Three Things That Matter Now in Website Design

Drop down menus make users have to hunt through a bunch of different lists to find the links they need.

 

This is a guest blog post by Amanda Green.

---

We talked a lot about the psychology that goes into creating a good website in the post “Turning Website Visitors into Clients.” Today we are going to talk about the mechanics that go into a good lawyer website. Why? Because the design and usability of your website play just as big a role in your marketing success as all of that content that you've worked so hard to create.  Here are three of the things you need to focus on when you are working with designers to build your site.

Design with psychology

Have you ever heard of the Gestalt Principles? These are principles that illustrate the different parts of design psychology. For example, visually group things together in a space, people will naturally think that those things have something in common. This means, for example, that if your law firm takes on several different types of cases, you want those specialties listed all together on the same part of your site and in the same space on your landing page.

When you look at the landing page for Thompson Wedeking (a San Diego personal injury attorney firm) you can see that the links for information about basic information about the overall firm are grouped together and the links for the different types of cases they take are still together but distinctly separated from the first group.

Navigation

While there are some sites out there that are starting to experiment with horizontal navigation, your customers are likely going to expect vertical layouts and navigation. Whether you want your pages splayed out in a navigational bar somewhere on your site or listed in a sidebar is up to you. What matters is that you make getting around your site as easy as possible.

There are several factors that influence ease of navigation, says KissMetrics. One of the worst is having a drop down navigational menu. This makes users have to hunt through a bunch of different lists to find the links they need. It's better to have all of your pages listed separately…while also making sure that you don't have too many pages. For example—you don't have to link to all of your blog's category pages from your company's landing page (unless the blog doubles as the landing page). You should, however, have them listed in the blog's sidebar.

While you're at it, make sure all of your links go to healthy pages. “404” error messages are a business killer!

Mobility

Most people use smart phones and tablets to surf the web now. Unfortunately not all websites are built to be viewed on a smaller screen. Many of those that do insist on simply creating “mini” versions of their primary landing page. Sometimes—especially if your landing page is very straightforward—this works. A lot of the time, though, it just makes your site look cramped and hard to read. What you really want is a responsive site design—this means that the site is built to be sized properly and to display information in different and specific ways depending on the device that is being used to view it. It is especially helpful for smartphone viewers.

Even so, writes Brian Honigman, your firm could definitely benefit from a native app as well. If you don't have the money to develop both, start with the responsive design…but try to set aside some marketing funds for app development too.

Remember: your site's success isn't just about the content. It is also about mechanics. The last thing you want is for potential clients to respond to your marketing and then wind up at a site they can't use!

Is a Google Plus Profile Really Worth It?

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the future of Google+. A quick Google search of “Google+ is dead” nets several articles debating the future of the social network.

The headlines read:

• “Google+ Is Walking Dead.”
• “Is Google+ Really Walking Dead?”
• “Google+ Isn’t Dead. It’s Just In A Coma And On Life Support.”
• “Google+ Isn’t Dead. Long Live Google +!”

In 2011, when I got an “invite” to join the new exclusive social network, I was excited about the possibilities. Would it replace Facebook as the social network du jour? Would Google finally launch a successful social media platform (R.I.P. Google Buzz)? I was disappointed when, within a few short months, Google+ seemed to lose its luster.

Speculators have been hemming and hawing over Google+’s longevity since just after its launch, but those questions increased last month when Vic Gundotra, head of Google+ social efforts, announced that he was leaving the company.

To add to the PR firestorm, TechCrunch published an article citing a “source” that claims that “Google+ will no longer be considered a product, but a platform—essentially ending its competition with other social networks like Facebook and Twitter.” Google denied the claims.

Regardless, you don’t want to delete your Google+ profiles just yet. Though the future of the social network isn’t clear, it still provides a number of benefits for brands:

SEO: Google is a search engine, so it makes sense that Google+ provides significant SEO advantages. Google+ content itself—meaning content you post to your page—can rank in search results in instances where your website may not. Google+ also allows for near-instant indexing, whereas simply putting up new content and waiting it out usually takes a few days.

According to Forbes: “Linking your Google+ page to your content via Google Authorship markup will cause the headshot and stats from your Google+ profile to show up in Google’s search results pages next to content you have written. This includes your profile picture displaying within search results next to your content, which has been shown to draw user’s eyes and significantly improve click-through rates.”

Further, when someone follows you on Google+, it is much more likely that your content will appear higher in their search results. When other Google+ users give a link multiple +1s, the pages shoot up in the search rankings.

No “pay to play”: Facebook has more active users than Google+, but with the latest change to its algorithm, Facebook has recently become “pay to play,” which means it’s difficult for posts to gain traction unless the page owner pays money to “boost” them. This means that “free” Facebook marketing may no longer a viable way for businesses to reach consumers.

