Monday, August 30, 2010

The Best Way to Improve Your Web Ranking? Turn on the Camera

Video is quickly becoming a critical element of online communication and consequently, future business for attorneys. According to some recent statistics, the average Internet user watches 186 online videos a month, 100 plus hours of video is uploaded to You Tube every four minutes and YouTube exceeds two bilion views a day. The most shocking statistic to me? The number two most used search engine after Google isn't Yahoo or bing- but You Tube. This tells researchers people are starting to become conditioned to watching information about topics they are interested in rather than reading about them.

If you firm is not already establishing its presence in this very powerful and free online depository of information start today. Begin by uploading any videos you already have for example, previous media appearances, or speech excerpts that you have on hand. If you do not already have videos of yourself, or people at your firm, make some.

A flip camera or a desktop computer camera can be very effective tools for recording a short no more than 4 minute video of you talking about a topic that benefits the viewer in some tangible way. Many attorneys make a mistake on this front. They talk about themselves and why they became lawyers and expect to connect with the viewer by making themselves appear "personable" and "more human". this, I believe, is a mistake. When you are choosing a dentist to hire for a root canal or a mechanic to fix your car's suspension, do you choose the one who you can relate to or one who has a proven track record of success and appears to be an expert in their field? Of course, you'd choose the person who appears most capable of fixing your problem effectively and efficiently. The same hold true for attorneys. Answer the "what's in it for me?" question for every single video you post and you will achieve your goals of connecting with your audience.

Want to know what matters to your target audience? Take a client out to lunch and ask them. You will walk away with more information that will help you connect with future clients than you can imagine.

Wednesday we will talk about the best way to post videos so they rank high not only on You Tube searches but other search engine queries as well.

1 comment:

Houston Legal Service said...

Very interesting post. It's so true how much a video can do for your website. I have seen a lot of law firms starting to use this on their front pages.

Some should not.