What lawyers can learn from Google's Webspam Report

What lawyers can learn from Google’s Webspam Report

Google released its 2015 Webspam Report this week, which details actions the company took over the last year to try to clean up the internet, reduce spam and increase page quality. When Google chooses to release actual data, webmasters and website owners (and yes, lawyers) should take note. The reports often provide insight into the types of practices Google punishes and rewards, which you can use to help prevent mistakes and build better pages. This report is...

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What clients and visitors expect in a modern law firm website

What clients and visitors expect in a modern law firm website

Your firm's website must play many roles. At its core, your website works as a marketing tool and 24-hour brand ambassador for your firm. However, technology has advanced to such an extent that static sales pages no longer suffice — either for visitors or search engines.

“In the future, the winners in the legal world may succeed by dint of survival of the most responsive.”

–Richard Susskind, The End of Lawyers (2008)

Attorney websites are evolving to become client relations...

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How to transform your unique selling proposition into effective web content

How to transform your unique selling proposition into effective web content

Good website content is not easy to write. Web content has to hold the interest of visitors, who have notoriously limited attention spans, and in that short time it must offer enough value to convince readers they have found the right firm. On top of this challenge, the process of writing web content can seem tedious and repetitive, making it easy to start taking shortcuts or using platitudes.

Firms must overcome these difficulties to develop web content that works...

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How your firm can benefit from an online newsroom

How your firm can benefit from an online newsroom

A good website should support a firm's standing as an experienced authority while convincing visitors to take action in the form of a call or consultation request. Sales and marketing are primary functions of an attorney website, and as such website content tends to be mainly consumer-focused.

Some law firm websites also have sections that are intended to speak to colleagues. Firms that do personal injury consulting or appellate work, for example, may be able to offer...

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How to define your content for Google with structured data

How to define your content for Google with structured data

Law firms now have a greater ability to explain the purpose of their website's content in a language that search engines can easily interpret.

In early January, Google announced it was expanding support for structured data markup with the addition of new syntax and several new use cases. In conjunction with the announcement, Google released a new Structured Data Testing Tool and updated its documentation and policies covering structured data markup....

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6 tips for writing successful attorney bios and about pages

6 tips for writing successful attorney bios and about pages

Attorney bios and about pages are underutilized resources. A website's home page and a firm's practice area offerings understandably receive a lot of attention. Such landing pages are a priority since they are in many cases the first page a visitor will see. However, attorney bios and about pages offer an opportunity for both individual lawyers and the firm as a whole to provide visitors with memorable reasons to become clients.

Analytics show that attorney bios are some of...

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6 website pitfalls bringing your law firm down

6 website pitfalls bringing your law firm down

Possibilities for creative website design continue to expand daily. Code is becoming smarter, allowing designers to create interactive pages that compel visitors to take action. New thinking surrounding page structures and navigation provides alternative methods for displaying content that can be adjusted with high levels of specificity to meet the needs of a specific target audience. It is an exciting time for those working within the web design space. Websites are no longer limited by traditional structures or the...

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Use content to set your firm apart from competitors

Use content to set your firm apart from competitors

Too much content that is written for online consumption has no real meaning. Previous iterations of Google's algorithm rewarded voluminous content stuffed with keywords rather than information, and law firm marketing companies stepped up to the challenge, producing long pages of mostly repetitive, generic copy. Some websites still have pre-Penguin hangovers; writing for search engines has left a legacy of boring content and overused phrases.

Visitors are unlikely to remember messaging that is similar to that of the...

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Create strong website layouts by putting content first

Create strong website layouts by putting content first

Attorney websites are primarily informational. Firms aim to create traffic through marketing with the ultimate goal of converting visitors into clients. Since the quality of information on a site plays an active role in determining whether or not a visitor will contact the firm, a website's design must provide a showcase for quality content.

Content marketing is not new; good marketing companies have long stressed the need for quality content. Given its importance, the role of content in the...

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