Category: Legal Marketing

Who’s Afraid of Website Data Migration?

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Does the phrase “data migration” send chills up your spine? Would the fear of moving content from your old website to a new one hold you back from pulling the trigger on a website project?

If you nodded “yes” to either of those questions, you’re not alone.

The topic of data migration can be scary for marketers. Simply put, trained communicators are not database jockeys, and the prospect of ones and zeros flying back and forth can cause discomfort. But comfort level aside, should the fear of data migration warrant the keeping of a crummy website?

What can go wrong?

Everything, right?! There’s a chance that data could get lost, or content could end up in the wrong places, causing countless hours of aggravation for the marketing department…

Or not.

Professionals who do this all the time are well practiced in the art of handling the various challenges associated with data migration. But how can marketers be assured that their migration won’t go awry

How to do data migration

Data migration is not rocket science – or magic. At its simplest, it can be summed up as matching database fields from the old website, with the new. The actual act of migrating data (also called “data mapping”) can vary in its level of difficulty, depending on the condition, structure and size of the firm’s current website database. But irrespective of how old your website is or how it was built, the basic steps involved are the same.

Here’s a simplified version of the process that we use at Great Jakes:

  1. Analysis: The first step involves requesting a “data dump” of all the text content of the website and of the headers for each data table. We analyze the data to determine how much of the migration can be automated.

    We also investigate whether it would be more practical and/or cost efficient to not automate the migration and instead configure a “data-entry” website to have the data manually moved from the old website into the new. It’s not as hard as it sounds, and it’s not unusual that we end up recommending a combination of automated data-migration and “data-entry” website methods. It all depends on how the old website’s data are formatted.

  2. Transfer setup: The next step involves planning the “field-mapping” – writing the appropriate scripts necessary to move the data into the proper fields of the new website.
  3. Migration: A month prior to delivering a finished website, we migrate the data from the old website to the new, using data from a second data dump that contains all of the most current content (text, photos, PDFs, videos, presentations, audio files, etc.).
  4. Testing: Finally, we rigorously review the data migration results to ensure that everything moved as planned.

Better the devil you know – right?

While the steps outlined are straightforward, data migration is a time-consuming but doable process. Consequently, larger websites with more data will require more time to analyze, set up, migrate and then test.

So, the best way to ensure that everything goes smoothly is to take a peek under the hood. Have a pro examine your existing website. They might find some issues, like embedded tables or miscellaneous image files tucked in strange places. You’ll probably need to make some decisions about how to migrate these items. But most likely, they’ll probably find that the hurdles to moving the content are a lot lower than you might think.

Don’t let those two little words “data migration” keep you from advancing your firm’s business goals! There’s too much to be gained from having a properly conceived website.

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10 Free Keyword Research Tools + How to Use Them [INFOGRAPHIC]

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An old friend – Google’s free Adwords Keyword tool – has gone off the grid for good, leaving in its place the new Keyword Planner. The Planner is a little more detailed, but still fairly easy to use and still free.

A recent post at the GroTraffic.com blog had a list of 10 free keyword research tools you will find useful, as well as a good infographic that provides step-by-step instructions on how to conduct keyword research:

Mergewords – especially useful for creating long tail keyword phrases which are critical to your SEO efforts.

Wordstream – will give you up to 30 free keyword results; after that, you have to subscribe.

SEMRush – the first 10 results are free; a subscription is required for more. Data analysis and keyword performance info is also offered on the site.

SEOBook – this site has a free keyword tool that requires free registration to access.

Keyword Eye – if you are more visually oriented, this site is for you.

KGen – if you use Firefox as your browser, this tool is available as an add-on and will rank keywords on any given website.

Bing Keyword Research Tool – part of the Bing Webmaster Tools.

Keyword Spy – lets you evaluate competitive websites for keywords they use.

Thesaurus.com – this website gives you synonyms for your keywords.

Ubersuggest – suggestion tool for more keyword ideas.

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12 Tips to Increase Referrals & Revenues With Email Marketing

Katten Muchin

Despite all the focus these days on social media, email marketing still remains the most effective way to reach prospects, remind clients, and reconnect with referral sources. According to the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project Report, email remains the top use of the Internet across all age groups.

