Backlink professionals have been pushing the idea of building .edu backlinks for a long time.  There are several reasons why this is the case, and as Google's search algorithms have evolved, these backlinks have only become more valuable.  But does your law firm really need .edu backlinks, and if so, how can it get the backlinks it needs?  Can you simply buy .edu backlinks, or is there a better way?  All these questions and more will be answered by the end of this guide.

What Are .Edu Backlinks?

Backlinks are just the links that go to your website from the websites of other people.  When these backlinks come from a .edu website, they're called .edu backlinks.  Unlike most other top level domain names, there are very few websites—less than 8,000 in total—that use .edu.  This is because you can't just use a .edu domain name for any website.  Instead, websites that want to use .edu must meet stringent requirements.

Since 2001, the .edu top level domain has only been able to be used by accredited institutions of postsecondary education located in or affiliated with the United States.  There are, however, still hundreds of websites from before 2001 that used the .edu domain and have been grandfathered in.  These websites include those for museums like San Francisco's Exploratorium and high schools like the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.

Much like other backlinks, these are weighted by Google according to the authority level of the website that the backlink comes from.  However, there are some key differences, and it's these differences that make people want to buy .edu backlinks.

Why Would I Want .Edu Backlinks?

There are several different reasons that you might want to intentionally cultivate .edu backlinks, or that you might even think it would be a good idea to buy .edu backlinks directly.  First of all, these backlinks, more than those from any other domain (with the possible exception of the .gov domain, which is exclusively used by government agencies), are quite difficult to get and tend to carry a great deal of cachet.  Your competition is not very likely to be using .edu backlinks, at least not many, so it can give you a great competitive edge.

Additionally, Google considers .edu websites to universally be more authoritative than a website with a similar PageRank but a different domain name.  This means that if you can get free .edu backlinks or buy .edu backlinks for your website, you can actually increase your search ranking results dramatically, even with a relatively small number of added and indexed links.

Can I Just Buy .Edu Backlinks?

The short answer to this question is “yes,” but the long answer is “Yes, but why would you want to?”  In general, anywhere you buy .edu backlinks from is going to be getting the links themselves for free.  The only thing they're doing is spotting opportunities for posting on .edu domains, which is something that you can do for yourself.

Moreover, if you try to buy .edu backlinks, the service you use is unlikely to post quality content.  Most of the places that you can post .edu backlinks are moderated, which means that when bad quality content is posted, it will be deleted quickly.  Because it can take Google several days, weeks, or even months to index your new backlinks, just because you buy .edu backlinks from a service doesn't mean they won't be moderated out of existence before they ever get indexed.

Google is also employing increasingly advanced detection algorithms to help spot anyone who is clearly purchasing backlinks.  If you buy .edu backlinks and the service you hire leaves too clear a trail of breadcrumbs, Google might penalize your website or even de-list it completely.  As a lawyer, that's a fate you absolutely cannot afford to meet.  Use extreme caution if you decide to buy .edu backlinks, and the better idea is to develop your own .edu backlinks using organic marketing techniques.

How Many .Edu Backlinks Should I Have?

The number of .edu backlinks that you get isn't as important as the quality of each of the links.  If you're able to post very high quality and high relevance backlinks, especially if they're in keeping with the context of the rest of the .edu website, you may be able to do quite well.  Keep in mind that your amount of link juice is much higher for the same PageRank .edu website than it would be with a similarly ranked .org or .com website.

You should make sure that you don't try to build your .edu backlinks too quickly.  If you do, Google will take this as a sign that you may have tried to buy .edu backlinks and you will be penalized.  Especially when you're just beginning your link building efforts, try to confine yourself to creating just one or two of these backlinks every day.  As long as you're consistent, you'll still be able to build up a large number of links in a few months.

Finding the Best Sources for .Edu Backlinks

Lawyers have a huge advantage over other types of business professionals when it comes to building .edu links, because lawyers—unlike almost any other type of business pro—can get great backlinks from the websites of law schools.  Check with law schools near you to see if you might be able to give a talk in the evening sometime.  Often, these talks will be publicized on a page on the law school's website—a page which may link to your law firm's site or your biography on that site.

Another way to get these backlinks without having to buy .edu backlinks is to make relevant posts on forums that are hosted on .edu websites.  This will probably work better if you're talking about legal issues that are relevant to students at the postsecondary level of the forum posters.  Criminal defense attorneys, for example, may have good luck using .edu backlinks by talking about what to do if you're pulled over by a cop for underage drinking and driving.

Backlinking can account for up to 70 percent of your website's total search engine rankings.  When you're assembling backlinks to bring “link juice” to your website, you need to know how to get free one way backlinks.  One way anchor text backlinks are some of the best possible backlinks you can get to your website, and there's no reason to pay for them.  In fact, paid for one way backlinks may be a very bad idea.  Keep reading to find out why—and to learn how to get the best free one way backlinks possible for your law firm site.

One Way vs. Reciprocal Backlinks: Not Treated Equally

Why does it matter if a backlink is reciprocal (there are backlinks on two different websites to each other) or one way?  That has to do with web history.  Reciprocal backlinking was, for some time, the primary way that most webmasters and search engine marketers build their backlink presence.  However, this could easily be abused: imagine if 1000 different people, each with very low quality, spam websites, decided to put reciprocal backlinks to each other on their websites.  Would you want them to show up high in the search rankings just because of these links, even without quality content?

