Legal Marketing & PR

Syndicated Content ?Duplicate??

Posted on November 01, 2009
I was recently asked if syndicating or licensing content would have a negative impact on the author website’s rankings. Was syndicated content seen as duplicate content? My answer may be useful to others, so here it is in a nutshell: Maliciously duplicated content (with the intent to deceive through redirects, multiple pages on the same domain, [...

Analytics Bounce Rate

Posted on October 28, 2009
A metric that’s increasingly discussed is “bounce rate” – this is largely due to the fact that it’s featured as a statistic on the first report page of Google Analytics accounts. What is bounce rate, how is it useful and are there similar metrics that are useful for understanding your website? In February 2009, [...

Easy Content

Posted on October 07, 2009
When working on a law firm SEO campaign, one of the trouble spots can sometimes be finding content. A lawyer’s time is valuable and, as a service provider, my team can’t spend all day with an attorney asking him/her for details of the practice...

New Yahoo Ad

Posted on September 29, 2009
I haven’t seen it on TV yet, but the SearchEngineWatch Blog has put up notice that there’s a new Yahoo! television ad spot that’s supposed to start running soon. Here’s the video: Did it excite you? *Yawn* was my reaction. Will this move the needle for Yahoo! search like Bing’s recent ad campaign? [...

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SEO & PPC Questions

Posted on September 24, 2009
While doing a webinar on Advanced SEM, some SEO & PPC questions were asked that I thought deserved to be answered here on this public forum. These will be published in part or in whole on the LexisNexis site at some point, I believe, but here’s a sneak peek at this SEM Q&A session: D...

SEMPO Growing Stronger

Posted on September 10, 2009
Just a short post to acknowledge what a great thing I think the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization has become. I remember when they started at shows back in 2002 with a mission much like what they display today: Our purpose is to provide a foundation for industry growth through building stronger relationships, fostering awareness, [...

Broadest Keywords

Posted on August 28, 2009
Many articles have been written on the value of geo-targeted keywords – search phrases that combine a location with a service. These geo-targeted, long tail keywords like “Montana malpractice attorney” are traditionally what search engine marketers like me and my team pursue for our legal clients...

Using Call Tracking

Posted on July 31, 2009
One thing that I always recommend to my clients is that they put a unique call tracking number on their website. In today’s post, I’d like to outline what a call tracking number is and why it’s an essential part of marketing. What is a Call Tracking Number? A Call Tracking Number is a dedicated phone [...

Slip & Fall Ad

Posted on June 07, 2009
Since I run a number of hotel-related websites, I often receive catalogs and direct mail pieces targeted at hotel owners. One brochure I recently received had a legal angle that made me laugh, so I thought I’d post it here: It’s for a sidewalk leveling/construction company, arguing that uneven sidewalks are a slip and [...

Google Customized Search Results

Posted on May 25, 2009
One of the major changes in Google over the past few months is the increased implementation of customized search results. Publicized in July 2008 on the Official Google Blog, customized or personalized search results deliver website listings according to the searcher’s location, past & recent history...

It?s Been a While

Posted on March 31, 2009
Wow, it’s been a while since I last posted here. It’s a familiar song, I’m sure, but work and other misc projects have kept me (over)loaded for the past few months. Hang in there; new, helpful posts are on the way.

Online SEM Advice for Lawyers

Posted on October 11, 2008
It’s no secret that, during the day, I work for LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell as the Director of Web Services. That means that I have the daily opportunity to meet and speak with lawyers about their Internet marketing goals. As much as I learn about the business of law from the firms themselves, I like to [...

DUI vs. Mesothelioma & PPC?s Most Expensive Keywords

Posted on September 16, 2008
Before Google(GOOG) cracked down on Adsense abuse, mesothelioma-related pay-per-click (PPC) keywords were undoubtedly the most expensive and lucrative. Rumor has it that at its peak, these words cost as much as $200 per click. Wow! So, now that things have normalized (whatever normal is), is mesothelioma still king? While doing [...

Browser Optimization

Posted on September 07, 2008
A question that I sometimes encounter: “Is my site optimized for the ______ (Firefox, Opera, etc.) web browser? ” Now, with Google’s Chrome browser entering the fray, it’s bound to spawn a whole new round of the same question...

2009 SEO Events

Posted on August 27, 2008
It’s the time of year when the 2009 budget gets approved. As such, I sat down and compiled a quick list of the top SEO/SEM conferences coming up in 2009. Tops on my list are: # Conference - SES New York Mar 23-27, 2009 Approx. $1,500 per pass # Conference - SMX East October 2009 Approx...

2 Step SEO Cash Machine

Posted on August 13, 2008
The devil’s in the details but… Your SEO? Content + Authority = Rankings The Payoff? Rankings + Analytics (including conversion tracking) = $ See also: ROI p.s. How ya’ like that zingy title?