Far too few law firms properly utilize email marketing to generate more referrals and develop new business. I’m going to lay out a game plan for your firm so you can implement an effective email marketing program.

He or She Who Has The Biggest List Wins!

I have said this to audiences for the last several years, but it bears repeating, he or she who has the biggest list wins! Your list is one of the few tangible assets of your law firm that is of a true lasting value. What makes your firm valuable is your ongoing relationship with your current and former clients, prospects and referral sources-that is to say, your list!

As a business owner, you must do everything you can to build, maintain and grow a healthy list of interested prospects, clients and referral sources. Developing a robust email marketing list should be at the core of your law firm’s business development efforts.

Here are proven ways to build a great law firm marketing list:

Insert a newsletter sign-up form on each page of your website and on your blog. Include a brief summary of the benefits of receiving your no-cost, monthly legal newsletter as well as a link to a sample they can read.

Promote your newsletter on social media. A growing number of law firms are using social media as a low-cost method to promote their law firms. Periodically include snippets from your newsletter in your social media.

Invite your connections on LinkedIn to join your list. Send out an email invitation to all your connections on LinkedIn asking if they would like to join your newsletter.

Use networking events to grow your list. If you’re like most attorneys, you have a stack of business cards somewhere on your desk from people you have met at networking events and you haven’t done anything with those names since then. Instead of letting them collect dust, put them on your newsletter list. It is the easiest way to stay connected long-term.

When you have a speaking engagement, provide a sign-up sheet for your complimentary newsletter. This technique has a very high response rate because the audience has already expressed an interest in your practice area by virtue of attending your presentation.

Partner with other non-legal professionals who serve a client base similar to yours. For example, if your area of practice is estate planning, financial planners, CPAs, tax attorneys or real estate professionals might have a target client similar to yours.

The overall goal is to continually grow your list and produce top quality content of interest to your list so they start to see you as a thought leader in the field.

Creating an Email Marketing Program for Your Law Firm

If you do not already have a regular email marketing campaign in place – like a monthly e-newsletter – here are 10 tips to keep in mind as you embark on your list building efforts:

1. Use every opportunity to build your list. Every prospect your office talks to on the phone, every person who fills out a form on your website, every business contact you network with, every visitor to your website or blog, every contact on social media, every referral source you meet for lunch, and every new client you sign up-invite them all to join your monthly newsletter.

2. Give away a free report on a topic of interest to your prospects when they sign up for your newsletter. This is a great way to entice reticent people to divulge their contact information.

3. Only send emails to people who have agreed to receive them. One of the services we offer is “done for you” newsletters for law firms and I will occasionally have a new client ask me about buying a list of targeted prospects. In general, I do not recommend purchase a list of names as they have no existing relationship with you and you will likely receive a lot of spam complaints.

4. Include an opt-out option in every email you send. Make it easy for people who are no longer interested in your content to unsubscribe.

5. Be sure your content is always relevant to your audience. Write about areas they are interested in. Don’t be afraid to take a specific point of view. As famous business author Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad put it, I would rather be loved or hated, but not forgotten.

6. Always include a clear call-to-action. Tell them what you want them to do: Do you want them to call your office for a free consultation? Do you want them to visit your blog for more information on a specific topic? Would you like them to attend your upcoming webinar?

7. Use professional email marketing software to send it out. We recommend a program like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, iContact, or Vertical Response. They are all very easy to use and costs start out around $20 per month. These programs will give you great insight into how many people are looking at your newsletter (open rates), how many people click on a link to “read more” (click through rates), and how many pass it on to a friend (“recommend” rates).

Due to spam blockers and concerns over viruses being sent via email, we do not advise you to send it out via Microsoft Outlook® or even worse as a PDF attached to an email.

8. Send your email on a consistent basis. We recommend every 4-6 weeks, but some of you could send it even more frequently.

9. Test to find out the best time to send your newsletter. The day of the week and the time of day can make a huge difference in the open rates of your newsletter. Email marketing studies show that in general, the best times for sending B2B emails is Tuesday through Thursday between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The best times for sending B2C emails is Tuesday through Thursday between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. or on the weekend, but your audience may be different and the only real way to find out is to test it.

