Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Using Public Relations to Build Web Traffic

One of the most tried and true methods for building awareness for lawyers or a law firm is to be involved with a newsworthy case. The same is true for online marketing - but it has a more important benefit - links. Given the incredible number of news sites and blogs that re-purpose news and add their comments to it, your SEO efforts can be a lot more effective by getting some PR.


Lawyers that took on these high profile criminal cases have definitely tapped into the PR stream.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The Google Local Business Center and Local Search

If you have been using Google regularly over the past few years, you've probably noticed how Google has started including Google Maps results for various search phrases. Depending on the phrase and the individual user's search history, Google determines if and where to include results from its local business center in the search results.

In general, if the search phrase is obviously local in nature such as "divorce lawyer san francisco, ca" Google will show the results from Google maps prominently. If the search phrase is more general, such as "divorce lawyer" or "divorce," the local results are pushed down or non-existent.

If your firm is not taking advantage of the free listings offered by Google, you should. Here are a couple of handy links to check out:
  • Google's Local Business Center User Guide
  • Getlisted.org. Enter in your firm name and your zip code and you'll see how your listings look at major search engines. The site also includes lots of tips and advice on how to get the most out of your listings.

With estimate that 40% of web searches are "local," local SEO is becoming more important and more complicated. While it's unlikely that submitting your firm to Google's local business center is going to be sufficient for your online marketing goals, it's a great way to get some additional free exposure for your firm.