Are you Blogging Yet?

If not, you certainly should be! Here's why:

• Blogging helps establish you as the expert in your field. But NOT by posting old, re-hashed articles that have been through the circuit. Instead keep your blogs in your own words, to the point, relevant and timely. The purpose of your blog is to share something of interest to your following.
• It will boost your SEO. Blogging adds more content and the search engines love relevant, fresh content. They especially pay attention to your Blog Title so make sure it is keyword rich and always thought provoking.
• A Blog has the ability to stand on its own 2 feet and act as a 'hook' to bring readers to your Website. If they're interested in what you have to say, chances are they will follow that link to your website when they need you.
• You gain credibility with consistency. If you make it a habit to blog, say, every Monday morning your followers will take note. Not only will they look forward to hearing from you, it will show them you are still passionate about your practice and committed to educating your audience.

Don't pass on these important opportunities that blogging provides. 10 - 15 minutes of your time can go far for you in the long run.

If you are interested in further details on our SEO marketing strategies for lawyers or looking for more tips like these, please visit our site, AJIS.com or email me at donna@ajis.com

Law Firm SEO

Has Law Firm SEO seen its day? Has internet marketing for the law firm exhausted its boundaries? Not when you continue growing with SEO and staying on top of internet marketing trends!

Yes, by standing still after your firm has implemented all of the SEO basics to your site, you WILL become disillusioned by SEO. The search engines WILL pass you by, and yes they may even DROP you from their index! But you can avoid this from happening. How? Its time for another trusty checklist:

1. Continue adding fresh content to your site. (Think articles, new pages on law updates, a blogging area, etc.) With all of the sites the search engines are bombarded with, it just makes sense that they'll pay attention to the ones with the most up-to-date content. The last thing they want to do is send their customers to stale, outdated content;
2. Always be on the look-out for incoming link opportunities. Incoming links are perceived as 'votes' by the search engines. If others think you're worth a link -- especially sites that are similar in nature to yours -- so will the engines;
3. Keep up with the times. Search engines are very interested in sites involved with social media -- that includes FaceBook for Business, Twitter and LinkedIn. Show them that your firm is actively engaged in these platforms by sending followers to your fresh, relative content;
4. Give potential clients a glimpse of who they will be working with. Video is just the ticket for this. Even if your budget doesn't allow to have it professionally done, uploading your own vids to YouTube will work just as well.
5. Don't have the time, know-how or patience for any of the above? Well...that's what we're here for. Our SEO internet marketing for law firms includes:

• SEO Basics.
• Incoming links from highly ranked sites.
• Social Media for better SEO.
• Video marketing.
• Outstanding customer service.

All at affordable rates.  Join us when you're ready to go straight to the TOP as we harness everything the internet has to offer law firms on the Web!
 623.328.8906 / donna@ajis.com

Content Ideas for your Law Firm's Website

We always encourage our clients to come up with new content that distinguishes you and your law firm from all of the others -- it is one of the most important parts of your web strategy. If this is a stumbling block for you, here are just a few basic content ideas for your law firm’s website/blog that can help set you apart from the rest:

• Question & Answer Pages – Whatever you call it, Q&A, FAQ, it’s a simple fact that most people don’t have experience with the law and that’s why when they look for legal information online, it’s generally because they have a question. This makes question & answer pages extremely effective. On the one hand, optimizing for questions is likely to give you an advantage in terms of search position. Providing a helpful answer is also likely to help you convert a visitor into a potential client inquiry!

• Informational Videos – As universal search results become more prominent, informational videos can help you compete for more competitive search phrases with lower SEO investments. We are big supporters of using YouTube videos to boost your search engine rankings. Make sure your video addresses issues that you see in your practice. Discuss general hypothetical situations and the factors that go into obtaining a particular outcome in a legal matter. Keep your videos short (under 2 minutes) and never speak in legalese.

• Whitepapers, Guides, Downloads – Your web content should be focused on providing a certain amount of free helpful information to your visitors. Providing free whitepapers can be an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise and stay in contact with website visitors.

• Checklists – Lists are very popular with Internet users and bullets catch the eye at a quick glance.  (Just look at this blog post)

• Attorney Bios – I personally would never hire a lawyer on the web if his Biographical info was not available. With your Bio, now is NOT the time to be shy -- don't just provide a laundry list of your experienced credentials but list all of your accolades as well, and particularly how well equipped you are at solving your visitors’ problems.

• Articles – This is a great content strategy that can really work. Its important to make sure your Article is actually newsworthy to your visitors, as opposed to yet another advertisement. In addition to actually writing the articles, consider using articles from other resources that are relevant to what you do. (Just remember to cite that resource.) Remember, the job of your website is to offer useful content to your visitors.

• Testimonials – Testimonials are probably the most effective way to build trust online. Providing both professional and client testimonials to your visitors is very powerful. You should also let colleagues and clients know that they can easily leave testimonials on sites like Avvo, Google Places, and LinkedIn too. Another easy way is at the end of a case, have clients fill out a comment sheet on your performance. Let them know if will be reprinted.

• Seminar Posts – Always let visitors know what you're up to in terms of sharing your expertise. Not only does it give them the opportunity to hear you in person, but further solidifies in their mind that you are the expert in your field.

• Interviews – This is something I'm actually starting to use myself. Interviewing others and getting interviewed is a great format in helping your web visitors know more about you. Since you're conducting the interview, you will be in charge of its format and style. This will be extremely effective in what it is you want to convey.

If you are interested in further details on our SEO marketing strategies for lawyers, please visit our site, AJIS.com

Is Social Media Marketing for Lawyers?

As internet marketers, for us its all about testing, testing and then testing again. How else would we know which way to guide our clients? After spending the past 2 years using social media and testing how it can positively affect your search engine positions, we've hit pay dirt.

OK, I can almost hear you already --
I don't have time to tweet!
What good can FaceBook possibly do for my business?
Lawyers have to be careful about what we say publicly when marketing.

Yes, each one of the above is a valid point and I totally agree with you on every one... which brings me back to my 2 years of research. We've found that by being active on all forms of social media which link back to you -- the search engines will reward you beyond measure. We know exactly which ones count most and how often you have to make posts, all while being aware of the Rules of Professional Conduct that govern lawyers. We even tied it all up in a tidy package for you so you don't have to do any of the work. Well, almost none of the work -- all you have to do is blog about your practice area. But you're the expert right? So that should be a breeze.

So what's next? Follow this link where we've spelled everything out for you in our SEO Social Media BootCamp for Lawyers,which we've made available via Video-on-Demand for your convenience.
Hope to see you at the TOP!

Our 15 years in Law Firm SEO Internet Marketing

Hard to believe but yes, we've been busy with SEO internet marketing since 1996 and will be celebrating 15 years this October. Although we started out as web designers, it quickly became clear that if we wanted to survive in this business we needed to pay particular attention to how the search engines ranked a site. Our main concern at the time was getting our client sites ranked in the only search engine that really mattered -- Yahoo. Ya-Who you ask? LOL Yes, believe it or not Google had not even yet appeared on the scene.

Needless to say much has happened in those 15 years.

• Yahoo and AOL have quietly sank into obscurity;
• Google has turned itself into a verb;
• YouTube has turned video on its head;
• Social Media has changed the way our society communicates;
• All of the above are integral working parts of the beast we now call internet marketing.

It has been our pleasure and honor to remain inside this internet marketing loop and continue serving clients with TOP search engine positions and growing their businesses by harnessing everything the internet has to offer our clients.
For details on our Law Firm SEO services email me or call at 623.328.8906. We can't wait to take you to the TOP!