An Easier Way for Local Professionals to Advertise Online

We recently launched a new subscription product called Standard Listing for lawyers, plastic surgeons, dentists, chiropractors, financial planners and accountants.  The subscription includes an online profile, a directory listing and article publishing - all for a low annual fee.

Our article publishing platform is designed to help local professionals reach new clients through published content in a cost-effective manner. An article on our legal sites receives, on average, 20 unique visitors each month.  5 articles would attract 100 unique visitors per month; 1,200 per year.

For lawyers, the current standard listing price is $300 per year, therefore the average cost per visitor is $0.25.  Since all our traffic comes from organic search, it is essentially the same as getting an effective cost per click (cpc) of $0.25. Compared that to Google's average cpc for legal-related keywords at $7 -12, you are saving at least 95%!
 

Subscribers who publish articles also receive premium brand exposure and lead generation opportunities.  Every contributed article has a prominent "About the Author" box in the top right corner that includes the professional’s photo, name and practice, plus links to the profile and other articles by this author.  It also allows consumers to submit a case inquiry directly to you.  But the real plus is the SEO benefits - each article provides one backlink with customizable anchor text to your site, blog, or any specified web page.
Our Standard Listing product is an easy way for local professionals to enhance their online marketing as well as for SEO firms to leverage our service for their clients.

To learn more, please visit our corporate site or contact us.

Value of a LawFirms.com Profile

Haven't posted in a while, been working on new product features that should significantly enrich the SEO benefits subscribers receive from our platform.  More on this later.

Today I wanted to update everyone on how your LawFirms.com profile is adding value to your subscription.  The following table summarizes the relevant data:

Entrances: number of visitors who entered lawfirms.com via the profile, meaning the profile is being found outside of lawfirms.com via search engines or other sites.

Page Views: number of times the profile is viewed by visitors.

Ranked Keywords: number of search keywords the profile page appears on in Google and Bing results.

There are a few takeaways.  First, a profile receives traffic from sources outside of lawfirms.com, close to 6 visitors a month.  The two main sources are from search engines and other sites in the ExpertHub network.

Second, an average profile is viewed 17 times a month.  There is a positive direct correlation between number of articles published and profile views.  The more you publish, the more visitors to your profile.

Third, a profile is getting ranked by Google on an average of 3 ~4 keywords.   Now most of the keywords are variations of the law firms and lawyers' names, but looking at the latest data, there are about 20% of the keywords that are generic local keywords such as:

• foreclosure lawyers in mesa az (ranked 3 in Google)
• law firms atlanta (ranked 11)
  
• palm desert california nursing homes (ranked 8)
• washington sc intellectual property law firms (ranked 10)
• workers comp attorneys 48383 (ranked 5)

There are profiles that get ranked on 25+ keywords.  These lawyers tend to have more complete profiles, meaning they filled out all the sections, added articles, case history, videos and etc.

Our profile pages are designed as advertorials to market your firm to consumers.  Leverage your profile page to help build brand awareness and generate more lead inquiries.

Consumers Research Legal Case Before Contacting Lawyers

According to a recent LawFirms.com user poll, 50% of the 1,824 consumers who responded spent more than 2 hours researching their legal issue before submitting a case inquiry.  16% of consumers spent 1~2 hours, 17% spent less than an hour, while only 18% did not research their legal issue before talking to a lawyer. 

Sorry guys, no pie chart this time. 

Making it Easier to Find a Lawyer Near You

We have upgraded our Lawyers Near You feature that is displayed on every page of all our legal websites.

Lawyers Near You displays a short list of attorneys based for your location (identified based on your computer’s IP address) making it easy for a consumer to quickly connect with a lawyer near them. For example, I live in San Francisco and when I land on US Immigration Lawyers, I am shown immigration lawyers located near me.  If you are in Miami and go to the same website, you will see immigration lawyers near Miami.

Now, consumers have the option to customize the Lawyers Near You practice area and location through a quick edit feature.  Simply click “change” and choose from a list of relevant practice areas (i.e., on DivorceLawFirms.com, relevant practice areas include Child Custody, Child Support, Divorce, and Family) and enter a desired zip code to display a new list of local lawyers.

