Today's law firms have to think about reputation in more than one way.  Offline reputation, like how you're viewed in your community, is still important.  More and more, so is managing your online reputation.  If you want to manage your online reputation but aren't sure how, you could use a few pointers.  Here are 8 tips to get you on the right track today and help you avoid some of the mistakes that can wreck a firm's reputation for good.

Tip #1: Conduct Yourself Appropriately—Online And Off

It may seem obvious, but the best way to start managing your online reputation is to make sure you're conducting yourself in a way that makes a good reputation deserved.  If you're skating by with barely ethical practices and aren't particularly concerned with whether you're getting repeat business, you're setting yourself up for a major reputation failure.

On the other hand, if your firm is full of attorneys who are already working hard to maintain a highly visible and positive reputation in their communities, you'll have a much easier time managing your online reputation.  Your offline reputation definitely casts a light or a shadow on your online reputation, so make sure yours looks bright.

Tip #2: Monitor Your Online Reputation Consistently

If you're not checking to see what people are saying about you, you won't have much success managing your reputation online.  You can't know what to say in response unless you're taking a close look at what people are saying and where negative and positive thoughts are coming from.

You should consider having an online reputation firm help you with managing your reputation online if you're not able to devote time and energy to it.  This has become such an important part of how people view your law firm that it no longer makes good business sense to keep out of online reputation management.

Tip #3: Be Honest With Yourself And Others

You know that your law firm isn't perfect.  Part of managing your online reputation will be understanding what your law firm's true strengths and weaknesses are, and being able to portray the firm in a favorable light given both.  Don't try to be something that you're not, and if there's a problem with the culture at your law firm, don't think that managing your online reputation means you can just deny those issues.  You'll be much more successful at managing your online reputation when you're willing to change your company's habits in response to feedback.

Tip #4: Work to Remove False Reviews

Even if you've done a good job managing your online reputation, it's always possible that an unethical competitor will try to smear your hard-won rep.  That's when you need to take decisive action quickly.  If you see a negative review about your law firm that doesn't seem to be grounded in reality, you should notify the website where the review was posted.

Most of these websites have procedures for identifying and removing reviews that do not meet content standards or are created by competitors to slander a business.  However, you often have to do the work of notifying them of these reviews, so you may want to check these websites as much as once a day to be diligent about managing your online reputation.

Tip #5: Solicit Positive Reviews From Satisfied Clients

In addition to abolishing the false and bad reviews, you should also solicit their opposite—true excellent reviews from the people you know you've made happiest at your firm.  These clients are often glad to talk about their experiences with your firm if you ask them to review your firm on a reviews website.

Positive reviews tend to be worth more to people if they include at least some small amount of criticism—reviews that are too positive tend to be met with more skepticism.  Keep checking review sites to see if this method of managing your online reputation is generating new reviews consistently.

Tip #6: Don't Make a Bad Situation Worse

Unfortunately, a lot of law firms get this one wrong.  If you're caught up in some sort of mistake, faux pas, or just a moment you'd rather forget, don't defend your actions.  You'll have much better luck managing your online reputation if you apologize for mistakes right away instead of waiting for days—days that can lead to pressure heating up and a tempest in a teapot.  Delete things that offend people and move on.

Tip #7: The Internet Has a Short Memory

Remember that no matter how bad a week you're having at managing your online reputation, this, too, shall pass.  As long as you do some damage control, even if your law firm gets a negative mention on a major blog like Above the Law, you can salvage your reputation and you'll see the internet denizens move on quickly to a new target.  The worst thing you can do is continue to rise to the bait. Managing your online reputation sometimes means knowing when keeping your mouth shut is the only way to let things move on.

Tip #8: Never Make the Same Mistake Twice

This is one of the biggest keys to managing your online reputation.  If you make a particular mistake once, most people won't hold it against you for long.  However, if you make the same kind of mistake twice, it starts to look much worse for your company.  You'll have a very hard time managing your online reputation, for example, if you have a tendency to write rude or sarcastic replies to people who criticize you.

Keep in mind that managing your online reputation is an ongoing process, not something you do all at once.  Mistakes and setbacks are bound to occur, but as long as you learn from each one, you'll get better with each successive effort.

