Facebook Mobile Presents Numerous Opportunities for Attorneys

Why is Facebook Mobile Beneficial to Attorney Marketing?

A firm can increase its exposure on the internet by adjusting the content on their profile and/or developing a Facebook mobile app.  According to a report by comScore in 2012, about 234 Americans use mobile devices, and about 48.5 percent use their phones to view websites.  Attorneys need to increase efforts to target mobile users. 

Changes to the Facebook Mobile App

The Facebook Mobile App has just begun to experiment with a “limited set of beta partners” in August of 2012 according to Vijaye Raji, a software engineer for Facebook.  The changes will direct a Facebook mobile user to new apps if they click on an advertisement.  If the Facebook mobile app user doesn’t already have the app, they’ll be automatically directed to the App Store.  The results are good for attorneys and firms trying to launch apps.

According to Raji, the new feature on Facebook mobile has resulted in potential customers being led to the Apple App Store and Google Play a total of 146 million times in just 30 days. 

Tools Attorneys can Use to Build an App and then Advertise on Facebook Mobile

With the changes within the Facebook mobile app, attorneys are encouraged to make an app for their firm and advertise on Facebook.  The following tools are some of the best and cheapest options on the internet:

1. Biznessapps- this app builder is specifically for attorneys and does not charge a setup fee.  The tool also gives the firm decision making on the creation and management of the app for an iPhone. The full-service is only $39 per month, and includes features listed below:

·         GPS directions

·         integration with Facebook Mobile, Twitter, and more

·         in-app messaging, push notifications, calendar options, and more

2. PhoneGap- this app builder promotes development in HTML5 and CSS3.  The apps created by this company allow geo-location, push notifications, a camera, and more.  A beta development is free, and other plans begin a $249.99 a year.

3. Branded Business Apps- the app builder is easy to use and allows a firm to create and advertise the new app on Facebook mobile within 48 hours.  This app builder is best for small and medium-sized firms, and provides great integration with social networks like the Facebook mobile app.  The costs for development are around $399 and monthly costs are about $39. 

4. Mobile for Lawyers- this service can help firms create a mobile website and/or a mobile app and provide marketing tools as well.  Larger firms should consider this service for app building because services for apps start around $99 per month with a flat fee of $999.  This service offers great integration with Facebook mobile as well. 

A New Tool to Turn Facebook Fan Page into an App

A new called Fan Page Mobilizer under the mobile app builder Cabana can greatly help attorneys promote their page fan page within the Facebook mobile app.  The new tool for Facebook mobile allows an attorney or any other small business with a fan page reformat the page, re-optimize the page, and then turn the page into an app. 

Many fan pages are viewable on the Facebook mobile app, but there are several problems in finding fan pages through the app:

1.       Finding the fan page through Facebook mobile is difficult and requires a manual search

2.       The fan pages currently viewable on the Facebook mobile app are limited in content.

If a firm uses the Fan Page Mobilizer for Facebook Mobile, they only have to identify the fan page with Cabana.  The firm then has the following options:

·         choosing a title

·         choosing an icon image

·         choosing a startup screen

The app under Facebook mobile will make pictures appear larger, and the firm can also provide wall posts, images, events, and more through a sliding menu similar to the one on the Facebook mobile app. 

Optimizing Posts for the Facebook Mobile App

The following techniques can help a firm increase their reach on the Facebook mobile app and on desktop computers as well:

1. Keep Posts Shorter than 160 Characters

If you keep posts shorter than 160 characters, Facebook mobile users will not have to click on the “see more” link at the bottom of a longer post.  Posts around 80 characters actually perform the best on the Facebook mobile app.

2. Include Photos as Much as Possible

Photos will engage any user more than plain text, and the photos help to promote brand awareness.  Photos take up more space on Facebook mobile as well and help to bring awareness to your firm. 

3. Ask Questions

The tip seems simple but can lead to a large amount of comments, likes, and more.  Include a question at the beginning of a post and at the end as well.  Make sure the question is short but can still generate a large amount of discussion. 

4. Include Videos

Facebook Mobile users frequently respond to videos.  YouTube and Facebook videos are good options for the Facebook mobile app, but firm’s need to start incorporating videos from Socialcam and other similar services as well.  These services are the best suited for mobile devices.

Common Trends for Legal Apps Advertised on the Facebook Mobile App

After numerous searches through the Apple App Store, the following trends appear for Legal Apps:

·         the app’s image is always simple and mainly used for brand awareness; it’s never an photo

·         most of the apps give bios for attorneys in the firm

·         there is usually one click required to email or call the firm

·         there are usually GPS guided directions to office of the firm

·         some legal apps offer a directory for all of the attorneys in the firm

Facebook Mobile App: Conclusion

Creating an app to advertise on Facebook mobile and optimizing your posts are great ways to gain interest from potential clients.  There are low cost options for creating apps, and make sure to research steps and information provided by other legal apps before creating your own.

SEO optimization tips are easy to come by, but how can you be sure if you're getting great SEO tips?  Keep in mind that Google's new Penguin algorithm, which affected one in six search results, is now in effect, and that changes the world of SEO tips and tricks significantly.  Keep reading to find out some up to the minute SEO optimization tips that can make your SERPs rise and drive your conversion costs down.

SEO Tips  #1: Don't Put Your Eggs in One Basket

This may sound unusual in a list of SEO tips and tricks, but the first tip in this guide is not to be too reliant on just one SEO method.  The rapidly-changing world of SEO optimization tips is a good indicator that things could easily change again.  Much of the advice given in today's SEO tips could be invalid or outdated tomorrow.