In addition, Lawyers Near You  will display attorneys related to search queries made from any of the 50+ websites within our legal network. For example, if you searched for "green cards", "visa" or "immigration", you will see a list of immigration lawyers.  Whereas "divorce", "annulment", or "separation" returns a list of divorce attorneys.  This is true regardless of what site you are on.  Meaning if you are on USImmigrationLawyers.com, and search for "annulment", you will see a list of divorce lawyers.

With the Lawyers Near You feature, consumers gain the added convenience of an integrated user experience.  Our subscribers profit from an increased exposure to targeted consumers, which should result in more profile views and case inquiries.

Leveraging Search to Improve User Experience

We recently redesigned our legal sites with a new & improved look and feel, they include even more legal information and an easier process for consumers to connect with lawyers.

A key component of the redesign is the launch of our Search feature.

Consumers will be able to perform keyword searches from any of our network of 50+ legal websites and retrieve information about any legal topic. Information is broken out into categories and organized in a way that is useful to the consumer.

Try it out. Visit http://www.divorcelawfirms.com and in the Find Legal Information box, type in "divorce”. Here’s what you’ll see:

1. Keyword Introduction: Typically provides a definition or explanation of the search term


2. Lawyers: Highlights lawyers in your area that specialize in “divorce” so you can quickly connect without performing a second search.


3. Fast Facts: Conveys statistics and facts related to the search term that you may find interesting


4. Articles: Displays the top five articles that are most relevant to the search term, plus option to view more.
   


5. Q&A: Answers to commonly asked questions relevant to what you were searching for. So in this case, Q&A’s about “child custody.”


6. Around the Web: Additional information pulled in from other websites that will help the consumer with their legal question. Again, information is relevant to the search performed.

You will notice that the results for Articles, Q&A and Around the Web also include the author name (if written by a lawyer) with a link to their profile, the website the content is sourced from, and consumer feedback statistics (if there are any).

I also want to mention that the results are pulled in from all 50+ sites in our network, not just the specific website you are searching from.

A new version of the "Lawyers" category is in the works, scheduled for release mid September. We are changing the category name to "Lawyers Near You". The new features will include an enhanced keyword to practice area mapping and the ability for consumers to customize the practice area and location. The mapping provides the logic to associate keywords such as "annulment", "separation agreement", and "alimony" to "Divorce". With this capability, we are able to show consumers a list of "divorce" lawyers when they search for "annulment".

We are also planning to layer in more categories including state laws, case history, legal forms, and so forth in the coming months.

Our goal is to make it easier to for consumers to find information. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact us or post a comment. Thanks!

How Far are Consumers willing to Travel to see a Lawyer?

Office location is a major deciding factor for consumers when selecting a lawyer. 37% of consumers selected "Location" as one of the three most important factors in our previous poll. To gain further insight, we asked our consumers just how far they are willing to travel.

Based on a new Lawfirms.com user poll, 67% of 1,743 consumers who voted are willing to travel up to 1 hour to see a qualified lawyer. Interesting enough, 21% are willing to travel any distance, whereas only 12% are willing to travel between 1 to 2 hours.

Unless your local law practice is able to handle cases completely over the phone or has no direct competition, you should have a target geographic coverage radius of no more than 50~75 miles (roughly a 1 hr drive time in most metropolitan areas). This will increase the odds for a consumer to schedule a consult and actually show up at your office.

Lawyers Experience SEO success with Contributed Articles

In prior posts, I advocated that publishing articles is one of the best ways to capture a consumer’s attention and build rapport online. However, those articles are only valuable if they can be found by consumers.

