In the legal profession, online marketing is critical to the success of your firm. An important aspect of this is SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO is constantly evolving and it is imperative to keep up with the changes to maintain a strong online presence. Jennifer Ellis, attorney, educator, and online marketing consultant is teaming up with MyCase to present the basics of SEO and give you the tools you need to start driving traffic to your website.

1. SEO Today: Now What Does
Google Want?!

2. About MyCase
Built as a complete platform, MyCase offers features that
seamlessly cover all the daily functions that a modern, small law
firm requires in one place at an affordable price.
MyCase Web-BasedLegalPracticeManagementSoftware
Just$39/monthperattorney
$29/monthperparalegalorstaff

3. About MyCase
•Modern and professional design built for your firm
•Social media and blog integration
•Complete integration with MyCase practice management
software
MyCase Websites

4. About Our Presenter
• Attorney, Educator and Online
Marketing Consultant
• www.jlellis.net
• Jennifer works at Lowenthal &
Abrams
• www.lowenthalabrams.com
• In January 2014, she
published the book “Word
Press in One Hour for
Lawyers”
• Perfect 10 on Avvo
JenniferEllis

5. Today’s Webinar
• What is SEO?
• Google/Search Engines –Main Focus
• Social Media
• Advertising
• Hiring an SEO Firm?

6. Poll: Do You SEO?
1. Yes
2. No
3. Kind of
4. What’s SEO?

7. What is SEO?
SearchEngineOptimization
How easily can people find you on the web?
Google ranking is crucial
• Where do you show up for key phrases?
Provide many ways for people to find you
• Go where your potential clients are
oFacebook
oLinkedIn
oOther sites
Ads
• Google
• Facebook
• Relevant sites

8. How Has SEO Changed?
Used to be Easy
• Poorly written content
• Keyword stuffing
• Repeated use of the same keywords in the content
• Poor quality links, easily obtained
• Unrelated directories
• Links from poor quality blogs and other sites
• Frequently purchased (violated Google’s terms of service)

9. How Has SEO Changed
Googlechangeditsalgorithm
• Wants high quality, relevant results
• Penalizes bad links
• Punishes sites that engaged in black hat techniques
• Penalizes keyword stuffing
Nothingismoreimportantthanqualitycontentwithrelevantphrases
Termsyoumighthear
• Penguin - Links
• Panda - Content
• Hummingbird – Phrases instead of simple keywords (Content)

10. A Word about Web Design
WelldesignedforGoogle
• Proper coding
• Proper organization
• Submit sitemap(s) in Webmaster tools
• Easytoread
• Easytonavigate
• Searchablebyusers
• Fastloading
• Mobilefriendly
• Usecall(s)toaction
• Havecontactform/chatbox
• RecommendWordPressforeasyupdatingandSEO

11. Why Google Matters
• 11.944billionsearchespermonth
• 1.17billion uniqueuserspermonth
• 67.5%oftheUSsearchmarket
• April,2014DigitalMarketingRamblings
• http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-
numbers-a-gigantic-list-of-google-stats-and-
facts/#.U4ScwCggF40
Year Annual Searches Daily Searches
2013 2,161,530,000,000 5,922,000,000
2012 1,873,910,000,000 5,134,000,000
2011 1,722,071,000,000 4,717,000,000
2010 1,324,670,000,000 3,627,000,000
2009 953,700,000,000 2,610,000,000
2008 637,200,000,000 1,745,000,000
2007 438,000,000,000 60,000,000
• January, 2014 Statistic Brain
• http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/

12. Where Do You Rank?
How high up do you show for relevant phrases on
• Google
• Yelp
• Bing
Term you might hear
• SERP (search engine results page)

13. Results Will Vary
Rank will be different depending on physical location
• Search in San Diego, will receive one set of results
• Search in San Francisco, will receive a different set of
results
Rank willbe different based on how the person searches
• Order of words
• Local search (use of city name)
• Use of quotation marks

14. Search
Resul
ts
A
ds
A
ds

15. In
Philadelphi
a

16. Identifying Key Words/Phrases
Think – How will people find you
• What phrases do people use
• Research what people are searching
• Free tool in Google AdWords
• http://ads.google.com

19. Level of
competition

20. Where to Look for Help From Google
Google’s Suggestions
• http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/u
s/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf
• https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769#1
Matt Cutts
• In charge of web spam at Google
• Frequently releases videos/blog posts
• http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

21. Back Links
Links from other websites to your site
• Quality more important than quantity
• Challenging to obtain good links
• Google shut the door on many old techniques
oTrading links
oGuest posts (starting to be an issue)
oArticles
» Ezine
» Patch (AOL)

