Three months into my law practice, I’ve broken all my targets, and revised targets, by a mile. In addition to doubling what I predicted I’d book between October and December 31, 2009, I’ve been relentless about moving up the Google rankings.
Basically, I’ve done this by first winning the search rankings in less competitive, but still prized and wealthy suburbs of Raleigh – if you search for DWI, criminal lawyer, or assorted offenses in Apex or Cary – I come up in the top ten in most search.
I’m now making my way into the top 10 for search terms like Raleigh criminal lawyer and criminal lawyer Raleigh and variations on that theme.
Here’s some specific advice. First, if you can get into Google local’s top 7 for your community, do it. And once there, don’t mess with your Google local account. Don’t tweak your listing to add new search terms. Google will penalize you for it. I played around with my Google listing, and was sanctioned for it in late November. My listing did not return to the top 7 for two months. I suspect that cost me $15,000 in lost business.
Second, think about specific terms you want to dominate. As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, people are not searching for a general realtor or a general lawyer. They’re searching for a criminal lawyer or drug lawyer or whatever. In the case of realtors, you need to think of your niche. But it’s easier to dominate the niche.
Third, if colleagues – aka competitors – start asking you how you’re getting in this business, be generous. I’ve had two tentative requests for help. I’m generous with my advice, knowing that telling someone how to do something, and having them turn around and do it, are two different things. They’ll appreciate the advice, even if they don’t or can’t implement it.
And if they do implement it, you’ll probably do better than them, seeing as you have the basic quality of an entrepreneur. And if you don’t, you still have a true colleague you can learn from and prosper with.
On the one hand, there’s something nice about being one of the few lawyers in Raleigh who understands the web. On the other hand, it’s sort of isolating. I wish more of my colleagues would use this tool more effectively. We’d have more to talk about than simply the law.