Tracking Online Advertising

Posted on July 15, 2008
With so many projects “on the go” to promote the average law firm web site (even in small offices), the prospect of tracking online advertising’s true impact can sometimes be intimidating. Do you really know if that press release converted to website traffic? How about your PPC campaign? Can you translate your paid advertising expense [...

SEO Guarantee

Posted on July 04, 2008
It’s July 4th, so I was out in my garage working on my car, listening to WABC 770. A radio ad for search engine optimization (SEO) came on, believe it or not. This post isn’t about the permeation of SEO into the fabric of B2B but, rather, about the guarantee offered in [...

Microsoft/Yahoo Deal - Time To Cash In

Posted on June 14, 2008
TechCrunch.com has a great article about the details of the new Microsoft bid for Yahoo. I’m not going to repeat the whole article but, essentially, i) MSN’s search technology will power Yahoo; ii) MSN will pay Yahoo a premium for their CPC space; iii) MSN only buys 16% of Yahoo’s stock...

Lawyer Video Optimization

Posted on June 03, 2008
Google will freely give you (almost) all the information you need to build websites that rank well and/or return investment on PPC campaigns. Often, I will try to use information they give about their AdWords paid advertising system to shed light on the natural SEO world...

Rating Lawyers

Posted on May 14, 2008
So, during the day, I work for LexisNexis… which owns Lawyers.com, the largest lawyer directory online. But before they went online, they pioneered the idea of lawyer ratings. So you can imagine they’re constantly re-considering the ways you can measure “trust”...

Article Syndication, Enough Anymore?

Posted on May 03, 2008
A friend of mine works with a Florida boating accident firm that would like to expand their market into Miami (specifically, Miami-Dade County). Conventional wisdom dictates that you do a few things like setting up a local office and advertising online through directories and the like...

Legal Keyword Research

Posted on March 23, 2008
Ever since the Overture keyword tool went offline, everyone I know in the SEO industry has the same question, “What are you doing about keyword research?” It’s a good question. For all the faults of the Overture tool, it was a quick and easy way to get actual, monthly search occurrence numbers...

Top 5 PPC Management Tips

Posted on March 03, 2008
Pay per click (or “PPC“) advertising is familiar to most people as those tiny ads that show up along the top and right column of Google and Yahoo sponsored search results. As little as 2 years ago, money ruled the paid advertising marketplace - he who had the most $ got the number one [...

Domain Name Check

Posted on February 28, 2008
Since NetworkSolutions has come under fire for its suspect domain claiming habits, my favorite place for running bulk domain checks has gone away. A friend of mine turned me on to a script by Matt Jewell that allows you to search for open domains with no fuss...

Why Does Site X Have Better Rankings?

Posted on February 17, 2008
As most SEO professionals will tell you, a common question asked by clients is “Why does Site X have better rankings than mine?” Restated, the question is really “What is SEO and how can it work?” Explored using lawyer websites as examples, let’s hit the high spots: First, is the firm looking for [...

Site Undergoing Changes

Posted on February 08, 2008
Hang in there, I’m posting some changes to the site (such as a new template). Everything will be complete soon, including the new reference section outlining the basics of search engine marketing for attorneys. Other coming features include a P3P privacy policy, behind-the-scenes lead generation tracking and more.

Lead Generation as Your Focus

Posted on January 27, 2008
Back to basics today - I’m always challenging myself to refine the way I work, my goals, the definition of “success” and the like. Coming from a (relatively) tech background, my world usually revolves around ideas like rankings, impressions, clicks and content development...

Lawyer Spam

Posted on January 06, 2008
Knowing the maze of regulations surrounding legal advertising (that vary state by state), I suppose I thought lawyers would never pursue spammy marketing tactics. In a general sense, I never thought lawyers would pursue broadcast email marketing, just because of the difficulty in targeting qualified candidates, extremely low conversion rate and the negative reflection [...

Build Authoritative Incoming Links

Posted on January 01, 2008
When assessing if a site is a good one to get a link from, the first thing I look at is the site’s PageRank in the Google Toolbar. (PageRank is a quantification of how much authority or “juice” the page has in the eyes of Google.) When developing links, your goal [...

Funny Search Terms

Posted on December 24, 2007
It’s the day before Christmas, so I thought I’d post something entertaining: the SEOmoz Unusual SearchTerms from the Month of November. Hilarious… take a look if you’re a search nerd like me. Have a happy new year.

Learn from Ego Surfing

Posted on November 25, 2007
We’re all guilty of “ego surfing” every once and a while (searching your name in Google and seeing what comes up). For some, it’s scary to see how much of your life is documented online. For others, it’s a nice ego boost to see your name “up in lights” within Google’s search engine [...

Android Should Be On Your Radar

Posted on November 14, 2007
I wrote a more extensive post on FeaturedSystems.com, but I wanted to put put a buzzword on your radar: Android. Google and the Open Handset Alliance have announced they will be publishing an open source mobile device platform (software and/or hardware) to support user and dealer customization of the devices...