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Knowing What Not To Do Can Boost Your ROI

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Doing something is better than doing nothing. But doing the right thing is even better.

In our 35+ years as a legal advertising agency, we’ve seen many law firms miss opportunities that could bring in more leads, better cases and a lot of money.

Among those who do manage to make an effort, if the wrong strategy is fueling the execution, results can be underwhelming.

Today, we look at four common legal marketing mistakes. Take a good look – are any of them happening at your firm? Continue reading “Knowing What Not To Do Can Boost Your ROI”

Yesterday’s Kids Are Today’s New Clients

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In life, things are always changing; always moving forward. The young grow old, employees become bosses, attorneys become judges, and so on.

In the latter half of this decade, we’ve seen the legal market become increasingly dependent on a demographic that no one ever bothered to take very seriously: millennials.

If your law firm isn’t taking millennials seriously, it’s time for that to change. They’re older, wiser and wealthier than you may think. They’re living life on their own and, just like anyone else, they’re vulnerable to accidents, injuries, and violations of their rights.

According to some estimates, there are more than 80 million millennials in this country, and every single one of them (at least within your market) is a potential client.

Did you know the youngest millennial in the United States, even when using the widest definition of that term, is currently age 20 as of 2017? And the oldest is approaching 40!

In other words, these are the new adults. The future success of almost any business depends on recognizing that fact.

What do we mean by “taking millennials seriously”? You need to be strategically and aggressively marketing your law firm to them.

Why? Like any generation, millennials think and act differently than the generations before them. As decision makers for their own burgeoning households, they are influenced by factors different than those of their parents or grandparents.

Moreover, millennials have a heightened awareness of themselves as a demographic. Having been the subject of countless headlines, studies, jokes, and op/eds (for instance, a recent opinion piece in a national paper unfairly decried millennials’ love for avocado toast as a character flaw and sparked a social media firestorm), they are the most branded generation in history.

Speaking their language and responding to their unique concerns is the key to making sure they ultimately hire your law firm instead of your competitors’. And make no mistake… millennials have plenty of great cases to bring your way. They have insurance policies, they’re in auto accidents, they’re starting businesses, they fall victim to medical malpractice. Many are even parents!

Earlier this month, in Part 1 of this article, we explained why millennials make good hires for law firms and how you can recruit the best young people to yours. Today, in Part 2, we look at millennials as clients and explain why they matter so much… and how you can market your law firm to this generation.

The Unique Challenges of Marketing to Millennials

In a sense, everything you know about advertising changes when millennials become your target. That’s true whether you’re looking at television commercials, inbound marketing on your website, or traditional outbound print ads.

Among those challenges are these fascinating traits of the Millennial:

  • They are deeply skeptical of traditional advertising messages or anything that seems like it’s trying to sell them something. They grew up in the world of big media. They know all the tricks.
  • They are even more deeply skeptical of self-serving professionals. Decades of terrible law firm TV commercials did the industry zero favors among millennials.
  • They drive less. millennials tend to live in urban areas and utilize pedestrian options, ridesharing (e.g. Uber), or public transit more than private cars. They also tend to make more “green living” decisions than previous generations.
  • Many of them work from home or in non-traditional career settings.
  • They are more diverse than previous generations. Advertising in Spanish, for example, is more important than ever.
  • They care about community responsibility, and they expect businesses to do their part.
  • They know the internet better than you do and will do their research via web, review and social sites before contacting you.

Millennials Love Media

The picture we just painted is a generation weary of traditional media. To some extent, that’s true. But make no mistake: millennials love media.

In fact, according to Nielsen’s Q1 2016 Total Audience Report, “U.S. adults spent 10 hours, 39 minutes a day consuming media in the first quarter of 2016. That’s up a full hour from the first quarter of 2015, and it’s thanks to a substantial increase in smartphone and tablet usage.”

10 HOURS AND 39 MINUTES PER DAY! That is a staggering statistic and it’s crucial to understand what that means.

Millennials are more reachable than any other segment of the population, but they must be reached differently than their predecessors.

How to Market Your Law Firm to Millennials

We could write a whole book on this topic. In fact, we’ve already published a white paper on marketing law firms to millennials and another that looks specifically at marketing to Hispanic millennials.

