Perhaps she’s grouchy because she hasn’t had any trips to Custom Legal Marketing’s office this year. Or maybe it’s because she hasn’t been able to enjoy the unchaperoned freedom of barking at every person that drives by, walks by, or looks at her house. Whatever the reason, this year’s candid photo of Maple, our 13-year-old dingo and 2017 Bigger Law Firm Magazine Covergirl encapsulates how many of us feel about this year.
As we usher in a…
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Earlier this year, we talked about the benefits of Google Web Stories and how law firms should be adopting this mobile media format. Before we share some examples, let us do a quick recap.
Think of it as a mobile-optimized presentation with videos, animations and slides. It is like a PowerPoint presentation on your website that users can discover in search.
Web Stories have been used by news media and magazines but…
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Google Confirms It Doesn’t Index Passages Separately (Search Engine Land)
Recently Google shared how individual passages of a webpage will soon be identified to better understand how relevancy between a page and a particular search. If you’re worried that this meant you have to index passages separately, Google clarified in a Tweet that this will not be the case.
6 Ways To Improve Your Remote…
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If your firm is investing the time necessary to produce quality content, you will want to make sure this content is being read by more people than just your team members. Well-developed content is a key part of a comprehensive marketing plan. However, it only works for your firm if it is seen by as many potential clients as possible.
Firms, brands, marketers and individuals produce volumes of content every hour. Much of it is run-of-the-mill, but some of…
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Google Local Service Ads are now available for law firms. This is exciting news as there has been a lot of anticipation around this offering. With Google Local Service Ads, the advertiser (your law firm) pays per lead instead of paying per click like you would in a PPC campaign.
What are Google Local Service Ads?
A Local Service Ad (or LSA) is an advertisement that appears above the sponsored search results on Google. Someone can select a service provider and book them directly through the LSA page. Unlike pay-per-click, you the advertiser are charged per-lead and not every time someone clicks on your ad.
2. Click on the ad. Out of respect for the advertiser, I would normally not click on an ad while writing a blog. But in this case, who cares? The advertiser isn't paying per click, they're paying per lead. When clicking on the LSA ad, you're taken to the LSA landing page, not the advertiser's website.
You will notice that there is no other way to contact this advertiser except for the phone number (which we crossed out). Some advertisers may allow you to make an appointment directly from their LSA page. Whenever the advertiser is contacted through this page, that's when they're charged. When I clicked on the ad, this electrician wasn't charged anything.
1. Google has a cost estimator at https://ads.google.com/local-services-ads/cost/
2. Type in your zip code, the number of leads you want each month, and select your law firm's area of practice and then click on "Estimate Budget".
3. If you're like most law firms in most cities you will either:
a) Not see your practice area listed.
or
b) You will see this message: "We're not available in your area yet."
What we found for most industry categories was a cost per lead of $15-$40. If Google LSA can deliver leads for $15-$40 to lawyers, this will be an awesome addition to your law firm marketing efforts! Realistically, you can expect higher rates in competitive markets for competitive practice areas. Since lawyers are a new addition to the offering, there isn't a lot of data to work with.
Once it's available in your market, Google Local Service Ads will be a great compliment to your existing pay-per-click campaign. Plus, you will get a Google Guaranteed badge for $50/month after Google verifies your license, insurance, and legal status. That Google Guaranteed badge doesn't just apply to your Local Service Ads, that badge will get associated with your Google My Business listing which could help you earn more clicks from your organic map placement.
Give us a few details about your law firm, location, and practice areas and we will contact you when LSA's are available in your market.
Google Web Stories is a framework for building immersive, user-and mobile-friendly pages. A Web Story functions similarly to an Instagram story, in which a user swipes through a series of slides to learn about a topic.
Web Stories are part of the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) framework and are aimed at mobile users. The idea is to make the mobile reading experience more like the experience of using an app. This gives content producers control over their branding and narrative…
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It’s time for another roundup of good reads from around the web.
Will Repeatedly Searching & Clicking My Site Increase Rankings?
Tony Wright at Search Engine Journal dives into a popular belief that rankings can be influenced by clicking on your website. Is it fact or fiction?
The Controversial Link-Building Practice That Google Will Not Penalize Your Law Firm for Using
In this article, Tony Chiaramonte dives into a
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Last week, Google quietly released a few new attributes that will help you communicate your meeting options while social distancing.
Four attributes were released but only one applies to most law firms; Online Appointments.
Since the COVID-19 measures went into place in March, many law firms started offering online consultations and appointments. With the new Online Appointments attribute, prospects don’t have to visit your website to know that you’re available for virtual appointments. They are able to see it…
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When you think of your law firm’s SEO strategy, your goal is to appear as number one on organic searches, right? If you land at rank 1, page 1 for a search term, haven’t you won?
Perhaps not so surprisingly, that’s a trick question. There’s more to SEO strategy than simply getting you to the top position on organic search. The assumption that rank 1, page 1 holds the highest value in search results can…
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An SEO dashboard would give you the clarity you need to know what your marketing dollars are doing, and if your SEO campaign is actually working.
What’s an SEO Dashboard?
Like your car’s dashboard that allows you to see what’s working and what isn’t, an SEO dashboard displays the key components of your SEO campaign’s performance. You can use it to track your rankings, organic traffic, web conversions, backlinks, and more. With an…
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