22. Getting Back Links
• Highquality,uniquecontent
• Sharingcontentthroughoutthewebtogetattention
• Interestinginfographics
• Lookwherehighrankingsitesareobtaininglinks
• Writingfornewspapers
• Usingrelevanthighqualitydirectories
• Askpeopleforlinks
• Harder now since trading links can be a problem

23. Tools for Checking Links
Ahrefs
• https://ahrefs.com/
Moz
• www.Moz.com
Link Detox
• http://www.linkdetox.com/plans-pricing/

24. Follow v. No Follow
• Follow links are links that impact your rank with Google
• No Follow links do not impact your rank
• However, no follow links can impact your traffic
oDon’t dismiss them out of hand

25. Dealing with Bad Links
• Ask sites to remove bad links
• Disavow with Google
Instructions - http://www.jlellis.net/blog/disvow-links-seo/

26. Poll: Where do you get Ideas for Content?
• Clients
• Reading
• Day-to-day life
• What content?

27. Nothing is More Important than Well Written Content
What is Well Written?
• On point
• Appropriate use of key words/phrases
• 300-600 words
• 1-3 external links
• Appropriate internal links
• Proper grammar and spelling
• Engaging
Terms
• Short tail – Philadelphia Divorce Lawyer
• Long tail – How do I find a good Philadelphia divorce lawyer

28. Writing Tips
• Write clearly and simply
• Proofread
• Edit
• Use pictures
• Identify your target market
• Normally 8th grade level
• Mix up phrases
• Divorce lawyer in Philadelphia
• Philadelphia divorce lawyer
• Keep each page/post to one concept

29. Writing Tips
Use key word/phrase in
• Title
• Link
• Meta description
• H1 (First line, large size)
• First paragraph

30. Writing Tips
Use proper design and HTML
• H2 &H/3headingsbreakupcontent
• Lists with numbers or bullet points
• Alt tags for pictures
•Use key word/phrase
Alt Tag

31. Writing Tips
Do Not
• Write like a lawyer
• Write a legal brief
• Get lost in the details
• Be too complex
• Provide too many cites
• Repeat key word/phrase too many times
• Balance the number against the length of the content

32. Judging Content
Useful tools
• Plugins for WordPress
• Yoast
• Scribe (keyword analysis)
• External sites
• Moz
oProvides on page grade and recommendations

37. Poll: How often do you Write Content?
• Once a day
• Once a week
• Once a month
• Once in a blue moon

38. Google Values Fresh Content
• The more you write content, the better your site will do
• Try to write at least several times per week
• At a minimum, write at least once a week
• Update your old content
• Research how various key words/phrases are
performing
• Adjust accordingly
• Don’t be afraid to test

39. Researching Success
Google Webmaster Tools
http://webmaster.google.com
GoogleAnalytics
http://analytics.google.com
Free tools you must “claim” to
work with your site

40. Webmaster Tools
• Provides details about
• Crawl errors
• Warnings/notices from Google
• Manual penalties
• Provides ability toadd sitemap
• Instructs Google how to crawl your site

41. Analytics
Detailedinformationabouthowyoursiteisperforming
• Bounce rate
oHow long people stay on your site
oHow many pages people read on your site
• Sources of traffic
oOrganic search
oSocial media
oPaid results
oDirect links
Resultsfromspecificsearches
Note Google is hiding a lot of searches due to “privacy” concerns

42. LearnAnalytics
Google training
• http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/index.html?gclid=CL
P91LW-zL4CFSJqOgodBSIAiA
Advanced Web Metrics with GoogleAnalytics
• Brian Clifton
WebAnalytics –An Hour a Day
• Avinash Kaushik
Make sure resource is up-to-date
• Google has made many changes recently

43. Poll: Do You Use Social Media?
• Yes, and I engage with both clients and family
• Yes, but only with close friends and family
• No, but I’d like to.
• No, it’s a waste of time. I don’t care what you ate for
lunch

44. 1.23
billion
1 billion
4 billion
Views per day
300
million
150 million
16 billion photos
70 million243 million
152
million
277
million
45 million
1.3 million businesses

45. People Use Social Media
Use Social Media to
• Expand the reach of your content
• Network with potential referral sources
• Educate clients
• Thinkofsocialmediaasifitisacupofcoffeewithapotentialclient
• Don’tthinkofitasmarketinginthetraditionalsense
• Sharewhatevermakesyoufeelcomfortable
• Donottrytohaveaseparatesocialmediapresenceforprivateand
public

46. Blogs
Blog
• Articles
• Updates on the law
• Interesting information
• Encourage comments
Betimely
• Example, same sex marriage in Pennsylvania
• Wait a few days? No one will care.
• Write within a day or two. A lot of traffic.
Rememberacalltoaction
• Call us
• Write us
• Use contact form
• Etc.