You may want to try running more than one website, each with different SEO strategies.  This can be a particularly good idea if you are using a lot of SEO tips and tricks to power traffic on one site.  Even if you have just one site because you have only one specialty area, you should look up not only SEO optimization tips, but also the basics of viral marketing and social media marketing techniques.

While this may seem like a lot of extra work, there's a reason for it.  Typically, using social media and viral marketing will only enhance the results of following SEO tips and tricks.  What's more, if you're already using these other techniques, it won't matter nearly as much if your SEO optimization tips become outdated due to yet another change in how search engines index your pages.

SEO Tips #2: Latent Semantic Indexing

While SEO tips and tricks used to focus on creating a high (but not too high) keyword density, today's keyword-related SEO optimization tips are a bit different.  Today, the hottest new trend in SEO tips is latent semantic indexing, or LSI.  As search engines have gotten better at identifying synonyms and variants of words (for instance, Google will highlight “attorney” and “lawyer” if you just search for “attorney”), they have also gotten wary about articles that just repeat the same keywords again and again.

With latent semantic indexing, you take advantage of Google's intelligence by including a few exact match key phrases several times in your article.  Then, you include several similar terms once or twice—not as often as your major key phrases, but these variants should be scattered throughout your copy.

This kind of keyword loading is more natural looking than previous types, and latent semantic indexing is appearing in many lists of SEO tips and tricks.

SEO Tips #3: Make Sharing Easy

Today's web is interconnected through social media and social bookmarking websites.  Because this kind of social sharing generates quality inbound links to your website, it's critical to make sharing easy if you want great SEO results.  Different lists of SEO tips and tricks will advise you to share on different websites, but the real trick here is diversity.

Don't just make it easy for people to share your content through Facebook or LinkedIn.  Include a wide range of social bookmarking sites, like Reddit or Digg.  Why limit how a fan of your content can share it?  Typically, the sharing buttons are small and unobtrusive, so there is no reason not to include as many as are reasonable.

SEO Tips #4: Link Quantity vs. Link Quality

Since Google Penguin, lists of SEO optimization tips are no longer including any praise for “article marketing” or “article spinner” websites.  These sites have been dismissed by recent lists of SEO tips and tricks as “mostly scams.”  They're scams because while they claim to offer a service that will give you numerous inbound links and copies of your content, they actually are full of spam and are assigned a low quality score.

Today, you're much better off asking to guest blog with another attorney.  SEO optimization tips regard this route as more ethical for attorneys and also more likely to lead to genuine new leads.

SEO Tips #5: Write For Clients, Not Google

While it's good to keep SEO tips and tricks in mind when you build your website, the truth is that most of your ranking will be determined by how people interact with your website and who you're linked to.  That means that, somewhat counter intuitively, you may be better off making sure your website looks great for visitors rather than indexing algorithms.  If you make great content and share it whenever possible, people will come—and they'll contribute to better SERPs a few weeks or months in the future.

SEO Tips #6: Take the Focus Off Low Quality Links

While you should of course make sure that your firm is listed with as many local directories as possible, signing up for large numbers of directory websites in the hope of generating better SERPs will usually be a futile effort.  While some SEO tips and tricks used to recommend this, today these kinds of links are considered low quality.  They won't contribute much, if anything, to your page rank according to the newest SEO optimization tips.

SEO Tips #7: Check Your Work

Don't just blindly follow lists of SEO optimization tips and expect them to work without constant testing and modifications.  Your business is unique, and SEO tips and tricks that work for one organization may be ill-suited for another.  Create split tests any time you follow new SEO tips, just to make sure that your SEO optimization tips are actually working.

If your analytics reveal that the SEO tips you're using aren't useful, try searching again for the newest changes.  SEO optimization tips change so often that it's entirely possible the algorithms have been altered again, and a previously practical strategy is no longer useful.  Keep your eye on SEO blogs and lawfirms.laws.com for the latest updates and SEO tips.

What is SEO?  If you're maintaining your law firm's website, you've almost undoubtedly heard about search engine optimization.  However, there is a lot of contradictory information out there about what is SEO capable of and how SEO can help your law firm.  With over 80 percent of consumers reporting that they research products and services with search engines before making a final decision, SEO is a tool you'll need to run your law firm effectively.  Here are eight tips that can help you make search engine optimization work for you in 2012.

Tip #1: How to Choose Your Keywords Effectively

When you're optimizing your content for search engines, you'll want to focus on keywords that clients are actually searching for.  There are a wide variety of tools that can help you do this, ranging from just using Google Instant to see what other keywords pop up as likely variants to using special tools for keyword development.

If you're still in the “what is SEO?” phase of learning about search engine optimization, you may not be able to do a great job with keyword hunting yourself.  This is one of the best reasons to ask for help from an SEO company that specifically helps attorneys work on their search engine optimization efforts.

Tip #2: The Metadata and Why It's Important

When people first start to learn what is SEO, they often think it's all about visible keywords.  While that's partially true, SEO goes further than that.  Metadata is extremely important for search engines, which will scan the metadata not only for relevant keywords but also for evidence of keyword spamming or other SEO abuse.

If you're keyword spamming in your metadata or otherwise appear to be gaming the system, Google's new algorithms will punish your website in the search rankings.  While SEO metadata is still important, the answer to “what is SEO metadata supposed to look like?” has changed substantially.  You should now focus on not just keywords, but making sure your metadata is clear and understandable.

