By Stephen Fairley CEO of The Rainmaker Institute www.therainmakerinstitute.com 888-588-8591 2011 The Rainmaker Institute, LLC
About Stephen Fairley Nationally Recognized Law Firm Marketing Expert Coached, trained and spoken to more than 7,000 attorneys International best-selling author of 10 books and 8 audio learning programs CEO of The Rainmaker Institute the nation s largest law firm marketing company that specializes in helping small and solo law firms generate more referrals and convert more leads Developed the first automated lead conversion followup system for attorneys Nationally recognized expert on internet marketing, blogging, and social media for attorneys World traveler: Visited over 30 countries and taken 12 cruises www.therainmakerblog.com www.rainmakerretreat.com 480-659-9700 Stephen@TheRainmakerInstitute.com
Staples Got It Wrong!! There Is No Easy Button!
3 MAJOR AREAS TO FOCUS ON Lead Generation Lead Conversion Client Retention
Lead Generation Strategies Internet Marketing and SEO Social Media Blogging
Do People Search for Attorneys Online? Google handles 88 Billion searches...every MONTH! Twitter handles 19 Billion searches per month Yahoo: 9.4 Billion per month Bing: 4.1 Billion per month
Do People Search for Attorneys Online? 88% of all online sessions begin with a search engine 89% of people who use the internet go online to find an attorney (Trial Lawyers Magazine)
Do People Search for Attorneys Online? Attorney Searches The internet is now the single biggest source for legal information! 65% of people begin their search for a lawyer on the internet (New York State Bar Association Journal) People look on average at 4.8 attorney websites online BEFORE they contact a law firm
Search Engine Overview What You Should Know: Each Search Engine uses different proprietary ranking algorithms Search engines make money on paid advertising within their search results US Market Share: - 66% Google - 17% Yahoo - 11% Bing
The Changing Game of Search Engines The Fastest Growing Search Engine is...facebook! Little Known Fact: People now spend more time on Facebook than on Google, Gmail, Google Video, & YouTube COMBINED!! www.facebook.com/lawfirmmarketing
Who Clicks On What? Understanding Search Results: Sponsored Ads: 20-25% clicks Organic Listings: 75-80% clicks Local (Maps) Results: Blended with Organic Search Only 10 Organic Listings On Page 1 Top 3 Organic Listings: 63% clicks Top Organic Listing: 42% clicks 90% Will Not Look Past Page 1
A Look At Google How Do You Get Your Legal Website To The Top Organic Search Positions on Google? Link Building Link Building
What Is Link Building? What is Link Building? When other websites link to your website it increases your website s perceived credibility and authority in Google s eyes!
How Google Ranks Websites What Matters Most for Google Rankings 1. On-Page Keyword Usage & Internal Linking Structure - Design & Structure of Site - Duplicate Content -Keyword Optimized Content 2. Link Popularity -Total number of inbound links -He who has the MOST LINKS WINS! -Links to internal pages, not just home page 3. Anchor Text of Link -The actual text of the link Nashville personal injury attorney Chattanooga bankruptcy lawyer
How People Search Online 4 Ways People Search Online 1. Vanity Search Results: like Nashville personal injury attorney or Memphis drug attorney or Knoxville litigation lawyer geographical location practice area attorney or lawyer 2. Geographical Search: people search by CITY not county or state the smaller the city the easier it is to get to the top focus on the suburbs (Fairview or Franklin) not just the big name (Nashville) 3. Social Media Search: People are starting to use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn the same way they use Google! It s much less competitive than Google right now and more consumers are using it! 4. Long Tail Term Results: people are using more and more words to describe their situation and refine their search results
The Importance of Long Tail Search What Are Long Tail Searches? Vanity Search Terms: Nashville Personal Injury Attorney Johnson City Criminal Defense Attorney Jackson Car Accident Lawyer Long Tail Searches: accident with 18 wheeler on i40 need best injury lawyer need attorney from brain injury for my baby at mount sinai hospital brain injury and knee injury I was hit by bus, murfreesboro failure to diagnose breast cancer doctor malpractice expert attorney police planted drugs on me in nashville + need cocaine attorney former employee stole my ip need to sue him and stop him attorney
The Importance of Long Tail Search
The Importance of Long Tail Search Long Tail Search Personal Injury Search: 57% of all searches are unique Only 5.3% of searches on top Personal Injury websites contained the phrase personal injury in their search terms Criminal Defense Search: 68% of all searches are unique Only 3% of searches for top Criminal Defense attorneys contained the phrase criminal defense in their search terms
The Importance of Long Tail Search What You Need to Know 50-70% of Legal Searches are Non-Repeatable Long-Tail Searches! The best way to compete for long tail searches on the internet is MASSIVE CONTENT! The 2 Best Ways to Add Massive Content is by BLOGGING DAILY and USING SOCIAL MEDIA!
