Check Your GeoBlock

When we build a new legal website, one of the first questions we ask is, "Where do you want to pull clients from". This is an important question since most online searches include a geographic search term. Depending on the importance of the term, our writers may include multiple references to certain key geographies (Phoenix, Arizona, Scottsdale, etc..) within the content.

In order to optimize less popular geographic locations, we incorporate a "geography block" at the bottom of every page. A geography block includes all of the cities and locations that your firm serves. Its important that you review the geography block once in awhile to ensure that you are targeting the right areas.

March Madness

With votes coming in the very last minute, Larry G. Ruch staved off a furious last day rally by Gillespie, Shields & Associates to preserve a tie for the February design of the month award. The exciting contest saw no less than 4 lead changes during the 2 weeks of voting.

Congrats to the two winning designers; Pete Otto and Clayton Chelmo. Pete Otto has designed a number of great Arizona sites, including four sites for Knapp & Roberts and three sites for Harris Powers & Cunningham. Clayton also has an impressive body of work in Arizona, designing Friedl Richardson's site along with Dan Gukeisen's bankruptcy website.  

For winning the award, each site will get a permanent contextual based link on the design page of my website. Thanks again for everyone who voted.

One More Day To Vote!!!

Make sure you cast your vote for the February Arizona Design competition. It looks like its come down to two great website entries; Gillespie, Shields & Associates and Larry G. Ruch.

*Its worth taking another look at www.gillaw.com as they just added some amazing flash animation to their site!

What Is Google Page Rank?

Every web page in existence has an assigned Google PageRank. PageRank was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and remains a big part of the Google ranking Algorithm. PageRank can range from zero to ten. The higher the PageRank the better. It is extremely rare for websites to achieve a very high PageRank-(Yahoo & Google are the only tens that I know of). Most FindLaw websites will eventually achive a page rank of 3-4. To check your PageRank you need to download the Google toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com/

How does PageRank work? PageRank relies on the democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of a web page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from one web page to another as a vote of authority. Besides looking at the number of "votes", Google also looks at the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important." Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages' relative importance. Thanks to over 1.4 million inbound links, www.FindLaw.com has a very high page rank and thus provides a powerful vote of authority for any attorney website.

Martin & Bonnett Settles a Case for $6.5 Million!

On Wednesday March 12th, The Arizona Daily Star reported how Susan Martin, a founding partner in the firm Martin & Bonnett, was able to secure payment of a $6.5 million settlement on behalf of about 300 former employees of Thomas-Davis Medical Centers. In a case that took over ten years to complete, the former doctors and nurses of doctors group are set to receive checks ranging from $500 to $263,000.

In the case, Susan Martin represented the Doctors Union against the now defunct bankrupt parent company, FPA Medical Management.

In 1997 the Tucson based doctors group made the unusual decision to join a union to fight their employer on increased workloads and cuts in pay and malpractice insurance agreements. With the backing of their union, the doctors and their staff won an unfair-labor-practices case in federal district court.

Unfortunately that win was just the start of the battle, as the parent company soon declared bankruptcy (Right after the executives secretly agreed to give themselves over $3.5 million in pay hikes and bonuses) and the vital community health organization closed its doors in 1998.
The National Labor Relations Board filed a claim for the money in the bankruptcy case on behalf of the doctors and staff members, but it sat unresolved — until now. In January, the bankruptcy court approved about $6.5 million in claims for back pay and malpractice insurance premiums.

Google Alerts

I got a great tip from a client today. Chris Phillips the new office manager at Gillespie, Shields & Associates told me about Google Alerts. With Google alerts, you can get an email anytime your website URL appears anywhere online. This function can be particularly helpful in tracking new inbound links to your site. Its very easy to do. Just go to http://www.google.com/alerts, enter your domain name and choose 'comprehensive' as the type of alert.

Should an Attorney BLOG?

I am often asked the question, Should I start a BLOG? The short answer is of course. A BLOG is a great communication tool, that when used correctly can be a great differentiator for your firm. A BLOG or online journal offers attorneys the chance to write on current events, changes in the law, specific cases, politics and just about anything else that moves them - in real time.

The search engines really like BLOGs for two reasons; they offer a diverse search experience and they offer a great source of fresh custom content. This is why, if you do have a BLOG, its important that you post regularly and often! The search engine spiders will start to realize that your BLOG is a source of new custom content and they will get into a habit of indexing your BLOG often. Since I update my BLOG quite regularly, my posts are usually ranking and visible in searches within 24 hours! Posting 3-5 times a week is ideal, but doing so at least once a week is okay too. David Patton, an Arizona Medical Malpractice Lawyer, has a FindLaw BLOG http://www.azbirthinjury.com/ that has developed a very high Google page rank even though he does not post often. David uses the platform to paraphrase articles and share medical malpractice news stories from around the country.

Finally, if you want your BLOG to rank in search engines, its best to focus your message and stay disciplined. I have tried to do that with my own BLOG. Just about every post is in some way related to legal Internet marketing in Arizona. Because of that focus and the fact that I post regularly, my BLOG shows up on the first page for most "arizona attorney marketing' searches.

Getting More out of Linkedin.com

I recommend that all of my clients join Linkedin.com. Linkedin is a professional business networking website that allows for contextual links back to your site. Below are some best practices that will allow you to get more out of your free Linkedin account.

1. Make sure that you add a contextual based link back to your website. When you sign in to your profile go to "edit websites". When selecting the name of your website go to the bottom of the drop down menu and select 'other'. This will allow you to name your website i.e. "Arizona DUI lawyer" and enter the URL. This is the definition of contextual based link. Link to your FindLaw profile in the same manner

2. Ensure that you update your education section for your law school and all of the other colleges/universities that you attended. Make sure that you include the years you attended. This will give you access to all of your classmates that are also in Linkedin. Just as important all of your classmates will be able to link in with you.

3. Make sure you add content to your profile. 400-600 words of keyword rich content will help your Linkedin profile come up in Linkedin and Google searches.

4. Spend 2 hours a month thinking about how you can expand your professional online network. Former clients, referring attorneys, friends, classmates etc... Online networking works. I know a lawyer who picked up a case after just 5 days of being on Linkedin. He did this by aggressively expanding his network and linking in with freinds that were already on Linkedin. After linking in with an insurance defense lawyer who he had not spoken with in years, the lawyer referred my client a DUI case that he could not handle.