In general, good pointers include:

  • Create digital content. Infographics, for instance, are “millennial-friendly” because they’re easy to understand, quick to read and turn up in Google Image searches.
  • Craft your attorney TV campaigns so that they play well on YouTube too.
  • Embrace the internet whole-heartedly. You must have a digital strategy, and it must complement your broadcast strategy.
  • Understand that, for millennials, everything ends on the internet. That means (A) they’ll probably find you through a Google search… but only if your SEO and PPC are on point, and (B) even if they find you through a TV ad, they’ll probably visit your website first… and then decide whether to hire you.
  • Consider advertising in unconventional places, like blogs popular with millennials in your community. Advertising on popular podcasts can be a good idea too.
  • Quality content is king. Focus on useable, easily digestible information that is valuable to your target audience.
  • Be active and “super present” on social media. To millennials, your social media activity is your pulse. Can they tell you’re alive?
  • Give back to your community in visible and authentic ways.
  • Avoid “salesy” messaging.

Ask Our Experts About Marketing Your Legal Services to Millennials

Network Affiliates is a team of legal marketing experts with more than 35 years of expertise in the field. We work hard to keep our clients ahead of the competition and the curve, and so we focus only on marketing efforts that can directly boost a law firm’s bottom line.

Increasingly, we find that marketing to millennials is a major key to getting new clients and bigger, better cases. This is a topic for which we’ve invested a lot of time and research toward developing an expertise — and our clients’ results are speaking for themselves.

To learn more about how your firm can target its advertising and messaging to Generation Y, give us a call at 888-461-1016 or simply contact us online.

Change Your Thoughts About Hiring Millennials – Part 1

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Millennials have been the butt of jokes for at least ten years now. A funny thing happened in that same period though. The millennials grew up!

That presents a problem for people in the business world, including attorneys. Those “lazy young millennials” we’ve all been joking about? They’re your new customers. Your new clients. Your new colleagues. Your new hiring pool.

And they aren’t going anywhere. On the contrary, they outnumber their elder generations, and they’ve gone from punchline to major economic force in the blink of an eye.

So perhaps the time has to come to reconsider our perceptions of millennials and our willingness to take them seriously.

Today, we present the first in a two-part series that considers the role millennials play in the legal market — both as new hires (in this, Part 1) and as high-value clients (later this month, in part 2).

As it turns out, they might be the single best opportunity your competitors aren’t exploring or targeting.

Who Are the Millennials in 2017-2018?

Conjure up an image of a millennial in your mind. Who do you see? A college student posing for a selfie while driving 90 miles per hour to the nearest Starbucks for an all-day latte binge?

That’s the stereotype, but the real millennials — the ones who can help make you money— look more like this:

  • Ages 20 to 36 (born between 1981 and 1997 (give or take) depending on the definition you use)
  • Homeowners
  • Parents with possibly more children on the way
  • Recipients of advance degrees
  • Project leaders, managers, etc.
  • Community activists
  • Travelers
  • Caretakers for their aging parents
  • The primary decision makers for their households

In other words, just like every generation of young people before them, millennials have matured into full-fledged adults. Many of them are smart, vibrant, hip to the latest trends, and have a lot to offer as members of your firm.

“But why should I invest in a Millennial if they’re inexperienced, or if they’re going to leave us in two years?”

We hear you, but look, there’s nothing unique to millennials about that concern.

You’ll find unmotivated or unqualified people in every generation, and with any new hire, there’s always the risk that they’ll move on to a new opportunity in a short period of time regardless of age.

So don’t miss out on a promising field of applicants — not to mention the largest field of applicants! Instead, trust your hiring instincts and choose the best person for the job, even if they belong to the millennial generation.

How Do You Hire a “Good” Millennial?

We’re going to let you in on a little secret… hiring a good millennial really isn’t any different than hiring any other good employee. You’re still looking for the same skill set, the same personality, and the same strengths of character. And you can absolutely find all those things among millennials.

Of course, you might want to figure out what you mean by “good.” We recommend making a list of the attributes you’d like to find in your next hire. For example:

  • Hard worker
  • Spends time in the office vs. working remotely
  • A great researcher
  • Writing experience
  • Previous law firm experience
  • An established book of business (less common among millennials, but not unheard of)
  • Detail-oriented focus
  • A “Yes man / woman” vs. someone who challenges your firm to do things differently and contributes to its success!