How to Drive More Qualified Traffic to Your Website 4 Proven Ways to Drive More Traffic Blogs Videos Social Media Link Building & SEO
SEO Factors On Page SEO Factors On Page SEO Factors are what s on your website Remember: Google ranks PAGES NOT websites so Every single page on your website must be written to rank for 1-3 key phrases Title Tags: title of the page in the browser bar Every title tag on every page must be unique!
SEO Factors Duplicate Content: Does not mean you cannot put the same article on multiple websites! We have used this strategy many, many times and met with great success! It means you can t put the same article on your site multiple times! Keyword Density Rating: Get the keywords in early and often in the page. H Tags (Header Tags): H1, H2, H3, etc. It s an indicator of what you, the webmaster, believes the page is about.
SEO Factors Meta description: the description that comes up on Google when someone looks at your website. 140 characters. Everyone from each page must be unique. Must be written to sell the click! BAD GOOD
SEO Factors Internal Linking Structure This refers to the way your website pages are linked to each other. Navigational Links: use your keywords in the navigational links Name of the Page: include your keywords as the actual name of the subpage Instead of: www.yourlawfirm.com/phillip-miller Use this: www.yourlawfirm.com/car-accident-attorney
SEO Factors Internal Links to Other Pages on Your Website Pay attention to the anchor text you are using They count for link reputation, but NOT link popularity Instead of: Contact Us or About Us or Home Use: key words when possible
SEO Factors Off Page SEO Factors Links coming from another website to yours. There s an ongoing debate in the SEO community: Quality versus Quantity Does Google prefer websites with MORE LINKS (Quantity) or HIGHER QUALITY LINKS?
We have been researching this in the real world for the better part of a year and here s what we found Google Tells You QUALITY MATTERS MORE Google Actually Values QUANITY MORE! Google Ranks Law Firm Websites With MORE LINKS Higher Than Websites With Higher Quality Links!!
Results Achieved! Personal Injury Attorney 38 key terms on the 1 st page of Google! 11 key terms on the 1 st page of Yahoo! 11 key terms on the 1 st page of Bing! 6 key terms in the #1 position on Google! 20 key terms in the top 3 positions on Google!
Results Achieved! Phoenix Divorce Attorney 9 key terms on the 1 st page of Google! 5 key terms on the 1 st page of Yahoo! 5 key terms on the 1 st page of Bing! 2 key terms in the #1 position on Google! 3 key terms in the top 3 positions on Google!
Results Achieved! Los Angeles DUI Attorney 11 key terms on the 1 st page of Google! 7 key terms on the 1 st page of Yahoo! 7 key terms on the 1 st page of Bing! 3 key terms in the top 3 positions on Google!
Results Achieved! Immigration Attorney 45 key terms on the 1 st page of Google! 11 key terms on the 1 st page of Yahoo! 11 key terms on the 1 st page of Bing! 12 key terms in the #1 position on Google!
Results Achieved! Criminal Defense Attorney 15 key terms on the 1 st page of Google! 10 key terms on the 1 st page of Yahoo! 10 key terms on the 1 st page of Bing! 4 key terms in the #1 position on Google! 11 key terms in the top 3 positions on Google!
