A very nice Law Society of Upper Canada auditor visited me today for a random audit (note: lawyers get audited at least once every five years). Here’s what the experience was like. First off, I’m not a typical lawyer getting audited. I don’t do real estate law (phew! – I hate paper and all the fraud involved in real estate) so that made the auditor’s life easier. Also, the fact that I keep my statements, invoices, etc. organized helped too.  The auditor commented that I was the “second simplest lawyer” she’s ever audited. Apparently, the simplest lawyer had only one client and did not even have a trust account! It took her 2 hours to audit him! Ah well, second place is not too shabby at all.  It was fairly straightforward because I do everything electronically through PC Law and online bank accounts.  I don’t deal in cheques.  In fact, I hate dealing in cheques.  In fact, I loathe dealing in paper altogether.  The auditor went through my trust reconciliation statements, journals, ledgers, lists, bank statements, etc.  If you’re a lawyer and you don’t have PC Law, I’m sure you can get by using quickbooks and simply accounting, but they don’t have the superior functionality of PC Law.  So you should definitely use PC Law to do your record keeping.  There are 17 auditors at the LSUC and they take anywhere from 1-2 days for a small firm to audit or up to a week with 2 auditors at a large firm.

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I just finished reading a great article on lawyer blogs entitled “Lawyer Blogs: Overview and Advice from Palm Beach County Bloggers” courtesy of Palm Beach County Appellate Litigation lawyer, Diana Martin.  She raises some interesting points and also provides some very good insights (e.g. “Articles posted on a firm site were often ignored”).  Have a read!

written by admin \\ tags: Lawyer Blogs, Overview and ADvice from Palm Beach County Bloggers, Palm Beach County Diana Martin

OK.  So I realize I haven’t been blogging that often for the past little while.  I’ve been too busy being a lawyer and writing independent contractor agreements, confidentiality agreements, debenture agreements, etc. for clients.  So now I’m taking the time to update everyone on what’s coming down the wire in the next month or so with respect to Dynamic Lawyers:

1. Legal Forms: we are launching a new initiative that will allow everyday people to conveniently and cost-effectively access basic legal forms.  If you are a lawyer who wants to earn some passive income by selling your basic precedents through Dynamic Lawyers, then give me a shout and let’s develop an affiliate program.  The first few legal forms will deal with basic website agreements that all website owners/operators should have in place.
2. Lawyer Ads: as you can see from the right side of the DL blog, we have just put up ads for some of our Dynamic Lawyers.  If you’re interested in advertising in this space, then give me a shout.
3. New eBook: due to the popularity of my first eBook (“4 Steps to Online Legal Marketing“), I’ve decided to write another eBook about 22 FREE tactics/tips to market yourself online.
4. Videos: Garry Wise, Omar-Ha-Redeye and I will be coming out with something very interesting…stay tuned…and who know – perhaps another Ontario Reports Parody is in the works?
5. Podcasts: this may come in October or November.  I’m thinking of hosting a show where I talk with a lawyer (e.g. family law lawyer, real estate lawyer, etc.) about certain issues that impact everyday people.
6. Upgraded Functionality: we’ve got about 5 functionality upgrades to release next month that will further improve the website.
7. September is Personal Injury month: we will be focusing on personal injury lawyers, cases, etc. for the entire month of September!
8. More Media Attention: we’ll be getting some more media attention in the coming months for things we’re working on now…

So that’s it for now.  We’ve got some big announcements (which we can’t really talk about just yet) that involve joint ventures and things like that…very exciting stuff…keep your eyes and ears open!

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Dynamic Lawyers has just issued a profile report about Toronto personal injury and malpractice lawyer, Howard Blitstein of Howie, Sacks &  Henry LLP.  In this profile report, Howard talks about how personal injury law is different from other practice areas, how trial are great learning opportunities, and how lawyers can develop good lawyering skills.  You can read the full profile report here:

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, Howard, howard blitstein, Sacks & Henry LLP, toronto medical malpractice lawyer, toronto personal injury lawyer

Dynamic Lawyers has just issued a profile report about Toronto lawyer Simon Shields.  Simon is taking his online law practice, IsThatLegal, on the road beginning August 30, 2009.  He coaches self-represented litigants in the areas of small claims court, employment, landlord and tenant, Ontario Disability and Support Program, and even animal rights.  His website is chuck-full of great legal information about court procedure and substantive legal issues.  You should definitely check out the report and read about Simon’s plans and challenges.  Best of luck, Simon!

written by admin \\ tags: dynamiclawyers.com, isthatlegal.ca, Simon Shields

Wow!  That’s all I can say.  After 24 hours of releasing our FREE eBook entitled “4 Steps to Online Legal Marketing. For Lawyers. By Lawyers”, I can truly say that the response has been amazing!