Tip #3: Generating Inbound Links

What is SEO depending on today?  Not keyword density, the way it was a few years ago.  After many companies started overusing keywords, Google decided to base SEO page rankings more on the number and quality of inbound links, rather than the sheer keyword density.

So what is SEO looking for in a quality link?  Mostly, search engines want to make sure that you're not just using article marketing services.  So-called “article marketing” or using “article spinners” for your SEO will now get you flagged by Google's indexing as a likely spammer.  It's fine to do guest blogging where the articles you're creating are real contributions to the blog, but don't just submit articles to websites to get more links.

Tip #4: Why You Need a Site Map

One of the easiest ways to get Google to index your page well is to have a comprehensive site map.  This site map, in addition to helping with your SEO, can make your website more easily navigable for potential clients.

Site maps are particularly important when you're first learning what is SEO.  Using a site map can help you choose where to have your links lead.  You'll want to make it easy for you, not just search engines, to use your website effectively in order to drive conversions.

Tip #5: Don't Keyword Stuff

Many old guides to “what is SEO?” will mention keyword density extensively.  That's because in the early days of search engines, most SEO depended almost exclusively on how often you were mentioning a keyword.  The more times a keyword was used, the higher you could expect your result to be in search engine results pages (SERPs).

However, today's search engines have become much more sophisticated in order to stop spammers.  If your SEO keyword density is too high, today, you could be listed as spam and see your SERPs drop sharply.  What is SEO keyword density, optimally?  Try using a keyword about 2-3 times per page.  This is plenty for search engine indexers without making you look spammy.  Ignore any articles telling you to overuse keywords—these articles are likely to be old and outdated in several ways.

Tip #6: Get Help If You Need It

If the person in charge of your website is still doing research about what is SEO or the basics of SEO, consider hiring SEO marketing gurus to make your work easier.  Even if you don't want to hire someone on an ongoing basis to handle your search engine optimization needs, you can at least find somebody who can review a new redesign of a website before it goes live.

Tip #7: Monitor Your Rankings

Once you've started using SEO to change your SERPs, you need to monitor those results so that you can be sure your strategies are working.  If your SERPs are actually lowering even though you've been using your SEO strategies, you need to step back and figure out what you're doing wrong.

If it seems that a competitor is suddenly ranking much higher in searches than you, you should also keep track of their SERPs.  You may be able to figure out what you're doing wrong by basing your new strategy on something similar to what your competition is doing.

Tip #8: Quality Matters

What is SEO for?  Getting your website into the top page of Google results.  Keep in mind that as Google's SEO algorithms improve, they're looking for one thing: quality content.  The recent success of Google's Penguin and Panda initiatives at lowering the SERPs of spammers shows that Google is continuing to be diligent in the fight against low-quality results.

That's why when you're learning what is SEO, you're really better off just designing your website to be used by real people.  Make sure you're monitoring keywords, yes, but don't make your site SEO-friendly at the expense of making it user-friendly.  Your users are the people who will eventually become your clients, and it's critical that you make your website for them, not for Google.

When you're first dipping your toes into local SEO marketing, you need a local SEO guide to help you figure out exactly what you're doing.  With 20 percent of non-mobile and 40 percent of mobile searches in 2012 including a location term, you can't afford to ignore the impact of local SEO.  In this local SEO guide, we'll talk about how to make local SEO marketing work for you, and how recent changes to Google's local searches will impact your search engine optimization efforts.

Local SEO Guide Tip #1: Focus on Clicks That Matter

While the 20 percent number above may make you think that local SEO guide can only help you bring in a small number of clients compared to traditional SEO strategies, that's not entirely true.  Keep in mind that often, people just starting to research attorneys will look up very broad search terms, which often become much more tailored—and more likely to include local SEO terms—as they realize that they want someone whose office they can actually visit.

Because of this, especially for law firms, local SEO marketing can be a great idea.  Case studies for law firms have shown that local SEO results can actually give you a conversion rate that is up to three times higher than for non local results.  A local SEO guide can help you get the exact right clients to your website at the exact time they're ready to make an appointment.

Local SEO Guide Tip #2: Use Directory Listings

While big national directory listings are often useless or even scams, this local SEO guide recommends using local directory listings to help your SEO placement.  Local SEO marketing is much easier when you are already being mentioned and linked by several different local websites.  What this means is that you should call around to the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as any city or county websites with a listing of local businesses.

You should also make sure that you're listed on Google+ Local (formerly Google Places), which will help a great deal with your firm's local SEO placement.  This is one of the most important tips in just about every 2012 local SEO guide.  When people search for local keywords now, Google+ Local results show up before any other organic search results.  By keeping your directory link in Google+ places updated, you can ensure that your firm is more likely to appear near the top.

Local SEO Guide Tip #3: Get Reviewed

In addition to showing where you're located and linking to your website, the reason this local SEO guide recommends Google+ Local is that it also carries reviews.  Because so many people use Google for their search results, it's likely that the relatively new Google+ Local review system will become one of the biggest local SEO marketing tools of the next few years.

Client reviews can really make your firm stand out from the crowd and improve your placement in local SEO results.  You may want to make follow-up calls to clients and ask them for reviews on Google+ Local to improve your local SEO marketing.  It's important to keep your eye on those reviews.  Not all lawyers act ethically, and it's not unheard of for a rival law firm to post bogus negative reviews in the hopes of sabotaging your local SEO efforts.  If that happens, you may need to contact both Google+ Local and your state bar association for more information on what to do next.