When search engines noticed this problem, they worked to fix it by weighting one way backlinks more than reciprocal backlinks.  This means that if you have a one way anchor text backlink, you'll get significantly more link juice from this link than you would from a reciprocal anchor text link.

Why You Should Only Have Free One Way Backlinks

Some businesses, looking to build their one way anchor text backlinks quickly, try to purchase one way backlinks instead of generating them organically.  However, these non-organic one way backlinks are likely to be penalized by Google.  Google has become much better at detecting paid one way anchor text backlinks, and you're unlikely to be successful with this strategy for long.  Since you have a professional business and aren't just a cheap online retailer, you can't afford to stake your reputation on one way backlinks that could backfire.

Besides, there are plenty of places to find free one way backlinks.  For example, you can get your own one way anchor text backlinks by making real, insightful comments on blogs, or by creating links on Youtube, social networking sites, or even directories of businesses that are maintained by your municipality or local chamber of commerce.  These opportunities for free one way backlinks mean that it's usually a waste of time and energy to pay for them.

Varying Your One Way Anchor Text Backlinks

Your free one way backlinks need to have some variance in their anchor text today if they're to help you get better search rankings.  When Google sees one way anchor text backlinks that all have the exact same anchor text, it assumes that you're using some sort of automated backlink creation method.  When those one way backlinks are detected, you're very likely to be penalized instead of seeing your rankings climb.

Because of this, it's very important to change up exactly what link text brings visitors to your website from free one way backlinks.  One way anchor text backlinks should have many different variations, including not just your brand keywords or exact keyword matches, but also a natural looking mix of other phrases and words.  Keep in mind that you can have some identical one way anchor text backlinks, just not too many as an overall proportion of your total backlinks.

The Best Ways to Get Free One Way Backlinks

Since you can't just offer to do a backlink exchange with another website when you need one way anchor text backlinks, you'll have to get creative.  A great way to get free one way backlinks is to include yourself on directory websites.  For example, if your local bar association or chamber of commerce has directories that include URLs, this is a great way to get one way backlinks—sometimes, though not always, for free (or included with the price of your membership).

You can also get free one way backlinks by posting to blogs in the comments section, or in web forums.  In order for your one way anchor text backlinks to stay up as blog comments or forum posts, you'll need to make sure that they're actually relevant to the content of the web page that you're linking from.  If you're posting irrelevant spam, you'll see your free one way backlinks disappear before Google can ever index them.

One way to get a huge influx of one way backlinks is to create an infographic.  While the initial infographic creation may cost money, you won't have to pay for your one way anchor text backlinks.  Infographics are a great way to increase interest in your website and improve your own PageRank fast.

Use Caution With One Way Backlinks Services

You may have seen services advertising their ability to build hundreds of one way anchor text backlinks in a few days or weeks.  While these services have been quite profitable for their proprietors, it's not usually a good idea to get your one way backlinks in this way.  Why?  Because usually, these services are creating low quality content that will only serve to hurt the reputation of your law firm.

What's more, most services of this type are using the exact same free one way backlinks resources that we've already discussed in this guide.  You can do the same thing that they're doing, while creating content that your law firm will be proud of instead of content that is likely to be disregarded by viewers or even that will lead to you being perceived as a spammer.  There's no need to pay for your one way anchor text backlinks when free one way backlinks resources abound all over the web.  Make the most of your social network and the blogosphere, rather than hiring a service to take a one way backlinks shortcut for you.

Once you've got good backlinks to your website, you may think that your backlink building work is done.  Not so—it can take weeks or even months for Google and other search engines to index your backlinks.  During that time, your search engine rankings will be the same as they've ever been, rather than reflecting the progress you've made on link building.  To get that link juice flowing to your website faster, you might be thinking about using a piece of software like Backlink Energizer or Backlink Booster.  In this guide, we'll take a look at these pieces of software and help you understand their pros and cons so that you can make an informed decision about using them for your backlinks.

What Is Backlink Energizer?

One of the ways that you can get your backlinks indexed faster by Google is to have backlinks made to your backlinks.  Backlink Energizer is a backlink indexing tool that is hosted on a WordPress blog.  Rather than hosting this plugin on your already existing website or WordPress installation, you set up “drone” accounts that are only designed to post backlinks to your backlinks.

According to the creator of Backlink Energizer, in initial tests, websites that weren't using any backlink indexer typically see 20% or so of their backlinks indexed within 90 days.  Websites that use Backlink Energizer, on the other hand, tend to see about 75-85% of their links indexed in the same time span.  Currently, Backlink Energizer costs about $50.

Keep in mind that you should only use this piece of software if you already have spent time building good backlinks.  If you don't already have a large number of backlinks to your website, you need to work on that before purchasing any kind of backlink indexing software like Backlink Energizer.

What Is Backlink Booster?

Another service designed to encourage Google to index your backlinks, Backlink Booster works in a similar way to Backlink Energizer.  In much the same way as with Backlink Energizer, you should probably not use Backlink Booster unless you already have a significant backlink presence on the web.