Here’s the good stuff:

• Traffic on the website reached its second highest level since launching last November.
• The story has been re-tweeted more than 45 times and counting.
• News of the FREE eBook was put on Slaw and LawisCool (courtesy of good friend, Omar Ha-Redeye) and on another good friend (Garry Wise)”s popular blog (FYI, Omar and Garry were both mentioned in an article about law firms and social media, which can be found here).
• The story was recommended by Nancy Kinney on AdviceScene.

Thanks everyone for helping to spread the eBook!  We appreciate it here at Dynamic Lawyers!

written by admin \\ tags: advicescene, Garry Wise, lawiscool, nancy kinney, Omar Ha-Redeye, Slaw

So I’ve been asked a lot by lawyers if they can meet and hire Dynamic Lawyers‘ graphic designer, Parastou (Paris).  Paris handles all of our graphics design needs.  Paris’ role is to take whatever I write and make it look good – and she’s been doing it for years!

She has a formal education in art and graphic design (from Sheridan, George Brown and Seneca colleges).  She owns a top of the line Macintosh computer and is an expert in various graphics applications (e.g. illustrator, photoshop, indesign, quark express).  On the top of the that she is an amazing photographer (with a very expensive professional camera – Canon 5D).

Toronto Graphics Designer Parastou (Paris) Gheidarpour

Here are some of her flickr photos (weddings, travelling, people, etc.). Truly amazing stuff!

She’s great to work with and very talented.  Give her a shout (cell: 416-836-2008 or parastou27@rogers.com) if you need a graphic designer for the following:

• Advertisement
• Catalog
• Magazine
• Logo
• Direct Mail
• Occasion Cards
• Letterhead
• Envelopes
• Brochures
• Business Cards
• etc.

written by admin \\ tags: amazing graphic designer, best graphic artist, business cards, canon5D, creative, envelopes, illustrator, innovative, letterhead, Parastou Gheidarpour, paris gheidarpour, photography, photoshop, quark, talented, Toronto graphics designer

What are the most popular legal areas on the internet? Is it personal injury law, family law, criminal law, real estate, wills and estates, business law, etc.? On Dynamic Lawyers, we have broken down the legal areas (used by people to make posts) into 20 common categories and even excluded some – such as international law, aboriginal law, health law, military law, etc. To find out which ones were the most popular, I decided to break down the first 500 posts made on Dynamic Lawyers and to take a random sample of 500 posts on www.AdviceScene.com. While somewhat crude, I believe that this breakdown of 1,000 posts sheds valuable light on what people are using the internet for when it comes to legal services, finding lawyers, and getting answers to their legal questions.  Download the full FREE report on the Top Legal Areas here (just scroll down):

written by admin \\ tags: popular legal areas, top legal areas on the internet

So alongside the release of our new eBook, I’ll be releasing bits and pieces of that eBook right here in the blog.  Remember, just go here to download the full eBook (just scroll to the bottom).

Step 4: Evaluate [Web Analytics]
Nothing stays the same and you will need to constantly monitor your performance and make adjustments. This is the final step and I’ll be discussing some tips and tricks you can use to evaluate your website’s performance.

You’ve heard it before, but it’s worth repeating: content is king. So the first step is to find out how much of your content has been indexed by search engines. This is easy. Just go to www.Google.ca or www.Yahoo.ca and type in the following: site: [URL]. So, if your website was www.canada.com, then you would type in: site:www.canada.com. The search engines will display all of the pages they’ve indexed from your site.

Another tool you can use to determine how Google (and likely other search engines) ranks your page is to visit Google Page Rank. I’ve previously talked about Page Rank. Just go to the website and type in your URL (e.g. www.canada.com). Within a matter of seconds, Google Page Rank will return a number out of 10 that gives you insight into how well ranked your website is on Google. Most websites are ranked 0,1, or 2. You should keep coming back to this tool to see if your law firm search engine optimization techniques, strategies, and perhaps vendors are improving your search engine results.

Finally, it is definitely worthwhile to invest in website analytics (like Google analytics, Awstats and Webalizer) to help you track each visit and action on your website. Website analytics tells you everything you wanted to know about how website visitors found you and how they interact and navigate through your website. Good web analytics software which will tell you things like:

• How strong is visitor loyalty with respect to recency, length of visit, and depth of visit?
• What are your website’s top landing pages and exit pages?
• What are the direct and indirect sources of your website’s traffic (e.g. direct traffic, referring website, search engines, etc.)?
• When are most people visiting your website?
• Where are your visitors geographically located?
• Which keywords and search phrases are visitors using to find your website?
• Which browsers are visitors using to find your website?

