Why You Should Market Your Legal Services For Timely Events

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

First, let me say that I realize this is a touchy subject.  No one wants to come off as an opportunist, and certainly that is something a law firm risks when they market their services to victims of a headline grabbing accident.

That being said, victims of accidents like these certainly do need representation.   A recovering victim or the family of a deceased victim are almost certainly not experienced (and too grief stricken) to navigate through the confusing waters of major litigation.   In fact, it is in the interest of the victims that a Law Firm with experience handling such cases SHOULD market those services. 

Case in point, the recent Los Angeles Metrolink Train Accident in Chatsworth, CA.  Twenty-eight people have died, well over one hundred have been injured.   There is no doubt that many of the victims and their families will require legal assistance as they determine their rights.  Some will have the resources to find the right attorney, but most will not.   How can these victims find the RIGHT attorney for their case, and how can attorneys make sure that their firms are found?

Clearly old guard marketing efforts like the Yellow Pages can’t help wih these timely events.  Radio/TV/Newspaper advertising can be timely, but when your audience is only a few hundred people it really doesn’t make sense to use such broad-spectrum methods.

On the internet front, Pay-Per-Click is an obvious answer.  You can change things on the fly and quickly adjust keywords so your firm shows up for certain searches.  But just having a Pay-Per-Click campaign isn’t enough.  It is also IMPERATIVE that you ammend your website to include content on the timely subject.  If your site is well positioned with the search engines you’ll be amazed at how quickly your new content will show results.  More importantly, potential clients will see that you are specifically reaching out to them once they get to your site.  That is precisely what my client Binder & Associates has done with their website, with content on both their homepage and on a specific Los Angeles Metrolink Accident page. 

Another great method for adding timely content is by having a blog for your law firm.  Since the nature of a blog is to have a constant update to the content, the search engines more readily index the pages of blog sites.  This can allow you to show up in the search engine results pages within HOURS of publishing, a great advantage for marketing to timely events.  The downside is that you really do need to keep your blog fresh at all times (at least a few times a week) or it will lose this quality, and most attorneys just don’t have the time. 

If you are an attorney and you are interested in blogging for your firm, or if you have someone on staff who can do it for you, please don’t hesitate to contact me to find out how to get started.  I can be reached via my website, www.losangeles-lawyer-marketing.com.

“Google Suggest” – The End of Long Tail Search?

Friday, September 12th, 2008 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

Let me first answer my own question:  No. 

But, I do think that Google Suggest will change the way people search.   If you use an iPhone you’ve most certainly experienced Google Suggest, but you’ve also probably encountered it if you’ve downloaded the Google Toolbar for Firefox or the new Google Browser, Chrome.

For those of you who do not know, Google Suggest has been a Google Labs project for a while now and what it basically does is predict what search you are going to do by what you have already typed.   This is based off data on Google’s servers, not previous searches that YOU conducted on your computer.

So basically, if I type “Divorce At…” it will offer up “Divorce Attorneys”.    But more interestingly, it also suggests several more searches, including some that are city specific, and one that is “Divorce Attorney for Men”.

Google Suggest - Divorce Attorneys

Imagine you are a man doing this search.  Might you be inclined to take this suggestion instead of typing in whatever search you were planning on doing.   Even if you were about to type in “Divorce Attorneys for Dads,” it is not unreasonable to think that you might switch.  Just like we users end up trusting Google’s results, we might decide to trust their search suggestions too.  

That being said, I think Google Suggest actually has a much bigger impact on Vanity Searches than on Long Tail search.  There are only so many suggestions that Google can make (7-10 usually), so they tend to concentrate on the obvious searches.  And Google also seems to not be targeting everything yet.  ”Divorce Attorney Pa…” gets the suggestion “Divorce Attorney Pasadena” but “Divorce Attorney Glen” does not get the suggestion “Divorce Attorney Glendale”.  

However, I do see a use for Google Suggest when it comes to SEO strategy.  Typing in “Pasadena Divo..” offers up “Pasadena Divorce Lawyers” & “Pasadena Divorce Lawyer.”  That’s it.  No “Pasadena Divorce Attorney” or “Pasadena Divorce Law Firm”.  If I’m strategizing on what comes first in my SEO plan, I use what Google is going to suggest.  

pasadena-divorce-lawyers - Google Suggest

As of today, I DO NOT believe that this is something that everyone needs to worry about.  No one should rush out and change their tags or keywords just yet.  But it is certainly worth monitoring.

If you need help with Law Firm Website Optimization, please visit my website at www.losangeles-lawyer-marketing.com