Instead of working from a WordPress install, Backlink Booster is a standalone service.  It is sold on a subscription basis, and can incorporate not only your blog backlinks but also any social media services that you use in order to better help with indexing your backlinks.

If you want to try Backlink Booster but aren't sure that you want to commit to paying the monthly subscription price (anywhere from $19 for a “Lite” account with limited functionality to $599 for the Enterprise package), you can do a five day risk free trial.  This allows you to “test drive” the backlink indexing tools offered by Backlink Booster and see if they're right for your website.  In some cases, you may find that you actually want to create more backlinks first before even starting to use this kind of indexing tool.

Are Backlink Booster and Backlink Energizer Effective?

Hundreds of people all over the web have reviewed Booster and Energizer.  Unfortunately, their results have been quite mixed.  While some people praise both pieces of software, it's more common for people to have a less than satisfactory result.

Several online reviews have noticed very similar results: after their search engine rankings initially climb substantially while using these tools, they later taper off or even start dropping.  Others noticed very little difference from what they might have expected without using any special backlink indexing software at all: for example, one review noted that after 6 months, only 23 percent of backlinks that were “boosted” by Backlink Booster had actually been indexed by any search engine.

These mixed reports may reflect differences in the nature of the original backlinks—for example, it wouldn't be surprising if these programs had more success in boosting or energizing high quality backlinks than low quality ones.  However, until more testing can be done to understand what makes the difference, it's unclear why the effectiveness varies so significantly from website to website.

Backlink Energizer, Backlink Booster, and Google Penguin

One thing that has had a significant effect on all backlinks and backlink indexing tools is an algorithm update called Google Penguin.  Google Penguin works by penalizing websites that are perceived as being artificially search engine optimized instead of relying on quality content and organic backlinks.

Because of this algorithm change, Backlink Energizer and Backlink Booster have gotten updates.  Each now claims to be Penguin-proof, using secret networks of high PageRank websites that Google has yet to detect are being used for artificial backlinking purposes.

Even with these changes, some webmasters have reported seeing their search engine rankings drop due to Penguin after using these tools.  What's more, it's very unlikely that Penguin will be the last update done to try to foil artificial search engine optimization.  What seems like a “safe” website to have backlinks on today may not be once new updates roll out.

Conclusion: Should You Use Backlink Energizer/Backlink Booster?

The mixed reports about the efficacy of Backlink Energizer and Backlink Booster should make you think twice about using either of these pieces of software.  If you're considering using any type of backlink indexing program, you should at a minimum ask for a trial period and try the software out for yourself first.  If you're not seeing significant increases in your backlink indexing within the trial period, you probably don't want to subscribe on a long term basis.

It may well be that the time of generating easy automated backlinks has just about come to an end, as Google increases its ability to detect and penalize any website that uses these techniques.  You may be better off focusing your attention on generating organic backlinks using high quality content and social networking.  This kind of backlinking is unlikely to ever result in penalties from search engines, so you can count on it as a long term strategy instead of just using it for now.

If you've been learning how to build backlinks, you might feel overwhelmed by the information.  Changes to how Google sees backlink building have affected a total of about 15 percent of all web searches.  In the midst of all this change, you may be wondering if you should use some kind of automated backlink builder software to help you create your backlinks.  In this guide, you'll learn tips and tricks about how to build backlinks, and why backlink builder tools are no longer as useful as they once were.

The Rise of the Machines: Automated Backlink Building

A decade ago, search engine optimization (SEO) was more about creating the right keyword density and using the right keywords than learning how to build backlinks.  However, as search engines became increasingly sophisticated, they started looking for measures of “authority” on websites—in other words, how many other websites trusted them.

One quick way to find out how much authority a website has is to look at its overall number of backlinks.  As this became more weighted, learning how to build backlinks became increasingly important for search engine optimization professionals.  Backlink building became a science, and as people learned how to create backlinks fast, backlink builder software began to emerge.

Usually, backlink building software worked by generating automatic comments on blogs and content on affiliate marketing websites or press release sites.  When marketers began to learn how to build backlinks with a backlink builder, it seemed like a dream come true: it no longer took a great deal of work to make a website appear early in search results.

The Problems With Automated Backlink Building

It wasn't long before there was trouble in paradise.  It turned out that all that backlink builder software was working—too well.  Instead of finding what they wanted at or near the top of their web searches, web searchers found results that looked much more like spam.  An automated backlink builder could make links, but it couldn't make quality content.

As a result of so many people learning how to build backlinks with automated tools, Google began tweaking its search engine algorithms.  In 2012, they rolled out their solution to the backlink builder problem.

Google's Solution: Penguin

To combat the rise of automated backlink building, Google's algorithm update, code named “Penguin” or simply called the “over optimization” update, was devised.  This update allowed Google to focus more on the quality of backlinks, and discouraged using any kind of automatic backlink builder software.

Penguin has forced many search engine marketing pros to learn how to build backlinks the old fashioned way, because now, if the algorithm detects unnatural optimization, it decreases your search rankings.  Websites that had been on top with old backlink building strategies now saw little or no traffic.