Building Links Matters Most Link Popularity: the total number of incoming links you have from external websites SEOMoz says the total number of links coming into your website accounts for over 40% In the legal industry we have found it s even higher! The links must be from different websites Page Rank of inbound link website counts a lot
Link Building Strategies Link Building Strategies General Directories Yahoo! Directory $300 per year BestoftheWeb.org $150 per year Dmoz.org BBB.org (price varies)
Link Building Strategies Legal Directories Nolo.com Findlaw.com JDSupra.com Avvo.com HG.org About 900 Legal Directories How many do you want to be on? ALL OF THEM!
Link Building Strategies Blog Commenting Do it in a professional way Add value Article Marketing writing unique articles and posting them on various article directories Press Releases search for press release submission Reciprocal Linking you link to my website and I will link to yours Google the phrase add url
SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINED What is Social Media? Social media is an online, 2 way conversation that is taking place right now! Who is involved in the conversation? your clients your competition... your critics your employees your prospects your fans www.therainmakerinstitute.com
Top 2 Reasons Why You Should Be All Over Social Media...
Social media is one of the most cost effective ways to SOCIAL MEDIA IS PLATFORM BUILD A MASSIVE PLATFORM! Your PLATFORM is How many people know WHO YOU ARE Who you HELP How you are DIFFERENT www.therainmakerinstitute.com
DOES SOCIAL MEDIA WORK? #1 Reason to Use Social Media: Lead Generation! Does Social Media Work? That s the WRONG QUESTION! The RIGHT QUESTION is Which Social Network Will Work For My Practice?
7 SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS 7 Major Social Media Tools for Lawyers All logos have been taken from their respective homepages. All of these websites can be reached by adding a.com to their company name.
Statistics on LINKEDIN The most widely used business networking site Grown from 14 to over 90 Million active users in 3 years Another 1 Million people join every 12 days! Average of 22 Million unique visitors per month Recently filed to go IPO! (January 27, 2011) Over 750,000+ Senior Executives who use LinkedIn ALL the Fortune 500 companies are represented 46% of users describe themselves as Decision Makers Average household income is $109,000 Average age is 41 years Is this a demographic you want to reach? www.therainmakerinstitute.com References for all statistics can be found at: http://bit.ly/lrk4j
Use it to connect with: Referral sources and Potential Clients Push your blog into it Be recognized as an expert and leader Build Your Platform! Call 888-588-5891
LINKEDIN 8 Steps to Get You Started on LinkedIn Create a comprehensive profile Start by connecting with people you know Tip: Use LinkedIn Toolbar for Outlook Recommend Others 1 st...then ask to be recommended Join groups for attorneys, referral sources & prospects Start a group for your target market Answer questions Update your status at least 3x per week List all your events on LinkedIn Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenfairley Call 888-588-5891
FACEBOOK Statistics on May-11 665 Jan-11 585 Over 665 Million active users! 149 Million active users in US! 20 Million new users each month!
FACEBOOK The Rapid Growth of Facebook.com More than 11 million people log on to Facebook every day More than 35 million people update their status each day (many by using their cell phone) Fastest growing demographic is over 35 years old! 408,000 US Facebook users will die in 2011 From what? Car accident? Drugs? Nursing home abuse? Did they have a will? Do they need a probate attorney? Does their spouse need to file for bankruptcy? How many will get divorced? File a lawsuit? Become my friend at: www.facebook.com/fairley References for Facebook Statistics can be found at: http://bit.ly/7cmgd
Google Versus Facebook FACEBOOK In March 2010 Facebook Overtook Google In Terms of Unique Visitors By August 2010 Facebook had more traffic than: Google, Gmail, Google Video and YouTube COMBINED Significantly cheaper PPC Reports are starting to come in that Facebook PPC can convert BETTER than Google PPC!