10. Keep the “from” name consistent. You should use your name or the name of your law firm in the “from” line.

11. Use clear, concise and interesting subject lines. Don’t make people guess what your email is about. Studies have shown the two biggest factors in determining if your email gets open is does the recipient recognize who it is from and the subject line.

Make your subject lines interesting. If you get two emails and you don’t immediately recognize either sender, but one of them has the subject line “10 ways to double your law firm’s revenue this year” and the other one has the subject line “March Newsletter from The Rainmaker Institute,” which one will you be more inclined to open?

12. Keep it short and sweet. You should be able to read your entire newsletter in less than 5 minutes. If you have a great article that is longer simply include several paragraphs in your newsletter then add a link to “click here to read more.” Everyone’s attention span is getting shorter as multiple mediums for messaging continue to grow.

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Promising #1 Rankings is Unacceptable for Legal Online Marketing Vendors

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Every reputable search marketer will tell you that a Web vendor promising number one rankings is blowing smoke. Google’s Matt Cutts warned about vendors that promise number one rankings as far back as 2008, then again in 2012.  Despite these voices, many companies still guarantee number one search engine spots – which raises the question: “Is promising number one rankings really that bad?”

Vendors who promise number one rankings for their law firm clients set unachievable standards for themselves, their clients and the legal marketing profession. Occasionally these damaging black-hat SEO tactics work for a few weeks or months — until Google catches up with them. When that happens, all the money invested into creating your Web presence is wasted.

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You can safely bet that Google’s algorithm will constantly change as the search engine giant places increasing emphasis on user experience. Strategies that may secure top rankings today might be the same strategies that hinder a site tomorrow. No company can be certain as to where their client’s site will rank next, and it is misleading for any company to indicate they do.

A legal online marketing vendor must also account for the fact that high rankings for a law firm website do not necessarily equate with an increase in newly signed clients. Websites have a shelf life. Many factors can affect conversions. If your design is dated or stale, you might need an upgrade before users are attracted to your site again. An outdated site conveys a lack of concern for the firm’s Web presence and image, almost as if you hadn’t refurnished your visitor’s lobby in 20 years. Additionally, a website that does not have calls to action and is not designed for conversions will hurt your ability to convert visitors to clients.

A guarantee of a number one ranking may lead a law firm to have unrealistic expectations of its Web marketing company. A vendor that works incredibly hard to stay abreast of search engine marketing trends, takes preemptive measures to protect their client sites and keeps lines of communication open sets the standard. But even that exceptional vendor cannot, and should not, guarantee top search engine spots. What they can and should do is promise to work tirelessly on a campaign to make it the best it can be. All sorts of factors, such as investment levels and client involvement, will affect a site’s ability to outrank other sites. Those factors are not entirely controlled by vendors, even the exceptional ones.

At the end of the day, what you really want is to be able to convert qualified leads into clients and grow your practice. You may not necessarily need number one rankings to accomplish this goal. What you need is a Web marketing vendor who is just as committed to your firm’s success as one of your partners. If the company handling your firm’s Internet marketing campaign is dedicated, then your campaign will be a success – whether your site occupies the first or fourth spot on a search results page.

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Potential Clients Only Care About 3 Things. Here They Are.

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When it comes to doing business with an attorney, prospects only care about 3 things:

  1. The Benefits they receive because of your services
  2. The Value they perceive a relationship with you will bring
  3. The Results they achieve from your service

If you’re an estate planning attorney, don’t sell estate plans.  If you’re a divorce attorney, don’t focus on the types of family law services your firm provides.  If you’re a defense attorney, don’t focus on how many different types of crimes you can represent.

These are all features of your service. People don’t buy features. They buy benefits.

They buy solutions not service, because they expect everyone to have great service.

They buy other people’s experiences of your service.

They buy your credibility as presented by your marketing image.

They buy based on their emotions, but they want logical reasons to justify their decision.

And they buy guarantees and promises, so don’t make them if you can’t keep them.

Fundamentally, the reason why people or businesses seek out your law firm is because they have a problem and they are asking you, “Do you have a solution?”

