Photo courtesy of shubijam

It seems Google is using Twitter to find out what topics are hot enough to trigger the “Query Deserves Freshness” algorithm (that’s the algorithm that brings the newest pages to the top of the search results).

That made me stop and think. If Google is watching Twitter, shouldn’t I be watching Twitter too? What makes Twitter so valuable, anyway?

It all boils down to knowing what people are talking about and making the most of it. One of many tools to help you do this is Trendistic. Enter a couple of keywords about your practice or things that affect your practice, and see what has come up over the past 24 hours, 7 days, or whatever period takes your fancy. Also, take a look down the right hand column to see the most popular topics under discussion on Twitter right now.

Another tool, specifically useful for lawyers: LegalBirds. Use this Twitter directory of legal professionals to find competitors/colleagues and see if they are tweeting about a hot topic you should know about.

You can also utilize Twitter’s own Trending list. This list is based on location, not keyword, but it’s worth checking to see if you can relate any of the current hot topics to your area of expertise. How to use it:

• Look for a topic: Search for keywords related to your area of practice to see which ones are trending up. Then write a post on that topic.
• Find out when to post what you’ve already written: If you have a topic you expect to become popular – an upcoming conference, for example – let Twitter trends tell you when to post.

In both cases, post near the peak of the topic’s popularity.

How does this information help you?

• If there’s hot news about the legal industry, you can cash in on it as soon as it breaks. Add a short article to the front page of your web site and get pulled into the top news stories.
• Be the first to spot new trends and write about them on your web site. These are good for the front page or a strong sub page.
• Learn what people care about and use that to make your web site (and advertising) more effective.

Tracking hot topics on Twitter can give your website a freshness advantage that will result in higher ranking and thus more traffic around popular topics. By following Twitter, you could well become a leader.

Back to basics today – I’m always challenging myself to refine the way I work, my goals, the definition of “success” and the like. Coming from a (relatively) tech background, my world usually revolves around ideas like rankings, impressions, clicks and content development. But these don’t mean much to the typical lawyer. Most attorneys are far more interested in “where the rubber hits the road”: leads generated… and they’re right. Changing my language about legal search engine marketing to be much more focused on lead generation and tracking is one of my resolutions for 2008. So how do you ensure your traffic will generate leads, not just traffic?

This is a huge topic, so I’ll hit the high spots:

• Ensure telephone and web-based tracking is in place. Of course your site should have visitor tracking like WebTrends, but you need to know how many contacts have come from your online efforts, not just visits. This is essential to tracking lead generation and online marketing ROI. It may take a tech person to help you set this up.
• Know your market. It’s very important to know what people are actually searching for online. My typical example is the lawyer focused on “matrimonial law” rather than “family law and divorce”. Rankings don’t mean much if they’re for words no one uses. With the Overture keyword tool offline, I recommend Google Trends, Keyword Discovery and the DigitalPoint tool for getting a feel for the “natural” search landscape. Those interested in paid advertising should review SpyFu.
• Don’t buy traffic without keyword targeting. Paid advertising can be effective as part of a total marketing strategy, but don’t buy traffic where it’s just X visitors for Y dollars. Make sure your traffic is targeted to your audience.
• Provide an incentive. Once a visitor is on your site, what’s in it for them? Make sure that your site’s common landing pages have a call to action or content that “speaks” to the keyword (and situation) at hand.
• (easy one) Make sure your contact information on your website is easy to read. Light gray text on a white background, small font sizes and missing mailing info are common mistakes.

So I hope the message is clear, a website and even rankings themselves are ultimately just a means to an end: lead generation. The information aspect is even secondary, in my opinion. Don’t you agree?

[tags]lead generation[/tags]