Since we launched our publishing platform a few of months ago, we have seen very positive SEO results for the lawyer-contributed articles. Here are few of the successes we've seen:

MONTHLY SEARCH TRAFFIC	ARTICLE TITLE	RANKINGS	KEYWORD EXAMPLES
255	Beating a Speeding Ticket in Court	1st Page Result for 50+ keywords	• How to Beat a Speeding Ticket • beating a speeding ticket in court • speeding ticket visual estimate
194	Determining Eligibility for Making Home Affordable	1st Page Result for 50+ keywords	• mha guidelines • legal help with mha modification • rules home affordable modification
128	What Wage Benefits Are You Entitled to Under Florida Workers ...	1st Page Result for 50+ keywords	• workers compensation wages • florida worker compensation wages
110	Employee Restroom and Break Laws in Minnesota	1st Page Result for 40+ keywords	• minnesota break laws • mn break laws • mn employee break law
108	Rights of Injured Workers	1st Page Result for 40+ keywords	• rights of injured workers • injured workers rights
105	Public Defender vs. Private Attorney: Is it Worth It?	1st Page Result for 30+ keywords	• court attorney vs. private attorney • public lawyers v. private lawyers
99	How Child Support Payment Modification Works	1st Page Result for 20+ keywords	• child support payment modification • involuntary child support payment
86	Transfer on Death Deed | Avoid Probate for Real Estate	1st Page Result for 20+ keywords	• transfer on death deed • payable on death deed • probate transfer deed process • real estate transfer on death • probate transfer deed process
80	Advantages and Disadvantages to Filing for Bankruptcy	1st Page Result for 20+ keywords	• advantages of bankruptcy • advantages of filing bankruptcy • disadvantages of filing bankruptcy

Consumers Provide Feedback on Articles

A basic ExpertHub premise is to deliver quality and relevant information to consumers.

We recently launched a new feature that enables consumers to provide direct feedback on whether or not the article they read was helpful. One point is awarded to the article for every consumer that answers “yes, it was helpful” and zero points for every consumer that answers “no, it was not helpful”. For example, if seven out of ten consumers voted, “yes, it was helpful”, then the score is “7”. The total number of votes is displayed next to the score.

Consumers can use the score to as a way to save time and pre-screen the articles. It is also an invaluable tool for our editorial team to manage and improve the quality of the large collection of articles (5,000 and growing) in our network. If the article score falls below our minimum standard, our editorial team will work with the author to improve or rewrite the article. After revisions are made, the article is re-posted and the score is reset.

Here are some articles with good consumer feedback:

• Beating a Speeding Ticket in Court by Michale J. Palumbo
• Rights of Injured Workers by James Mogul
• Dealing with Discrimination Issues in California by Rodney Mesriani
  

Are you a Web-Savvy Attorney?

We’re pleased to announce that ExpertHub will be one of the technology speakers at the State Bar of California Annual Meeting! Here’s an overview of our presentation:

The Cyber-Savvy Attorney
According to InternetWorldStats.com, 74.7% of the U.S. population uses the Internet. As a lawyer, having an effective online marketing strategy is vital to attracting new clients. Are you taking the right approach to SEO, SEM. Twitter, LinkedIn, Directory Services, Blogging, and etc? Are you overpaying for some of these services?

Join us as we demystify Internet marketing and present a straightforward overview of online strategies, costs/benefit analysis, and expected results.

Whether you are a web-savvy attorney or not, we hope to see you there!

State Bar of California Annual Meeting
9/10-9/13 Grand Hyatt, San Diego
REGISTER

Steve Lombardi on ExpertHub

Steve, CEO of ExpertHub, discusses ExpertHub's value proposition.

Q: How can ExpertHub help lawyers with online marketing?

A: ExpertHub helps lawyers use the internet to obtain new clients. We do that in the following ways:

• The sites in our network are visited by hundreds of thousands of consumers each month that are looking for a lawyer. Our technology is built to convert those visits into case leads and to deliver them to local lawyers in real time.

• We help firms get listed on Google when consumers are searching for a lawyer. How we help a lawyer get found on Google is what makes ExpertHub unique and there are two distinct approaches.

1. The first way is through the online profile you build on LawFirms.com. By adding information about your firm, including your location(s), your attorney biographies, case history and even video clips, consumers find a page that you control when they search for your firm.


2. The second way is by contributing information about the types of legal issues that you are knowledgeable about. Because they are published on our sites, these articles find their way onto the first page of Google for related search terms. It’s an incredibly powerful way to build your firm’s brand and to generate more business.

Q: What kind of success have you been hearing from attorneys using ExpertHub?

