I bring this up for one reason: I don’t want your law firm’s blog to end up like one of my potted plants. When an office plant dies, I’ve lost a $10-15 investment. If your law firm’s blog dies, however, it could end up costing you several thousands of invested dollars.

As our Consultwebs.com, Inc., President, CEO and leading legal consultant Dale Tincher noted in a 2005 article – “Law Firm Blogs – Hip or Hype?” – a blog can generate powerful search-engine rankings and readership potential for your firm’s website. They add a personal touch to the site and allow current and potential clients to see that you keep up with relevant topics and trends. As long as you keep the content fresh, it will increase hits to your site and help to establish it as an authority on certain topics, such as car accidents, medical malpractice or defective products.

However, as Dale notes, a high quality legal blog also requires “an investment of time for research, thought and content writing.” If a lawyer or firm can’t make that investment, the blog could end up meeting the same fate as one of my Boston ferns.

Too often, Dale points out, lawyers and firms start strong with their blogs, only to allow the blogs to wither as the quantity and quality of the content diminishes. The initial flurry of posts becomes a post every now and then. Eventually, the blog ends up being abandoned altogether.

Firms may realize that their attorneys get a better direct return on investment by devoting time to cases than blogs. They see the opportunity to generate immediate revenue in cases rather than the future benefits that come from blog marketing. They also may see marketing through social media sites like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter as requiring less time and resources.

As a recent USA Today article points out, businesses in general are giving up on blogs. Citing a University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth survey, the article said the percentage of companies maintaining blogs had actually dropped from 50 percent in 2010 to 37 percent in 2011.

However, at Consultwebs.com, we believe that blogs are too important to neglect. In fact, a high-quality blog and solid content on your website are two of the best ways a law firm can achieve strong search engine rankings. When a blog thrives, your firm’s Internet marketing campaign thrives as well.

Because we believe it’s so important to keep your blog alive and healthy, we suggest:

1. Giving your firm’s attorneys fixed deadlines to submit blog articles. Make sure they meet those deadlines, too. If you let deadlines slip by one day, you’ll start to see others slip. The blog will eventually fail. By rotating the writers, it keeps the content fresh and diverse. Also, it ensures that no one lawyer will spend all of his or her time writing blogs rather than working on cases.

2. Contract with a company like Consultwebs.com to supplement or write your articles.  We supplement or write high-quality blog articles for firms across the country in a wide variety of practice areas, such as a mesothelioma blog for the New York firm of Belluck & Fox, LLP, and a personal injury blog for the Chicago firm of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. We may not know  how to maintain office plants, but we do know how to write compelling articles on legal topics that rank well in search engines.

3. Advertise and hire contractors or employees to write your articles. Keep in mind that you may have to spend time editing articles or filling in when contractors or employees fall behind.  Additionally, most writers do not know how write blog articles that will appeal to both potential clients and search engines, so you may have to do heavy editing and review in some cases.

The bottom line is that a law firm website blog is very different than an office plant. An office plant is an accessory. A blog is, in many ways, a necessity. If your firm invests the time and resources it takes to maintain it, you’ll find that a blog can help your firm’s revenue to grow.

Contact Our Consultwebs.com Content Team Today

To learn more about blogs and other content development that we provide to law firms across the country, contact our Internet marketing experts today at (800) 872-6590 or e-mail us at marketing@consultwebs.com.

Law Firm Blogs Can Help Your Revenue Grow … If You Invest the Time and Resources | Law Firm Web Marketing

Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. took home the top prize February 29 at the LMA Midwest Your Honor Awards banquet. The awards honor Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin law firms and legal organizations “who have set new standards for innovation” in legal marketing.

The website, Illinois Accident Lawyers, features a clean, user-friendly design. This design allows visitors to easily access the site’s extensive content about Illinois accidents. The site also helps users to understand their legal rights and options.

“Our firm is dedicated to providing client service for accident and injury victims in Chicago and throughout Illinois, and we believe this award reflects our commitment to them,” T.J. Saye, Chief Operating Officer of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., said.

“Our accident website allows us to reach those people and provide them with the key information they need at the very moment that they need it most.”

The site is one of three websites that we have designed and continue to maintain for the firm. We also have provided Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. with its flagship site, www.salvilaw.com, and another site that focuses on medical negligence cases, Medical Malpractice Information. We currently are working on additional websites for the law firm.

“We’re excited for Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. and thrilled that the firm has received this distinguished award from the LMA Midwest Chapter,” said Dale Tincher, a veteran law firm Web marketing consultant and our President and CEO.

“We believe this award reflects our company’s dedication to providing our law firm clients with attractive, professional and informative law firm website designs that allow them to reach their goals.”