That’s why your law firm marketing must focus on more than communicating just the features of your product or service.  You must make sure all your legal marketing efforts answer the questions that prospective clients are asking, not just give them a laundry list of everything you can do.

6 Reasons Why Video Belongs In Your Legal Marketing Mix

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Here’s a statistic that is hard to wrap your head around: more than 4 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every day.

YouTube also says that more than 6 billion hours are watched each month – one hour for every person on Earth.

video youtube legal marketing

Video is a great way for attorneys to connect with prospects on your law firm website and demonstrate expertise in your field of practice.

Beyond the YouTube stats that demonstrate virtually everyone is viewing video online, here are 6 more reasons why video belongs in your legal marketing mix:

1. Better search results. According to Forrester Research, videos are 53x more likely than traditional websites to be found on the first page of Google search results.

2. Better retention. Forrester Research found that people retain 58% more with both visual and auditory stimulation.

3. More traffic. Forrester Research reports that over 60% of all web traffic comes from online video.

4. More likely to buy. People who view a video are 64% more likely to purchase (comScore).

5. Found in the C-Suite. 65% of senior executives say they have visited a vendor website after watching a video. 59% say they prefer video to text. (Forbes’ Video in the C-Suite).

6. More likely to be shared. Video has the best potential to be shared and go viral compared with other media.

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What Social Media Users Like to Share

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A new study out from market research firm Ipsos reveals that 70% of Internet users have shared content on social media sites in the past month.

So why is this important?

One of the main reasons attorneys participate in social media is for lead generation, and having your posts shared with others boosts the popularity of that post and gives an implied endorsement to what you have to say.

So it would behoove you to be aware of the type of content that is more likely to be shared. Here it is:

The next time you find yourself stuck on what to post on your social media sites, refer to this list – and include a picture!

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Consumer Financial Services Basics 2013 – September 30 – October 01, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming  Consumer Financial Services Basics 2013.

CFSB Sept 30 2013

When

September 30 – October 01, 2013

Where

  • University of Maryland
  • Francis King Carey School of Law
  • 500 W Baltimore St
  • Baltimore, MD 21201-1701
  • United States of America

Facing the most comprehensive revision of federal consumer financial services (CFS) law in 75 years, even experienced consumer finance lawyers might feel it is time to get back in the classroom. This live meeting is designed to expose practitioners to key areas of consumer financial services law, whether you need a primer or a refresher.

It is time to take a step back and think through some of these complex issues with a faculty that combines decades of practical experience with law school analysis. The classroom approach is used to review the background, assess the current policy factors, step into the shoes of regulators, and develop an approach that can be used to interpret and evaluate the scores of laws and regulations that affect your clients.

A Law Firm Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Guide to Understanding Your Website’s Rankings

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How Long Will it Take My Site to Rank?

The world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a lot like the Wild West.  You have the barkeeps and the bandits.  The barkeeps work hard and earn an honest living for a long time (unless they are gunned down by a bandit).  The bandits steal and earn money quickly but are more than likely to be gunned down themselves during their next heist.  If you haven’t gathered already, the barkeeps are white hat SEOs and the bandits are black hat SEOs.  Their earnings are derived from your rankings.

seo search engine optimization

Many search marketers work very hard to stay on top of the latest trends and work tirelessly to create a place that people want to go and hang out (the bar).  They will tell you the truth about where you are and how long it will take you to get where you need to be.  There are others who really have no real talent or resources other than the ability to sell you on quick wins and a fiverr.com account where they can buy a truckload of easy links that may make your site rank in the short term before it gets penalized for spammy practices.

In order to create value for your visitors and for you as a law firm, you have to know where you are and form a plan to get you where you need to be.  So let’s start with the basics.

What Are the Basics That I Need to Know as a Lawyer About SEO?

Pay Attention to Your Design

First, you need a well organized site that is visually appealing and applies current design trends so that your visitors do not feel like you stopped caring about them years ago.  It is normal to redesign a site every 2-3 years, especially if your ROI or conversions have dropped. (Pro Tip: WordPress makes it easy to redesign a site by just building a new theme instead of rebuilding each page.)

web design website internet technology

A skilled law firm Web designer thinks about how the visitor goes through the site, what they are most interested in and what will compel a visitor to contact the law firm. Designing for your visitors is critical and is the foundation of good search optimization.