FACEBOOK Google Versus Facebook Facebook accounted for 10% of ALL pages views in 2010! 3 out of every 10 US internet sessions included a visit to Facebook! Facebook can target demographics much better than Google! Facebook is the ONLY company Google has publicly admitted they are afraid of! www.therainmakerinstitute.com
Why Is Facebook So Important? Marketing 101: Fish Where The Fish Are
Marketing Your Law Firm on Facebook Using Fan Pages FACEBOOK
Why You Want a Facebook Fan Page Anyone on Facebook can Access & Follow You Email Addresses Constantly Change Facebook Accounts Rarely Do! You can market to your Fans all at once Blog Entries Can Be Published on it Fan Pages can be used to Build Your List! It Can Be Fully SEO Optimized Facebook Page #1 In Organic Search Results Google is GOING SOCIAL (Feb 2011) FACEBOOK www.therainmakerinstitute.com
FACEBOOK Build Your List Using Facebook Fan Pages
FACEBOOK Use Fan Pages to: - Promote Your Law Firm - Post Blog Content - Make Connections - Build Your List
FACEBOOK 1. Need to update your Fan page regularly! 2. Focus more on Conversations than just Connections! 3. Referrals are all about Relationships!
FACEBOOK Now if a Facebook User s Friend has blogged, posted or Tweeted about their experiences with you or your law firm and that User is searching for an attorney ON GOOGLE, his or her Friend s comments will turn up in Their Google Search Results! I need an attorney www.therainmakerinstitute.com
YOUTUBE Statistics on 2 ND Largest Search Engine in the World! Over 400 Million unique visitors per month! 20 hours worth of new video is uploaded every minute 83% of people using the internet in the US watched videos online The average person watches 3.5 minutes of video per visit and 90 videos per month! Over 68,000 hits for attorney or lawyer on YouTube www.youtube.com/stephenfairley www.therainmakerinstitute.com References for YouTube stats by comscore can be found at: http://bit.ly/ggcz3
www.youtube.com/bisnarchase YOUTUBE Set up your own page on YouTube Upload your videos Keep the videos short and sweet (1-3 minutes long) Consider having a techie add a short intro & outré to them People care more about the content than the quality of the video Tag them with your keywords Use education-based marketing! Don t hard sell! Show your personality Let them see you are real! Call 888-588-5891
Post 2-4 videos per month & Transcribe the content YOUTUBE Short educational videos Client Testimonials Keyword load your videos www.therainmakerinstitute.com
AVVO Statistics on Provides ranking system for lawyers (scale of 1-10) 2 nd largest online legal directory in the US Only 3 years old (versus 15 years for lawyers.com) Now has a Google PR of 6! WOW! Over 5,000 consumers each week post a legal question on their message boards/community forums Allows for reviews by clients and other attorneys Like them or not...they are here to stay and are becoming a force to be reckoned with so...
Call 888-588-5891 www.getirshelp.com
Blogs Versus Websites Website Basics Blog Basics Blurring the line... Over 270 Million Websites in existence today, containing over 48 Billion web pages (156M in 2007, 182M in 2008, 234M in 2009, 255M in 2010) www.therainmakerblog.com There are more than 133 Million blogs, with a new blog being created every second 30% of Americans read a blog each day
www.therainmakerinstitute.com Website or Blog?
www.therainmakerinstitute.com Website or Blog?
www.therainmakerinstitute.com Website or Blog?
More Rainmaker Blogs
Rainmaker Social Media Blueprint BLUEPRINT Your Blog Content is Pushed to All Social Media Networks 1. Use a Freemium to Capture their Contact Info All Link Back to Your Blog Using a Trackable Link! 2. Follow up with Prospects using e-newsletter & Autoresponders 2011 by The Rainmaker Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Lead Conversion Strategies It s ALL ABOUT CONVERSION! Online Conversion: 5 Metrics for Website Conversion Offline Conversion 5 Stages of Lead Conversion
Website Conversion Metrics Key Word Ranking Number of Unique Visitors Number of Contacts Number of Qualified Leads Number of New Clients
Analyzing Your Website Key Word Ranking # on 1 st page # in top 3 Number of Unique Visitors 5-10,000 Number of Contacts 30 unique phone number & email Number of Qualified Leads 3 Number of New Clients 1
Identify Your Cost Per Client How many Website Visitors does it take to produce 1 Contact? Number of Unique Website Visitors / Number of Contacts 10,000 per month / 20 Contacts = 500 Visitors to Produce 1 Contact How many Contacts does it take to produce 1 Qualified Lead? 30-40 Contacts to Generate 1-2 Qualified Leads How many Qualified Leads does it take to produce 1 New Client? 10-20 Qualified Leads to Produce 1 New Client
How much does it cost to land each New Client? Monthly Marketing Budget / Number of New Clients $5,000 per month / 10 New Clients = $500 CPC How many New Clients per week, month and quarter will it take to achieve your financial goals? Lets examine these numbers 500 Website Visitors to Produce 1 Contact 30-40 Contacts to Generate 1-2 Qualified Leads 10-20 Qualified Leads to Produce 1 New Client If these numbers are even close you will need 150,000 to 400,000 Website Visitors to Generate 1 New Client!