High-quality visits: According to a recent report from Shareaholic, Google+ actually has the second-highest social media post-click engagement. YouTube took the No. 1 spot, and Facebook is down at No. 5. So although Google+ drives fewer referrals compared against its competitors, it turns out the traffic it does drive is actually quite high on the quality scale. Google+ users spend more than three minutes diving into links shared by their circles, view 2.45 pages during each visit, and bounce only 50.63 percent of the time.

For these reasons alone, we recommend that brands include Google+ as one part of a comprehensive social media strategy.

What are your thoughts on Google+? Is it dead, alive, or maybe just sick? Please join the debate in the comments.

Molly Borchers is a senior account executive at (W)right On Communications. Follow her on Twitter @MollyBorchers A version of this story originally appeared on the company's blog, Wright on Target.

inShare73

---

Traditional Media is Not Dead

“There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe … the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here.”
– Mark Twain

I was destined to become a communications professor and public relations professional. That’s because as a youngster, I was glued to the television screen. Not only did I watch The Cosby Show, Family Ties and The Golden Girls, I also watched Dan Rather anchor the CBS Evening News. During those days, traditional media (television, newspaper, radio and magazine) were the only sources for the news and features of the day.

Thirty years later, the computer screen is taking the place of the television screen. Websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter are a popular resource for learning about the latest news. Some may argue that, these days, Web 2.0 is more powerful than the traditional media, and that businesses should be more concerned with getting their products or services featured online than offline. Hitching a ride on the Internet superhighway may be growing in popularity in regards to promotional value; however, the traditional media is not dead. Based on my 20+ years in the news and public relations profession, I’ve determined that it plays an important role in any marketing mix. Here’s why:

1. It’s Trustworthy
When a person, product or service is featured during a television news report or in a newspaper article, most people consider it automatically credible because the information is being delivered by a (usually) trustworthy third party. Some Internet resource sites, especially blogs, are created by someone who has access to the Internet and can string words together. Other blogs are just opinions that cite articles on traditional media websites.

2. It’s Powerful
If a friend or colleague were to tell you that she is going to be appearing in a news story on a local television station, your first reaction may be “wow, that’s exciting”. Perhaps you will tune in to watch her or perhaps you will DVR it. There is something special and powerful about anything or anyone who appears on television or is featured in the newspaper. It’s uncommon, it’s distinctive and it’s powerful.

3. It’s No Less Social
You get double the exposure with the traditional media. First, the story is presented to the masses and then it can then be shared on the web. You can add it to Facebook, tweet it out to your followers, post it on your blog or add it to the press section of your website. So, your business is first being featured to those in your community and then to your online fans and followers.
Traditional media is not dead. It is alive and breathing – unlike Rudy’s goldfish on The Cosby Show.

Maria Aselage, owner of HearSay Communications, has been an adjunct professor of communications in The Citadel School of Business since 2007.  During her 20+ years in the communications field, she worked as a television news anchor and reporter and served as the Director of Communications and Media Spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Charleston.  Her company specializes in crisis communications, earned media and video production.

Want More Facebook Likes?

Its an elusive beast- corralling people into "liking" your firm page or individual attorney page.  I mean, Facebook isn't exactly Linkedin, experts liken it to a cocktail party where Linkedin can be considered a networking event.

People tend to visit Facebook for blowsy commentary and to see what their friends are up to- not to learn that a firm just settled a big case.  However, not having a profile on the site is out of the question as competitors have pages and solicit followers every chance they get. Also- Facebook is a very important link back to a firm's site for search engine optimization.  So the Facebook page must exist and it must appear popular.  Whats the answer when your "likes" are lagging?

Well, like most things, this problem can be solved if you throw some money at it. Check out this Facebook video explaining how to generate more likes for a page in increments of $5, $10 or $20 a day.

Lawyers Faking Online Reviews

What do lawyers have in common with a charter bus operator, a teeth-whitening service, a laser hair-removal chain and an adult entertainment club? Gaming online reviews.

Rather than improve the services customers complain of in negative online reviews, businesses go out and get inflated reviews. Until recently, the businesses have gotten away with the fraudulent practice.
As reported by the New York Times’ David Streitfeld (@DavidStreitfeld) New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced a crackdown on deceptive reviews on the Internet. Agreements were reached with 19 companies guilty of the practice with fines ranging as high as $350,000.
Per Schneiderman:

When you look at a billboard, you can tell it’s a paid advertisement — but on Yelp or Citysearch, you assume you’re reading authentic consumer opinions, making this practice even more deceiving.

Deceptive ratings are no small time business. A 2011 Harvard Study found that a business increasing its Yelp rating by one star can expect a bump in revenue of 5 to 9%.
If it’s not enough to game reviews yourself, the New York Attorney General’s office found reviewers in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Eastern Europe producing raves, for as little as a buck, for companies located in countries the reviewers have never been to.

More disturbing than getting a bad meal as a result of inflated reciews, the investigation, per Streitfeld, uncovered a wide range of services buying fake reviews that could do more permanent damage: dentists, lawyers, even an ultrasound clinic.