Importantly, you should definitely be using sophisticated analytics software to manage your e-mail lead campaigns and pay per click advertising campaigns to see what’s working and what isn’t.

Conclusion
You need to be online NOW to market your legal services to prospective clients, educate existing clients on new legal developments, and manage online risks. For better or worse, MY generation is going to be the next set of clients paying your bills. If you can’t appreciate the fact that WE use technology and the internet to buy goods and services, then you will be left in the dust. In this eBook, I have given you countless tips and tricks based on my knowledge and experiences to successfully engage in online legal marketing. My four step approach – (1) Strategize [find the right keywords], (2) Optimize [Make your content search engine friendly], (3) Promote [linkation, linkation, linkation], and (4) Evaluate [Web Analytics] – will help you get higher search engine rankings. BUT don’t waste your own time and energy trying to do everything yourself. When you’re ready, you should contact me to help you strategize and execute your online marketing needs. You can e-mail me directly at michael@dynamiclawyers.com.

About Us
Dynamic Lawyers is a website that allows users to freely and anonymously post their legal issue(s) online and get free information and quotes from Ontario lawyers focusing on the legal area required. Multiple lawyers respond to user posts via e-mail and users can follow up with the lawyers of their choosing. Since launching in November 2008, Dynamic Lawyers has been featured in various local and national media (e.g. newspapers, journals, magazines, television, radio, etc.).

For a limited time, we are offering lawyers who register a 30 DAY FREE TRIAL PERIOD to try out Dynamic Lawyers!

Just register for an account and, upon verification, your account will be activated: you will be able to respond to private and public posts (i.e. potential clients) and new posts matching your City, Legal Area(s), and Matter(s) will be automatically e-mailed to you and you will be able to respond accordingly. It is RISK FREE and there are NO OBLIGATIONS to continue subscribing after the initial 30 DAY FREE TRIAL PERIOD. After the free trial period, we only charge lawyers a modest membership fee of only $50/month plus GST for the year! So what are you waiting for? Register on www.DynamicLawyers.com today!

Note: All of Dynamic Lawyers’ marketing materials are designed byParis Productions: 416-836-2008 or parastou27@rogers.com

written by admin \\ tags: 4 steps to online legal marketing, conclusion, evaluate, free ebook, online legal marketing, web analytics

So alongside the release of our new eBook, I’ll be releasing bits and pieces of that eBook right here in the blog.  Remember, just go here to download the full eBook (just scroll to the bottom).

Step 3: Promote [Linkation, Linkation, Linkation!]
Promotion is all about getting your content “out there”. How do you do it? Obviously, you could send out e-mail blasts notifying everyone that you have some great content on your website (and include a link to your content). But if you don’t have a master list of your prospective clients, then your alternative to disseminating your content is through a LINK CAMPAIGN.

SEO is as much about the number and quality of links coming into your website as it is about how your website content has been search engine optimized. Here are a few things to keep in mind about inbound links.

Why are links so important?
In the world wide web, links are the relationships or building blocks upon which search engines (e.g. Google and Yahoo) determine the popularity of your website. Search engines look at the web pages that are linking to your site to determine their relevancy and authority for a given topic or set of keywords (by examining things like link text, title of the web page, tags, and the URL). Interestingly enough, you want to make sure that inbound links and websites from which they are coming have the keywords that your are optimizing your website for. So if you want to target “Toronto auto dealership” (exactly in that order), then you want your inbound links to be written – preferably in bold and in large font – using those words in that order.

You will also want to try to ensure that the inbound link to your website which appears on other websites is not buried deep inside those websites; the more difficult it is to find; the easier the link is to find, the better!

So how do you increase the number of good quality inbound links to your website?

Here are the various FREE ways you can do it:

1. Reciprocal linking: The best way is the most natural. If your website has good quality and regularly updated content that targets your keywords, other websites will naturally link to it. You can also set up a link-exchange program or form on your website, where you agree to share links with other relevant websites. Look at competitor websites or websites that are popular for particular keywords and ask them if they’d be willing to link to your website.
2. Directory Submission: I have already written about this above.
3. Article Submissions: Article databases like www.ezinearticles.com allow you to freely submit your articles. The great thing about these database websites is that they rank highly on search engines because they are older, have lots of content and are search engine optimized. So all you need to do is contribute content and have a link from your article back to your website.
4. Press Releases: You can submit online press releases for mass dissemination (sometimes you have to pay) with links back to your website. Remember: if someone syndicates content from a website that contains your press release, that syndicated website is making your content (including links) viewable to their entire audience.
5. Blogs: Blogs allow for easy linking (e.g. through comments and trackbacks). A trackback is an automatic system that notifies Blog Owner A that Blog Owner B has referenced one of Blog Owner A’s blog post. The end result is that a link will be created in Blog Owner A’s blog to Blog Owner B’s blog.
6. Social Media: Much like article submissions, you can submit content to social media websites like www.FaceBook.com, www.Twitter.com, www.Digg.com, etc. with links back to your website.

