So you’ve decided to make the leap to online marketing. If you do it right, this decision could be one of the best you’ll make. With a strong online presence, your law firm can interact powerfully with clients and potential clients, you can establish your authority and expertise among the people in your community, and you can become the go-to source for information and help when people in your city – or even your state – have a problem that falls into your practice area.

But, as with most other important endeavors, there’s a right way and a wrong way to proceed. Here are three don’ts that have the potential to derail your online marketing efforts and alienate the people you’re trying to reach:

1. Link Baiting. How many times have you been online, seen an intriguing headline, and clicked through only to find out that the article, blog post, or other content following the headline just doesn’t deliver as promised? This is called link baiting, and it can be a tempting way to increase traffic to your website or blog. However, it’s a huge no-no. There’s nothing wrong with catchy titles – as a matter of fact, they make for smart and effective marketing. However, it’s critical to make sure the article matches the content you’re providing. Otherwise, you’ll lose credibility and alienate potential clients.
2. Mousetrapping. You want visitors to stay on your website as long as possible, but you don’t want to use a technique called mousetrapping to accomplish this. Mousetrapping is the incredibly frustrating (and, in some cases, illegal) array of tricks that keep a user from navigating away from your site. Maybe you’ve experienced it… you visit a website, decide it’s time to move on, and all of a sudden, you’re faced with endless pop-ups or the same page keeps reloading over and over again. Not a good way to win over potential clients.
3. Keyword Overload. Don’t sacrifice your website or blog content on the altar of keyword density. Granted, search engine optimization (SEO) is important, but if the “right” keyword density makes an article or blog post repetitive, hard to follow, or downright nonsensical, you’ll drive away the very people you’re trying to win over. Remember, write for your reader.

The world of online marketing can be an overwhelming one for attorneys. That’s why Robert Armstrong and I have collaborated on our soon-to-be-released book, Dominating Your Market. In it, we offer a blueprint for establishing a commanding internet presence for your firm, giving you all the tools you need to harness the unique power of the internet to position your firm as the source clients in your market seek out to meet their needs.

Sanford M. Fisch
CEO & Co-Founder
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd Ste 240
San Diego, CA 92124
(800) 846-1555
www.aaepa.com