What is Pay Per Click for Attorney Advertising?

What is Pay Per Click?

If you’re asking yourself, “What is pay per click,” this article can help you answer that very question.  Pay per click is a tool used for internet advertising that directs traffic to websites, and if a law firm uses PPC, they will pay the website every time the advertisement is clicked by a consumer.  If the advertisement is on a search engine, such as Google, the attorney or firm will usually bid on a keyword or a keyword phrase that targets consumers who type in such a phrase. 

If the advertisement is placed on a website other than a search engine, the website will usually use a fixed price for pay per click instead of a bidding system.  The largest advantage to pay per click advertising is that the attorney does not lose money on advertising if there are few clicks on the advertisement. 

What is Pay Per Click: The Largest PPC Providers

The largest providers for pay per click are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter.  All three providers operate under a bid-based system, and Google dominates the majority of the market. 

What is Pay Per Click: Location of Advertisements

With providers such as Google, the pay per click advertisements usually appears along the right-hand margin of the screen next to the websites.  Advertisements may appear above the websites as well, and these advertisements are usually set in a background with a different color to indicate the link is an advertisement and not just an organic listing in the search engine. 

What is Pay Per Click: Flat Rate vs. Bid-Based

The majority of attorneys operate under a bid-based rate used by the three largest providers.  In a bid-based pay per click, attorneys and firms will compete against each other and tell the search engine provider how much they are willing to spend for each click. 

In a flat rate pay per click, the provider will provide specific rates for certain kinds of advertisements.  For example, an advertisement in a more accessible part of the website may cost more than an advertisement at the bottom of a page or on a link that is not commonly accessed.  In each model the attorney and law firm must choose what method of payment is most efficient for their budget. 

What is Pay Per Click: Cost Effectiveness

In a bid-based and flat-rate pay per click system, an attorney and firm must determine what the potential value of each click based on the services they can provide to the consumer.  The attorney and firm are usually encouraged to setup an advertising campaign, and the factors included in such a campaign usually include the following:

·         adjusting content and the web page’s SEO for items entered into the search engine the content the consumer is browsing

·         the consumer’s intent on contacting the firm or attorney for their services or providing an informational website mainly used for research

·         geo targeting for consumers in the area of the firm

·         the day and time that prospective clients are most likely to search for your services

What is Pay Per Click: Potential Disadvantages

In some cases, pay per click advertising may cause disadvantageous circumstances for your firm.  There is always some debate as to the professionalism associated with the field of law, and some attorneys and consumers view pay per click ads as unprofessional. 

Another disadvantage involves losing money.  A firm or an attorney needs an excellent advertising campaign to get prospective clients to use their services.  Popular keywords within a bid-based system can cost a very large amount of money, and using such terms with low turnaround can have disastrous consequences if the advertising campaign is weak. 

Another disadvantage to pay per click is fraud.  The largest providers offer programs that can stop the majority of fraud, but some cases of fraud still slip through.  There have been several lawsuits associated with click fraud, and there are several different types of fraud that can occur:

·         fraud from competitors of the advertiser

·         fraud from competitor of the publisher

·         vandalism and other types of malicious intent

What is Pay Per Click: Potential Advantages

 The advantages associated with pay per click include increasing amounts of visitors to your website and, in turn, increased services for your firm.  There are also a large amount of services offered by providers like AdWords that allow you to search daily, weekly, and monthly results.  Apart from AdWords, SEOmoz provides some of the best analytics.  Thousands of successful companies like Yahoo and The New York Times use this software.

The biggest advantage associated with pay per click is the fact that you may begin to receive indirect referrals to your services because of a solid campaign.  For example, let’s say that 10 clients traveled to your website and 6 of those clients receive services from your firm.  If those 6 clients were satisfied with your services, they may inform other prospective clients without those clients having to use the ads. 

What is Pay Per Click: Discontinuing your Campaign

If you begin to receive a large amount of outside referrals, you and your firm may decide to end your pay per click campaign or reduce the amount of paid advertisements.  Another advantage to pay per click is that you can choose to end your campaign whenever you choose or start of the campaign if you’ve noticed a drop in clients after the campaign has stopped. 

What is Pay Per Click: The Long Haul

Once you begin a pay per click campaign, you should know that you will not see results overnight.  The rate at which you begin to receive services depends greatly upon the content on your website and the way Google or another search engine views that information as important to the consumers. 

If you’ve failed to notice your pay per click campaign begin to work after an extended period of time, you need to take steps to improve your SEO and focus your content.  If you’re still asking yourself, “What is pay per click,” recommended articles on this website can help to expand the subject. 

The Harsh Reality of CPM Advertising

Number of Readers= Chances for CPM Ads

If you’re running a legal website and want advertising, CPM advertisers will not start to consider running ads on your website until you have thousands of page views every month.  If you have a popular blog and want advertising, CPM ads are usually an option if you have common types of readers who need information on related topics. 

How can I find a CPM Advertising Agency for my Website?

There are several steps you can take to find a CPM advertising agency that is willing to run CPM ads on your websites:

1.       You should investigate websites that are similar to your website and currently have advertising.  CPM advertisers will often try and target websites that have similar content so they can reach an audience through several different websites. 

2.       Once you’ve found CPM advertising companies that direct their services to particular subjects and websites, you’ll want to start looking for media buyers.  The best tool you can use to find a company that buys CPM ads is to search on Google and LinkedIn. 

3.       If you’re starting up a newer website and still want to consider advertising, CPM companies with smaller numbers of media reps will generally be the most willing to help you.  A larger CPM advertising company will mainly respond and help a large legal website and try to settle with a contract, but a smaller company is more likely to help the newer website at a lower cost.

