Much has been written about the best blogging/content management systems for search engine optimization (SEO). For over a year I have been using WordPress and the Thesis theme for various websites, and I’ve found it to be very easy to use for SEO. And you don’t have to sacrifice in terms of style. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog and WSJ Magazine, plus a lot of other top-flight sites, use WordPress. The fact that my sites aren’t any prettier is a reflection of my desire to control my own work, and my lack of skill as a designer. But even for a design-challenged lawyer, I can publish a decent-looking website in a matter of hours. And the Thesis theme is designed from the start for SEO. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Alabama SEO,
Birmingham Alabama SEO,
Birmingham SEO,
blogging,
content management systems,
Google,
Search Engine Optimization (SEO),
SEO,
Thesis,
Thesis theme,
WordPress
I’ve recently been blogging (with some help) about the Gulf oil spill at BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig. When I started the blog, I was struck by the fact that there were no pay-per-click lawyer ads when I used Google News to search for articles. But that changed in a hurry. Within a couple of days the lawyer ads began emerging in an ever escalating war to sign up claimants. When mass tort ad campaigns such as this start, I’m usually either involved in it professionally or I follow the campaigns because I find them interesting and, sometimes, educational. As of the time that I’m writing this post, there are seven law firm ads displayed on Google News when you run a “BP oil spill” or “Gulf oil spill” search. Seven law firms and one almost unnoticeable ad by BP.
Perhaps it’s the technology geek in me, or my interest in Internt marketing, but I enjoyed comparing the ads. The lawyer ads all utilized the top line of the ad well, with large blue letters proclaiming something such as “Gulf Oil Spill Lawsuit” or “BP Oil Spill Lawsuit.” BP’s ad, by comparison, simply said “Spill” on the top line. It’s as if they are ashamed to be associated with it, and don’t want to admit which particular “spill” it is they are talking about. But if BP is too embarrassed to shout out its message in a way that competes with the lawyer ads, why even buy an ad on Google? And if BP, a company which had profits of $6.1 billion in the first quarter of 2010, wants to run an ad on Google, why doesn’t it bid high enough to rank higher than sixth out of eight ads?
Somehow the fact that BP is inept in handling its PR makes me even less confident of its ability and intention to clean up the mess it’s making in the Gulf. I’ve written more at BPOilNews.com about BP’s poor PR, including its waffling and refusal to commit to pay for damages caused by the Gulf oil spill. You can also follow my posts about the Gulf oil spill at Facebook and on Twitter @bpoilnews.
Tagged as:
Attorney advertising,
BP,
BP oil spill,
Deepwater Horizon,
Google,
Google AdWords,
Gulf of Mexico,
Gulf Oil Spill,
oil spill
An Online Media Daily article reports that Google’s top-priced AdWord in 2008 was “mesothelioma” costing $99.44 per click. The article cites AdGooroo’s Search Engine Advertising Update: Q309. According to the same report, “mesothelioma” was also Yahoo’s top-priced word, at $60.68 per click. Rich Stokes, founder and CEO of AdGooroo, couldn’t say how many times the top keywords were clicked on each month.
Tagged as:
Google AdWords,
Mesothelioma
I’ve written before that attorneys who market over the Internet can gain a huge advantage from the use of well-optimized video. As I mentioned in a post on the “Easiest way to a First Page Rank on Google“, Forrester Research has performed tests that show a video is 50 times more likely to be found on the first page of Google than a text page.
This has been consistently borne out in my own use of video in online legal marketing. I’m involved in a project with other lawyers to represent victims of Yamaha Rhino rollovers. We’ve posted two videos in connection with the project. According to recent Wordtracker reports, the search term “Yamaha Rhino recall” is by far the most frequently searched term associated with Yamaha Rhinos. I ran a Google search for “Yamaha Rhino recall” on October 7, 2009, and our two videos appeared in the top five results on Google’s first page.
Here’s a screenshot:
First page of a 10-7-09 Google search for "Yamaha Rhino recall"
[click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Google,
Online Video,
search enine optimization,
Video SEO
SearchEngineWatch.com is reporting that Google is sponsoring a contest with a grand prize of $25,000 of cable television advertising. Contestants create a 30 second or 60 second spot and upload it to the YouTube channel “TV for all contest.” You can even make the ad for free using SpotMixer.com. The deadline for submission is October 5, 2009. Viewers will vote, and 3 winners will be announced October 30, 2009.
This appears to be a good way for Google to call attention to the TV ad service it now offers through its AdWords program. A MediaPost article reports that Google has teamed with SpotMixer to allow advertisers to create video ads to be displayed on the Google Content Network. SpotMixer’s platform automatically converts an advertiser’s existing AdWords text ad into a tailored video ad within the advertiser’s AdWords account. Earlier this year, SpotMixer launched a self-serve video ad creation service for Google AdWords customers to produce and distribute cable TV ads via Google TV Ads.
