Digital Marketing

Here’s a question I just got:

I Googled my name in quotation marks to see what came up. Then I followed that up with my name in quotation marks, followed by an attorney. When I do that, other attorneys’ ads pop up. Does anyone know if this is a violation of Google’s ad policy?

People Can Bid On Your Name

People are allowed to bid on your name. This typically doesn’t happen that often, but what’s triggering it is that people are saying anytime the word attorney pops up, show my ad. So that’s what’s happening there.

A Possible Scenario

But if you have a well-known name or a slightly well-known name it is definitely possible to bid on other attorneys’ names. So for example, it would be like Morgan and Morgan in Florida. On the entire East Coast, everyone knows who Morgan and Morgan is, for the most part.

So if someone’s looking for Morgan and Morgan, there is a good chance that they’re looking for a personal injury attorney, and they might not have even hired anybody yet.

Are There Laws About This?

So people will typically bid on those names. There are definitely laws about it. I don’t know exactly what they are. I know there are with brand names. So for example, if Coke was going to bid on the word Pepsi, I believe that they can’t just bid on it.

I don’t think they can say just anything about Pepsi. But what they can do is they can do a comparison. Like before you drink Pepsi, see how Coke compares. You can kind of do it like that.

Why You Shouldn’t Worry Too Much About It

If it’s just with the word attorney, then the reality is that most of the time when someone searches for your name, unless you’re a really big firm like John Morgan or something, they’re probably a client looking for you. And all that is happening is that the other people are wasting their time.

And if they do get phone calls, it’s people that are looking for you and they probably have a lot of wrong number hang-ups and waste a lot of money. So I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

The Three Conflicting Elements Of Website Design

Let’s say you have a website that looks awesome. It’s got a big beautiful slider up top and all these cool designs, it’s artsy and everything. It’s not going to convert at all.

You’ll have to back off from some of those design elements to make sure that when someone goes to your website, they listen to the message and pay attention to what you’re trying to get them to do. That’s one part of it.
Now about those sliders.

Have you ever been on a website where there’s the header and then the picture changes, it says something, it fades in, and then the words come in from the side, and then it changes again. Then, another picture comes in, and the words come in.

Those look great, and they’re captivating, especially when they have really good pictures. The problem is, and you can Google this, they are conversion killers because they just destroy conversion rates.
In that regard, you have to pay attention to those two elements: the conversion optimization side and then there’s also the design side. The third side is search engine optimization.

If you have a website that converts awesome and looks great, you might be missing some of the search engine optimization elements, which means that Google might not necessarily like it. If you’re running paid ads, it might not be that big of a deal.

That’s the challenge with websites. It’s like a triangle, and you’ve got to balance all three of these elements so that you’ve got a website that converts well, that converts people. If it shows up in Google and looks great, but it doesn’t inspire anybody to pick up the phone, then it’s useless.

If it looks great, but nobody can find it because it doesn’t have the elements that are necessary for Google, then you either need to run paid ads or do something else. Then, it’s useless again because nobody’s seeing it unless you’re paying for people to see it.

What If Your Website Doesn’t Convert?

If it looks great and Google loves it, this is the best option, to be honest with you. But what if it doesn’t convert as well or if it doesn’t convert at all, that’s a very big issue, too. It’s really important.
One of the most important things is the headline, above the fold. You want to make sure that you’re talking about the client and not yourself. I see all the time that lawyers are talking about super lawyers, have five million cases won, went to Harvard, etc.

Focus On What Your Clients Will Get

We found that it works a lot better when you say, “When you contact our law firm, here’s what you’ll get. Here’s what we do for you: we help you stay out of jail. We make sure that parents get as much time with their kids as possible.”

Of course, this comes down to knowing your clients. Whatever it is that your clients want, you want to make sure that that’s where your headline is. That’s why everything I do with my book, which is called “How to Get More Law Firm Clients Without Losing Time and Money or Getting Screwed by Marketing Companies.”

But, I use that statement everywhere because I know that lawyers want more clients and I know they’ve been screwed by marketing companies and don’t want that to happen again. They’ve lost time, money, and a lot of energy.

Everything I do focuses on that for lawyers. If you come here, what you’re going to get is you’re going to learn how to get more clients, and you’re going to do it while avoiding all these things that you don’t want. That’s very important.

If you could put that on top of your website and incorporate that into the actual design of your website, that would make a big difference. We did a thing recently for a pay per click landing page for a DUI attorney. What was cool is we added an entire section of what the process is like:

Stacking Value

Once you retain us, we’ll immediately file a notice of appearance and a plea of not guilty. Then, we’ll meet with you and design a custom strategy for your defense. Then, we’ll file whatever it is for the DMV to make sure that they don’t take away your driver’s license.

The entire thing is talking about when you hire us, you’re going to get this, and you’re going to get this…it’s almost like a stack. If you ever listen to the Click Funnel’s Russel Brunson’s stuff, you’ve seen that.
We’re almost stacking the value there. It works well when you do that. If you can work that into the design of your website, that is very valuable, and I would recommend that.

Here’s The Question:

Does similar language on a website really harm the website? We’re struggling in creating content for our site.