4.       Once you’ve found a company that may consider running CPM ads on your website, you’ll want to correspond with an employee directly or by email.  You shouldn’t contact the company over a social networking website because this type of correspondence can appear unprofessional.  Keep the email simple and discuss how the company could benefit the prospective clients.  .  CPM companies will likely receive a large number of emails, so keep the email simple and direct. 

After you’ve contacted as many CPM advertising companies as possible, you’ll usually have to wait several weeks to receive a couple of responses.  Don’t expect responses from every company for CPM ads.

Negotiating Prices for CPM Advertising

After you’ve heard back from several companies for advertising, CPM rates need to be negotiated, and most companies are completely willing to negotiate.  If you’re using AdSense, you should take your projected revenue for a particular slot and even double the figure. 

The company for CPM ads will usually negotiate prices down, and even though they may accept your original stated price, they may ask for additional space for free.  In order to justify why you need certain rates for advertising, CPM companies will usually want to hear how your legal website differs from other legal websites and what factors will get more readers to use the CPM ads. 

Steps to take after starting your Advertising (CPM) Campaign

Once you’ve begun your campaign for CPM advertising, you’ll want to start off slow and slowly make adjustments depending on the data.  Several steps listed below can help you analyze your campaign for advertising (CPM):

1.       Make sure you’re tracking the URLs with software such as Google Analytics, SEOmoz, or other well-known software.  With the software supplied by Google or other company for the CPM advertising campaign, you can see the outcomes of campaign spending and you can calculate your return from advertisements. 

2.       Export the information about the CPM ads to a spreadsheet.  The agency that is responsible for the CPM ads will send you data, and you can compare your own data to the data from the agency.

If there is a large difference in the data from the CPM advertising company and your results from Google or other software, you should question the data from the agency.  You should know that no program is going to offer the same numbers on advertising (CPM), and you should usually see a difference around 10%.  If you see a larger difference, you should definitely contact the CPM advertising company. 

Steps to take once you’re your Advertising (CPM) Campaign has been running

After CPM advertising has been operating on your legal website for some time, you’ll want to consider how any changes could help or improve your website.  Some of the things to consider include the following:

1.       Are the CPM ads increasing or decreasing your business: you’ll want to be careful that certain advertisements are not indirectly reducing your business.  For example, readers may be coming to your blog or website for legal advice, but if they click on CPM advertising and find that the information is better than what they received on your website, they may not travel back to your website. 

2.       Consider other companies for advertising (CPM): if you’ve noticed increasing benefits from your CPM advertising campaign, you should consider looking into additional companies for even more advertising as long as other advertising (CPM) agencies do not have rights to all of the advertising on your website.

3.       Consider the professionalism of the CPM ads: if you run a legal website or blog and rely on readers to eventually use your services, you’ll want to consider what ads you run on your website.  Some readers may view certain CPM ads as unprofessional and shy away from your services.  Then again, if you have highly credible advertising (CPM) on your website, readers may view the ads as evidence that your services are some of the best in the area. 

CPM advertising is an ongoing process, and the steps listed in this article will help you start, make changes, or even reduce your CPM advertising.  If you can’t devote time to your campaign for CPM ads, you should consider hiring outside help. 

What is Content Marketing?

Your Content Marketing Strategy

Every attorney needs to embrace a content marketing strategy that allows the firm you increase search engine optimization (SEO) while targeting both clients and other businesses.  B2B content marketing allows you to market your services or basically sell your services to another business or even a website.  For example, if your content marketing strategy is making your website filter in a large amount of readers, another company may use information from your website and refer clients to information on your website through b2b content marketing. 

This article will cover the basics of a content marketing strategy increase the number of clients coming to your website and the amount of b2b content marketing you can receive. 

What is Content Marketing: The Basics

In order to increase your chance for b2b content marketing, a firm’s website needs to embrace a large amount of different content to have readers start sharing the information.  The following techniques are guaranteed to improve your content marketing strategy:

1.       Updated articles

2.       Social media

3.       Blogging

4.       Electronic newsletters

5.       Case studies

6.       Attending events in-person

7.       Videos

8.       “White Paper” documents

9.       Webinars and webcasts

10.   Microsites

11.   Print Magazines

12.   Traditional forms of media

13.   Research reports

14.   Branded content tools

15.   Print newsletters

16.   eBooks

17.   Podcasts

18.   Adjusted content for mobile devices

19.   Electronic magazines

20.   Virtual conferences

Some of the content marketing strategies are expanded and explained below.  These techniques are not the only techniques you can use to increase

your b2b content marketing, but they are some of the most effective.

What is Content Marketing: Social Media

Any successful firm will access social media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to brand their firm and expand their content to a larger audience.  These resources allow you to target prospective clients other than through a search engine, and your b2b content marketing can also increase through social media because of professional connections you’ll establish.  Providing links to information on your website and posting videos are only some of the more important strategies you should use with social media.

What is Content Marketing: Blogging

Blogging is a great content marketing strategy firms will use to provide updated information and outside information to their readers.  Many successful blogs will contain videos, opinions, recent updates in local law, and more.  Blogging is a great way to increase your b2b content marketing because you can blog to the general public and other professionals in your field of law. 

What is Content Marketing: eNewsletters

eNewsletters and print newsletters are a great way to expand your b2b content marketing because other businesses can forward the information to clients that may be in need of your services.  Print newsletters are also a great way to expand your content marketing strategy because print media can provide information to point consumers to your electronic material.