New attorneys often have a hard time getting a handle on what the best marketing techniques are to get their firm in front of the competition.  If you're worried about your marketing plan as a new attorney, fear not—there are actually places where new lawyers have advantages over the old guard.  In this guide, we'll take a look at some marketing ideas that you should be implementing as soon as you can.  Because most new attorneys are working with a limited budget, every idea in this guide is designed with cost effectiveness in mind.

#1: Go Social—You Have Advantages

While attorneys who are older and have been in the profession a very long time have many advantages over you as a new lawyer, you have some places where you can far outshine them.  For example, many attorneys are basically dinosaurs when it comes to technology.  This means that adapting to how people use social networking websites has been exceedingly difficult for a lot of lawyers who are very good at the legal parts of their job and used to be very good at the marketing parts, too.

If you can build a successful social networking presence, you'll soon notice your website climbing search rankings and clients starting to come in from word of mouth referrals and web searches.  Because new attorneys today usually are younger and already have social networking experience, they understand what users expect of businesses online.  Keep it professional and make sure that you're attentive to the people who link to you and share your posts, and you'll have a great social media presence within a fairly short time.  What's more, doing marketing with your social media pages is completely free—it only costs time, not money, which is handy for attorneys who have more of the former than the latter on their hands.

#2: Use Social Bookmarking Sites

Another social venue that young attorneys often understand intuitively from previous use is the social bookmarking site.  Sites like StumbleUpon and Reddit can help your law firm get noticed by people online, and can help you build a backlink profile that is more favorable to your firm in search results.

While social bookmarking websites are great for younger attorneys to use if they understand them, use caution. If these sites think that you are contributing spam, they will often delete not only the post you've made but even your entire account.  Make sure that if you do post, you keep the marketing angle subtle—perhaps a link to an interesting blog entry, rather than a link to your main firm homepage—and don't make it your only post on the website.  Try to be an active participant generally, and it is much less likely that you will be suspected of posting links to your own content.  Alternately, be clear about it being your own content, and make sure that it stands on its own as something interesting enough to be worth viewing.

#3: Answer Legal Questions Online

While you may not know everything about the law, you should at least have a good grasp of a lot of the basics—and fortunately for you, that's a lot of what people ask questions about when they want to talk to attorneys online.  When you answer legal questions online, you show yourself to be a subject matter expert to people, as well as improving the profile of your backlinks and helping you to appear higher in web searches.

Be careful not to overstep your ethical boundaries when talking to people about their legal questions online.  However, done correctly, these kinds of answers show you to be a personable attorney who can answer tough questions in plain English—exactly the kind of thing potential clients want to know about you before they decide to pick up the phone and call.

#4: Start Your Own Blog

If you've already been an avid blog reader—and maybe have kept a personal blog of your own in the past—now's the time to start a law blog that will help the profile of your law firm.  Make sure that you're maintaining professionalism in your blog, and link back to the firm website so that you are generating additional backlinks and “link juice” to help your Google standing.

Make sure that your blog has some level of specificity—there are plenty of blogs already out there from young attorneys talking about life, the law, and everything.  If you make your blog more niche-focused, you'll be better positioned to draw in searchers.

#5: Give Talks in Your Community

Doing community outreach, like giving talks at community centers, senior centers, libraries, postsecondary educational institutions, and so on, can have a beneficial effect on your business.  By getting face to face interaction time with people, you're showing them your professional demeanor and improving your community reputation.

Typically, the topic of your talk should focus on a legal area you both know well and that you hope to get clients in.  For example, you might want to have a workshop that teaches people how to make a living will, and then make sure people know that your services are available for other estate planning needs.

#6: Find a Niche

The age of the generalist attorney, who didn't ever know what the next day would bring to his office door, are long gone now.  Today, the profession belongs to the specialists and subspecialists, who mine narrow groups of clients.  The reason niche marketing works has everything to do with how search engines work.

The longer a search term and the more unusual it is, the fewer people will be searching for it and the less it is likely to cost on Google.  Targeting these keywords can be really good for conversion rates—the people who are actually making these very specific searches are often quite likely to be looking for an attorney.  By niche marketing yourself, you're setting yourself apart from the competition and no longer need to be in the same rat race as hundreds or even thousands of other lawyers in your area.

Okay, let's face it: attorneys don't learn anything about creating or maintaining a website when they go to law school.  Many lawyers don't realize until they have their own firm how critical marketing is to law firm success, and lawyers in surveys list marketing as among their least favorite responsibilities.  The days when attorneys could make their website #1 in Google searches just by using a lot of keywords is at an end, so you need to learn how to market your content so searchers can find it.  Here are seven different types of creative website content that you can use when re-designing your website to take advantage of cutting edge marketing strategies.