47. Facebook
• Share blog posts
• Talkaboutyourlife(whateveriscomfortable)
• I talk about my dog
• People respond

48. Set up a Facebook Page
• Accountsareforindividuals
• Pagesareforfirms
• Usethecorrectone
• Makeyourpagedetailedwithalotofinformation

49. Twitter
• Share blog and website content
• Retweet other people’s content
• When you share for other people, they share for you
• Talk about whatever makes you comfortable
• Only 140 characters

50. LinkedIn
• 100% of Fortune 500 Companies Represented
• Excellent place to seek referrals
• High end clients
• Business clients
• Set up a business page as well as a personal account

51. Google+
• Notparticularlysuccessfulforsocialmedia
• Googleintegratesthesearchresults
• GooglePagesarecrucialforlocalsearch
• Local search is crucial for being found
• CompleteaGoogle+Pageforeachlocation
• Seekreviewsfromclients

52. Pinterest
• 80% female
• Harder to use picture sites
• Can link blog posts with pictures toPinterest
• Share activities by firm
• Charity work
• Pictures in court house
• Share personal interests are comfortable and appropriate
• Recipes
• Garden
• Follow others and share posts

53. YouTube
• Videosareanexcellentwaytoattractattention
• Allowspotentialclientstogettoknowyouinamorepersonalway
• Provide
• Bios
• Short pieces about the law
• Embed
• Website/blog posts
• Facebook
• Other social media sites

54. Share Content Everywhere
• Use the language of the site
• Get to know Twitter’s unique language
• @jle_jd
• #SEO
• RT
• Use tools such as HootSuite to make life easier
• Share content in many places at once
• Remember to engage
• Adjust content for medium

55. Reviews
• Peoplejudgelawyers(andallbusinesses)basedonreviews
• Askyourclientstowritereviewsforyou
• Becertainyoudonotofferanythinginexchange
• Some review technology providers will tell you this is ok
» It is not
• Google+
• Avvo
• Yelp
• Facebook

56. Ads
Pay per click
Google
Facebook
Yahoo!
Other sites
Banners
Numerous options

57. GoogleAdWords
Payperclick
Basedonkeywords
FollowGoogle’sbestpractices
http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/adwords-best-practices-2014.html
Usekeywordresearchtoidentifybestoptions
Properlywrittenandtargetedadsarecheaper
• Match keywords with landing page
Adjustadsfrequently
• Success goes down as time passes
Testdifferentads
• Lawyer
• Attorney
• Advocate

58. Facebook
Pay per click
• Demographics
• Age
• Gender
• Interest
Sponsored posts
• Demographics
• Choose a specific post
• Identify how much to spend
• How long to run the ad
• Where it goes

59. Behavioral Marketing
Followspeoplearoundthewebbasedonwhattheysearched
• Details stored in cookies
SearchedforSEOonGoogle
• Facebook shows ads for SEO
Remarketing
• People see ads for your site over and over

60. Hiring an SEO
• ManySEOindividualsandcompanies
• Watchforpromises
• “We can get you to page one”
• Watchforkeywords
• Are they really useful?
• Do a cost/benefit analysis
oDifficulty of keyword
oChance of success

61. Hiring an SEO
• Exactly what will the firm do for you?
• How much will it cost
• Many companies charge between $1,000 and $5,000 per
month
• Difficulty of the market impacts charge
• Amount of work impacts charge
• How long do they think it will take
• Are they focused only on traffic?
• What about actual leads?
• What about actual clients?
• Ask for references
• Research the company online
• Review the contract closely

62. Ask to See Content
• Watch for bad spelling/grammar
• Keyword stuffing
• Automated content
• Ask who writes the content
• Ask about ethics knowledge
• Check links

63. Watch for Black Hat
• Purchasing links
• Link farms
• Pages that exist just for linking to or from
• Requiring a link from you to SEO’s website
• Violating Google’s terms of service
• Harming your competitors with bad links

64. A Note about Ethics
Don’tforgetabouttheethicalrules
• Rules vary from state-to-state
• Check your own jurisdiction(s)
• Include disclaimers where you can
• Be careful not to provide legal advice
• Be careful about unauthorized practice of law in other jurisdictions
• Watch language
• Specialist
• Expert
• Numerousethicsopinionsinvolvingsocialmediaandtheweb
• Still developing
• Rules off line apply on line
• See 7.x and 8.x

65. Contact Us
JenniferEllis,JD
Lowenthal&Abrams,PC
www.lowenthalabrams.com
www.jlellis.net
717-256-1638
MyCase.com
MyCase.com/blog
support@mycase.com
(800) 571-8062
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