What is Content Marketing: Case Studies

A growing trend among attorneys is posting case studies within a website or a blog.  Not only does the public require such information, other firms may need the information as well.  Cases studies serve as a way to increase your content marketing strategy because certain cases may be able to showcase your ability within certain kinds of cases and create indirect referrals for clients that need services within similar kinds of cases. 

What is Content Marketing: White Papers

White papers are some of the best ways to increase your content marketing strategy to the public.  For example, many clients find it hard to find government documents and forms required for their case.  If you blog or post information about resources that contain certain documents, your website can serve as a bridge between the clients and the government website with the required forms. 

What is Content Marketing: Videos

Videos along with webinars and virtual conferences are some of the best ways to increase your b2b content marketing.  Webinars can serve as informational tools to other attorneys and professionals, and videos are some of the fastest growing tools accessed by attorneys on the internet. 

You should consider posting most of your videos on social media sites as well.  Consumers are more likely to rely on information from a video instead of reading through an entire article on the same subject.  In an entertainment culture, valuable content along with entertainment is essential for expanding your content marketing strategy.

What is Content Marketing: Microsites

You should consider several microsites on your website in order to increase your b2b content marketing and marketing to the general public.  Microsites are websites with links to related content.  So, for example, you should consider a microsite with articles and content for other attorneys and a mircosite with informational links for your clients.

What is Content Marketing: Adjusted Content for Mobile Devices

More and more legal websites are starting to adopt programs that provide a website that is compatible with mobile devices.  This content marketing strategy can greatly expand your readers because a large percentage of consumers are not using their desktops outside of work.  Most attorneys will need to hire a web designer or programmer to create this kind of content and application to expand your content marketing strategy. 

What is Content Marketing: Traditional Marketing Techniques

Although a large percentage of information is progressing into the digital sphere, attorneys are still encouraged to use traditional media such as printed newsletters, printed magazines, and more to keep their b2b content marketing in certain age groups.  For example, a large percentage of older attorneys and clients may rely largely on print media, and failing to address this corner of b2b content marketing can have negative consequences on the amount of readers accessing your material. 

What is Content Marketing: In-Person Information

Attorneys are still encouraged to promote their websites and other information by talking with other professionals and clients in-person.  Attorneys should still rely on business cards and related material to direct clients to their electronic media. 

Beginner’s Guide to Cost Per Impression Advertising

General Information on CPM Advertising

CPM stands for “cost per thousand impressions, and advertisers that use CPM advertisements will set their desired price for all 1000 advertisements served and pay each time their advertisement appears on a display network. 

The advantage to CPM (cost per impression) is that the publisher can receive revenue every time the advertisement is viewed on their webpage.  A CPM advertisement has the largest benefit to law firms because it encourages a strong brand, and some important information on cost per thousand impressions falls below.

Payouts from CPM (Cost per Impression)

In cost per impression advertising, an advertising agency will recruit firms and other businesses for a campaign.  The agency will coordinate different websites together to run the advertisements, and the agency will look at different demographics and see how the advertisement is relevant to the website. 

More importantly, a firm has the right to accept or deny websites that will run their advertisements in cost per thousand impressions advertising.  The firm will have to pay the agency a percentage for CPM (cost per impression), and the other percentage will be paid to the website hosting the advertisement. 

How much does a website make from Cost per Impression?

There is no definite answer to how much a website can make off cost per thousand impressions advertising.  Agencies can charge prices anywhere from20 cents to amounts of $15 or more.  Most agencies will provide you with updated information on how much you’re making off of CPM (cost per impression), and you can find more information on recommended articles about CPM calculators.

Why will a website drop certain Cost per Impression ads?

A mentioned above, most agencies will let a legal website accept or reject cost per thousand impressions ads.  Some publishers may dislike certain kinds of CPM (cost per impression) ads such as pop ups or video ads.  Additionally, a legal website may feel that the cost per impression ad is actually competing with their website. 

Does a publisher profit the most from CPM advertising?

Legal websites and blogs do not typically make a large percentage of their profits from cost per thousand impressions.  Most legal websites make the majority of revenue from subscriptions and indirect profits after providing counsel to clients. 

Instead, most legal websites and blogs rely on CPM (cost per impression) advertising to bring in traffic because the profits from CPM advertising will usually fluctuate from month to month. 

Can a website use more than one Cost per Impression Agency?

There is no direct answer to this question either.  Some agencies will make a firm sign a contract that states they are the sole holder of the advertisements and only they can handle the cost per thousand impressions. 

Some legal websites do in fact embrace several different agencies for CPM (cost per impression) advertising, but the majority of legal websites and blogs will only use one CPM advertiser to keep operations and logistics of the website simple. 

How long with a Cost per Impression contract last?

Again, there is no direct answer for this question.  Contracts for cost per thousand impressions can last anywhere from a trial period to a month or even a year.  However, most agencies are willing to end your contract for CPM (cost per impression) at any time to keep clients satisfied. 

If an agency offers a contract for CPM, a website—even if the website is run by a group of attorneys—should usually have an attorney who specializes in advertising contracts review the document. 

Potential Disadvantages for an Attorney and Cost per Impression Advertising

If an attorney or a law firm is running a website and decides to include cost per thousand impressions advertising on the margins of their website, readers and other attorneys may view the advertisements as unprofessional in some cases.  Also, you don’t want the CPM (cost per impression) ads taking readers away from your website if the advertisement offers similar legal advice.  

Potential Advantages to CPM Advertising

There are several possible advantages to cost per impression advertising.  For one, a firm who advertises their services can bring in customers to their  legal website that may not have been brought to the website from PPC advertising for example. 