Penguin works in part by assessing the quality of your backlink building by looking at the PageRank (Google's perceived authority measure) of the websites doing the backlinking.  If you've only been backlinked by very low quality websites, Penguin may affect your website and you may have to learn how to build backlinks all over again.

How to Build Backlinks Post-Penguin

Because Penguin has made it so much more difficult to do automated backlink building, you may need some quick tips about building backlinks from scratch.  If your website has been affected by Penguin already, you may first need to ask webmasters to remove the links that were made by your automated backlink builder.

Once you've had the offending links removed, you can work on how to build backlinks for your new, post-Penguin website.  The key is quality: you want to do backlink building with as many high PageRank websites as possible.

Another thing you'll need to learn before becoming your law firm's post Penguin backlink builder is how to vary your anchor text.  That's the text of the link itself, and if it's always the same, Google Penguin recognizes that as a sign of potential automated backlink building.

Finding Backlink Building Resources

If you're not going to use an automated backlink builder any more, you need to find new places to put your backlinks.  You should start by reading, rather than doing immediate backlink building.  Do all of the research you can into how to build backlinks in your niche.  There are several other articles on lawfirms.laws.com about building effective backlinks after Google Penguin.

You should also start to form some connections via social networking websites and blogs.  Reading Facebook and Twitter feeds, as well as law blogs, can give you some great ideas for creating new quality content to attract new backlinks.  Keep in mind that you'll want to focus on relevant, contextual blogs, so that you can build the best quality links possible rather than being caught by Penguin or any future Google algorithm updates.

How to Build Backlinks Organically

Building organic backlinks that will pass muster with any future Google updates doesn't have to be terribly difficult—it's just a bit slower than using automated backlink builder software.  That slowness may actually be a blessing, though: Penguin appears to also penalize websites that are seen as building links too quickly for their web traffic levels.

In order to do organic backlink building, you'll need to begin posting to your blog and commenting on other people's blogs.  You can also create organic backlinks by entering information pertaining to your law firm on directory websites like Google+ Local, or even local or regional chamber of commerce directories.

You may want to check what your competition is doing.  There are a wide variety of tools that allow you to detect backlinks to a website of your choosing.  By analyzing where your competitors are putting their backlinks, you can ensure that you are able to have backlinking opportunities in the same or similar places.

In some cases, you may want to outsource your backlink building.  If this is the case, make sure that your backlink builder service knows how to build backlinks post-Penguin and has a good track record.  You don't want to get hit by the next algorithm update, so make sure that they're posting real, quality content—not just spam.

Learning how to create backlinks is a must do for anyone who wants to bring their website up in Google and other search engine rankings.  If you're ready to start creating backlinks today, you probably want to know some places to start and some principles to keep in mind.  When you create backlinks on today's world wide web, you'll need to make quality a priority.  Keep reading this guide to find ideas on how to create backlinks that are high in quality and that will keep viewers coming to your site.

Tip #1: Create Backlinks on Local Websites

Sure, the internet is global—but it's also very, very local and getting more so every day.  With so many locally based websites, odds are that you can find a few local sites that allow people to create backlinks after creating an account.  For example, many local news websites have comment sections—perfect for creating backlinks with relevant content.

You may also want to look for local and state level attorney directories when learning how to create backlinks.  Many of these directories make creating backlinks easy by allowing you to make a profile for your law firm or for each of the attorneys at your firm.  These directory listings help you in several ways—you can not only create backlinks to make your Google search rankings better, you'll also have a place for people to find your website when they're searching for a lawyer in the directories.

Tip #2: Create Backlinks on High PR Sites

It's not enough to know how to create backlinks.  Because of the way that Google ranks websites, you also have to be able to create backlinks that are on high PageRank websites.  These are the web's most high traffic centers, and they're usually (but not always) tough to get links on.

The easiest way to start creating backlinks on high PR sites is to find a list of websites that are accepting links and posts from anyone with an account.  These websites can vary from month to month, especially because PageRanks can change somewhat quickly.  Make sure that any list of high PageRank websites you're using to create backlinks is from May of 2012 or later, because changes to the way Google searches work changed many websites' PageRank number at that time.

Tip #3: Creating Backlinks on .Edu Websites

When you create backlinks from either of two websites with the same PageRank, they'll have the same effect on your search rankings.  However, there is a place where this is not true, and where creating backlinks can have an effect that's substantially better than it would normally be.  Any time you create backlinks on .edu websites, they count for more than a similar backlink on a different domain.

Because there are only about 7000 total .edu websites, it can be tough to learn how to create backlinks on them.  Lawyers can get creative by creating backlinks through law school websites.  As an attorney, you can give talks at law schools or talk to students on school forums.  These give you great opportunities to create backlinks.  Remember—part of how to create backlinks is always making sure you're providing quality content.  Don't spam, or your posts will be deleted, your account will be banned, and you'll lose a great resource for creating backlinks with a very high value.

Tip #4: Create Backlinks that Get Noticed

It's all well and good to try to optimize your website by creating backlinks with exact keyword anchor text.  However, this kind of anchor text often appears when people create backlinks that have been mass produced.