Consultwebs.com provides Web marketing products and services for law firms across the country. In addition to designing websites, we provide content, search engine optimization (SEO) and a variety of technical, support and marketing services such as Web hosting, call-tracking, pay-per-click campaigns, on-line chat features and social media marketing.

To learn more about Consultwebs.com, please visit our law Web marketing website, browse through our law firm website portfolio and contact our Marketing Director, Tanner Jones. He can be reached at (800) 872-6590 or (859) 353-7720. You can also use our convenient online contact form.

Consultwebs.com Website for Chicago Law Firm Claims ‘Best Website’ Award | Law Firm Web Marketing

For instance, the New York personal injury law firm of Belluck & Fox, LLP, features buttons inviting visitors to “click here” for a live chat on the home pages for its main law firm website, www.belluckfox.com, and for satellite sites that provide information for mesothelioma victims and mesothelioma related topics.

After visitors spend time on the Web page, a screen pops up, reminding them “we are available to answer your questions” and giving them the option of clicking a “yes” button for live help.

The live chat provides a way for the law firm to obtain contact information and basic facts about the potential client’s case.

State Bars that regulate lawyers have been asked about these chat features, and at least one agency appears to be headed towards approval of them.

In April, the North Carolina State Bar drafted a proposed ethics ruling, Proposed 2011 Formal Ethics Opinion 8, which would okay those click-to-chat programs. The ruling would also provide guidelines for the ethical use of live chat support services on law firm websites.

The ruling is not yet final. The State Bar’s Ethics Committee and its Councilors are expected to give the opinion final approval this month during the agency’s quarterly meeting.

The ethics opinion is important because it clarifies that the live chat features do not run afoul of Rule 7.3(a) of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct. The rule generally prohibits using “in-person, live telephone or real-time electronic contact” to solicit prospective clients. Lawyers in states across the country face a similar ethics rule.

As proposed 2011 FEO 8 points out, the ban on direct solicitation applies only to “lawyer-initiated contact,” and not to real-time electronic contact that the potential client initiates, which is the case with the live chat feature. The opinion notes that the prospective client has to visit the law firm’s website and then initiate a conversation by clicking on the live chat button.

One of the purposes for the direct solicitation ban is to prevent lawyers from exerting undue influence, intimidation or over-reaching by contacting a possible client at a time when they’re at their most vulnerable, such as after a car accident or an arrest. The North Carolina State Bar ethics ruling says that this threat doesn’t exist with the live chat feature. The website’s visitor can simply ignore it or get it off their screen with a single click.

However, the live chat feature still carries some ethics risks, according to the proposed ruling.

The proposed ethics opinion warns law firms to make sure that visitors understand they are not talking to a lawyer. The firm can make it clear that the live chat is with an “operator” or provide a disclaimer stating that the chat is with a non-lawyer “staff member.”

Also, the opinion reminds law firms that the live chat may result in the firm obtaining confidential information that could create a potential conflict of interest. The firm should incorporate live chat discussions into its conflicts-checking system, the proposed opinion states.

The proposed opinion marks a positive step that will allow lawyers to get maximum value out of their law firm websites and the latest technologies, such as click-to-chat programs, while still maintaining their ethical duties to the public.

If your firm’s website features a live chat feature, you should consult your state’s regulating agency to determine its stance. As in North Carolina, an inquiry to the State Bar may result in an ethics opinion that approves live chats while providing some needed ethical guidance.

Contact Consultwebs.com Today

At Consultwebs.com, our goal is to provide our clients with content and features that are clear, accurate and reflective of the integrity and professionalism of their law firm. To learn more about how we can develop or maintain your presence on the Web, or if you would like to know more about the other law firm web marketing services we offer, please contact us at marketing@consultwebs.com or call (800) 872-6590.

North Carolina State Bar May OK Live Chat Support Services This Month | Law Firm Web Marketing

The following are five key terms you need to know— and an explanation of why they are crucial to the success of your law firm’s Web marketing.

1. SEO

SEO is short for “search engine optimization.” For law firm Web marketing, SEO involves the strategy and effort that goes into writing and designing your law firm’s website so it will be easily found on the Internet by potential clients.

In today’s world, the reality is that more and more people go to search engines than the Yellow Pages or other print directories when they want to find goods and services. This includes legal services. That’s why SEO is so important for your law firm.

When a person goes to a search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN or Bing, they will type in a search query. These search engines use programs called “crawlers,” “robots,” or “spiders,” which gather information from websites. This information is used to place each site’s Web pages into an index. The search engine turns to this index and uses its own unique algorithms to search, find and produce results that match the search engine user’s query.

This is where SEO comes into play.

SEO is the process of feeding the search engine crawlers with the information they need to index your pages, and to do so in a way that’s friendly to the search engine’s algorithms. This involves using the right content, design, coding and linking. Because of the constantly changing nature of search engine algorithms, SEO also requires constant attention and effort.

