding clients for past business. They build name awareness, strengthen relationships and create goodwill, all of which are important factors in ROI-based decision-making.

5. Evaluate options. With ROI data in hand you can make informed comparisons between your client-development activities. One program may drive a high quantity of leads to your firm while another delivers great quality (a higher rate of conversion or larger, high-value cases). Your journal ads may primarily reach the corporate market while individuals find you online.

That information, plus other factors like how easy the program is to administer, will help you set priorities when you write your next marketing plan.

Be sure, however, that you’re making consistent, "apples-to-apples" comparisons. Choose the same 3-month or 6-month time frame, for example, when you run ROI numbers on print vs. web vs. broadcast and beyond.

6. Modify your marketing
The final step is implementing change. Use ROI-generated information to adjust your marketing strategy: to invest more where you’re seeing results and trim back or rethink what isn’t working.

Of course your practice goals change and so will the needs of clients. A marketing program or keyword that draws attention today may go cold six months down the road. ROI measurement — track, evaluate, then modify — is an ongoing process.

That takes commitment, but the payoff is there for your firm. In a more efficient lead-development budget, a better understanding of your client base and a bigger return on your marketing dollar.

Keys to Effective ROI Measurement - Part 1

Jon Reiter — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:59:01 GMT

Value for the money. You expect it when you lease an office, invest in software or hire staff. The money you spend marketing your law firm should be no exception. Is your firm getting good value for its marketing dollar? If not, where are the opportunities for improvement?

Measuring return on investment, or ROI, from your marketing budget can help you gain better answers to those questions.

ROI measurement is an opportunity to review your marketing practices and make smart, informed decisions about the future — which tactics to emphasize, what’s working and what’s not, and whether your message is connecting with prospects or need to be fine-tuned. And you don’t need a marketing degree to do it.

These steps will help you generate ROI information and use it to evaluate and improve your marketing strategy.

1. Measure all marketing programs

What strategies — print, broadcast, online and in-person — do you use to connect with prospects and clients? In order to gauge which strategies to leverage and which are falling short, you should define and track each of them.

Start with brochures, Yellow Pages ads, radio spots, web campaigns and other direct marketing expenditures. But don’t forget other programs that may indirectly generate new business and strengthen existing client relationships: sponsorships, client entertainment and professional memberships, for example.

Once you have a handle on all the promotional efforts that generate leads for your firm, you have a good foundation for measuring ROI.

2. Track leads and conversions
Firms that market themselves efficiently use documented, common-sense controls to track spending. Hard data goes much further than anecdotes and guesswork in ensuring your money’s well spent.

So once you’ve defined the scope of your marketing effort, put tracking procedures into place for each program — sustainable procedures you can incorporate, long-term, into your practice management. For example, you can:

Assign your receptionist to record telephone inquiries.

Create a new-client information sheet to track word-of-mouth referrals.

Collect business cards from meetings and speaking engagements, then record them and follow up.

Place a client intake form on your web site and make it accessible from every page.

Try to capture the same information from prospects no matter how they reach your firm. Your receptionist, for example, should ask prospects the same questions that appear on your online intake form. By being consistent, you can better compare the quality of leads coming from online, print and other marketing efforts.

Documenting inquiries shows you which client-development programs are successful and makes follow-up easier. It also helps identify any disconnect between leads generated and leads converted into actual client cases.

If "hits" to your web site aren’t translating into new business, for example, look critically at your site. Is your intake form clear and simple? Overall, is your site easy to navigate? Timely follow-up is another key factor. Are you responding promptly to inquiries with both a phone call and an e-mail, if possible?

Stay Tuned for the Next Blog on ROI, Coming Soon.......

Understanding the Hispanic Market

Jon Reiter — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 07:20:27 GMT

Understanding Your Hispanic Clientele

Regardless of the diversity within the Hispanic and Latino populations, the culture as a whole does share a few common traits that lawyers should consider when trying to effectively communicate with this particular consumer segment.

Language

Language and cultural barriers often prevent many law firms from targeting the Hispanic consumer. If your law firm hopes to compete in this market, you must be willing to "habla español" – at least in your print and online marketing initiatives. In fact, communicating in Spanish is extremely important because even bilingual Hispanics express a preference for making purchasing decisions in their native tongue.