Admittedly, these techniques take a lot of time and effort. The key is to create good quality content that has something relevant to offer when people are searching for your keywords. Patience and a good strategy are vital. Continuing to tweak your website with high hopes that it will be thrust on p. 1 of Google in no time is not the reality; you need to accept the fact that if you have a new website, it will take a while before it ranks well in Google.

Don’t try fooling the search engines
Now, in the underground world of SEO, there are automated programs that build up links as quickly as possible. These programs work, for example, to build links on unsophisticated blogs where owners are not checking ‘cloaked’ trackbacks (discussed above) that are essentially spam. Doing so – particularly if you have a new domain name – could lead to search engines punishing you. There may or may not be something called GOOGLE SANDBOX (no one is really sure), which allegedly punishes your website for many months if you build up too many links too quickly in an unnatural manner. It could also piss off a whole bunch of people if you are spamming their blogs with your trackbacks.

Techniques for linking
Search engines look at the Page Rank of the website from which your inbound link is coming from. The higher the Page Rank the better. Page Rank is a tool used by Google to rank your page. Just go to http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php and type in any url (e.g. www.canada.com). Within a matter of seconds, Google Page Rank will return a number out of 10 that gives you insight into how well ranked your website is on Google. Most websites are ranked 0,1, or 2. You should keep coming back to this tool to see if your law firm search engine optimization techniques, strategies, and perhaps vendors are improving your search engine results. The bottom line is that, the higher the PageRank (or “PR”) from the website linking to your website, the better.

You will also want to keep in mind that being linked from the homepage of a website with a high PR is much better than being linked from an internal page on that website with a lower PR. Make sure to check whether the page that is linking to your website has a Robots.txt file (as previously discussed) associated with it that allows the page to get indexed by search engines like Google. A Robots.txt file is simply an exclusion file that contains instructions for search engine spiders to either index or not index the particular page. If the Robots.txt file is set to ‘no-follow’, then the page will not be indexed.

You’ll also want to keep in mind that the value of the inbound link from the website by looking at the total number of links on that page (the more, the worse off you’ll be because the page rank will be divided by the number of links).

With respect to the specific text of the link on third party relevant websites, try to change it up (e.g. if you want to target the keywords “good Toronto lawyers”, then try to get keywords like “great Toronto attorneys” or “super lawyers in Toronto” in the actual link text that links back to your website), get it written in bold and underlined and in a header text, and put it close up to the top of the page. These things should all help building your link popularity.

What about buying links?
The idea of buying links goes as follows: what some people – and particularly SEO companies – offer and do is a service whereby they build dummy website that link to your site. In effect, they are trying to trick the search engines to ranking a particular website higher because it has links. By relying on these kinds of links, websites are disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their websites.

I liked Robert Guest’s Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog, wherein he talked about his experience with phony links and SEO companies. In one particular example, he discussed a spam comment that had been made under one of his blog entries. It turned out to be his own writing and it actually linked back to a prominent DWI law firm’s web site! What had happened was that a spam comment bot just copied and pasted his own materials in the comments, but then linked back to the law firm. All of this was done to trick Google to rank the page higher.

Another example I came across was even more eye-opening. A blog in Lead-Gen SEO described how, in the summer of 2008, popular lawyer referral service FindLaw had been caught selling links to its clients in a bid to increase their search engine rankings. An e-mail had been sent out – likely without being cleared by FindLaw’s inhouse counsel – that gave a message to the tune of “buy super-link-juice-passing text links from Findlaw and get top rankings in Google”. The big problem with FindLaw’s actions was that it was also selling web development services; hence, its clients may not have realized the risk they ran (i.e. in case Google decided to punish them) by engaging in FindLaw’s services.

Overall, buying paid links on dummy websites as a form to cheat the system is against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Google can (and probably should) be punishing those websites that engage in such conduct and put warnings up not to deal with certain SEO companies who engage in these deceptive practices.

written by admin \\ tags: backlinks, buying links, free ebook, google webmaster guidelines, inbound links, linkation, linking techniques, online legal marketing