The goal is to make sure your law firm’s website makes it to the top of the search engine results for keywords associated with your focused practice area and geographic market.

For instance, a Pennsylvania resident who has been injured in a tractor trailer accident will want the services of a truck accident lawyer. They may go to a search engine, such as Google, and type in, “Pennsylvania truck accident lawyer.” Using information collected by the crawlers and using its algorithms to sift through that information, Google will turn out a list of Web pages that match that query.

By the way, at the top of the search engine’s results, the user would find www.munley.com – the website for Munley, Munley & Cartwright, P.C., of Scranton, Pennsylvania and one of our longtime Consultwebs.com clients.

2. SERP

SERP, like SEO, is a term commonly used by law firm Web marketing types that may be unfamiliar to others. It stands for “search engine results page,” or the list of results that appear on screen when a person types a query into a search engine.

At Consultwebs.com, the goal for all of our clients’ SEO campaigns is to make sure their law firm’s website appears at the top of the SERP for the practice areas they want to advertise. The results at the top of the search results get more traffic, and more traffic leads to more conversions.

If your website does not appear at the top – or at least on the first SERP – then you may question whether your law firm is getting a quality return on your Internet marketing investment.

Have you ever heard of a “New York minute?” The attention span of most search engine users doesn’t last nearly as long. That’s why your law firm needs to be at the top of the SERP. Rarely will Web users go beyond that first page to find the legal services they need.

Fortunately for Consultwebs.com clients, our SEO strategy and efforts are paying off for them.

Speaking of New York, type in “New York car accident attorney” to a search engine such as Google. One of the first firms you will see on the SERP is www.fightingforyou.com, the site of Consultwebs.com client Schwartzapfel Partners P.C.

3. Keywords

Keywords are the words a search engine user types into a query when looking for a good or service. For example, a Chicago resident who needs a personal injury lawyer will, most likely, type “Chicago personal injury lawyer” into the query bar, or some combination of those words.

SEO involves choosing and optimizing the right keywords. Although you can pay to use certain keywords – called pay-per-click advertising – our focus here is on keywords for organic search engine results, which doesn’t require paying fees for your keywords.

Generally speaking, law firms want to select keywords that specifically describe the practice areas and geographic markets they want to focus on. This means you should avoid broad terms, like “attorney,” and choose more narrow terms, such as “Chicago attorney” or, better yet, “Chicago personal injury attorney.” You can even go narrower and use “Chicago bicycle accident attorney.” (One of our Consultwebs.com clients, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., ranks among the top five on Google for that search phrase.)

The more specific your keywords are, the less competition there will be for search engine rankings for those same keywords. Also, you will draw website visitors who are focused on what they need and more likely to become clients. These are sometimes called “long tail” searches.

For instance, if you are a Baltimore law firm that wishes to meet people who have been harmed from wearing toning shoes, you wouldn’t try to optimize “Baltimore law firm.” Instead, you would pick specific, narrow keywords, such as “Baltimore toning shoes injury attorney.”

The result: Type those keywords into a Google query, and you will see Consultwebs.com client Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC, as the No. 1 law firm website on the first SERP.

An experienced law firm Web marketing consultant can work with your law firm to pick the keywords that match your advertising goals and provide content for your site that not only boosts your search engine rankings but also keeps your site’s visitors by being compelling and persuasive.

4. Backlinks

Search engines tend to like backlinks as much as they like keywords. Backlinks, which are sometimes called “incoming links” or “inbound links,” are links from other websites to your site. The more backlinks you have, the more popular your site is, and the more popular it is, the higher it will place in search engine results.

An effective SEO campaign will use a variety of ways of to create backlinks to your site, including placing your site in directories and using satellite sites, blogs, press releases and professional Twitter and Facebook accounts.

In addition to backlinks, your website can also reap benefits from “outbounds links,” such as a well-written and researched “Resources” page that contains links to sites of interest.

Good examples of outbound link pages are the “Resources” pages Consultwebs.com recently created for the www.surgicalmeshhelp.com site of the Atlanta law firm of Blasingame, Burch, Garrard, Ashley P.C. and the list of mesothelioma support groups featured on the www.mesotheliomahelp.net site of the New York law firm of Belluck & Fox.

Internal linking can also play an important role by helping a search engine crawler – not to mention human visitors – go from page to page within your site.

5. Meta tags

Meta tags are hidden bits of information about your Web pages. Meta tags normally can’t be seen by your site’s visitors. However, search engine crawlers seek out meta tags for information that will go into search engine indexes. Like keywords and backlinks, meta tags play a key role in your law firm’s SEO strategy, especially your keyword tags and description tags.