However, try to avoid using automated translation services to convert your marketing messages from English to Spanish. Translation mistakes can embarrass lawyers and result in lost business, not only from the client who initially read the translated information, but also from all the family and friends that person tells. An example of a failed translation is as follows: the translation of "we specialize in white-collar crime" resulted in "we specialize in the white crime of the necklace." Invest in a good translator who specializes in the legal industry--it will be marketing dollars well spent.

A Family Affair

As lawyers, it is your job to carefully guard the privacy of your clients. But, when dealing with Hispanic clients, remember that they are extremely family-oriented and do not always value privacy and/or confidentiality in the same manner as you. In addition, these strong bonds often extend beyond the nuclear family to include grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and other family friends. Therefore, it should not be surprising to have a client attend a meeting with several family members in tow and it’s critical to not ignore any of them, as many or all may be involved in the decision making surrounding a legal issue.

How to Effectively Reach Hispanic Consumers

Once you understand the unique characteristics of the group you are targeting, the next step is learning how to effectively communicate your legal services to them. As the Hispanic population continues to explode, your potential opportunities will only increase. Those who succeed in tapping into this market will do so because they have developed a marketing strategy that clearly speaks to the Hispanic audience.

Effectively reaching Hispanic consumers does not have to be complicated. In fact, there are a few basic strategies you can implement to help ensure that your marketing messages are heard:

Learn the demographics of the Hispanic community in your area. Whether the Hispanic population in your community consists of new immigrants or an already assimilated group makes a big difference in the services you provide and your methods of communication.

Use Spanish whenever possible.

Create a marketing campaign that taps into the general core values and traits of Hispanics, such as family, tradition, cultural pride, etc.

Make your marketing communications entertaining, interactive and colorful. Try to incorporate a fair number of pictures. Humor and laughter also can help you connect with the Hispanic audience.

Partner with the local media, such as Spanish-language community newspapers, local radio programs and cable television, to help establish your law firm.

Taking Your Marketing Messages Online

In addition to using print, radio and television to communicate with Hispanic consumers, the Internet also presents another effective means to reach your intended audience.

It is estimated that there are more than 50 million Spanish-speaking people online worldwide. Of the 50 million online, 28 percent live in the U.S. That means that if you are not making Spanish content available on your website, you are missing a tremendous opportunity to connect with your target audience.

The average Spanish-speaking Internet user spends an average of 9.5 hour per week online, which is one hour more than U.S. residents in general. They typically use the same search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, and also tend to use the same queries as their English-speaking counterparts. However, when Hispanics are given a choice between an English or Spanish website, more than 80 percent said they would prefer to visit the Spanish language site. Given this statistic, can you really afford not to update your website with Spanish content?

Once you’re ready to add Spanish content to your site, there’s two methods to consider. One option is to find a translator and translate English content from your site into Spanish. The second option is to write new copy in Spanish. Either option is a fine choice, but the most important thing to understand is that unless the new copy is optimized for search engines in the Spanish language, it may not be found or ranked within search engine results. It’s also important to choose someone who has Spanish legal expertise, search engine marketing experience and someone who understands the online searching habits of the Hispanic population.

With such an impressive number of the Hispanic population online and engaging in e-commerce activities, the next step is determining how to drive them to your law firm’s Web site. To achieve this, you must learn the demographics of the Hispanic community in your area; make sure you understand the issues they are facing; create a culturally relevant marketing strategy; and then position your law firm as an expert in these areas through compelling Spanish language content.

As the Hispanic population continues to grow, law firm marketers will be challenged with finding new ways to effectively communicate with consumers. However, the firms who are willing to devote the time and effort it takes to capture the attention of the Hispanic market will have a significant advantage over the competition.

Marketing to the Hispanic Market & Why it Makes Sense

Jon Reiter — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:30:23 GMT

The next few blog postings will be dedicated to marketing to the Hispanic market and why it is about time attorneys take advantage of the huge potential online.

Today, law firms have a unique opportunity to tap into one of the fastest growing consumer segments in the U.S. marketplace – the Hispanic population. Effectively targeting this group can help lawyers expand their client base and increase revenue.

The Hispanic market carries significant buying power that law firms cannot afford to ignore. By 2007, Hispanic buying power is expected to reach an estimated $925 billion, which is three times the growth rate of non-Hispanic consumers.

These statistics, coupled with the fact that the Hispanic population continues to grow at a rate of nearly 5.4 percent annually, illustrate how critically important it is for law firms to implement marketing strategies specifically tailored toward Hispanic consumers.

