CASE STUDY: How We Helped One Lawyer Rank #1 On Google, Sell His Practice, And Retire in Hawaii

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Andrew Stickel

Should You Trade Links From Other Lawyer Websites To Increase Your Google Ranking?

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If you are the webmaster of your law firm, at some point you will probably be asked to allow a law office to allow them to link to your website from theirs. In return, they will have another attorney link to you.

They’re not asking for money or anything and they say that this doesn’t violate Google rules. It may sound like a fair deal, but you are sensing that something is not right. What should you do?

You should Pass

Here is what they are doing. They are trying to build the other attorney’s site up by getting him some good links. You don’t know anything about him. He could be an okay guy, just getting started. He could be a guy who couldn’t find a good client with a telescope. The deal is you don’t know.

If it’s good

Google puts a lot of stock in the company you keep. For example, the New York Times is a well-known site of high regard. They are considered an authoritative site. If the New York Times has linked to you, Google will put stock in that. They will assume that the New York Times has tied themselves to you, then you must be a bit of an authoritative site as well. You are given some room because of the company you keep.

When it’s not

The same is true when the site linking to you is not so good. As I said, you do not know. Maybe the site is just new. Maybe the site is under penalty from Google. It could be that the site is a spammy site that is being watched and of poor reputation. They just connected directly to you. They have built a bridge so to speak to the site that you have worked so hard to ensure is legit, SEO optimized, and healthy. You have allowed them to put a door on your site that could draw your clients to visit their spam site. Your clients are left wondering if they are wrong about you! Also, do not be surprised if tons of these bad link pushers start contacting you. They seem to come from everywhere.

Do the work

The only time I ever do it is if we’re able to vet and there are actually some other SEO companies that I’ve caught asleep at the wheel. We’ve been able to kind of play the game a little bit and kind of get some really good links and not have to really risk our clients at all. That’s me kind of being a savvy marketer and understanding that most people that do this don’t know what they’re doing. That’s what I do for my clients. I got one guy in Boston to link to our client, he is a personal injury in Boston. One personal injury attorney in Boston. I got my client’s competitor to link to my client with the anchor text basically saying this is the best Boston personal injury attorney. I’m pretty proud of that one. I’ve done a few different times because this SEO company just wasn’t paying attention, so it’s pretty cool.

Can Branding Your USB Drives Help Get More Law Clients?

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People in all types of businesses are always looking for items that they can brand and give away. They hope this will help potential clients remember them. This is true for marketing companies and this is true for law offices. One item that hit the marketing field in recent years is the branded USB drive. These drives are very small and come in various colors and designs and they are easily branded. We gave the branded USB drive a try. Surprisingly, some of the reasons we tried them, were the very reasons we chose not to use them.

Size Matters

USB drives are small. They are small enough to fit in any pocket, purse, lunchbox, change purse or even the cuff of a glove. Because they are small, they are easily lost. When a person needs a USB drive, they are going to grab the first one they come to. They probably have a five or six in the pencil cup on their desk. They may remember to grab the one they tucked in their pocket and when they are finished with it, they will drip it into the pencil cup in their office. If someone else needs a USB drive, they are just as likely to grab it. The chances of the USB Drive to remain in the hands it was intended to are slim. The chance that when the person you sent it to will remember 6 months from now when they need legal attention to look for a USB drive to call on you is even slimmer.

Attention Seekers

We admit it. We are attention seekers. When we ordered the branded USB drives, we put them in a nice letter with a business card and mailed them out. Postage costs us $3.00-$4.00 each. We got very little return on the investment.

The next option we tried was to use high-end business cards, and some business pamphlets we had in the office. We used the standard, flat USB drives and we created a nice sales packet and sent that out for the same money or sometimes a bit less. This got us more attention and the return on our investment was higher.

Shop Around

There are various items that attorneys can spend their money on that will be well received. Personal injury lawyers may have their information or 24-hour emergency number printed on refrigerator magnets, for example. This is a great item that keeps you visible and they are useful. It is really just a matter of finding the right pieces for your clients.