Keyword tags describe your Web page, so they should contain your SEO keywords. For instance, go to one of our client’s sites, www.jones-act-maritime-lawyer.com. The site’s keyword tags are “Gulf Coast Jones Act Lawyers” and “Texas Maritime Injury Attorneys,” which describe the practice areas and geographic markets being targeted by the Houston maritime injury law firm of Arnold & Itkin, LLP.

Description tags show up in the search engine results. These tags generally should be fewer than 50 words (or 150 characters), contain relevant keywords and read like advertising copy. The description tag for www.arnolditkin.com, for instance, describes the firm as “smart, experienced attorneys for high stakes cases involving Business Litigation, Serious Personal Injury or Death, Jones Act & Maritime Injury.”

Contact Our Law Firm Web Marketing Specialists Today

To learn how we can help you improve your law firm Web marketing, contact Consultwebs.com today at marketing@consultwebs.com or call our friendly marketing specialists at (800) 872-6590.

The Five Internet Search Terms Every Web Marketing Lawyer Needs To Know | Law Firm Web Marketing

But one of the ideal ways to market your firm is through client testimonials, whether in written or video form. A positive testimonial from a satisfied client may carry as much weight as that $1 million verdict you won last year. And in the dawning age of social media sites, a testimonial can deliver real marketing clout on your law firm’s professional Facebook page.

“Your prospective client can relate to the person giving the testimonial, and they think, ‘Hey, that’s me!’” says Kenneth L. Hardison, a Raleigh, N.C., personal injury lawyer and longtime Consultwebs.com client whose law firm, Hardison & Cochran, uses testimonials on its website.

“What you say about yourself is good,” Hardison says. “What others say about you is gold.”

In addition to Hardison, several other Consultwebs.com clients feature effective testimonials on their websites in written or video form, including:

• Arnold & Itkin (Houston, Texas, maritime law firm);
• Belluck & Fox (Manhattan, N.Y., personal injury); and
• Charles R. Ullman & Associates (Raleigh, N.C., family law).

Another Consultwebs.com client, the New York City personal injury law firm of Schwartzapfel Partners, uses testimonials on both its website and on its professional Facebook page.

At Consultwebs.com, we have long recognized the value of our law firm clients’ testimonials, and that’s why we include client feedback and comments on our own website.

Gathering Testimonials

How do you gather client testimonials? Ideally, you can simply accept a testimonial offered by one of your firm’s satisfied clients. What could be more convincing than a testimonial from a client who felt so good about their experience that they volunteered to endorse your firm?

However, bear in mind that many people do not feel they are good writers.  Additionally, they may be very busy.  This could lead to delays in preparing the testimonial.  Take the initiative by writing their comments and asking them to edit what you have written.  Most will tell you that your comments are accurate and will give you permission to use the testimonial.

You can also make collecting testimonials a routine part of your client relations. For instance, at the end of the representation, you can ask the client to complete a survey that asks questions such as, “Was our firm responsive to your questions and concerns? Were our attorneys and staff friendly and courteous?” You can also directly ask the client in the survey if he or she would be interested in providing a testimonial and if they approve of your firm’s use of the comments in a testimonial. You will find that most clients will be fine with your use of it.

Another method is to visit the client and write the testimonial with them or, even better, take a pocket video camera or videographer with you and get a video testimonial on the spot.

Be Alert To Your Bar Rules

Keep in mind that your Bar rules may prohibit testimonials altogether or limit what can be said through a client testimonial. As a general rule, never use a testimonial to say something that you, as a lawyer, could not ethically say yourself, such as stating information that can’t be verified or making a promise or guarantee of results. To wit:

• Good testimonial: “Your firm’s lawyers and staff made me feel comfortable and always promptly responded to my questions. I could really tell that your firm cared deeply about my case.”

• Bad testimonial: “Your firm’s lawyers are the best on the planet. You’re guaranteed to recover money for your injuries if you hire them.”

Written testimonials can be effective. If possible, include the client’s full name, city and a photo, which personalizes the testimonial and enhances its credibility. However, if the client wishes to keep their identity confidential, a description such as, “client represented in Raleigh car accident,” could work. However, bear in mind that some website visitors may wonder whether such testimonials are legitimate.

Multimedia testimonials can be particularly effective. A video recording brings the testimonial to life and perfectly aligns with the ultimate goal of a testimonial: Showing quality of service and client satisfaction; not simply telling your website’s visitors about it.

So, check with your state’s Bar rules on what is permitted in a client testimonial and give serious consideration to including this feature as part of your firm’s overall Web campaign.

Need More Information? Contact Us Today

For more information about how to effectively gather and use testimonials as part of your law firm’s Web marketing strategy, please feel free to contact us at marketing@consultwebs.com or call us toll free at (800) 872-6590.

Client Testimonials Can Effectively Boost Your Law Firm’s Web Campaign | Law Firm Web Marketing