Video - Why It's Important To Your Online Presence

Why is video important to your web presence? Because your videos are going to accomplish a number of things that the written word just will not do no matter how good your website is. Some of these things are:

1. It's Visual - People looking for an attorney like you can now see you and hear you and get a feeling for how you might represent them. A professionally produced video can have an immediate and very positive affect for your firm.

2. It's "Sticky" - What I mean by that is websites with video tend to keep those potential clients on your site longer. The more time they spend on your site the less time they are spending on some other attorney's site. And the more likely they are to call you.

3. It's Available 24/7 - Your website videos featuring you are going to always be available. Potential clients can always get a sense of you are and how you can help them just by going to your website and watching your video.

4. It's a HUGE Differentiator - At this time there are attorneys online that have video but not that many. Right now you are setting a trend that is only going to get better for those with video

These are just some examples of why having video on your website is so important. Why not do something that sets you apart from a majority of the other attorneys you are currently competing with

Google Local - How To

I believe this is an important free service offereed by Google and one htat I encourage the attorneys I work with to take advantage. If you are not sure how to go about adding your business to Google Local please call me and I will be happy to sit down with you and enter your practice into this valuable service.

Here is the link to the site; http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528.

I have also cut and pasted the information below on my Blog

In Googles Words.........

"Local Business Center Guidelines

Google Maps aims to provide value for users and business owners alike. We've implemented a number of guidelines that align with these intentions. To protect users, businesses, and the integrity of our search results, we reserve the right to terminate Local Business Center access or broader Google access to individuals or businesses violating these guidelines.
These points cover the general guidelines for creating business listings through the Local Business Center, but are not an exhaustive list of policies. Some actions not specifically prohibited here may still be cause for removal from Maps. If you have any question about whether or not a tactic is deceptive, we recommend you stand on the side of caution. You may also request clarification by posting in our Maps Help Forum.Quality Guidelines:
Only enter listings for businesses that you own or are explicitly authorized to represent.
Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world. The name on Google Maps should match the business name, as should the address, phone number and website.
Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords into the title field, and do not include phone numbers or URLs in the title along with your proper business name.
Create only one listing for each physical location of your business. Do not create more than one listing for each business location, either in a single account or multiple accounts. Service area businesses, for example, should not create a listing for every town they service. Likewise, law firms or doctors should not create multiple listings to cover all of their specialties.
When entering categories, use only those that directly describe your business. Do not submit related categories that do not define your business. For example, a taxi company might properly categorize itself as "Airport Transportation", but it would be inaccurate to also use the category "Airport". Also, please use each category field to enter a single category. Do not list multiple categories or keywords in one field.

Provide information that best identifies your individual locations and provides users with the most direct path to your business. For example, you should provide individual location phone numbers in place of central phone lines and the precise address for the business in place of broad city names or cross-streets.

Provide the one URL that belongs to your business both in terms of the landing page and the displayed URL. Pages that redirect to another domain, or act as "click through" sites may lead to penalization.

Use the description and custom attribute fields to include additional information about your listing. This type of content should never appear in your business's title, address or category fields.

If you believe that another business is abusing Google's quality guidelines, we encourage you to report the listing. Your reports help us to improve the overall Google Maps experience for everyone.

If you find that your listings were removed from Google Maps or you're unable to access your Local Business Center account, please file a reconsideration request. All requests are reviewed, and the decision of Google in this regard shall be final and binding. Please note that we won't necessarily respond to each individual request."

Bell & Pollock - Personal Injury Firm

Bell & Pollock has been serving the personal injury and civil litigation needs of Colorado residents since we opened our doors in 1984. In fact, managing partners Gary Bell and Bradley Pollock have been successfully working together on litigation matters in Colorado courts for nearly 30 years. We have successfully tried cases in nearly every area of personal injury and wrongful death litigation. No other insurance claims litigation firm in Denver can offer that kind of longevity in the community, or the aggressive reputation that comes with it.

Old-Fashioned 4th of July Celebration

My wife Traci and I and our little boy went to an old-fashioned 4th of July celebration today and we had a great time. It was at a Park outside of Denver called 4 Mile Historic Park. The celebration was set in the time of the Civil War and had everything from soldiers from that era to Abe Lincoln. They had re-enactments of the battles but the best part (for me) was when an orchestra played The Battle Hymn of the Republic while "Abe Lincoln" read the Gettysburg Address. All-in-all we had a great time there this afternoon and look forward to the fireworks display tonight to celebrate our country's Independence.

The 4th of July - Independence for America!

July 4th, 1776 was the day the Declaration of Independence was approved (it was actually signed on July 2nd, 1776, although there is also debate about this. I was not there so I am not sure), declaring to the world that the 13 states were united as one and became the United States of America.

I believe that America is such a strong country because we have gotten the best and brightest from around the world. America offers opportunity that other countries do not allow and these opportunities are what bring the best and the brightest to America's shores on a daily basis.

The line:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

is what makes this country great and I for one am proud to be an American.

What does this have to with the legal community? A lot. Lawyers get a lot of grief for the work they do but I know that when someone is in trouble they call a lawyer. When someone needs to make sure their family is provided for in times of trouble they call a lawyer. When justice needs to be served lawyers are there presenting there arguments as to what the best course of justice is. Innocent until proven guilty is so critical to this country. Many countries don't care of guilt or innocence, they just care about the agenda which serves their own needs. Well, in America, Justice is the agenda and it serves no man.

I enjoy working with attorneys which is funny because my political views are very different from many of the attorneys I am proud to call my client. But one area we always agree on is the fact that when the lone person is fighting against a system that far larger than they are and has more resources than they ever will, the one thing standing between them and injustice is an attorney that makes the strongest, most powerful government in the history of mankind equal to that one lone person.