AI Law Guy

New Legal Web Design Packages

Legal Web Design, New Legal Web Design /

I have updated my Lawyers Court site and have new Legal Web Design packages available for lawyers who just need a new web site created. Below are the 3 different packages we have available for lawyers. – SOLO Design Package – This package is geared towards the solo attorney who just needs a web presence. – SMALL Firm Design Package – This package is for smaller law firms who need a 15 page plus site with more features. – BIG Firm Design Package – This Package is for small to large law firms who need a 40 page plus site with more advanced features.

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WordPress Plugins for Lawyers – WP Super Cache

Wordpress Plugins /

Having your website done in WordPress is great for a number of reasons including all of the plugins that you can add to your site to make it better.  There is a plugin for just about everything these days. Some are better then others and some like WP Super Cache are must haves. WP SUPER CACHE Sometimes having a lot of graphics and items on your site can make them load slower. This WordPress plugin makes your pages load way faster and since it stores static versions of your site, it requires much less CPU processing than using WordPress all by itself. This plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts. The static html files will be served to the vast majority of your users, but because a user’s details are displayed in the comment form after they leave a comment those requests are handled by the legacy caching engine. Static files are served to: Users who are not logged in. Users who have not left a comment on your blog. Or users who have not viewed a password protected post. 99% of your visitors will be served static html files. Those users who don’t see the static files will still benefit because they will see different cached files that aren’t quite as efficient but still better than uncached. This plugin will help your server cope with a front page appearance on digg.com or other social networking site. Visit WP Super Cache wordpress site to download

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Getting Top Organic Search Results

Legal SEO Marketing, Organic Search Engine Optimization /

One of the goals of every lawyer web site is to get ranked high at the search engines for keywords related to the firms location and practice. Especially at Google!   This is what Ive been doing for lawyers for the past 12 years! I remember working at the downtown Chicago law firm of Foran and Schultz and I was in charge of the firms web site, as well as the firms computer network.  Web design was a new thing and it was pretty cool putting up the firms first site, but I was more excited by the fact that the site could also be found at search engines like Alta Vista, Hotbot and good old Yahoo! Google wasnt even in the picture back then, but they were coming! I remember telling the lawyers at the firm that it was an important thing to be found at search engines, they werent so sure and told me not to put in any more overtime on what I called Search engine site optimization! They were wrong because as we all know now, having your site listed at Google in the top spots can make a real difference in getting new clients. There is more to do in todays age then just organic SEO, now theres pay per click marketing, videos, facebook, twitter, linked in, blogs and the list goes on.  Yet its always going to be key to make sure your site is coming up at the top of the search engines for your most important terms. WE GET GREAT RESULTS Getting top search engine rankings involve many things.  There is no one single thing to do, you have to do a lot of things over time. Its all about having a good domain name combined with great solid content and a solid social media and link campaign.   Most lawyers would never have the time to do all of this, so it makes sense to have an expert do it all. If your law firm is looking for assistance with their overall Internet marketing strategy, call us at 630-393-0460.

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Google Plus

Google Search Engine, Google+ /

What is Google+? It is Google’s latest attempt in gaining some market share in the social network area. Here is how Google explains the new service: We realize that today people are increasingly connecting with one another on the web. But the ways in which we connect online are limited and don’t mimic our real-life relationships. The Google+ project is our attempt to make online sharing even better. We aren’t trying to replace what’s currently available; we just want to introduce a new way to connect online with the people that matter to you. Sounds pretty cool, huh? And it is. There are 5 main features to Google+: Circles, Hangouts, Instant Upload, Sparks and Huddle. Circles While most social networks are about sharing with a wide audience, Google has gone in the other direction. Circles allows you to group friends, family, and various associates into groups and optimizing the flow of information to each one. This is a great way to keep your professional and private life separate and something which Facebook doesn’t easily provide. Hangouts In my opinion, this is the coolest feature of the project and it’s what sets Google+ apart from Facebook. Hangouts lets up to 10 users simultaneously video chat with each other face-to-face. Instant Upload This is a simple way to ensure that all the photos you take on your phone are easily accessible. While you’re snapping pictures, Google+ adds your photos to a private album in the cloud. This way they’re always available across your devices—ready to share as you see fit. Sparks Think of it as anything that is meant to “spark” a conversation. Google+ will keep a feed of content that is based on your interests which you can view at any time and then share with your friends who have the same interests. Huddle Huddle is a group text-chat tool within Google+ for having private conversations within a Circle. You can use this feature directly from your phone – that’s if you use an Android 2.0+ or iPhone 4.0+ phone. There are some great videos explaining each feature in more depth here. Other things you should know about Google+: An Android app is currently available for Google+ Google has submitted to Apple’s App Store an iOS app for using Google+ and it is awaiting approval Businesses looking to market on Google+ won’t be left out. “Pages” similar to Facebook “fan pages” will be coming soon, according to Google’s Jeff Huber Google has already been forced to tweak its privacy setting on Google+ by completely eliminating the ability to share certain semiprivate posts to your wider network of friends You still own everything you put on Google+ (unlike Facebook which takes co-ownership”). The Google+ Terms of Service state “You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.” Rumors of games in Google+ are already doing the rounds in the blogosphere Facebook has responded to the launch of Google+ with the announcement of “something awesome” tomorrow (Wednesday 6th July). We hear it is a deal with Skype to launch a video chat service Mashable have already provided instructions on how to import your Facebook contacts into Google+. Now that’s keen! How can I get into Google+? That’s the hard part. Unless you have already scored yourself an invite, then you’re going to be waiting a while. As of late last week, Google closed any new sign-ups for invitations as it was overwhelmed with the number of people who had joined already. So for the time being all you can do is sign-up to receive notifications of when new invites will be available. You can do so here.