My Answer:

Duplicate Content Versus Similar Content

I think you’re referring to duplicate content. Now, there is a difference between duplicate content and similar content. Duplicate content is literally copying and pasting from one page to another, and similar content is just content that is similar.

I’ve never heard of anyone being penalized for similar content, and to be totally honest with you, duplicate content doesn’t necessarily penalize the website either. What happens is – and here’s the thing – you can get away with copying local content.

So, if you have a city page, for example, if you’re a personal injury lawyer and you work in Orlando, and then you have a Winter Park page and an Oviedo page and a Winter Springs page and all these different suburbs.

Now, this may still be going on but I don’t know if it’s going on or not because we do not do this. But in the past, you could basically duplicate the content word for word, just change the city, and be okay, at least on rank and maps.

The Problem With Duplicate Content

We never did that because it’s basically a hole that Google could fix so easily that it’s not worth it for us to invest the time to do that, and then having to scramble to fix the content later if Google ever fixes the hole.

Now, with that said, duplicate content does cause issues. And again, I don’t necessarily think it’s a penalty per se, but it will basically cause pages to get de-indexed. After all, Google doesn’t want to show the same thing over and over and over again.

So I would stay away from duplicate content. It causes quality score issues, it causes panda issues, and it causes a lot of other issues. I wouldn’t do it.

How To Create Your Own Content?

But if you’re struggling with creating content for the site, it comes down to this: Either you don’t have time to create it or you don’t know what to create? Those are two different problems.

If You Don’t Have Enough Time…

If you’re not having time to create it, there’s a job board on Facebook – it’s called Cult of Copy Job Board. Just go in there and look for a writer. I mean, that’s the way you solve that problem.

If You Need More Ideas…

And then, if you’re not sure what to create, you just go into Google and you search “DUI lawyer” or you search “personal injury lawyer” or you search whatever. And as you scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll see that there are related searches and there are also going to be boxes that say “people also asked these questions.”

And then just start answering the questions that people also ask because it’s telling you exactly what Google thinks is related and relevant to that search term. So, trying to be relevant to your search is a huge thing with Google.

Just Answer the Questions You Find

So just answer the questions. For example, if you type “DUI lawyer,” it will be, “What are the consequences of a DUI lawyer?” or, “What are the fees for a DUI lawyer?” or, “Will I go to jail for a DUI.” All these different questions are related to DUI.

And then, you can go even deeper. So, like, for example, I know in California – just off the top of my head – there’s something called a Harvey waiver that deals with DUI.  I don’t know what it is but I know that people search for it. Then you search Harvey waiver and you start doing all the content there.

Another Great Resource for Questions

There’s another really great website called “answer the public” that you can use. Just type in DUI or terms related to DUI like breathalyzer, or roadside sobriety test, or field test, or road sobriety checkpoints or whatever.

Just start putting those keywords into Google and into the website answerthepublic.com and you’ll have more ideas than you’ll ever know what to do with. So, that’s my suggestions. It’s pretty easy to do that.

Somebody asked me this: “I keep getting pitched by private vendors who are selling leads. Why would anyone buy leads as opposed to getting them from PPC?”

Well, I don’t know. I mean, there are definitely some vendors that are decent at selling leads. The problem with buying leads is that often a vendor comes to you and says, “Hey, we’ll sell you some personal injury leads in Denver” or wherever you happen to be, maybe in Boston.

The Problem With Buying Leads…

And the problem is that they sell them to you and they also sell them to three or four other attorneys as well. So it becomes a race of who’s the first person to get to the lead. And then, on top of that, you can also annoy the leads because all these different attorneys are contacting them.

Many years ago, I filled out an application to see if I qualified for a mortgage. And for the next three weeks I was getting phone calls left and right for all of these different mortgages from all these different lenders. It really got to the point where I didn’t answer any of them because I was so annoyed by the entire process.

Buying Leads Vs. Getting Leads Through PPC

I’ve also heard the leads are not necessarily as high quality as they should be or as they would be if you did PPC. So the reason why anyone would buy leads as opposed to getting them from PPC is that it’s easier. I mean, honestly, that’s really what it comes down to.

With PPC, you’ve got to put in some work and you’ve got to test ads, you’ve got to build landing pages, you’ve got to do all this stuff. And someone may not really know what they’re doing. The Google AdWords dashboard can look like the dashboard of a fighter jet. So that would be why some lawyers buy leads.

Then again, I don’t really know too many lead vendors that do a really good job. I might have a partnership soon with a lead vendor though that does some really interesting and unique stuff and might be able to sell some leads that way.

Are Attorneys Even Permitted To Buy Leads?

The question also asked, I didn’t think attorneys were permitted to just buy the leads and solicit them. How do these companies even exist? I don’t know, to be honest with you. I’m not really in the lead generation business. I don’t really sell leads, so I don’t know what all the rules are.  But I would definitely check with your local bar association.

You Can Also Find Your Own Leads

There are also ways you can find your own leads. For example, if you go to Instagram and you search hash tag rear-ended, you can find people that have been rear-ended, or rather that have had their cars rear-ended.