Local SEO Guide Tip #4:  Do Competitor Research

Don't just research the ways that big guides on local SEO marketing are telling people to handle their search engine optimization issues.  In some ways, every area is different and requires different local SEO techniques.  The searches people will make in, say, rural Appalachia will be quite different from the ones made in San Jose, California.  Checking out what a successful competitor is doing can give you great local SEO marketing ideas for your next campaign.

It's not ethical, or good local SEO practice, to just steal a competitor's campaign.  Don't think of the goal of competition research as being one of increasing your similarities.  Think of it as an opportunity to do better than they did with your local SEO marketing.  Use the parts of their strategies that seem to be successful, while leaving out the parts that seem to weigh the site down.

Local SEO Guide Tip #5: Don't Use Old Techniques

When you start learning how to do local SEO marketing, you might do frantic Google searches to learn more about what to do.  A word of caution: make sure you know at least approximately when an article was released.  Because of the frequency with which local SEO best practices change (due to changes in search engine algorithms), it's important to never use old advice.  What worked in 2008 is very unlikely to be a successful local SEO marketing strategy today.

Local SEO Guide Tip #6: Use Google Instant

Too many law firms are ignoring the local SEO marketing potential of Google Instant.  What's more, you don't need to be a computer whiz to figure out how to use Google Instant to your local SEO advantage.  Start by starting to type one of the keyword phrases you are trying to use to attract visitors to your website.

Google Instant, as long as your connection is sufficiently fast, will try to predict what words you're about to type.  Since many people use Google Instant to help them make better searches, your local SEO will be improved by including some additional keywords mentioned by some of the suggested searches in Google Instant.  

Now, this doesn't mean that your local SEO marketing should include irrelevant keywords.  On the contrary, you should try to make sure that your local SEO copy reads relatively naturally and that it's about something interesting enough for people to want to read it.  Use variations on your keywords to see what Google Instant predicts, and you'll find that your SERPs for long-tail keywords go up incredibly fast.

Even a few years ago, if you'd wanted to do a search engine optimized redesign of your website, you wouldn't have had many choices.  It was so tough to do good optimization that over three quarters of law firms outsourced their SEO.  What you may not know is that there's now an abundance of SEO tools.  Whether you're looking for free SEO tools or a paid SEO tool, this guide will give you six different ways to make your optimization efforts work better without hiring an expensive service.

The Old Standby: Google

When you start looking for free SEO tools, Google is the name you'll hear again and again.  It's easy to see why: the search behemoth offers some of the best SEO tools in the industry, and doesn't charge users for any of it.  How can Google offer such great results in a free SEO tool?  The answer to that question is both Google's greatest strength and its biggest weakness.

Whenever you use one of Google's free SEO tools (whether it's the Insights Finder, which tells you when search volume is heaviest, or the Google Analytics SEO tool, which can analyze the results of your split tests for landing pages and more), you're getting access to a great deal of Google's information—which is probably some of the best search information on the internet.  However, Google is also using the SEO tools to collect your information in return.

Since much of this information will be discovered regardless of whether you use a particular SEO tool from Google, it's usually not a bad idea to use the free SEO tools they provide.  It is, though, a good idea to know exactly what you're getting into and why a product is being provided for free.

The All-In-One: Raven

If you don't want to piece together a solution one specialized SEO tool at a time, you might want to consider the comprehensive set of SEO tools offered by Raven Tools.  While a free trial is offered for Raven Tools, after 30 days you'll no longer have access to their free SEO tools and will need to pay for a subscription.

The cost of Raven isn't excessive, especially compared to some other sets of SEO tools.  For $99 a month, you can have up to four users, and a $249 a month payment covers unlimited users from your company.

Raven's biggest strength is that it combines sources to learn as much as possible about your search engine rankings and results.  Many of the SEO tools on Raven give you the chance to automate tasks that used to be boring, time-wasting chores.  No free SEO tools on the market give businesses such a robust toolset, so this may be a cost that's worth spending.

The Copy Analyzer: Scribe

Maybe you don't want to spend forever getting exactly the right keyword density into your copy.  You may be on the right track—most SEO research today says that keyword density isn't as important as readability and quality information.  Just the same, you'd probably like to check your posts with an SEO tool that can help you identify opportunities for improvement.  What if you could find easy ways to “tweak” your copy with SEO tools without altering its natural flow?

Scribe is an SEO tool that can help you to do exactly that.  Unlike SEO tools that just tell you related keywords to add to your copy, Scribe analyzes copy to figure out the best way to massage it for search engines.  Because of its complexity (which is substantially beyond any free SEO tools), Scribe also charges monthly subscription fees ranging from $17 to $97 depending on your usage level.

The Add-On: The SEO Toolbar

If you are using Firefox, you can get The SEO Toolbar for free.  This toolbar combines several of the best free SEO tools, including Rank Checker and a comparison tool.  If you can't afford to buy SEO tools, having a toolbar like this can be almost as convenient.

The only disadvantage of the SEO Toolbar is that it, like many other free SEO tools, can be a bit complicated for any user who is new to search engine optimization.  Typically, people who are new to SEO tools should try an SEO tool geared toward beginners, which may come at additional cost.

The Free Tool for Beginners: Microsoft SEO Toolkit

An exception to the “beginners may want to avoid free SEO tools” rule is the user-friendly Microsoft SEO Toolkit.  This SEO tool analyzes the content of your website and gives you suggestions for optimizing it for any of several different search engines.

When you use these powerful free SEO tools, you'll also find out about problems with your website's code.  This is very important if you want search engines to index your site properly.  One SEO tool in the toolkit can help you find out how fast your website really loads for real people, which is increasingly important.  People with high speed internet access won't necessarily wait a long time for a page to load.

