http://addaddy.com Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:12:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://addaddy.com/2011/08/04/finding-the-right-seo-company-for-your-firm/ http://addaddy.com/2011/08/04/finding-the-right-seo-company-for-your-firm/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:59:56 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=759 Continue Reading]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/08/04/finding-the-right-seo-company-for-your-firm/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/07/26/mistakes-not-to-make-in-the-blogosphere/ http://addaddy.com/2011/07/26/mistakes-not-to-make-in-the-blogosphere/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:41:14 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=755
Firstly, one of the most common mistakes I see is bloggers failing to provide functional search capabilities on their site. Readers do not want to have to scroll through your entire site to find a post relevant to what they are looking for. A search function easily fixes this problem.

Secondly, I often see bloggers who would be at least ten times for successful than they are now if they simply offered syndication on their blog. Providing an RSS feed for your blog’s content will greatly increase the number of followers your blog has. Lots of blogging platforms can automatically do this for content you publish, but if the content management system you use does not offer this, you can always create the RSS feeds manually yourself, or use software such as FeedForAll to make the feeds. Exposure is everything–and RSS feeds can easily help you get there.

Another tip: personalize the information on your blog. Blogs by nature are more personal than legal articles or other posted information. If a blog contains only factual and impersonal news clips, you will not hold or attract interest. Try to add as much distinct personality and character as possible as you can.

Next, another common mistake I see in the blogosphere is people who do not subscribe to their own blogs! It may sound silly, but this is the easiest way to see exactly what your viewers see. Click through your blog posts to make sure that your linking schemes are working right. You might be surprised sometimes at how your content appears to your readers–so subscribe to your blog to make sure you can quickly fix any errors.

Make sure you monitor your blog logs regularly as well. This will tell you which articles your viewers enjoyed most, so you will know what to give more of to your audience. These analytics are critical in determining what your target audience likes and dislikes.

Also, make sure you provide readers a clear way to navigate to older blog posts. Oftentimes you can categorize your posts, or list blog posts that are related beneath your main blog posts. This gives your readers access to extra related material if they find a particular post interesting.

Next, make sure your blog is consistent in both tone and frequency. Blog readers like being able to depend upon the consistency of both, and if you stray too far from the tone or frequency you established at the birth of your blog, you can quickly turn off readers.

Theme is another important aspect of blogging. Subscribers like to follow blogs that are about an ongoing topic in which they are interested–if you simply post a collection of unrelated random posts, your readers may quickly lose interest.

In addition, make sure you use a reliable, stable web host and platform! Nothing is more annoying for readers than to try to click on a blog post title, only to find out the link does not work.

One of the final common mistakes I see in the blogosphere is people who launch a blog using third-party hosting, only to switch halfway and decide to host and manage the blog themselves once the blog obtains some measure of success. When you do this, any followers you would have managed to obtain before that point will then have to re-subscribe to your RSS feed or visit a different URL to find the most recent blog posts. Either do it right and stick with that way the entire time, or don’t bother.]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/07/26/mistakes-not-to-make-in-the-blogosphere/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/07/21/748/ http://addaddy.com/2011/07/21/748/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:16:23 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=748 online attorney marketing. There is nothing more frustrating than putting hours and hours of work into your firm's website (or paying someone to do so) to only get minimal traffic to your site.]]> online attorney marketing. There is nothing more frustrating than putting hours and hours of work into your firm’s website (or paying someone to do so) to only get minimal traffic to your site. Having a smart domain name is the first step in bettering law firm online marketing.

Domain extensions are one aspect to keep in mind when building your domain name. Many web masters struggle not only with picking the highest-quality domain name, but with what domain extension to put behind that domain name. Following are a list of the most used domain extensions, and what they represent: .com stands for “commercial” and is by far the most-used domain extension; .edu is used for educational institutions, .net means “network host” and is usually used by hosting companies; .org stands for “organization,” and .info is used for informational sites.

In addition, if a local market is your primary focus, you may want to use a local domain.

Domain extensions that are country-specific, such as “.com.au” for Australia and “.co.uk” for England can be valuable if you do any legal work internationally. In that case, you may want to register both the American and international version of your chosen domain name.

Secondly, it is very important to be different, if not unique, in your domain name. Distinguish yourself from your competitors in the legal sector with a name that is easy to remember and original. Also, make sure that your domain name won’t cause any marketplace confusion.

Thirdly, include RELATED keywords in your domain name that will increase your law firm marketing visibility. A keyword-rich domain name will help you rank high for those specific phrases or keywords.

Domain name spacing and hyphenation is a topic that is debated amongst different search engine optimization specialists; “my-domain.com,” for example, is perhaps better to understand than “mydomain.com,” but hyphens are also harder for clients and potential customers to remember. I recommend just registering both the hyphenated version and the non-hyphenated version of your domain name, as each has its benefits, and domains are relatively inexpensive investments. It will be worth your money towards law firm marketing in the long run.