Instead, learn how to create backlinks with “link bait” text—text that makes people want to click.  This could be text that involves a question being asked of your readers, or some interesting aspect of a blog post you're linking to.  This is a much better formula for creating engaging, noticeable backlinks—and those are the links that will get your website the most overall traffic and conversions.

Tip #5: Shake It Up When Creating Backlinks

Don't use the same anchor text over and over again when you're learning how to create backlinks.  Google often sees this as a sign of artificial link building, and could give your website a rankings penalty.  Even if your link text pertains to your firm brand rather than an exact keyword to be searched, Google might penalize the site.

This means that you should think of how to create backlinks with variations in anchor text, even if those variations are subtle.  You should also make sure that at least some of your backlinks have anchor text that is not an exact keyword match with anything in the page linked to—after all, this is often how naturally created backlinks look online.

Tip #6: Create Backlinks to Interesting Content

Even if you know how to create backlinks that get clicks, remember that the point of a backlink shouldn't just be to game the rankings.  It should also be to bring people in to your website from other places online.  Make sure that any time you're creating backlinks, they are going to content that is original and engaging.  Learning how to create backlinks won't help if your website can't convert any actual new clients.

Tip #7: Check Your Competition's Backlinking Strategy

If you have a competitor who clearly knows how to create backlinks that get their website noticed, remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  By running a backlink checker program on their URL, you can find out where they are creating backlinks online.

Once you've seen where your competition's backlinks are hosted, you can start to learn how to create backlinks on those websites.  Odds are that you won't be able to duplicate all of them—after all, they may have built some by using personal connections or social networking—but you can make big inroads on making your backlink profile look similar.  Learning from people who already know what works is a big part of backlinking strategy for the smart and efficient law firm marketing professional.

Creating and Adjusting the Perfect Twitter Marketing Campaign

Twitter Marketing Campaigns

Adjusting a Twitter marketing campaign should not rely on general statistics, but certain Twitter marketing with focus on international law should consider adjusting, especially if they’re mainly focusing on the United States at the moment. 

Valuable Statistics for Attorneys

Twitter and marketing is popular in the United States, but the only ranks 18^th in the world for Twitter influence.  If you need to adjust your Twitter marketing campaign internationally and within a field of law, the following regions (greatest to lowest) have the most influence from Twitter and marketing:

·         Venezuela

·         Indonesia

·         Brazil

·         Turkey

·         Mexico

·         United Kingdom

·         Ireland

·         El Salvador

·         Dominican Republic

·         Columbia

·         Paraguay

·         Philippines

·         Ecuador

·         Japan

·         Argentina

·         Malaysia

·         Guatemala

·         United States

·         Netherlands

·         Spain

·         Kenya

Apart from countries, the following cities are most influenced by Twitter and marketing:

·         Caracas

·         Jakarta

·         Sao Paulo

·         Istanbul

·         Rio de Janeiro

·         Mexico City

·         New York City

·         London

·         Los Angeles

·         Toronto

·         Madrid

A smart Twitter marketing campaign in law will also account for gender, age, income as well as education and how it relates to the services of your firm.  The following statistics provide valuable data for Twitter and marketing campaigns within different fields of law:

·         about 61% of all users on Twitter are women, while about 39% are men

·         the 25-34, 35-44, and 45-54 age groups are using Twitter the most

·         about 15% of users are 18-24, about 7% are below 18, and less than 10% are 55 and up

·         Twitter and marketing works best for users earning $25,000 to $49,999

·         Twitter and marketing works second best for those earning $50,000 to $74,999

·         over 60% of Twitter users have some college education, and just below 20% have their bachelor’s degree

Important Tips for your Twitter Marketing Campaign

Twitter marketing campaigns for a law firm need to consider statistics and their followers, but they also need to embrace the important steps listed within this section.  Successful Twitter marketing campaigns contain the following strategies and more:

1. Have Multiple Workers for your Twitter Marketing Campaign

You can address more problems within Twitter and marketing if you have more associates in your firm helping with the campaign.  The most successful Twitter marketing campaigns have several partners using Twitter on a daily basis to provide updates and respond to followers.  If followers realize there are multiple partners working together, they’ll recognize that the firm is devoted to helping their clients. 

 2. Implement Timing into your Twitter Marketing Campaign

The most successful Twitter marketing campaigns by law firms will post incentives informational tweets  during times that clients are most likely to view the updated information.  Generally, Twitter and marketing work best before followers go to work, during lunch, around 3 p.m., and multiple times during the evening hours. 

Additionally, a Twitter marketing campaign for a law firm should also adjust for days of the week and even times during the year. 

3. Promote Multiple Accounts for Twitter and Marketing

Many of the best Twitter marketing campaigns will encourage individual partners to use their own personal accounts to promote the firm as well.  This technique allows the firm to expand its presence past the followers it has already.  If a firm does encourage such Twitter marketing campaigns, they should establish clear rules for professionalism and responses concerning the company. 

4. Focus on your Content within the Twitter Marketing Campaign

The best way to combine Twitter and marketing for your firm is to only provide information that can inform and help your potential clients.  Report important events within the news that relate to your services; report certain events that your firm is holding; report certain projects that individual partners are working on; and provide information about incentives and discounts your firm may be offering. 

