Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

When I ran into Aviva Cuyler and Adrian Lurssen of JD Supra at the 2010 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference last week, I made a rash declaration.

After a year and a half, my own blog finally shows up number one (instead of number two) in a Google search for my own name.  I've finally succeeded in pushing you guys -- and my JD Supra profile -- into second place.  Ha!

I should have known better.  When I did a search on "Janet Ellen Raasch" this morning (which every professional should do weekly as routine brand maintenance), my JD Supra profile was back in first place and my blog back in second.  Those folks at JD Supra are a competitive bunch!  They stated that "they had their ways" to get back into the number one spot, and they did!

JD Supra is a Web site (free for basic service) where lawyers and law firms can share profiles and legal content,  It is without a doubt the best-optimized site I've ever come across -- ahead of better-known sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.  Your free profile (and associated content) on JD Supra is almost guaranteed to come up first in search for your name -- ahead of the bio that appears on your law firm's Web site.  Take advantage of this!

Every professional services provider should "own" the first page of results for a search on his or her name.  Create a keyword-rich profile and post it on social network and content sites like JD Supra.  Post articles and samples of your legal work on these sites as well.  This simple exercise will help you control and manage the results of any online search for your name.

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Although the number of lawyers on LinkedIn is steadily increasing, very few of them are taking full advantage of the site's potential as an inexpensive thought-leadership and business development tool.  This article is a synopsis of a presentation on LinkedIn and other social networks made by John Reed of Jaffe Associates and Laura Hazen of Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pasco.

LinkedIn:  Lawyers and law firms can use social networks to develop new business

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Once you have created a bio/profile that works as a persuasive marketing piece on your Web site, be sure to add that content to the full range of social networking and media sites.  I am constantly amazed at the results these sites -- with their robust RSS -- generate in search engines.  I write and blog constantly, and post my articles to a wide variety of online content sites, but my social media profiles still show up higher in search engine results than any other catetory of content.

When I Googled my name earlier this week, the top two results were my JDSupra and LinkedIn profiles -- which consistently rank even higher than this well-tended blog.  Making a surprising showing at Number Ten was my Facebook profile -- which has long been a secondary effort.  Even so -- it shows up in the first page of Google results for "Janet Ellen Raasch."

According to an article in Sunday's The New York Times business section, Facebook expects to register its 200 millionth user this week:  "This saggering growth rate -- doubling in size in just eight months -- suggests Facebook is rapidly becoming the Web's dominant social ecosystem and an essential personal and business networking tool in much of the wired world."

Anecdotally, I would have to agree.  I have received more requests to "friend" old acquaintances on Facebook in the past month than in the past two years.  Something is happening here.  I am going to pay much closer attention to "working" that profile.  So should you.

Lawyers should Google their names to see what shows up on the first page of results and make every effort to "own" that first page of results.  Post high-qualify, professional profiles on LinkedIn, JDSupra, LegalOnRamp -- and even Facebook.  If you focus on personal injury, estate or family law, you should probably be on MySpace. 

Look in your search engine results for directories like AVVO that have created pages for all of the lawyers in quite a few states -- entries that often include nothing more than your name and address.  There is a lot of debate over the propriety of AVVO's tactics (especially its ranking feature), but an empty entry looks bad -- plain and simple.  It looks like you are inactive.  Complete AVVO and any other blank directory pages to include the profile that appears on your Web site and other sites.

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