Lawyers who have been tempted to dip their toes into the TV advertising pool now have a way of giving it a try on a limited budget. But the chance of a lawyer ad winning the $25,000 grand prize? I’m pretty skeptical about that.
Tagged as:
Attorney advertising,
Google TV ads,
Spotmixer,
TV ads
Years ago when pay-per-click ads were new, the first tests showed that searchers preferred to click on the links that appeared on the search page (“organic results”) rather clicking on than the pay-per-click ads. I saw a recent comparison yesterday, when Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro published an article saying results have remained remarkably steady over the past six years: for commercial searches, about 70% of searchers click on organic results, while only 30% click on the pay-per-click ads.
This is important information for firms trying to decide how to allocate resources between pay-per-click campaigns and search engine optimization.
We have been experimenting with online video since last year in our Yamaha Rhino project, with very good results. So I was not surprised to see a Forrester Research blog post saying that an online video is 50 times more likely than a text page to appear on Google’s first page. A big part of that is simply the huge disparity in the number of text pages and the number of videos. Now that Google is including videos in its “blended search results,” a well-optimized video has a much better shot at a first-page ranking than a text page. Forrester’s research meshes with our own experience. Although we have many more text pages dealing with the Yamaha Rhino recall, a Google search for “Yamaha Rhino recall” on July 2, 2009, placed our two Rhino videos in the top 4 search results. Message to consumer lawyers, include online video in your marketing plan.
Yamaha Rhino recall Google search results 7-2-09
Mediapost reports that Google will launch AdSense for mobile on Wednesday. Mobile content developers will be able to insert a small snippet of code into their pages; this will tell Google where to display an ad. The ad targeting is contextual, similar to targeting that exists for AdSense partners.
A Google spokesperson said Google is also experimenting on ways to allow advertisers to bid for ad placement on specific applications. Anybody want to buy an ad when an iPhone user Googles the location of the local jail?
Tagged as:
Google,
Mobile AdWords
The law firm of Susman Godfey LLP said Friday it had received preliminary approval of a proposed $20 million class action settlement filed on behalf of AdWords advertisers who were allegedly tricked by Google into paying for ads they didn’t intend to buy. This news comes from a Sacramento Business Journal article.
The class action lawsuit is pending in the Federal District Court of the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. Final approval of the settlement will be considered on Sept. 14.
As any AdWords user knows, Google charges advertisers when users “click” on one of their ads. When the advertiser creates an ad, he or she tells Google the maximum they are willing to pay per click. But according to lawyers for the class, advertisers can find themselves paying for ads they didn’t intend to buy. According to Susman Godfrey:
“During this process, users encounter two adjacent boxes. Into the first, customers enter the amount they wish to pay per click of an ad displayed on Google.com. The second box is marked ‘optional.’ Into this box, a user can enter the amount they would be willing to pay per click of an ad appearing on a third-party Web page. But leaving the box blank does not prevent ads from appearing on third-party sites,” the law firm said.
Google “places the ads on third-party sites anyway. And users are automatically charged per click based on the amount they entered into the first box. This suit arises from the fact that both actions occur without the user being informed,” the firm added.
Tagged as:
AdWords,
Google
One of the reservations I’ve heard some lawyers express about pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is that you don’t know who is clicking on your ads. If you’re paying $85 for someone to click on your mesothelioma ad to visit your site, is that person a mesothelioma victim or a competitor? Now comes a study from U.S. based Click Forensics that says the average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 28.2%, up from 27.1% in the previous quarter. See article here.
Note that this figure applies to the “content” networks, such as ads that appear on blogs and news sites using Google’s AdSense program. There is a built-in incentive for the publishers of the sites to engage in fraudulent clicking, as they share in the revenues from each click. The article does not give an estimate of the number of fraudulent clicks on Google’s and Yahoo!’s search engines.
One user of PPC ads suggests that you factor the fraud rate into your calculations. Tony Jewell , chief technical officer of job search engine Workcircle, advises factoring in a degree of risk and focusing on return on investment. “If 20% of clicks are invalid, are the other 80% good enough for it not to matter?” he said. “If the traffic sends customers who convert, and hence is profitable, then we’re happy.”
Tagged as:
Google AdWords,
Pay-Per-Click,
Search Engine Marketing
What can we do together? Since 1999 I've been using the Internet, websites, blogs, online video, Twitter and other social media to help thousands of injured people find great lawyers. We've organized national networks of lawyers in over forty states to take on Pfizer, Bayer, Yamaha and other multinational corporations. We've put consumers on a level playing field, and had fun doing it. If you're a great lawyer looking for more clients, contact me and let's see what we can do together.
Use the Contact Form or connect with me on