In Day 3 of Local Search in 7 Days we talked about the importance of keyword research. Today, we’ll be discussing Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local pages.

What are these pages?

Each search engine offers free listings for businesses. The page contains basic information about your firm: address, phone, email address and website, along with a map and a link for driving directions. There’s also a place for client reviews.

Why are these pages important?

Think of it as a one-stop-shop. Potential clients can find your firm’s basic information, see a map, get directions and read reviews all on one page with no cost to you.

The pages also provide more inbound links to your website, which increase your credibility with the search engines.

How do I claim my page?

Visit the sites and look for “Add a Business” on Bing, “Add or Change Your Business Listing” on Yahoo! or “Google Places for Business” on Google. Check to see if your firm already has a page. If not, create one. If there’s an existing page, verify all the information.

What do I do next?

Enter your information – It’s not only important that all of the information is correct, but also that it’s consistent. Search engines like to see your information written the exact same way everywhere on the web. This includes all of your local pages, your website and any directories you’re registered with.

If the local pages have your address formatted differently from your website, and the address is correct, consider changing your website.

Add the area of law you practice, languages spoken and any other relevant information. You can also upload photos and video.

Make sure you’re listed in the right categories – Sometimes there are errors when the information is put into the system. This is your chance to ensure your listing is coming up for the right searches.

If you follow these steps, your Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local pages will increase your firms’ visibility on the web and give you the ability to reach more potential clients.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the basics of link building and why it’s such an important aspect of online marketing.

Keep checking in with CaseDetails.com for more information on local search engines and check out our series SEO in 30 Days.

In Day 2 of Local Search in 7 Days, we talked about the importance of optimizing your website. Today, we’ll be discussing the value of good local keyword research.

Why is keyword research so important?

Keyword phrases are the words your potential clients will type into the search box. Predicting what those clients will type is a major component of successfully drawing people to your site.

How does local keyword research differ from general keyword research?

With local search, you’re only focusing on keyword phrases that involve your location. You’re looking at “Georgia accident accident” or even “New York car accident lawyer” instead of “accident attorney.”

How do you create your local keyword list?

Creating a local list is easy. Just take your existing list and add locations where it works. For example, trust attorney becomes NJ trust attorney or Newark trust attorney.

Then, the steps are the same as for general keyword research. First, check out some competitors’ sites to see what they’re targeting. Then, use a keyword research tool to determine the search volume and competition for your phrases. Choose your final list based on those results.

Mobile Search

One area of local search whose popularity is increasing at a rapid rate is mobile search. People now have access to the internet anytime, anywhere. They can search on the train to work, in line at the coffee shop or walking down the street. According to Google, 33% of these smartphone searches are local.

How does this apply to law firms?

Potential clients aren’t just searching from their desks. More and more of them are searching from their phones. The woman who wants to plan her will, might be researching estate planning attorneys on the train to work. A man whose wife was hurt in an accident might be searching for a personal injury lawyer from the hospital. The search landscape is changing and mobile user demand will continue to grow. This is a good time to start working on a mobile search plan.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Local and how they can help your firm attract new clients.

Keep checking in with CaseDetails.com for more information on keyword research and check out our series SEO in 30 Days.

The most important aspect of local search marketing is optimization. If you don’t spend time optimizing your website, Google Places page and other pages, your firm could lose out on valuable rankings.

The key steps to a successful local search marketing campaign, according to Danny Dover in his Whiteboard Friday on Local Search, are:

• Develop an online marketing plan – The plan should define your online objectives, analyze competitors and provide traffic & cost estimation.
• Do extensive keyword and competitive research – Decide which keywords you want to target. Is it the name of your law firm, the area of law you practice, cases you’ve tried? It’s a good idea to search for the keywords you’re thinking of using. See what competitors come up and look at their sites for ideas. Read our series on keyword research for more in-depth advice.
• Take the time to optimize your site for your selected keywords – Don’t make the mistake of just throwing keywords onto your site. Make sure the content is keyword-rich, but also relevant to your firm.
• Make sure your firm name, full address and phone number are consistent throughout your pages – The search engines want all your information to match up everywhere your business is mentioned. This means not only your website, but also your Google Places page, Yahoo Local page and any other directories.
• Include your firm’s name and geographic keywords in your title tags – For local search marketing, this is especially important to do on your contact or location page. It ensures that Google assigns your website as an “authority document” for location prominence.
• Build links – Google sees inbound links as votes of popularity for your site. The more authoritarian sites that link to you, the higher you’ll rank. One way to get inbound links is to post outbound links. Try linking to local organizations that would be of use to law firm website visitors or other firms’ sites that would compliment your firm without competing. Read our posts on link building basics for more info.

