Managing Your Internet Presence For Attorneys

Managing Your Internet Presence
For Attorneys
February 6th, 2009
Atlanta Bar Association
Presented By: Cordelia Blake

Owner, Cordelia Blake Web Design
Web Sites
Blogs & Blog Sites
Education
www.CordeliaBlake.com
What Is Internet Presence?
 Your Online Reputation
 What People See When They Google You
 Anything That Appears In a Results Page
Of A Search
 Your Responsibility!
Why Is It Different For
Attorneys?
 Legal marketing tends to be firm oriented
 Firm marketing tends to be toward clients
and not referral sources
 Referrals can be a huge source of revenue
for attorneys
 You have more choices and options in your
legal career if you are perceived as a
rainmaker and community leader
Why Is It The Same For
Attorneys?
 You are being Googled before meetings by
referral sources and potential clients
 Your worth to your company and to the
marketplace is always being evaluated
 Your career experience, your joys, your hobbies,
your values, and your opinions, all contribute to
your professional reputation
 You can be the driver of your reputation or the
passive recipient—which do you choose?
Who Are You? -
Professionally…
 Name
 Professional achievements
 Community service
 Appropriate hobbies
 Groups to which you belong
 Family accomplishments and activities
 Well thought out opinions and thoughts about any
of the above
Private Matters
 Anything you put on the internet is public
 Do not associate any of these with your
name or email:
 Nudity, drinking achievements, explicit
interests
 Politics & Religion-be very cautious
Where In The Web Are YOU?
 Firm Website  Social Media Sites
 Paid listing sites  Linked In
 Atlanta Lawyer Directory,  Amazon
Findlaw, Lawyers
 Facebook
Listing.com, …
 Twitter
 Professional Orgs
 Atlanta Bar, GAWL,  Google Local Business
Networking Groups  Your own blog or podcast
 Published articles or press
releases
 Comments or quotes on
other people’s blogs or
 Quotes in published
articles podcasts
Website
 May be the anchor of your internet presence
if you have any control over it
 May detract from your internet presence or
perception
 You need to know where you are and
strategize accordingly
Firm Website
 Basic Standards:
 Professional Looking
 User Friendly
 Clear Call To Action
 Interesting Or At Least
Clear
 Good Spelling &
Grammar
 Updatable
A Fork In The Road
 If You Love Your Firm  If You Don’t Love Your
Website… Firm Website
 Work on SEO to drive up  Beef up your other web
hits spaces
 Keep updating it  Link between those, and
 Use additional strategies to only refer to firm site
supplement your presence minimally
 Link to your other web  Spend considerable time
spaces from the site and energy developing your
 Link to your site from alternative web
everywhere else representation
SEO-What Is It?
 Stands for “Search Engine Optimization”
 It is the art of getting your website listed in the top
section of the first page of search engine results
 Search engines such as Google do not tell anyone
how they decide which site goes where, and they
change it constantly
 They try to mimic a human-if that human had read
every page online and followed every link
SEO Strategy Basics
 “Content is king” - focus on strong and relevant
content
 If you are in a very competitive area-it is harder
 If it is important, hire an SEO consultant and expect
to spend a minimum of $500 per month for expertise
only and possibly much more
 Everything is trackable - know what works and what
does not on a monthly basis
 Like all marketing-it will change over time and must
be constantly monitored
YourName.com
 Domains cost about $15 per year to rent
 It’s a kind of insurance
 If it is available — Reserve IT!
 Got Kids? Reserve their domains too
 Either leave it blank or forward it to another
domain (your firm’s) until you are ready to use it
 Suggested Registrars:BlueHost.com,
GoDaddy.com, Dotster.com
Top 3 FREE Online Tools To
Manage Your Internet Presence!
 Amazon.com
 LinkedIn.com
 Google Local
Business
 Business — not
personal name
Amazon.com
 You can set up a profile for free using your name
and business email
 It ranks very well on search engine results
 The Good News: Your smart and witty book reviews
will rank very well
 The Bad News: Your wish lists and recent purchases
can show up too - so be careful what you wish for!
 Set up your profile, review 1 or 2 books per
month, and manage your preferences
LinkedIn.com
 Simple: An online “black book” of whom you know
 Complex: An incredible tool for becoming known
and knowing others
 Upload your contacts - invite them to join your
network
 Ranks very well in search engine results-even for a
fairly common name
 Invite and recommend only those people whom you
actually know
Linked In Features
 For Free:  For A Fee
 Questions: You can ask or
answer questions on a  See who has viewed
variety of topics your profile and
 Recommendations: Posted contact them
on profiles with link to the
recommender (they are  Proprietary email with
approved) much higher response
 Apps: mobile phones, blogs,
presentations, files, travel rate than regular email
plans, and more are  Ability to contact those
connected to your profile
not in your direct
 Ask your network for
introductions network
Linked In For Attorneys
 “Attracting proper public exposure helps
potential clients find you.”
 “Manage your reputation in a credible,
professional manner.”
 “Find relevant information and experts
when you need them.”
-http://learn.linkedin.com/attorneys/
Google Local Business Center
 Registration is free
 Good for firms or sole practitioners
 Not connected with SEO
 When someone Googles your business type and location,
you will show up on the map
Facebook & MySpace
 Facebook is more professional
 Depends on the type of law that you
practice
 Entertainment lawyers should be on MySpace
 Can take an enormous amount of time to
maintain well
 May be of value — proceed with caution
Professional Listing Sites
 These are sites that rank well and that you pay to be
listed on
 Enter search terms that your clients or referral sources
use, and see which sites are on top
 If you try one or are already using one:
 Take advantage of the tracking that is available to see how
many hits or calls you are receiving
 Keep ownership of your site separate so that you maintain
control
Examples: www.AtlantaLawyerDirectory.com, www.GeorgiaLawyerReferral.com,
www.FindLaw.com
Professional Organizations &
Community Groups
 Make sure that your name and web
locations (sites, blogs, profiles etc...) are
accurately listed on their websites
 Link to their sites from yours
Blogs, Podcasts, & Twitter
 These can be useful tools if you have the time and
enjoy them
 They can be detrimental if you do not
 Even if you do not have your own — leave
intelligent comments on others with links to your
website or LinkedIn Profile
 Start a free blog or podcast on something non-
inflammatory and low key to learn the basics
 Decide how to proceed from there
Bad Results
 If they seem ridiculous — consider ignoring
them
 Ask publisher to remove from the internet
 Flood the internet with references to your
name so that the negative results are buried
far down in the search results
 If it seems legit and will not go away —
address it directly on your website or blog
Now What?
 Getting Started  Strategize
 Amazon book reviews
 Start Small
 Commenting on blogs or
news stories  Choose techniques
 LinkedIn that you enjoy and
 Google Local Business
have time for (or can
 Proceed With Caution..
realistically make time
 LinkedIn (more detail)
 Blog
for)
 Podcast
Summary
 Use the right tools for you to boost your online
reputation
 Do not engage in any online activities that may
endanger your reputation
 Treat the development of your online reputation as
an integral part of your career and business
strategy
 Take your internet presence into your own
hands
Contact me with questions, comments, and referrals!
Managing Your Internet Presence
For Attorneys
February 6th, 2009
Atlanta Bar Association
Presented By, Cordelia Blake

Owner, Cordelia Blake Web Design
Phone: (678) 860 – 3754
Fax: (678) 840 – 7737
Cordelia@CordeliaBlake.com
Website: http://www.CordeliaBlake.com
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cordeliablake
Twitter: CordeliaBlake

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Presented By: Cordelia Blake

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