#1: Social Media Status Updates

Social media is a place where many attorneys are doing something, but not really enough to be worth bothering with.  If your idea of website content on Facebook and Twitter is putting up an occasional status update and re-posting it to every social network you're part of, you're not really doing social media—you're just going through the motions.

Each of these websites is a community.  And like any communities, each has its own set of rules, both written and unwritten.  By re-posting content from one social media site to another too much, you're showing an unwillingness to really engage with the community.  Try making different posts for each different network you're part of—someone on LinkedIn will likely be interested in a very different aspect of your practice than consumers looking at your firm on Facebook.

#2: Attorney Biography Pages

Research shows that 85 percent of legal clients say that they call a law firm after reading its attorney biography pages—more than any other section on attorney websites.  This means that your website content for attorney biography pages needs to be terrific.  This isn't a place to skimp or to be generic.  Being yourself on your attorney biography page is the right idea: clients tended to respond most to website content that reflected individuality.

Try making your attorney biographies less a rehash of your curriculum vitae and more of a story of who you are and why you practice.  This kind of attorney biography is less likely to intimidate and more likely to captivate your audience.  You can and should still include relevant details from your educational and work experience, but make it part of a narrative that people reading your website can actually feel involved in.

#3: Online Directory Listings

Many people who are looking for attorneys online don't really know exactly what they're looking for.  That's why they turn to website content like online directory listings.  Some of these directories may be location based, like Google Places.  Others may be more specialized, and may be just for attorneys.  Making sure that your online profiles are complete is great, but you should also be prepared to spend some time on your web content on these pages.

Get nice photos of your offices, create good copy for the description of your firm and its attorneys, and try to be as helpful as possible about providing hours and contact information.  These online directories are also often used by people looking to validate attorneys who have been recommended by friends or family, which means that the web content you have on these directories can be critical to getting referral traffic in 2013.

#4: Legal FAQs

One area of website content that every attorney should have is a FAQ.  No matter what your legal specialty, there are some questions that you undoubtedly hear very often.  You can probably also think of a few misconceptions that most people have when they walk into your office for the first time.  Using your website content to help answer some of those questions can ensure that your initial visits with clients go more smoothly and people are more likely to call your office to schedule an appointment.

Make sure that you're writing your FAQ for your intended clients, not other attorneys.  Other lawyers know the law—clients, on the other hand, need it explained with a minimum of jargon and a maximum of clarity.  Try to make sure that you run your copy by someone who isn't a legal professional to make sure that it all makes sense.

#5: Splash Pages

Too many attorneys greet people with too much splash and not enough substance.  Today, great website content is the way to get clients to pay attention.  You should make sure that even the first page that people see is tailored to their needs.  Consider having different website content for the initial page visited by people depending on how they got to your website.  For example, if someone comes to your site from an advertisement about no-fault divorce, they can go straight to some basic information about no-fault divorce statutes in your state.

#6: Videos and Audio

Not all of your website content should be text.  Consider adding multimedia content to make your efforts at online marketing even more successful.  Sites that contain video website content have conversion rates that are up to 50 percent higher than those that don't, according to surveys.

Audio can also be useful.  Consider creating a mini audiobook that can help people understand the basics of what your practice is and how you go about solving a client's legal problem.  Make this audio available for either download or streaming for maximum effect.

#7: Press Releases

Every time you create a press release and put it on press release websites, you may be missing out on an opportunity to get this type of website content placed elsewhere.  Reputation of the websites where your press release is sent matters.  Instead of using press releases just for inbound linking, try using them to really get publicity.

One of the best ways to do this is to build in story hooks to your press release.  By giving some narrative structure to what you write, you'll be giving other people something to sink their teeth into and write blog posts or other website content about.  This is a fantastic way to get links that will really improve your reputation and your search rankings.

It seems like there's a new internet marketing trend just about every year, but 2012 has been a doozy: there are so many internet marketing trends that it's hard to keep track of them all.  As 2012 winds down, here are seven trends in internet marketing for attorneys and law firms that will help you develop a comprehensive marketing plan for 2013.

