Attorney at Law – March
“Attorney at Law” magazine just hit newstands! On the back cover I was happy to feature the website from the Law Firm of Cameron Hall. The employment law and business litigation attorney was kind enough to share his FindLaw success story.
Each month I write an article on online marketing. This month I tackled reputation management. Here is the article:
Reputation Management: When Someone Googles Your Name …
What will the person who googles your name find? As you no doubt know, any anonymous person with a computer and plenty of venom can trash you on the Internet. How can you keep that from happening — and, in the process, increase your positive links on the Internet?
It’s called reputation management: getting control of what is said about you. You cannot get rid of every negative remark that might be lurking on the Internet, but you can overwhelm the negatives by a continuing flood of positives that drive the negatives to the bottom of the 100th page (or thereabouts) on Google, Yahoo or MSN.
Accentuate the positive
Fighting back against specific allegations just raises the issue higher in the search engines and does nothing to enhance your reputation or gain new clients. As the song says, accentuate the positive.
Make the most of legal directories
The most positive step you can take is to build your FindLaw attorney profile. (Yes, I’m a FindLaw sales rep, but I represent my clients’ best interests.) Because http://www.findlaw.com/ is the most powerful legal encyclopedia on the Internet, searching on your name will usually have your FindLaw profile on the first or second listing. Make the most of that profile. Put in a professional photo. Write a strong bio. Include information about your practice areas. Make sure everything is accurate. Keep the information current. For an excellent example of a FindLaw profile that gets consistent traffic, see Phoenix attorney Steven Plitt’s profile (www.pview.findlaw.com/view/1393653_1?channel=LP).
A FREE legal directory that is gaining in visibility on the Internet is the Cornell Law Directory (http://www.lawyers.law.cornell.edu/). It’s sponsored by Justia, and so you will be invited to purchase their services unless you deselect sales offers, but the listing on the site is free. When a potential client goes to the site, the prospect’s local attorney listings will come up first.
Another growing influence among lawyer directories is http://www.avvo.com/. The site is FREE and rates lawyers (from 1-10) on a somewhat subjective scale, but that scale has improved over time. (Avvo is short for avvocato, lawyer in Italian.) Warning: If you have ever had public issues raised with any bar association, do not claim your Avvo profile; you will get an automatic bottom rating. Otherwise, claim and update your Avvo profile. Avvo’s ratings are based on factors like length of experience and peer reviews.
An enhanced listing on the Arizona Bar Association site (http://www.azbar.org/) costs a relatively small amount of money and is well worth the cost. You can write a bio and have a link to your website. This has the additional value of being based in Arizona, giving it credibility with potential clients in Arizona or those outside the state who need an Arizona lawyer.
Write about your area of the law
By discussing legal questions on the Internet, you establish your credentials and get your name out in a positive manner. Each time you contribute to your own blog, post to another blog or answer legal questions, you build more possible entries into search engine results.
Answer legal questions at FindLaw Answers and Avvo Answers. Post to reputable blogs. Every post is a way for a search engine to find positive information about you.
An excellent way to establish your capabilities is to start your own blog. It’s FREE, but it does take a time commitment. Start with WordPress (http://www.wordpress.com/) or Blogger Blog (www.blogger.com/start). The latter is free from Google. Post at least once a week, and you will quickly establish a presence. The best lawyer blog I’ve seen in Arizona is Joseph McDaniel’s bankruptcy blog (http://www.arizonabankruptcyblog.info/). The guy is a blog-posting machine.
Don’t forget social media
As with anything you post on the Internet, think at least twice before you hit the send button. Will this enhance your image? How will a potential client react? How will your legal colleagues react? One lawyer (not in Arizona) posted on his Twitter account, “This job sucks.” That does not inspire potential clients to call.
LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/) is the most professional of all social media, because it is based on business contacts. It has become an online Rolodex of contacts. And it often comes up on the first page of a name search. Join LinkedIn and keep your profile updated. Link it to your website.
Be careful with Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ ). Anyone with a Facebook account — and they are legion — can see what you have on the wall. Facebook is the most personal of the social media. It can be an effective marketing tool, but it requires frequent, vigilant maintenance.
Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/) is a combination of personal and professional. You can follow some legal sites (@ABAesq, @ABAJournal, @TheLawBuzz) and get up-to-the-minute links to legal news. It is important with Twitter to engage in conversation — comment on tweets and retweet interesting information. Be careful, however. Put the “what would potential clients think” test to every tweet.
In 2010, social media is coming into its own. It influences search results, and it establishes the users as savvy, responsive and technologically connected.
Keep the (positive) information flowing
If you just settled a big case, if you have a new website, if a new lawyer has joined your firm, send out a press release, blog about it, add it to your FindLaw profile, your LinkedIn profile, your Avvo profile, post it on your website. If you send it to me, I’ll post it on my blog (https://www.azlawyermarketing.com/). Go to http://www.getlisted.org/ and make sure you are included in local/map results for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Again, it’s FREE.
Add a page of testimonials to your website.
Phoenix attorney Paul Englander has done a great job of posting client testimonials (www.paulenglander.com/CM/Custom/Testimonials.asp). And so has attorney Bill Bishop (www.bishoplawoffice.com/CM/PracticeAreaDescriptions/Testimonial.asp). Testimonials give potential clients a good feeling about calling you. Testimonials also add to the keywords that users type into search engines.
Reputation management: Building your good name
The best way to counteract negative information on the Internet is to bury it with positive information. It takes time and thought, but, perhaps surprisingly, it cos
ts very little. To talk about this or any other lawyer marketing concerns in Arizona, you are welcome to call or e-mail me.
Alex Morris is without question the Yoda of Internet Marketing for Lawyers. FindLaw is a perfectly good directory and web page building company, and it built me a nifty website. But far more important than a website from FindLaw is the ability to talk to Alex Morris. An hour of his time, talking about online marketing, can double the size of your practice. No kidding! Before I met Alex I was invisible on the Internet. Just Google me now!