For example, if they want to come up No. 1 for “Atlanta criminal attorney,” that phrase definitely needs to be in their text. (How, where and when is covered in my recent post about SEO for blogging attorneys).

A variation on this theme that fewer attorneys know about is using these keywords in anchor text links – a simple, free tactic that anyone can learn to boost website traffic and client inquiries.

I find these tiny-yet-powerful links cause a lot of confusion, so here are the basics you need to know.

What is anchor text?

Old school links used to just give you a URL or “www” address. Example: “Learn more about our attorney web design company by going to www.paperstreet.com/company.”

An anchor text link uses other words to link to a new page. In this example – Learn more about our attorney web design company — there is no www address that the reader sees. It is imbedded in the anchor text.

Why does anchor text matter?

Google and other search engines assume that if a link called “New Orleans DUI attorney” leads to your site, chances are pretty good you are a New Orleans DUI attorney. So, every time the search engines read anchor text, it acts as a vote saying “Hey, this is what this page is about.” And that can add up to higher rankings.

How do I create a link using anchor text?

In most content management systems, like WordPress and Total Control, you would do the following:

1) Write the phrase that you want to be your anchor text
2) Highlight that text you just wrote
3) Select Insert
4) Select Hyperlink
5) Paste the actual www address, or URL,  you want to link to in the link field
6) Ouila!

When do I use anchor text links?

1) Any time you want to link to a page in your website, use anchor text instead of just typing the www address.  Example: Learn more about PaperStreet’s law firm SEO services. 
2) When a keyword phrase comes up naturally in your website copy and you have a detailed page dedicated to more information on that topic. A common example of this is linking from a main practice area page (like Intellectual Property law) to a sub practice area page (like Trademarks) when the phrase “trademark attorney” appears in the copy on the main IP page.
3) In press releases, other online copy that may or may not be on your actual law firm website.

Common mistakes with anchor text

1. Using anchor text that does not include keywords.

   Bad example of anchor text: Contact us today. Click here for more info.
   Instead, do this: Contact our California immigration law firm today. Click to learn more about our San Francisco attorneys handling H1B Visas.

2. Overkill.

   For standard copy, two or three links per page is plenty. (The exception is a landing page where the entire point is to link to other pages, in which case, link away!) And make sure you are accurate with your links. Don’t say a page is about something it isn’t just to try and get better rankings. That’s unethical – and annoying to readers who click and don’t find what they are looking for.

3. Inconsistency.

If you have decided you want your home page to rank No. 1 for “Houston estate planning lawyer,” then don’t use that same phrase as a link to your About Us page. If you do both, you are giving a vote to each page, and the votes could in essence cancel each other out, or at very lease confuse the search engines. The solution is to pick your most important keyword phrases and link those to your most important pages. Link your lesser important phrases (which are usually more specific) to your lesser important pages (practice area pages, attorney bios, etc., which are also more specific.) Example of how to do correctly: A Toronto commercial litigation law firm that links “Toronto commercial litigation” to their home page, while linking “Toronto contracts attorney” to their contracts practice area page and “Attorney John Smith” to Mr. Smith’s bio.

That’s anchor text in a nutshell. Start using it today and you will see demonstrable results for minimal effort.

Tell us why your homepage is “not-so-nice”, and enter for a chance to win a free homepage redesign!

How to Submit:
1) Become a fan of the PaperStreet Facebook Page; AND
2) Become a follower of the PaperStreet Twitter Page; AND
3) Tell us About Your Site:

• Retweet this PaperStreet Hohohompage blog post, with the #Hohohomepage hash tag, and a link to your website submission; OR
• Post to our FaceBook Wall with your website address for entry.

Rules & Disclaimers:
1. PaperStreet in its sole discretion will choose the web page design that needs improvement.
2. PaperStreet will consult with the client and design a single home page concept for the client to use. Total time is valued at 8 hours ($1,200 of work).
3. PaperStreet will not build out or slice the concept (sorry that can be too tricky depending on the clients web platform). As part of the contest, PaperStreet will also not design out subpages, only the home page.
4. You must enter by December 23rd, 2011 for entry. PaperStreet will select the client in the following week and notify the winner. PaperStreet will begin work on the design in January 2012.

Our short answer: E-Newsletters are a cost-effective way to connect with clients.
The long answer:  Thanks to tracking technology, you don’t have to take our word for it. 

Most email marketing services now automatically generate statistical reports that allow you to track the effectiveness of your newsletter campaign. Our favorite, MailChimp, shows you:

• How many clients opened your newsletter and the names of those specific clients;
• Of those who opened the newsletter, how many people clicked on a specific article;
• What articles were the most popular;
• How many people unsubscribed to your newsletter;
• How many complaints you received, and more.