Top Internet Marketing Trend #1: The Dawn of the Local Web

One of the biggest changes for 2013 according to internet marketing trend watchers is that local's going to be more important than ever.  When people started using the internet, they were fascinated by their ability to connect with people all over the globe.  The idea that you could be sitting at a computer in Chicago, typing to a person who lived in Munich or Vladivostok or Canberra that you'd never met before, was one of the biggest changes that the internet brought into our lives.

However, as people have grown used to the internet, they've grown increasingly attached to local based searches and are forming geographically based groups.  There are a number of reasons for this, but the simplest is this: when you This means that more and more, you're better off following internet marketing trends that emphasize the local.  Consider getting a guest blog spot on a blog that talks about local issues, or be the interviewed guest on a local podcast if some aspect of your legal practice might be interesting to listeners.

Top Internet Marketing Trend #2: Everyone's a Social Butterfly

Some lawyers are still clinging to an idea that seemed reasonable enough a few years ago: that internet marketing trends toward social media sites are just fads.  Today, social media is finally big enough that holding onto that attitude may be what's holding you back.

There's no reason not to become part of social media sites today.  Social trends are the biggest internet marketing trends today for a reason.  Surveys show that the number of people who have obtained consumer information about attorneys from social websites has been doubling for each of the last two years.  By giving yourself a social presence, you're not just jumping on an internet marketing trend bandwagon.  You're giving yourself the best chance to build long term professional relationships with a much wider range of people in your community than you ever had access to before.

Learn how to really use technologies like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  Don't start by assuming you already know what internet marketing trends matter most on these sites—look for information that is recent, because what works at one time may not work six months later.

Top Internet Marketing Trend #3: Grassroots, Not Astroturf

Because internet marketing trends in 2011 and 2012 have tended to result in attorneys paying a lot of attention to review websites, some lawyers have gotten the same idea as other businesses: to either write the reviews themselves or have some other non-client write good reviews to keep out the bad.  However, most review websites have protocols that prevent this, and will stop you from using bogus reviews if any are detected.

Even if you're not caught automatically by the site, putting new fake reviews onto a review site ignores the real problem.  If someone's actually giving you an honest critique that you're failing to address, you're not going to cover up the problem for long with fake grassroots postings.  Instead, try responding to a person's negative review reasonably and without assigning blame to the other person.  You may also want to ask real clients you know have had a positive experience to write about your law firm on the same sites where you're currently having problems with negative reviews.

Top Internet Marketing Trend #4: Funny Business

Not every attorney is funny, and not every attorney has to be.  But if you honestly do have a good sense of humor, you can get on board with a lot more internet marketing trends.  The internet is often a funny kind of place, and if you understand its inside jokes and its memes, you'll be a lot more likely to succeed at placing funny content on the internet.

Just because a website is funny doesn't mean it's not informative.  A number of websites are devoted to lists of interesting events or people in history or pop culture (like cracked.com) and these sites are likely to have an educational as well as humorous tone.  You can give people valid legal information even if it's got some humor tied into the message too.  Stay away from jokes that could cause offense to oppressed groups or that could give you public relations problems later on.

Top Internet Marketing Trend #5: Ratings Matter More

Ratings really do make a difference for your law firm's success now.  Because it's one of the biggest internet marketing trends, you should put some effort into your strategy for building a good presence on these sites.  Most review websites, like yelp.com, allow businesses to include some information about themselves.  Keep this information updated consistently, and double check to make sure there are no typos.  No matter how many clients want to call your office after seeing your Google Places profile, if your phone number is a digit off, they'll be thwarted every time.

Top Internet Marketing Trend #6: Rise of the Mobile Machines

The shift toward mobile content distribution is one of the ongoing internet marketing trends that shows no sign of slowing.  All internet marketing trend predictions estimate that in less than 36 months, people will use mobile internet as much as traditional desktop or laptop internet.  Get to know mobile marketing and mobile internet marketing trends now, including things like QR codes (whether or not you decide to use them).  If you're not informed about the possibilities of mobile marketing, you may be leaving huge numbers of clients out of your strategy.

Top Internet Marketing Trend #7: Diversified Content

It's not enough any more to just have a blog, unless you're part of a very small firm, according to current internet marketing trends.  Consumers want videos and infographics.  The more that you diversify your content, the more you'll be ready to evolve toward whatever the next internet marketing trends will be.

