FindLaw to Sponsor Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association 2010 Events

Just a quick note to let you know that FindLaw will be sponsoring 13 Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association (SCCTLA) events in 2010, including:

--10 SCCTLA MCLE Luncheons at Lincoln Law School in San Jose
--The Jan. 27 "What's New in Tort and Trial" Seminar at the Crowne Plaza in San Jose
--Judge's Night May 20 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose
--The Dec. 16 Holiday Party

I look forward to meeting you (or seeing you again) at these events!

Mike

Law Firm Internet Marketing -- the Complete View

In the course of my week I usually sit down with at least a few attorneys who tell me that they never use the Yellow Pages anymore, and that the Internet has completely replaced them. I also often meet with an attorney or two who considers the Internet to be a fad that has not quite taken hold. It's really amazing the range of attitudes out there regarding the World Wide Web.
That being said, I now have clients I have worked with for seven years who have consistently garnered good to great business via the Internet. If you make it big enough and hang in there long enough, and are marketing in the right practice areas and the right metros, from my experience success is hard to avoid.

If you have questions on this, please give me a call at 408-529-6706 and let's schedule some time to talk. I have been with FindLaw since Dec. 2002 and I really do know the ins and outs of Law Firm Internet Marketing. I know what works, what doesn't, and I can help steer you to the optimal solution for your firm. If that solution includes non-FindLaw services, I'll let you know. If I can give you the best of what I know, we will have a strong and lasting relationship.

Happy New Year!
Mike

Survivng the Downturn and Measuring Internet Return on Investment (ROI)

I have met with many attorneys over the almost 7 years I have been with FindLaw. Many of my clients have been with me for five years or more, some for the entire time. One thing I have definitely noticed is that the firms who understand that business has its ups and downs, and who do not give up on their Web marketing after a "down" month or two, are the ones who experience the most success. Keep in mind that for every new Internet client you retain you increase your client base, and that client that you did a great job for in 2007 may easily refer you a new client in 2010. In addition, that 2007 client often has recurring legal requirements, and those revenues must also be added to your measurement of your Internet Return on Investment (ROI).

In short as I have said before, Internet marketing is not a "Hail Mary" pass, it is a long term strategy. Here's to your success going forward.

Design Portfolio Released

Check out: http://www.findlawdesign.com

Here's a great way to get a close look at our method for creating visually compelling law firm web sites.

You'll find some terrific law firm web sites from across the country here. Before choosing the design direction for your custom site, take a look and tell us what elements really grab you. We'll use your comments as a starting point for the look and feel of your electronic storefront. Since this "storefront" may well be open until the time you stop practicing law, let's make sure we make your Grand Opening a great one!

This is what we do!

OK, here's what we do in a nutshell--check out the first page of Google search list results done 12/20/08 for "san jose business litigation lawyer.

These are search list results 1-10 out of 210,000, and FindLaw clients are 8 out of the first 10 results.

We specialize in Search Engine Optimization, and this makes us different from almost all the "web developers" out there. Most firms will simply create a nice business card for you that will never be found be consumers searching for legal counsel.

1. http://www.businesslawsanjose.com/ Steve Springer, FindLaw client
2. http://www.diemerwhitman.com/ Diemer Whitman & Cardosi, Findlaw client
3. http://www.michaelmaclellan.com/ Mike MaClellan, FindLaw client
4. http://www.kallislaw.com/ Jeff Kallis, FindLaw client
5. http://www.rhrc.net/ Rossi, Hammerslough, Reischl & Chuck, FindLaw client
6. http://www.hjpmcivllaw.com/ Hinkle, Jachimowicz, Pointer & Emanuel, FindLaw client
7. http://www.lonichandpatton.com/ Lonich and Patton, FindLaw client
8. Not a FindLaw client--what happened???
9. Oops.
10. Another FL client!

This is how you get more clients or better clients via the Internet.

My First, Best Idea

Most firms I have met with over the last six years are pretty busy, but not all of them make the kind of money they would like. Many lawyers have more than enough clients to keep them running, but they do not have ideal client rosters--clients are too small, too difficult to work with, or they do not have the ability to pay their bills on time. As often as not, when we talk about bringing more client opportunites to these firms, it is with the intention of attracting better clients, not more clients.

My first, best idea for stimulating demand for your services is a custom-written, search engine friendly web site. These 14-28 well-written pages of content that describe the unique story of your firm will likely, over time, bring you the best ROI of any Internet service you will ever employ. As a first step, I suggest we start here, and build you a web site that shows up high in search list results across all the major search engines, so that we can start to draw significant traffic to your site and clients to your practice. Once we prove that the site is a rainmaker, we can add further services such as Directory ads, Video, Spanish pages, FAQs, Newsletters--you name it. But first let's put together a strategy for success and build out a great electronic storefront which, if done right, will help carry your business for many years to come.

How do I get to the top of Google?

Lawyers constantly ask me, "How can I get to the top of Google search list results?" There are a number of ways to achieve this.

1. Pay per click advertising--very expensive! Every click on your ad is a debit to your credit card. And, it looks like advertising. Google lost about $70B in market cap in the first part of 2008 based on diminishing perceived value of this product.

2. Great, search engine-friendly content, and lots of it. This is the #1 best idea for long-term search engine visibility. For lawyers this means lots of pages describing your practice area(s), and describing the unique nature of your firm. And yes, all firms are unique.

3. Great Inbound Linking--The search engines are increasingly placing great importance on the number of relevant Inbound Links to your site, for the purpose of ranking you highly in search list results. Example: You log in to Yahoo Local and post practice area and contact information about your firm, including (most importantly), a clickable link to your web site at www.xyzlawfirm.com . Once the search engine "spiders" find this link, they give you a brownie point for showing initiative. Create these sorts of links on relevant web sites across the Internet, and in short order your site will become more important search list result in the eyes of Google, Yahoo search, MSN Live Search, etc.

That's the top three. Lots more to discuss here, but make sure you take care of each of these first.