Online Reputation Management, the vigilant attorney, and a yellow pool

"Dude, you can't take something off the Internet.. that's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool."
-Joe Rogan on NewsRadio.

It used to be a rumor was a rumor, a myth, a myth and your knew the squeaky wheel could never be oiled enough.
Everything has changed with the internet. Now anyone with a beef and a free email account can smear your reputation up and down the block without consequence.
Most companies hire public relations firms and the larger ones monitor these events. The real victims are qualified professionals.
No one, no matter how honest, competent, diligent and hard working can please all of the people all of the time. There are many sites out there that allow commentary on events and persons. There are alos many sites out there that are not monitored in any way but because of being well optimized, linked and verebose often show up.

What does this men for attorneys? A variety of corners where you can be miquoted, slandered, plagerized and all of the other foul words for the abuse of written language.

How do you prevent it? Besides being the best possible lawyer, there is not much you can do.

How can you erase it? You can make sure there are things to counterbalance any negative effects. Updating your Findlaw Profile is one way. Making sure you monitor your search results is another. By that I mean watchin what comes up when you google your name, in a variety of spellings as well as keyword combination. One way to do this is to pull up your keyword report from your site and type in any of the results that has your names. That way you can at least address any comments.

If there is a large enough repsponse I will add a section on this in my quarterly newsletter with things to do to manage your online reputation.

FindLaw.com On MSNBC

Commenting on illegal wiretapping, former White House Advisor, Countdown regular andFindLaw.com columnist John Dean gave some great visibility to the legal portal. Combining prime time news and regular availability on MSNC.com. This video will drive many new visitors to FindLaw.com. This is not only an immediate boon but will help greater adoption of FindLaw.com as a one stop shop for legal news and needs.

And of course more clients for all of those featured there.

Check out the video here. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25012149

New FindLaw Portal up and running!

The new site design for Findlaw.com proves not only a great commitment to staying on the cutting edge of online legal service but also provides FindLaw customers with greatly increased value. I believe the design will attract many new visitors and truly encourage repeat users. Growing adoption of this powerful portal will lead to greater visibility and more clients for all firms found on FindLaw.com. Some of the tools firms can use to further maximize these results include:
Enhanced Profiles
Video Links on Topspots and Spotlights
Enhanced visibility of Knowledgebase
Recommendations from past clients
If you don’t want to wait to learn more about these features feel free to call or email me.
The look itself is great. Clean lines and easy navigation make it very appealing. (I know I get a headache when there is too much going on other sites and seldom return to them) This synergized with all of the new enhancements puts the site leaps and bounds among competitors while truly making it an integrated tool for all of those in need of legal services.

Add Content to keep your site charged!

Adding Content

The content on your website is truly the engine. It drives sites like Google and Yahoo to rank your page higher. Well written, niched, keyword rich content helps the pages show up for more searches. It matches you with potential clients to answer their questions. It not only provides information to them but also helps convince them you are experts.

New content makes your site seem live to search engines such as Google. When they go to index your site and new content is found, your rank can increase. Since the programs that read websites, called spiders or crawlers, only register the “Freshness” of the content on your site by when it was added to your site.

Generally the more often a site is updated, the more often it is indexed. Although by no means scientific method, I watch several sites as well as search results and then do Google searches to track indexing.

Logically, it makes sense for a search engine to rank newer information higher. If you search the web for specs on the new Apple computer or news about a plane crash, you do not want even the best article from 1994 or even 2004. You want the best article from today.

What does this mean for an attorney’s website? Add content and do it often. Very rarely, especially if you do it on a new page, will content dilute your site. I will make sure to tell if it does not fit. By doing this your site will actually be fresh and often ranked higher. Optimized content on a variety of subjects within your practice area will make your site and therefore your firm, seem more like the expert.