Yep, lawyers. And this follows on the heals of Yelp filing suit against a San Diego law firm for allegedly gaming reviews on Yelp.

How pervasive is the practice of lawyers gaming online reviews? I am not sure anyone knows. But despite the practice being illegal and unethical, it has not stopped many lawyers.
I have received countless requests from lawyers asking me to give them a favorable online review. In not one of the cases was I familiar with the lawyer’s practice or the quality of the legal services they delivered.

In the early days of lawyer online ratings services, I saw regular discussions on listservs where lawyers discussed getting reviews and ratings from each other. These lawyers were across the country from each other and I suspect knew nothing more about each other than that they seemed like pretty good guys on a listserv.

We now have one-click LinkedIn endorsements which LinkedIn created to get more interaction on the site. Every day, my gut tells me, hundreds, if not thousands, of lawyer endorsements are made by fellow lawyers and other people who don’t have the basis to make the endorsement.
I can see charter bus operators, SEO companies, teeth whitening services, and adult entertainment clubs gaming online reviews. Heck, you’d almost expect it.

But lawyers? It’s sad. But with what I have seen from lawyers in their attempt to get work via the Internet, maybe I should bot be surprised.

Tips For Making Your Content Social

Mobile news consumption is on the rise.

Raj Aggarwal, CEO of InkHouse client Localytics, a mobile app analytics and marketing company, found that “people spend more time in news apps over the course of a day than most other apps.” In fact, time spent on news apps is up 5 percent for 2013:



Almost half of Americans own smartphones. News apps such as Circa are taking on mobile news in compelling ways. Just last month, Seeking Alpha launched a new app called Tech Investor, which according to PandoDaily had 70,000 daily users just after its debut. PandoDaily also reported that overall, Seeking Alpha’s apps have 600,000 to 800,000 daily users.

It’s not just the startups paying attention to mobile news. Yahoo acquired Summly in March for a reported $30 million, and then Google acquired Wavii for the same amount.

Meanwhile, traditional media properties are also seeing big numbers through mobile news. In July, the BBC News received more traffic from mobile phones than from desktop computers on two weekend days. Mediapost reported that, “The New York Times…saw mobile increase its reach by 41 percent, up from 33 percent in February, while Hearst saw a gain of 38 percent versus 31 percent.”

[RELATED: Learn why you need a content marketing plan at our fall content marketing boot camp.]

So what exactly does it mean to make your news mobile? Not surprisingly, much of what works for social applies to mobile. To put even more of a point on it, social is mobile. According to The New York Times, Facebook now claims 819 million mobile users (and it was the driver of Facebook’s rise in stock price, which hit its highest since its IPO on July 30).

To make your blog post/press release/you-name-it mobile, consider two audiences: your target audience and the press. Here are seven tips that will help you reach both by making your news more mobile and social:

1. Keep press releases to 400 words or less. Brevity is important. Circa’s story on the Bradley Manning trial was just over 400 words. That’s a good length for a release or blog post.

2. Write headlines you would click on. Take a lesson from BuzzFeed. Lists work, and controversy breeds interest. Make your headlines interesting! And PR Newswire recommends making headlines no longer than 100 characters.

3. Stick to the facts. News apps such as Circa report only on facts. Marketing collateral masquerading as a press release won’t cut it. Your point of view is important, though. That goes in your quotes.

4. Make it easy to email. Localytics says “The largest chunk of content sharing from news apps is not happening via social channels. 80 percent of content shares from apps are actually by email.” Add an “email this” plugin to all the press releases and blog posts on your website (which should be optimized for mobile, of course).

5. Use visuals to pop through. Compelling photos and short videos can help you break through the clutter. Think about how often you click on a post with a photo versus one that’s just text when you’re using Facebook or another social network. And if that doesn’t convince you, consider these facts: 90 percent of the information transmitted to our brains is visual and we process that content 60,000 times faster than text. Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app, hit 100 million users earlier this year, and marked 5 million videos within the first 24 hours of debuting the offering.

6. Make your quotes tweetable. Circa notes that it may use quotes from a post or article as tweets, so make them crisp and brief. Specifically, keep them to 120 characters or fewer to allow for retweets.

7. Link, link, link. Make it easy to click for more information. On mobile, no one wants to type in a search term. They want to click. (But be mindful of the new Google guidelines if the “news” is in the form of a press release.)

Beth Monaghan is a principal and co-founder of InkHouse Media + Marketing. You can follow her on Twitter at @bamonaghan. A version of this story first appeared on the Inkhouse blog.

When Should PR Begin for Your Startup?

Startups are everywhere, and many (if not most) have two questions when it comes to PR: When and who?

It’s not always clear to entrepreneurs when they should launch a PR campaign and whether it should be handled in-house or farmed out to an agency. Agencies can be expensive, but so can hiring a PR pro to work for you.

Forbes contributor Cheryl Connor tackles these questions in a terrific article: “What Do PR Agencies Do? Can You Do It Too?”

In it, she asserts that PR should start, “Clearly, before you open your door.”