Next, we suggest ranking your list of attributes in order of what matters to you the most. Voila, you have a hiring rubric. And it really doesn’t have to look much different for millennials than for anyone else.

The Benefits of Hiring Millennials for Your Law Firm

Whether you’re looking for a new paralegal, support staff member, or an associate attorney, there are several compelling reasons for considering a millennial’s application.

For starters, as we’ll touch on in Part 2, millennials are going to comprise a larger and larger portion of your client base in the years ahead. Having millennials on staff can help your firm seem diverse, approachable, and “with the times.”

Millennials bring different perspectives and new ideas to the table too. They grew up in the internet era. They are digital natives. They’re tech savvy. The lessons of law school are still fresh on their minds.

The right millennial hire could ultimately become the person who suggests the next game-changing idea for your firm. Never resist innovation or new schools of thought!

Talk to Our Experts for Tips on Becoming a Millennial-Friendly Law Firm

The bottom line is that millennials are here, and they’re old enough and populous enough now that your business can’t afford to ignore them.

The majority of the work force is not going to adapt to you. So you should start thinking of ways to adapt to them. That might mean a modest evolution for your law firm, a change in the way you think about this once-maligned generation, and maybe even new employment incentives to ensure you recruit the best of the best from their age group. After all, plenty of other organizations (including law firms) are already embracing them.

Later this month, we’ll look at why millennials are an imperative but oft-overlooked client demographic for attorneys (especially in the personal injury market). This is something we talk to our clients about all the time.

Network Affiliates is a leading legal marketing agency with more than 35 years of expertise in our field. Part of our job is to identify trends and help our clients respond to them creatively and proactively.

Undoubtedly, the emerging millennial market is one of the most pressing trends in the legal sector right now, and there’s so much you can do — from your hiring to your messaging to your client intake procedures — to make sure you capitalize on this ripe opportunity.

To learn more potential tactics and tips for becoming a millennial-friendly law firm, give us a call at 877.709.0633 or simply fill out our easy online contact form today.

How to Handle the Big Threat to Local Law Firms

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It’s the fear of every mom-and-pop shop, small business, and boutique law firm: a major player with national name recognition enters your area and begins offering exactly the same thing your business does, investing more money and resources in advertising than you could ever dream of.

Sound familiar?

In fact, earlier this year, we identified national power players entering your market as one of the biggest challenges in the legal advertising space in 2017 and beyond.

Multistate practice is a hot trend in the Big Law world, and these firms are able to pour much more into advertising than their local competitors.

The internet has become something of a national power player itself, too. From LegalZoom to new services like Dentons’ Nextlaw Global Referral Network, it’s becoming more challenging to stake your claim as “the local lawyer.”

So what do you do if a national power player enters your market and you can’t match their marketing budget? For some of you, that’s a terrifying hypothetical. For others, it’s already reality. But either way, it’s important to realize that not all hope is lost.

In fact, there’s a lot you can to do to effectively market yourself regardless of how big the competition’s budgets are, and it all comes down to messaging and strategy. Below, we present the first prongs in a strategic playbook.

Big Bucks vs. Brain Power: How to Play It Smart When Your Competitor Has Cash to Burn

When you can’t outspend, outsmart!

Big national law firms aren’t inherently better, smarter, or more marketing-minded than yours. In fact, in today’s age, when affordable media production is more accessible than ever, you have the power to craft creative messages that will outshine theirs.

Remember: the average personal injury client doesn’t know the first thing about the world of law schools and law firms.

They don’t know which law firms are big or small, new or old, good or bad, or whose J.D. is the most impressive. Nor do they really care. That isn’t their language.

Their language looks more like this: “I’m hurt. I’ve been wronged. My financial situation is a mess. This isn’t right. I can’t afford a lawyer. What am I supposed to do?”

The specifics of their language will depend on which practice area they fall within, but the point is this: the only effective legal advertisements are the ones that directly speak to the client’s needs and concerns. You need to speak to those issues in a way that stands out.

That’s where creative, outside-the-box ads come in.

