Things to know about SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as defined by Wikipedia, is "the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a Web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines."

Few quick facts to keep in mind as you explore a search engine optimization campaign:

- No matter what anyone tells you, the return on investment (ROI) of SEO is untouchable IF you select the right company, with the right expertise, at the right price

- Firms that guarantee results are typically not firms you want to go with. Many distort information by guaranteeing first page Google listings for keywords that look appealing but do not generate considerable traffic. Go with firms offering both competitive pricing and expertise. I personally prefer working with tech background delivery resources - they often take great pride in keeping up with Google algorithms and are highly metrics driven.

- Meaningful results on search engines take 6-12 months.

- Once you have selected the right company, picking the appropriate keywords for your specific practice is 90% of the battle - spend a lot of time on this.

- Remember that Google represents an overwhelming majority of the entire search market today, with Yahoo being a distant second. You have to optimize your site for Google - it's virtually the only game in town today and only getting stronger.

- Listen to your SEO company when they give you Web site advice (coding language, layout, keywords, specific content - every SEO campaign has significant Web site specific and non Web site specific elements)

- Once the on site modifications are complete, and assuming your firm knows what they are doing, your results will be driven by the amount of effort put in by your firm. Know what you are getting in terms of hours. The best firms can accomplish almost anything with enough resources (maybe short of knocking Google off first place for the term "Google" on the Google search engine...)

- Monitor your ROI as soon as leads start flowing

To learn more about how you can increase your financial return on your SEO please visit www.litigatoredge.com

Announcing LitigatorEdge Business Launch

The Internet is the great equalizer. Large plaintiff's law firms with huge networks and equally large budgets will find it increasingly more challenging to dominate lead generation. Blogs, social networking and strategic pay per click and search engine optimization campaigns are helping progressive firms capture a growing share of Internet lead traffic. Armies of smaller and more nimble firms will inevitably steal leads away, by being more strategic about their approach to online marketing.

LitigatorEdge was founded to help its clients stay ahead of the curve through cost-effective, high caliber online marketing capabilities. We are currently only accepting up to 5 law firm clients per metro area, due to competing keyword interests, but may accept additional firms that are only looking to target a niche case type or geographical location.

For more information please visit www.litigatoredge.com

Getting Started with Online Marketing

How do you decide what type of online marketing, if any, is right for your firm, or business?

The first two things you should look at are: (1) who your target customer is, and (2) how would they normally seek out your product or service. If the answer to #1 is a consumer, chances are pretty good that you would stand to benefit considerably from some form of proactive online marketing. Search engine optimization and pay per click are among the most common methods used to reach consumers and should generally be explored before any other types of online marketing. Content and link building are typically tactics that are directly tied to improvement of search results and increase the size of your company's net. As a result, many organizations leverage blogs and other online articles to increase their exposure.

In your company offers products and services to other businesses, the online marketing strategies that work to generate leads are typically less clear. For example, a firm that offers printing services may easily be found online, by a business customer seeking this particular service. However, if the firm offers a novel or unique service (for example, a cutting edge software application for tracking marketing leads), your target audience may not know to seek out this service.

If you are offering professional services to other businesses, as is the case with most defense firms, reputation plays a critical role and it is therefore not likely that a search engine approach would yield meaningful results. However, leveraging online networks to develop relationships and joining groups that your clients are part of may be highly beneficial to this type of firm. Blogging to establish expertise in a particular area of law and sharing this with your clients may also be a highly effective tactic.

If you are uncertain about the online marketing tactics that are best suited for your type of firm, ask an expert. Some tactics will be more effective than others and ultimately you may have to test a few in small doses to see what type of impact they can have on your business

Marketing a Personal Injury Practice

First, check out the following article for several interesting perspectives from industry marketers on their preferred personal injury firm marketing tactics.

In 1998, the summer after my first year of law school, I obtained a job working for a plaintiff's advertising firm that focused primarily on generating leads for birth trauma cases. We focused on two key areas: bulk television advertising that was purchased on behalf of affiliate law firms and Web site search engine optimization.