Services like MailChimp will send out your newsletter for free, so the only cost to you is the time or money it takes to write the content. If you already write copy for your website in the form of blog posts and news releases, then all you need to do is repurpose this content, drop it into a pre-created newsletter template and, voila!, you are done.  

Analyzing Results

So let’s say your law firm or business commits to doing a newsletter for several months. The next step is to use these statistical reports to determine where and how you should improve your efforts, or, if in fact, E-Newsletters aren’t for you.

I’m going to use PaperStreet’s E-Newsletter as an example:

STEP 1: Look at Your Open Rate vs. Industry

For our past three newsletters, we’ve had an average of 37% of clients open our newsletter. The industry average for our field is 25%, according to MailChimp, so already we know we are doing something right.  (The average open rate for the legal industry is roughly 17%). 

If your average is much lower, one possible problem may be that your newsletter does not immediately explain to your audience what it is about and how the information can help.  Work on improving the title of your newsletter, which appears in the email subject field. Swap out a vague title like  “March Newsletter for Tax Attorney, LLC” with something compelling: “Tax Update:  How New Regulations Affect Your Business & Family.”

STEP 2: Compare Open Rates of Your Newsletters Over Time/By Subject

Let’s say your open rates are decent. Now it’s time to compare newsletters over time to see what topics clients are most interested in.

When I look at the past three PaperStreet newsletters, I see the most popular one by far was about law firm website redesigns (the other two were about Lawyer SEO and Law Firm Internet Marketing). This is actually a surprise. I would have assumed SEO (Search Engine Optimization, the process of boosting your website’s rankings on search engines like Google) would have been the hottest topic.

This is important info to give our team members in sales. We may be underestimating our clients’ need for a website facelift.  It also tells me that this is a topic we should write about again in the near future.

STEP 3: Look at Click Rate

Your open rate is the percentage of people who open your newsletter. Your click rate is the percentage of those people who actually click on a particular article.

Looking at your click rate can be helpful in seeing even further detail on what info your clients want. Maybe they like legal news but ignore the article on your firm’s new attorneys. For future newsletters, you want to give clients more of what they want, and keep other info as concise as possible (or improve the presentation so that they see more clearly how this info can benefit them.)

In the case of PaperStreet, click rates have taught us the importance of a catchy headline.  In general, we’ve found short, info-packed lists (“Top Ten Best Practices”  “Seven Things to Avoid, ”etc) do well, as well as articles that include graphics, photos or other visuals.  Headlines with personality and humor, where appropriate, also work well. The most clicked on headline we’ve had to date is “Awful Lawyer Ad and Website Clichés – Funny if They Weren’t Costing You Money and Clients.”

STEP 4:  Look at Complaint Rate/Unsubscribe Rate

If you find a lot your newsletter recipients are complaining and/or un-subscribing (the legal industry average is only 0.02 % and 0.12 % respectively), you should scrutinize whom you are sending your newsletter to and how you obtained their emails. 

Did these people knowingly sign up for this kind of information? The correct answer should be “yes.” It is better to have a small, quality list that builds over time than run their risk of being labeled a spammer.

To read more on how to avoid this pitfall, read this blog post on why law firms should “Stop Using Purchased Email Lists!”

Need E-Newsletter Help?

If you want help setting up a E-Newsletter, PaperStreet can:

• Create an account for your law firm on your preferred email marketing service;
• Design a custom newsletter template that matches your website and branding;
• Consult with you to ensure you are using a proper email list;
• Train you on how to send out the newsletter yourself; and/or
• Write custom content.

For more information, and to see examples of our newsletter portfolio, visit our website page on Law Firm E-Newsletters.

The pop-up contact form would activate after seven seconds on any interior page, only pinging the user once.

One day, based on user input and our own personal hatred of pop-ups, we decided to disable the extra pop-up contact form. Poof! It was gone.

Bad idea.

When the pop-up form was originally on the website, it allowed us to convert at 1.5% rate each month on average. After the pop-up was disabled, we converted at only 1%. It is only a half of a percentage difference, you may be thinking, not even a full percent. That is huge, though, especially when dealing with web traffic.

So how is this a quarter-million-dollar mistake?

Let’s say your business or law firm website attracts about 5,000 visitors a month, and with the pop-up form you convert your visitors at that 1.5% rate. Without the pop-up you are at 1% conversion. The difference, in the measly half a percent, is 75 inquiries versus 50 client inquiries a month. That is basically an extra inquiry each day.