The Checkup: SEO Doctor

Another of the free SEO tools in Firefox extension form, SEO Doctor works by analyzing your website according to current Google best practices for SEO.  This is a great SEO tool when you're wondering why a particular web page seems to be over- or under-performing.

The great part about SEO Doctor is that unlike other SEO tools, it gives you a numerical score that estimates how well your website is optimized on a 100 point scale.  Knowing this score, and what your weak points are, can help you decide which other SEO tool you'll want to download to fix any problems with your web page.
 

User studies show that 20 percent of clicks made by people searching the web are made on the first 3 results. To get those kinds of search engine results, you need search engine optimization—but how?  Not every law firm has the ability to pay someone to handle their SEO for them.  In this guide, we'll help you learn why cheap SEO can be just as good as spending a lot of money.  Keep reading to find out about affordable SEO tools and how to get the best value out of a tight budget.

Making the Most Out of Free and Cheap SEO Tools

One of the great parts of the SEO revolution is that it has occurred in a time when many people make their software available for free.  Many of the biggest companies in SEO are currently producing free software to help companies analyze their search engine results and marketing campaigns.

The most famous of these companies is Google.  Cheap SEO for small businesses became a reality for the first time when Google began offering many of its tools for free.  Anybody who wants affordable SEO today will usually start by using Google's tools, which include webmaster tools and traffic analysis.

Bing, the would-be Google killer from Microsoft, also offers a cheap SEO solution with its free tools.  Bing's tools also give you the ability to see how fast your website is working.  If your website is slow, Google will make it turn up lower on search results.  One of the single most affordable SEO changes you can make is to switch your hosting to a faster, more reliable host—you'll see a near-immediate change to your website's page rankings and will offer a faster loading page for visitors.

Don't Waste Money—Or Time

There are a lot of things that you shouldn't worry about when you need cheap SEO.  When small firms are trying to move their search rankings fast, they sometimes try to take shortcuts that end up just being wasted money or worse.  

For example, by buying directory listings or using “article spinning” services, you may be trying to make your SERPs better.  Odds are, this will actually have the opposite effect.  Google and other search engines are likely to notice that your links come from low quality sources, and will lower your site's SERPs accordingly.

Similarly, you should avoid any SEO services that promise to deliver you a particular number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers.  While it is possible to purchase these fans, there are two reasons you shouldn't.  First of all, this isn't cheap SEO—the services typically cost a lot with no guarantee of any results beyond a number of followers.  

Second, this kind of “friend buying” is against the policies of both websites.  If too large a percentage of your followers are fake, you'll eventually get caught, and your account could be suspended permanently.  Don't take the chance.  Build your friends up the old-fashioned way—by networking—and you'll be much more successful in your affordable SEO efforts.

Work Your Niche

When you're an attorney who works in a very broad practice area, you're in a very big pond, with a lot of bigger fish who'd just as soon see you and your website fry.  Why compete with everybody?  Instead, focus on a narrow niche area and then build your expertise in that niche.  

It's a great cheap SEO strategy to focus on a niche.  You'll not only be getting affordable SEO for any pay per click advertising that you do, but also more inbound links if you focus all of your content on this specific area of law.  Finding the right niche may require buying some cheap SEO tools to look at local web traffic, but these niche finder tools should be well worth it for the results they can deliver.

Affordable SEO Services: Yes, They Do Exist!

You may think that if you want cheap SEO, hiring a professional is out of your reach.  This isn't necessarily true.  You can potentially get an affordable SEO consultation from one of these services that will give you some idea of where to go next.  You may also be able to find a cheap SEO service that will help you with at least a major revision of your website.

Be careful not to get scammed by a cheap SEO service.  Not all affordable SEO companies are legitimate, and if their prices are much, much lower than their competitors, you'll want to ask for references and more samples of work.

Make Local Your Focus

Most firms that are looking for affordable SEO solutions are small—usually less than 10 attorneys.  Because these small firms usually only have local reach, it's important to optimize your cheap SEO strategy for local viewers.

In addition to writing a full profile for your law firm for the largest ratings websites and Google+ Local, you should also consider pay per click advertisements on Facebook.  Because these ads can be targeted at people in a zip code or even a very narrow radius around your law offices, Facebook can be a great way to advertise any legal practice that caters primarily to consumers.  This pairs very well with affordable SEO, because while cheap SEO techniques usually take some time to work, the Facebook ads can bring in clients today.  As your SEO gets better, you'll need fewer pay per click ads.

Go Somewhere Different

A great way to get more inbound links is to use new social bookmarking websites.  On some of these websites, like reddit.com, you can do affordable SEO by posting a link to a blog entry on a “subreddit” designed exclusively for people in your area.  Similarly, Digg.com and other social bookmarking tools can be a great place for your content to be linked—especially since these links are easy to share with others.

If you're going to use this route, though, be sure that you're posting quality content.  Social bookmarking site users are often annoyed when companies post content that is basically just advertising.  Instead, focus on an area of the law, or try something like Reddit's “ask me anything” forum, which allows you to have an impromptu question and answer session about your practice.  Be prepared to respond to off-the-wall questions with a little humor and good grace, and you'll be outshining your competition in no time.

What are Web Analytics and How Can it Help my Business?

What is Web Analytics?

Web analytics has two primary uses: to log both on-site and off-site internet usage, and to use the data to make improvements to a website as far as content, structure, tagging, linking, and much more.  The most popular web analytic tool is Google Analytics which is used by about 56% of ALL websites on the internet. 