I had first hand experience with how successful both of these tactics can be when used properly and the type of return that targeted marketing can generate. All marketing comes down to one important acronym - ROI (return on investment). Essentially, what you spend to bring in business vs. the financial value of your efforts. The top law firms track all incoming leads and know exactly which marketing activities generate the highest return on their marketing investment.

I will let you in on a little inside secret... for personal injury firms, online marketing can yield a higher return than TV, yellow pages, PR, etc... The reason why even many experts fail to recognize the true potential of online marketing is because most lawyers do not put their online marketing dollars where it counts.

Inevitably, some high priced marketing company with a big brand name will convince law firms to squander $50,000 on a Web site with fancy video and flash animation, and throw them into a Google key word (pay per click) bidding war and get listed in high priced directories, until ROI is so diminished that the law firm either loses faith in online marketing, or continues because other tactics in the marketing mix are covering up a flawed online marketing strategy.

The way to get dramatic returns on your online marketing is to focus on getting your Web site high in organic search results, while being very strategic with pay per click efforts. It is better to not engage in pay per click, than it is to do it incorrectly. With all the buzz about social media and new marketing trends, ORGANIC SEARCH IS STILL KING of ROI and it is the one place where smart can beat spend. To be effective, you have to understand the basics and you have to be plugged into the right resources. You also have to be patient - and many law firms seeking immediate gratification may miss out on huge opportunities.

If I can only give you one tip about achieving organic search success it is that a large firm working with dozens of competing firms, in the same geographic market, cannot possibly look out for everyone's interests. SEO is a dog eat dog game and you want a firm that will put your interests first and put in the time. This is one particular area, where I have the experience and contacts to help blog readers, but there are some business secrets that are too valuable to make public.

If you want access to the secrets of maximizing online marketing ROI for your personal injury practice, e-mail me at jzissu1-litigation@yahoo.com and we can set up a discussion where I can provide additional detail.

Search Engine Basics

Today, search engine marketing is an integral part of many litigation firms' and vendors' marketing strategies. This post will give a basic overview to some who may be less familiar with the topic, rather than attempt to get into the many intricacies involved in managing a succesful program.

Search engine strategies can be divided into 2 simple categories:

(1) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Simply described, SEO is leveraging the arrangement of words and links contained on your Web site, in order to achieve a higher ranking on a search engine. Over the last 10 years the SEO market has skyrocketed. When I first became involved with marketing in the legal space, back in 1998, SEO was the first marketing tactic I was responsible for managing. Back then, there were only a handful of firms specializing in this. Today there are offshore companies and a number of companies that handle this within a specific business niche. For example, most trial lawyer conference will have several vendors that specialize in SEO, or in online marketing generally.

(2) Search Engine Marketing (SEM) This is actually nothing more than paying to place text advertising on search engines when specific words are inputted into the search engine. Businesses essentially try to outbid each other to place their ads higher on search results and achieve more clickthroughs than the competition. Yes, this pretty much all there is behind the disgustingly brilliant and simple business model that is almost singlehandedly responsible for Google and Yahoo's Billions. Get the entire world to use your search engine and have every business compete for qualified traffic seeking the products and services they are offering online.
Today, there are many firms that handle SEO, SEM and other online marketing and many traditional ad agencies have developed expertise in online mediums.

I can spend days speaking on SEO and SEM, having leveraged both as part of prior business online marketing strategies and understanding the intricacies involved. While I do have to sleep at some point, I will offer one tip with respect to each. However, if you have any particular questions on the subject, I would be happy to provide answers via e-mail.

Tip 1: If SEO is a major source of lead opportunities for your business, do the ROI math and invest the appropriate capital into a firm to stay on top of this for you. Some firms will consider partial incentives based on ranking performance - I would lean toward a win-win arrangement like this.

Tip 2: Studies have shown that there is no such thing as optimal position in SEM. The optimal position is the one that gets you the most leads at the lowest investment. (In other words, traffic that clicks through when you are ad link #1, does not behave any differently that traffic clicking through ad link #5). The difference is it will cost you less to be link #5 and likely get less traffic. If it costs you 1/5 of the price and you get half the traffic, it may be prudent to consider going for link #5, unless your market share strategy dictates otherwise