Now let’s run the math to get us to the potential $240,000 mistake. Let’s say you convert 10% of the actual inquiries into clients. Let’s say each client is valued at $10,000. Because you have 25 less inquiries per month, you actually sign five clients, versus your usual seven. Your revenue went from $70,000 to $50,000. That means you are out $20,000 per month in revenue, or $240,000 a year total. Yikes!

So there you have it, a dreaded pop-up form can lead to a higher conversion rate, more inquiries, and more business.

Lesson learned

Never be afraid to test. In fact, you should test, test and more test your law firm or business website. Some of your changes will have a negative effect. But they will prove to you what works and what does not. If changes have a negative effect, reverse them right away. If data is positive, then keep that change and test out new iterations.

In this case, the pop-up form was proven to work, so it goes back on PaperStreet’s website, despite our personal hatred of pop-ups in general.

The larger the word, the more times it is searched.  The smaller the term, the less it is searched.  For instance, “criminal lawyer” is searched for 135,000 times per month with broad match turned on, whereas agricultural lawyer is just 73 times per month.

Also below is the actual keyword volume, in case you do not like the visualization.

Google recently made headlines when it launched a new algorithm to fight content spam. Many web sites with low-quality, shallow content have since seen their rankings plummet.

Even if you haven’t been affected by the new algorithm, this is a good opportunity to re-evaluate your content. Google has promised even more change to come, so if your copy isn’t particularly original or useful, it’s time to play catch-up.

Web Site Content Basics for Lawyers

Here are a few basics to keep in mind:

• Don’t Copy Content from Other Sites. I cringe as I write this – in part because the advice seems so obvious, and in part because, unfortunately, it is necessary to repeat.
• If You Must Use Stock Content, Personalize it. Stock content is unoriginal, but also cheap and legal to reuse (and reuse, which makes it of limited value for Search Engine Optimization). If you use stock content, contain it to your practice areas and add a personalized introduction to each page that speaks to your unique approach/clientele/geographic area.
• Better Yet, Feature Original Copy Throughout Your Website. There really is no substitute for rich, robust content that shows how your firm is different, establishes authority and creates trust.

How To Select a Law Firm Content Provider

I suspect many lawyers reluctant to pay for original content are actually worried about something other than price: Quality. “ ” No one wants to pay a stranger a bunch of money and then have the written product turn out to be sub-par.

To avoid this:

• Ask colleagues who they have used;
• Find sites with content you admire and email them to find out who they hired;
• Google terms like “Law Firm Content” and check out the portfolios of the companies there;
• Be prepared to spend some time speaking with whatever company you choose about firm specifics and branding. Even the best writer cannot spin gold out of thin air;
• Be wary of “free content included with web design” offers that don’t disclose they are talking about stock content. If the content is original and of high quality (and that’s a BIG if), how can they give it away? By gouging you elsewhere.

Want more info or custom content quote? Call PaperStreet today at 954.523.2181.

Want to read more about Law Firm content? Check out these previous posts:

Hit that Wall? 4 Blog Post Ideas to Help You Brainstorm

http://www.paperstreet.com/blog/3024

Movie Titles Can Teach You to Write Better Title Tags and Headlines

http://www.paperstreet.com/blog/2756

WordPress Quickstart Tutorial for New Editors

http://www.paperstreet.com/blog/3040

Want to Edit your Web Site with Ease? Learn How You Can via 3 Great Toolss

http://www.paperstreet.com/blog/2653



Most searches now pull Local listings on top of organic results, meaning this is what people see first. This makes having a listing on Google Places’ Seven Pack crucial. (Google Places’ Seven Pack is the “A through F” listing that is now displayed on the top of an organic search on Google.)

How to Move to the Front of the “Pack”

The two main points of doing this properly are:

1. Adhering to the Google Places Guidelines
2. Having a 100% Google Places Dashboard

Guidelines

Google has the power to change the rules of the game (especially since we are all using their products), so staying on top of any new updates to their guidelines is very important for your SEO team. There have been various updates from Google on what is allowed, versus what now is not. Following the most current guidelines versus the old guidelines is imperative, as some actions may actually get your listing removed.

Google Places Dashboard

One of the main items that a campaign can do to bolster its affects is to make sure that your Local Business Center Dashboard is 100% complete. (A Google Places Dashboard is the main landing page after you log into your account and choose to edit it or update it, i.e. http://screencast.com/t/H1dOozDxgR4T).

This means, when filling out your account, make sure you can provide as much information as possible but, at the same time, adhere to the guidelines mentioned above. For example, make sure that you are not using any other information in the Name Field on the form. In the past, you used to be able to place in items like your practice areas within your name or firm name. This is very strictly monitored now.

Lastly, there are some great resources online that will help in staying on top of what Google wants you to complete, and this great chart happens to be one of them.

Make sure you adhere to both of these two main points in your campaign and you should start seeing your Places listing show up in the results right away.