Make Your Content Easy to Understand

Google has to crawl (basically download and parse) and understand the pages on your site.  Your visitors need to understand your site as well as how it is organized.  Relevant content is a must for your law firm website.

Many times companies build sites around their business structure instead of their visitor’s needs.  This is so common it is alarming.  If your firm’s focus is car accident cases, you need to have an obvious link on the homepage that encourage visitors to click for more information on car accident cases.  Build that page to be better and more useful than the page of any of your competitors.

Don’t make visitors hunt for information.  Use a content outline to help plan and organize your site so that it is logical (for search engines) and easy to find (for visitors).

Don’t Sell, Be Useful

This is a pet peeve of mine.  I have never been to a law firm’s website and not known that it is a law firm’s website.  It is obvious.  There is no need to tell people in the content that you can handle their case.  Instead, provide what they seek.  Add value to their visit.  Use social proof (testimonials, reviews) judiciously, show some cases you have won, but above all tell them what they need to know and answer their questions.

Be Interesting and Authoritative

If you do not have the time or resources to write high quality content, pay a top notch writer to do it for you.  Google analyzes content for relevance and readability.  Google has the world’s largest testing platform for Web pages.  Their goal is to return a result that answers the question entered and that the searcher finds interesting enough to stay and read.  This is commonly called time-to-long-click.  If a searcher finds your content and immediately returns to Google to pick another Web page, they have told Google that your content was either not relevant, informative or unhelpful.  Next time someone searches for that query, Google is less likely to show your content in the results.

What Are the Factors that Drive Rankings?

How Google ranks websites is a closely held secret.  If anyone tells you they have the magic formula, they are not being truthful.  However, there are several things that we do know.  A list of the top factors that Google has announced as well as from our experience include:

  • Authoritative links are huge.  Links from trustworthy sites that are on pages which are relevant to the content on your site they are linking to is one of the biggest ranking factors. For example, a scholarly website discussing car accident causation factors that links to your car accident infographic is a successful and powerful link.
  • The number of different high quality domains that link to you is highly correlated with good rankings.
  • Have a physical location in the city where you want business. All of the searches that have keywords indicating a business (lawyer, law firm, attorney, etc.) will return local listings at the top of the results 90% of the time.

google reviews

  • Reviews on Google (as well as other trusted rating sites) increases your visibility and chance of a prospect contacting you with their case.   If you put yourself in your potential client’s shoes and do a search for “Palm Beach Car Accident Lawyer,” would you pick the attorney with no reviews or the firm with ten five-star reviews?  This is also highly correlated with rankings.
  • Brand and business mentions help search engines know who you are.  Google used to return EMDs (exact match domains) for certain keywords because it had difficulty distinguishing the difference between a keyword and a brand name.  If you search for Rackroom Shoes, you probably want rackroomshoes.com.  Google uses brand (co-citations/co-occurrence) along with instances of your business name and address found on quality sites to understand the strength and trustworthiness of your brand.
  • Having well-written, properly organized, and properly optimized site content is also critical to rankings.  No one wants to click on a search result that just says “Home – mylawfirm.com”.  Google will probably display a better (more relevant) title for you anyway but you get the point.  The title and description of your page are important elements that tell Google and the visitor what your page is about.
  • There is also some early evidence that having active Google+ profiles can be very helpful in gaining rankings for your site.

What Is the Amount of Time That it Will Take My Law Firm’s Website to Start Ranking?

This is a very difficult question with several variables, but I will do my best to lay this out.  Your search vendor is not a black box that drives traffic and conversions.  The vendor is a partner that magnifies what you already do to put you in the best position to get the cases for which you are looking.

In my experience, law firms that are active in the community (online and off), have good relationships and actively promote their brand are the ones who experience the most success with their websites.  This is because Google uses many factors to determine rankings, not just links.

For now, high quality, relevant links are still a primary factor in determining rankings and should be sought. If you have a new site with no links and your top competitors have established sites with hundreds of sites linking to them, you should obtain a similar amount in order to be competitive.  Remember to follow the tips above on the type of links to target.

