Today is kind of a light day for me in preparation for a July 4th celebration. I wasn’t even going to blog today, but I ran across a 30-minute podcast on Legal Talk Network’s Coast to Coast program that has some really good advice by Dennis Kennedy, Tim Stanley, and Peter Boyd on websites and blogs that I believe is worth passing on.

Some tidbits:

•In the past year, there has been a dramatic change in the importance of the Internet in finding local products and services (vs. the yellow pages);

•Having a website, even for solo’s, is a “necessity;”

•Content is still king, but emphasis should be on helping visitors (checklists are very useful). People are searching for answers/solutions to problems, and may not even realize they need a lawyer;

•Emphasis should be on content of interest to your audience, rather than on SEO (search engine optimization);

•Yet, search engine “ranking is very important” as it indicates the popularity of your site, and being ranked in the top ten in results can make or break your site. Improve your ranking with:

oInbound links
oContent
oTitle tags (metatags not used any longer)
oKeywords
oLongevity of your site
oDomain name registration (multi-year best)

•A good Internet presence (especially with a blog) can be the “great equalizer” between large and small law firms.

If you have the time, and you are interested in boosting your Internet visibility you may want to listen to the entire podcast or download it here.