You don’t need an enormous budget to make a law firm commercial campaign that stands out from the crowd. You need creative vision and a distinctive message.

The most effective, appealing campaign is the one people will respond to, regardless of whether the firm behind it is a small-town boutique firm or a national player.

 

Knowledge (Read: Data) Is Power

There’s no substitute for an in-depth understanding of your market. Fortunately, that’s information you can actually get your hands on.

By referring to a market analysis or media audit for your area, you can identify key areas of opportunity in your market.

Are there dayparts with ideal audiences that your competitors haven’t tapped yet, for example? A practice area no one’s targeting? A rival’s campaign that doesn’t seem to be working?

The more intel you have, the better equipped you are to make strategic, data-driven decisions that can deliver results.

Incidentally, we’re going to take a closer look at market analyses and media audits later this month, so be sure to check back for a deeper dive into how these resources can make a difference for your firm.

Let Us Help You Make Better, Smarter Law Firm Television Commercial Campaigns

If a national firm has dipped its imposing toe in your local market, now is the time to prepare your plan of attack. Don’t sit idle.

With creative advertising that gets to the core of what clients really need, you can run highly effective ads on a targeted budget and remain competitive.

Those are exactly the kinds of ads we help to make. Network Affiliates is a team of legal marketing professionals, and we’ve been creating innovative law firm commercial campaigns since day one (literally — ours were among the very first when the U.S. Supreme Court first allowed them!). We know what works and what doesn’t, and we can put that insight to work for you.

To learn more, call 877.709.0633 or simply fill out our easy online contact form today.

The Indisputable Power of Authentic Testimonials

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The Best Endorsements Come from Those You Have Helped – Your Clients!

A common mistake we see across the legal marketing industry is lawyers who often times highlight the wrong things – degrees, years in practice, millions recovered for clients, etc.

Yes, all of those things are impressive, and there’s definitely a place for them on your website. But if they’re at the core of your messaging and television marketing campaigns, you may be missing the mark.

Why? Because prospective clients primarily care about what you can do for them. And while your accolades and awards may speak to that, they tend to say more about you than what you do for others.

Your law firm’s messaging needs to resonate with victims, with those in pain, fear and in need of your help.

Authentic client testimonials can do as much for your messaging as any powerfully written marketing copy. They also have the added benefit of allowing your prospective clients to see themselves and hear from people you’ve actually helped.

After all, they engage with your creative content (TV, web, outdoor, etc.) and then decide if you are the person who can help them. What better way to answer that question than with real stories told by real people in situations similar to theirs?

The Power of Life Stories

Since the dawn of human communication, storytelling has served as mankind’s tool of choice for making sense of the world around them. Many communications theorists believe there might be something hard-wired in humanity that makes us responsive to story. That would certainly explain the power of literature, song, and film in culture. Even many sacred religious texts impart their lessons by way of narrative device.

Client testimonials are stories. And, they absolutely can strike a similar chord.

That’s because a client testimonial, when done in a tasteful and respective manner, belongs to perhaps the most powerful literary genre: the story of a life changed.

Whether your clients are drivers suffering from catastrophic trucking injuries, parents caring for negligently injured children, patients facing the horrors of medical malpractice (a fear every patient can connect with on some level), or young people who made a mistake and are being excessively charged by aggressive prosecutors, you – the lawyer – are ultimately a character in a story that people find compelling.

Accidents, injuries, and bad decisions change lives. Skilled attorneys come in and fight to change them back for the better.

Victims looking for a hero can find one in your client testimonials.

Avoiding “Testi-Phony-ials”: What We Mean by “Authentic”

Notice that our headline refers to authentic testimonials. In other words, testimonials that are not:

  • Heavily scripted
  • Read off a teleprompter
  • Excessively polished
  • Performed by an actor
  • Inclusive of slogans and “marketing speak”
  • Low-budget or gimmicky

We’ve all seen them. There are plenty of law firm commercials on the air each and every day featuring interviews with “clients” who do not come across as authentic because of aforementioned reasons.

The irony is that many of these testimonials cost more money to produce – yet deliver lesser outcomes. Why pay for an actor or a low-budget melodrama when raw, candid comments from actual clients would yield better results?

Real people connect to real people. So your testimonials should come from real people. Period.

