I’ve coded sites for years now but WordPress (the “personal publishing” software used to create CaseDetails.com) is new to me. I’m interested to learn more about leveraging its features to quickly get ideas online. More than that, I’m interested in learning to leverage its predictable heirarchies and code structure to break into the emerging “Web 2.0” community. In other words, this site is going to explore building, customizing and promoting weblogs – using this site as a test subject.
What do you think are the most important first things to know or learn about blogging? In my next few posts, I’ll talk about some of the basics of getting websites and/or blogs up and running. Moving into the future, we’ll get to the heart of the matter: getting your site noticed in the search engines!
Written by jclayc on April 20th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Learning WordPress.
Traditional [tag]search engine marketing[/tag] (paid advertising + natural optimization) are two important parts of an effective website marketing campaign. Another highly effective method is the [tag]weblog[/tag] aka “blog” or, in legal circles, I’ve heard “[tag]blawgs[/tag]” used lately.
Writing a [tag]legal blog[/tag] about your firm’s specialty area of practice is a good idea for a number of reasons. First, it allows a quick and easy way for non-technical partners and personnel to enter relevant, up to date opinions and information to educate clients. Next, it can significantly increase your firm’s online presence; blogs are monitored closely by consumers and search engine spiders, so a blog is often an easier way to get noticed in the search engine results pages than traditional [tag]SEO[/tag] methods. Finally, blogs allow Internet users to enter their own comments and easily associate your articles with other authorities on the subject… and an engaged visitor is one more likely to remeber your message and, perhaps, become a client.
If you’ve decided that your legal practice would benefit from publishing a [tag]law blog[/tag], the first natural question would be, “Ok, how do I set one up?” There are three feasible options for most legal firms: 1) hire an outside company to [tag]set up your blog[/tag], apart from your existing website; 2) use your existing technology personnel (or company) to integrate a blog into your existing website; or 3) set up a blog using a third party service like Blogger.com.
Hiring an outside company to set up your legal blog - there are a number of firms you can find online that can provide a blog to you on a fee per service basis. They will set up a stand alone blog for you and just tell you where to log in or, more likely, the blog will be packaged with part of a larger marketing package they wish you to purchase. Prices vary widely for these services so beware… get multiple quotes and go with a company you’re comfortable with. If they’re trying to sell you way more than you need or charge strange fees, trust your instincts. Another word of advice (and a segue to the next bullet points): go with a company that will willingly work with whatever website hosting/technology provider you’re currently using. A blog should be an integral part of your practice’s larger web strategy.
Using existing resources to implement - or, finding a 3rd party to work with your existing providers – this is usually the best idea. You want to make the blog a natural extension of your established website or, if your website is new, it needs to merge seamlessly with your graphic design and marketing message. Things as simple as matching fonts and colors do matter. What’s great is that this ultimately allows for the greatest flexibility and can be done for little or no cost. Talk to your current webhost or website management group. Ask them about blogging. It may surprise you that you can have your blog set up for no cost at all using open source software like WordPress. (Which, trust me, is very easy for tech personnel to set up… so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.) Since WordPress is what we use at CaseDetails, and what I feel is the best way to publish and market your law blog, I’ll have a number of articles in the future on using WordPress for online [tag]legal marketing[/tag].
Use third party like Blogger.com – there are definitely advantages of using Blogger.com or another turn-key blog system. First of all, it’s free. Second of all, it’s easy. Third, the blogs there do get spidered and, therefore, indexed in search engine results pages quite well. But you do give up a lot of the flexibility in layout and integration that you get with the first two options. The good news is that if you start on Blogger.com, programs like WordPress have built-in utilities to import existing posts from your old site.
Make the choice to start your [tag]specialty blog[/tag], then decide how you’re going to get it online. Once these two decisions are made, the rest is a matter of doing what you do best: talk/write about your favorite area of practice!
seo for law firms
[tags]blog,blogging,lawyer,attorney,law firm marketing,start a blog[/tags]
Written by jclayc on April 19th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on General SEO Discussion and Learning WordPress and SEO for Law Firms.
Hello and welcome to CaseDetails.com – a new blog detailing the [tag]search engine optimization[/tag] efforts lawyers are currently pursuing (as well as others they should be pursuing!) We’ll use this forum to discuss the latest in on page and [tag]off page optimization[/tag] such as [tag]link building[/tag], [tag]content development[/tag], [tag]SEO trends[/tag] and tricks of the trade.
Watch this space in the future; we’re sure to feature search engine optimization methods you haven’t considered or, failing that, our posts can help confirm you’re already on the right track.
[tags]seo for law firms,lawyer seo,SEO for lawyers[/tags]
Written by jclayc on April 18th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on General SEO Discussion and SEO for Law Firms.