If you need help setting up your Local listing, or evaluating whether it is set up correctly, contact PaperStreet today at 954.523.2181.

Answer a client question

We get questions all day long from clients on a variety of topics. I am sure you do, too. Sometimes I pick up the phone, but often I simply reply back with the answer. If that answer is more than a few paragraphs, I turn it into a blog post. Simply strip out confidential information, turn the headline into the question, and your body text becomes the answer. BAM, you are done with your post.

Lists

Much like this one, you create lists of information. List how you help your clients with tasks, list how to handle a particular issue, list your process. Anything the client would want to know, make it a list.

Internal Processes

We often make checklists for SEO, design or other processes. Most of what we do is not a trade secret.Yes, it helps us be a better company and service our client. However, there is no reason we cannot share that info with clients and even potential competitors. This list is an example of that. Other examples include our logo process [INSERT LINK], SEO Process, Google Local Process, etc. All great blog posts.

News Recap

It is perfectly acceptable and good to post about a recent case, its ruling and impact on your practice. You should already be reading up daily or weekly on your core practice anyway, so figure out what is new and write a recap on that. It helps you understand the decision and keep your clients informed. One word of caution, however: Don’t be shady. Don’t report on someone’s tragedy or random accident that is not news and then try to plug your law firm in the next breath. You’ll just look like you’re trying to profit off of their misfortune. Bottom line, use the news to educate and share info with your clients, not send a heavy-handed sales pitch.

Social Media & Forum Commentary

If there is a good discussion going on another forum, blog or web site, chances are you want to comment. If your comment is short and sweet, post it there. If you are doing a detailed response, you may want to post that on your own blog.

Instead of commenting directly on the thread, consider posting your short thoughts as a reply, but then linking to your full post on your site. Then on your detailed blog post, you can summarize the discussion and offer your commentary. This will also allow you to be more detailed with photos, charts, and bullet point that may not be allowed on some forums or comment threads.

Purchased lists are not permission lists. I have seen campaigns fail to send because a client has purchased their list. We spend time drafting great copy; putting together a great design, testing, more testing, and then the email cannot be sent because the list is purchased. So we always ask that first now. Where did you get your list?

There are definite sanctions if it is not permission based.

1. Federal CAN-SPAM Act

The United States federal CAN-SPAM Act became law on January 1, 2004. According to their website, the FTC says that if you violate the law, you could be fined $16,000 for each offense (multiply $16,000 times the number of people on your recipient list). Yikes, that can get expensive quickly. ISPs around the country have already successfully sued spammers for millions and millions of dollars under this law. Here is a review of the law from the FTC.

Because that it is law, all major email marketing companies like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Campaign Monitor require your list to be permission based – usually double opt-in to send from their networks. A double opt-in list means they agreed to sign up to your list from your web site and also clicked on a verification email link that you sent them.

We have had clients purchase lists, not tell us where they get them from, and we upload the list to the mailing company to send. Lo and behold the list is rejected on the first send, because they are not opt-in. This includes purchased lists from the Florida Bar and all other bar associations. Sure they may have opted-in to the Bar, but not to your list.

Using purchased lists just wastes a bunch of time and money. I am just advising to be aware of this requirement. I will say that sometimes small campaigns can sneak under the radar. But bottom line, if it is not permission based, you are in violation of Federal law.

2. Potential Blacklist of your IP address.

Let’s say you skip the email marketing companies sending platform because of their pesky permission requirements and send it yourself. If you send this from your own computer network, you may end up on spam blacklists like spamhaus.org. All it takes to get on a blacklist is for you to be reported a few times to the right people.

If you get on a blacklist, then legitimate clients will not be able to receive your email, it is blocked or goes into junk mail. This I have seen a lot. It creates havoc in trying to run your business. Your IT person is also going to hate you, as it is very hard to get off the list. It almost always requires that you move email servers to a new IP range – more time and money.

Most of the gang on LinkedIn believes that law firms simply: (1) do not have enough time, (2) it is not a priority, and/or (3) it forces the firm to make decisions. Everyone agrees they should have them, but that they just don’t.

I think that law firm logo design can be easy. If you are interested in a logo design process, here is how we work: http://www.paperstreet.com/blog/1879. This was a project for a law firm in Georgia, the country, not the state.

Even thought the client was 6,000 miles away, the process only took a few weeks, about 20 hours of work on our end, and perhaps a few hours on the clients end to just review/decide. Total cost was a few thousand dollars, a few hours of their time, and they now have a logo for the next 10 years of business.

Logos do not have to be time consuming if you have a talented designer. They should be part of your overall branding. It sets the tone for everything the firm does with marketing.