Without compromising confidentiality or violating ethics rules, of course, you want to provide enough detail for the reader or viewer to tap into the emotion of this success story.

The client’s story should always focus on their experience, from beginning to end, and how their life was forever changed by this experience.

 

Honor Your Clients

As a lawyer, you do many things for your clients. You protect their rights against violation. You help them get justice. You help them get ahead.

But there’s also an emotional facet to what you do for them. You give a voice to the voiceless.

In the face of injustice from an insurance company, a major employer, or even the government, what else can “the little guy” do but rely on a lawyer for help.

In that sense, attorneys are a kind of empowerment. Authentic testimonials are a great way of educating people about that.

Honor your clients and what your firm represents. Let them tell others what you did for them. No other message can command such power.

Good or Bad? How to Tell the Difference…

How to distinguish an effective law firm testimonial from a dramatization? Watch them side by side! Check out our reel of the good, the bad, and ugly below:

Talk to Our Legal Marketing Experts About How to Get Better Testimonials

Getting great client testimonials might seem like an easy exercise, but it’s something many law firms struggle with. We can help. Network Affiliates is a team of legal marketing professionals who specialize in creative, out-of-the-box branding and messaging that produces actual, measurable results for your law firm’s bottom line.

Reach out and learn more about how we can help you. Call 877.709.0633 or simply fill out our easy online contact form today.

How Law Firm’s Can Avoid Google’s Latest Penalty

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Update: Google’s Mobile First Penalty may now roll out sometime in 2018.

Translation

Hi there, I’m Mike Hart and I’m here tokeep you up to date on all things digital marketing.

If you’ve paid attention to digital marketing news, you’ve seen headlines about Google’s updates and new penalties.

In January, Google rolled out a new penalty targeting sites using intrusive pop-ups on their mobile pages. Unlike other changes,  this one didn’t come with a cute name like panda or hummingbird. This one is called the mobile interstitial penalty.

We talked about it on our blog months ago and we put a link in the description below so you can read the post if you want or you can keep watching this video Dealer’s choice, really.

The penalty targets sites with invasive pop-ups. That can mean a pop up that covers the page’s  content, an ad a user has to close before seeing the page or using a layout where an ad pushes content below the fold. Basically, Google doesn’t want anything getting between users and content. 

This penalty hasn’t affected many sites yet, but Google can put more emphasis on it in the future and like other penalties, if this one hits your site your rankings could suffer or your site could be removed from Google search results.

In a post on Google’s webmaster forum John Mueller, a webmaster trends analyst at Google, said this penalty only affects mobile search results. But Google plans on launching their mobile first index sometime this year, which means your site’s mobile version will play a much larger role deciding where your site shows in search results.

This is all well and good but attorneys don’t normally have ads on their web pages, so what does any of this have to do with the law firms web site?

When Google announced this penalty on their blog they listed what would and would not be penalized. A pop-up chat feature wasn’t listed as an exemption from this penalty and if you’re an attorney, you probably have a chat feature on your site to and if you’re an attorney, you probably have a chat feature on your site to capture more leads.

Clearly, you don’t want to remove chats since it could be capturing leads that don’t want to call your firm or fill out a contact form. But at the same time, you don’t want to get hit by this penalty. So what do you do?

Well, the solution is quite simple. Go to your law firms website on a mobile device. If your chat pop-up blocks the content, then you’ll want to change it.

Since chat is a third party product, let your webmaster, ad agency,  or vendor know that you don’t want it to pop up anymore and ask what the alternative options are. That way you can still have chat on your mobile-friendly pages for conversions and avoid the penalty.

And that’s it. That’s all you have to do to avoid Google’s mobile interstitial penalty. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or sarcastic remarks and thanks for watching.

Posted in SEO

The Difference Between Google’s Manual, Algorithmic Penalties

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Additional Resources

Here are some additional resources you can visit to learn more about Google’s penalties. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us.

Google’s Webmaster Guidelines

What not to do, straight from the horse’s mouth. You can find out what Google does and doesn’t like. Mostly, though, it’s telling you what you shouldn’t do.

One important thing they list that we didn’t mention is monitoring your site for hacked content. Like a manual penalty, Google will let you know if they find hacked content on your site.

