The document discusses how law firms can use digital media and online search to attract new clients. It outlines three phases of digital media usage and explains how a major regional law firm used search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) to significantly increase their online visibility and lead generation. Their SEO efforts resulted in 50% more Google traffic and twice as many unbranded search visits, while their SEM campaign saw above average click-through rates and an average of 4 pages viewed per visitor. The firm was able to prove that online search can effectively help law firms find new clients.

1. search and the law firm

2. three phases of digital media usage: 1. trial 2. transition 3. strategy

4. part I a new brand world

5. the staggering rise of internet use has created seismic shifts in behavior. we’ve changed.

6. finding and choosing professional services on the internet

10. … but the unanswered question has been, “Are your buyers searching for you online?”

11. do you go online to search for outside professionals to provide legal, accounting or consulting work for your company? 3/4 go online to search for professionals (up from 2/3 in 2000)

13. how often do you go online to search for a professional to provide services? 75% of decisionmakers search for professionals monthly or less often matching how often you pitch completely new business…

14. what has changed most about the way you find and choose professionals in the past five years?

15. how important are these Internet sources for learning about professionals? 85% consider Web sites important; younger decisionmakers are especially likely to find all digital sources important

16. if this is true—and it is— how do I respond? how do I adjust my marketing?

17. some things have changed. some things remain the same.

18. there are six billion searches on 150,000,000 websites and 200,000,000 blogs every day!

19. we know our buyers are looking but how do they find us?

21. part II getting found online

22. there are three ways people find you: 1. search engine optimization (SEO) 2. search engine marketing (SEM) 3. social media

23. seo

24. search engine optimization (SEO) is the defined process of improving the volume or quality of Web traffic to your site from search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) via "natural” or "organic" unpaid search results.

26. 1/2 of decision makers always search for specific expertise & industry (industry search—69% in 2000, now 96%) they search for expertise via industry…

28. sem

29. search engine marketing (SEM) is the the practice of buying paid search listings. Google owns 92% of adwords marketshare and 70% of search share. But buyers must also pay attention to Yahoo and Bing.

32. social media

33. social media is often associated with gated communities like Facebook or LinkedIn but blogs are also “social” and websites that encourage reviews and comments are also social. In other words, the Internet itself has become “social.”

34. facebook passed Google in traffic 3x!

35. linked-in is considered more “professional”

36. but the lines are blurring…

37. twitter is a microblog allowing only 140 characters per comment. People gather in groups using hash tags (#)

38. three phases of digital media usage: 1. trial 2. transition 3. strategy

39. part III search: a case study

40. a major regional law firm challenged us to show how search (both SEO and SEM) could impact its online visibility

41. there was the usual skepticism: “ People don’t go online to find a trusted legal advisor.” “I never click on those paid search ads, and no one I know does either. “We’ll never get any qualified leads from search.” they were proved wrong on all counts, and couldn’t be happier about it.

42. Steve: the target Steve Steve is an in-house counsel for a large pharmaceutical company headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. He is 44 years old and holds a BA and JD. He has deep industry experience and is well connected in the region. Steve’s Landscape Steve is charged with managing various aspects of risk for the company, including employment policies, compliance, contracts, non-competes and immigration matters. He partners with outside counsel a great deal on employment issues and is not pleased with his current firm. He’s gathered a roster of firms to consider and will do some research to create a short-list. MAKE YOUR FIRM UNIQUE “ Managing complex employment issues is crucial to protecting our company. We need to be vigilant, proactive, and keep abreast of best practices in the market.”

43. know how your target consumes media we evaluated profiles for each target segment including top industries, company profiles, etc.

44. intercept relevant searches

45. identify relevant search terms

46. optimize natural search visibility

47. their SEO efforts resulted not only in 50% more Google traffic every month, but also in twice as many unbranded searches (meaning that these search visitors were finding the firm when searching for industry terms (such as employment law, commercial real estate law, and intellectual property) and more new visitors are finding their site)

48. their largest competitor called us to complain: “What are you doing? They pop-up everywhere I go on Google.”

49. MAKE YOUR FIRM UNIQUE

50. search is about attracting qualified traffic who engage with your site, not window shoppers visitors coming from this SEM campaign viewed 4 pages on average , and their click-through-rate (CTR) is beating industry averages by one and a half times

51. part IV measure effectiveness through awareness and conversion metrics

54. boil down Google Analytics for management

55. to make the report understandable

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