Additionally, a firm or attorney who runs cost per thousand impressions on their website may be able to make a significant amount of money every month.  The biggest strategy to making money off of CPM (cost per impression) advertising is delivering useful content, a strong SEO strategy, and running CPM ads that relate to your business and even offer services that your firm cannot offer. 

When to Consider Running Cost Per Impression Ads

·         your CPM campaign will only target a display network, not a search network

·         your cost per thousand impressions ads are there to increase awareness, not necessarily clicks to your actual website

·         you need to target specific placements on a website with CPM (cost per impression), and you can target cost per impression ads if the agency offers bidding

·         try to increase brand awareness with cost per impression advertising by considering images and other multimedia

While considering cost per thousand impressions, you need to consider what type of advertising campaign is best for your budget, intended audience, and more.  You should always consider other types of advertising apart from CPM (cost per impression) such as PPC and CPA advertising.  In order to know what type of advertising is best for your services, you should consider using tools under large providers like Google AdWords, SEOmoz, Yahoo,  or other providers on the internet. 

The Best Strategies for your Affiliate Marketing Blog

The Best Affiliate Marketing Blogs

An affiliate marketing blog takes serious commitment along with other important strategies.  

Consider your Audience

One of the most important features to starting an affiliate marketing blog in the legal field is considering your audience.  You’ll want to deliver content and advertisements that relate to your content as well.  You’ll want to know what your readers will consider buying that you cannot provide, and you’ll want to consider products that could add on to the services provided by your website as well. 

Provide Recommendations for the Entire Product

While providing recommendations, you’ll want to give a complete view of the services provided by the product including the benefits and disadvantage of a service, such as an app, a book, or even another website or search engine.  The best affiliate marketing blogs give an all around view, and even though you may believe this strategy would actually decrease your profits from affiliate marketing, it’s often the other way around. 

For example, if you give a stunning review and the consumer goes to the website, they may find a feature they’re not happy with.  If you praised the feature or failed to highlight the services, they may not depend on your affiliate marketing blog anymore. 

Consider Several Different Kinds of Links

The best affiliate marketing blogs provide links to the best services on a website.  However, you need to get the consumer to click on the link in the first place! There are several ways to do this:

1.       The first option you have is to provide links within the content of your affiliate marketing blog.  Banner ads are a thing of the past, and consumers are more likely to press on a link after you’ve explained the product or service beforehand.

2.       The second option you have is using outside services like AdSense to place your links within the most accessed parts of your affiliate marketing blog.

Traffic Clients to Certain Parts of your Website

The best affiliate marketing blogs use software to detect how many clients are coming to certain pages.  Some software allows you to see where clients are migrating to, stopping, or hesitating.  All of this information can help affiliate marketing blogs improve their structure and content. 

Diversity

One of the biggest mistakes any affiliate marketing blog can make is putting too many ads or too many of the same kind of ad on the website—especially within the legal industry.  If there is a large amount of ads, consumers may believe that the main purpose of your website is to make a profit off of advertising instead of helping your clients. 

Transparency

Some of the most successful affiliate marketing blogs will provide information about the website the client is traveling to.  For example, the affiliate marketing blog may provide quick instructions for clients after they leave the website.  Clients are more likely to click on a link if they know where it’s going to take them. 

Networking

Successful affiliate marketing blogs will use numerous kinds of social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, emailing and more.  However, instead of trying to obtain a large number of fans or subscribers, you’ll want to make sure the people you have coming in are the most likely to use your affiliate marketing blog how you intend. 

If you don’t focus the people coming into your affiliate marketing blog, these consumers may obscure the data on your web analytics software because they have no interest in what you’re trying to market. 

Mediums

Successful marketing affiliate blogs will try to promote different services through several different mediums other than just simply the blog itself.  For example, you might consider promoting a service or website on a social media website instead of your blog to bring clients in who can relate to those promotions and related content on your website as well. 

The best affiliate marketing blogs will also promote the same services across different mediums at different times.  If you split up your campaign and advertise at different places at different times, clients will be less likely to believe that you’re trying to promote a service just for profit.

Commitment

Any affiliate marketing blog can take years to develop.  You shouldn’t become discouraged if your affiliate marketing blog is not generating a significant profit right away because you’re ultimate goal is to still provide an informational blog within the legal field.  . 

Many affiliate marketing blogs will ask clients what the website can do to improve the functionality of the website.  If you allow clients to make recommendations, they may feel that they are part of the blogs progression and be more likely to visit the blog more often. 

Timing

Timing is one of the most important considerations for affiliate marketing blogs.  If you release information too early about services or features on websites that will not come out for a long period of time, consumers may forget about the incentives you post on your website and you’ll be left with results you didn’t expect. 

Oppositely, an affiliate marketing blog can’t market services too late.  If the service or product has been on the market for a long period of time, clients are less likely to show interest.  The best affiliate marketing blogs post advertisements at just the right time in order to interest the most readers. 

Conclusion on Affiliate Marketing Blogs

The points listed in this article are only recommendations.  You may be able to take other steps in order to increase the readability and success of your affiliate marketing blog.  While establishing an affiliate marketing blog, make sure you’re still focusing on your services as well.  If you devote too much attention to other services, clients will show little interest in your services. 

It’s always a good idea to compare your services to the services posted within your affiliate marketing blog to show how those services can add to your services. 

You're trying to keep up with the latest SEO strategies, but you keep getting conflicting information from different sources.  Why do different SEO strategy guides suggest completely different ways of doing things?  Why are guides looking forward to 2013 suggesting different strategies from articles written just a few years ago?  Keep reading to find out.