5. Focus on Keywords

If you’re just starting your Twitter marketing campaign, you’ll want to perform keyword searches within Twitter that relate to your services.  How can you integrate those keywords into your profile, your bio, and your tweets?  The most successful Twitter marketing campaigns will use keywords to appear higher up within search results and gain more followers. 

6. Don’t Underestimate Hashtags

One of the most effective tools for Twitter and marketing for a law firm is the use of hashtags.  Your firm should encourage employees and followers to use hashtags for the firm itself.  Additionally, a Twitter marketing campaign should research hashtags to promote in order to try and bring in more followers.  Twitter marketing campaigns should create new hashtags for new updates. 

7. Use URL Shorteners as much as Possible

Using a URL shortener can have great results for yourTwitter and marketing campaign.  There are different tools available on the internet to help you shorten URLs so you can provide longer links within the 140 character limit for tweets.  After you begin to shorten links, you should provide links to your blog, your official website, other social media websites, and helpful information for your followers. 

8. Track your Results

After your Twitter marketing campaign is under way, you’ll want to monitor a large number of information using the analytics on Twitter as well as outside tools.  All Twitter marketing campaigns need to make adjustments—especially in the legal sector—and it’s hard to make adjustments without real time results. 

Conclusion: Twitter and Marketing

No campaign is perfect, and adjustments are needed constantly in order to maintain awareness and potential leads through Twitter.  Twitter marketing campaigns can greatly improve not only profit, but brand awareness and reliability from clients as well.  

The Best Twitter Marketing Tips for Success

Twitter for Marketing

Most studies suggest that Twitter is more successful than press releases for a law firm.  Some firms are still hesitant in using Twitter for marketing, but the results often increase awareness and leads for the majority of law firms. 

The Best Twitter Marketing Tips

If you want to start using Twitter for marketing your firm’s services, the following tips have proven successful:

#1 Portray Content in a Personal Tone

If you use twitter for marketing, the last thing you want to do is write content in a professional tone with a bunch of jargon.  Readers may skip by the content and even feel intimidated in some cases.  Make sure the tone matches your services as well.

#2 Provide Helpful Links

If you’re using Twitter for marketing, make sure you’re providing links that can expand on the subjects you’re discussing.  If you can provide links to content on your own legal website, this would prove ideal.

#3 Use Keywords within your Tweets

You can greatly improve your strategy within Twitter for marketing if you adjust your content for search engine optimization.  One of the most important factors to consider is your keywords for both searches within Twitter and over a search engine.  One of the best Twitter marketing tips is to write down a list of the most important keywords for your firm and place these terms within different tweets and your profile.  For more information on keywords and SEO for social media, consider viewing the blog under the blog called SEOmoz.

#4 Tweet with the Right People

It’s one of the most simple and effective strategies in using Twitter for marketing.  It’s all about who you know.  You need to start finding people within your geographic location who are interested in your legal services.  After you start following them, you’ll want to tweet with them and provide useful advice if they’re asking questions within their tweets.  Showoff your knowledge and people may rely on your service in the future. 

#5 Find Trending Topics

If you use Twitter for marketing, you need to find trending topics that you can help answer.  Tools like HootSuite can help you find related conversations, and then you can offer advice for the common questions.  Using Twitter for marketing in this way can guarantee leads in the future. 

#6 Start the Relationship off Right

This is one of the best Twitter marketing tips for your law firm within social media.  If you’ve been following someone and notice they need some information, consider Twitter for marketing just like marketing in person.  Start off by saying something positive about their post and then provide information they may find helpful including posts you’ve written in the past with helpful information. 

#7 Make the Readers Active

One of the best Twitter marketing tips is to write tweets that are both informational AND fun to read.  You’ll want to follow traditional rules while using Twitter for marketing like sharing information and writing information that is useful within your field of law, but you’ll want to ask your readers for advice and input as well. 

#8 Manners in a Desensitized World

If you use Twitter for marketing, some of the best advice this article will address involves being polite.  Many Twitter marketing tips talk about content and updating your material, but what about manners? You can thank a follower over a @message, but you can also thank a follower more personally through a direct message (DM).  If they provided helpful insight or received your services, thank them and they will spread the word about your ethics. 

#9 Showcase your Transparency

While using Twitter for marketing, never try to cover up your lack of experience in a certain subject.  If you use Twitter for marketing your legal services, you need to gain your followers’ trust by showing you credibility in certain subjects and proclaiming your lack of skill in a certain area.  One of the best Twitter marketing tips: ask for suggestions if you need to improve your skills in a certain area. 

#10 Offer Incentives

If you’re using twitter for marketing, one of your main goals is to drive followers to your actual website.  If you offer incentives on your website, you’ll want to use Twitter for marketing the deals on your website.  If followers know your website often contains good deals, they’re more like to keep visiting. 

#11 Use Hashtags

Simple yet effective Twitter marketing tips for bringing more people to your profile include using hashtags.  If you have a follower on your website, use twitter for marketing and retweet about them or display their tweet on your website.  These tips for using Twitter for marketing will encourage more people to come to your profile. 