A: Every day we hear from attorneys that are retaining clients in all of the types of law that they practice. Because we believe that all online advertising should produce a measurable ROI, this is deeply satisfying for us because we know we have helped a lawyer tap into the power of the Internet. It brings us equal satisfaction to know that a consumer that started by going to Google and searching for a lawyer was able to find counsel and get their legal issue resolved.

But, what really brings a smile to our face is the success that attorneys are having with our ExpertSyndication product. Each month, we are seeing more and more attorney-contributed articles find their way onto the first page of Google. Many of these attorneys have spent thousands of dollars on SEO consultants and weren’t able to realize the same results that they received in a matter of weeks with our technology.

Q: What can we expect from ExpertHub in the next 6 months?

A: We started ExpertHub because we believed that consumers needed a better way to find a qualified lawyer and that lawyers needed a better way to market their practice and obtain clients. In our first year, we made tremendous progress on that front by increasing the overall number of consumers and lawyers that connect with our service.

Over the next six months, we will focusing on making our network the best place for consumers to turn to find a wealth of legal information contributed by lawyers – either on our platform, on a lawyer’s blog or on any other high quality source available online. By delivering on that goal, we will become the best place for a lawyer to turn if they want to build their practice online. We’ll be adding many features that will make it easier for a lawyer to distinguish their practice and generate the types of clients that improve the profitability of their business.

Steve Lombardi on Online Advertising and Search Marketing for Lawyers

I asked Steve, CEO of ExpertHub, to share his thoughts on the following . . .

Q: For the past year, you have spoken to over 100 lawyers regarding online advertising, what are the biggest challenges they face?

A: There are two major problems lawyers face today:

1. The sheer number of companies that solicit their business with promises of unrealistic success. This leads attorneys to tune out online advertising approaches that would hugely benefit their practice.


2. Understanding their ROI. Few attorneys actually track ROI, and even fewer incorporate it into their online advertising decisions.
   

Q: What are the most common misunderstandings lawyers have about online advertising?

A: Overall, lawyers need to develop a better understanding of what a consumer’s expectations are when they turn to the Internet for legal information.

• Internet consumers expect a higher level of service and responsiveness than traditional consumers do. When a consumer contacts a lawyer, they are pleased if you respond within 15-20 minutes. If it takes an hour, that might be acceptable. Longer than that, they start to look elsewhere.


• It’s not limited to when consumers look for a lawyer, it’s everywhere. Remember when you used to call a broker when you wanted to trade a stock? If they were not available, you would wait hours for a return phone call – sometimes even days. Now, you go online and trade the stock yourself in a matter of minutes. The only way to compete is to have a well developed web presence and leverage the technology to respond quickly and efficiently.
  

Q: How should attorneys approach SEM and SEO?

A: Lawyers generally have a big misconception about search – both SEO and SEM. Most lawyers believe SEO is free and that it lasts forever. The reality is that it changes very quickly and you must constantly dedicate resources to maintain or expand your presence. With SEM, they bid too much on paid search and fail to measure the cost per lead, and end up wasting a lot of money.

• The first thing attorneys should do is become educated about how search works. There are significant trends, such as consumers using longer and more specific search phrases, that make simplistic search strategies ineffective.

• For most attorneys, doing SEM and SEO on their own is not cost effective. With a little education and effort, attorneys will understand that there are some great technology platforms being built in search that will make their SEM and SEO efforts goals more achievable. If I were a lawyer that wanted to do engage in paid search, I would look to a technology platform like ReachLocal or Yodle to automate my bidding and track ROI.

• If I wanted to do SEO, I would look for companies that offer content syndication – such as our ExpertSyndication platform so that I could achieve organic rankings much more efficiently – both for the articles that you contribute as well as for your existing website.

ExpertHub Lawyer helps Client Reach Six Figure Settlement

Back in March, one of our users submitted a sexual harassment case lead to an employment lawyer subscribed to the ExpertHub Network. I heard today that the case was recently settled for six figures. I would like to congratulate the lawyer and his client (who both shall remain anonymous) for this successful outcome!