We’ve discovered a hacked site weeks before Google sent us a notification. If your site is small, use a free website crawling tool like Screaming Frog to find any suspicious pages.

Moz’s Google Algorithm Change History

Moz is one of the leading resources in digital marketing. They’ve been keeping track of Google’s algorithm changes since 2000. This is one of the first places we go when we see any concerning dips in Google Analytics.

A lot of updates are “unnamed” because Google stopped confirming major changes to their algorithm in 2016. Still, this is a good starting place.

The (Almost) Complete Guide To Google Penalties (Manual & Algorithmic)

If you’re unfamiliar with any of Google’s penalties, visit this post. It lists and explains both manual and algorithmic changes. It’s an older post, but does a good job of explaining Panda, Penguin and other penalties. Newer penalties, like Google’s Interstitial Penalty released in January aren’t included.

Video Transcript

You’re looking at the analytics for your website and to your horror, you see that organic traffic from google has severely dropped or stopped completely.

In a panic, you check if your site’s still up, if the analytics tracking code is still installed, or if you’ve accidentally blocked search engines from indexing your site.

Everything checks out but you don’t know what the problem is.

If the stop or drop in traffic was sudden, then congratulations, you may have a penalty to deal with.

There are different penalties that can have negative effects on your site. And all of them are either an algorithmic or manual penalty.

Google uses a mathematical equation called an algorithm to rank websites. This algorithm checks your web pages against more than 200 on and off-page factors. How your pages compare with the competition determines your place in search results.

An algorithmic penalty is when google changes or updates their algorithm. And that change could cause a sudden drop in rankings and website traffic.

If you think an algorithm update caused your site’s drop in performance, check the seo or digital marketing blogs for any info on a new update.

If there was one, look into what the update changed and when it was launched. If the launch date is around the time your traffic and rankings dropped, then that update may be your problem.

It’s also a good idea to track recent changes to your website as the change may have triggered a pre-existing algorithmic penalty.

Since there are multiple algorithmic penalties to deal with, you’ll have to spend time researching the problem and finding the solution.

If you can’t find news about an update or you haven’t made any changes to your site, then you may have been hit by a manual penalty.

Your site get’s a manual penalty when it violates google’s webmaster guidelines. These guidelines cover what is and isn’t acceptable behavior regarding your website.

Basically, google doesn’t want you to use specific strategies to game their algorithm to improve your site’s position in search results.

Unlike an algorithmic penalty, google sends a message to your site’s search console account telling you your site was penalized.

You may need additional tools and more time to fix a manual penalty but that depends on what your site is penalized for.

Keep in mind that the negative effects from a penalty, both manual and algorithmic, can affect your site well after the penalty is removed.

That’s why you, someone on your staff, or your marketing agency should be keep up-to-date on rumored google algorithm updates or periodically audit your site’s on and off-page seo strategy.

And that’s it. Those are the differences between google’s two types of penalties. We’ve put links below if you want more info.
And if you have any questions, comments, concerns or sarcastic remarks, leave a comment or reach out to us on facebook, twitter or our website.

And as always, thanks for watching.

Posted in SEO

Why Law Firms Should Focus On Quality Content

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Video Transcript

Hey there Network family, I am Emily Frickey and here is our digital topic for the week!

Content.

Specifically quality of content vs. quantity of content. The age-old saying still rings true today “quality over quantity.”

Content is still an imperative part of digital marketing strategies. Creating unique, content helps with SEO rankings, user experience and even website conversions.

Because of this, many marketers decided that creating as much content as possible, around a single topic, was the best strategy for ranking number one for key phrases.

However, gone are the days of keyword stuffing, news jacking, and creating dozens of blog posts a week to increase rankings.

Instead, the focus should be on giving users the information they are truly looking for. User experience is always rewarded in the eyes of Google.

Focus on creating great content! Take more time to produce a well-researched piece, than five super quick, short pieces.

While long form content tends to have higher rates of engagement and higher rankings, word count isn’t really a measure for “great content.”

Great content is not bound to a specific word count. Rather, what information do readers want for a specific topic? Is the formatting easy to read regardless of the device they happen to be on? How long do they stay on the page? Do they convert after they are done reading?