#12 Integrate other Social Media

This is one of the most important marketing tips as well.  Not only do you want to connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts, but you want to connect your LinkedIn account while using Twitter for marketing.  If you install the LinkedIn tweet application, you can use Twitter for marketing to your professional contacts if they have Twitter accounts as well. 

#13 Use other Tools to Enhance Twitter for Marketing

If you’re using Twitter for marketing, you can use a large list of tools to monitor activity, sort through tweets, and provide other Twitter marketing tips as well.  As mentioned above, HootSuite will track a large amount of activity on Twitter.  Summify will also help you identify news and tweets that relates to your services. 

#14 Rely on the Younger Generation

One of the best Twitter marketing tips is relying on your younger associates for help.  If you’ve just started using Twitter for marketing your law firm, ask your young attorneys in the firm for help.  They are much more likely to be more experienced and literate with the technology.

Twitter for Marketing: Conclusion

If you’re using Twitter for marketing, the service holds a massive amount of potential.  Consider the Twitter marketing tips within this article and do some more research to find out areas you can improve upon. 

Accessing the Power of Twitter Mobile

Twitter Mobile

According to recent statistics released by the The Social Skinny, about 55% of all individuals accessing Twitter do so through their mobile phone.    Mobile Twitter allows users to access updated information on the go, and the mobile features are usually simpler to use than accessing Twitter on a desktop. 

About 40% of users keep from tweeting, and this group uses the social networking platform for one purpose: to stay updated. 

Advantages of Twitter Mobile for Attorneys

Mobile Twitter holds several advantages for attorneys.  For one, an attorney can update information more quickly if they can’t use a computer in the office social networking.  This factor is especially important if you’re trying to post during peak hours.  Secondly, just like the non-tweeting 40%, many attorneys will use Twitter mobile to stay updated if they’re not in the office. 

Lastly, mobile Twitter can help an attorney identify a lead, respond to that lead, and close a deal as fast as possible.  About 34% of all marketers using Twitter will come across leads, and about 20% of those leads result in a deal.  If an attorney is using Twitter mobile, they can respond to a client as fast as possible and have more time to help the client. 

Easy Guide for Adding a Twitter Mobile Account to an Existing Account

If you want to add a mobile platform to an existing account, you need to take the following steps:

1.       Log in to your existing Twitter account and select the icon called “Person”

2.       Click on the drop-down menu and select “Settings”

3.       Choose the “Mobile” tab

4.       Choose your country and then add your mobile number (note: users in countries outside of U.S. will need additional steps)

5.       Start verifying your phone by selecting “Activate Phone”

6.       Mobile Twitter will send you a short code to respond to, and you’ll have to respond with the word “GO”

7.       After the text is received, your account is ready to go

Tips to Using the Mobile Twitter Website

If you to post a reply on Twitter mobile, you’ll want to take 4 basic steps:

1.       Find the tweet you want to respond to

2.       Click on the reply button (which appears as an arrow point toward the left)

3.       Write your reply and Twitter will automatically input the username

4.       Click reply

If you want to send a direct message on mobile Twitter, you can follow several steps.  A direct message will allow you to send a private message instead of a public tweet.  You can only send a direct message to one of your followers:

1.       Click on the “Me” tab

2.       Wait for the next screen to appear, and then click “Direct Message”

3.       Click on appropriate button to compose your message

4.       Start typing the username and Twitter mobile will automatically show appropriate recipients; click on the appropriate person

5.       Write your message and click “Send”

The more you access mobile Twitter, the more follow requests you’ll start to receive.  In order to accept followers, you can take the following steps after logging into your Twitter mobile account:

1.       Click on the “Me” tab and then select “Follower Requests”

2.       Once you arrive to the next page, you’ll see options to accept or deny individuals requests.  You’ll also have the option to accept all follower requests.

Occasionally, you may find that you want to block a follower on mobile Twitter.  The steps are quite easy:

1.       Go to the profile page of your follower

2.       Click on the icon called “Profile”

3.       Once the pop-up menu appears, click on the “Block” option

What is the SMS option for Twitter Mobile?

Mobile Twitter via SMS allows you to respond to tweets and post tweets by test message instead of using an app on your iPhone, Android, or feature phone.  Many attorneys use this option so they don’t have to log into their application.  Of course, users will have to login to their application to view what people are tweeting, but once you’ve responded or receive a new message, you’ll receive updated information through SMS. 

If you want to add your phone for SMS capability, you’ll have to regard the following steps after you’ve setup your mobile settings:

1.       You’ll have to respond to the short code provided for your country.  The short code for Twitter mobile via SMS for the United States is 40404.  

2.       Mobile Twitter will ask you if you already have a username or want to set up a new account. 

3.       Once you have a username, you’ll want to send your username without any other characters in the SMS

4.       Mobile Twitter will then ask you for your password, and you’ll want to respond with the password as well. 

5.       Once Twitter Mobile has verified the information, it will ask you to send the words “OK” to start the SMS feature. 

You can now post tweets by sending a text message to your Twitter code.  If you want to receive other updates through Twitter mobile via SMS, you’ll have to adjust the mobile updates with your phone.  In order to adjust your notifications for Twitter mobile via SMS, use the following options:

1.       A text message stating “OFF” will turn off all notifications.

2.       A text message stating “ON” will turn on all notifications.

3.       If you text message “OFF” [username], “FOLLOW” [username], or “UNFOLLOW” [username], you can receive or adjust these options. 