I am including a copy of the case lead (minus any personal identifiable information) that was sent via EmploymentLawFirms.com to the employment lawyer:

Case Lead # 15D-FD4-7E77

Request Details
1. *Role in Sexual Harrassment Matter: Employee
2. *Type of sexual harassment alleged: Unwanted sexual advances
3. *Have You Reported it to HR: No
4. *Still Working For the Employer: Yes
5. *Number of Employees At Company: > 100

Description:
I have been working for this company for over 5 1/2 years and have never had a problem or been written up. About three weeks ago a guy, who i thought was a friend tried to put his hand up my shorts. i told him no because i was married(which he knows) and i am friends with his girlfriend. he still continued to make advance, and until i really put my foot down then he stopped. he also was asking questions if i shaved or not. i thought i had it handled so i did not push going to the hr dept.

About two weeks ago he became the supervisor of the dispatchers, and then as of march 9th he began all sorts of write ups on me. one was of me running late that day, which i was, but as with protocol i called in advance and let them know. i also got written up for 2 other things this week which i don't fully agree with. i got called into the office yesterday(3/11) i was talked to about them, but he would not even let me talk and treated me like i was a 3year old. i even tried to explain about all the other people who run late everyday and not get written up, like a girl who is the wife of a supervisor tech, but because she's married to him it's OK. he would not let me talk or try to reason with me.

A lot of other sexual harassment issues are brought up but they just let it go, one person even got fired for trying to solve her issue. there is also a girl in the office who shows her breast to everyone in the office and it is always let go and she has never been written up, and there are underage people there at the time. i feel that because i would not let this person touch me and do other things to me he is finding unjust things to write me up. especially, when a week later he was promoted, and he knew about the promotion. There are a lot of other things going on at this company, but it would be to much to write about.

I hope i can find somebody who can help me and talk about this situation. i feel like unless i don't sleep around with the superiors my job is in jeopardy. thank you...

Consumers Look for Value, Experience, and Success in a Lawyer

In a recent poll conducted by LawFirms.com, 69% of 572 users say they talk to 2~3 lawyers before making a selection. Only 10% of users say one lawyer is sufficient and another 21% talk to at least 4 lawyers. These results indicate that being the first lawyer to contact the consumer doesn't guarantee you a new client. You will still need to pitch to the consumer why you are a better fitted lawyer to serve his/her legal issue.

So what are consumers looking for? In a follow-up poll, we asked 710 users what are the three most important factors in selecting a lawyer. The top three were Lawyer's Fee (563 votes), Years of Experience (476), and Case History(382). In other words, consumers seek value, experience and success. Understanding this, the next step is to incorporate it into your branding and marketing on ExpertHub.

• Value: On your LawFirms.com profile page, include messaging about your competitive pricing or contingency fees in the Tag Line and Teaser.


• Experience: Always fill out the Years of Experience in the Summary section, regardless of the number. For those who just celebrated passing the bar, use the Overview section to elaborate in detail of what makes up for your lack of experience. Including a video also helps (please see my prior posting on Educating Consumers with Video)


• Success: Fill in 3~5 representative and successful cases in the Case History section. Submitting articles that highlight your knowledge for a particular legal issue will also help instill confidence in consumers.

Other major factors consumers look for are Location (262 votes) and Education (114). Surprisingly, Endorsements from Family and Friends only garnered 75 votes. In the Other Answers section, Honesty and Integrity were the top two fill-in answers.

Video: How Lawyers use ExpertHub for Online Marketing

New video for local professionals that highlights key online marketing features in an ExpertHub subscription:

• Evaluate ROI: proposal generator gives full insight into subscription including sample leads, pricing, expected lead volume, and comparison with Google Adwords to help you evaluate ROI before signing up.
  


• Receive Real-Time Leads: subscribers receive real-time leads via email from interested consumers in their geographic coverage area.


• Build Brand & Increase Reach: publishing platform for professionals to create branded profile, articles and news that is distributed throughout our network. Each is Search Engine Optimized to obtain higher keywords rankings.

• Gain Visibility: subscribers can track lead volume, directory searches, profile and article views to get a better picture of how consumers are interacting with them.
  

Tips on Writing User Friendly Articles

Writing an article for posting on a website or blog seems simple enough but if not done right, you can lose your reader – not to mention all-important search engine optimization benefits. Take a moment to review our tips for writing effective articles to reach and engage consumers.