How practical is that? Very. She lays out a practical, easy-to-follow guide to things you can monitor and put out yourself (or with a bit of help) to keep the lights on until you can afford a more sophisticated PR approach:

1. Press releases
2. Blog
3. Brand mentions
4. Reputational mentions
5. Social media
6. Get a crisis PR template

Learn more about her approach to PR for startups in Forbes.

QR Codes- Are you Missing Out by Not Using Them?

When's the last time you scanned a QR code?

I'm guessing that for many of you, it's probably been at least a few months. For many marketers, advertisers, and PR pros, QR codes were (and in some cases still are) the shiny object that was supposed to bridge the offline and online worlds. It sounds perfect.

For example, your ad agency creates an ad outside a local mall. Then, people scan this little bar code. They are whisked away to your store's website (ideally, it's mobile-friendly), where they instantly receive a promotional code or coupon. Sounds peachy, right?

What's not to love about a way to find new ways to reach and engage with your customers and potential customers? However, QR codes have been around for a while now, and the initial buzz has fizzled. The QR code never went mainstream.

1. No clear calls to action
Most marketers slap a QR code on their ads willy-nilly, with no clear call to action. A good chunk of people don't know what to do with a QR code, much less want to scan it without a reason. You have to provide an incentive or reason for people to scan it.
Placing a QR code on an ad with no clear call to action is like placing a Facebook or Twitter icon on a TV ad with no URL. It's the push-and-pray approach, and that doesn't usually end well.

2. Poor execution
Another pitfall is that many marketers are not thinking about the most (or least) conducive environments to scan a QR code. Mobile behavior is very different from desktop PC behavior. Users don't have 24 inches of screen real estate (unless you have the freakishly large Samsung Galaxy Note). They are probably on the go and multitasking. It's a lot harder to get a mobile audience to stop all they are doing and spend 30 precious seconds to scan a code.

That marketers are placing QR codes in some of the worst places ever—such as on highway billboards, subway stations/trains, and, yes, even in public restrooms—doesn't help.

Why would you put a QR code in a place that has no or limited WiFi, like a subway station—or, worse, on a highway billboard? It's bad enough that people put on makeup, eat lunch, and text while driving. It's scary to think someone is holding up their phone and trying to scan a QR code while driving 70 mph on the interstate.

3. QR code flawed technology
Even with the worst execution errors, the technology behind QR codes never got it quite right. It was another app for people to download on their smartphones. Then even if you had a QR Code app, it could be clunky to use and required a solid 3G/4G signal or WiFi. In the minute it took to download, you could have easily just queued up the website or gone to the company's social media page.
Do you think QR codes are dead?

Jessica Malnik is a PR/marketing coordinator, social media specialist, videographer and an avid Gen Y blogger. This article first appeared on Jessica Malnik's blog. 

Is Video The Latest Magic Marketing Bullet?

According to Larry Bodine of the LawMarketing blog it is.

There is a "killer app" that will greatly improve the likelihood that potential clients will find you in a Google search.  Research confirms that it is online video, and many lawyers have gotten the message. Just pay a visit to the LawyersDotCom channel you YouTube and check out the 500+ lawyer videos.

Video is the No. 1 reason that people go online, according to Pew Internet Research.  Clients and potential clients would rather watch to a two-minute verbal explanation than read a two-page article. "I don't want anything on paper. I don't have an in-box; if I did everything in it would go into trash. I want something that will catch my eye in 30 seconds or less, certainly not a long block of text. I'm more likely to look at a video," said MeMe Rasmussen, VP and Chief Privacy officer of Adobe Systems Inc.

Consider this:

• More than 4 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every day.
• Video is the easiest way to a first-page ranking on Google. A website with video is 53 times more likely to be found on the first page of Google compared with a website without video, according to Forrester.
• Statistics show that having a video on your law firm website increases the chances that a potential client will retain you, and increases the time a visitor spends on your website.

Therefore it is surprising that only 51% of lawyers in firms of 1-5 lawyers say they plan to use video in their online marketing, according to a LexisNexis/Vizibility survey of law firm use of social media. The lack of video on your law firm website is a marketing mistake.

"Lawyers should develop an introductory video that showcases their personality as well as expertise. Post the video on the Web, including YouTube. Our studies have shown that a well-produced video can be a primary factor in a consumer's decision to contact a firm," says my colleague Craig McGuire, Product Marketing Manager, Websites/SEO/SEM at LexisNexis.

A small firm that is harnessing video effectively is Tully Rinckey of Albany, New York.  The firm's videos have been viewed more than 140,000 times - an outstanding result for a law firm. Many are clips from TV news reports in which a station interviewed a lawyer for comment about current events. Chief Marketing Officer Graig Cortelyou has cultivated good relations with local TV producers who give him these videos for free.  The 33-lawyer firm also displays a video on its home page.

Facebook Posts Prompts SEC Investigation

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for posting information about the company on his Facebook page.