However, successfully reaching Hispanic audiences requires that law firms shift gears from their traditional marketing efforts and engage in a new way of communication. It is also vital that law firms understand the cultural differences that make the Hispanic population so unique from other consumer segments.

Defining the Hispanic Market

The first step in expanding your law firm practice to reach Hispanic consumers is to understand who the "Hispanic" and "Latino" markets encompass. The term, Hispanic, comes from the Latin word for "Spain" and is a broader reference that includes all Spanish-speaking people. Whereas, "Latino" is a more specific term and applies only to persons of Latin American origin. These descriptions do not refer to race, but rather define ethnicity or national origin.

In general, this distinction is of little significance when referring to residents of the United States. However, depending on the geographic location of a law firm, some ethnic groups more closely identify with one classification over the other. For example, California residents prefer to be called "Latino" as opposed to Texas and Florida residents, who identify more with the "Hispanic" reference.

Next Blog Posting: Understanding Your Hispanic Clientele

Habla Espanol?

Jon Reiter — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:37:05 GMT

There are two kinds of Spanish Power Pages: Translated and Custom. The first are translations of English pages from a client's existing site, the second are the Spanish version of our Landing Pages, with custom content written for them. It is my understanding (from Search Engine Marketing folks) that the custom work better than the translated. This makes sense because better ranking seems to be linked to more content and custom pages have content different (and in addition) to that already in the client's site…

As to why attorneys should buy these products, I can think of at least two good reasons: First, if their offices sit in an area where there is a considerable Hispanic population (Colorado has about 26%), I would think that it is in their best interest to have products with content built and optimized in Spanish, especially when they go after practice areas in which their targeted audiences may perform searches in their native language.

Second, if they target audiences in Spanish speaking countries. For example, Federal Criminal Defense attorneys going after drug lords in places like Colombia, Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc. In addition to targeting this kind of cases within the U.S. with their websites, Practice Centers and Landing Pages, we felt that if our clients wanted to target the "big wigs" in the drug cartels in those countries, it did not make sense to target them here, because by the time they arrived in the U.S. they were already in shackles and had no access to the internet….However, if we could get our clients to rank well, for example, in Google Colombia, it was more likely that when these drug lords got indicted by the U.S. (therefore facing a possible extradition from their countries of origin if they got arrested), they would start looking for an attorney that could represent them in those proceedings…

In Florida, FindLaw has at least two prominent attorneys, Jeff Weiner, Esq. (past President of the National Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and very well known by most criminal defense lawyers nationwide) and Frank Rubino, Esq. (you may have heard of him recently in the news because he's representing Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian dictator in his current extradition proceedings to France) who actively pursue serious drug offenses with Spanish Power pages in the countries mentioned above.

Check out the following search results in Google Colombia:

http://www.google.com.co/search?hl=es&q=drogas+abogado&btnG=Buscar+con+Google&meta=

Frank Rubino is in position 3 and 4 on Google, while Jeff Weiner is position 11 of about 2,100,000 results for the terms "drogas abogado" (drugs attorney)!!!

Also, South Florida Real Estate attorneys figured out some time ago that people buying expensive real estate in Florida were foreign investors, primarily Venezuelans getting their money out of Venezuela before things got any worse with the Chavez regime. So we built them Spanish Power Pages to get them to rank well in Google Venezuela:

http://www.google.co.ve/search?hl=es&q=hipotecas+abogado&btnG=Buscar+con+Google&meta=

Peter Yanowitch is No. 10 of about 1,670,000 results in Google Venezuela for the terms "hipotecas abogado" (mortgages attorney)!!!

Florida attorneys are taking advantage of the benefits of Spanish optimized content on the Web. Colorado attorneys can realize the same benefits as well.

There may be many other examples of practice areas where your clients may want to target foreign countries. Spanish is not the only arena (just the largest in Colorado) where optimizing your website in a foreign language can have a tremendous benefit for your Practice.

