Lawyer s Guide to Ge0ng More Local Clients in by Michael Waddington, Esq.

Transcription

1 Lawyer s Guide to Ge0ng More Local Clients in 2014 by Michael Waddington, Esq.

2 What Do I Know About Law Firm MarkeEng? Lawyer Licensed in PA, NJ, GA, SC Duquesne & Temple Law School Temple Journal of Science, Technology & Environmental Law Started Building & MarkeNng Websites in ,000 hours of Internet consulnng experience Have consulted with over 500 law firms on Internet markenng Own consulnng firm, Legal Niche Pros

3 What Do I Know About Law Firm MarkeEng? In 2013, wrote the best selling book, "Google+ for Business Owners Lectured to groups across the USA 5,000+ members in my Linkedin MarkeNng Groups YouTube Channel Lawyer MarkeNng Series has 3,775+ subscribers Featured in Forbes Magazine in 2014 as one of America s Premier Experts Wrote a chapter in the best selling book, "Dare to Succeed," with author Jack Canfield, author of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" Free Download - Google+ for Business Owners hcp:// for- business- owners/

4 2014 SOLO PRACTITIONER BOOT CAMP Wednesday, November 5, 2014 LocaNon: The John Marshall Law School Atlanta, Georgia

5 Slides and Video will be available aher the recording Ask quesnons in the quesnons panel

6 Let s Get Started

7 Steps to Local Search DominaEon 1. Fix Google Places LisNng(s) - Audit Your Google Places LisNng For Duplicates And Problems. Then, Fix And OpNmize, 2. Audit & Cleanup CitaNons - Find All Your Correct, Incorrect, And Duplicate LisNngs. Remove Duplicates, Fix Discrepancies, And Enhance Your LisNngs. 3. New CitaNon Building - Analyze Your ExisNng CitaNons, Analyze Your CompeNtors CitaNons, And IdenNfy New CitaNons. Get New CitaNons. 4. OpNmize Website For Local Search. 5. Setup Social Media Sites & Promote Content Using Social Media. 6. Create New Content (ArNcles, Videos, Photos) For Your Website, Social Media, And Blogs. 7. Get Relevant & Powerful Links. 8. Review Strategy Then, Rinse & Repeat.

8 Most Businesses Fail Including Law Firms Just genng by is not the same as succeeding.

9 Income Categories of Small Firm and Solo Lawyers 1. Earn less than $50, $50,000-$125, $125,000-$300,000+

10 Lawyers at the botom are easy to spot 1. They are negaeve 2. Jump from one markeeng type to another (unfocused) 3. Want immediate, unreasonable results 4. Blame everyone but themselves for failure 5. Don t have long term plans and goals 6. They surround themselves with similar people 7. Follow the pack 8. Lazy Lawyers at the TOP are easy to spot

11 This applies to all professions: Financial planning, SEO, medicine, etc. Would you take financial advice from someone who is broke? 37% of SEOs earned less than $30k in % of SEOs earned less than $50k (Source: Bright Local)

12 Goal: Get & Stay In the $125k- $300k+ Group Success Leaves Clues So Does Failure We must: 1. Analyze data and study the clues of success 2. Master the basics (Local MarkeEng not Facebook) 3. SystemaEc approach 4. Long term plans & goals

13 WHY FOCUS ON LOCAL INTERNET SEARCHES By the end of 2014, mobile searches will surpass computer searches The majority of mobile business searches are for Local Businesses (not nanonal) In 2013, Local Searches provided the same results (customers) as organic searches (Local is expected to surpass organic as a source of customers) Local Searches outperform Social Media, Facebook, Blogs in genng customers Few business know how to do Local Internet MarkeNng In a 2014 study, 87% of SEO experts agree that Local MarkeEng is ge0ng more complex & Eme consuming Takeaway Put your efforts into Local Search MarkeNng before moving on to other areas

14 Why Google Local is crucial? Desktop search for "divorce lawyer Philadelphia PA" Top 3 are directories Next 7 are Google Local Results NO law firm websites are organically ranked at the top

15 Google Maps - "divorce lawyer Philadelphia PA" Similar Results to Google Local Identical to Mobile Searches

16 What does this look like on a Mobile Phone? Default View Map Only View LisNng Only View

17 How Do I Get Into the Top 7? 1. LocaNon 2. Relevance 3. Prominence

18 Office LocaEon MaTers LocaNon is a vector against which all factors and metrics will be considered. - Ken Norton, Google LaNtude