If you follow these steps, you’ll be on your way to a successful local search marketing campaign.

Next, we’ll take a more in-depth look at local keyword research and its importance in targeting your local customer base.

Keep checking in at CaseDetails.com for more information on local search marketing and optimization and check out our SEO in 30 Days series.

Get the basics of successful local business and law firm online marketing

Local search is growing and changing at a rapid pace. This seven-day series will discuss the basics of local search with Google, Yahoo and Bing, its growing importance and how your law firm or locally-based business can benefit from it.

What is local search?

A local search occurs when someone searches for businesses or products in their area. This search can take place through a local search engine like Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Local or through the general engines.

Why should you optimize specifically for local searches?

Google estimates that over 20% of searches now include a reference to locality and that number is growing. People don’t want to wade through pages of results that aren’t in their area. They want relevant, local results. If you optimize your site effectively, you can get more benefit from these local searches.

In November 2010, Danny Dover posted a Whiteboard on the basics of local search on SEOmoz. He outlined five steps that can help you improve your local search. They are:

• Setting the stage with relevant content and a well-optimized site
• Doing extensive local keyword research and targeting
• Creating a local page with Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Local
• Link building
• Submitting to local directories

This series will focus on those five steps as well as what not to do with your Google Places page.

Next, we’ll take a look at setting the stage with a well-optimized site. We’ll discuss link building, as well as accessibility and content.

Keep checking in at CaseDetails.com for more information on the basics of local search and more.

Does your product or service have a low or non-existent keyword search volume? Chances are if your law firm is in a smaller city or town, your primary keyword target may not get much action. If so, don’t give up on using SEO as a marketing tool. Just because people aren’t searching for your exact city and area of practice yet doesn’t mean you can’t put SEO to work for you.

In his article, “How to Do SEO for Sites and Products with No Search Demand,” blogger Rand Fishkin gives four ways to use SEO for products with low keyword search volume.

The Substitute
Many products that don’t have direct keyword search volume can be marketed based on their similarities to an existing product. For example, if you’re an estate planning lawyer in Small Town, Georgia, using SEO could be a challenge since there’s very little search volume for that specific keyword.

However, you could target searches on a similar service such as estate planning software or online estate planning. These ads would then rank alongside the product you’re trying to replace.

The Comparison
Not all services or brands will be qualified to substitute for an existing product. But many will be comparable to something familiar.

Let’s say, for example, you practice insurance law. The search volume for that keyword isn’t great. You could improve the volume by comparing it to similar areas of law.

Attract the Audience. Not the Query
Another option is to market to an audience defined by their age, gender, income and other personal traits, instead of marketing to an audience that’s searching for what you sell. Doing this will require careful planning and preparation.

You need to learn as much about your target audience as possible. What types of sites do they visit? What kinds of searches do they perform regularly?

In the estate planning example, let’s use young parents as a target group. If you know they regularly search for children’s products, parenting tips, articles, etc. you could create a blog focused on those topics. You could then advertise your firm alongside the primary content.

Build the Brand
The final way to use SEO for products with low keyword search volume is to build your brand. The same contests, celebrities and videos that Pepsi or Coke use when they launch a new beverage, can help customers searching for related content find your firm.

Using SEO for products with low keyword search volume will definitely be a challenge, but now you have a good idea of where to start. For more advice on putting SEO to work for your law firm or small business, keep referring to CaseDetails.com.

Read the Google Places Quality Guidelines to learn how to avoid spam techniques.

Many local businesses, and those involved in local search marketing, have criticized Google for the amount of spam in Google Places (formerly Local Business Listings).  Google has addressed these concerns by introducing new Google Places Quality Guidelines.

These guidelines include information on how to avoid using spam techniques in the business listings.

Business name – Google says, “Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world”. They do not want companies to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of their business into the business name. Failure to conform to this guideline can result in a penalty, or being removed from Google Maps.