Everything About Web Analytics Best Practices

Ten years ago, most websites didn't use any web analytics when trying to attract customers.  Some law firms today have still been slow to catch up to web analytics best practices, and because of that, your firm can take advantage of web analytic services to get a leg up on your competition.  You can use this guide to start you on your web analytics journey—once you know more about the terminology and best practices involved, you'll be able to seek out more in-depth information.

Web Analytics Best Practices: Key Performance Indicators and Goals

When you invest in web analytic services, one of the first things that you need to think about is what defines success for your law firm's website.  What are you hoping to generate with your website's content?  Are you hoping for clients to fill out an online contact form or call your offices?  Identifying these goals can help you understand which metrics should be considered your key performance indicators (KPIs).  

You should use caution in deciding what your KPIs should be.  While some law firms initially identify site visits as a KPI, most web analytic services will advise against this.  Total traffic doesn't really make a difference to your firm unless that traffic is converting into clients.  Web analytics best practices require you to give careful consideration to which metrics will really best represent your firm website's overall performance.

You also need to develop your goals for improvement.  While these goals will change over time (more on that later), web analytics best practices include identifying how much you want your KPIs to change, and to set clear dates for achieving those goals.  If you're having difficulty figuring out what reasonable goals would be, you may want to hire web analytic services to help you develop actionable goals.

Web Analytics Best Practices: Identifying Your Ideal Clients

One of the most important aspects of preparing for web analytics data is knowing what kind of client you're hoping to attract.  Every firm has a different ideal client, and if you're having a hard time articulating what kind of client is best for your firm, you should consult with web analytic services to get a better handle on your client goals.

When you have identified the demographics and desires of your ideal clients, you can begin to create a website that caters to those clients specifically.  If you hope to attract several different types of clients, current web analytics best practices avoid “one size fits all” websites and focus on differentiating the customer experience for each type of client.  

You may want one landing page or website to draw in clients looking to sue after a car accident, but a wholly different page for those who want to sue a doctor after a child was born with birth defects.  For every type of client, consider using different content to drive the maximum number of conversions—even if that means your web analytic services are designing several different websites for your firm.

Web Analytics Best Practices: Continuous Improvement

When you seek out web analytic services, you may initially be considering using these services for just a short time—perhaps long enough to do an overhaul of your website or see an uptick in conversions.  In order to get the most out of web analytic services, though, you'll want to stay with a service for a long period of time.  Web analytics best practices call for a process of continuous improvement that extends beyond a single site redesign.

Ideally, web analytic services can create a positive feedback loop for your law firm.  The more data that is generated by your website, the more that a service can help you to use web analytics best practices to revise your site, improve your search placement, and get the clients you want.  Every improvement can create new opportunities for even bigger goals, so there's no reason to stop with just a few months of analysis.

Web Analytics Best Practices: Testing and Experimentation

When people start to use web analytic services, they often want instant results.  To get the best results for your firm in the long term, though, web analytics best practices require you to work a little bit more slowly.  Taking your time to test hypotheses and experiment with your data can be the difference between a slight increase in client conversions and having as many calls as you can handle.

When you begin to test your hypotheses by creating new content, changing your advertising strategies, or redesigning your website, you gain a wealth

of data that can help you for years in the future.  Remember that even a failed experiment is still, in some ways, a success: knowing what not to do can often be nearly as valuable as knowing what to do.

Web Analytics Best Practices: Beyond the Click Stream

Web analytic services examine your website's “click stream”—the patterns of traffic flow within your site—using their analytics tools.  When you really want your website to shine, though, it's important to look beyond the click stream for improvements.  Conducting user surveys and demographic research as well as focus group testing is vital if you want to really key in on what customers want.  

Trying to figure this out through experimentation based solely in your click stream research can be a process of trial and error, with a lot more errors than successes.  Instead of guessing what your clients want, ask them—especially if what you've tried before hasn't seemed to work.

Web Analytics Best Practices: Time Management

One of the best pieces of advice for any law firm looking into web analytics is this: hire someone full-time, or hire web analytic services.  If you try to balance the time of a member your staff between web analytics and other critical services, odds are that they won't be able to use web analytics best practices and really give you the results you want.  Hiring web analytic services can be a good alternative for firms that don't want to have a full-time analytics guru on staff, but make sure you get to keep your data for future use if you use one of these services.