What is Web Analytics: Measurable Results

There is no specific answer as to what is web analytics, for certain services provide different tools for measurement.  However, there are some common tools for web analytics within the legal field:

What is Web Analytics: Hit?

This type of web analytic measurement is typically a request for a file from a server.  However, the results for hits can often become misleading because there are multiple files on a legal webpage that can each be counted as a hit. 

What is Web Analytics: Visit/Session?

These web analytics measurements are related.  A visit is often defined as a series of page requests from the same user within a 30-minute period.  A session is a series of page requests from the same client with no request for other page domains.  In web analytics, a visit will end after 30 minutes of delay but count as the same visit if the person returns within 30 minutes, but the action will count as two sessions. 

What is Web Analytics: Types of Users?

Web analytic software will usually determine two types of visitors or users with a specific time period: a normal visitor and a unique visitor.  A unique visitor is a person who only visits the site once in the time period, while a normal visitor will make several visits.  In web analytics, a unique visitor that uses two different computers to view a website will count as two different visitors, but some software is starting to adjust for the same user on multiple devices like a mobile phone, tablet, and more. 

What is Web Analytics: Bounce?

A bounce is a web analytic tool that measures when a visitor enters and exits a website without viewing any other pages before the exit.  A bounce rate is a web analytic tool that measures the percentage of bounces compared to the number of visits. 

What is Web Analytics: Session Duration?

Web analytics will often measure the amount of time a user stays on a single page and the amount of time the user stays on the legal website.  Additionally, web analytics can measure active time where the user is actively interacting with the webpage based on clicks, scrolls, and more. 

What is Web Analytics: Page Depth?

This web analytic tool is used to show how many page views the visitor engages in before the exit the legal website.  A “click path” is usually associated with page depth because a click path shows a series of hyperlinks that visitors have chosen during their visit.  Web analytics often measure page depth the following way:

Total number of page views / total number of sessions

What is Web Analytics: Frequency?

This type of web analytic tool will measures how often visitors come to the legal website in a certain amount of time.  Frequency is calculated the following way:

Total number of sessions / total number of unique visitors

How can Web Analytics help my Firm?

The biggest advantage in using a web analytic tool is that you make changes to your website in order to keep potential clients on your site longer and therefore have a higher chance of those consumers wanting your services.  There are three web analytic tools that are usually the most important to a firm, and these tools are explained below:

Bounce Rates and Web Analytics

A high bounce rate is a huge indication that there is a serious problem with how you are marketing your firm to potential clients.  Keys to improving your bounce rate include the following:

·         Providing direct and creative calls to action

·         Improving your content

·         Fixing broken links and errors on your website

·         Adjusting ads to target certain demographics

Conversion Rate and Web Analytics

A conversion rate is one of the most important web analytic tools you can use, but may appear as one of the most disappointing at first.  For example, if you’re an attorney and the main purpose of your website is to have clients set up a consultation, you’ll want to adjust the content on your webpage and even offer incentives to encourage clients to sign up for a consultation. 

Conversion rates can be disappointing though.  For example, some of the largest websites have a conversion rate around 3%.  If you’re an attorney, the conversion rate will likely be much lower, but you can adjust your website to try and target more clients. 

Targeted Pages and Web Analytics

While using a web analytic tool, you should turn a large percentage of focus to your target pages.  A common example can help explain targeted pages. An attorney may decide to devote several different pages to client testimonials, specific services that offer, and case results for areas of specialization.  Each of these pages may state that clients who are facing a similar case should contact the firm, and the attorney can provide a link for contact information or a link for a form for a consultation.

What is Web Analytics: Conclusion

As noted in this article, there are a large number of tools for web analytics.  Each web analytic tool is interconnected, and there are other tools besides those listed in this article.  You can find more information about specific web analytics services and information that can help your firm on this website. 

While social media has been getting a lot of the marketing attention lately, search engine optimization is still big.  Studies show that search is still responsible for driving 300% more clients to websites than social media is.  However, while social media can seem almost fun, SEO is almost universally regarded as tedious.  Keep reading to find out how to find an SEO package that can get your website optimized quickly and without the hassle of doing it yourself.

SEO Packages for Solo Practitioners

Some of the most active participants in social media in the legal world are solo practitioners.  Over half of solo practitioners already keep some sort of blog, and this can be very useful for developing new leads.  However, while blogging may come easy, the rest of SEO can be tough when you're a solo trying to balance the needs of your existing clients with the need to find new ones.

SEO packages take the guesswork out of what you need to do.  With an SEO package, you can buy all of the optimization services you need.  Even if you don't keep a blog already, many SEO packages will actually include blogs and blog entries in their price.

Because budgets are so important for solo practitioners, you should ask the company you're buying an SEO package from for case studies.  If the company is legitimate, they should be able to show you real results from their SEO packages, and explain to you how your results may be different.

SEO Packages for Small Law Firms

Small firms have more personnel than solo practices, but they often don't know how to get the message of their brand across.  When a small firm purchases an SEO package, they may want help figuring out exactly what their brand represents and how to best convey that brand image through their newly optimized web presence.

SEO packages can also help you to find new practice niches.  As part of your SEO package, some companies will use tools that can detect local niche markets where more attorneys are needed.  SEO packages help you avoid buying niche finding tools on your own or having to choose which niche finding tools will work best.  Once you've got a niche, the SEO package you bought can help you advertise that niche and make it your own.

