Yellow Page vs Internet Advertising

There are a lot of questions out there regarding this issue and I am going to offer my opinion based upon the information I have gathered over these last few years.Lets go back to the year 2000. Most American households still did not have a computer, maybe 30% and of that 30% I would venture to say that a majority of those did not have high speed Internet access. I know I did not. I was still using dial up and believe me it was SLOW!!!! I still remember trying to download a preview for the first X-Men movie. After HOURS of trying, it never did dowload. My friend Craig Fisher did have high speed and I remember it only took him a few minutes.Why do I tell this touching story? Because back in the "old days" using the Internet for all those searches was too tedious. The yellow pages was much more efficient at that time. Something else to keep in mind that is VERY important; searching for information online was not as easy 10 years ago as it was today and 20 years ago it was impossible so the yellow pages was really the only place to go if you needed to find information.Lets skip ahead to today, 2008. I would say most American households have computers at home and of those that do, a majority have high speed access AND using Search Engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN.Why is this important? Because now people feel comfortable using the Internet to find whatever information they are looking for. In fact, it is far easier to use the Internet instead of the yellow pages. More and more people go online to find what they need today and that trend will continue to grow. Now, I work exclusively with Attorneys, and I have asked every lawyer I have ever met with how their yellow page advertising is working these days and 100% of the time I am told that they have seen a steady decline in the amount of business they are getting from their yellow page advertising.Another factor to consider for those wanting to advertise in the yellow pages is which book? Yellow Book, Qwest Dex, Verizon Super Pages, all the small towns in a metro region??? Is it a waste of money to advertise in the yellow pages? I don't know. I do think the more places you can have people find you the better but at what point does the return on investment become harder and harder to achieve. And yellow page advertising is not getting cheaper, just the opposite. I will say this, if you are not spending a minimum of your advertising dollars on the Internet then you are missing out a huge demographic that has turned out to be a very strong consumer base.If you have any more questions on what it takes to have a truly effective presence online please go to my website.

To Flash or Not Flash..That is the question

With web sites getting more and more sophisticated the question you have to ask yourself is what are you willing to do to get noticed online? Showing up on the first page of Google or Yahoo simply is not enough anymore. Once the web surfer gets to your site will they stay. A book titled "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell states that your site will be judged in, literally, the blink of an eye. A Canadian study done in January of 2006 backs this (more than) theory up. This study was able to demonstrate and prove that a web site is judged in 1/120th of a second, faster than a blink. People are not evening taking the time to give you a fair shot. You might be the best attorney out there with the best legal record but guess what? If you cannot get that across faster than someone can blink their eyes then it doesn't matter!

So by now you are asking yourselves.."What can I do?" Let me tell you, to make sure your site stands out from the other 25 billion (and counting) you need to add some Flash. What is Flash? Flash can be many different things. You can have Flash that has your law firm name materialize on the legal web site . You can have scrolling text that talks about different legal issues or cases you have won. Flash is also a compilation of pictures that can tell a story, for example, www.rosenthal-law.net, or www.timothybussey.com, some great examples! Flash can also be a bad thing fro your site. Anytime I go to a web site that starts off by telling me the site is loading (Flash is loading) and I am not seeing what I want to see right now, I click the back button as fast as I can. That is bad Flash. We do not do bad Flash. Our goal is to not only provide you with the best visibility possible online (after all if they can't find you I don't care if you are giving away free gold it just doesn't matter) but once they do find you, to ensure they want to explore your site further and even call you for legal advice.

How To Write Good Web Content

According to Jakob Nielsen you can double the useability of your website by following simple guidelines for writing web content. Reading from the web is very different from writing for print:

* 79% of users scan the page instead of reading word-for-word

* Reading from computer screens is 25% slower than from paper

* Web content should have 50% of the word count of its paper equivalent

To Neilsen's comments I would add some Google-friendly tips:

* Hyperlink on keywords wherever possible. Click here hyperlinks are meaningless, and have no value from a Google point-of-view.

* Get good content on external sites linking (on keywords) back to your site. Blogging, forums, reciprocal links all work.

* Think about keyword density. Relative word frequency is important.

Essentially though Google optimization means simply producing legitimate, interesting content for your target audience. If it's useful, and it's well presented, it will be indexed.

Spanish Web Sites...Why??

Is any part of your web site in Spanish? You are probably asking yourself why you would even bother? That's not my target market. Or you might be saying that your Spanish speaking clients do not go online. Guess again!
Prospective Spanish-speaking clients such as real estate foreign investors, those wishing to migrate to this country, or individuals who have been indicted by the U.S justice system for drug related offenses may begin their search for legal help outside the country. By translating your current Web site, or any portion of it, into Spanish, you increase your chances of reaching individuals who are searching for U.S. attorneys.
FindLaw has just launched a new line of three Spanish-language content products that not only are translated in Spanish, but also are optimized in Spanish search terms so they rank well in search engines.
Not only that but the translation is actually done by a person instead of a software program which is proven to be extremely flawed and unreliable.

Web Site Check List

• * All attorneys need to complete attorney profile data form. This form is important because the best profiles are found by the major search engines. Coordinate with everyone so that they are more uniform.
  * Compile a list of websites that the firm or the firm’s attorney’s have a listing. (http://www.cobar.org/, ctla, etc.) We need to get a link from these listings to your site, and a link from your site to these listings.
• *What other helpful websites can we link to from your site?
• * What verdicts/cases do we want to highlight on the site?
• * What forms does the firm want on the site; we can have them in PDF, etc.
• * What geographic areas (cities, counties) does the firm want to focus on?
• * What practice areas do you want covered on the site?
• * Which attorneys are going to be interviewed for each different practice area.
• * Determine the tone of the website (first person, third person), formal, more casual, who is your audience.
• * Get photos of all attorneys taken for their profiles. Do you want any building photos on the site? Staff photos? Local landmarks, or geographical landmarks? Illustrations from trial exhibits?
• * What published works does the firm want on the site? Articles? Seminar information?
• * Select one or two people as the point of contact on this project.

Please call me with any questions. I am easy to contact via my cell phone at 303-947-1737.