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Over One-Third of American Adults Now Own a Smartphone

Iphone For Lawyers, Mobile Advertising, Mobile for Lawyers /

Any more proof that you need a strong mobile site? It should come as no surprise to anyone that more people are browsing the web from their phones than ever before.  For the past few years, not only have more people decided that smartphones should play an integral part of their daily lives, but those smartphones have gotten better, faster, stronger. The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released a new study that shows more Americans now own smartphones than have college degrees. According to the survey, 83% of Americans own some sort of cellphone and 35% own a smartphone – as defined as running on iOs, Android, Blackberry OS or Windows 7. Of those that own smartphones, 87% said that they use it for email or to browse the internet.  68% said that in a typical day they use their smartphones to access the web.  And here’s the big number – A quarter of those surveyed said that they access the internet mostly on their smartphones.  That’s right, for 25% of Americans, the smartphone has virtually replaced the desktop of laptop. These “smartphone mostly” internet users are more likely to be young, non-white women according to the survey. And using a smartphone definitely makes it more likely that a person will use the phone for browsing the internet.  Only 28% of total cellphone users said that they browse the internet daily on their devices. The breakdown of smartphone ownership also has definite economic, racial and generational markers. The more financially well-off a person is, the more likely they are to own a smartphone.  Of individuals earning over $75,000 a year, 59% reported owning a smartphone.  That figure is 48% when it comes to those with college degrees. The people most likely to own a smartphone fall into the age range of 25-34.  Race also plays a factor, as 44% of the African-Americans and Latinos surveyed said they own a smartphone. Only 30% of the whites surveyed reported ownership.  The research also confirmed that African-Americans and Latinos were much more likely to use their devices for internet browsing, games and multimedia content. Finally, according to the study, Android is the most popular platform, followed by the iPhone and Blackberry in a dead heat for second place. What’s the takeaway?  Not only are people using smartphones more and more, but they are using them to access the internet.  Some are even solely using their mobile devices to browse the web.  Having an easily browsable, functioning mobile site will become even more important as this trend continues to grow.   – Source ********* This is a good story and Ive been saying for awhile that your law firm site needs to also be easily readable on a mobile device.   Most sites are readable enough, but its important to have a mobile version of your site that is easy to read, navigate and contact you. We help lawyers create mobile versions of their sites, contact us for further information on lawyer mobile.

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Lawyer Web Design – Practice Area Focus

New Legal Blogs, New Legal Web Design, Wordpress Blogs /

One strategy you can use with Internet marketing is creating multiple websites in addition to having your main website.  You can create geographic specific sites that focus on one location, or you can create a practice area specific site that focuses on specific area of your legal practice. Sometimes there might be a class action or brand new type of legal matter that you want to focus on right away. Sometimes creating a site that is focused just on that specific area can be a good idea and a good way to come up in the organic search results.  If done right, you might even get multiple sites to come up on the first page of the search results. The latest practice area specific site that we have created is for a Securities law firm that focuses on securities litigation and class action matters.  This new site is for a Lehman Brothers matter.  The firm is  currently investigating claims on behalf of investors in several securities tied to Lehman Brothers.   So we have created a site for the Lehman Brothers UBS matter that focuses specifically on this investigation. The site has information about the firm and then information on this specific Lehman Brothers matter and a way to contact the firm. The goal of this site is to get organic search engine traffic for all Lehman brothers related keywords. The site can also be used as a good landing page for the pay per click campaigns at Google adwords.   Having a landing page that focuses specifically on the keywords your bidding on can improve your Google adwords quality score. Its also best to send people to a specific page instead of just your home page.  People have short attention spans and want to find what they are looking for right away, make it easy for them and they will probably contact you. If you would like us to create a wordpress legal site for your law firm, contact us today.