Think of your website like a neighborhood. Each piece of content is a specific house in that neighborhood. Well, when you have a dilapidated house in a neighborhood it brings down the overall value of the houses around them and the neighborhood as a whole.

Content is the same. The more pieces of under-performing content on a site, the more that hurts the overall authority and value of your site.

However, if you create great, high performing pieces, you will raise the overall value of the site. In turn, making your site rank higher in search engines.

Again. Everything you do should be with the intent of giving Users the information they are looking for, the way they want to consume it.

Take your great long-format pieces and truncate them into infographics or shorter email blasts. That way, you are disseminating the same content in different mediums for users to decide how they consume.

Whatever you create, make sure it has purpose and is useful to the end user. Always choose quality over quantity. It has the most lasting, and most effective results.

As always, thanks for watching! And if you have any questions about this or marketing in general… Reach out to us here at Network Affiliates!

Posted in SEO

How Net Neutrality Deregulation Could Hurt Law Firms

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Additional Info On Net Neutrality

What is Net Neutrality?

If you’re short on time, the Wikipedia entry touches both the basic and advanced thoughts on the topic. You can read the whole thing or cherry pick the sections for a quicker experience.

 

How Did This Argument Begin?

Another Wikipedia entry, but this is the court case that started this debate. Long story short, Verizon sued the FCC, claiming the FCC didn’t have the justification to regulate ISPs and telecoms under the FCC Open Internet Order 2010. Verizon won the case but opened their industry up to reclassification and additional regulations.

 

The Current FCC’s Position on Deregulation

Reason.com interviewed current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. In the 30 minute video, Pai explains why he believes the FCC should roll back the Title II regulations.

 

The Argument Against Deregulation

This piece argues against some major talking points used against Title II regulation. The piece also links out to examples of ISPs using secret data caps, throttling traffic, and giving their own services a boost over the competition. They were literally caught doing the things they said they wouldn’t do.

It’s long, but also has abbreviated answers if you’re pressed for time.

 

Major Brands Against Deregulation

Amazon and other tech companies planned a protest in an attempt to save the regulations. Other tech companies involved included Reddit, Kickstarter, Etsy, and Vimeo. Google, Facebook, and Netflix are also supporting the current regulations.

 

The Fight Gets Dirty

The FCC is allowing public comments on their plan on deregulating ISPs. But someone isn’t playing fair.  A bot was found submitting the same anti-net neutrality message using real people’s information.

In retaliation, someone created a service that allows users to find if their name and information has been used by the bot. Then Comcast sent them a C&D.

 

How To Comment On The FCC’s Proposal

This article from Techcrunch.com gives you a step-by-step instructions on how to comment on the FCC’s proposal. There’s also a pre-written message you can use if you’re having difficulty writing your own comment.

 

Tell The FCC What You Think

This is the FCC’s public commenting system. If you want to let the agency know what you think, click the link. To leave a comment, click “+New Filling” or “+Express.”  I’d recommend the Express option since it’s a shorter form. For your comment to be accepted, you have to fill out all fields and all the information you submit will be open to the public.

Video Transcript

We know you’re busy running a business and depending on your responsibilities outside of the office, you might be highly selective about how you spend your free time. Assuming, of course, you actually have free time.

I’m not here to tell you how to spend your down time, but there is one topic we think you should keep an eye on and that’s net neutrality.

Net neutrality has been in the news as of late and here’s why you should be paying attention to it.

Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers should treat data and traffic on their network the same. Meaning you should be able to visit any site without interference from your internet provider.

It’s a simple idea with a complicated past and uncertain future. But it’s an important topic to be aware of since it affects everyone who uses the internet.

In 2015, the FCC classified internet providers as common carriers under title two of the telecommunications act. This lets the FCC enforce net neutrality making sure companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T aren’t blocking sites or throttling traffic on their networks.

But this may not last much longer. On May 18th, the FCC voted to proceed with scaling back their title two classification.

While the final vote is months away, if it’s passed, it could dramatically change how you use the internet in your professional and personal life.

Internet providers could throttle traffic to the sites or services that are direct competitors. Take Netflix and Hulu for example. Both services stream on-demand tv shows and original content.