Small firms also tend to have problems being heard above their competition.  If this describes your firm, SEO packages may be able to make a difference.  If you choose an SEO package that includes research on your competitors, you can find out which areas they're dominating and which areas you still have room to move in on.

Finding Affordable SEO Packages

Generally speaking, the more services that are offered in a particular SEO package, the more expensive they will be.  This isn't always true—some companies charge substantially less for SEO packages than others, and a deluxe package from one company could cost less than the basic package at another.

So which services should you save money on, and which ones can you not live without?  That depends largely on what your firm is trying to do and what your strengths are.  You'll always—without exception—want to buy an SEO package that includes analysis of your results.  Without this analysis, you won't actually know which SEO packages worked or not, or how to improve your results in the future.

One of the services you can probably skip out on is blogging content creation.  Even if you're pressed for time, you're better off providing your own writing content than having it provided through an SEO package.  Why?  Because people can tell when someone who isn't a subject matter expert is keeping a blog.  If your blog looks like it was included in a package you bought, and tends to have very generic content, how will you manage to differentiate yourself from your competitors?  The only way you should ever buy blog entries with an SEO package in this way is if you've seen the blogs the marketing company produces for other firms and they're truly excellent.

SEO Packages With Video

If you pay extra with some SEO packages, a number of professionally produced videos will also be included.  Usually, this kind of SEO package will also include putting your videos on YouTube or another video sharing website after they're done.

SEO packages with video are a great way to increase your conversion rate and produce content that is more likely to go viral.  Usually, each video you shoot as part of your SEO package will be one to three minutes long, and they'll be about legal topics rather than about you personally or the qualifications of your firm.

Local SEO Packages

Today, local searches account for over 20 percent of total web traffic, and for attorneys that number is even higher.  As a small firm, you need an SEO package that includes at least some local SEO services.  For example, you can ask the marketing company handling your optimization efforts to help you create a Google+ Local page, or to get your firm listed in Yelp and avvo.com.

Local SEO is becoming more important than ever, so you don't want to be behind the curve on this one.  Make sure your SEO package includes local optimization, or you may not see the kinds of results that you were hoping for in terms of increased new business.

Mobile SEO Packages

Potential clients who are using their mobile phones have different requirements than non-mobile users.  Because clicking and scrolling can be more difficult on mobile phones, they are even more likely than desktop users to only read the first page of search results.  They also need landing pages (and preferably, a full mobile version of your website) that are easy to read with smartphones.

Your SEO package, if it includes mobile, can help you optimize your website for this new and very important customer segment.  Since these viewers are more likely to convert, this will be money well spent for your firm.

When you started using search engine optimization, you may have focused on practice area keywords to draw people in.  While this kind of technique might work for a law firm with truly national reach, most firms bring in the majority of their clients from a 10 mile range of their offices.  If that's the case for your law firm, why not use a local SEO service to help you get your search engine optimization on track?  Keep reading to find out why using local SEO services can save you from major hassles, and why local is more important than ever when it comes to searches.

Can I Do Local SEO On My Own?

Sure!  If someone in your law office has a lot of computer know-how, doesn't mind doing statistical analysis, is great at writing profiles and blog entries, and can do these things without interfering in their other job responsibilities, you can absolutely do local SEO on your own.

What's that?  You don't have someone who meets those qualifications?  Don't worry, most law firms don't.  That's why for four out of five law firms, outsourcing to a local SEO service is a better option.  Local SEO services are able to help you look at your long and short term goals so that you can work out which solutions are best for your company.

Without the help of a local SEO service, you'll have to figure out how to divide your time and which software will be best.  You'll also have to handle your own content creation, from tweets to profiles on various websites and directories.

Which Local SEO Service Is Right For Me?

A huge number of local SEO services have sprung up in recent years, each hoping to capitalize on their experience with optimizing websites for local traffic.  However, not all of these services are equal, and you can get a feel for each local SEO service by first asking them for some case studies and results.  Local SEO services that can't show you many pages of great results, demonstrating increased traffic and more conversions, aren't worth the risk.

If you've found several different services that all seem to offer what you need, you should think about which one has worked with more law firms.  You may even want to use a local SEO service that only caters to attorneys.  Many of these local SEO services will only work with one law firm in a given area, to avoid conflicts of interest, but can work with firms in a large number of areas.  Another local SEO service may know your local area very well, but have little experience with law firms.  

Usually, you'll have better luck with the law firm specialist—although regions do differ somewhat, the basic principles local SEO services use are essentially the same no matter where you go in the United States.

How Local SEO Services Work: Listings

One of the most tedious chores that a local SEO service can save you from is the task of building your own unique profile page on Yelp, Google+ Local, Avvo.com, and various other ratings websites.  Having a complete profile on these websites can bring in a steady stream of new business, but many law firms ignore them because it seems like the effort involved in becoming listed is too much.

Local SEO services can also monitor anything that is said about you on these websites.  This is typically referred to as reputation management.  If your reputation online suffers due to a bad review, your local SEO service can work to get the review taken down.  As a side note: it is never a good idea to let local SEO services give you fake reviews.  This kind of behavior from a local SEO service is unethical, and if you knew about it, there's a possibility you could face disciplinary action from your bar association.

How Local SEO Services Work: Analytics

Analytics is basically the science of figuring out why some marketing campaigns succeed while others fail.  By using analytics, you can not only figure out what happened with your most recent marketing efforts, but also better understand what potential clients will respond to in the future.  Unfortunately, because analytics involves so much number crunching, many law firms never get a professional to analyze all of the web traffic data they've been gathering.