Why Old SEO Strategies Stopped Working

Some law firms were very early adopters of web technology and have been quick to jump on some of the web's biggest marketing and advertising bandwagons.  If you started using an SEO strategy in, say, 2004, it's time to realize that there's a whole different world now.  In 2004, Blackberries were the only smart phone, Facebook was in its infancy, and Google's search indexers used very different algorithms to rank pages.

Back during that time, it was critical to get keyword densities just right, and to use the same keyword repeatedly.  Now, Google and other search engines are much more likely to recognize this SEO strategy as “keyword stuffing” and lower your rankings in search results.

Other SEO strategies of years gone by included “article spinning,” also called article marketing.  This involved paying a service to post your copy in many different places online.  Article marketing was never a particularly ethical SEO strategy, and is now considered spamming.

What SEO Strategy Looks Like Today

Now, mobile traffic is expected to soon eclipse desktop web traffic, both in the United States and around the world.  Social media has begun to dominate the web footprint of many users, and “pure” SEO has fallen out of favor, replaced by efforts that integrate SEO, social media, and web advertising.  

This kind of mixed strategy has become very important even for companies that used to do pure SEO, because Google now bases much of your ranking on the quality of your inbound links.  To get the best results from SEO strategies today, you'll also need to promote your site so quality sites know about it.

Combining Your SEO Strategy With Social Media

Because inbound links are so important, your law firm should work on making firm profiles on LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as some social bookmarking websites.  Even just having completed profiles can be a significant boost to SEO strategies.

Social media can be a great way to interact with potential new clients and to project a clear, consistent image of your law firm.  Avoid having paid content creators write your tweets and status updates—your readers will be much more likely to believe what's being said if it's clearly from someone who really works at your firm.

SEO Strategies That Don't Work

In the same way that it's considered bad marketing to have your SEO strategies involve fake “article spinning” services, it's also bad practice to buy followers for your social media websites.  Many companies think that they can augment their SEO strategy with social media quickly by purchasing guaranteed followers on Ebay or elsewhere.

In the end, these SEO strategies are doomed to fail.  You need a social media plus SEO strategy that works by gaining real followers with real influence over their circle of friends and family.  That's a way to build real, quality inbound links—the foundation of all successful SEO strategies today.

Mobile SEO Strategy

A few years ago, SEO strategies didn't need to pay much, if any, attention to traffic from users of mobile phones.  At that time, using the internet on a phone was considered something of a techie novelty.  Today, many people couldn't imagine life without their iPhone or Android phone, and that's starting to have a huge impact on the web.

In 2014, because of the continued expansion of 4G networks throughout the United States and the expansion of 3G even into remote and rural areas, forecasters predict that more bandwidth will be used by mobile users than desktop users.  This is a crucial change for your SEO strategies.  You now need more than ever to have first-page SERPs, because mobile users are even less likely than desktop users to click to a second page of search results.

Local SEO Strategy

Most law firms today would benefit from using local SEO strategies.  Tying in your location with your other keywords can ensure that you're getting seen by the right clients, rather than working hard to build web traffic with highly competitive non-local keywords.  Today, though, you can build a local SEO strategy that goes significantly beyond this kind of basic keyword touch-up.

Building a local web presence now means creating ties to other websites that are local to your community.  Think of other local businesses that you could partner with to trade guest blogging opportunities.  Most attorneys have at least some interaction with another type of business, and having someone talk about where their job intersects with the law can be a very interesting post that can go viral, generating even more links and ensuring the success of your SEO strategy.

If you are located in a city and have the ability to travel to some suburbs, you may also want to consider SEO strategies that incorporate geographic keywords for those suburbs.  This market sometimes goes untapped by attorneys who are competing hard in a struggle for survival with big city keywords for large practice areas.

The Future of SEO Strategies

In the same way that a 2008 SEO strategy looks very different from 2012 SEO strategies, it's likely that a 2016 strategy will look even different.  While no one knows for sure what brand-new startup will be worth a billion dollars in a few years and change the face of the web, we do know that users are starting to do the web differently, focusing on apps rather than search.  This may decrease the need for SEO strategies in favor of app advertisements.

Even if search becomes less popular, the idea of searching online is here to stay and has been with the internet since very nearly its beginnings (when “phone book” style paper directories of websites were printed and distributed at computer shows).  As long as you make a commitment to adapt your SEO strategies as times change, every step you make toward good optimization is a step that will pay off in the future.

Okay, so not every law office has a social media pro on staff.  If you're part of one of the 45 percent of law firms that doesn't yet have a Facebook page, you may need to hire a Facebook marketing service to get your social media marketing efforts off the ground.  Keep reading to find out why Facebook marketing services are often an attractive alternative to DIY social media campaigns for lawyers.

Why Not Do It Yourself?

If you're considering doing your own Facebook marketing without the help of any Facebook marketing service, you should ask yourself a few questions.  How comfortable are you with social media platforms?  Are you already comfortable with maintaining Facebook pages, including fan pages and groups?  Do you know how to get the most out of your Facebook page even though recent site redesigns have changed what works?

If you're unsure, it's okay to get professionals to help you out.  Facebook marketing services can help firms regardless of their level of social media expertise.  Whether you're brand new to the social media world or have been tweeting and redditing for years, a Facebook marketing service can help you create a new brand srategy to get the most out of your Facebook presence.