In a Facebook posting on July 5, Hastings said that Netflix customers were viewing more than 1 billion hours of video content a month. The same information had appeared on the company's blog the month before. But in neither case did the company issue a formal press release or make a separate filing with the SEC disclosing the billion hour statistic.

The posting was widely reported and Netflix stock rose 13% the day of the posting.
On Thursday, Netflix disclosed in a new posting, an SEC filing and a news released that Hastings and the company received a Wells Notice from the SEC. The notice says the agency staff will recommend regulators institute a cease-and-desist proceeding and/or bring a civil injunctive action for violations of the agency's fair disclosure rules.

Hastings said he's hopeful that the matter can be cleared up quickly through the SEC's review process.

"First, we think posting to over 200,000 people is very public, especially because many of my subscribers are reporters and bloggers," he said. Hastings currently has 245,000 Facebook subscribers on his account.

"Second, while we think my public Facebook post is public, we don't currently use Facebook and other social media to get material information to investors; we usually get that information out in our extensive investor letters, press releases and SEC filings," Hastings added. "We think the fact of 1 billion hours of viewing in June was not 'material' to investors."

Netflix stock rose the day of his Facebook (FB) post on the topic, Hastings said, but the stock started rising before the post. He said he believed the rise was driven by a positive Citigroup research report the evening before.

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) fell 1% in after-hours trading following Thursday's disclosure. There were not yet any premarket trades Friday.

How to Get Clients to Rate and Review You Online

From Larry Bodine's Law Marketing blog-

Are you asking your satisfied clients — lawyers and consumers alike — for reviews or testimonials, and actively posting them on your website?

Do you ask clients to leave recommendations for your services at online legal directories and on your social media profiles like Google+^TM, LinkedIn®, Facebook® and Yelp®?

If not, why not?

Consumer opinions and recommendations are the most effective forms of advertising. Everybody is showcasing some form of third-party validation these days, including lawyers. Granted, some states prohibit client testimonials on law firm websites, so you'll have to ask your provider about that first. But if it's permitted, encourage your clients to rate you.

Here's what you should do:

Proactively Ask Your Clients to Rate You

Prospective clients want to know how they're going to be treated once they hire you. They want to better understand your approach and personality. So ask your existing clients for feedback on your services and communication skills. Ask about responsiveness, the quality of service and value for the money. Was there anything about your service they found surprising? Be sure to solicit reviews in addition to getting rated.

Read what else you should do at the LexisNexis website.

The Only 6 TImes You Should Ever Call a Press Conference

Press conferences aren’t as common as they used to be. Technology has enabled companies to disseminate information to reporters (and the public) without gathering the press in a single place—and that’s a good thing, since reporters have less time than ever to leave their desks to attend a press conference (and many won’t).

Press conferences can also be tricky, because reporters in packs sometimes play a game of one-upmanship, in which each reporter tries to ask a tougher question than the last. Still, press conferences can play an essential role in media communications.

Here are the six times you should call a press conference:

1. When there is high news interest

Many reporters are reluctant to attend press conferences, so your news story must rise to a certain level of newsworthiness before it makes sense to arrange one. If you’re an attorney in a high-profile case, for example, odds are good that the assembled reporters will appreciate your on-camera statement. Doing a press conference may also help prevent you from spending hours doing dozens of one-on-one interviews (which, in some cases, might be a better option).

2. When reporters are all in the same place

If reporters are already gathered in one place or locale, it might make sense to hold a press conference. As examples: a few dozen reporters are attending your scientific conference; you’re a New York financial firm making a major announcement to the financial press; or you’re a sports coach debriefing with the press following a game.

3. During political campaigns

National and many state political campaigns come with a trailing pack of reporters. For instance, if you’re running a competitive senate race in California odds are that your candidate will have several reporters nearby at any given time.

4. When public safety is involved

The media are rarely a greater ally than when you need to disseminate critical safety information to local communities quickly. As an example, imagine you’re the public safety officer for a municipality when a gas line erupts, jeopardizing local lives. It’s probably a good idea to hold a press conference (outside the “danger zone,” of course).

5. In a crisis

You won’t call a press conference in every crisis, but if it meets some of the criteria listed above, you might consider doing so. A press conference in a crisis not only satisfies many of the reporters’ questions, but also sends a strong message that you’re in control, willing to talk, and not in “duck and cover” mode. For some scandals, a press conference can help shrink the news cycle, as it did in this case.

6. When announcing a loss of life

In many cases, it’s a good idea to put a human face on tragic news. If you’ve lost a colleague in an explosion at your plant or you’re a public safety officer who knows how many students died in a bus crash, you might consider telling the press in person and on camera. Be careful to notify immediate family members before releasing names through the press.

Brad Phillips is the president of Phillips Media Relations, which specializes in media and presentation training. He blogs at Mr. Media Training, where a version of this story first appeared. Follow him on Twitter @MrMediaTraining.

Potential Clients are Using Yelp and Citysearch Sites to FInd Lawyers: What Do You Look Like Online?