Website Conversion Strategies Add compelling video to every page Rewrite your copy, especially on the home page Use landing pages to test variables Test headlines, photos, call to action, layout, colors Track every lead using unique phone #s and emails
5 Stages of Lead Conversion Key Word Ranking Number of Unique Visitors Number of Contacts Number of Qualified Leads Number of New Clients Offline Lead Conversion can have a major impact here!
5 Stages of Lead Conversion 1. Number of Leads into the top of the funnel 2. Number of Leads that turn into Appointments 3. Number of Appointments Who Show Up 4. Number of Appointments Who Sign Up at the Initial Consultation 5. Number of Appointments who Sign Up Later
Average Bankruptcy Law Firm Without a Client Conversion System 100 Leads = 100% 50 Appointments Set = 50% 25 Appointments Show Up = 50% 12 Sign Ups (New Retentions) = 50% 1 Sign Ups ~ 90 Days Later = 10% Results: 13 New Clients x $1,500 for Ch 7 $19,500 Revenues
Average Bankruptcy Law Firm with the Rainmaker Lead Conversion System 100 Leads = 100% 70 Appointments Set = 70% 49 Appointments Show Up = 70% 34 Sign Ups (New Retentions) = 70% 6 Sign Ups ~ 90 Days Later = 20% Results: 40 New Clients x $1,500 for Ch 7 $60,000 Revenues
Without a Lead Conversion System 100 Leads 50 Appointments Set 25 People Show Up 12 Sign Up at Consult 1 Signs Up Later 13 New Clients Results in $19,500 in Revenues With the Rainmaker Lead Conversion System 100 Leads 70 Appointments Set 49 People Show Up 34 Sign Up at Consult 6 Sign Up Later 40 New Clients Results in $60,000 in Revenues Net Increase of $40,500! Over 300% ROI!
Lead Conversion Strategies Commit to Tracking Every Single Lead! Fix Your Follow up! Follow up Autoresponders Best practices in follow up Write up a training manual for best practices in lead conversion for your law firm Put a System in place and train your people to always follow the System!
Client Retention System The #1 Reason Why Your Firm Doesn t Get More Referrals is LACK OF CLIENT EDUCATION!
What to Educate Clients About Consistently educate your clients on The fact that you want referrals from them What a great referral looks like What kinds of cases are not a good referral for you How to make an introduction to you How you treat referrals The best way to say thank you is by sending us a referral.
Client Retention System One of the most cost effective Client Retention strategies is a monthly newsletter. Keys to Remember: Must be done every month! Keep it brief and educational! You can use either print or electronic.
Rainmaker E-Newsletter Samples
Why Work With A Legal Marketing Specialist? What You Need To Ask Do They Understand The Business of Law? The legal industry is completely different! Do they understand how attorneys generate new cases How much experience do they working with attorneys Do They Understand My Competition & How To Compete? Do they know what other successful attorneys are doing online Do they specialize in working with attorneys Do They Have The Assets To Allow Me To Compete? Do you have to do all the heavy lifting Do they offer a Done For You service Will They Be Around For Long? What happens if your guy leaves or goes out of business How much capacity do they have
1. Build More Links to your website 2. Generate more leads from your website & blog 3. Manage your blog & social media 4. Write your monthly e-newsletter 5. Software to maximize your lead conversion 6. Coach you to create a lifestyle law firm 888-588-5891 www.therainmakerblog.com
Thank You! Connect with Stephen Fairley Stephen@TheRainmakerInstitute.com Maria@TheRainmakerInstitute.com www.rainmaker.mylinkinvitation.com www.facebook.com/fairley www.twitter.com/stephenfairley www.youtube.com/stephenfairley