A local SEO service can evaluate your website according to the latest best practices from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and more.  Local SEO services will examine your SERPs and your conversion rates as well as the actual content on each page of your website.  You can then understand where there is room for improvement, and hire a local SEO service to work on these improvements and conduct tests for new marketing campaigns.

How Local SEO Services Work: Niche Marketing

Small firms can make themselves stand out with a unique niche.  The best niche markets are the ones that have a lot of opportunities for growth and that not many people have already started marketing.  A local SEO service can examine patterns of keyword searches in your area to determine which niche marketing ideas might work best with the people you want to reach.

Sometimes, a niche market could be something like a very specific practice area of law: military divorce attorneys, for instance, or shoplifting defense.  Other times, niche markets could be a particular service that your firm is already offering or could offer, like legal services with an attorney fluent in a language other than English.

How Local SEO Services Work: Mobile Optimization

As more and more Americans become glued to their smartphones, it's becoming important for law firms to make sure their website is ready for the new web.  If your website displays improperly on Android phones or iPhones, you may already be missing out on conversions.  A local SEO service can optimize your site for mobile viewing without sacrificing the great content and layout of your traditional desktop site version.

With 80 percent of internet users ignoring paid advertisements, pay per click ads are no longer the best option for attorneys in small firms.  You need small business SEO that can bring in new clients through organic search results.  While local business SEO is both cheaper and more likely to pay off in the long run than pay per click ads, most law firms are not effectively using it.  Here, you'll learn the tips that professional small business SEO services use when designing optimized websites.

Small Business SEO Tip 1: Monitor Your Speed

One of the biggest tricks that small business SEO services can use to improve your website's conversion rate is improving its speed.  But you may not know that today, local business SEO actually depends in part on your speed.  Google now tracks speed when trying to determine which search results to deliver first.

Because speed is important, you'll want to make sure that your small business SEO website is hosted by a good hosting provider (don't use cheap hosting like GoDaddy for your local business SEO—it may seem inexpensive in the near term, but could end up being significantly more expensive in the long run).  If you're having speed issues and can't figure out why, small business SEO services may be able to pinpoint the cause, whether it's a bad piece of code in your website or a problem with your hosting provider.

Small Business SEO Tip 2: Write a Blog

On average, companies that blog have over 400 percent more indexed pages than those that don't.  Keeping a blog increases the effectiveness of your local business SEO substantially.  What's more, the kind of services that law firms supply lend themselves very well to blogging.

While small business SEO services can actually write your blog content for you, it's probably better for your local business SEO efforts if you write your content yourself.  You'll know more about the topics being covered in your blog, which will mean your small business SEO blog will get linked by more bloggers and show up sooner in search results.

Small Business SEO Tip 3: Let Your Personality Shine Through

Part of the reason you should work on your local business SEO blog yourself, instead of letting small business SEO services handle it, is that you can use your blog to highlight your personality as an attorney.  Not only will this be more likely to bring in inbound links, which will help your small business SEO immensely, it'll also convert more clients.

This is why you should never have a blog that's authored anonymously or authored by your firm as an entity.  Your local business SEO won't work nearly as well this way, because people won't be able to get a feel for who you are.  Make sure that any small business SEO services you're using understand what your blog's objectives are, and monitor any content they develop for your blog closely if they write any posts.

Small Business SEO Tip 4: Think Local

Small business SEO services today are pointing to local business SEO as the wave of the future.  Small business SEO used to be much more difficult than it is today, because the largest companies could easily occupy the first page of search results, leaving no room for their smaller competitors.  Local business SEO makes it easier for you to get those first page SERPs with quality content.

Today, small business SEO means that you'll need a Google+ Local page and to fill out all of your information with services like Yelp and Avvo.  This kind of local business SEO will ensure that your website gets better page ranks, and if you're not sure how to make these profiles, small business SEO services can help you set up a profile inexpensively.

Small Business SEO Tip 5: Think Mobile

Today's traffic for local business SEO sites is very likely to come from a mobile phone.  If your website isn't smartphone ready, you may want small business SEO services to help you optimize it.  This kind of traffic may actually be responsible for more local business SEO clicks than traditional desktop computer web traffic within 12 to 24 months.

Small Business SEO Tip 6: Keep Your Audience In Mind

When you're working on your local business SEO site, think about the way that your potential clients will see the website.  Think of how ordinary people talk and process information, and your small business SEO will work much better.  Lawyers are often prone to speaking in jargon or technical terms, which can make their text unlikely to draw in new business.  Small business SEO services can help you to de-mystify your website if it may be driving people away.

Small Business SEO Tip 7: Use Latent Semantic Indexing

A new way of using keywords is becoming increasingly common in local business SEO.  Many small business SEO services now use latent semantic indexing, or LSI, to improve SERPs.  Using LSI for your small business SEO means that you use, instead of one keyword phrase over and over, six or seven different keyword phrases that are closely related.  Each phrase is used only two or three times at most.

Small Business SEO Tip 8: Choose Your Social Media Wisely

Unless you've got a big budget for small business SEO services, you probably don't have the time or the money to use all of the major social media and social bookmarking websites out there.  You need to decide based on your audience and your competition which social media sites to use.

Twitter is a very fast way to see your search engine results get much better in a hurry.  When deciding between LinkedIn and Facebook, choose LinkedIn if your practice is mostly B2B, Facebook if it's mostly B2C.  If you already use a social bookmarking site like StumbleUpon or Reddit, use that same website for more inbound links—you'll already know the etiquette and how to have a great post.