Finally, the shorter your domain name, the better. Between eight and ten characters is widely considered to be the ideal length, but this is not always realistic. Just try to pick a domain name that is not excessively long and easy for others to remember. ]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/07/21/748/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/07/16/how-to-choose-a-domain-name-that-aids-your-online-visibility/ http://addaddy.com/2011/07/16/how-to-choose-a-domain-name-that-aids-your-online-visibility/#comments Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:20:53 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=741 online marketing as an attorney is to get caught in a legal battle for trademark violation down the road--or, in contrast, to have a website that receives minimal traffic despite all the work you put into it. ]]> online marketing as an attorney is to get caught in a legal battle for trademark violation down the road–or, in contrast, to have a website that receives minimal traffic despite all the work you put into it. So how do you pick a quality domain name that will help you increase your law firm’s marketing and be totally unique? Below are some of the first steps you should take.

Brainstorm: Make a list of keywords or phrases related to the area or areas of law that your firm practices.

Experiment: Try out different variations of the words in your list. Switch the order of the words around to create combinations that are usable and unique for potential domain names that you can use.

Check Availability: Check on the availability of the possible domain names you came up with, using a domain registrar like Network Solutions. If the domain name you want is already taken, many domain registrars will give you a list of alternative domains that are similar but available for the taking.

Check Trademarks: Make sure that no trademarks exist for a specific combination of words before you use it in your domain names. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov/) has one of the biggest searchable databases of words and phrases that are trademarked.

Test It: Try out the potential domain name to friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Ask them how the proposed domain name makes them feel and what their first reaction to the name was. If you do any legal work internationally or work primarily with non-English speakers, make sure you ask people from these demographics their opinion too. Words and their intended meaning do not necessarily translate well into other languages, and you don’t want to run the risk of unintentionally offending or alienating a potential target audience.

Buy It, and Variations of It: Once your potential domain name has passed all of the tests above, purchase it before someone else does! Additionally, because domain names are relatively cheap, I recommend purchasing variations of your domain name so that you can lock those up too. Then, from these variation domain sites you can redirect any traffic to your primary domain.

Good luck! Online marketing for attorneys is not always easy, but with these tips you should be able to create a specific, unique and high-quality domain name for your firm that will aid in your online lawyer marketing. ]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/07/16/how-to-choose-a-domain-name-that-aids-your-online-visibility/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/07/11/inbound-links-key-for-attorney-marketing-search-engine-optimization/ http://addaddy.com/2011/07/11/inbound-links-key-for-attorney-marketing-search-engine-optimization/#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:51:46 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=735 lawyer marketing him or herself through a comprehensive and effective search engine optimization campaign. But what does this process involve? ]]> lawyer marketing him or herself through a comprehensive and effective search engine optimization campaign. But what does this process involve? Although finding a shortcut is tempting in many situations such as this, doing so in search engine optimization campaigns (particularly when trying to build quality inbound links as part of an SEO campaign) can backfire or provide only a short-term fix, sacrificing the quality of your end result.

After years of trying to find shortcuts of my own when conducting online marketing for attorneys, I came to realize that the best links that have the highest impact and last the longest in pointing to your website have to be EARNED–not stolen, bought or half-done. So how do you go about earning such long-lasting, high-impact links? By offering something of actual VALUE–whether that value be on your website, or value that you give to other sites. Below are some simple steps that do take a good amount of work but almost always pay off in the long term, when applied properly, for online attorney marketing search engine optimization campaigns.

1. Build a Resource or Educational Section

A resource or educational section on your website can serve a wide variety of purposes, adding additional pages to the website that you can further optimize for important key phrases. This can also decrease the sales cycle of your firm because it educates your prospects online instead of you having to do so over the phone. An educational section can also facilitate a large number of high-quality inbound links for the simple reason that you are not just providing content that screams “Buy Here!” but instead giving the visitor the intellectual capital he or she needs to stay on top of trends in the legal sector, make informed decisions, et cetera. All of these are ideal outcomes for any focused search engine optimization campaign. Oftentimes users will link to your valuable content without even being asked. Additionally, if you DO reach out to web masters in the legal sector, they will be much more likely to do so if you have something of value to offer in exchange.

2. Write and Submit Expert Articles

Chances are, your law firm has one or more attorneys that specialize in numerous different areas. However, did you know that you can help your search engine optimization campaign’s efforts dramatically by promoting these experts’ ideas? Odds are these staff members have ideas they are itching to share about the legal sector–where it has been, where it is now, where it’s heading, current issues it is facing…the ideas go on and on. You can have these legal professionals write the articles themselves or use a professional ghostwriter to write them after he or she conducts interviews with the professionals, and then submit the articles to popular websites in the legal sector. Sharing original, relevant material is just another example of the basic premise that trading something of value greatly increases your firm’s chances of search engine optimization campaign success.

3. Create and Update a Blog

Similar to submission of expert articles to legal publications or an educational section on your website, a blog is a very popular and specific way to display your expert knowledge and experience of the legal sector. Blogs boost sites by offering routinely fresh content, showing your grasp of current industry events and trends, and gaining inbound links from readers who are interested in the content.

