What your law firm needs to do to feed Panda 4.0

What your law firm needs to do to feed Panda 4.0

Google began rolling out the latest iteration of its Panda algorithm on May 20th. As is the case with all major updates, results are mixed. Some sites have seen rankings and traffic drop, while others have seen improvement — and many sites have seen little to no movement at all. The big news surrounding the release of Panda 4.0 is the significant hit several large, well-known sites appear to have taken. Analysis performed since the update reveals some common…

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Google Gets the Searches but Yahoo Gets the Traffic

grow your blog readershipYahoo is back in the web traffic game. 2013 statistics show that although Google is still the clear leader in search engine use, Yahoo is showing a healthy uptick in overall web traffic, for the first time in two years. The numbers do not include mobile traffic. Those numbers are out soon and may show a different story.

Comscore, which ranks top U.S. websites, reveals Yahoo hit 196.6 million…

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Relationship building: What lawyers should be doing with social media

Relationship building: What lawyers should be doing with social media

Legal marketing has acquired a dubious reputation over the years as audiences have been exposed to a slew of cheesy billboards and under-produced late night TV spots. Certainly not all attorneys participate in these tactics, but the ones who do are very visible. And as marketing moves online, some of the same bad habits are coming with it.

Attorney ads and websites tend to be ego-driven and focused only on the lawyer, proclaiming years of experience and a tough…

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Manual Link Penalties are not Forever

openIf you received a manual action or unnatural links penalty on your website, it is not forever. The penalties, which may range from months to years, do have an intrinsic end date and are related, according to Distinguished Google Engineer Matt Cutts, to the “severity of the problem that Google sees.” There are no notifications sent when a penalty expires and if one has expired, the manual spam actions viewer…

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Strengthen your writing: 5 common grammar mix-ups

Strengthen your writing: 5 common grammar mix-ups

Attorneys have to write. A lot. Writing for judges, colleagues, clients and blogs requires a different tone and level of formality depending on the audience. Online writing can be much less formal than official writing — sometimes throwing in an occasional, intentional grammar error is ok. Blog entries should be conversational enough to hold a visitor’s attention, after all. But conversational does not mean sloppy. You are trying to be an authority, and repeating routine grammar errors works against…

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How custom photography enhances website design and success rates

How custom photography enhances website design and success rates

Humans are visual creatures; our experiences are heightened and our actions are often driven by our interpretation of the things we see. The right visuals create memories and instill trust in ways that words simply cannot.

Every choice that is made during the design process should support the overall goals of your website, and quality photography enhances the professionalism and effectiveness of the site. Since photography is such an important element, it should be truly unique. Here are some…

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How to incorporate conversion-centered design into your website

How to incorporate conversion-centered design into your website

A website is only as effective as its ability to deliver leads. An aesthetically beautiful site is not functional if users do not immediately understand what you do, why they should contact you and how to do so. Successful sites employ a mix of attractive design, intuitive navigation and thoughtful calls to action. Here are some ways to build a website that is designed with conversion as a top priority.

1. Simplify. You are immersed in the culture…

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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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