Social Media and Website Design Tips for Lawyers

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Tech Tips for Attorneys CLE

Law Firm Tips for Social Media and Website Design

Wednesday April 2, 2014 An Andrew Cabasso and JurisPage Joint

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Social Media

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Why Engage in Social Media?

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Why Engage in Social Media?

1) SEO: Google’s search algorithm cares about social media sharing

2) Go where potential clients are (advertising / solicitation issues)

3) Engage other professionals / get referrals

Either use it or don’t – don’t half-use it

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How Time-Consuming is Law Firm Social Media?

• Post Automation

–Hootsuite

• Social Engagement

–Can’t automate

• Progress Review

–Can’t automate

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Which Social Networks?

• Google+

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• Quora

• Esqspot

Focus on 1 or 2

• Facebook

• Pinterest

• Meetup

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Google+

• Highest SEO ROI

• G+ gets “authorship” for blog posts

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Google+ Authorship

https://plus.google.com/authorship

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LinkedIn

Here’s your online resume

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LinkedIn

Have a Company page that your current employees can join, a personal profile so that clients can give testimonials

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LinkedIn

Testimonials act as “social proof” / make prospective clients more confident in your abilities

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LinkedIn

Endorsements on your skills also boost credibility

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Twitter

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Twitter

• Link to blog posts

• Discuss events in your practice area that don’t warrant a blog post

• Engage at conferences (e.g. “#reinventlaw”)

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Twitter

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Twitter

• Find new, relevant content

• Engage in discussions with other attorneys

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Quora

A Q&A website – use it to answer relevant questions in your practice area and build authority

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Esqspot

In-person networking / online community

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Hootsuite

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Hootsuite

• Saves time, posts to every social network simultaneously

• Schedules posts

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Websites

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Things You Need to Have a Website

1. Domain: yourfirm.com

2. Hosting: to make your site accessible

3. Website: preferably using a CMS like Wordpress

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What’s a Website For Anyway?

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What’s a Website For Anyway?

• Getting new leads

• Convincing current leads to become clients

• Establishing authority in your niche among other attorneys

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What it Should Have

1. Clear indication of the type of law you practice

2. Contact: Forms and Phone Number

3. Attorney Bios

4. Practice area pages for each type of case

5. Social Proof: Testimonials/Verdicts/Settlements

6. Professional design / layout

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Make it Mobile-Friendly

?% web traffic from mobile

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Make it Mobile-Friendly

40%% web traffic from mobile

Google’s algorithm penalizes non-mobile sites

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Mobile-Friendly Example

Not Mobile-Friendly Mobile-Friendly

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Websites – Mobile Sites

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/making-sure-your-website-is-ready-for-smartphones/

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Getting it Built: DIY

Wordpress, Wix, Godaddy

Pros

• Cheap• You’ll know how to update your

content

Cons

• Steep learning curve• Hard to design• Have to worry about ethics rules• Bad SEO

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Getting it Built: Professional

Use a Legal-Focused Developer

Ask Them: Be Careful:

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Getting it Built: Professional

Use a Legal-Focused Developer

Ask Them:

• Will it be mobile-friendly?• Will I be able to update it myself?

• If not, will you update it?• What CMS will you use?

• Use Wordpress if possible• Will it be SEO-ready?

• Sitemap, Meta Tags, Content• How fast will it load

• Under 3 seconds is best• Can I see an example of your

work?

Be Careful:

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Getting it Built: Professional

Use a Legal-Focused Developer

Ask Them:

• Will it be mobile-friendly?• Will I be able to update it myself?

• If not, will you update it?• What CMS will you use?

• Use Wordpress if possible• Will it be SEO-ready?

• Sitemap, Meta Tags, Content• How fast will it load

• Under 3 seconds is best• Can I see an example of your

work?

Be Careful:

• Don’t use other peoples’ content• Templates can be boring• Make sure your site isn’t available

through both www.yoursite.comand yoursite.com

• Make sure they’re accessible

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Building a Second Website

• Useful for class actions

• Geared towards a specific client type

• Plaintiff / defendant sites

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Google AnalyticsTools

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Google AnalyticsTools

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Google Analytics

• Track social engagement

• See which content is shared the most

• How is your social campaign paying off?

– Goal setting

Tools

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Google Webmaster ToolsTools

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Thank YouAndrew Cabasso

Phone: (800) 863-7603

Email: andrew@jurispage.com

Twitter: @andycabasso

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/pub/andrew-cabasso/a/770/614

Blog: jurispage.com/blog

Slides available at slideshare.com/jurispage

Free SEO for Lawyers eBook available at jurispage.com/ebook