Now Comcast owns approximately 30 percent of Hulu. Without the current rules, Comcast could throttle the data transfer speed between your computer and Netflix’s servers, making Netflix’s videos virtually unwatchable but you wouldn’t have any problems connecting to Hulu. By throttling traffic to Netflix’s servers, Comcast hopes you would ditch Netflix and sign up for a Hulu account, increasing Comcast’s bottom line.

Throttling isn’t the only thing ISPs could do. They could also block your access to any site on the web. Consider this – without these rules, ISPs could create bundled internet packages that mimic cable packages. They could create a multitude of bundled sites and depending on your subscription level, your access to sites and services could be limited to a pre approved list. a basic internet package might include email and some news sites, a social package could just be a few social networks in addition to email and news, and an entertainment package would add YouTube, Hulu, or Amazon Prime (video). And just like your cable subscription, these bundles would be offered at different rates.

And those bundled internet packages may kill your law firm’s website. If the cable companies or ISPs created these internet bundles, they could charge companies a fee for inclusion, meaning if you don’t pay up, then you won’t get any traffic to your site from their network. On top of your marketing budget, you might have to pay Comcast, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, t-mobile, Cox Communications, Time Warner, Centurylink or Charter just so people can get to your site.

Of course, this is all hypothetical. At different times, the ISPs have said they wouldn’t do this. But companies like Comcast, Charter, Time Warner and AT&T are annually on lists of the worst companies in America. And while they haven’t created the internet bundles yet, there are news stories online where ISPs have been caught throttling traffic to specific sites. So my question to you is do you trust them enough to take them at their word?

At the end of the day, without net neutrality rules in place, cable companies and ISPs could pick the winners and losers on the internet. A complete 180 from the level playing field it is today.

To be honest, we do have a biased opinion on net neutrality. We are for the current set of regulations because to us, without them there would be nothing to stop Comcast from creating their own marketing department and throttle traffic to our site, damaging our ability to reach new customers, and in worst case scenario, putting us out of business.

But we want you to make your own decision on net neutrality. We’ve compiled a list of articles and videos explaining net neutrality in more detail. We recommend that you read or watch them so you can be more informed on this topic.

And if you’ve already made up your mind about net neutrality, then you should let the FCC know. Currently, they are taking public comments on their site about the proposed deregulation. we’ve put the direct link below so you can share your thoughts with the FCC.

Ive purposefully skipped a lot of information about net neutrality in this video. Including everything about it would make this video longer than it already is. But if you have questions about net neutrality and how its repeal might affect your business, feel free to reach out.

Thanks for watching.

What Law Firms Need To Know About AMP

Posted on

Transcript:

Hey there! I’m Emily Frickey and I’m here to keep you up to date on all things digital marketing. We get that you’re busy running a business and practicing law but there are a few topics that we think you should be aware of.

Today we are talking about accelerated mobile pages or AMP. AMP is a project from Google and Twitter that lets publishers make very fast mobile pages by using basic website code.

More than 80 percent of online searches start on a mobile device so your site needs to be fast so users get the content they want as fast as possible. If your site is too slow, that user may go back to the search results and hire one of your competitors.

When you’re searching on a mobile device, you may see a little lightning bolt next to some articles on the results page. That’s Google’s symbol for an AMP enabled page. AMP is especially prevalent with news sources. In fact, more than 70 percent of Google News results are amp listings.
AMP example of Tesla News Stories
Before you install AMP on your website, you have to think about the pros and cons. Like the name implies, AMP lets you serve content to mobile users super fast and can improve your site’s impressions, click-through rate and user experience that, in turn, can improve your site’s SEO.

For AMP to work you have to remove elements like contact forms and rotating images meaning there will be fewer data captures and a very simple design. Enabling AMP on your blog is not an automatic way to get to the first page. Other ranking factors still affect where your site shows up in search.

Your site needs click to calls, contact forms and live chat features to capture leads and monitor your site’s performance. Here’s how you can benefit from AMP without sacrificing conversion tracking. Your site should have responsive design so it looks good on any mobile device. Then you or your digital agency can install AMP on your blog pages. The amp blog post gets the user to your site. Then they click through to a responsive page and either call your office or fill out a form.

This combination is a good mobile-first approach to add to your SEO strategy. If you have any questions, comments or sarcastic remarks feel free to reach out to us.

Posted in SEO