The Internet has fundamentally changed the way that buyers and sellers interact in the marketplace. E-commerce sites make it easy to comparison shop and purchase, while crowd-sourced online review sites help customers make more informed buying decisions.

As a result, reviews—good and bad—spread faster and reach more people than ever before. Typically, business owners will find that positive user-generated content adds credibility and provides the chance to interact with customers. On the flip side, unhappy clients are often quick to voice their displeasure on websites and social channels, and negative reviews can quickly take a bite out of sales.

According to a 2011 BrightLocal survey, approximately 70 percent of consumers use the Internet to find local business, and nearly all of those read online reviews when deciding which business to patronize. In addition, an overwhelming 86 percent of respondents claim online reviews influenced their decision—so they clearly carry a lot of weight.

The question is: How should businesses deal with them?

Join the conversation: If your firm or site has no customer feedback, reviews or testimonials, you may be viewed as less trustworthy than the competition. Make sure your company is listed on the major search engines and solicit customers for help promoting it on Google, Yelp, Bing, and other key sites.

Face the negative: If people are disparaging your firm, or your name, the best approach is to respond quickly and publicly, and in an accommodating manner. Don’t lash out against the criticism; use the opportunity to minimize problems and resolve issues. Negative reviews are not fun, but they can be an effective way to win over critics. By showing accountability and attempting to solve the problem, you’re giving potential (and existing) customers more reason to trust you. If people walk away from a discussion pleased with your response, they are more likely to have a better impression of your brand.

Don’t be so fake: According to Gartner, as many as 10 to 15 percent of social media reviews will be fake by 2014. Instead of honest customer reviews, praise, and feedback, we’ll unfortunately see a growing number of reviews that were bought.

These might come from a company trying to bash a competitor or a company trying to boost its own profile by posting glowing reviews. Remember, reviews are all about public perception—and the public can pick up pretty quickly on phony feedback. Should you attempt to improve your own reputation through positive anonymous reviews, it could come back to haunt you.

Therefore, transparency is paramount. On the other hand, if you see a review bashing your business that you know is erroneous or fake, contact the administrators of the review site with details. With enough proof, sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and Insider Pages have deleted false reviews.

Customer feedback is incredibly important for any business looking to be successful, and online reviews are increasingly valuable. Get in the game now. How you manage your online reputation can help make the difference between five-star success and one-star failure.

Kate Grusich is a senior account executive with Cookerly PR. A version of this story first appeared on the Cookerly PR blog.

Top Five Things You Need to Know About Facebook

That your friends will wonder how you know....

How to schedule posts in advance

Often, small businesses don't have time to send regular Facebook updates during the work day. Luckily, Facebook has launched a tool that enables page administrators to schedule updates.

When you post a photo, video, offer, or status update, you will see a little clock symbol below the update that lets you choose the exact time that your post will go live.

This is the perfect tool to schedule all your posts in advance for the day or week. The one word of caution is that interaction is also important, so it would be wise to jump back in to answer queries from your fans and customers in your spare time. What this tool will do is allow you to get back to work and possibly even enjoy a day off, or the whole weekend.

How to promote your updates

Most people think that when they post an update, photo, or offer, the amount of people who “like” their page automatically see that content. The truth is much different. Facebook uses something that it calls EdgeRank to decide who sees your content. Because of EdgeRank, it would be normal for only 10 to 15 percent of people who “like” your page to actually see your content.

To remedy this situation, you can use Facebook’s advertising tool to get people to see your content. Under each status update, you will see a little button saying "Promote This Post." Clicking on this, and paying Facebook some money, will help your post get seen by more people who “like” your page. You wouldn’t do this with every post, but it is a good way to push out important content and updates that you want everybody to see. 

How to set up a Recommendations box

You have a comment box for fans and users, but a Recommendations box is one great place to help build a rapport with followers. Recommendations are only made available when a page provides a location, so you must give an exact address in the "About" section before you gain access to it.

How to integrate WordPress blogs with Facebook

If you have a dedicated blog for your company, and you use WordPress, you can easily tag and post onto your own page and the brand pages you manage. You can also mention the names of pages and friends when you make your blog live to alert them to your latest post. This is useful if you want to help get your posts shared across the site. 

How to Optimize Your Page 

Although it’s not your main site, you should still optimize your Facebook page because they appear in search engines.

There are numerous ways to optimize your page. Make sure you’re using keywords in your updates, on your "About" page, photos, links, and updates to help improve your chances. There’s quite a lot that you can do to improve your page’s chances of appearing on search engines, and you can find out more here.

7 Intriguing Facts About Social Media Marketing

2
inShare

The fourth quarter of 2012 is nearly upon us, which means pundits, blogs, news sites, and more will soon ruminate on what it all meant.

Before the navel gazing begins, we can tell you that this is the year social media fully embraced the image.

Meanwhile, Facebook also continued its social networking dominance (despite its nose dive on Wall Street).