Important SEO Tip -- Use common sense terms and phrases. One of the most important tips when writing articles is to keep search in mind. You want to include key words in the title and body that a potential client might type in when they begin searching for a topic. One way to think about it is to consider how a potential client would ask a question that your article is answering. Many people simply type a question into a search engine, like “how do I avoid credit repair scams?"

For example, a LawFirms.com attorney wrote a useful article on how to build a defense against a police officer’s”speed estimation” training. He titled the article what he thought would be obvious: Cross Examination of a Police Officer's Visual Estimation of Speed. Unfortunately, the average person doesn’t think that way so the article was not receiving the exposure it should.

We took a look at the article and recoded the title tags to read Beating a Speeding Ticket. It is now receiving a great deal of traffic for key words such as “how to beat a speeding ticket in court” or “beating a speeding ticket.”

So when writing, think of how consumers will search for your article.

More Do’s

• Include an Intro – A brief introductory paragraph lets the reader know what your article is about. Be sure to include the sub topics and keywords as the intro can be used as a teaser in RSS feeds and search results.
  

• Keep it Organized – Readers often scan articles to determine if they’ve found what they’re looking for. Headers and sub-headers are a great way to break up text and organize the page for a quick-scan. Numbered or bullet lists are also an excellent tool for readers to quickly understand your key points.

• Show Your Expertise – Write about topics that answer questions you receive from clients and that may not be readily available on the Internet. For example, instead of writing about DUI laws in your state, write about what to do (or not to do) when pulled over or defense strategies you’ve used successfully.

• Use Examples – When explaining a particular element of a case, process, or law, use an example from a previous case to demonstrate how that element is used in practice. This helps build rapport with the reader, showing them you know how to help with their situation.

• Visual Aids - Sometimes a table or chart can present the content into a more readable format. This is especially true when making comparisons or showing statistical data.
  

Important Don’ts

• Do Not Post Duplicate Content – Please do not pull articles or content that have already been posted to another website (like your firm’s website or a blog). Re-posting it will not drive more traffic to your article and may get your site penalized by search engines.

• Do Not Advertise – It’s tempting, but unnecessary. Advertising diminishes the value of the article and makes consumers suspicious. Articles are a way for you to dispense knowledge, build your online reputation, establish authority and build a rapport with readers. All you need is a highly visible byline, and clients will have every opportunity to contact you should they so desire.

Email Us! – If you have difficulty with the submission process, need ideas for topics to write about, or have content that you’re unable to upload (such as PDF’s, images, videos), email seo@experthub.com and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Educate Consumers with Video

Video is an excellent way to connect with consumers online. But how do you make good use of video?

Combing through attorney videos, I noticed that many take the time to make a video, but they stop with an ad about their company (i.e., we are Jane law firm and I can help you with…). These types of advertisements are a good introduction to your firm, but consumers crave more. Attorneys should share useful information with consumers pertaining to their legal situation.

Here are some ideas:
• Provide an overview of a particular law in your state
• Give tips on what to do in a certain situation – such as what to do if you are in an accident
• Address frequently asked questions that you receive from clients

Consumers will find much more benefit if you use their time to educate them rather than “sell” to them.

The above video is a good example of an attorney combining information with advertising. He starts off providing tips for drivers on how to avoid a DWI and then talks about how he has helped his clients in the past (the “soft sell”).

ExpertHub featured in TechnoLawyer Newsletter

Sit Back, Relax, and Grow Your Law Firm Practice. That's what the headline read for the June 17th TechnoLawyer Newswire and Blog. And they were talking about ExpertHub.

TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that discusses hot new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. We're thrilled they reviewed ExpertHub's legal network. We really feel that online advertising is where attorney's need to be to grow their practice. This article highlights the key features ExpertHub provides to help you do so.

Read the article!

Engage Consumers with Your Knowledge

On a recent poll of LawFirms.com users, we asked when searching for a lawyer, would it be helpful to read the lawyer's published article pertaining to their specific legal situation.

Not surprisingly 73% of the 876 LawFirms.com consumers polled responded that it will be helpful to read articles from attorneys. While the results may seem obvious, it highlights the importance of dispensing legal knowledge upfront to consumers to inspire confidence in your services. Thus beginning a relationship with a potential client.