Everything About Web Analytics Analysis

Today, more people look for attorneys online than in the newspaper, phone book, television, and radio combined.  It takes more than just an accurate or frequently updated website to bring in clients today.  Doing web analytics analysis (not just reporting) can expand your law firm's client base and identify potential areas for website improvement.  Whether you're looking to reduce your web analytics bounce rate (the number of people who leave your website after just a quick glance) or want to know how to use analytics to develop your site for mobile web traffic, this guide can help.

The Difference Between Web Analytics Analysis and Reporting

Most law firm websites today, especially for larger firms, do some form of web analytics.  However, there's more than one way to use analytics tools, and the sad truth is that most firms aren't doing the best they could do with their information.  Instead of performing real web analytics analysis, many firms simply look at reporting tools without really understanding what the numbers say about their business.

Web analytics reporting is easy with today's software packages: you just make a few clicks, and you'll see a report on your dashboard that illustrates one or more metrics.  But web analytics analysis goes deeper: for example, instead of just finding out that you have a high web analytics bounce rate through reporting, you can analyze your bounce rate to see what's causing potential clients to leave.

Web Analytics Analysis: What Your Web Analytics Bounce Rate Says About You

One of the biggest website statistics that can stop law firms from implementing their marketing plans is the bounce rate—how many clients leave too soon to see enough content to convert.  When you want to reduce your web analytics bounce rate, it's important to know why your bounce problem is occurring if you want to come up with the right solution.  Guesswork leads to wasted time and effort, and web analytics analysis tools allow you to get to the real answer.

To figure out what's causing your bounce problem, here are some things to check.  The web analytics bounce rate can be measured in several ways.  The default for most web analytics analysis software is looking at clients who have visited only one page of your website.  But what if that doesn't represent your true web analytics bounce rate?  If someone stays for several minutes, watches a video on the first page, and then calls your firm using the phone number, that's not a bounce—it's a conversion.

In order to get a better view of what your true web analytics bounce rate is, consider looking at the difference between reports from the default “bounce rate” and those for site visitors who stay 10 seconds or less.  If the numbers are about the same, you can safely assume that the default represents your true bounce rate.  If clients are staying on one page for a long time before clicking away, though, you may want to focus on making calls to action or attractive links that keep potential clients clicking.

Lowering Your Web Analytics Bounce Rate

There are several ways to use web analytics analysis to lower the number of potential clients who bounce away.  Keep in mind that one of the biggest reasons that your web analytics bounce rate may be high is that your website is not sufficiently search engine optimized.  If a large number of people are arriving at your website through searches for irrelevant search terms, your web analytics bounce rate will increase every time they click and realize you're not what they're looking for.  Make sure to keep your content clean and focused on your firm's strengths, and verify that any keywords for PPC advertising are related to your firm's practice areas.

Another way to lower your web analytics bounce rate, if  your firm uses primarily PPC advertising, is to use negative keywords.  Web analytics analysis may show that a number of people are bouncing from your website after searching for (for example) “free divorce help in Phoenix.”  If you want to make money, you'll need to avoid paying for clicks from people seeking free services.  After you add some negative keywords (like “free” or “sliding scale”), you may see a significantly lower web analytics bounce rate.

If you still have a high bounce rate, odds are your content is the problem.  You may want to conduct user surveys or focus groups to help your web analytics analysis and find a content solution.  With some experimentation, you can usually significantly reduce the web analytics bounce rate through diligent analysis and creative problem-solving.

Lowering Your Web Analytics Bounce Rate for Mobile Traffic

The mobile revolution has significantly impacted web analytics analysis.  Within the next year, up to a quarter of all web traffic will come from mobile devices, and if your firm's not ready, you could see high web analytics bounce rates that just climb higher as time goes on.

The best way to make sure that your bounce rate stays low when clients search for a law firm on their phones is to redirect clients to a useable mobile site.  Don't neglect content on these mobile web pages: while you can make content more abbreviated in order to attract more mobile clients, if there's not enough quality information most people will still just leave.

It's particularly valuable for law firms to have mobile websites.  When a potential client searches in this way, they already have their phone in hand—and all it will take is a quick touch to call your firm.  This is the perfect environment for generating conversions, so make sure that any conversations your firm has about web analytics analysis includes mobile marketing.

Web Analytics Analysis: What Comes Next?