And social media continues to benefit companies that use it as part an integrated marketing campaign.

All of that and more is represented in this snapshot of social media statistics from 2012 

Click here to see the infographic.

Law Firm Marketing Statistics

• Businesses that blog get 55% more web traffic. The more you blog, the more pages Google has to index, and the more inbound links you're likely to have. The more pages and inbound links you have, the higher you rank on search engines like Google—thus the greater amount of traffic to your website. Which is why we repeat: Blogging is good.
• 78% of Internet users conduct product research online. That means your law firm website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression." That also means your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google.
• In the past year, Web-based email usage dropped a staggering 59% among young people who prefer to communicate via text, instant messaging, and social networks. Web-based email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55. And by the way, today's kids are tomorrow's customers—and they're probably not going to be reading your email.
• 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email.  So that means pretty much everybody that can check email on a mobile device, does. Is your email newsletter optimized for mobile devices?
• 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted-in to. We're getting savvier with technology and less patient with unwanted solicitations. And it's just so easy to hit 'delete'.
• 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog. Blogging is good. Intrusive ads are bad. 
• 41% of business-to-business companies and 67% of business-to-consumer companies have acquired a customer through Facebook. If this stat doesn't poke a hole in the "Facebook is not useful for B2B companies" myth, I don't know what will.
• The number of marketers who say Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has increased 83% in just 2 years. That's right—critical or important. When a channel generates not only leads, but real revenue, you can't call it "experimental" any longer.
  
• "Inbound marketing" costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing," according to Hubspot, which offers inbound marketing. They say the average outbound lead costs $373 and the average inbound lead costs $143.

What To Do When The Media Gets it Wrong

The late writer and journalist Nora Ephron once wrote, “Journalists sometimes get things wrong.” That notion was in full, agonizing display last week after CNN and Fox News misreported the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare.

The mistakes were embarrassing for the cable networks and chipped away at their credibility, but they weren’t harmful to the Supreme Court. Quickly, both networks corrected their reporting and moved on. (CNN apologized for the gaffe; Fox News was defiant.)

But what happens when shoddy reporting does harm to a person or individual? Mitt Romney, for instance, claims that a recent story in The Washington Post about his tenure at Bain Capital is incorrect. The story revealed that Bain helped fuel the outsourcing trend in the ‘90s—something the Obama Campaign has seized upon in attack ads, referring to Romney as the “outsourcer in chief.”

Romney’s campaign met with Post editors last week to ask for a retraction. The paper refused the request. Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said he’s “confident in its reporting.”

Not saying the Post got it wrong, but if it did, and if a similar situation happened to your company or client, meeting with a paper’s editors is among the appropriate steps, according to media trainer Brad Phillips. In a PR Daily post that ran in September 2011, Phillips explained the seven things to do when the media gets it wrong:

1. Show it to a neutral party. It’s an age-old truth: The closer you are to a news story, the more likely it is you will think it’s a negative story. Ask neutral parties to read, listen to, or watch the story and give you their views. Often, you will be surprised to find that the message you hoped would get through to the audience got through.

2. Talk to the reporter. Remember, reporters need access to sources to do their jobs, and good reporters are willing to hear their sources’ objections to a story (they may not agree with you, but they usually listen). Call the reporter, and ask if he or she is on deadline—if so, ask to schedule a time to call back. When you speak, remain polite regardless of his or her response. You will get a better reaction to a discussion about objective factual errors than subjective differences of opinions.

3. Write a response. In print journalism, you almost always have forums available to you for a response, such as a letter-to-the-editor or op-ed. If it’s an option, use it. Don’t repeat the original errors in reporting, since it just gives those errors more airtime—just articulate your point of view.

4. Speak to the editor. If you’ve gotten nowhere with the reporter, it may be a good idea to raise your objection with the reporter’s boss to insure he or she is aware of your complaints. Who knows? Perhaps you’re the fourth person to complain about the same reporter in a week. There is a downside here: no one likes to be complained about, and the reporter may take it out on you through future news coverage.

5. Respond with statements only. If it has become abundantly clear to most independent observers that the news organization in question is irrevocably biased against you or your organization, you have two choices: cut off all access, or respond with precision. I almost always recommend the latter option, which means sending a short written statement in response to a reporter’s query.

6. Cut off all access. The only time I ever recommend cutting off all access is when you can honestly say that there is nothing to be gained by speaking to the reporter. Those cases may exist, but they are rare. Most of the time, good media management means finding solutions to working with the press—not avoiding them altogether.

7. Use social media. Cutting off access doesn’t mean you stop communicating. Instead, use social media to continue communicating with your key audiences—through all available channels, including your company website and blog, and your corporate YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

-Michael Sebastian- PR Daily

Firms Need to Work Harder Online to Get GCs' Business and Attention

Hubbard One, a provider of marketing and business development software and solutions for law firms, aimed to answer a key question for outside counsel in its new report, “Building Relationships with Global General Counsel: How Firms Can Use Targeted Content and Experience to Win and Retain Business.”