Our subscribers should take advantage of ExpertHub's publishing and syndication platform that makes it easier to engage consumers:

1) Creating a custom profile to build a solid, professional online brand through video, photos, case history, and more.
2) Publishing news and articles that are found throughout our network of legal websites as well as via major search engines.
3) Answering legal questions posted by our users.

We are also extending our publishing platform to non-subscribers in order to provide more high quality content for our consumers. If you are interested, please email seo@experthub.com to learn more.

May's Honorable Mentions

In no particular order, here they are:

1) Nicholas H Walsh's Case History
Case descriptions are well written and helps illustrate his success in personal injury, medical malpractice, and nursing home cases.

2) The Lawyers at Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen PA
Each have completed the education, experience, associations, and licenses sections on their profile which gives users a better understanding of their background and expertise.

3) 11 Contributed Articles each by Bambi Faivre Walters and JD Haas
These two power contributors have led the way in utilizing expertSYNDICATION to increase exposure and build credibility.

4) Contributed Articles are now being Syndicated to our Network Sites

PersonalInjuryLawyer.com, DivorceLawFirms.com, BankruptcyLawFirms.com, RealEstateLawyers.com and more...

5) LawFirms.com Face Lift
Our design team implemented a new look and feel to improve the user experience on the site.

Poll: Where do Consumers Begin Their Search for a Lawyer?

According to a LawFirms.com poll of 515 consumers, 83% said they began their search for a lawyer via a search engine like Google or Yahoo. Another 7% started their search directly on LawFirms.com.

Other responses include the phone book, referrals from family and friends, state bar associations and insurance companies.

These results confirm what most of us already know - in order to grow your business, you must be successful in online marketing.

As an ExpertHub subscriber, you have the necessary tools to not only reach out to consumers within our network of websites, but also to those finding a lawyer on search engines. Adding information to your profile, uploading videos, and submitting articles and news will increase your exposure on more keyword searches. This also applies to your website, blog or other online assets.

Upgrade Your Profile with Video

A content rich profile page is tremendously helpful to your online marketing efforts. It differentiates you from competitors. It gives consumers a better understanding of you, thus increasing lead conversion. It expands keyword coverage and improves ranking on search engines.

We recently released a host of new features that gives professionals more ways to add content to enrich their online profile. Some of the new features include:

• Video: create a library with a firm overview, lawyer bios, and case tips for consumers.
• Resume: enhance credibility with consumers by entering your Education, Work Experience, Associations and Affiliations.
• Case History: give consumers confidence that you have successfully handled similar cases
• Tag line + Profile Teaser: describe your firm's mission and distinguishing qualities
• Featured Contributor Icon: automatically added if you contribute articles or news
  

Please visit our Online Firm Profile page in our Features section for more information or just sign in to your account and begin updating your profile.

Your Company Website vs ExpertHub Profile

I love cereal. Don't really have a favorite. What I usually do is buy an assortment of 3~4 boxes at the same time and depending on my mood, decide to eat either the corn flakes, raisin nut bran, granola or all three mixed together.

Well, one of things I noticed early on during an excursion to the cereal aisle is that there are 50+ different cereals but produced by only 5 to 6 different companies. I just assumed they were catering to the diverse tastes of the myriad of addicted cereal lovers.

But later on in business school, I learned that these cereal manufacturers, along with every other company that sells their product in a supermarket, are trying to occupy as much shelf space as possible. The tactics used include not only producing as many different kinds of cereal, but packaging them in bigger boxes than needed. Most of the cereals out there can be placed in half the size of its current box. Occupying shelf space will limit new competitors trying to enter the market and increase the probability that consumers will purchase at least one of their products.

The point of all this is that You should think like a cereal manufacturer and position your website, ExpertHub profile, blog, and any other online asset like different kinds of cereal. By developing original content for each of these assets, you will be able to increase exposure through Google, Yahoo and other search engines.

If you were a personal injury lawyer in California, and a consumer searches on keyword "California personal injury attorney", wouldn't you like to occupy three or even five of the top ten search results?