The more specific problems you address, the better the chance of speaking to a specific search. If you are found for a precise type of event, a specific type of cancer misdiagnosis, a certain type of lease or a complex estate situation, and have content directly relating to that, think what that means to the person reading it. “This lawyer really knows what I am going through”

How do you add more content? What should I add?

Add a page that lets you address hot topics. Greenblatt and Agulnick are addressing the issues of the real estate financing and foreclosure crisis and helping homeowners save their homes by adding new content on mortgage modifications. This fits perfectly within their niche as Real Estate and Insurance Attorneys.

Add Cases of Interest. I know if you have ever spoken to me as a client, potential client or a passer by I have spoken to you about cases of interest. These not only do all of the above mentioned benefits. These show your firms experience as well, in a tangible way. Do not feel like you have to have a large list or big numbers. Just have specific events that really stand out. Large numbers are eyecatching, but the intelligent client is more likely going to hire someone with specific experience. David Pollack, just updated his medical malpractice cases of interest, to give you an example of a great way to do it.

Add Articles you authored Once again, David Pollack is a great example. He added an article of how he uses technology to win trials. This adds a lot of content, increases his position as and expert, increases his value as a client and also personalizes David’s practice.

Subdivide your practice areas The more specific the better. By doing this you are carving out the niche for your firm. Think of all of the type of product liability, all of the individual types of medical malpractice, all of the aspects of criminal law. Each one of these can be a page. Grunwald and Seman did this to get in depth with the many aspects of DWI cases on Long Island

Add A Blog Like this you are reading now, a web log (blog or blawg) is an easy way to comment on current events while adding content and a personal touch. Paul Cutrone’s Medical Malpractice Blog shows how it’s done properly. It does take discipline to fully utilize it, but it can be a worthwhile habit. Feel free to ask me more about it.

Keep thinking of what makes you special, the types of client’s you want and the cases that should be filling your time. Translate this into content on your site as soon as possible to make your goals reality.

Queens Employment Law and Personal Injury Law Firm Launch New Site!

Located in Forest Hills, Queens, Orlow and Orlow P.C., serves those looking for Employment Law and Personal Injury Attorneys. Jodi and Alexander’s profiles are great examples of narratives. Doing this helps their site seem more personal, adds more content and makes their profiles on FindLaw.com more visible. The few moments of time are a great investment. If you don’t think you have time to do it, take a look at Jodi’s activities, community involvement, and the fact she is raising a family.
If the name looks familiar, it is the same as the new Queens Bar Association president, Steve Orlow. Steve is Alexander’s Brother and Jodi’s uncle.

The New Site for the Law Offices of Douglas Scheinman

The New Site for the Law Offices of Douglas Scheinman

With over 18 Years of experience in law, Valley Stream Family Law and Divorce Attorney Doug Scheinman is using his new site to help communicate with new clients. He highlights his one on one attention to all Family law matters and brings this focus to his clients Criminal Proceedings as well. As we all have experienced, bad things often happen in procession. Doug’s legal prowess and local know how helps his clients as these unfortunate events such as Drug Charges and Traffic offenses occur. By focusing on his hometown, Doug not only maximizes his abilities but also his website’s effectiveness.
Doug has also been recognized for his outstanding contributions in Pro Bono Work.

My Ezine, Esq on the Web, is launched!

My new “Ezine” started today. I hope all of my current clients utilize it to the fullest. The quick hints are there to not only enhance your web presence. They will help make your entire marketing message more cohesive. I often have so many ideas that go by the wayside because they are not properly integrated and I believe many others do as well. Esq on the web will be small steps you can do to “bring it all together”, become focused, and allow new ideas to flourish.

Marketing, especially on the web, can be overwhelming. That is why the suggestions will be short, to the point and easy to do. I know there will be varying levels of interest and involvement. The blog will be supplemental to the Ezine, not only in communication but also as reference to points discussed in the Ezine.

The internet revolution is far from over. Utilize these tools not only to maximize your marketing investment but participation in the growth of the web.