When law firms start to use Facebook marketing services, they often express concern about how much control they'll be able to keep over their Facebook pages.  You can discuss your needs with your Facebook marketing service, which can help you to learn how to control your own page or take the work completely out of your hands.

Using Facebook Marketing Services for Direct Ads

Direct advertising is one way to market your law firm on Facebook.  Much like Google AdWords, this type of Facebook advertising involves bidding on clicks.  Often, small law firms are intimidated by click bidding and cost per click advertising, so you may want to contact Facebook marketing services for help.

Using a Facebook marketing service for these ads can help you use current best practices and keep your bids as low as possible.  Working together, you and Facebook marketing services can figure out the best way to talk to Facebook fans so that you don't have to do all the research on your own about bidding and targeting.

As you continue to work with a Facebook marketing service, their analysts will work to find ways to understand the visitor data you're obtaining.  Facebook marketing services can then tailor their services to match your company's needs and what your customers want.

Using Facebook Marketing Services for Content Creation

When using a Facebook marketing service, you may want them to help you to create your initial design or you may want them to create a great deal of custom content as well.  Make sure that you obtain custom content samples from any Facebook marketing services that you use, because there can be big differences to the quality levels offered by different companies.

While a Facebook marketing service can certainly do a great deal of custom content work for your firm, it's also important to create some original content yourself, about local topics you have a high level of expertise with.  Authority counts in today's web world, and you'll get much further if you're able to give real legal advice and offer tips, not just content that may appear generic.

Using Facebook Marketing Services for Analytics

A lot of people at law offices would like to leave the tough math back in the classroom.  If this is the case at your firm, you may not want to do your own analytics.  In fact, you may even be asking what analytics are.

Analytics basically refers to looking at the results of your firm's marketing efforts and guiding new advertising based on the results of the analysis.  If you're not using analytics yet, Facebook marketing services can help you work out the details.  Your Facebook marketing service can put analytics research into plain English so that you can start to design your social media presence based on real world data from your own clients.

Using Facebook Marketing Services for Redesign

What do you do if you've already got a Facebook page, but it's not generating many fans or much traffic?  Hiring a Facebook marketing service can help you identify what's working and what's not, so that you can do a complete overhaul.

With Facebook's new interface, Timeline, now implemented sitewide, you can use a Facebook marketing service to help you craft a brand narrative based on the history of actual events in your firm's history.  You can now make Timeline work for you, especially if you're part of an established law firm that has some big wins to its name.

Your Facebook marketing service can also work on your presentation with images and video.  Many of these services will offer video packages that help you create potentially viral videos for your law firm.  If you're going the viral video route, remember: funny works, but only if you don't look unprofessional.

Using Facebook Marketing Services for Social Media Integration

While you may want to use a specialized Facebook marketing service for exclusively B2B marketing, you may also want to integrate LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social media platforms.  Maintaining a consistent brand image across platforms with very different cultures and norms can be tricky—Facebook marketing services can take the guesswork out.

When you're redesigning your Facebook pages, you can look at options for marketing your firm including use of video and blogs.  These can lead to your content being shared and linked, which is a great way to get better search engine results for your firm.

Although some kinds of social media integration can seem like they'd lead to less work for your firm, be careful when mixing Facebook and Twitter.  Although Facebook can display tweets as soon as you've written them, these kinds of posts are often regarded as spammy and oversaturated by Facebook aficionados.

A few years ago, marketing on Facebook was something only a few law firms did, and it was considered something of a fad.  Now, with recent statistics indicating that over half of American adults have a Facebook account, you can't keep overlooking Facebook marketing for too much longer.  Don't worry—it doesn't have to be difficult, and if you do it right, marketing on Facebook can actually be a lot of fun for you and your potential clients.  Keep reading to find out how to make it as painless as possible to start your new Facebook marketing campaign.

The Nuts and Bolts of Facebook Marketing: Getting Started

The first thing that you'll need when you decide to start marketing on Facebook is a fan page.  While it's possible to create a Facebook group instead of a fan page for your law firm, groups have unwieldy URLs with long numbers.  You can customize the URL for your fan page, making it easier to carry over your Facebook marketing efforts to business cards and print advertising.

You could, just to cover all of your bases, start both a group and a fan page.  However, you're almost always better off focusing your Facebook marketing on one page rather than trying to manage a consistent message across two different pages that provide different avenues for marketing on Facebook.

Because all Facebook fan pages now use the new “Timeline” display, you can actually include relevant events in your law firm's history in addition to a cover photo and a profile photo.  Don't use the same photo for your cover and your profile photos—this looks repetitive and bland, and won't help your Facebook marketing efforts.

Which Law Firms Are Best at Facebook Marketing?

With so many people using Facebook, it's safe to say that nearly every law firm should now have or be in the process of creating a Facebook fan page.  However, you should be aware before you start marketing on Facebook that not all law firms get great results.

Why?  It's a simple matter of audience.  If your law firm primarily wants to do Facebook marketing to generate B2C leads or just brand awareness, then you'll probably do fine as long as you manage your page well.  Facebook is by far the biggest B2C social media platform.  

However, if you're a B2B type of law firm, marketing on Facebook may not offer you the same kind of return on investment that some other social media activity can give you.  It's still best to have a Facebook page, even if you're a B2B firm.  You just may want to focus most of your social media marketing efforts on LinkedIn, which does better with this kind of marketing.

What Makes Facebook Marketing Effective?

On Facebook, users customize their experience and can decide exactly what kinds of posts they want to see.  This means that your marketing on Facebook needs to be consistently engaging, or you'll lose followers who might have brought in new business.