4.       If you want to deactivate your Twitter mobile via SMS, you can send “STOP”, “Quit”, “END”, “CANCEL” or “UNSUBSCRIBE”

Twitter Mobile: Conclusion

There are multiple other SMS commands you can use on Twitter Mobile.  Mobile Twitter is a great option if you’re on the go and need to stay updated. 

If you're working on internet marketing for your law firm, you may need contextual homepage backlinks that help to give your website more authority in Google's search rankings.  Contextual backlinks are one of the best ways to make sure that your rankings rise steadily, and have many advantages over non-contextual links.  In this guide, you'll learn about your options for building contextual homepage backlinks, including organic link building techniques and hiring a contextual backlink service.  Keep reading to find out what strategy your law firm should employ for 2013 while building contextual backlinks in 2012.

What Makes a Backlink Contextual?

Simply put, there are two types of backlinks: contextual backlinks and non-contextual.  In a non-contextual backlink, a link goes from another website to your website, but the website the backlink is on doesn't need to have much relation—if any—to your practice or even your location.  For example, let's say your law firm purchased a large number of non contextual homepage backlinks.  These backlinks might appear on websites advertising products ranging from prescription drugs to work from home opportunities.

Contextual backlinks, on the other hand, rely on the context of a website.  When you build contextual homepage backlinks, they'll come from websites that discuss some of the same topics as your site and use some of the same keywords.  A contextual backlink service is a service that exclusively works on getting these types of backlinks for law firms or other companies.

Why Are Contextual Backlinks Best?

In the internet search world, contextual homepage backlinks are king.  Whether they're built by a contextual backlink service or organically grown, contextual backlinks make the web make more sense than a non-contextual link would.  When websites about similar topics are linked together via contextual homepage backlinks, it makes information more available to consumers.  Non-contextual backlinks, on the other hand, are much like email spam: website visitors didn't ask for them, and odds are, they never wanted them.

Contextual backlinks also help you to build more than your SERPs.  While your search engine rankings are important, it's also much more likely that someone will actually use contextual homepage backlinks to visit your website.  This is one of the biggest advantages of these links, whether you're getting them from a contextual backlink service or doing it yourself.  If you're using exclusively non contextual backlinks, you'll probably never (or at least, very rarely) see actual web traffic coming in from all of those backlinks you purchased.

Should I Use a Contextual Backlink Service?

There are advantages and disadvantages to getting your contextual homepage backlinks through a contextual backlink service.  On one hand, you'll get your contextual backlinks more quickly, helping you to build your rankings faster.  You'll also have the freedom to do other marketing tasks instead of painstakingly building individual contextual homepage backlinks.

However, giving up that control can make it so that your contextual backlinks aren't as high quality as you would like.  You'll want to make sure that your contextual backlink service makes only high quality links before using them.  It's also more expensive to use even the cheapest contextual backlink service than it is to just build backlinks organically, because most organically built contextual homepage backlinks are completely free.

Do Contextual Backlinks Work Right Away?

Whether you make them yourself or have a contextual backlink service make them for you, you can't expect for your contextual homepage backlinks to work immediately.  This is because before they can have any impact at all on your Google SERPs, they will need to be indexed by the search engine.  Sometimes, the process of indexing can take days, weeks, or even months depending on how deeply embedded in a website your contextual homepage backlinks are.

In some cases, your contextual backlink service will “tier” your backlinks, linking to your already existing contextual backlinks.  This can help them to be indexed more quickly.  If you're not using a contextual backlink service, some pieces of software also claim to do this kind of tiering automatically.  However, use caution: not all users of these pieces of software have reported positive results, and your mileage may vary.

Does Google Penguin Punish Contextual Backlinks?

One of the biggest questions many internet marketers have about any method of building links is whether it's Google Penguin safe.  In most situations, a contextual backlink service will guarantee that their links are Penguin proof (and if they won't, you should find a different service to provide your contextual homepage backlinks).

As long as you're building quality links, it's very unlikely that Google will punish you for any contextual backlinks.  After all, these are the kinds of links that tend to make the web better, by making it easier to move from one piece of information to other relevant websites.  Any contextual backlink service should be able to help you understand how your links are relevant and why they won't trip any red flags for over optimization when Google indexes them.

How Many Contextual Backlinks Should I Build?

When you start to work on building contextual homepage backlinks, don't go too crazy all at once.  If you build too many links in very short succession, it's very likely that Google will believe your website is over optimized and may take action against it in the search rankings accordingly.  Ideally, your backlink presence should be just a step or two beyond your real web presence—one of the main metrics that Google looks at is how many backlinks you have compared to your overall website traffic.

Consider starting by just making one or two new contextual backlinks per day at first, then working your way up to three to five per day.  This is an easy pace that you can easily continue on for the indefinite future.  What's more, if you're only making a few backlinks a day, you can make sure that they are the highest quality backlinks possible.  This ensures that your strategies will continue to be effective long into the future, not just until the next search update changes how Google looks at your links.