SEO, SEM, SMO--a refresher for MPs, CMOs and PGLs about old hats and new developments in the acronym-laden waters of internet marketing.

Thornton, Tim

Imagine that you have just been given the opportunity to promote yourself and your practice to hundreds of thousands of interested parties. Imagine that this opportunity is not a one-time event; rather, it can be sourced by scores of individuals and groups for months. Welcome, or welcome back, to the World Wide Web, where this scenario plays out every day across the globe and the desks of your prospects and clients.

As the title suggests, we are navigating an atmosphere dominated by acronyms that represent methods of attracting interested parties to your virtual doorstep and by law firms that know how to use them. Thus, it may be helpful to begin with a few definitions:

* Search Engines are huge databases that index content on websites so that information can be found through "searches" based on titles, keywords, phrases and text Google, Yahoo and Bing are the main search engines.

* Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a webpage in search engines via unpaid, or "organic," search results. These results are achieved by incorporating specific keywords or links associated with the website into a firm's web-based content.

* Search Engine Marketing (SEM) involves using a paid search program in which companies "bid" for keywords to drive traffic to their respective websites. SEM is commonly known as "pay-per-click " Google AdWords is an example of an SEM tool.

* Social Media Optimization (SMO or Social SEO) is the methodology of applying social media activity with the intent of attracting unique visitors to website content. SMO is essentially the convergence of search engines with social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

* Google+ (G+) is a social media site and Facebook competitor. In June 2011, The New York Times noted that "Google has tried several times, without much success, to take on Facebook and master social networking. Now it is making its biggest effort yet with Google+."

So how can firms leverage the web and its acronym soup to their advantage? This article will highlight some of the important components to consider when using the Internet as a marketing tool.

Selecting Your Vehicle

An unlimited number of websites and blogs allow you to create, post and comment on articles on the Internet. Before you even begin to promote yourself, determine the avenue that most suits your personality and expertise. Here are some options:

* Guest blog on established industry blogs, such as The Dirt Lawyer (dirtattorney.blogspot.com) and Ms. JD (ms.jd.org).

* Create your own legal blog.

* Write bylined articles for various legal and business journals.

This blog content can then be added to an existing social media platform, including Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.

Ensuring Your Material is Seen

Finding websites, journals and blogs that will accept your material may be easy; trimming down to only those most relevant may prove difficult. The Internet has multiple resources available that can help you choose relevant sites. For example, Technorati com has catalogued more than 29,000 business blogs and Quantast. com has amassed more than 6,200 websites related to law periodicals.

The goal of posting business-related content on the Internet should always be to drive traffic in your direction, and there are ways to do this that go beyond merely posting your material. Search engines are constantly combing through new material published on the Internet to index content Search engine indexing organizes and stores data to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval, which means that lawyers must routinely make sure to include verbiage (i.e., keywords) specific to their area of practice to keep themselves relevant for search rankings.

Think about how quickly Google or Yahoo is able to return results to your search queries. Recently, "Contract law articles" returned 36,900,000 results in 0.14 seconds via a Google search. The speed is partly due to indexing and partly due to "document parsing," which allows a search engine to break down material into manageable segments to provide near-instant, relevant results.

Here are some tips to increase online traffic:

* Include frequently searched, but also somewhat specific, keywords. For example, if you are a real estate attorney, "real estate law" would be too vague; "San Francisco tenant in common lawyer" would be a more effective grouping of keywords.

* Utilize tools such as Keyword Builder within Google Ad-Words to help you find frequently searched alternatives to your keyword. For example, a more frequently searched alternative to "contract law" or "transaction law." The Keyword Builder will also show you the approximate number of searches for the particular keyword.

* Provide hyperlinks to other relevant websites or articles that closely resemble your topic. When sites are hyperlinked, search engines place weight on this when determining the relevance of material.

* Try to solicit "links backs" to your material from key sites to which you hyperlink. This often increases your material ranking in search results. For example, while anyone can provide a hyperlink to another site, your site will only become linked back to if it is germane to the writer conducting the search.

* Optimize your material in a genuine manner. Overstuffing your web content with keywords or placing too many hyperlinks can be detected and flagged as over-optimized and deceptive by search engines. Your optimization should accurately reflect your expertise, online content and intended audience.

* Join relevant business groups on social media sites and consider posting articles to your profile or groups. This provides another opportunity for someone to read and forward your content to interested parties.

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Examining Newcomer Google+

As mentioned briefly in this article, one of the newer players in the social media arena is Google+, which is similar to Facebook but uses your Google profile. Google+ provides a way to disseminate updates, photos, links and videos to Google contacts and others You can establish settings to manage who is able to view information beyond your name, which is public. Google has also recently added a feature called "+1," which is similar to Facebook's "like" button but different in one important respect: You can add your "+1," or two cents, to searchable items on the Internet.

These "+1" endorsements are then visible to friends and contacts within your Google+ network. You can also comment on your "+1" and hide your "+1s." However, hiding your plus-one comments hardly makes sense if you are hoping that other people will publicly "+1" you. Remember, like many business referral sources, the Internet is a reciprocal world.

Will Google+ help increase your website, blog or material ranking in Google's organic search results? The jury is still out on this, though it certainly won't hurt your ranking. Consider this, though: It took Facebook more than three years to amass 50 million users; it's taken Google+ just more than four months to reach 40 million users. To be fair, Facebook largely paved the way for all others. But the basic idea is that as a player that came on the scene just months ago, Google+ is already relevant to Internet marketing.

Other Tools to Consider

For smaller or boutique law firms without dedicated information technology and marketing departments, a Google Analytics account can help you monitor and analyze visits to your firm's website. Not only can it tell you what content your website visitors are viewing, it can identify their city and state as well as, most importantly, keywords leading them to your doorstep.

Additionally, regardless of the size of your firm, make sure to take advantage of in-house, collaborative talent. You can certainly consult with IT members. Also, many new associates, law clerks and law students are very adept at website-related applications. Having them monitor a particular practice group's online presence and set up analytics may be a great way to expose them to the business and SEO side of the legal profession and engage them in marketing discussions.

Although this article has suggested ways to increase your business and personal visibility via the Internet, its goal is not to tether you to your computer for hours a day. Rather, its goal is to have you consider setting aside a small amount of time each week to spend on Internet marketing. You may be surprised at how quickly this generates a large book of online material, accessible 24 hours a day, which may help build your book of business. And that's a gift that keeps on giving.

Originally a commercial real estate broker, search engine marketing expert Tim Thornton founded Zoliath.com, a national online directory and network for those connected to the commercial real estate industry. He can be reached at tim@zoliath.com.