Because Facebook presents you with a wide range of options for engaging with your fans, use them!  Try polling your fans, using status updates, posting videos, making comments on pages.  Facebook marketing tends to be most effective when marketers are generating a lot of engagement through open ended questions.

Different kinds of law firms may need to do different things to have great marketing on Facebook.  Your Facebook marketing will be substantially different if you're a solo practitioner working on a shoestring budget or a mid-sized firm that can hire a full time social media marketing manager.  Keep reading tips blogs and searching for new ways to interact with your audience on Facebook.

Direct Advertising vs. Social Media Marketing on Facebook

If you're interested in being seen by consumers, you may want to use Facebook direct ads in addition to your other Facebook marketing efforts.  This kind of advertising can be precision targeted geographically and using several different demographic categories.  Marketing on Facebook in this way can get you a big influx of new fans and new visitors to your law firm website.

In contrast to the speediness of direct advertising, using social media marketing on Facebook will likely take a while longer to show results—but the results will last longer, too.  This kind of Facebook marketing doesn't cost anything except time.  If you're able to join more conversations and create more discussion, you'll essentially be doing free advertising for your firm.

How to Avoid the Biggest Facebook Marketing Mistakes

Don't try to sound like a corporate persona with no real personality.  Instead, make it clear who posts your Facebook updates (if several people have posting access, make that transparent, too).  Marketing on Facebook is much easier when you're coming across as a real person, not just an advertisement.

Through the years, Facebook has gotten several big makeovers, and one of the biggest mistakes you can make is letting one of these website changes catch you by surprise.  Often, a big website revision can change a great deal about how you'll want to handle marketing on Facebook.  Keep yourself informed about changes so that you're never caught unaware.

Split Testing Your Marketing On Facebook

In order to make sure that your marketing campaigns are working, you may want to do some split testing.  Split testing for direct ads is easy using Facebook's own tools, but you can also split test even with basic things like trying new ways to interact with your audience.

Not all of your split tests will give you a definitive result, and that's fine.  Continuing to test new strategies until you find the ones that work best will help you get ahead of your social media competition.  Don't just split test based on different types of content.  

Consider doing tests to see whether your posts get more response depending on what day of the week or what time of the day they're posted.  Continuous testing ensures that you'll get up to date results and can test new hypotheses at any time.

Now that 2012 is winding down, even more attorneys are learning how to use Facebook for marketing.  The most recent ABA Legal Technology Survey Report indicates that about 55 percent of law firms are using Facebook for marketing, with more joining the social media website every day.  It doesn't have to be difficult to learn how to market on Facebook.  Especially if you already have a personal Facebook page, using Facebook for marketing is just an extension of what you already know.  Here are a few tips to get you started.

How to Use Facebook For Marketing, Tip #1: The Personal and the Professional

Solo practitioners have been some of the biggest adopters of blogging technologies, so these lawyers may be most eager to learn how to market on Facebook as well.  However, if you're a solo practitioner, you need to exercise caution with social media.  

It is never—never!—a good idea to start using Facebook for marketing on a personal page, rather than a fan page or a group page.  Keeping your personal and professional lives separate is critical if you want to know how to market on Facebook.  If your great aunt is posting about her gallbladder surgery, your college roommate is posting a picture of you with red Solo cups from your partying days, and your angry brother in law won't stop talking politics on your wall, you won't be putting your best marketing foot forward.

Instead, take the extra time to create a Facebook fan page, even if you're all on your own at your law office.  It'll be easier to learn how to market on Facebook when you're working exclusively with posts about your professional life.

How to Use Facebook For Marketing, Tip #2: Check the News

A great way to engage with your readers, especially if you want to know how to market on Facebook locally, is to discuss news articles on your feed.  Local, regional, and state news that is relevant to your users will often bring in comments and likes.

When you're using Facebook for marketing, you should try not to just link stories but also to provide at least some level of commentary.  You're not really learning how to market on Facebook if you're not adding your own content as well as posting the content of others.

If you are a blogger, it's even easier to learn how to use Facebook for marketing in conjunction with news links.  Whenever you make a blog entry about a local news story, you can just link it with an attention-grabbing headline—suddenly, you're using Facebook for marketing without needing to do much beyond just writing the blog entry.

How to Use Facebook For Marketing, Tip #3: Start a Poll

Professionals who know how to market on Facebook know that readers tend to be more engaged when you ask questions and start conversations.  That's why you should learn how to use Facebook for marketing polls.  Polls can not only give you a fun way to engage an audience, but also help you learn better how to market on Facebook.

You don't just need to ask questions about legal issues when using Facebook for marketing polls.  Consider polling your existing fan base about three or four different potential advertisements, and see which one they like best.  

How to Use Facebook For Marketing, Tip #4: Dispel Misconceptions

Another great way to engage with your audience is to start using Facebook for marketing to get rid of the misconceptions that people come to your law office with.  Do you find that people often come to your law offices with little idea of what really goes into cases like the ones you handle?  Do you often see people repeating a piece of “folk wisdom” that could get them into big trouble in the courtroom or during a traffic stop?  Get writing!

Not only is dispelling misconceptions a great way of using Facebook for marketing, it's also a good way to educate your local community.  When you think of how to market on Facebook with these kinds of posts, make sure that you're not in any way talking down to your audience.  No matter how much you know about how to use Facebook for marketing, you'll never succeed if your audience feels condescended to.

How to Use Facebook For Marketing, Tip #5: Schedule Your Posts and Pinned Posts

Recently, using Facebook for marketing has actually gotten somewhat easier because of Facebook's new “timeline” feature.  While this feature was slow to roll out and is somewhat tougher to read, it's also better for lawyers who are trying to figure out how to market on Facebook.

