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Todd Henley of Internet Marketing Blog provided me with the following guest post today. I do a lot of talking about blogging as a marketing tool for lawyers both here and on Sunflower Media Concepts. I felt it only fair to give someone else an opportunity to talk about other marketing tools we could use as lawyers marketing our firms. Thanks to Todd for the following.
If you are a practicing lawyer, whether from your home, garage, or a New York City skyscraper – you need to be advertising in search engines. You might ask: What do you mean? You might say: I already have a website and when I search Google and other search engines I can easily find my website.
Okay, you can find your website, but can your clients find your website? How about your potential clients? Have you ever sat by a computer and watched the average person attempt to locate your website online? How about your phone number? Are you really that easy to find? This is actually a really good exercise to go through: ask a few of your family and friends to sit down at a computer and watch over their shoulder as they attempt to “find you” online. Can they do it? What search engine or service did they use? What keywords did they type in? Were you as easy to find on Google as you were on Yahoo or MSN?
The reality is that everyone approaches the Internet in a different way, and uses search engines differently. Some people use Google, others prefer Yahoo or Ask.com, and some have no preference at all and use the first search engine that appears in their browser. Some people will search for a lawyer by name, others will search for a lawyer by the name of their firm or company, some will search using a city name or state, others will use something very generic, and the list goes on…It is very close to impossible for your website (or blog) to appear in the top position in all search engines for all possible search terms used by your clients and potential clients. Even if this were possible, if you were not also advertising in search engines you are giving up search engine “real estate” to your competition or other websites. By advertising on search engines, you can help ensure that when people are looking for you, they can find you! Placing these advertisements also helps to manage your reputation, since you are influencing what appears in search engines when people search for you. You can choose the exact search terms for which your ads appear.
For example, if your name is “John Q” and you a bankruptcy lawyer practicing in San Francisco, California…below is a small sampling of potential search terms you may choose to advertise on:
- John Q
- John Q lawyer
- John Q SF
- John Q San Francisco
- John Q SF lawyer
- John Q bankruptcy lawyer
- John Q bankruptcy lawyer San Francisco
- bankruptcy lawyer San Francisco
- bankruptcy lawyer
- California bankruptcy law
- SF bankruptcy lawyer
Some of the beginning steps to effective search engine marketing are:
- Selecting a targeted and lengthy keyword list. (here is a list of keyword research tools to give you a start)
- Setting daily or monthly budgets so you do not overspend
- Closely monitoring your ROI (if applicable)
- Choosing effective ad copy to maximize click through rate
- Selecting appropriate website landing pages for your ads
Search Engine Marketing can range from very simple in complexity to extremely complex, depending on what your goals are. If you are a novice at advertising in search engines, I recommend you seek the advice of a pro to get some 1-on-1 counseling, or at least spend a good amount of time educating yourself by reading information online. You’ll want to avoid some very simple mistakes that could cost you big! (for example, accidentally selecting that your ads appear worldwide, rather than only in the United States, or only in your home state/city) Google AdWords is the largest and best place to begin your advertising, and the AdWords Learning Center is a good place to learn some of the basics. In addition to Google, you should also advertise with Yahoo & MSN. If your goals are very complex (or evolve into something complex) there are other smaller search engines you could also consider. Give it a try…unless you can afford to potentially lose the business of clients who can’t find you!
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