19 DON T EXPECT TO RANK LOCALLY IF YOU ARE NOT LOCAL! Local is within a short driving distance

20 Results 1-10 Google Maps - "divorce lawyer Philadelphia PA"

21 Results Google Maps - "divorce lawyer Philadelphia PA"

22 Results Google Maps - "divorce lawyer Philadelphia PA" Offices in NJ but on the 3 rd page

23 Lesson Get an office as close to the city center as possible Target clients in YOUR area (not 30 minutes away) Examples: Atlanta divorce vs. Buckhead Divorce Evans, GA vs. Augusta, GA

24 What Factors Get Me Ranked?

25 General Ranking Factors Place Page Signals (19.6%) Categories, Proximity to city center External LocaEon Signals (16%) NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency, CitaNon Volume On- page Signals (18.8%) Presence of NAP, Keywords in Page Titles, Domain authority Link Signals (14.4%) Inbound anchor text, Linking domain authority, Linking domain quannty

26 Key Terms NAP Name, Address, Phone CitaEon: Smith & Smith ATorneys at Law 111 Broad Street Philadelphia, PA NOT THE SAME Jack Smith ATorney at Law 111 Broad Street, Suite B Philadelphia, PA

27 Specific Ranking Factors 15 out of Proper Category AssociaNons (i.e. Divorce Acorney, Personal Injury Lawyer) 2. Physical Address in City of Search 3. Consistency of Structured CitaNons (NAPs are exactly the same) 4. Quality of Structured CitaNons 5. HTML NAP Matching Place Page NAP 6. QuanNty of Structured CitaNons (Internet Yellow Pages, Data Aggregators) 7. Domain Authority of Website 8. Individually Owner- verified Local Plus Page 9. Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain 10. QuanNty of NaNve Google Places Reviews (w/text) 11. Product / Service Keyword in Business Title (John Smith Acorney at Law) 12. QuanNty of CitaNons from Locally- Relevant Domains 13. Proximity of Physical LocaNon to the Point of Search\n(Searcher- Business Distance) 14. QuanNty of CitaNons from Industry- Relevant Domains 15. City, State in Most/All Website Title Tags

28 NegaEve Ranking Factors 15 out of LisNng detected at false business locanon 2. Keyword stuffing in business name 3. Mismatch NAP / Tracking Phone Numbers Across Data Ecosystem 4. Incorrect business category 5. Presence of MulNple Place Pages with Same/Similar Business Title and Address 6. Mismatch NAP / Tracking Phone Number on Places Landing Page 7. Mismatch Address on Places Landing Page 8. Absence of Crawlable NAP on Website 9. Presence of MulNple Place Pages with Same Phone Number 10. Including LocaNon Keyword in Categories 11. Incorrectly placing your map marker 12. Address includes suite number similar to UPS Mail Store addresses 13. Keyword/city stuffed Place page descripnons 14. Non- Compliant Categories (those that do not fit 15. LisNng 800 Number as Only Phone Number on Place Page

29 Time Line Local Search MarkeEng is a Marathon When done by an expert, it takes about 6 months to see solid results in Local searches, sometimes longer Local marketing is an ongoing task Local search is time consuming and requires a level of expertise Use technology to learn about your competition and replicate their successes

30 Use Technology to Gain an Advantage

31 Use Technology to Learn from CompeEtors

32 CompeEtor CitaEons

33 CompeEtor Business Categories

34 How Do You Appear Online

35 Find and Fix Duplicates

36 ATenEon to Detail Minor Errors Can Be the Difference Between Being in the Top 7 Remember: CitaEon consistency is crucial and Making $50,000 vs. $250,000+ CitaEons

37 Like a Wild Fire, Duplicates Get Out of Control

38 One Online Engine Can Create Hundreds of Duplicates

39 Incomplete LisEngs Lower Your Ranking We are tracking 15 lisnngs 12 out of 15 are incomplete Which means, there are hundreds of incomplete lisnngs

40 Before You Get Started Proper local online marketing is time consuming and requires a level of expertise. If you are serious about success and would rather have a team of professionals help you, contact us for a free consultation. Caveat: We only work with select positive lawyers!

41 Contact If you have questions or would like a FREE consultation, call legalnichepros@gmail.com WEBSITE: YOUTUBE: LINKEDIN: