Karasma Media Legal Marketing Blog by Kara Smith » SEO

3 Reasons For Legal Marketers to Start Thinking Like Journalists

Kara — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:34:08 +0000

You’re Informed - It’s time to engage your audience
As a professional marketing legal services, there is a need for you to distinguish your services. Obviously, all information is not created equal, and it is more important now than ever for you to reach out to your audience as a viable information source in your area of specialty. You need to provide a venue for them to be able to interact with you easily, and these interactions will translate into the quality clients you want to attract.

News and information sources today have never been more accessible and anyone with an internet connection can contribute to the broadcast of information. A new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism makes clear, we have become a nation of news grazers whose “relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized and participatory.

But as the concept of “journalism” expands to include citizens with cellphone cameras, Twitter Facebook, and LinkedIn, the survey’s responders reflected something we all feel, with 70% of them feeling overwhelmed by the amount of news and information from different sources, and 72% think most sources of news are biased.

All of us consumers want to be connected to the people and products we can trust. There’s no better way for professionals marketing legal services to distinguish their credible information from misinformation and propaganda than by being in control of their online presence. Journalists will seek you out as an expert and when you approach one of them, being able to reference articles your online articles written by firm members and associates will be invaluable.

Your Results Will Reflect Your Efforts
I published an interview I conducted with Social Media expert Chris Brogan last week, reviewing his perspective of social media’s impact on legal marketing services. The next day, I featured the article in my e-mail newsletter and posted it on the Karasma Media Platforms on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

It’s important to note that fresh information is kept flowing on these platforms on a daily basis. Since the article’s initial publication (8-days ago at the time I’m writing this):

The Alexa rating of the Karasma Media Marketing Blog has gone up more than 15%, which translates into an increase of almost 40 readers per day, three calls from prospects and two requests for in-person interviews.

Once legal marketers put their infrastructure of information into place infrastructure is in place and the information is flowing, your potential clients and legitimate journalists are going to use it. Today, legal marketers need to think like journalists because they are increasingly serving as informational gatekeepers, both by creating and publishing original content online and by passing on (and thereby endorsing) news and information created elsewhere.

The Federal Government’s Providing Educational Support
The Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan, which was released last month, offers an important opportunity to increase news-literacy education to millions of students. The plan, authorized in the $787 billion stimulus package last year, is a long-overdue effort to shore up our digital infrastructure by extending high-speed Internet access to the entire country.

The online infrastructure’s in place, and the government is backing it. Now is the time to put your legal information structure into place and bring your online platform up to full speed.

USA Today article referenced: As Journalism Changes, So Must You

Using Keywords to Communicate With Your Legal Marketing Audience

Kara — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:16:44 +0000

One of the initial activities I do in the Jump-start Your Social Media Workshop is work with a firm on how to choose the keywords they’ll be using to connect with their potential clients.

Using social media provides you with insight into the minds of your ideal clients and customers. Tasha Coleman of Upward Action provides some incredibly powerful information throughout her site, but particularly in this post on Keyword Usage.

Her top three points:

Invest time conducting keyword research (or hire an agency like UpwardAction®) to get clear about exactly what your target market is searching for online as related to your industry and practice areas.
Utilize this information to develop a list of about 15 power keywords.
Use your power keywords to create GoogleAlerts and TweepBeeps to monitor online conversations that include your top 15 keywords.

Read Tasha’s full article and watch her video on Social Media, Keywords, Success

Legal Social Media Skeptics – Do you know the most important differences between websites & blogs?

Kara — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:40:00 +0000

Are you a lawyer who’s skeptical about the attributes and longevity of social media?

Or, perhaps you’re a legal marketer who’s just completed a rebuild of your firm’s website, feels that you know the differences between a website and a blog, and still haven’t bought into this whole “Blogging Phenomenon”.

Either way, most people when asked what the difference is between a “conventional” or static” website and a blog reply in any combination of the reasons below:

Blogs are dynamic, websites are not
Blogs encourage conversation, websites do not
Blogs offer RSS, websites do not
Blogs publish current news, websites do not
Blogs create the blogosphere while websites are in a way standalone islands

None of these answers, except maybe #5 are true anymore and SEO Blog provides a clear review of today’s true differences.

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Technorati Tags: Kara Smith, Karasma Media, Legal Marketing Tips, SEO

Legal Marketers, Attract More Clients With SEO Copywriting Strategies For Your Firm’s Blog

Kara — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:03:00 +0000

You’re writing the content of your firm’s blog. The content you create should be written with one focus – conversion. But to get there, your writing needs to focused and follow industry-standard, Search Engine Optimized copywriting techniques. It really isn’t difficult. But you know your business, and I know social media PR and blogging. So, let me help you…

Headlines

Google loves headlines that are search engine optimized. The blogging software you’re using probably converts headline tags into either H1 or H2 heading tags. More importantly, when you write a headline, use keywords that promise what the post delivers ie: the title for this blog post. For aid in writing better headlines, see ”How to Write Better Headlines For Your Legal Industry Blog”

The Opening Paragraph
If your lead sentence doesn’t grab them, they’re not going to read your story. It’s really simple. Your goal is not only to get people to read your content, you also want Google to read it too. So, you should repeat target keywords in the opening sentence. Here’s the catch… Google’s bots aren’t human beings, and they could care less how well written your content is, but your readers do. Because those clients who might click through to your website or call you, are important to you; write with them in mind.

Put Keywords in Your Subheading

Use subheads because they break-up longer entries and introduce new material to readers. Besides making your blog posts easier to read, working keywords into subheads will add to the overall SEO of your post.

Your Human Readers Count Most
Good copy is interesting to read and not redundant, so don’t overuse keywords. Find synonyms or different phrases to make your writing enjoyable to read. Search engine algorithms are sophisticated enough to recognize words that are properly contextualized that support your targeted keywords.

Show It – Talk Straight and Brief
Here’s an important point you’ll want to pay attention to. Cut the adjectives and “hype” from your writing, and stick to Noun/Verb construction written in active voice. Keep your message simple, clear – concise. Writing this way, you’ll find more opportunities to use keyworks throughout the legal marketing blog post.

Call To Action
You want the reader to Do Something with your copy, right? You want conversion from the time and effort you put in, right? So, you need a compelling call to action. Do you want them to contact you? Click through to a white paper? Subscribe to your blog? Remember to always include a call to action.

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Technorati Tags: Kara Smith, Karasma Media, Legal Marketing Tactics, SEO

How To Write Better Headlines for Your Legal Industry Blog

Kara — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:38:00 +0000

The key is to write headlines that entice readers to read more, not get them annoyed or disinterested. You want your blog to drive readers to your website and ultimately to you. So, your firm’s blog strategy should incorporate learning and good writing habits, which will inevitably create better conversations and generate a better ROI for you.

Writing intriguing copy, entails understanding different ways to engage readers. Here are several copywriting strategies you can use to improve your headlines and build better relationships.

Direct Headlines – Go straight to the core of your post: “Free Social Media Marketing Handbook”

Indirect Headlines – Are more subtle, and usually have a double meaning: Is Your Firm’s Vision Looking In the Right Direction” might be a headline for a marker talking about generating the kind of work and clients you really want to represent; rather than following the traditional approach of taking whatever comes in the door.

News Headlines – Go straight to the point as well, but differ from direct headlines; in that direct headlines usually, announce something your readers can get – Free… For example, “I’m in Esquire Magazine Today”.

“How To” Headlines: These are effective because we’re all looking for something new, or a way to improve something. You’re reading this because you want to improve your writing… gotcha!

Question Headlines: Entice reading because they spark curiosity. When you’re asked a question, what’s the first thing you do? You are motivated to find out more, or to respond, which may lead to a conversation.

Command Headlines– Tell readers what they need to do. Our job’s to direct our clients, not be in partnership with them. This type of headline gives your readers directions by addressing a short coming they may be experiencing. They may not know what to do, so take the bull by the horns and lead the way. For Example: “Build Your Law Firm’s Tribes and Watch Business Blossom With Social Media”

“Reason Why” Headlines – Engage in an internal dialog about the information you’re giving them. Also, you don’t have to use “reason why” in the headline. For example, here’s one with reason why”: Ten Reasons Why Google Employees Prefer Google Friend
Connect”. Here’s one without: “Top 10 Preferences of Google Employees Using Google Friend Connect”.

Testimonial Headlines – Are the ultimate third party endorsement. They are effective because the word’s your reader see’s aren’t yours, but another person’s.

Your firm’s blog may be highly SEO optimized. But, if the connects are flat and boring, and don’t entice readers to pursue and think, does your writing have any value?

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