Vanity Search Phrases vs. Long Tail Search Phrases

Jon Reiter — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:49:52 GMT

So you want your website to show up in as many different searches as possible. That is of course ideal but not realistic. Yoru website will not show up in every search being done. What is realistic is if you have a well optimized site, your site will show up for the thousands of very specific and unique phrases that people actually looking for a lawyer will use. For example, someone looking for a Personal Injury attorney might use the vanity phrase "personal injury attorney" and this particular phrase might get a lot of uses but more often used will be these long tail searches or phrases like "back injury while driving work truck in denver". Now this particular phrase might only get used once but guess what, there are going to be a far greater number of those one off long tail searches than the vanity phrases being used. Not only that but when someone is using such a specific phrase they most likely have a very real issue that needs an attorneys help. So while it is great to show up in when someone uses a vanity phrase it is also very important that your site shows up on the long tail searches.

Let’s take a closer look. Who do you think is further along in the hiring process, the person who searches for:

“Personal Injury Attorney”

Or the person who searches for:

“neck injury work related denver”

My guess it would be number two – he seems to have a pretty good idea of what he wants and now just needs to find the right attorney to hire.

You see the flaw with traditional SEO is that the really good keyphrases, the long tail key phrases, really didn’t exist. When you’re optimizing a webpage for a specific keyphrase – like say “Children’s Sunglasses”, you’re trying to keep the page extremely focused on that particular phrase, so you consciously avoid straying from the focus of the page. In other words, those great long tail key phrases simply don’t make it to your page. Remember, in this scenario, the old-school process of SEO is the brick and mortar record shop – you know the one with the severely limited amount of shelf space –that can only house the most popular records –the records that everyone wants. Well the “records” in this case are the key phrases; traditional SEO can only fit so many key phrases on their shelves (the web pages).

So what changed? What caused the Long Tail of SEO? Well, people started blogging! A blog by definition is kind of an anti-SEO environment. You see, the blog is designed to give anyone who wants to, the ability to publish on the web. With the advent of the blog, anyone who had something to say (or thought they did), could start publishing, quickly and cheaply. These new publishers gave no thought to SEO (many wouldn’t even have known what it was) – they’d simply say what the wanted to say, the way the wanted to say it. So now, all the richness of language that the old-school SEO’ers had squeezed out of the internet was now being dumped back in and the search engines devoured it. Suddenly these web sites started showing up in the SERPs – for those long tail keyphrases that no one was optimizing for.

How Does My Website Actually Get Found?

Jon Reiter — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:05:04 GMT

Almost everyone that has a product or service would like to get good business from the Internet. How does a website get found in the first place? What does one website have over another that makes it unique enough for search engines like Google (almost 60% of searches are done here) or Yahoo! or MSN to rank them high in priority?
Search Engines use a mathematicla formula called an algorithm too determine rank. There are many different components that helo to determine rank but I am going to talk about a few that are the most critical.

1. Age of URL - The longer your URL is online and able to get found by the search engines the better off it will do. In conjunction with this is how longer your optimized website has been online. The more time your website has been able to get indexed by the search engines the better off it will do. For example, two websites with all things being equal, the one that has been online longer will get better results. Patience is sometimes the best thing when it comes to a successful presence online.

2. Content - The more contentyour website hasa the better off it is going to do. Why? Well think about it. There are over 25 billion websites (and more added every day). The search engines use common sense and and determine thata if your website has more relevant content than the next guys then it must be more important so the engines rank your site higher. Now is content the only criteria? Of course not so lets see what else is important to your ranking

3. Inbound Links - These are criticaly important to the success of your site. Why? Because the more relevant links you have coming into your site the relevant the search engines determine your site to be and thus rank your site higher. So what makes a relevant inbound link?
               a. Links from websites that have something to with the law
               b. Links that deal specifically with the type of law you actually practice an talk about on your website
               c. The higher ranked and more respected the site is that is providing the inbound links the better off your website will do.

4. Dynamic vs. Static Website - Does your website change on a regular basis? For example does your site have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page that changes every month or even a newsletter? If so, your site will do better in the rankings. Why? Because the search engines determine that if you care enough to change your site on a regular basis that it must have some sort of relevancy. If your site remains static (never changes or chanegs infrequently) then your site wil most likely lose ranking.

5. Meta-Date (or Source Code) - Meta tag keywords, descriptions and titles that are highly relevant to the content on the specific page help to increase your value to search engines and assist in boosting your legal website in the Search Engines Results Page (SERP).

Tool: To see how relevant your meta data is to you content use Widexl’s meta data analyzer.

If you have any questions please call Jon Reiter at 303-947-1737 and he will be happy to explain how to help get your legal website ranked higher.