Tomek on our SEO team has a blog that is great resource to learn how to write better and search engine optimized web content.

Why Should I Add a Profile Picture?

I noticed many of our subscribers have yet to add a photo to their profile page and opted to use the default image.

Mining our data, we discovered that subscribers with profile photos receive 34% more visits than those without. This makes sense because consumers like to be visually stimulated, and so a photo adds interest to the text introducing your firm. In some ways, it makes a consumer feel connected.

But a profile picture is much more than just higher click-thru rates.

It's an important facet of your brand, and usually a consumer's first impression of your firm or practice. Some if not most of you are bloggers and members of facebook, linkedin, or twitter. If leveraged correctly, a profile photo is a great PR tool to promote you and your firm in those online communities.

I recommend reading Jason Preston pf Parnassus Group's article titled "How Important is your profile picture?" which gives a good introduction on reasons why profile picture are important in social media.

If you need help updating your profile picture, please email seo@experthub.com.

Webinar Friday

As a follow-up to Tuesday's post, there is a Webinar available that goes into more detail about expertSYNDICATION and gives an introduction to expertSTATS.

Part of what makes ExpertHub unique is our commitment to educate professionals on how to take advantage of our marketing tools and programs in order to become successful on our network and in online advertising.

Today's post is short so you can allocate more time to the Webinar.

You can view the Webinar at http://www.experthub.com/about-us/events. If you have any trouble with the video, please email Lisha Fabris at lfabris@experthub.com.

Enjoy the weekend!

How to Reach More Consumers

I'm writing this post today with a big smile on my face because the topic is on expertSYNDICATION - a feature which I am extremely excited about. This is a great example of how we are enabling professionals to create more opportunities to connect with consumers. Through this tool, professionals can submit articles that will be displayed throughout the network, including prominent placement on the LawFirms.com homepage.

ExpertHub subscribers should be ALL OVER THIS because...

First, it’s free and part of your subscription. Second, you get to increase exposure and establish credibility with our consumers, meaning more profile page visits and more leads. Third, your article is SEO optimized to help get ranked on Google, providing exposure to all online consumers.

Although this feature just recently launched, I am very proud to share some of its early success stories:

• Obtaining Naturalized U.S. Citizenship is ranked #2 on Google search results for keyword obtaining naturalization


• Full Coverage is Not Full Tort is ranked #4 on Google for keyword full tort coverage


• Patent Process Overview is ranked #4 on Google for keyword patent process overview
  


• Over 50% increase in profile visits for contributors

I would like thank expertSYNDICATION's early adopters for making these success stories possible and encourage our other subscribers to take advantage of this feature.

If you need help getting started, please visit our expertSYNDICATION overview page or contact our content team at seo@experthub.com.

Better Way to Advertise Online

Welcome to the new ExpertHub blog!

As my first post, I would like to answer a question that many have asked: What is ExpertHub?

Before I answer this, let’s begin with why ExpertHub was founded. It started with a premise that there must be a better way for local professionals (e.g.lawyers and plastic surgeons) to advertise online. When we were researching and analyzing online advertising for local professionals, we discovered the solutions existing in the marketplace were not sufficient to meet all their needs. The following table distills the pros and cons of how most
professionals advertise online:



As you see, there are quite a few “cons” with how professionals are advertising. Based on this and discussions with local professionals and consumers, we decided there must be a better solution that takes full advantage of what the Internet has to offer - in terms of measuring how your dollars are being spent, creating more opportunities to connect with potential consumer clients, and improving your return on investment.

So to answer our original question of what is Experthub? ExpertHub is transforming the way professionals advertise online.

Over the past nine months, in addition to significantly growing traffic and lead volume, we launched a few products such as expertPLANNER, expertSTATS, and expertSYNDICATION that I believe offer professionals a better experience. I’ll be providing more details on those products in future postings, as well as sharing some of our successes. Please feel free to ask questions or share your opinion as I am hoping this blog will be one of the conduits to receive feedback, both positive and negative, so we know how we are doing.

I recommend our subscribers and interested professionals to sign up and receive the latest postings for this blog. This will help you stay updated with our community and understand how to take advantage of all of our products to help you grow your business.

Stay tuned.