Physical Locations –Google says, “Do not create listings at locations where the business does not physically exist. PO Boxes do not count as physical locations.” This has been a controversial topic. It is very difficult to appear in top search results outside of the city that is specified in a company’s address. This makes it hard on businesses that serve customers in nearby cities.

Multiple Locations – Google says, “Do not create more than one listing for each business location, either in a single account or multiple accounts”. Businesses that operate in a service area as opposed to a single location should not create a listing for every city they service. Service area businesses should create one listing for the central office of the business only.

Adhering to these policies will improve the quality of the Places listings overall, and make it more likely that your business will be included in the Local Business Results section (next to the map) of the search engine results page.

Find more law firm marketing tips today, including lawyer SEO and other strategies. Give your firm’s website a basic optimization in one month by following our SEO in 30 Days series.

Looking to market your services on the local level? Twitter could be your new best friend.

Twitter.com is a social media platform that allows users to post short messages of 140 characters or less. Since its launch on March 1, 2008 Twitter has become a rapidly growing company that will inevitably generate revenue from online advertising.

The benefit of Twitter is that it allows people to communicate with others when they normally wouldn’t exchange e-mail or instant messages. Twitter Local Search allows users to find friends and businesses near their city. By simply posting a comment, friends and businesses can communicate to any of their followers.

When considering how to use Twitter for business, Mary Bowling in “Twitter for Local Search” suggests using the tactics listed below to regularly update your feed, engage users, and promote new products.

Tip #1:
Vary your updates over a variety of topics. It’s important to speak in an informational manner while creating posts. Users do not like being sold to. Most people will un-follow you if they think you are always trying to sell them something.

Tip #2:
When announcing deals via Twitter, offer coupon codes and other special discounts to your followers, and those who re-tweet your deals.  This gives a positive incentive to following your brand, while making it easy for you to gain additional followers and re-tweets. Deals are great, but it is important to offer more than just a coupon. Give your followers some interesting news and information as well!

Tip #3:
Keep business announcements interesting and informative.  Tell your followers about interesting company and industry news. If you are launching a new product, holding an open house, or doing something in the community, let people know about it on Twitter.

Following these simple Twitter tips for businesses may help you get more followers, improve your brand awareness, and run a more efficient campaign.

Find more information on other marketing tactics including Keyword Research and Local Search Marketing at CaseDetails.com.

When used effectively, LinkedIn is a valuable tool for getting local business

Most people have heard of LinkedIn, the social media platform for professionals. On LinkedIn, you can connect with colleagues and potential clients in your local area. You can find people you already know and also get introduced to people you’d like to know.

Many professionals have created a profile and added connections, but aren’t sure what to do next. The answer: use it as a marketing tool. LinkedIn is very useful for local search marketing for law firms and other small businesses. Just don’t use it for blatant self-promotion.

What is Local Search?

Local search is what people do when they look for products and services in or near their neighborhood. Before the Internet, people turned to the phone book or community business listings published by their local chambers of commerce. Today local search is moving online. In fact, about 20% Google searches include location information.

How Can LinkedIn Help Your Local Search Marketing?

You may wonder why a lawyer even needs search marketing. After all, unless your message arrives right when someone needs a lawyer, it’s not likely to result in new business. Remember, though, that marketing is not the same as advertising.

You can discretely market yourself on LinkedIn by positioning yourself as an expert in your field. Fill out your profile completely, using relevant keywords, including location. Create a separate profile for your business as well, using similar keywords. This doubles your odds of appearing in search results.

Other things you can do on LinkedIn to increase your credibility:

• Give and Receive Recommendations: When you recommend others, you help them gain credibility as well as get your name onto their profiles, where people can see it and click through to your profile. When others recommend you, it boosts your image.
• Join Groups: Not all groups are local, but you can still meet new people who may become a source of information, collaboration or referrals. You can offer the same benefits to them.
• Answer Questions: When you answer questions, you appear helpful and knowledgeable. When people read your answers, they gain a favorable impression of you and are more likely to think of you when they, or someone they know, need a lawyer.

Every action you take on LinkedIn is an opportunity for local search marketing, potentially increasing your visibility to both human searchers and the search engines.