The biggest trends in web analytics today involve mobile traffic and social media marketing.  If your firm wants to get ahead of the competition, you need to keep updated about the latest web analytics analysis tools.  Because the field of web analytics has changed so much in just a few short years (very few analytics companies even existed a decade ago), consider analytics to be another area that will require continuing education if your firm is to continue to prosper in a web-centric era.

Everything About Social Media Marketing Services

Just a few years ago, the web wasn't much of a social arena, especially for lawyers.  Today, social is king: over 80 percent of law firms report some social media marketing activity.  Maximizing your marketing through social media can be tough, especially if the attorneys at your small firm aren't internet experts. Because of this, many firms today have turned to social media marketing services.  If you're not sure whether your firm could use a social media marketing service, read on: they may be even more useful than you think. 

Client Referrals and Marketing Through Social Media

Today, the online social media world has, to some degree, largely replaced the traditional social sphere for a number of potential clients of all ages.  Word of mouth referrals today are more likely than ever to come through Facebook or LinkedIn rather than an actual face to face conversation.  What this means is that marketing through social media can get you not only a loyal client base, but a loyal client base that tells their friends, relatives, colleagues and acquaintances about the quality of the legal services you offer. 

Business to business marketing is also much easier when you use social media marketing services.  Making connections on LinkedIn or Google Plus can be easier than in-person networking, and allows you to do a great deal of research on potential B2B connections that would be difficult or impossible without marketing through social media.

Why Would I Outsource to a Social Media Marketing Service?

When law firms start to look at marketing through social media, they often debate creating their social media presence in-house or using social media marketing services.  While some firms can afford to hire a full-time person to handle their marketing through social media, this is a luxury not every firm has.  If you can't get someone to do social media full-time, your next best option is a social media marketing service.  These services employ experts who know best practices for marketing through social media today.

When you outsource your social media presence to social media marketing services, you don't have to lose control of your brand.  A good social media marketing service will work with you to meet your goals, and won't stop you from changing your strategy when you need to (though they may advise against a strategy that goes against established practices).

Trying to do all of your marketing through social media in-house instead of using a social media marketing service can lead to big problems.  Juggling multiple responsibilities including social media marketing services can be very difficult for a law firm employee, especially since the social media world is in constant flux and requires constant continuing education to stay on top of new developments.

Blogging With a Social Media Marketing Service

In addition to managing your presence on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, many social media marketing services also offer blogging services.  Blogging is one of the best ways to increase the amount of quality, relevant content on your website, and can enhance your page rank in organic search results.

A social media marketing service can not only make sure that your blog is maintained and has fresh, interesting posts, but can also monitor comments and moderate any discussions that occur as a result of blog posts.  This can help your firm to interact with potential clients who have questions and aren't yet ready to make a phone call.  Maintaining a helpful, frequently updated blog is a form of marketing through social media that can generate a steady stream of new clients for your law firm.

Creating Your Brand with Social Media Marketing Services

The key to winning clients at any law firm is differentiating yourself from the competition—something a social media marketing service can make possible.  Too often, all law firms can look the same to potential clients.  Marketing through social media can change that, because the human factor makes a difference: for example, clients are up to 50 percent more likely to call a law firm that has videos on its website.  A social media marketing service can create a Facebook and Twitter presence for your firm that gives your brand a voice and an identity, making you seem different from your competitors and easier for potential new clients to talk to.

When you use social media marketing services, you can discuss your goals for marketing through social media.  A social media marketing service can help you to create a brand if you haven't done much with branding, or can help you to project an already existing brand image across a wide range of social media platforms.

Reputation Management with Social Media Marketing Services

One of the biggest reasons that law firms today hire a social media marketing service is to handle their online reputation.  If you've tried any marketing through social media, you may already know how quickly your reputation can suffer online.

Social media marketing services can monitor the reputation of your law firm across a wide range of websites, including common social media sites and ratings sites.  If you receive a negative review on a ratings site, your social media marketing service can get to the bottom of it: in some cases, it may have come from a competitor rather than a real client, and it may be able to be completely erased.  Social media marketing services can also help you to work on getting better reviews from clients, and give you good tips for asking clients to write a positive review.

Reputation management can also help you know when an action taken by your law firm may be drawing fire from your community.  This can be especially critical for firms handling cases involving sensitive matters relating to the finance community or for criminal defense attorneys.  Finding out early about a potential public relations issue can help you to do damage control right away, rather than waiting for it to spiral out of control.