<b><i>Marketing Tech:</i></b> Attract New Clients Online

The Perceptio marketing firm reports that more clients searching for an attorney found them from Internet content than they did from referrals. This confirms earlier research by LexisNexis reported in 2014 that most consumers go online to look for an attorney

Below are seven hot ideas for you to attract new business online:

1. Become a Legal Expert For News Organizations

First, do research on Twitter to find out the reporters who you would like to reach. Then create a Google Alert on a topic about which you have expertise. When you are alerted about a breaking new story, and reporters are still researching the story, you should immediately create a blog post or short cell phone video stating your comment. Then go to Twitter and send the link to the news reporters. They'll see your comment and will likely quote you in their article.

2. Use Popular Twitter Hashtags

Some attorneys are using hashtags (#) successfully to get leads from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The trick is to use a hashtag that is already highly popular and is being followed by many people. The mistake many lawyers make is using an unpopular hashtag or one that is too broad like #lawyer. Lawyers can determine the best hashtag to use by visiting two free websites: a) Hashtracking.com ' You can take a hashtag and test it. The site will describe the activity and exposure for the hashtag, and identify who is using it the most. b) Ritetag.org ' You can plug in an entire tweet with a hashtag, and the site will tell you if the hashtag is “hot now,” “overused” or “underused.” It will also suggest hashtags to use to get new leads.

3. Use Legal Domain Name Extensions

There's no compelling reason to get one of the new .lawyer, .attorney, .law or .legal web domains. You should buy one only to reserve your own firm name (as you might with .net or .info). “There is no evidence that I've seen that a .law domain will provide an advantage in search engine ranking,” says Dan Jaffe, CEO of LawLytics at http://bit.ly/LawDomains “Regardless of whether you use a .law, .com or any other domain extension, make sure that you are creating quality, original content for the site, that the content is relevant to potential clients and referral sources, and that you don't engage in dubious practices like purchasing links or stuffing keywords.”

4. Practice Community Involvement

You can generate new leads by doing good works, making a difference in society and leaving the world a better place. A top approach is to offer a scholarship ' it'll be the best $1,000 of marketing money you'll ever spend. A law firm can offer scholarship money and ask a school to promote it, decide who will receive it, develop a hashtag and link back to your site (so you'll get a valuable .edu domain linking to you).

Be sure to create a public event when the scholarship is awarded. Announce it on all your social media accounts. On the day of the event, have your staff attend with their cell phones to take pictures, and to livestream the presentation on Periscope or Meerkat. It's a great way to generate website traffic, promote your brand, get engagement with others and generate backlinks to your site.

5. Use Video Production

More people than ever are getting information via video as opposed to text. To capitalize on this trend, lawyers should invest in high-quality video production about themselves and their practices. Consider using the resource I use for my own videos (see http://bit.ly/1NawuSG), Local Lawyer Guide, which has 35 studios across the U.S., see www.locallawyerguide.com.

Options include creating an FAQ video, a video book about a case, or an “explainer” video about your practices. Once you've recorded it, upload it to all your social media accounts, online legal directories and your own website.

6. Know the Differences Between Video Hosting on YouTube and Facebook

Video on Facebook, which is relatively young in comparison to YouTube, which launched in 2005, is now delivering four billion daily viewers. You should upload your videos directly to Facebook, and not simply paste in the YouTube embed code. Facebook is great for an immediate surge of exposure ' it will appear in updates by friends for at least a week. YouTube is more useful for long-term exposure and the development of a channel with many videos.

7. Generate New Clients with Online Video Advertising

You can place your video as pre-roll advertising on any site that carries video ' the Huffington Post; ESPN; Comedy Central; Hulu; NBA.com; or even the Words With Friends app. Online video advertising is not just for large corporations anymore, and it's much cheaper than TV.

The average cost is $0.03 to $0.10 per impression or $3.00 to $6.00 per click. Your ad can be precisely targeted according to demographics, geographics, search history on Google, keywords people are using and even visits to competitor websites. An advertiser can expect detailed reports on views, cost-per-click, completion rate, and click-through-rate.

Conclusion

Start to use these seven hot ideas to attract new clients online. You will attract more leads if you follow internet trends like live streaming, using popular hashtags and creating studio-quality video. Don't ignore the rise of video on Facebook and upload your videos to as many sites as possible. There's never been a better time to use the Web to generate new leads.

Larry Bodine, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is Editor in Chief, The National Trial Lawyers and PersonalInjury.com.

The Perceptio marketing firm reports that more clients searching for an attorney found them from Internet content than they did from referrals. This confirms earlier research by LexisNexis reported in 2014 that most consumers go online to look for an attorney

Below are seven hot ideas for you to attract new business online:

1. Become a Legal Expert For News Organizations

First, do research on Twitter to find out the reporters who you would like to reach. Then create a Google Alert on a topic about which you have expertise. When you are alerted about a breaking new story, and reporters are still researching the story, you should immediately create a blog post or short cell phone video stating your comment. Then go to Twitter and send the link to the news reporters. They'll see your comment and will likely quote you in their article.

2. Use Popular Twitter Hashtags

Some attorneys are using hashtags (#) successfully to get leads from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The trick is to use a hashtag that is already highly popular and is being followed by many people. The mistake many lawyers make is using an unpopular hashtag or one that is too broad like #lawyer. Lawyers can determine the best hashtag to use by visiting two free websites: a) Hashtracking.com ' You can take a hashtag and test it. The site will describe the activity and exposure for the hashtag, and identify who is using it the most. b) Ritetag.org ' You can plug in an entire tweet with a hashtag, and the site will tell you if the hashtag is “hot now,” “overused” or “underused.” It will also suggest hashtags to use to get new leads.

3. Use Legal Domain Name Extensions

There's no compelling reason to get one of the new .lawyer, .attorney, .law or .legal web domains. You should buy one only to reserve your own firm name (as you might with .net or .info). “There is no evidence that I've seen that a .law domain will provide an advantage in search engine ranking,” says Dan Jaffe, CEO of LawLytics at http://bit.ly/LawDomains “Regardless of whether you use a .law, .com or any other domain extension, make sure that you are creating quality, original content for the site, that the content is relevant to potential clients and referral sources, and that you don't engage in dubious practices like purchasing links or stuffing keywords.”

4. Practice Community Involvement

You can generate new leads by doing good works, making a difference in society and leaving the world a better place. A top approach is to offer a scholarship ' it'll be the best $1,000 of marketing money you'll ever spend. A law firm can offer scholarship money and ask a school to promote it, decide who will receive it, develop a hashtag and link back to your site (so you'll get a valuable .edu domain linking to you).

Be sure to create a public event when the scholarship is awarded. Announce it on all your social media accounts. On the day of the event, have your staff attend with their cell phones to take pictures, and to livestream the presentation on Periscope or Meerkat. It's a great way to generate website traffic, promote your brand, get engagement with others and generate backlinks to your site.

5. Use Video Production

More people than ever are getting information via video as opposed to text. To capitalize on this trend, lawyers should invest in high-quality video production about themselves and their practices. Consider using the resource I use for my own videos (see http://bit.ly/1NawuSG), Local Lawyer Guide, which has 35 studios across the U.S., see www.locallawyerguide.com.

Options include creating an FAQ video, a video book about a case, or an “explainer” video about your practices. Once you've recorded it, upload it to all your social media accounts, online legal directories and your own website.

6. Know the Differences Between Video Hosting on YouTube and Facebook

Video on Facebook, which is relatively young in comparison to YouTube, which launched in 2005, is now delivering four billion daily viewers. You should upload your videos directly to Facebook, and not simply paste in the YouTube embed code. Facebook is great for an immediate surge of exposure ' it will appear in updates by friends for at least a week. YouTube is more useful for long-term exposure and the development of a channel with many videos.

7. Generate New Clients with Online Video Advertising

You can place your video as pre-roll advertising on any site that carries video ' the Huffington Post; ESPN; Comedy Central; Hulu; NBA.com; or even the Words With Friends app. Online video advertising is not just for large corporations anymore, and it's much cheaper than TV.

The average cost is $0.03 to $0.10 per impression or $3.00 to $6.00 per click. Your ad can be precisely targeted according to demographics, geographics, search history on Google, keywords people are using and even visits to competitor websites. An advertiser can expect detailed reports on views, cost-per-click, completion rate, and click-through-rate.

Conclusion

Start to use these seven hot ideas to attract new clients online. You will attract more leads if you follow internet trends like live streaming, using popular hashtags and creating studio-quality video. Don't ignore the rise of video on Facebook and upload your videos to as many sites as possible. There's never been a better time to use the Web to generate new leads.

Larry Bodine, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is Editor in Chief, The National Trial Lawyers and PersonalInjury.com.