The question flows from the recent economic downturn that impacted the way general counsel and outside law firms do business together. Law firms have beefed up their marketing and business development, especially on the web, but have they been successful in catching the attention of the GCs?

The answer is mixed. “There is a gap between what the general counsel want and what is being provided on the web by law firms,” explains John Simpson, the senior director of interactive marketing at Hubbard who worked on the report.

The report surveyed more than 40 in-house legal officers working at multinational corporations headquartered in the United States, the United Kingdom, and across Europe. The results show in-house lawyers are looking for more customized methods of communication with their outside service providers, including emails and web content. The burden is now on the law firms to prove their capabilities.

The 2012 report builds on a 2009 study [PDF], which showed how GCs use law firm websites to find outside counsel, but focused primarily on how the firms were using the Internet and social media to attract work from corporate clients.

Since the economic turmoil of 2008 and beyond, tighter budgets have limited general counsel’s ability to hire outside help, Simpson says. Hubbard’s surveyors expected that pricing for services would be an important factor for general counsel, but something else trumped price, Simpson says: “We’ve heard from general counsel that expert knowledge of a company’s sector is more important than pricing now.”

For law firms, this creates an extra burden to use online tools to showcase their knowledge of specific business sectors. The most important features of a law firm’s website are clear and usable navigation, and relevant and valuable content, according to the report. The study found attorney profiles are the single most important destination on law firm sites.

Many of the companies interviewed were multinational corporations that conduct business in many countries, Simpson says. GCs noted that searching for counsel in the U.S. was easy, but in the international sphere, it was much more difficult for GCs to find firms that could practice where they need them to. “It was like searching for a needle in a haystack,” Simpson says.

The key for law firms to take from this report, Simpson explains, is the need for more targeted communication. GCs don’t want to work to find the information they need—they don’t want more communication, they need better communication.

See also: “Hiring International Outside Counsel? Better Do Your Homework,” CorpCounsel, June 2012.

The Most Respected Companies in the World

Apple is once again the most respected company in the world, according to Barron’s list of the 100 most-respected publicly traded companies.

Caterpillar, which wasn’t even on last year’s top 100 list, is No. 5 this year.

Google and Berkshire Hathaway dropped from the top 10, falling from sixth to 16th and third to 15th, respectively. Walmart also took a mighty plummet in 2012, dropping from 18th to 51st.

Here are the top 10 companies:

1. Apple
2. IBM
3. McDonald’s
4. Amazon.com
5. Caterpillar
6. 3M
7. United Parcel Service
8. Coca-Cola
9. Nestlé (Switzerland)
10. Intel

Check out the full list of the top 100 here.

Building an Online Reputation Can Be Tricky

The most effective tool is for lawyers to establish their online reputations before they are attacked. Some law firms, for instance, pre-emptively buy 3,000 domain names to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. They also operates 100 Web sites and a dozen or so blogs, and participates in social networking sites.

However, flooding the Internet with positive links doesn't necessarily stop negative news from jumping to the top of search results. That's where businesses focused on "reputation management" have cropped up.

One of them is Fertik's Reputation.-com, a venture capital-backed startup in Redwood City, Calif. "The fact is that it's taken a while for lawyers to get comfortable with the idea that they can do something about it," experts say. "The last 18 months or so, the adoption has been growing very fast. Lawyers are now comfortable with the idea of using the Internet as a reputation marketing or management for themselves."

Some lawyers refer their clients, but more are looking for control over their own reputations.

The average lawyer pays the company $2,000 a year to attempt to influence the list of hits that come up when his or her name is punched into search engines. Reputation.com uses algorithms to observe variables — such as the number of clicks on an item — that help it to change the order in which search results appear. For example, to push business listings, which have little marketing value, down the list of results.

For Reputation.com's clients, the concerns rarely involve defamatory material, but rather marketing. For instance, lawyers often want a big case or transaction to appear at the top of a list of search results, or to highlight the law school they attended, where they clerked, journal articles they've written or speeches they've made, Fertik said.

Instead, he said, they often get the location of their office. "Left to its own devices, Google might say you have an office in New Jersey," he said. "That's not doing anything for you. An article that you won a case or that you were the promising lawyer of 2011 — that would be useful to have in the top search results."

During a recent search for Michael Pines, Google listed the personal injury lawyer's law firm Web site, http://seriousaccidents.com, as the top result. The second link was to a 2010 blog item by The Wall Street Journal about Michael T. Pines, the foreclosure attorney, whose bar license was suspended last month after he was convicted of second-degree burglary.

Michael Pines said he's made some progress in clearing up the confusion that tainted his name on the Internet. He has posted information about himself and his firm on Facebook and LinkedIn. He also has been writing articles for a blog on his law firm's Web site.

"So the good things we're writing about will push the bad things down," he said. "That's a hope. That's a wish. Whether or not that will happen or not, I don't know."

Amanda Bronstad can be contacted at abronstad@alm.com.