4. Offer Free, Legal-Related, Informational Tools

Mortgage websites offer free and online mortgage calculators. Likewise, car dealers offer payment calculators on their websites. The same principle extends to the legal industry. A submission form for a free case consultation or an “Ask a Lawyer” tool that lets users submit legal questions that others can see the answers to makes your site more interactive, helpful and user-friendly for people who might go to your site in search of legal help.

Each of these steps may seem like a lot of work–and most times, they are. However, long-term your efforts can pay dividends in your law firm’s online marketing efforts!]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/07/11/inbound-links-key-for-attorney-marketing-search-engine-optimization/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/07/06/how-social-networking-can-hurt-your-lawsuit-and-how-to-avoid-it/ http://addaddy.com/2011/07/06/how-social-networking-can-hurt-your-lawsuit-and-how-to-avoid-it/#comments Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:12:30 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=527 Continue Reading]]> Romano v. Steelcase (NY Supreme Court, 2010) is a great example of how the courts have started to treat this type of information’s discoverability in personal injury lawsuits. In this case, the plaintiff claimed that she had suffered permanent injuries that kept her from enjoying certain activities, thereby limiting her ability to enjoy life. However, the defendant claimed that the plaintiff’s public Facebook and MySpace profiles showed the defendant allegedly leading an active lifestyle to the extent that it was inconsistent with the claims she made in the lawsuit. The court gave the defendant access to the plaintiff’s full accounts, outweighing right to privacy by need for information, because neither Facebook nor MySpace has complete privacy policies so the plaintiff had no real reasonable expectation of privacy for posts that she made.   McCann v. Harleyville Ins. Co. (NY Supreme Court, 2010) also outweighed a plaintiff’s right to privacy with the defendant’s need for information in the plaintiff’s social networking profile, upholding the lower court’s decision to deny the defendant access to the plaintiff’s full Facebook account.   If you are involved in a personal injury lawsuit, tell your attorney about it. I also advise clients to go through their friend lists and “unfriend” Any one they do not know, and to likewise not accept any friend invitations from people they do not know. Don’t post anything about your injuries or the lawsuit, and refrain from posting any pictures showing you partaking in activities that could be interpreted or misconstrued against you in your lawsuit. If you have already posted something on a social networking site that could potentially be harmful to your case in a lawsuit, you need to tell your lawyer immediately so that he or she can minimize its impact in your lawsuit.]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/07/06/how-social-networking-can-hurt-your-lawsuit-and-how-to-avoid-it/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/07/02/insider-intellectual-property-theft-and-how-to-help-protect-against-it/ http://addaddy.com/2011/07/02/insider-intellectual-property-theft-and-how-to-help-protect-against-it/#comments Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:13:23 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=531 Continue Reading]]> removable media have affected the legal space as well. It is important to remember that the evolution of technology, just as that of any other process, brings the bad with the good. Removable media revolutionized not only the ease of the transfer of information, but also the spread of computer viruses and theft of information. In addition, although it falls in with the “intangible” technologies, email has been a valuable tool for many an insider company thief.   In many cases, an organization’s own network is used to carry out a theft against them, most of which involve remote access over VPN (Virtual Private Network) and email. Insider thieves usually use their own personal email for this. In others, the theft involves emailing information to a direct competitor of the company–a reason why many crime prevention experts and attorneys recommend that organizations block or track email to and from their competitors.   The increase in information theft over the years has prompted companies to develop numerous countermeasures against it, including inspection of log traffic and file transfers of larger than normal size, and the monitoring of any use of removable media and IP access after hours. Sometimes organizations develop further targeted monitoring strategies for employees who give notice for their jobs or quit, because statistically most insider thieves steal intellectual property within 30 days of quitting or leaving a company or organization. Further, an event correlation engine and central logging appliance can help you create automated queries which will reduce the analyst’s workload for inspecting such data on a routine basis.]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/07/02/insider-intellectual-property-theft-and-how-to-help-protect-against-it/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/06/12/article-for-test-4/ http://addaddy.com/2011/06/12/article-for-test-4/#comments Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:55:02 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=545 http://addaddy.com/2011/06/12/article-for-test-4/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/06/09/article-for-test-2/ http://addaddy.com/2011/06/09/article-for-test-2/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 09:53:40 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=541 http://addaddy.com/2011/06/09/article-for-test-2/feed/ 0 http://addaddy.com/2011/04/26/guard-thy-electronic-communication/ http://addaddy.com/2011/04/26/guard-thy-electronic-communication/#comments Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:10:58 +0000 Barrett Sharpe http://addaddy.com/?p=521 Continue Reading]]> be careful what you put in such emails. You never know when a remark written in anger or frustration can be used against you in court.   Social media sites are another frequent area of error for many of my divorce and child custody clients. Status updates, pictures and any other information you put up on sites like Facebook and Twitter can be used in divorce action, child custody and child support cases. A perfect example of this is one of my friends is an attorney who had clients who we’ll call “Tom,” who posted information left and right about his negative financial situation on his Twitter account. He was then denied full custody of his two children in his divorce that was in the process of being finalized, on the basis of lack of financial stability.   So the moral of the day: please, people, watch your mouth when you go trotting about online. You never know when it can come back to haunt you!]]> http://addaddy.com/2011/04/26/guard-thy-electronic-communication/feed/ 0