On the flip side a Ezine or newsletter of like for your clients is a fantastic way to communicate. There are many thing attorneys do that most do not understand or comprehend until it is too late. FindLaw offers newsletters that require no effort on the part of the firm but maintain such contact. The Law Offices of Gary Alweiss have a great newsletter.
A law firm’s current and potential clients can sign up and receive the information on a regular basis. They might need you now but you will be there when they do.

If you did not get My Ezine, Esq. on the Web, and would like to, please contact me.

Inbound Links: DO IT!!

Inbound links are a must. Adding correct ones continuously is one of the most important things you can do for your site once you have everything working properly on the site. I can not emphasize this enough.

In case you do not understand, an inbound link a “button” on another site that goes to yours. If you have one to theirs it is termed a “reciprocal link”.

Inbound links are votes of confidence. It is the virtual method of the old catchphrase “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.”

Besides quantity, links are judged on
· Relevance of the link Links from a bunch of pet stores wont help
· The rank of the site A link from a brand new site can be beneficial but not as much as from an often indexed( read by the search engines) site
· The Age of the link- If you have been linked to FindLaw for a few years, it counts for more in the ranking equation than a few months. This explains the duration from launch until you are ranked highly in every search. It is also the reason time is of the essence in linking.
· To what part of your site they are pointing- Don’t have them all pointing to your home page
· The word that links to your site The link will often not readily say the name of the site but be under a word or phrase such as Long Island School Bus Accident Attorney or Construction and Business Contracts in Nassau County (Remember the thing with George Bush/Jimmy Carter where if you typed in failure they came up? Linking was the reason.)
· Speed of the addition of the links

If someone adds a hundred links to your site all at once, it may shoot to the top but then get flagged by Google, Yahoo, MSN or one of the others. Several large companies have fallen prey to frowned upon linking practices only to have their sites removed completely from search results. As you can imagine, that is very detrimental to keeping business flowing.

If you keep asking legal directories, local directories, your bar associations and anyone that references you to add your site, you should be fine. Also make sure they are adding the relevant pages.

There is also the option of having it done professionally. FindLaw offers a couple of services that will manage your linking, and give you access to links almost no one else has. The Search Engine Specialists (some of the top in their field) doing this will not only work to increase your sites rank but prevent it from being admonished by the search engines. The results from these programs have been phenomenal, but they are in very limited availability. Call or email me to discuss them. If you really want to get serious about getting volumes of business off the internet, this is the way to go.

It can be confusing and that is why you have a consultant and the teams at FindLaw to help you navigate the waters. Adding a link or two a week will quickly add up and continuously help your site ranking. I offer in my newsletter one or two such links a week. Staying on top of that will help keep your site on top of many different pages.

The internet surpasses FAMILY as main source of advice!!

Many of you who have successful websites already know this but a recent survey by the independent researcher, Pew Internet, confirms it.
"For help with a variety of common problems, more people turn to the Internet than consult experts or family members to provide information and resources."


The Internet is easier to access, comes up with a variety of solutions and won't tell everyone about your problem. (At least that is the general idea). It is not just advertising but a fountain of information that can be tapped into anytime. No, it is not always accurate nor perfect, but many deem it that way and the study further proves that traditional referrals are quickly falling behind the 21st century digital ones.

What does this mean to attorneys?
A wider audience. You can draw on larger areas.

Practice specificity. People do not need to one stop shop and can really search for someone that fill their legal needs in a complete but precise fashion.

The little guys can compete with the big guys. No one can tell how big you are by your site, and you can portray yourself in a appropriate fashion.

Constant vigilance is necessary. Even if directly referred, more and more people are going to input your firm into a search engine and you NEED to know what your image is and what information is out there. You may be the best, most experienced, nicest, hardest working attorney in the tri state region, but without a web presence, you might as well not exist in many peoples eyes.

Even fresh out of law school, a attorney at the top many searches with an effective website will be deemed expert to the many unitiated in the legal system.