Why?  Because now you can “pin” a most important post when you're using Facebook for marketing.  Pinned posts last up to seven days, so you can pin something new to show at the top of your Facebook page once a week or more.

When you're learning how to market on Facebook, you should also start scheduling your posts.  You can click the clock icon on the lower left of the posting window.  As you continue learning how to use Facebook for marketing, odds are you'll find out that some times of day are more likely to lead to posts being liked, shared, and commented on.  Schedule your posts for those times and you'll have the best luck with using Facebook for marketing.

How to Use Facebook For Marketing, Tip #6: Reconnect!

Building your social network with Facebook can be a great way to get new clients.  No discussion of how to use Facebook for marketing would be complete without telling you to regularly check your personal contacts and add them to your list of friends.  Some of the best marketing on Facebook can actually be targeted at people who are your fans and friends.

You never know who a client lead will come from.  Making sure that you're connected to your old friends and that they know about your professional page as well as your personal one can help you get new business quickly.

From solo practitioners to the biggest firms in the industry, lawyers today are looking for Facebook marketing solutions that work.  Three out of four clients today are looking at online resources before they decide who to hire, and Facebook is by far the most popular social media website among consumers.  Keep reading to learn seven handy Facebook marketing tips that can take you from social media zero to social media hero at your law firm.

Facebook Marketing Tips #1: Groups vs. Pages

Right at the start of your social media campaign, you'll have some decisions to make.  You should never let your personal Facebook page suffice as your firm page, even if you're a solo practitioner, so the choice becomes: group or page?

If you've never used Facebook groups or fan pages before, you may not really understand the difference between these two terms.  However, your Facebook marketing solutions will largely depend on how you choose.

While some Facebook marketing tips will suggest using groups for maximum viral exposure, the truth is that you may not need to worry about making the perfect viral videos just yet.  Instead, focus your Facebook marketing solutions on creating fan pages, which don't allow you to send messages to every group member but do allow you a great deal of control over how you represent yourself.

Because fan pages make more sense than groups for most attorneys and law firms, the rest of these Facebook marketing tips will be about pages.  You may want to search for groups-specific Facebook marketing solutions if you feel groups would be more advantageous for your firm.

Facebook Marketing Tips #2: Link to Blogs

Blogging is one of the best tools attorneys today can use to attract clients to their websites.  Over half of lawyers with blogs report that they've gotten business as a direct result of a blog entry.  Other Facebook marketing tips can focus on blog content, but there's no reason to stop with just having a blog.

One of the best Facebook marketing solutions possible is to actually post some content from law blogs written by other attorneys, as well as blog entries written by people at your own firm. Why?  Because when you share links about a firm, they're more likely to talk about you.

You can also use links to other blogs to generate great conversations on your own Facebook wall, all without even having to write an entry of your own.  This is one example of how you can get creative with your Facebook marketing solutions even if you don't have a lot of time to create new content for your Facebook wall every week.

Facebook Marketing Tips #3: Make Unique Content

Of course, the best Facebook marketing solutions will always involve creating something original.  If you're able to give your Facebook fans the best new original content, they'll keep coming back to your page again and again.

If you want your content to go “viral,” that is, to spread by word of mouth online, you'll need to make sure that it's inventive and different from anything else out there.  Facebook marketing tips should always caution you against trying to make lightning strike twice—don't imitate something that has already gone viral in an attempt to get your message heard by more people.

Facebook Marketing Tips #4: Get Help

Your Facebook marketing solutions don't all have to come from inside your firm.  There are already services that specialize in giving law firms Facebook marketing tips and techniques.  You may want to hire one of these services to provide your company with Facebook marketing solutions.

Services can get you started if you're just unsure of how to begin your social media campaigns, or they can provide you with a tremendous amount of ongoing support and content.  Of course, the more elaborate your Facebook marketing solutions are, the more a service is likely to charge for providing them.  You'll have to find your own balance between your budget and great Facebook marketing solutions.

Facebook Marketing Tips #5: Keep Posting

So you've started your Facebook page and you've posted for a couple of months, but not much activity seems to be happening.  Instead of seeking new Facebook marketing solutions, too many firms abandon their Facebook pages when this happens.

Abandoning your page is the exact wrong approach.  When potential clients see an abandoned Facebook page, it does not inspire confidence about the firm.  Facebook marketing tips won't work overnight—social media marketing can take months or even years to have the effects that you're hoping for, and there's no reason to throw in the towel just because you're not seeing instant results.

Facebook Marketing Tips #6: Promote Your Facebook Page

One of the best reasons for getting a page instead of a group is that you can customize the URL for your fan page.  With a well chosen URL (try to make it simple, not keyword packed), you'll be able to share your page far and wide even beyond the confines of Facebook.  Groups, on the other hand, only allow you to have a long URL with a long numeric string.

Consider promoting your Facebook fan page using other forms of advertising, including direct email marketing and print advertising, as well as any radio or television spots your firm is airing.  Even the simple business card method can get you more Facebook fans every time you network at a conference or other event.

Facebook Marketing Tips #7: Don't Neglect Your Fans

In Facebook, fans mean everything.  Your fans can be your biggest marketing resource, so your Facebook marketing solutions should always consider them.  Make sure that you're conversing on a regular basis with the people who regularly comment on your Facebook wall.

If one of your fans makes a request to see a particular topic covered, make sure that you honor the request if it's at all possible.  By the same token, if your fans are consistently objecting to some part of your marketing, you should probably take it off your wall.