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Dropbox – Get it!

Apple, IPad for Lawyers, Iphone Apps for Lawyers /

I posted a few weeks back about the IPad Application of Dropbox. This is much more then an Ipad app, its something you setup and then are able to access your files from any computer, and then also allow others to share them.  Its really a great way to keep yourself better organized if you have multiple offices and computers. Its a great way to keep everything in sync and if you have people who work for you, then you can create folders for them and have them put all their files and work they do in that folder. This way you can keep things organized and an eye on what they are doing in real time! As soon as they make an update to a dropbox file in their folder, you are notified on your computer or Ipad, and can then see what they have done.  Its really slick and its FREE for under 2 GB of space and for most people thats enough. I upgraded and now have 50 GB of space (mr big shot!) but for $10 per month, thats a really good deal. I would think most lawyers could benefit from this program.  Its also really nice to have the Ipad app, because you can then see all the files and if you have the MS office app, you can pretty much open anything and edit it on your Ipad, anywhere! So this would mean a lawyer could work on his brief or argument or pleading or pretty much anything on his Ipad, in ANY location.  Then his secretary or paralegal could do other things such as create letters, other documents and pleadings related to case and put them in a folder for the lawyer to review.   The lawyer could then go home and have dropbox installed on his home machines and could instantly pick up where he left off and see anything new his secretary or paralegal has done.   Then when he goes back to the office on Monday, all the same docs are right on his office computer in his dropbox.  Its a no brainer for every lawyer to do this. Just like its a no brainer for every lawyer to have a web site and to have a mobile version of that website!

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60% Of Mobile Users Click Ads Weekly

Mobile Advertising, Mobile for Lawyers /

More than 60% of mobile consumers click on mobile ads at least once a week, according to new research from mobile ad network Mojiva and InsightExpress. Of that group, about 20% are especially responsive, clicking on ads several times a day. The study, based on a poll of 100 random users on the network, also found that about half or more of respondents would be willing to play a game, download an application, visit a Web site or watch a video as a result of seeing an ad. Less than a quarter (22%) said they would go as far as purchasing a product and only 17% would use an ad’s tap-to-call feature. When it comes to ad units, about 21% on average indicated they would notice normal banner ads, video ads, interactive ads and animated banner ads. Surprisingly, only 2% said they would pay attention to screen takeover ads. The study suggested that’s because the aggressive approach these ads take may alienate users. But even if users find takeover ads a turnoff, how could they not notice them? In terms of ad content, people were most likely to be receptive to ads related to retail stores, weather, restaurants and bars. That makes sense, given that people use mobile phones on the go. Among topics or industry categories queried, ads related to magazines, airlines, traffic and banks had the least interest for users. Roughly one-third said they use their phones mostly “offline” for calling and texting, one-third use phones equally online and offline, and about the same proportion spend most of their time browsing the Web, checking email or doing other things online. In terms of demographics, whites make up almost half (47%) of users, while African-Americans make up 26%, Hispanics 9%, Native Americans 3%, “Other” 4%, and 11% did not respond to the question. Seventy percent or more of survey participants said they are responsible for household purchases in each of the following product categories: groceries, restaurant meals, personal items and/or electronics. For 60% of users, annual household income is below $40,000. The Mojiva network overall had more than 100 million unique U.S. users and 471.4 million globally in April. Source

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11 Year Anniversary!

General Search Engine News /

I have celebrated my 11th anniversary of being in the business of creating and marketing websites for lawyers! The time has gone by super quick and its been a blast! Its easy when you love what you do and dont feel like your actually doing a job.  Thank you to all my great clients for all the support over the years, we look forward to helping more lawyers succeed on the Internet!

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Latest WordPress Blog Creation

New Legal Blogs, New Legal Web Design /

We have been very busy these days creating new legal blogs using the wordpress content management system.  Using wordpress has multiple advantages that Im constantly talking about it seems, and the main advantage for any lawyer is that you can easily make updates to the site, as well as easily create new posts and blog. Below is a blog we created for a Tallahassee DUI Attorney.  This is basically both a blog and a website.  It has the posts right on the home page, but it also has different pages talking about what the firms does. Creating a site/blog for your legal practice is a good idea if you have a specific practice area or geographic location that you want to focus on.  Contact us today for more information.

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