And the lead generation company could reach out to them and say, Hey, I saw you got rear-ended. Would you like me to put you in touch with an attorney? And then if they say, Sure, and they give you their contact information. You can buy that lead and contact them.

Is that against the rules or not? I really don’t know. You’d have to figure out where they’re getting the leads from and all that type of stuff. You’d have to talk to the Bar Association. I would definitely look into where the leads are coming from. Especially if you’re going to buy leads.

I just got a question asking which answering service I would recommend. I definitely recommend that all law firms have an answering service. This person says “I’m sick of calls going to our front desk. She gets the info wrong and is gone nights and weekends.”

Why Your Phone Calls Should Never Go To Voicemail

That brings up a really good point. Your phone calls should never go to voicemail. You’ve got to remember, if someone calls a lawyer, for the most part it’s an emergency situation. They got into a car accident, they got arrested, a loved one got arrested, they were just served divorce papers, or they’re worried they’re going to get foreclosed on.

People don’t want to leave voice messages. If your toilet was overflowing and you call a plumber and get voicemail, are you going to leave a voicemail or are you going to hang up and call the next plumber? It’s very important that you have an answering service answering your calls 24/7.

The Answering Services We Recommend

We use two. I’m not affiliated with either of these but for our clients, we use Voice Nation and we’ve used Answer First. Both of them are pretty good. You do have to secret shop every once in a while just to make sure that everything’s good. I definitely recommend those two companies.

There are probably other ones that are good as well. I’m not saying these are better than others. I just know that we’ve used these two and had good results. Voice Nation and Answer First. Never let your phone calls go to voice mail. That’s something that’s really important.

What To Do If A Call Goes To Voicemail Anyway

Here’s a tip though. Every once in a while, the stars will align and a call will go to voicemail. If the answering service is completely full or if there’s some sort of screw-up with the connection, there still is a chance a call can go to voicemail.

Make Your Voicemail Say This…

What we tell all of our clients to do is this: basically make your voicemail say the following: “Hi. This is Attorney John Smith. We’re not able to take your call right now but we do want to talk to you. If you leave a message with your name, your phone number, and what you’re calling about on this line, we will call you back within 15 minutes.”

Obviously, you’re not going to be able to return every phone call within 15 minutes, but that is your best chance of getting somebody to actually leave their contact information.

I’m not saying it works 100% of the time but your chances are much improved if you actually give somebody some time frame, something to expect, for example, “Leave your number. We check this line regularly. It gets delivered right to my cellphone. Leave your number and I’ll call you back within 15 minutes.”

That might pause their search for a little bit. Obviously if it takes longer than that, you can apologize profusely. But you would have never gotten the lead anyway if they had just hung up, so you might as well say that and try to get them to leave their number.  

Starting a Facebook Group is tough. At first, there’s no one in there to interact with. Learn how to attract new members to your Facebook group.

How I Grew My Facebook Group

When we first started, it was me, my business partner, and my mom in the group. That was pretty much it. AND I was putting up content.

To grow the group, I went on the principle that people are silently begging to be lead. What that means is that you have to tell people what to do.

What I started doing is I created a cheat sheet that a lot of people in here have probably downloaded. It’s called “Three Secrets to Getting More Law Firm Clients.”

Then, I ran ads to the cheat sheet. I didn’t run ads for myself, I didn’t run ads for the group, I ran ads for the cheat sheet. The ad said, “I created this free cheat sheet to show you three secrets to getting to law clients using social media.”

What happens is when they click it, they enter their email address, and that gets added to my email list. On the landing page, it says, “The cheat sheet’s been emailed to you. Now, your next step is to join the Official Lawyer Marketing Facebook Group.” There’s a button right there that they click and it takes them right to the join button.

I grew my group for a long time just using that cheat sheet with the sign-up button. About 50-75% of people that downloaded my cheat sheet joined the Facebook group.

I simply told them to join the Facebook group. That’s how you do it. It’s not that hard.

What Happens When You Get Engagement In Your Group

Once you start getting engagement, then Facebook will start showing your group to some more people. That’s one of the reasons that I do these live Q&A’s because we get a lot of engagement. A lot of people watch and a lot of people comment.

What happens is that Facebook will now look at the people that are in the group and then it’ll say “Okay, here are all these people. What do they all have in common? They’re lawyers. Here’s a whole other group of lawyers that had the same thing in common.”

Facebook’s algorithm is smart enough to figure out if you have something in common with the people that are in the group, then it’s going to show them to more lawyers, and now I’m getting free people in the group.

More Advantages Of My “Cheat Sheet” Method

If you don’t have people in the group, it’s hard to get started. I did it with paid ads. I didn’t just do paid ads to grow the group, I did pay ads to get people my cheat sheet, which gets them on my email list, and then it also gets them into the group.

In my email list, I’m also pushing them to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and everywhere else. That’s how you do it.

Although you don’t have to do it that way. Obviously, most Facebook groups started with just one person, and they just grow organically.

There are other ways to do it as well. I cover a lot of these things in my course. If you want to do it quickly, that’s exactly how I did it.