If you take the number of linking sites that your competitors have; let’s say 200, then you will need to get close to that mark in order to be in the ballpark to start ranking with them. But one thing to keep in mind: not all links are created equal.  One link from a university website can be equal to a hundred blog articles or directory links.  So, it really has to do with the quality and number of links that you acquire that will enable you to compete with other firms’ rankings.

It is possible to buy thousands of links in a month to rank for what you want, but with the advent of manual penalties and Penguin filters from Google, we highly recommend against this.  Instead, go the slower route of convincing people to link to you.  This can be done in the following ways:

  • Create content that people want to link to.
  • Do promotions that people will share and link to.
  • Ask people you know for links.
  • List your company in authoritative directories.
  • Share quality blog posts with non-competing blog owners.
  • Write a glowing article about another business or organization.
  • Ask a business if you can put a testimonial on their site in exchange for a link.

There are many, many other ways to build links in a quality way.  Finding a strategy that works for your firm can be a process of trial and error when first starting out.

law firm marketing web strategy

Your overall Web strategy also needs to be considered when planning your firm’s link building plan.  One of your practice areas may be extremely competitive and have very established competitor sites.  Instead of starting with that area, it may be a better approach to shoot for a slightly less lucrative practice area or location with less competition in order to rank more quickly for terms that can drive results.

The reality is that, depending on the amount of competition in a particular location and practice area, it can take a year, or years, to get to where your competition is.  Your competition may have spent tens of thousands of dollars on their Web presence.  Keep in mind that your competition did not stop what they were doing just because you entered the game.  You will have to catch up to where they were, plus how much they did while you were catching up.

What Can Law Firms Do to Help Speed Up the Process?

The really cool thing about Google is that they want to reward brands, trustworthiness, and authority.  There are some easy shortcuts that law firms can take to help their vendors help them while still sticking to white hat tactics.  Here are the top five:

  • Share relationships that you have that can lead to great link opportunities.  Several of our clients who were on the boards of organizations and have bio pages on those websites.  There is nothing wrong with asking for a link to your website or to your bio on your website.  Another example – if you have a good relationship with a local newspaper, see if you can get a great story written and posted on the paper’s website about something you did or an opinion you have.
  • Get reviews!  Reviews influence rankings as well as conversions.  People love social proof and use it to make decisions.  If your law firm has none or only one or two reviews on Google, Yelp or Avvo, you are missing the boat.  Your Web vendor cannot do this for you.
  • Read your content.  If you do not feel comfortable sharing a new blog post on your personal Facebook account, then it is probably not interesting enough for anyone else to want to share or link to.
  • Participate in your community.  Hold an event.  Sponsor a charity.  Create a charity or scholarship.  Give away free legal counseling for students at your alma mater.  These things get natural links and brand mentions because people like to share great things that others are doing.  Keep your vendor in the loop and they can do outreach to leverage these offline activities online.
  • Share what is important to you.  Share your knowledge: videos, resources, papers and important changes to laws.  Visitors to your website are determining whether to choose you or not.  Help them know what makes you different.

Well, if you have made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. To close, I think it is important to say that some sites take months and some take a year to start producing results.  It really depends on competition and how new you are to the Web.  Being new to the Web is not such a bad thing these days, contact us to ask why.

The most important advice that I can give is to make sure that your Web vendor actually reviews your site before suggesting a strategy.  There should be clear expectations and goals established for your site.  Your vendor should have regular meetings with you and partner with you to create a plan for success (even if takes longer than you would like).  Remember that a high-quality vendor will tell a potential client the truth even if it is not what they want to hear.

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7 Steps to Create a Lead-Generating Website [INFOGRAPHIC]

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It is estimated that 95% of law firms already have a website (I’m not sure what the other five percent are holding out for…perhaps they still think the internet is a fad), but too few attorneys are consistently generating quality leads from their online presence because they lack great content.

Google has made it increasingly difficult to rank high without putting a lot of quality content on your website. One of the best ways to do so is via a blog, which allows you to add unique, high quality content every day to your website.

The infographic below from ReachLocal.com provides 7 essential ingredients you must have in your website to help you land more leads: