https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss Thu, 19 February 2026 00:00:00 Thu, 19 February 2026 00:00:00 Technical SEO focuses on how well your website is built, structured and maintained so search engines like Google can easily find, understand and rank it. Technical SEO is critical because even the best content will struggle to perform if a site is slow, broken or difficult to crawl. This article explains what technical SEO is, why it matters, and how to implement it in a practical and sustainable way. What is technical SEO? Technical SEO refers to the behind-the-scenes elements of a website that affect how search engines crawl, index and rank pages. In plain English, technical SEO ensures your website works properly for both users and search engines. It does not focus on keywords or content quality. Instead, it focuses on structure, performance and accessibility. Key areas of technical SEO include: Website speed and performance; Mobile usability; Crawlability and indexability; Secure connections using HTTPS; Site architecture and internal linking; Structured data and schema markup. Why technical SEO matters Technical SEO is essential for visibility in Google Search, Google Maps and other platforms. If search engines cannot efficiently access your entire website, they may: miss important pages; index outdated or duplicate content; lower your rankings due to poor user experience . From a legal and compliance perspective, Australian businesses must also be mindful of accessibility obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth). While technical SEO is not the same as legal compliance, improving accessibility often supports both SEO and inclusive design. How search engines crawl and index websites Before understanding how to implement technical SEO, it helps to understand how search engines work. In simple terms: Crawling is when search engines scan your website using automated programs; Indexing is when pages are stored and assessed for ranking; Ranking is where Google decides which pages appear in search results. Technical SEO helps ensure crawling and indexing happen smoothly and efficiently. Website speed and performance optimisation Website speed is a core technical SEO factor. Slow websites lead to poor user experience and lower rankings. Key contributors to slow websites include large images, poor hosting and inefficient code. Ways to improve website speed include: Compressing images without reducing quality; Using modern image formats where supported; Minimising unused scripts and plugins; Choosing reliable Australian-based hosting where possible; Enabling browser caching and compression. Faster websites benefit both SEO and conversion rates. Mobile-friendly design and usability Google uses mobile-first indexing. This means it primarily evaluates the mobile version of your website when ranking pages. For Australian audiences, mobile usability is critical due to high smartphone usage. Mobile technical SEO includes: Responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes; Text that is readable without zooming; Buttons and links that are easy to tap; Avoiding intrusive pop-ups that block content or continuously frustrate the user experience. A mobile-friendly site supports better rankings and better user engagement. Learn more in our earlier blog, “Why your website must be mobile-optimised” Crawlability and indexability explained Crawlability refers to how easily search engines can access your website. Indexability refers to whether pages are allowed to appear in search results. Common technical issues that affect crawlability and indexability include: Broken internal links (creating 404 errors ); Incorrect use of no-index tags; Poorly configured robots.txt files; Duplicate URLs pointing to the same content. Regular technical audits help identify and fix these issues before they impact rankings. Secure websites and HTTPS Google expects websites to use HTTPS, which encrypts data between the user and the site. For Australian businesses, HTTPS is particularly important when collecting personal information, as privacy obligations exist under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). From an SEO perspective, HTTPS: builds trust with users; is a confirmed ranking signal; helps prevent data interception. Any modern website should use HTTPS as a baseline requirement . Site structure and internal linking Site structure refers to how pages are organised and linked together. Clear structure helps search engines understand which pages are most important. Best practice site structure includes: Logical page hierarchies; Consistent URL formats; Clear internal linking between related pages; Avoiding excessively deep page structures. Internal linking is one of the most effective, simple and yet overlooked technical SEO techniques. Structured data and schema markup Structured data, often called schema markup, provides extra information to search engines about your content. This can help generate rich results in search, such as star ratings, FAQs and business details. Common structured data types include: Organisation and local business schema; Article and blog schema; FAQ schema; Review schema. While structured data does not guarantee higher rankings, it can improve visibility and click-through rates. How to implement technical SEO step by step Implementing technical SEO does not (ordinarily) require rebuilding a website from scratch. It requires a methodical approach. A practical implementation process includes: Conducting a technical SEO audit; Prioritising issues based on impact and effort; Fixing critical crawl and indexing problems first; Improving speed and mobile usability; Monitoring changes and performance over time. Technical SEO should be reviewed regularly, not treated as a one-off task. Notably, however, sometimes the technical (and other) issues associated with a website may warrant a rebuild rather than band-aiding. You can learn more in our earlier blog, “Does my website need a redesign or rebuild?” Common technical SEO mistakes to avoid Certain technical mistakes can undermine even well-designed websites. Common issues include: Blocking important pages from indexing; Allowing duplicate content to proliferate; Ignoring broken links and error pages; Overusing plugins that slow performance; Making changes without proper testing. Avoiding these mistakes supports long-term SEO stability. Measuring technical SEO performance Technical SEO success is measured through both tools and ranking/conversion outcomes. Indicators of effective technical SEO include: Improved crawl stats in Google Search Console ; Faster page load times; Increased index coverage; Improved rankings and organic traffic. Regular monitoring helps identify emerging issues before they affect performance. FAQs about technical SEO Is technical SEO a one-time task? No. Technical SEO requires ongoing monitoring and maintenance as websites evolve and Google updates its systems. Do small businesses need technical SEO? Yes. Even small websites can suffer from technical issues that limit visibility and growth. Does technical SEO replace content SEO? No. Technical SEO supports content SEO (and off-page SEO ). Both are essential and work together. Can technical SEO improvements affect conversions? Yes. Faster, more accessible websites often convert better due to improved user experience. In summary Technical SEO is the foundation of a successful website. Without it, content and off-page strategies cannot perform at their best. For law firms (even small ones), investing in technical SEO supports better visibility, stronger user trust and sustainable long-term growth. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2026/february/technical-seo/ Thu, 19 February 2026 00:00:00 Off-page SEO is one of the most misunderstood parts of search engine optimisation, yet it can play a critical role in how your website ranks in Google. In simple terms, off-page SEO focuses on actions taken outside your website to improve trust, authority and visibility. This blog explains what off-page SEO is, why it matters for Australian law firms (and other businesses), and how to implement it in a practical and sustainable way. What is off-page SEO? Off-page SEO refers to all optimisation activities that happen away from your own website but still influence how search engines assess your site. Google’s (and other search engines) goal is to show users reliable, trustworthy and relevant websites. One of the main ways it measures this is by looking at how other websites and platforms interact with, reference or link to yours. In plain English, off-page SEO helps answer this question for Google: Do others trust and value this website? Off-page SEO commonly includes: links from other websites pointing to yours, known as backlinks; brand mentions on news sites, blogs or social platforms; reviews and ratings on platforms like Google Business Profile; citations, which are mentions of your business name, address and phone number across the web; engagement and visibility on external platforms. How off-page SEO differs from on-page SEO On-page SEO focuses on what you control directly on your website. This includes content, page structure, keywords, internal linking and technical elements. Off-page SEO focuses on external signals. You do not fully control these, but you can influence them through strategy and quality work. A simple way to think about the difference is: On-page SEO shows Google what your website is about; Off-page SEO shows Google how credible your website is, using the E.A.T. theory of Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness . Why off-page SEO matters Off-page SEO is particularly important in Australia, where many industries are highly competitive at a local level. Law firms, trades, health providers, professional services and eCommerce businesses are often competing for the same keywords in the same cities. Google uses off-page signals to help decide: which businesses deserve to rank higher; which brands appear more established, trusted or authoritative; which websites are more likely to provide reliable information. For local SEO in Australia, off-page factors also influence map pack rankings, which are the business listings that appear above organic results. Backlinks explained in plain English Backlinks are links from one website to another. When another site links to yours, it acts like a vote of confidence. However, not all backlinks are equal. Google looks at quality, relevance and context, not just quantity. High-quality backlinks typically come from: reputable websites (and in particular for law firms, Australian sites); industry-relevant blogs or publications; news outlets or professional associations; established businesses or organisations. Low-quality backlinks often come from spammy directories, irrelevant overseas sites or paid link schemes. These can harm your SEO rather than help it. How to earn quality backlinks Earning backlinks takes time and consistency. There is no safe shortcut. Practical ways to build backlinks include: Creating useful, original content that others naturally want to reference; Writing guest articles for relevant websites; Being featured in media stories or expert commentary; Partnering with suppliers, clients or professional networks; Listing your business on legitimate industry directories. The focus should always be on relevance and value, not volume. Brand mentions and why they matter A brand mention is when your business name is referenced online, even if there is no clickable link. Google can still treat these as a trust signal, especially when they appear on credible websites. Brand mentions can come from: online news articles; blogs or opinion pieces; business profiles or interviews; social media discussions. Consistent brand mentions help reinforce that your business is legitimate, active and recognised within its industry. Reviews and off-page SEO Online reviews are a powerful off-page SEO factor, particularly for local businesses. Google reviews influence: local search rankings; click-through rates from search results; consumer trust and decision-making. Encouraging genuine reviews from real clients is one of the safest and most effective off-page strategies. Best practice for reviews includes: Asking clients for feedback after a positive experience; Responding professionally to all reviews, including negative ones ; Never buying or faking reviews, which breaches Google guidelines. Read more in our earlier blog, “Why should I develop a plan to drive Google Reviews” Citations and local authority Citations are online mentions of your business name, address and phone number, often referred to as NAP details. Consistency is critical. Inconsistent details across platforms can confuse search engines and reduce trust. Common citation sources in Australia include: Google Business Profile (every law firm should have one, no matter how small); Apple Maps and Bing Places; Industry directories; Local business listings. Accurate citations support local SEO and reinforce your business’s legitimacy. Social media and off-page SEO Social media does not directly boost rankings in the same way backlinks do. However, it still plays an indirect role in off-page SEO. Social platforms can: increase content visibility and sharing; lead to more brand mentions; support backlink opportunities; reinforce brand awareness. The key is consistency and relevance, not chasing vanity metrics such as “likes” and “follower counts”. How to implement an off-page SEO strategy An effective off-page SEO strategy should be planned and have a long-term focus. A simple implementation framework includes: auditing your existing backlinks and brand mentions; identifying high-quality, reputable websites in your industry; creating content that is genuinely useful and shareable; building relationships, not just links; monitoring reviews, citations and mentions regularly. Off-page SEO is cumulative. Small, consistent actions over time produce better results than short bursts of activity followed by long stretches of no activity. Common off-page SEO mistakes to avoid Some off-page tactics can actively damage your rankings. Here are some activities to avoid: Buying backlinks or participating in link schemes; Using low-quality overseas directories; Over-optimising anchor text, which is the clickable text in links; Ignoring negative reviews or inconsistent business listings. Google’s algorithms are designed to detect manipulation. Sustainable SEO focuses on trust, not tricks. Measuring off-page SEO success Off-page SEO does not always produce immediate or obvious results, but progress can be measured. Key indicators include: growth in referring domains; improved keyword rankings; increased branded search traffic; higher local map visibility; more consistent reviews and citations. FAQs about off-page SEO How long does off-page SEO take to work? Off-page SEO is a long-term strategy. Some improvements may be seen within a few months, but meaningful results often take six to twelve months. Is off-page SEO safe for small businesses? Yes, when done properly. Ethical, relevance-based strategies are safe and effective for Australian small businesses. Do I need off-page SEO if my on-page SEO is strong? Yes. Strong on-page SEO is essential, but off-page signals can be what separates average rankings from top positions. Can off-page SEO work without content creation? Content makes off-page SEO significantly easier. Without quality content, earning links and mentions is far more difficult.  In summary Off-page SEO is about building trust beyond your website. It signals to Google that your business is credible, relevant and valued by others. For law firms, investing in off-page SEO is not optional if you want to compete in search results. When implemented carefully and consistently, it supports sustainable growth and long-term visibility. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2026/february/off-page-seo/ Sun, 01 February 2026 00:00:00 Using AI to get a first draft of your latest blog is now common across Australian businesses, including professional services and law firms. However, the quality of the output depends almost entirely on the prompt you give it. A vague or generic prompt leads to generic content. A clear, detailed prompt produces useful, accurate and SEO-friendly blogs that reflect searcher intent, audience expectations and best-practice content structure. This article explains why prompts matter, what strong prompts include, and how to improve results when using AI to draft online content. Using AI to draft blogs - why prompts matter AI writing tools do not independently research, analyse or apply judgment to the content they serve up. They generate text based on patterns and instructions. The prompt is the instruction, and it sets the boundaries for what the AI can and cannot do. When prompts are unclear or overly brief, AI will fill in the gaps using assumptions, or worse, not provide very much detail at all. Assumptions made are often based on overseas content, particularly from the United States. For Australian businesses, this can create content that feels generic, misaligned with local expectations or simply wrong. In practice, weak prompts often lead to content that: defaults to a global or US audience; overlooks Australian federal or state-based legislation; lacks depth or practical explanation; ignores SEO structure and readability (for an Australian audience); opens with vague commentary rather than a clear explanation. None of these issues are flaws in the technology itself. They are the direct result of poor prompting. What typically goes wrong with weak prompts A weak prompt is usually short and convenient (and some may say, a little lazy), but it leaves too many decisions to the AI. This almost always reduces the usefulness of the final content. Common outcomes include: references to legislation that does not apply in Australia; American spelling, terminology or examples; long blocks of text with no subheadings; an opening paragraph that does not explain what the article is about; missed opportunities to target relevant search terms. For regulated industries such as law, these issues can affect credibility and compliance. For all businesses, they reduce engagement and search performance. Example of a poor prompt A typical poor prompt might look like this: “Write a blog about parental responsibility.” This prompt provides no guidance on: the intended audience; the specific area of law (i.e. family law); geographic location; industry context; length or depth; SEO requirements; formatting expectations. As a result, the AI is forced to guess, and it usually guesses poorly for Australian use. Example of a strong prompt Now compare that with a more detailed instruction: “Write a blog article. It is for an Australian audience, referencing Australian law. It should be approximately 1,000 words long. It should include sub-headings with keywords and bullet points where suitable for user experience. Use plain English and optimise for SEO. The opening paragraph should be SEO-ed (search engine optimised), include relevant keywords and give readers a clear and concise understanding of what the blog is going to be about and then lead into the more detailed components of the blog. It should be, wherever possible, no longer than about 80 words. Please provide three alternate titles related to this topic. Where suitable, include an FAQ nearer the end.” At the end of this prompt, you could also include your formatting requirements. This prompt works because it removes ambiguity. It tells the AI exactly what success should look like. Needless to say, once you get your first draft from the AI, it will likely still need finessing; your voice, your tone, adding unique points missed by the AI, deleting inaccuracies, correcting ambiguities, etc. Why specifying an Australian audience matters If you do not explicitly state that content is for an Australian audience, AI will often default to global or US-centric assumptions, language and nuance. This can affect tone, terminology and legal references. For example, without guidance, AI may: reference US federal or state laws; use American spelling and phrasing; cite regulatory bodies that do not exist in Australia. Specifying “Australian audience” helps anchor the content in the correct legal, cultural and commercial context. Referencing Australian or state-based legislation Where blogs touch on legal or regulatory topics, prompts should clearly state the jurisdiction. Australia operates under both federal and state systems, and AI will not reliably select the correct framework without instruction. Strong prompts should clarify whether the content relates to: Australian law generally; federal legislation only; a specific state or territory. This is particularly important for law firm blogs, compliance content, and professional advice articles. The role of a solid explanatory opening paragraph The opening paragraph plays two roles. It tells readers, at a quick glance, whether the article is actually what they’re after, and it signals to search engines what the page is about. A good prompt should instruct the AI to write an opening that: clearly explains the topic in plain English; includes primary keywords naturally; sets expectations for what the article will cover. Without this instruction, AI often starts with general commentary rather than substance. Prompting for SEO-optimised content AI does not automatically optimise content for search engines. SEO needs to be explicitly requested. Effective prompts should mention: keyword-focused sub-headings; logical content hierarchy; scannable formatting; content written for humans, not just algorithms. This ensures the blog is not only readable and engaging but also discoverable. Prompting for structure and readability Online readers scan before they read. Content structure matters as much as content quality. Good prompts should instruct AI to use: clear sub-headings that reflect search intent; bullet points where information can be grouped; short paragraphs written in plain English. This improves user experience and keeps readers engaged . A practical checklist for better AI prompts Before using AI to draft a blog, your prompt should clearly define: the target audience and location; whether Australian or state-based law applies; desired word count; tone and language; SEO requirements; structural elements such as sub-headings and FAQs. The more specific and detailed the prompt, the less revision is required later. Notably, though, you don’t have to reinvent every time you request new content. Create a standard prompt for your blogs, and then add specifics (title, jurisdiction, etc.) at the end of the prompt for each new article. Frequently asked questions Can AI replace human blog writers entirely? No. AI is a drafting tool, not a strategic thinker. Human input is still required to ensure accuracy, relevance, engagement and usefulness. Is AI-generated content ‘safe’ to use on my website? It can be, provided the prompt specifies Australian context and the content is meticulously reviewed before publication. Unchecked AI output carries risk. Does Google penalise AI-written content? Search engines prioritise quality and usefulness. Well-prompted, well-edited AI content (adjusted for your tone, expertise and nuance) can perform as well as human-written content. How detailed should an AI prompt be? There is no fixed length, but it should remove ambiguity. Clear instructions lead to better outcomes. In summary Using AI to draft blogs can save time and improve efficiency, but the prompt determines the result. For Australian businesses, especially those operating under specific legal frameworks, strong prompts are essential. The better the prompt, the more accurate, useful and search-friendly the content will be. Further reading Pros and cons of using AI for your law firm’s website content The impact of E-A-T; Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness in law firm SEO Search engine optimisation (SEO) – can you over optimise? Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2026/january/ai-prompts/ Sun, 04 January 2026 00:00:00 Local SEO helps your law firm appear when people in your area search specifically for legal services. With many Australians turning to Google before contacting a lawyer, improving local search visibility is essential for building trust and increasing visibility. This guide explains how to optimise your online presence to increase the chances of appearing high up in local search. Local SEO is particularly important for law firms that rely on clients within a specific geographic area, such as suburban family lawyers, personal injury lawyers, criminal lawyers and estate planning practices. Even firms with offices across multiple cities can benefit from dedicated local optimisation for each location. Why local SEO matters Local SEO focuses on helping your firm appear in searches that include a suburb, city or region, or when Google assumes local intent (by the searcher). For example: Family lawyer Melbourne; Criminal defence lawyer near me; Brisbane personal injury lawyers. Australians searching for legal help often want assistance quickly, which means they are more likely to contact firms that appear prominently online. Ranking locally also helps build credibility, as users often trust firms that show up consistently across Maps, Search and other directories. Setting up and optimising Google Business Profile A Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the most influential factors for local SEO. It powers your Google Maps listing and influences your chances of appearing in the top of local search results. Key optimisation steps for your Google Business Profile Complete every field including practice areas, office hours and phone number; Use your official business name and correct address format; Select accurate primary and secondary categories (for example, Lawyer, Family Law Attorney, Personal Injury Lawyer); Add high-quality photos of your office, team and signage; Update opening hours for holidays and event days; Enable messaging if suitable for your practice type. Using posts and updates Google Business Profile allows you to share updates and helpful content. Benefits include increased visibility and stronger engagement signals. Share updates such as community involvement, legal tips, new blog posts and firm news. Accurate name, address and phone number consistency Search engines value consistency. Even small variations in your business details can reduce trust signals. Ensure your: name; address; phone number; website link, are identical across Google, your website and any other external listings. Location pages for multi-office law firms If your firm has more than one office, create a dedicated landing page for each location. consider including: full contact details and office hours; a map embed; specific legal services offered at that location; localised language referencing the suburb or region; driving and public transport directions. Local case studies or community involvement references (do you sponsor a local sports team) can also strengthen relevance. Local keyword research for law firms Unlike general SEO, local SEO prioritises location keywords. Include key terms throughout your website in a natural way. Examples include: Family lawyer in Adelaide; Gold Coast Wills and Estates lawyer; Sydney workplace injury law firm. Use suburb-level keywords where appropriate. If you serve several areas, create tailored service and location pages instead of stuffing many suburbs into one page. Content marketing with local relevance Publishing helpful, locally relevant (for example, state-based legislative references) content builds trust and improves rankings. Ideas include: local case law insights or law changes relevant to your state; guides to Court processes in your jurisdiction; local community legal issues or events your firm supports; articles referencing, for example, Queensland workers compensation laws, Tasmanian criminal sentencing, or Victorian probate rules. Aim for clarity and usefulness rather than overly technical explanations. Google prioritises content that demonstrates practical value to users. Building local citations and legal directory profiles A citation is any online reference to your business details. Building consistent listings across reputable legal and local directories strengthens credibility. Examples include: Law Society directory for your state or territory; Local Chamber of Commerce directory; Legal-specific platforms and trusted Australian directories. Only list your firm on quality websites. Avoid spammy or irrelevant directory sites. Online reviews and reputation signals Online reviews build trust and help Google understand that your firm delivers good service. Tips for managing Google reviews Encourage satisfied clients to leave a review (without incentives); Respond professionally to all reviews, positive or negative; Avoid breaching confidentiality or ethical constraints when responding; Do not post fake reviews or pay for reviews, as this can lead to penalties. A steady stream of genuine (positive) reviews supports long-term rankings and client confidence. Further reading : “Responding to negative online reviews” Optimising for mobile and user experience Most local legal searches in Australia happen on mobile devices. A fast, mobile-friendly site helps you keep visitors engaged and improves rankings. Check that: pages load quickly; buttons are easy to tap (including suitably sized buttons); phone number and email links are clickable; the website works well on all devices. If users struggle to use your site, they are less likely to contact you and Google may reduce your ranking. Measuring local SEO performance Monitor performance to track improvements and identify new opportunities. Useful tools include: Google Analytics for website traffic and user behaviour; Google Search Console for search queries and ranking trends; Google Business Profile Insights for calls, direction requests and visits. Frequently asked questions about local SEO for law firms How long does local SEO take to show results? Most firms see improvements in three to six months. Highly competitive practice areas and cities may take longer. Do small suburban law firms need local SEO? Yes. Smaller firms often benefit most because clients search locally for services like family law, conveyancing and Wills. Can social media improve local SEO? Social profiles do not directly boost rankings, but they support brand visibility and help build trust and referral traffic, so add them to your Google Business Profile. In summary Local SEO helps your law firm stand out in your immediate community and reach clients who are actively searching for legal help. With the right setup, ongoing content and a consistent local presence, your firm can build long-term visibility, trust and enquiries. A good starting place is your Google Business Profile. Ensure your contact details are consistent and publish useful, locally relevant content. Keep your hours of business updated (including public holiday or other non-standard closures). Over time, these efforts strengthen your reputation and make your firm easier to find when potential clients need you most. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/december/local-seo/ Sun, 07 December 2025 00:00:00 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) continues to be an important part of any digital marketing strategy. It helps your website appear higher in organic search results, attract visitors and ultimately convert more customers. But while optimisation is essential, it’s actually also possible to take it a little too far, which could end up hurting your rankings. This blog explores the concept of over-optimisation, the common mistakes businesses make when optimising their site, and how to keep your SEO strategy balanced and effective. What do we mean by over-optimisation? Over-optimisation happens when a website goes beyond “reasonable” SEO practices and instead tries to “game” search engines . This might involve repeating keywords too many times (keyword stuffing), using unnatural links (not related to the content or unhelpful to the reader), or creating content that focuses on algorithms instead of real people. Generally, over-optimisation means prioritising search engines at the expense of user experience. Search engines like Google are now smart enough to detect this and will often penalise sites that use manipulative tactics. Further reading: “UX writing; writing for the user” Common signs of over-optimisation If your website has recently dropped in rankings or isn’t performing as expected, it may be due to one or more of these over-optimisation issues: Keyword stuffing – repeating the same target keywords too many times within your content, headings or metadata, so it doesn’t read like normal English; Over-optimised anchor text – using identical keyword-rich phrases for all links pointing to your pages or pointing to the same page several times but with slightly different anchor text; Thin or duplicate content – publishing low-value content that adds little or no unique information or repeating content topics on several pages but in a slightly different way; Exact-match domain obsession – using domain names stuffed with keywords rather than building a memorable brand; Unnatural, unhelpful or unrelated backlinks – creating or buying large volumes of low-quality links; Overly long or keyword-stuffed meta titles/descriptions – writing metadata purely for algorithms rather than for human readers. Each of these so-called SEO tactics might once have been effective (a really, really long time ago), but modern search engines now penalise or ignore them. What damage might over-optimisation do to your site? Search engines are designed to reward useful, relevant content that provides value to users. When a website focuses too heavily on optimisation techniques instead of real content quality, written in plain English and addressing the searcher’s intent, the opposite effect occurs. Some ways over-optimisation may harm your site: Reduced rankings – Google’s algorithms can identify keyword stuffing, link manipulation and other over-optimised tactics. When detected, these can trigger ranking drops or other penalties; Poor user experience – overly optimised content often reads awkwardly (thin, no flow, clunky), making users leave your site quickly. High bounce rates are a negative signal for search engines; Loss of trust – if your content looks spammy, potential customers may view your business as unreliable. Getting the balance right – ranking in Google while delivering an optimal user experience Successful SEO is about finding the balance between technical precision and natural communication with your audience. Your goal should always be to optimise for people first and search engines second. Here are some practical ways to achieve that balance: Write for your audience, not for algorithms; Use keywords naturally within headings, sub-headings and content – they should fit smoothly into the sentence (Tip – read it out loud and consider if it’s the way you might speak with someone); Ensure metadata (title tags and meta descriptions) accurately describe the page and encourage clicks and engagement; Review your site analytics regularly to track bounce rates and time on page, as these reflect reader engagement. The quality of your content is still key No amount of optimisation can replace genuine, well-written content. Google’s algorithms now prioritise helpful, trustworthy and user-focused pages through its “Helpful Content” and “E-A-T” principles (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). To align with these expectations: provide detailed, accurate information backed by credible sources; write in plain English and avoid legal jargon where possible; use examples, case studies or local insights relevant to your audience; keep your content updated so it remains accurate and timely; make it easy for users to find answers quickly through clear headings, short paragraphs and bullet lists. Further reading: “The impact of E-A-T; Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness in law firm SEO” Technical SEO: how to optimise without going overboard Technical SEO ensures your website is structured in a way that search engines can crawl and index effectively. However, even here, it’s possible to overdo it. Some common technical over-optimisation issues include: Overuse of structured data – adding too much schema markup that isn’t relevant to your content; Excessive page speed tweaks – stripping away design elements (that contribute to the user experience) just to gain a few milliseconds; Duplicate pages created through unnecessary URL variations or plugins; Over-optimised image alt text – writing keyword-stuffed descriptions rather than accurate ones; Too many redirects or no-index tags can accidentally block important pages from being indexed. Good technical SEO should improve accessibility and usability, not just rankings. If technical changes make your site harder to navigate or understand, you’ve gone too far. Backlinks: quality over quantity Links remain an important SEO factor, but over-optimisation (including poor backlink management) can lead to serious penalties. Avoid practices such as: buying or exchanging large numbers of links; using identical anchor text repeatedly; publishing low-quality guest posts solely for backlinks; relying too heavily on directory links, particularly irrelevant ones. Instead, focus on earning links by producing content people want to share or reference. Building relationships with relevant local and industry-specific sites can generate more meaningful, long-term results for your own site. Tips to avoid over-optimisation A sustainable SEO strategy is one that continues to perform over time, regardless of algorithm changes. To achieve that: put users/readers first; keep content natural, informative and relevant to your audience and the topic; avoid shortcuts or “quick wins” that risk penalties; stay informed about Google updates and adjust accordingly (if necessary); focus on long-term brand building and E-A-T rather than short-term tricks. Summing up Over-optimisation of websites happens when the focus shifts from writing for humans to chasing algorithms. If your SEO strategy feels forced, unnatural or too technical, it may be time to pull back. A well-optimised site uses keywords, structure and links strategically – but never at the cost of user trust or readability. Further reading: “6 things that make your website appear untrustworthy” The best approach is to be user-centred. Focus on creating helpful, relevant content and an engaging on-site experience. Do that consistently, and your SEO performance will follow naturally. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/november/website-over-optimisation/ Sun, 09 November 2025 00:00:00 There’s nothing more powerful than a real client story. For law firms, a genuine testimonial - whether it’s on your website, LinkedIn, or in a client newsletter - can often say more about your expertise than any advertising campaign ever could. That’s why so many firms are sharing client success stories as a way to build credibility, trust, and stronger connections with prospective clients. But here’s the catch: one innocent post can cause big headaches if it accidentally breaches privacy laws, misrepresents your services, or shares something your client didn’t want made public. Think about it: imagine a law firm publishes a client case study online, but accidentally includes sensitive details in a document screenshot. Even if the client was happy with the outcome, they may not have wanted their information shared publicly. Small oversights like this can quickly snowball into reputational damage - or worse, legal trouble. The good news? It’s completely possible to share authentic, powerful client stories while protecting privacy. Let’s walk through some simple principles to get this right. Start with consent, not assumptions A glowing review in your inbox doesn’t mean you’re free to splash it across your socials. Clients often don’t realise how far and wide a post can travel. What feels like “just a Facebook update” to you might feel like a major invasion of privacy to them. The safest move is always to get written consent - and it doesn’t have to be complicated. A short, friendly email works just fine: “Hey Sarah, thanks for the kind words! Would you mind if we share your testimonial and first name on our Instagram and website?” If you’re running bigger campaigns with photos, videos, or names attached, a simple one-page consent form can save you future drama. It should explain exactly where the story will appear, how long it will be used, and give your client the option to opt out later. Getting consent isn’t just about covering yourself legally; it’s also about respecting your clients. They’ll appreciate your professionalism and are often more comfortable sharing their story when they feel informed. Respect privacy and keep it human We live in a world where oversharing is the norm, but a client’s privacy is sacred. Even details that feel small to you - like a case reference number in a screenshot or a client’s full name in a testimonial - can make them identifiable. For example, imagine a law firm shares a glowing testimonial from a client involved in a sensitive dispute, but forgets to remove the company name or case details. What seems like harmless context could unintentionally expose confidential information and create serious trust or compliance issues. To avoid this, always double-check testimonials, case studies, and screenshots for hidden identifiers. Use first names only (or anonymise completely), blur out any identifying details, and keep examples general where possible. A strong story doesn’t need to reveal every detail - in fact, leaving some mystery often makes your firm appear more professional and trustworthy. Tell the story without the spin Authenticity is everything when you’re promoting your firm. Overhyping a client’s results or making sweeping claims can do more harm than good - and could even land you in hot water with regulators. For example, imagine a law firm posts a case study saying they “won every case for their client in just three months.” While it sounds impressive, it’s misleading and unrealistic. A more accurate (and defensible) way to frame it would be something like: “By providing clear advice and negotiating early, we helped our client resolve their dispute quickly and avoid going to court.” The second version is still compelling, but it’s honest, specific, and easier for prospective clients to trust. Disclaimers aren’t boring, they’re smart Most firms think disclaimers are just dry legalese, but in reality, they can be short, simple, and build confidence. Adding a quick line like “Outcomes vary depending on individual circumstances” or “This testimonial reflects one client’s personal experience” shows that you’re being honest and transparent. For example, if a law firm shares a testimonial saying they “resolved a client’s dispute in two weeks,” without a disclaimer, it could look like a promise that every matter will be resolved just as quickly. That’s unrealistic and potentially misleading. A small, tasteful disclaimer at the bottom of the post protects your firm legally and reassures prospective clients that you operate with integrity.   The payoff of doing it right Taking these precautions doesn’t just protect you legally - it makes your marketing stronger. Clients are more likely to share their stories when they know you respect their privacy. Prospective customers see you as a business that values integrity over hype. The brands that thrive on social media are the ones that tell great stories and build trust. By getting written consent, being mindful of details, and using disclaimers, you create a safer and more authentic space for your audience. If you would like a consultation on the legal do’s and don’ts of running your small business, you can reach us at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat . About our guest author, Sprintlaw Sprintlaw is an online law firm making quality legal services easier, faster, and more affordable for small businesses and startups. With their fixed-fee pricing and all-in-one legal platform, Sprintlaw have helped 60,000+ businesses across ANZ and the UK. Disclaimer: All content contained in this publication is intended to provide general information in summary form on legal and other topics, current at the time of first publication. The content does not constitute legal (or other) advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should obtain specific legal or other professional advice before relying on any content contained on this website. https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/october/publishing-client-stories/ Sun, 12 October 2025 00:00:00 Noticed a sudden drop in your website traffic or engagement? For many small Australian law firms, maintaining steady online performance can feel like trying to hit a moving target. Algorithms change, user behaviour shifts, and even the smallest technical glitch can have a big impact. In this article, we look at some of the top things to consider if your law firm’s website traffic or engagement is unexpectedly on the decline. Whether it’s a drop in enquiries, lower blog views or fewer phone calls, these practical checks can help analyse where things might not be as they should. Have your Google rankings dropped? A sudden dip in traffic (visits to your site) often points to a drop in your Google search rankings. This can be caused by: Google algorithm updates; poor site health – like broken links leading to 404 errors , duplicate content or black hat initiatives like keyword stuffing; content no longer matching user intent (or keyword intent). What to do Check your keyword positions using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs or Google Search Console. Review your blog pages, practice area pages and other relevant content on your site for accuracy and relevance. Remove or rewrite underperforming content. Tip: Google’s algorithm favours helpful, people-first content, especially after the page experience updates back in 2021 and Google’s drive towards user experience in recent years. Have you lost Google Business Profile visibility? If local clients aren’t finding you anymore (e.g. on Google Maps), your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) may be affected. Check for: suspended listings (for any of your locations); changed opening hours, categories or services; a drop in Google reviews, and equally important, your responses to those reviews. What to do Log in to your Business Profile and check for alerts or updates Make sure your profile is complete and accurate Continue replying to reviews and adding fresh posts regularly Reminder: A healthy Google Business Profile is essential for local SEO (getting found for what you do in the locations you do it in), especially for law firms competing in specific suburbs or cities. Has something significant changed on your website? If your website has recently been updated, migrated , or changed hosts, there may be technical issues at play. Check (in Google Search Console ) for: broken links (internal and external) or missing pages (404 errors); slower load times; pages being de-indexed. What to do Run a site audit using Screaming Frog, Google Search Console or similar. Check your robots.txt and sitemap.xml files. Make sure redirects (301s) are properly in place after any content moves or URL changes. Tip: Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes work that ensures your site stays healthy and visible to Google and usable for visitors. Is your blog content still performing? Blog articles can lose visibility over time, especially if they’re not refreshed/updated or relevant to current legal topics. Investigate: Are your blog topics still aligned with client interests, and are they still accurate? Do your posts answer real questions people are typing into Google? Are older blogs competing with newer ones on similar topics? What to do Update older posts with new information, legislative reforms, fresh examples and internal links. Add “last updated” dates to show content is still relevant. Revisit keyword targets - are they still worth going after, or have new keywords emerged since the blog was first written? Content decay is real, but it can often be reversed with small, strategic tweaks. Have user behaviour or expectations changed? Sometimes the drop isn’t caused by your content or your technical SEO. It may be changes in what users want or need and how they enter that into a search engine. For example: More people may be using mobile than desktop – is your site mobile optimised ? Users may prefer short, FAQ-style content over long articles. You may want to consider adding an FAQ page to your site. Clients may expect different ways to communicate with you and/or online bookings. What to do Review engagement metrics like bounce rate and time on page (using Google Analytics ). Test your site on mobile - does it load fast and display well without having to scroll left and right? Consider adding call-to-action buttons, chat features or online enquiry forms. User experience (UX) is a growing SEO factor. Google rewards sites that people actually enjoy using. Have you lost valuable backlinks? Backlinks (links to your site from other reputable sites) signal authority to Google. If you lose a few key backlinks over a short period of time, it can affect your rankings and visibility. Check for: lost backlinks from legal directories, other blogs, or industry sites; PR links that have expired or been removed. What to do Use backlink monitoring tools to track gains/losses, for example, Semrush and Ahrefs. Reconnect with referral partners or update legal directory listings. Build new backlinks through guest posting, partnerships or digital PR. Is your website traffic drop just a normal seasonal dip? Finally, don’t panic. Some dips are seasonal or expected. Many law firm websites see lower engagement during: school holidays; long weekends; end-of-year shutdowns. What to do Compare year-on-year traffic using Google Analytics to see seasonal patterns. Plan future blog or campaign content around known quiet periods. Focus on building visibility during key decision-making times; for example, January is often good for family law content, post-Easter for general content and financial year-end for commercial content. Don’t panic – be methodical Traffic drops can be alarming, but most can be explained, and many can be fixed with minimal effort or cost. Start by ruling out technical issues, then review your content, SEO, user experience, and search visibility. As a digital marketing agency for small Australian law firms, we encourage you to see content and SEO as living, evolving tools rather than a set-and-forget task. And remember, even small updates can have a big impact over time. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/september/website-traffic-decline/ Sun, 14 September 2025 00:00:00 There’s no denying the growing popularity of AI tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, Gemini (and the list goes on) when it comes to content creation. They can write quickly, generate ideas, and assist with structure. But when it comes to your law firm’s blog or website, is AI content a smart strategy or a risky shortcut? In our opinion, it’s a bit of both. In this article, we look at the pros and cons of using AI to create law firm blog articles and other content for your website. We’ll also share tips on how to use AI without compromising accuracy, your brand voice or, importantly, legal integrity. The benefits of using AI to write legal blogs Saves time on first drafts AI tools can produce a rough blog draft (and sometimes very rough, so be ready) in seconds based on a simple prompt. This saves time brainstorming, outlining or typing up the first version. Helps with writer’s block If you know what topic you want to cover but don’t know how to start, AI can provide a helpful first draft, and you can take it from there. Assists with structure and flow Most AI-generated drafts are quite well structured, with clear subheadings and a logical/expected flow. This can help the human writer to ensure they’re covering everything and it’s in the right order. Suggests keywords and ideas You can ask AI to optimise for SEO and include relevant keywords, so your content gets found by people searching for your topic(s). Supports in-house content writers Not every law firm has access to a content writer or marketing team. AI can help small firms or sole practitioners keep their blog site active. The risks and limitations of AI-generated legal content While AI has its benefits, it’s not a replacement for a “human” lawyer’s expertise, tone or critical thinking. Relying solely on AI can lead to issues that affect your firm’s reputation and compliance. Accuracy can be unreliable AI doesn’t always get the law right. It may include: outdated legislation; incorrect legal procedures; misleading terminology. When the law changes, AI models may be referencing the old legislation. They also can’t interpret legal nuance the way a real lawyer can. Your firm’s unique voice will be missing AI content tends to sound generic, at least until you teach it otherwise, and that can take time, effort and commitment. AI generally won’t reflect: your firm's tone, values or personality; your experience with a case (particularly when you’re doing a case review); local and nuanced insights from your area of practice. May include irrelevant or filler content Sometimes AI adds extra paragraphs that sound okay on the surface but don’t add real value to the reader, or worse, veer off-topic entirely. Not written for your specific audience AI can’t truly understand who your (optimal) readers are - what they need, fear or care about. Because you’re communicating with your clients every day, you know who they are and what they need. It’s your lived experience and empathy that can make your legal content helpful and stand out in the crowd. Ethical concerns and legal accuracy Publishing AI-generated content without thoroughly reviewing it first can raise issues if: it contains incorrect legal information; it misrepresents your qualifications or advice; it creates confusion about client/reader rights and entitlements. As a law firm, accuracy and clarity are not optional; they’re essential. Use AI as a starting point, not a finished product We support law firms using AI to help draft their initial content, but… it must be followed by rigorous review and personalisation. AI can help get your ideas flowing, but it should never replace your experience, expertise or judgment. Remember, the E-A-T rule (expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness) . Tips for using AI to draft law firm content Prepare good and thorough prompts for your AI tool AI tools are only as helpful as the instructions you give them. A vague or generic prompt will usually result in a vague or generic response. But a clear, detailed brief should result in a much stronger first draft. Take your time to build your prompt and refine it over and over, the more you use AI. This will save you time and effort in the long run. Here are some points to remember when preparing your prompt. Be specific about the topic Instead of “write about family law,” try “write a 1,000 word blog in plain English about parenting plans after separation under Australian law.” Set the tone Mention if you want the tone to be professional, casual, conversational, empathetic, etc. Clarify your audience Let your AI tool know if you're writing for separating parents, injured workers, business clients, etc. Mention your location Always tell the AI that you're in Australia and want content relevant to Australian law, or even down to the specific state legislation you want it to reference. Give it instructions on the structure you're looking for Ask for subheadings, bullet points or FAQ,s etc. Add any non-negotiables If you want it under/over 1,000 words, using Australian spelling, no emojis, or including examples, say so. Use it for ideas generation Ask AI to: provide blog topic suggestions based on your area of law; generate headlines or social media post ideas; build rough outlines to save time planning. Edit and proofread thoroughly Check all legal content for accuracy under current Australian law. Remove or replace anything that sounds vague or off-topic. Correct terms or references that may not align with local jurisdictions. Add your own insights Add case examples/references or explain how your firm approaches certain issues. Insert your tone, phrasing and personality. Emphasise points that reflect your values and client approach. Think about your ideal audience Ask yourself: Does this content answer the questions my clients often ask? Is the tone mine/ours, and is it empathetic and professional? Would I trust this advice if I were reading it for the first time? Common mistakes when using AI for legal content Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to overlook key issues if you rely too heavily on AI-generated writing. Copying and pasting content directly without proofing, editing and refining. Publishing content that hasn’t been fact-checked by a lawyer. Forgetting to add local context, for example, Australian legislation, state-based procedures, etc. Getting the balance right when using AI for your content drafting AI can be a powerful tool for legal content drafting, but only if used appropriately. At best, it saves time and helps generate ideas. At worst, it risks publishing inaccurate or impersonal content under your firm’s name. If you use AI for drafting, treat the result as a first draft only – it will likely need a few revisions before it’s ready to publish. Refine it with your experience, expertise, tone and insight to create something genuinely helpful for your audience. Your clients don’t want robotic cookie-cutter content. They want guidance from real people and real lawyers who understand the law and their situation. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/august/ai-for-content-drafting/ Fri, 15 August 2025 00:00:00 Migrating a website, whether due to a rebrand, platform change, domain shift or structural overhaul, can be a huge step. It should be undertaken with thorough and proper planning; otherwise, it can cause major damage to your search engine rankings and user experience. A poorly executed migration might result in lost traffic, broken links, or de-indexed pages. This guide outlines out top 9 things to consider when migrating your website to protect your SEO, maintain visibility during and after the move and retain optimal user experience. 1. Set clear migration goals Before making any changes, define the “why” behind your migration. Common reasons include: rebranding or changing domain name; upgrading to a more modern CMS or platform; improving site structure or performance; consolidating multiple websites. Knowing your objectives will help determine which SEO considerations take priority. 2. Conduct a full SEO audit of the current site Document everything about your existing site: Top-performing pages (traffic, engagement and keyword rankings); Existing backlinks; Metadata (titles, meta descriptions, headings, alt image tags, etc) ; URL structures and canonical tags. Tools like Google Search Console , Screaming Frog, and Ahrefs can help gather this data. It’s critical to know what’s working so you don’t lose it during migration. 3. Preserve URL structures where possible If you don’t need to change your URLs, don’t. Keeping URLs the same helps search engines retain page authority and user familiarity. If changes are necessary, ensure: URLs are logical and SEO-friendly; Redirections are mapped (see below, “set up 301 redirections”); Old URLs are tracked for performance. 4. Set up 301 redirects correctly If you’ve been unable to retain the same URL structure, you’ll need to set up redirects from old URLs to the new ones. Redirects tell search engines and users where to find moved content. A proper 301 redirect permanently transfers link equity (SEO value) to the new URL. Create a comprehensive redirect map (old URL → new URL); Use 301 (not 302) for permanent changes; Avoid redirect chains or loops; Redirect page to page,  not  simply all URLs to the homepage, as this will be bad for SEO and create a poor UX (user experience) . 5. Update internal links and navigation After migration, make sure all internal links: point to the new URLs (not redirected ones); are not broken ( no 404s ); reflect any updated site structure. Updating internal links reduces crawl time and improves user experience and link equity flow. 6. Check site speed and mobile usability Google considers both mobile usability and site speed as ranking factors. When you migrate: test the new site’s load time (use tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix ); ensure your site is mobile-responsive ; minimise unused code or large media files. Slow or clunky pages can cause ranking drops and user frustration. 7. Test everything before launching your new site Before going live: set up a staging environment (non-indexed test site); crawl the new site to identify issues (broken links, missing metadata, images not loading); check robots.txt and XML sitemap; verify that Google analytics (GA4) and other tracking codes are properly installed. A final audit before pushing live prevents costly mistakes. 8. Monitor SEO performance post-migration Once the new site is live: re-submit your XML sitemap to Google Search Console; monitor crawl errors, index coverage and performance; track keyword rankings and traffic daily for the first few weeks; watch for dips in organic traffic and investigate promptly. SEO changes often take time to settle, but ongoing monitoring helps you catch and fix any issues early. 9. Communicate the change, particularly if there’s a new URL Tell your users, staff and any other stakeholders about your new site: Update social media and directory listings with new URLs if applicable; Inform team members and partners so they can update links; Update links on, for example, eDM platforms like MailChimp. This helps retain referral traffic and builds trust with users . For a successful migration, plan, preserve, and protect your SEO Website migration doesn’t have to come with a drop in traffic, engagement or rankings, but it does require planning, precision, and follow-up. Use our checklist to make sure your website migration delivers an optimal experience for users and key triggers and notifiers for search engines. And one last word, always back up your old site and data before making any changes… just in case. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/july/website-migration/ Sun, 20 July 2025 00:00:00 If your firm suddenly lost access to every digital file it relies on. How long would it take to get back to business? That question’s not hypothetical anymore. Cybercrime is rising fast , and law firms are a growing target. You’re handling sensitive data, client communications, billing, contracts, and confidential case files, all of which are highly valuable, not just to you but to attackers as well. Further, risk doesn’t only come from the outside. Sometimes it’s internal clutter, unclear file systems, or inconsistent access that causes the biggest mess. In this blog, we walk through some of the practical steps to protect and manage your firm’s digital assets properly. Catalogue all your digital assets You can’t protect what you haven’t mapped. It sounds simple, but many companies don’t have a clear list of what digital assets they actually use or store. Think beyond just client documents. There are your shared drives, internal templates, email accounts, financial data, passwords, logins for court systems, archived case files, and even your website admin. Get clear on what you have, where it lives, and who has access to it. This baseline view helps you spot weak points before they become real problems. Once you’ve taken stock, move into the next step: reducing your exposure. Stop giving all staff and contractors access to all your digital assets One of the easiest ways to prevent internal errors and external breaches is by tightening and restricting access. You don’t need to micromanage every file, but broad, open access across the whole firm is a risk. Access should be role-based . Junior staff shouldn’t be able to delete files they don’t work on. Admins shouldn’t have access to confidential case documents unless it’s essential. And if someone leaves the firm, their access should be shut off everywhere immediately. If you’re not already doing this, start simple. Pick your most sensitive data areas, review who can get into them, and make changes from there. Email is still one of the biggest cyber threats Most digital breaches start with something small. A link in an email. A fake invoice. A reply to what looks like a client. Phishing tactics are getting more tailored, and firms like yours are high-value targets. One wrong click can lead to a full account compromise or system access. You don’t need expensive tools to reduce the risk. You need habits and awareness. Train your team to spot suspicious messages. Make sure no one uses a personal email for work-related matters, and always be clear on what to do if something seems off. Waiting too long to report something unusual is what turns a simple mistake into a firm-wide problem. Strong password policies are a good start to counter cybercrime Weak or reused passwords are still one of the most common entry points for data breaches . In legal, where systems are often connected, one breach can mean full access to the entire network. Even if you use strong passwords, there’s no guarantee your whole team does, unless you’ve set some rules around it. Make these five things standard across your firm… Use unique passwords for every login; Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible (which is pretty much everywhere nowadays); Never send passwords by email or store them in shared documents; Remove access when staff leave or change roles; Use a secure tool (e.g. Lastpass or similar) to manage logins for all firm digital assets. This isn’t about being paranoid. It’s about covering basic ground so you’re not an easy target. Once these habits are normal, security becomes part of how your team works, not an extra step. Backups that actually save you It’s not enough to back up your data. You need to back it up well. That means automatic, off-site, and tested from time to time to make sure it works and it’s accessible. A surprising number of firms think they’re covered, only to find their backups are outdated, incomplete, or stored in the same place as the original files. If something goes wrong, they’re left with nothing usable. Your backup processes should give you confidence, not just hope. You should know exactly how long it would take to restore lost data and who’s in charge of doing it. You should also make sure older file versions are saved, so if someone overwrites or deletes a document by accident, it’s easy to fix. Get your files in order Disorganised files waste time and create risk. When you can’t find the latest version of a document, or worse, you accidentally send the wrong one, it’s a sign that your filing system needs attention. Consistency is key. That doesn’t mean you need dozens of rules. It just means everyone follows the same structure. Use clear folder naming, sort files by client or matter, and have one person/one team responsible for archiving closed work (again, using consistent rules). This is especially important if multiple people collaborate on a case. A tidy, structured system means less back-and-forth, fewer mistakes, and smoother handovers. Keep your digital systems running with simple but regular maintenance Once your digital systems are in better shape, the next challenge is keeping them that way. It doesn’t need to be a massive job. A short, recurring checklist can go a long way. Review staff access every few months, and every time someone leaves the firm, and update as needed; Check that your backups are running and restorable; Archive old files to keep systems tidy and responsive; Remove unused accounts across platforms; Stay on top of software and app updates. Set a calendar reminder to review these quarterly. You’ll catch issues early, and it won’t feel like a full clean-out each time. Don’t wait until it breaks A lot of firms don’t think much about digital organisation or security until something goes wrong. At that point, it’s usually expensive, stressful, and time-consuming to fix. If it’s really bad, some firms never recover. But when your systems are well-organised, your backups are solid, your access to digital assets is carefully managed, and your staff know what to do, things run smoother across the board. You save time, avoid mistakes, and reduce your risk, all without adding complexity to your day-to-day work. This isn’t about overhauling everything at once. It’s about building habits that protect your firm and make your job easier. Start with one weak point. Fix it. Then move to the next. That’s how you build a digital foundation you can actually rely on. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/june/protecting-digital-assets/ Mon, 23 June 2025 00:00:00 You've probably heard all the talk about keywords. Years back, cramming your website full of keywords was how businesses, including law firms, competed online. But then, search engines got smarter. They evolved from simple keyword matching to understanding context, meaning, and intent. This is where semantic SEO comes in. By using this approach, you can rank smarter without needing to chase every keyword in your field. What is semantic SEO? Semantic SEO is about making your content understandable - not just to your site visitors (prospective clients) but to search engines, too. Instead of focusing solely on specific keywords, semantic SEO looks at the bigger picture. It’s about context, meaning, and the intent behind search queries. Search engines like Google now prioritise content that truly answers a user's question (or at least that’s the aim/intent), not just one that includes their exact search term. Why should law firms care about semantic SEO? You might wonder, "Do I really need to shift my approach if I’m already ranking well?" The reality is that if your firm sticks to old-school keyword stuffing , you risk falling behind competitors who prioritise context-rich content. Clients often search for answers to complex legal issues. Semantic SEO positions your firm as a knowledgeable, authoritative resource - exactly what clients seek. Think of semantic SEO as a conversation. You’re answering your client's legal questions clearly and effectively, almost as if they were sitting in front of you. How semantic SEO benefits your law firm So, how does semantic SEO truly benefit your business? Enhanced visibility through better relevance Instead of guessing keywords that your potential clients might type into the search bar and basing your content on that, you create meaningful content around common legal issues. Google recognises this and rewards you with higher visibility and improved rankings. For instance, instead of repeatedly using the keyword “family lawyer Adelaide”, semantic SEO encourages detailed content about divorce proceedings, custody disputes, and asset division. This is content that your target audience truly values. Better user experience means higher engagement Clients appreciate clarity. They want your site to be in plain English with no jargon. Providing comprehensive content will genuinely help build trust and, eventually, a potential conversion. When users spend more time engaging with your content, Google sees this and considers your site valuable, boosting your ranking further. Capture voice and conversational searches With voice searches increasing , users now ask questions naturally, such as “How do I contest a Will?” rather than “contest will lawyer”. Semantic SEO aligns with this trend by allowing your firm to naturally address such queries within your content. The connection between E-A-T and semantic SEO You've probably encountered the term E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. If you haven’t, you can read our blog on the impact of E-A-T for more information.  In the legal industry, these factors are incredibly important. Google uses E-A-T criteria to judge the quality of content, especially in sensitive and complex areas like law. Semantic SEO naturally aligns with E-A-T criteria: Expertise – Detailed, context-rich content demonstrates your legal knowledge. Authoritativeness – Clear content that’s widely shared, referenced, or linked to build your firm's online authority. Trustworthiness – Accurate, honest, and comprehensive content builds user trust and confidence. By integrating semantic SEO strategies, you're simultaneously enhancing your E-A-T profile, which is a major win for your rankings. Implementing semantic SEO - your practical roadmap Shifting your approach to semantic SEO can feel overwhelming, but breaking it down into practical steps makes the process manageable and rewarding. Here’s a clear roadmap you can follow to start seeing real results. Get to know your clients’ intent Understanding client intent is foundational. Rather than guessing keywords, dive deeper into understanding exactly what your potential clients need. Spend time researching forums, online discussions, and FAQ sections of legal advice websites to pinpoint recurring questions and concerns. Real conversations with your existing clients can be goldmines of insight - note down common phrases they use, concerns they express, and the outcomes they're hoping for. Look closely at your existing content Which pages attract the most visitors? Which ones keep readers engaged the longest? Do visitors go to more pages after arrival on the initial page? Analyse the content’s performance using analytics tools like GA4 , and note what's resonating with your audience. Identify any gaps or weak points, i.e. areas where you could provide clearer answers or deeper context. Create comprehensive, topic-based content Instead of building your content around single keywords, focus on broad legal topics that naturally encompass multiple related search terms. Aim to create comprehensive articles, guides, or blogs that fully answer user questions from multiple angles. For instance, a detailed guide on property settlement after divorce will organically include various keywords and phrases your clients search for. It covers issues such as asset division, financial agreements, and procedural timelines, naturally boosting your visibility across a wider set of queries without awkward keyword stuffing. The richer the content, the better equipped you are to rank well and genuinely help your readers! Consider including case studies or real-world scenarios that your clients often encounter. Providing tangible examples helps clients relate to your content, builds trust, and further demonstrates your authority in the field. Structure content clearly and logically Clear, logical content structure helps both readers and search engines easily navigate and understand your material. Utilise informative headings and subheadings, breaking your content into digestible sections. Short paragraphs, bullet lists for clarity, and well-labelled sections help visitors quickly find what they’re looking for. This strategic structure clarifies your content's context and signals to Google that your website is authoritative, relevant, and user-friendly. As a result, your pages will have a greater chance of ranking for multiple related queries, maximising your exposure and credibility. Time to make the shift to semantic SEO If you've been putting off making changes to your SEO strategy, now is the perfect time. With semantic SEO, you aren't just chasing quick wins; you're investing in meaningful, lasting results. By aligning your content with user intent, providing genuinely helpful information, and demonstrating your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, your law firm can rank smarter, not harder. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/may/semantic-seo/ Sun, 25 May 2025 00:00:00 If you're running a business and using Facebook to connect with customers, you've probably heard of Facebook Business Manager. Maybe you've even tried to navigate it and ended up feeling totally overwhelmed. Don't worry, you're not alone! This blog aims to simplify Facebook Business Manager and get you started on the right track. This powerful (but sometimes perplexing) tool is designed to streamline your Facebook and Instagram marketing efforts. It's crucial as your business grows and you start managing multiple ad accounts, pages, and team members. We’re going to talk about how to get started with Facebook Business Manager in plain English and get you on your way to smoother social media management. What is Facebook Business Manager? (and why you need it?) Think of Facebook Business Manager as your central hub for all things business-related on Facebook and Instagram. It allows you to: Manage multiple Facebook pages and ad accounts: No more hopping between personal profiles! Assign roles and permissions: Control who has access to what, keeping your assets secure. Manage Instagram accounts: Seamlessly connect and manage your Instagram presence. Track performance and analytics: Get a clear overview of your marketing efforts. Work with agencies and partners: Share access without sharing your personal login details. In short, it's about organisation, security, and efficiency. If you're serious about your online presence, Facebook Business Manager is a must-have. Setting up your Facebook Business Manager Account (easy steps) Go to business .facebook.com : You'll need a personal Facebook account to create a Business Manager (it is one unfortunate aspect of having a Business Manager account), but don't worry, your personal information won't be visible to the public. Click "Create Account": Follow the prompts, entering your business name and other requested details. Add your Facebook page: Click "Add Page." If you own the page, select "Add a Page." If you're requesting access to someone else's page, select "Request Access to a Page." If you're creating a new page, select "Create a New Page." Add your ad account (or create one): Click "Add Ad Account." If you already have an ad account, select "Add an Ad Account." If you're requesting access to an ad account, select "Request Access to an Ad Account." If you're creating a new ad account, select "Create a New Ad Account." Add people and assign roles: Go to "Business Settings" (the little cog icon). Click "People." Click "Add." Enter the email address of the person you want to add (Tip: let them know you’re doing this and ask them for the best email address to use before inviting them). Assign them a role (admin or employee). Choose the assets (pages, ad accounts) they should have access to and assign appropriate permissions. Admin: Full control over the Business Manager and all its assets. Employee: Limited access based on assigned permissions. Add your Instagram account: In "Business Settings," click "Instagram Accounts." Click "Add." Enter your Instagram login details. Navigating business settings (your control centre) Business Settings is where you manage everything within your Facebook Business Manager. Users: Manage people and partners. Accounts: Manage pages, ad accounts, Instagram accounts, catalogues, apps, and pixels. A pixel is a snippet of code that tracks website visitor actions, helping you measure ad effectiveness. Data sources: Manage catalogues and pixels. Brand safety: Manage domains and block lists. Integrations: Manage lead access and integrations with other platforms. Payments: Manage payment methods for your ad accounts. Security centre: Manage security settings. Requests: See requests for access to your assets. Business info: Update your business details. Key features of Facebook Business Manager Ad accounts Run and manage your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns. Set budgets, target audiences, and track performance. Facebook pixel Track website conversions and optimise your ad campaigns. Essential for retargeting and measuring ROI (return on investment). Catalogues If you're selling products online, create a catalogue to showcase them in your ads and on your Facebook Shop. Useful for e-commerce businesses. Audiences Create custom audiences based on website visitors, customer lists, or engagement with your Facebook and Instagram content. Target your ads to the right people. Business suite integration Facebook business suite is a user interface that allows you to manage your Facebook and Instagram accounts in a single place. It can be accessed through business manager. Tips for Australian businesses (keeping it local) Target your local audience:  Use location targeting to reach customers in your specific area by town, region, and postcode. Run local promotions: Promote events, sales, and special offers to your local community. Showcase customer testimonials: Build trust by sharing positive reviews from customers/clients. Use Australian language and humour: Connect with your audience on a personal level. Stay up-to-date with Facebook's policies: Ensure your ads comply with Australian advertising standards. Don't be shy; ask for help! Facebook Business Manager can be quite overwhelming at first. Don't be afraid to: explore Facebook's Help Centre ; watch tutorials on YouTube; join Facebook groups for business owners; consider hiring a social media manager if you need extra support. By taking the time to learn the ropes, you can unlock the full potential of Facebook Business Manager and take your business to new heights. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/april/facebook-business-manager/ Sun, 27 April 2025 00:00:00 Before diving into how to choose topics and titles, let’s address the basics: if your law firm doesn’t have a blog yet, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. A well-maintained blog is a powerful way to demonstrate your expertise, connect with potential clients, and boost your online presence. Once you’ve got the blog in place, the next challenge is keeping it alive with fresh, engaging content. It’s not enough to write about anything that comes to mind. To make an impact, your topics and titles need to align with your law firm’s expertise and your audience’s interests. So, how do you consistently come up with ideas that will resonate with your audience? Let’s explore some tried-and-true methods that will help you generate topics and titles your clients will love. 5 ways to find blog topics (and titles) Listen to your clients Your clients are an excellent source of inspiration. Whether they’re coming to you for the first time or have been with you for a while, they’re likely asking questions - lots of them. Start by identifying the most common questions new clients ask. These are often about the basics, like “How do I start a will?” or “What happens during a divorce settlement?” These questions are gold for blog topics because if your clients are asking them, chances are potential clients are searching for the same answers online. Once you’ve covered the basics, pay attention to more complex questions that arise as clients dive deeper into their cases. Writing about these nuanced topics allows you to position your firm as an expert in your field. And don’t forget to link these advanced articles back to your foundational posts - it helps readers and boosts your SEO . Use Google’s autocomplete feature Google’s search bar is one of the simplest tools for finding blog topics. Start typing a phrase related to your area of expertise, and let Google’s autocomplete feature do the rest. For example: If you type “Family Law property sett…”, you might see suggestions like: “Family law property settlement process” “Family law property settlement time limits” “Family law property settlement after separation” These suggestions are based on what real people are searching for, making them excellent starting points for blog ideas. Plus, by using these phrases as your blog titles or incorporating them naturally into your content, you’re increasing the likelihood of ranking higher in search engine results. Mine comments and social media discussions Comments on blog posts and social media platforms are treasure troves of insights into what people are curious about. If your blog has a comments section enabled, check it regularly. Visitors often ask follow-up questions or provide feedback that can spark ideas for new content. Similarly, monitor your social media channels for recurring questions or concerns that come up in comments or direct messages. Don’t stop at your own platforms. Take a look at your competitors’ blogs and social media pages. What are their audiences asking? Are there gaps in their content that you could fill? Social media groups and forums like Reddit can also be great sources of inspiration - just search for legal topics relevant to your firm’s expertise and experience. Use keyword research tools Keyword research tools are invaluable for generating blog topics and titles. They show you what people are searching for and how often, allowing you to tailor your content to meet demand. Here are a few tools to consider. AHREFS A comprehensive tool that provides keyword research, SEO audits, and competitor analysis. It’s an excellent choice for firms serious about SEO, though it comes with a price tag. Their starter plan is US$129/month (current as at March 2025). BuzzSumo This tool excels at content discovery and social media analysis. It’s particularly useful for identifying trending topics, monitoring competitors, and analysing the most common questions in forums and on social media. BuzzSumo has a free version with limited features, or you can opt for a paid plan, which is discounted when paid annually. Google Keyword Planner Free with a Google Ads account, this tool is primarily designed for paid campaigns but is also great for blog research. Enter a term like “family law,” and it will generate related keywords along with their search volumes. This data can inform not only your blog topics but also the phrasing of your titles. Keep a running list of ideas Ever had a brilliant blog idea only to forget it by the time you sat down to write? It happens to everyone. The solution? Keep a dedicated list of blog ideas. Whether you use a notebook, a notes app on your phone, or a project management tool like Trello, make it a habit to jot down ideas as they come to you. Inspiration can strike anywhere - during client meetings while scrolling through social media, or even in casual conversations with friends and family. Having a list of ideas ready to go ensures you’re never stuck staring at a blank screen when it’s time to write. Crafting titles that grab attention Once you’ve chosen a topic, the next step is crafting a compelling title . Your title is what draws readers in, so it needs to be both clear and engaging. Here are some tips to get it right: Be specific - Avoid vague titles like “Understanding Family Law.” Instead, try something like “5 Steps to Navigate a Family Law Property Settlement.” Answer questions - Titles framed as questions often perform well, e.g., “What Happens If You Die Without a Will?” Use bullet and numbered lists - Lists are popular because they’re easy to digest. For example, “7 Common Mistakes to Avoid During Divorce Proceedings.” Incorporate keywords - Make sure your title includes terms people are likely to search for. Test and refine - If a post isn’t performing as well as you’d hoped, consider tweaking the title to make it more engaging. Why consistency matters when choosing what blogs to write Consistency is key to a successful blog. Posting regularly keeps your audience engaged and signals to search engines that your site is active, which can improve your rankings. Aim for at least one high-quality post per fortnight. If you’re short on time, consider repurposing older content. Update it with fresh insights, new data, or additional examples to keep it relevant. Ready to elevate your blog? A well-planned blog is one of the most effective tools for building your law firm’s online presence. By choosing the right topics and crafting compelling titles, you can attract more visitors, establish authority in your field, and turn readers into clients. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/march/choosing-blog-topics/ Mon, 31 March 2025 00:00:00 Content updated March 2025 How many times a day do you use the internet on your mobile? Chances are, it’s more often than you realise. Whether it’s checking social media, shopping, or searching for services, our phones have become the go-to device for browsing. Now, imagine someone searching for your business on their mobile only to find a clunky, hard-to-navigate website. Frustrating, right? For most visitors, that’s a dealbreaker - and they’ll leave to find a competitor who has their mobile site sorted. If your website isn’t mobile-optimised in 2025, you’re not just falling behind; you’re actively turning away potential clients. In this blog, we explore why this matters so much and how you can ensure your website meets modern mobile expectations. Are mobile users really that important? Absolutely. Mobile browsing has skyrocketed in recent years. Globally, mobile devices now account for over 60% of internet traffic , and that figure is even higher in industries like legal services, real estate, and retail. Think about your own habits. When you’re scrolling through social media or searching for something online, chances are it’s on your phone. If a website doesn’t work properly on mobile, how long do you stay? Not long, right? That’s why meeting your audience on their preferred device is essential. Why your website must be mobile-optimised Your website visitors expect an excellent mobile experience Modern users want convenience. If your site isn’t easy to navigate on a phone, visitors won’t stick around. They expect: clear, readable text without zooming; menus that are easy to find and use; quick load times, even on mobile data; content that fits the screen; clickable links and buttons. If you can’t deliver that, they’ll move on - and probably to a competitor. Social media = mobile traffic Do you use social media as part of your marketing? Most people access platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn on their mobiles. When someone clicks a link in your post or ad, they’re expecting a seamless experience on your website. If your site doesn’t load correctly, they’re unlikely to bother coming back. You’re spending time and money driving people to your site - don’t let it go to waste with poor mobile functionality. Google preferences mobile-friendly sites Did you know that Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites in search rankings? Its mobile-first indexing means your site’s mobile version is now the primary version Google evaluates. If your site isn’t mobile-optimised, it’s likely to rank lower than competitors who have embraced a mobile-friendly design. Google also factors in user experience - slow load times or clunky navigation on mobile could cost you dearly in search rankings. What happens if your site isn’t mobile-optimised? When a website isn’t mobile-friendly, it creates all kinds of problems. Poor user experience – Visitors can’t easily read or navigate your site. Higher bounce rates – Frustrated users leave quickly, signalling to Google that your site isn’t worth showing in search results. Missed conversions – Potential clients won’t stick around long enough to call, fill out a form or take any action. Damaged reputation – A dated, clunky website reflects poorly on your business, making you seem less professional and less trustworthy . Common issues with non-mobile-optimised websites Wondering if your site might be missing the mark? Here are some red flags. Text is too small to read, requiring constant zooming; Horizontal scrolling is necessary to see the full page; Phone numbers and email addresses aren’t clickable; Images or videos don’t adjust to fit smaller screens; Menus are oversized or difficult to use. If these sound familiar, your website likely needs an update. How to optimise your website for mobile users Getting your site mobile-optimised doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s how to make it happen: Responsive design A responsive website automatically adjusts to fit any screen size, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, or desktop. This ensures your site looks and functions perfectly on every device. Fast loading speeds Mobile users are impatient. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, they’re gone. Compress your images, minimise code, and use a reliable hosting service to keep load times fast. Simplified menus Keep your navigation simple and mobile-friendly. Avoid overcrowding your menu and use drop-downs or sticky headers for easy access. Clickable features Make phone numbers, email addresses, and CTAs (calls to action) clickable. A “Click to Call” button, for instance, can make contacting your business effortless for mobile users. Regular testing Check your site on multiple devices to ensure it performs well. Why it’s worth the effort By now, you should be convinced that having a mobile-optimised website is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. But if you’re still wondering whether this is an investment your law firm should make, let’s really hone in on the benefits you can expect. Increased conversions – A mobile-friendly site encourages users to take action, whether that’s filling out a form or making a call. Better SEO rankings – Google rewards mobile-friendly sites with higher search rankings, driving more traffic to your site. Enhanced reputation – A sleek, mobile-optimised website shows that your business is professional and in touch with modern customer expectations. Improved accessibility – A mobile-optimised site ensures everyone, including users with disabilities, can easily navigate and interact with your content. Future-proofing – Mobile use will only continue to grow. Optimising your site now ensures you’re ready for what’s ahead. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/march/mobile-optimised-website/ Sun, 02 March 2025 00:00:00 How often do you scroll through LinkedIn and find insightful articles shared by professionals? LinkedIn isn’t just a platform for job hunting or networking; it’s also an excellent space to showcase your expertise by publishing your own articles. If you’ve been thinking about writing your own LinkedIn articles but don’t know where to start, this guide should help. Publishing on LinkedIn is more straightforward than you might think. The challenge isn’t so much the technical steps but choosing the right content to engage your audience and position yourself as an authority in your field. Why publish on LinkedIn? Publishing articles on LinkedIn isn’t just about sharing ideas; it’s a way to: build authority in the legal industry; engage with your network on a deeper level; attract potential clients, collaborators, or employers; drive traffic to your website or other platforms. Unlike standard posts, LinkedIn articles are longer-form pieces that live on your profile permanently. As your portfolio of articles grows, so does your professional reputation. People visiting your profile can easily find all your published articles under the “Activity” section, making them a valuable resource for showcasing your expertise. Choosing the right content for your article Overcome self-doubt Many professionals hesitate to publish because they think: “My content isn’t interesting enough.” “I’m not a good writer.” “I don’t have anything worth sharing.” The truth is, you don’t need to be a world-class writer or have groundbreaking ideas to create engaging LinkedIn articles. Think about the questions people frequently ask you, the challenges you’ve overcome, or insights you’ve gained in your career. These are often the most relatable and valuable topics. Content ideas for LinkedIn articles Here are a few starting points: Industry trends - Share your perspective on what’s happening in your field. How-to guides - Break down a process or concept that your audience might find challenging. Personal stories - A career milestone, a lesson learned, or a funny anecdote can humanise your brand and resonate with readers. Opinion pieces - Weigh in on news, industry debates, or emerging issues. Case studies - Highlight how you’ve solved a problem or achieved success in your work. Choose topics that align with your professional goals and target audience. Remember, your content represents your personal brand - keep it professional but approachable. How to publish an article on LinkedIn Now let’s get into the mechanics of publishing. Access the LinkedIn article editor Go to your LinkedIn feed, where you’d typically write a post. Click on the option that says “Write an article.” This will open the LinkedIn article editor. Add the body content The main section of your article is where you’ll tell your story, share insights, or provide solutions. You can: Write directly in the editor or copy-paste from another platform, like Word or Google Docs. Reformat text (like headings or bullet points) after pasting to ensure it looks clean and professional. Formatting Tips Sub-headings - Break your content into sections using sub-headings. This makes your article easier to skim. Bullet points - Use bullet points sparingly and only when listing information clearly enhances readability. Quotes - Highlight quotes using the “quote” option in the editor to make them stand out. Hyperlinks - Instead of pasting long URLs into your text (which can be very long and untidy), hyperlink relevant keywords to keep your article clean and polished. Add rich media Incorporating images, videos, or graphs makes your article more engaging. To insert media: Hover your mouse over the area where you want to add content. Click the small “+” icon that appears and select your desired media type. Media Tips Use high-quality images or videos that align with your topic. Ensure graphs or infographics are legible on mobile devices. Consider linking images to relevant web pages for added interactivity. Write a compelling title Your title is the first thing people see, so make it count. Aim for 50–70 characters that clearly convey what your article is about. For example: Instead of: “Understanding contracts” Try: “5 Key clauses to watch for in business contracts” If you’re unsure about the title, write your article first, then craft a headline that captures its essence. Include a Featured Image A featured image adds visual appeal to your article and draws readers in. LinkedIn recommends a size of 1200px x 644px for best results. To add an image: Click the placeholder image near the top of the editor. Upload your chosen image. Adjust its size or replace it as needed. Review and edit Before hitting publish: Read your article aloud to catch any awkward phrasing. Check for typos, grammar errors, and formatting inconsistencies. Ensure your message flows logically and is easy to follow. Consider asking a colleague or trusted contact to review it before publishing. A second pair of eyes can catch things you might miss. Publish and share Once you’re satisfied with your article: Click “Publish” in the top-right corner. Add a short description to introduce your article to your network. For example: “Have you struggled with [problem]? I share insights on [topic] in my latest article. Let me know your thoughts!” Don’t stop there! Share the article in relevant groups, include it in newsletters, or link to it from your website to maximise its reach. Tips for success with your LinkedIn articles Publishing on LinkedIn isn’t just about writing - it’s about engaging. Here’s how to maximise the impact of your articles. Consistency - Aim to publish regularly, whether it’s monthly or quarterly. Engagement - Respond to comments and messages. Starting conversations builds stronger connections. SEO - Use relevant keywords and hashtags in your article to make it easier for people to discover. Analytics - LinkedIn provides insights into how your articles perform. Use this data to refine your approach. Ready to publish? Publishing on LinkedIn is one of the best ways to grow your personal brand, share your expertise, and connect with your professional network. The process is simple, but the impact can be huge. Start small, focus on topics you’re passionate about, and watch your presence on LinkedIn grow. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au Further reading Create a knockout LinkedIn profile Next-level networking with audio events via LinkedIn in 2022 5 tips for crafting an effective LinkedIn company page for your law firm https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/february/publishing-on-linkedin/ Sat, 01 February 2025 00:00:00 The role of social media in building a robust digital presence is undeniable. For law firms, the shift from traditional marketing to a comprehensive digital strategy, including social media, has become essential. Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram are no longer optional - they’re pivotal tools for reaching clients, establishing authority, and staying competitive. This article explores eight compelling reasons why law firms should integrate social media into their marketing strategies to thrive in the digital era. Boost brand awareness in a crowded marketplace With billions of active users on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok, social media offers unparalleled opportunities for visibility. By crafting targeted posts that reflect your firm's expertise, experience and values, you ensure your brand becomes recognisable to your audience. Why it matters: Your clients often rely on online searches before choosing legal services. A strong social media presence ensures your firm stays top of mind when legal assistance is needed. Pro tip: Use video content, such as introductions to your legal team or client testimonials, to humanise your brand. Shape your law firm’s persona Many people perceive law firms as formal and inaccessible. Social media allows you to create a more relatable image that reflects approachability and professionalism. Through tone, imagery, and interaction, you can foster trust and connection . Example: A family law firm might use posts featuring plain language tips about divorce law, paired with warm, welcoming and supportive images, to establish itself as approachable and client-focused. Pro tip: Regularly update your profile with behind-the-scenes content or insights into your firm’s culture to build a genuine connection with followers. Social media can showcase your legal expertise and experience Legal expertise is your most valuable asset. Social media allows you to highlight your knowledge and experience in specific practice areas, providing value to your audience. How: Publish short articles, host Q&A sessions, or share news updates that demonstrate your expertise in real-world scenarios. Why it works: People often choose lawyers who appear knowledgeable and confident. Consistent, informative posts can position your firm as an industry leader. Drive quality traffic to your website Your website is the cornerstone of your online presence. Social media amplifies its impact by directing more visitors to it. Whether through blog links, promotional posts, or event invitations, the more traffic your site receives, the better it ranks on search engines. Tip: Include a clear call-to-action (CTA) in every post. For example, “Learn more about your rights in workplace disputes - click the link to read the article. Leverage social proof with sharing and engagement People trust recommendations from their peers. When your followers share your content, they introduce your brand to their networks, expanding your reach organically. Why it’s powerful: A shared post is essentially a personal endorsement. Whether it’s a client testimonial or a helpful guide, encourage your audience to share your content. Pro tip: Include shareable infographics or quick legal tips that your audience finds useful and engaging. Optimise advertising with precision Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer advanced tools for targeted advertising. By understanding your audience's demographics, you can design cost-effective paid advertising campaigns that reach potential clients who are most likely to need your services. Best practices: Test different ad formats, such as carousel posts or video ads. Use audience segmentation to target specific age groups, locations, or industries. Example: A personal injury law firm might run ads targeted at users searching for workers’ compensation lawyers in a specific city. Gain insights into competitors Social media is not only a tool for outreach but also a lens into your competition. By observing what your competitors are doing well - or poorly - you can refine your own strategies. How to use this: Track their follower engagement. Analyse the type of content they post and the response it garners. Stay aware of emerging trends in the legal space. Unlock advanced retargeting opportunities Retargeting ensures you stay connected with people who have already interacted with your firm online. Tools like Facebook Pixel help you track and reconnect with visitors to your website. How it works: Identify users who visited your site but didn’t convert. Show them ads for services they viewed, increasing the likelihood of engagement. Pro tip: Pair retargeting campaigns with testimonials or case studies to build credibility and encourage action. Practical tips for law firms for successful use of social media Choose the right social media platforms Don’t feel pressured to be on every platform. Focus on where your audience spends time. LinkedIn is great for corporate law, while Facebook and Instagram are ideal for personal injury or family law practices. Stay consistent Posting regularly builds momentum. Aim for 2–3 posts a week to keep your audience engaged. Measure and adapt Use analytics tools to track performance. If one type of post performs better, create more of that content. A final word Social media is no longer a "nice-to-have" but a "must-have" for law firms looking to stay relevant, attract clients, and grow their practice. By harnessing its power to build brand awareness, connect with clients, and optimise marketing efforts, your firm can thrive in the competitive digital landscape. More articles about law firms and social media Mistakes brands make with social media Using images on social media and copyright Nobody likes a lazy social media profiles – let’s refine a few things Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au This article was originally written in July 2018 and updated in January 2025. https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2025/january/law-firms-and-social-media/ Sun, 05 January 2025 00:00:00 The landscape of SEO continues to transform heading into 2025, presenting both fresh challenges and innovative opportunities. Staying ahead is no longer optional; it's essential for law firms looking to maintain and enhance their digital visibility. As we see out 2024, we're seeing a continued shift toward advanced, user-centric SEO techniques driven by ever-evolving technology and consumer behaviours. This blog explores some of the trends we see emerging in digital marketing (SEO in particular) through 2025. AI-powered SEO strategies Artificial intelligence is revolutionising SEO in 2025, empowering law firms to create smarter and more effective content strategies. Tools like AI-driven keyword research, predictive analytics, and content generation are making it easier to tailor content to user intent. Law firms can leverage AI to: identify high-conversion keywords; optimise content for natural language and evolving search patterns; create dynamic content updates based on real-time trends. With search engines becoming increasingly sophisticated, AI integration can have a positive impact on your SEO strategy. All this said we continue to stress that AI is not the “whole answer” to SEO and/or content writing. We strongly believe everything you use AI for still requires the human touch; sometimes lightly but often heavily. You may wish to read some of our earlier blogs related to the growing AI opportunities, which all come with a “user beware”. Why law firms shouldn't let AI write for them Beyond the bots - why AI content can't sustain your content strategy Why AI tools for SEO advice is a no-go Voice and visual search optimisation Voice and visual searches are now very common in online queries. Users are searching not only with their voices but also through images and visual context. Law firms must adapt by optimising content for these new search modes. Voice search Focus on conversational keywords and long-tail phrases . Questions like "What are my legal rights after an accident?" should be central to your content strategy. You can read more about this in our earlier blog, “The impact of voice search on law firm SEO” . Visual search Enhance visual content with alt text, descriptive metadata, and high-quality images. Tools like Google Lens mean users might search with a photo of a legal document or signage, making image optimisation crucial. Revenue-driven SEO In 2025, the emphasis on revenue-focused SEO continues to grow. Law firms are moving beyond traditional metrics like traffic to focus on strategies that directly contribute to client acquisition and retention. To achieve this, prioritise: content that guides potential clients through every stage of their journey – use internal linking strategies and calls-to-action (CTAs) at pivotal points; metrics like engagement rates, bounce rate and form completion and submission. analytics and third-party platforms to pinpoint high-value keywords and adjust strategies accordingly. For example, blogs addressing preliminary questions ("Steps to take after a workplace injury") can funnel users into action-focused service pages or on-page CTAs ("Book a free consultation for workplace injury claims"). Zero-click searches and interactive SERPs 'Zero-click' searches are becoming even more prevalent. Featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and knowledge graphs dominate SERPs, answering queries directly. While this boosts visibility (brand awareness), it can reduce website traffic as the user gets the answer they’re seeking without clicking through to the site. Strategies to thrive in the zero-click era Format content for direct answers using lists, tables, and concise paragraphs. Implement schema markup for FAQ and how-to sections to increase snippet eligibility. Balance snippets with compelling CTAs that drive clicks for deeper insights. Driving local SEO In a world where local searches like "lawyers near me" continue to dominate, hyper-targeted local SEO is indispensable. Optimise your local search by: keeping Google Business profiles current; encouraging positive reviews, responding to reviews (positive AND negative) and responding to online queries; Publishing content that resonates with the local community, like state-specific legal information. Advanced mobile optimisation Mobile-first remains a key mantra in 2025. With mobile searches surpassing desktop (and in many instances, significantly), law firms must ensure their sites are not just mobile-friendly but also optimised for seamless user experiences. Key enhancements include: faster loading times with advanced caching; click-to-call functionality for instant client connections; simplified navigation and easy-to-use forms for higher engagement; text size that is either easily legible by most or changeable by individual users. Technical SEO continues to be the backbone of success Technical SEO remains the foundation of any successful strategy. A technically sound website is essential for both user experience and search engine performance. Top priorities for 2025 include: Advanced page speed optimisation. Enhanced security with HTTPS protocols and robust firewalls. Implementation of advanced structured data for nuanced search engine understanding. Regular audits to ensure the website remains crawlable and error-free. At Social Hive, we audit our sites monthly (and more if required) to keep them technically healthy. Embracing SEO trends in 2025 By adapting to these trends (sooner rather than later), your law firm can ensure not only visibility but also meaningful engagement with potential clients. Staying informed and proactive is the key to thriving in the ever-evolving digital arena. Contacting Social Hive Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/december/seo-trends-2025/ Sun, 08 December 2024 00:00:00 After spending hours (or more) crafting and perfecting your latest blog, and are you a little frustrated to find out that Google hasn’t found your blog after a few days or even weeks? You’re not alone. This frustration often leads to several questions, and “How long does it take Google to find my latest blog?” is one of the most common questions.  How long does it take for Google to index a new blog? Unfortunately, this can turn into one of those “how long is a piece of string?” style questions, as the timeline for Google to find and index a new blog can vary greatly. Typically, it can take anywhere from a few days to six months for Google to crawl, index, and rank your new blog page. While that’s quite a wide window, many factors influence how quickly Google finds your content, including the authority of your website, your SEO efforts, and your blog's (and entire website) structure. For brand-new sites, the waiting period is often longer. Websites with a higher domain authority or those that regularly publish content tend to be indexed more quickly. For brand-new law blogs , it's important to be patient, but proactive steps can speed up the process. Why does it take so long for Google to rank a blog? If Google is taking a while to rank your blog, there could be a few factors at play here. This includes the following: Content quality Google prioritises content that provides value to users. Your blog should answer users’ questions, solve problems, and be engaging. Content that is poorly written, overly promotional, or not aligned with user intent is likely to rank poorly. Domain age and authority New websites, especially those without established domain authority, tend to take longer to get indexed. Google favours domains that have a proven track record of publishing reliable content. Backlinks and external signals Backlinks from authoritative websites signal to Google that your content is trustworthy and relevant. Without quality backlinks, your blog may take longer to be indexed and ranked. Frequency of updates Many firms abandon their blogs within six months of starting. Google tends to de-prioritise sites that appear inactive. Regularly updating your blog with fresh content signals to Google that your site is active and relevant. Google’s algorithms and frequent updates Google uses algorithms to deliver its search results. An algorithm is simply a computer-based set of rules and calculations to form a result. However, Google’s search algorithms are constantly evolving . It’s estimated that Google makes between 500 and 600 updates to its algorithms each year, with some being minor tweaks and others involving major overhauls that can drastically impact search rankings. For instance, Google’s Helpful Content Update in 2022 placed greater emphasis on content written for users, not search engines. In 2024, Google continues to reward sites that prioritise user experience and penalise those relying on outdated (and black hat) SEO tactics like keyword stuffing. Maintaining awareness around Google’s algorithmic changes can assist you in ensuring the content you add to your blog page is in the best possible format for Google to find it and serve it up. How does Google find and rank a blog in 2024? Google uses a combination of algorithms, bots, and AI to find and rank content. The most important of these is Googlebot , which crawls the web, visiting pages and collecting data. Here’s a breakdown of how Google discovers your blog: Crawling Googlebot crawls your website, moving through pages via internal and external links. Ensuring that your site is easy to navigate and has a clear structure helps Googlebot crawl it more effectively. Indexing After crawling your site, Google will index it, essentially adding your page to its vast database. During this process, Google evaluates the content, structure, and relevance of your site. Pages that are optimised for SEO and user experience tend to get indexed faster. Ranking Google then uses its algorithm to rank your blog based on various factors like expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E.A.T). The key to higher rankings lies in quality content, strong SEO practices , and regular updates . How can I improve the chances of Google finding my blog quickly? Although Google’s indexing can take time, there are several strategies you can implement to help your content get discovered faster. Optimise your website for SEO Using effective search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques is the most reliable way to improve your blog’s visibility. SEO includes on-page practices like using the right keywords , optimising meta descriptions, and improving your site’s load speed. Don’t just focus on keywords; focus on user intent. Answer the questions your audience is asking in a detailed, valuable way. Submit your blog to Google Search Console You can directly submit your blog URL to Google through Google Search Console . This prompts Google to crawl your site sooner rather than later, speeding up the process of getting indexed. Create and submit a sitemap A sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website, helping Googlebot understand your site’s structure. You can create and submit a sitemap through Google Search Console to make it easier for Google to crawl and index your blog. Build quality backlinks Backlinks from reputable sites improve your blog’s authority in Google’s eyes. Reach out to other websites in your niche, publish guest posts, and engage in partnerships to create relevant and valuable backlinks. Post regularly and consistently Google favours sites that publish fresh, consistent content. Aim to post new blog articles at least twice a month. The more frequently you update your blog, the more Google will visit to crawl your content, and the more often it will see new content. Improve your site’s technical SEO Ensure that your site is technically sound by improving page speed, mobile responsiveness, navigation and fixing any broken links. Use rich media Including images, videos, and infographics on your blog can often enhance user engagement, which is something Google measures when determining rankings. Just make sure these media files are properly optimised for speed and SEO and that they are relevant and add value. Give your blog the best chance of success All in all, the time it takes for Google to find and rank your blog post depends on a range of factors, including SEO practices (technical and user experience), content quality, and website authority. By following the tips above, you can speed up the process and ensure your blog gets noticed sooner rather than later. Stay consistent, keep your content relevant, and focus on building an engaging, user-friendly blog that Google can’t ignore. Contacting Social Hive Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au * This blog was originally published in June 2018 and updated November 2024 https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/november/google-indexing-duration/ Tue, 12 November 2024 00:00:00 Many people think website navigation merely directs visitors from point A to point B. However, the truth is that website navigation is one of the most vital aspects of both user experience (UX) and search engine optimisation (SEO) . Search engines like Google have become increasingly focused on how websites deliver information, so this means that your navigation will have a huge influence on your site’s overall performance and ranking. The dual role of navigation - user experience (UX) and SEO Website navigation helps both users and search engines make sense of your site. User experience - helping visitors find what they need A website’s primary function is to help users find the information, products, or services they’re looking for. When visitors land on your site, they expect a smooth and intuitive journey. Poor navigation can quickly lead to frustration, causing users to leave your site (increasing your bounce rate) and reducing the likelihood of conversions. Here’s why website navigation is critical to UX: Faster access to information - Users don’t want to dig through layers of menus to find what they need. If information is buried, they’ll likely leave and seek it elsewhere. Clear labels - Using precise, descriptive labels helps users easily understand where to find key content. Engagement - When users can quickly find what they need, they are more likely to stay longer, explore additional pages, and ultimately convert, whether that’s through a phone call, sign-up/form completion, or another action. SEO - helping search engines understand your site structure Search engines like Google also rely heavily on your site’s navigation to understand its structure. Google’s algorithms have become even more sophisticated, placing greater importance on site usability and the logical flow of content. Here’s how navigation impacts SEO: Crawlability - Search engine bots (like Googlebot ) use your navigation structure to crawl through your site and index your content. If your site has a clear, logical structure, it’s easier for bots to find and rank your pages. Relevance - Descriptive, keyword-rich navigation tags help Google understand what each page is about. For instance, having a tab labelled “Family Law Services” rather than just “Services” improves relevance for specific search queries. Internal linking - Good navigation also promotes internal linking, allowing bots to discover deeper pages on your site that may not be accessible from the homepage. Navigation bridges the gap between user experience and SEO. While it makes the user journey smooth and intuitive, it also gives search engines a clear map to follow, improving your chances of ranking higher. How to enhance your website navigation for UX and SEO Now that we know why website navigation is so important let’s focus on how to improve it. Here are key strategies to enhance your website navigation for both users and search engines. Information must be easy to find Your navigation should prioritise ease of use. Visitors want to find what they need quickly, without clicking through several sub-menus. Use clear, descriptive labels Instead of generic terms like "Products" or "Services," be specific. Labels like “Employment Law Services” give users and search engines a better understanding of what’s inside. Limit menu levels Avoid complex sub-menu systems that make users dig too deep. If a user has to click through three or more levels to find what they need, they’re more likely to leave. Position important links prominently Key pages, such as services, should be easy to access directly from the main navigation. Optimise for mobile navigation With the majority of web traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s essential to ensure your navigation is mobile-friendly . Poor mobile navigation can lead to higher bounce rates and lost users. Use hamburger menus These collapsible menus are a great way to save space on mobile screens while still giving users access to all navigation options. Use sticky navigation bars These allow users to access the main navigation at any time, even as they scroll down the page, which improves mobile usability. Incorporate internal links in navigation and content Good navigation is not just about the menu bar; it’s about the overall structure of your website. Use internal links in blog posts and product pages to guide users to related content. For example, if you mention a specific service in a blog post , link directly to that service page. You should also include breadcrumb navigation to help users understand where they are on your site and easily backtrack to previous sections. Keep dropdown menus simple Dropdown menus can be useful for organising a large number of categories, but they must be designed with care. Limit nesting Try not to nest more than two levels of dropdowns. Deeply nested menus frustrate users and are often hard to navigate. Consider mega menus For larger sites, a mega menu can display all categories in one view without the need for multiple clicks. Test usability Test your dropdown menus to ensure they work smoothly on both desktop and mobile. Avoid menus that disappear too quickly or are hard to interact with. Ensure fast load times and smooth functionality Users expect speed and efficiency. If your site is slow or clunky, even the best navigation won’t help. A fast, responsive website improves both user experience and SEO rankings. Optimise images and media Large files can slow down your site. Compress images and use web-friendly file formats to speed up loading times. Use caching Implement caching to ensure your site loads quickly, especially for returning users. Test page speed Regularly check your site’s speed using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to ensure your navigation and other elements load quickly on all devices. Update and simplify your site architecture Regularly review your site’s structure to ensure that no important content is buried or difficult to access. Websites naturally grow over time, but a cluttered or outdated navigation system can confuse users and search engines alike. Remove outdated pages or consolidate content where necessary. This helps both users and search engines focus on what matters most. Plan for scalability . As your site grows, keep future expansion in mind. Build a navigation system that can accommodate additional pages without becoming overly complicated. Why good website navigation is non-negotiable Website navigation is more important than ever. It directly impacts how users engage with your site and how search engines rank it. A well-thought-out navigation system improves user experience, boosts SEO , and ultimately helps drive conversions. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/october/website-navigation/ Mon, 21 October 2024 00:00:00 Have you heard about SearchGPT ? As a law firm in Australia that’s already potentially invested a lot in ranking high on Google, you may be concerned that there’s a new player on the block. What if the way people search for information online is about to change? What if the algorithms you’ve been working so hard to master suddenly evolve? How will this impact your visibility, your strategy, and ultimately, your business? These are some of the questions on everyone’s mind as AI continues to reshape the world around us! But one thing we all know about Google is that it’s always one step ahead of the game. So, what will Google do to respond to the introduction of SearchGPT? What is SearchGPT? SearchGPT is the latest development in the world of AI-powered search tools. It aims to differ from traditional search engines by understanding the context and intent behind a user’s search. The idea is to create a search experience that feels more like a conversation, where users can ask complex questions and receive answers that go beyond simple keyword matching. While this sounds impressive, it’s important to remember that this technology is still very much a concept at the moment (late 2024)! So, how well this will work in practice, especially compared to established search engines like Google, remains to be seen. How will SearchGPT differ from Google? Google has been the dominant force in online search for decades, refining its algorithms over the years to deliver fast, accurate, and reliable results. SearchGPT, while innovative, represents a different approach to search, and it’s essential to consider both the pros and cons of this new technology compared to Google. Context vs. keywords Google’s strength lies in its ability to efficiently index and rank vast amounts of content based on keyword relevance and a host of other ranking factors. This system has proven effective, particularly for businesses that have honed their SEO strategies over time. SearchGPT, on the other hand, places more emphasis on understanding the context and intent behind a search query. Conversational vs. traditional search Google has been incorporating AI into its search algorithms, but its approach remains largely keyword-driven. SearchGPT is designed to offer a more conversational search experience, where follow-up questions and context play a significant role. Users familiar with Google’s more straightforward search results might find SearchGPT’s approach less predictable. There’s a risk that the AI’s interpretation of a query might not align with what the user is actually looking for, leading to frustration. Depth of learning Google has decades of data and experience in refining its algorithms, making it a robust and reliable search engine. SearchGPT is built on deep learning models that continuously adapt, but it doesn’t yet have the same depth of experience or data as Google. Without the extensive data and testing that Google’s algorithms benefit from, SearchGPT might face challenges in delivering consistently accurate and reliable results across a wide range of queries. How will Google respond to SearchGPT? Google has been the leading search engine for decades, and it’s not going to stand still while a new competitor like SearchGPT enters the scene. Enhancing its own AI capabilities Google has already been integrating AI into its search algorithms, with advancements like BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) and MUM (Multitask Unified Model). These innovations have significantly improved Google’s ability to understand natural language and context. Google might accelerate its AI development, focusing on even more sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) models that can rival or exceed what SearchGPT offers. By refining these models, Google could continue to provide highly relevant search results while maintaining its edge in speed and reliability. Strengthening E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) Google has been placing increasing emphasis on E-A-T , particularly for content in fields like law, where accuracy is crucial. In response to SearchGPT, Google could double down on this focus. This could involve stricter verification of sources, more emphasis on author credentials, and enhanced scrutiny of content quality. Websites that provide well-researched, authoritative content would benefit from higher rankings. This would help Google maintain its reputation as the go-to search engine for trustworthy and accurate information. Innovating user experience Google’s dominance isn’t just about delivering the right information; it’s also about how that information is presented. We could see Google introduce more interactive search features, such as expanding the use of featured snippets, offering more detailed and interactive knowledge panels, and improving the integration of voice search and visual search. Expanding partnerships and ecosystem integration Google’s vast ecosystem, spanning search, ads, YouTube, Google Workspace, and more, gives it a unique advantage that SearchGPT lacks. Google might enhance the connectivity between its services even further, offering users a more integrated experience. For example, it could further tie search results to Google Ads, YouTube and Google Maps, making it easier for businesses to reach their audience across multiple platforms. Should you be worried about SearchGPT? If you’re a law firm heavily invested in SEO, the introduction of SearchGPT might sound like a cause for concern. New technologies often bring uncertainty, especially when they have the potential to disrupt established practices. However, there’s no need to hit the panic button. Google has been the king of search for years , and it’s not going to be dethroned overnight. The company has a track record of adapting to new technologies and improving its algorithms to stay ahead of the curve. Even with the advent of AI-driven tools like SearchGPT, the core principles of SEO aren’t going away. High-quality content, relevant keywords, strong backlinks, and excellent user experience will continue to be key factors in ranking well on search engines. Rather than seeing SearchGPT as a threat, view it as an opportunity to innovate and improve your digital strategy . New tools and technologies often provide fresh ways to engage with your audience and refine your content. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/october/searchgpt-impact/ Mon, 14 October 2024 00:00:00 One thing you’ll hear us say a lot is that SEO is not a one-time thing and that you cannot set it and forget it. Both of these things are true! However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think of the future when implementing your SEO efforts. Future-proofing your SEO strategy is essential for maintaining visibility and relevance. For Australian law firms, this means adapting to new trends, technologies, and search engine algorithms while staying true to best practices. Here’s how you can ensure your SEO efforts remain effective and robust in the face of constant change. Embrace algorithm changes Google's algorithms are constantly evolving and keeping up with these changes is crucial. You should regularly monitor industry news, Google’s official announcements and updates from SEO thought leaders to stay informed about the latest developments. Websites like Search Engine Journal and Backlinko are excellent resources for timely insights​. Keep an agile SEO mindset One of the best ways to ensure you’re ready to embrace any algorithm changes that Google springs on your team is to develop an agile SEO mindset. Encourage continuous learning and experimentation; Regularly test new strategies and then analyse results; Be ready to pivot based on data and insights. This proactive approach will help you adapt quickly to algorithm changes and maintain your competitive edge​. Focus on high-quality content Content that reflects first-hand experience and deep expertise is more valuable than ever. Google's E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines emphasise the importance of authentic, well-researched content. Share insights from your legal practice, document case studies, and provide expert opinions to build trust and authority. You should also diversify your content formats to include blogs, videos, infographics, and podcasts. Video content , in particular, is gaining traction and can significantly boost engagement and visibility. Ensure all content is optimised for SEO with appropriate keywords, meta descriptions, and tags. Online content creation tips Update regularly - Keep your content fresh and relevant by regularly updating it. Engaging visuals - Use high-quality images, videos, and infographics to complement your text. User-generated content - Encourage client testimonials and reviews to build credibility. Long-form content - Create comprehensive guides and in-depth articles that provide real value. Ensure your site is mobile friendly A mobile-friendly website is non-negotiable in today's digital landscape. Ensure your site is responsive, fast-loading, and easy to navigate on all devices. Google prioritises mobile-first indexing, making this a critical component of your SEO strategy. Voice and visual search Optimise for voice and visual search, as these are becoming increasingly popular. Use natural language and long-tail keywords for voice search, and leverage schema markup for visual search. This will help your content stand out in a variety of search contexts. Enhance social signals Social media engagement can indirectly boost your SEO by driving traffic to your website and increasing brand awareness. Craft posts, articles and visuals that your audience will want to share. The more your content is shared, the more visibility it gains, leading to increased website traffic. Actively respond to comments, messages and mentions on your social media platforms. Engaging with your followers not only builds a loyal community but also helps in spreading your content further. Stay updated with the latest trends and use relevant hashtags to get your content noticed by a broader audience. This boosts your reach and signals to search engines that your content is timely and relevant. Build a sustainable SEO practice Stick to white hat SEO techniques to ensure long-term sustainability and avoid penalties. This includes high-quality content creation, ethical link building, and user experience optimisation . By adhering to best practices, you build a solid foundation for lasting success​. As already touched upon, emphasising the E-A-T principles in all your content is imperative here. Showcase your expertise, build authoritative backlinks, and foster trust through transparency and authenticity. This approach will help you establish credibility and improve your search rankings over time. Monitor and adjust your SEO strategy Conduct regular SEO audits to identify areas for improvement. This includes checking for technical issues, evaluating content performance, and analysing user behaviour. Regular audits help ensure your strategy remains effective and aligned with best practices​. SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous improvement. Stay proactive by testing new strategies, analysing results, and making adjustments as needed. This iterative approach will help you stay ahead of the competition and maintain a strong online presence. Do you have any broken links ? What about duplicate content ? Is your website loading quickly enough? Which content is performing well? And, which isn’t? Practical tips for law firms Local SEO For law firms, local SEO is particularly important. Ensure your Google Business Profile is up-to-date, encourage satisfied clients to leave positive reviews, and optimise your website for local search terms. This will help you attract more clients in your area and improve your local search rankings. Educational content Focus on creating educational content that addresses common legal questions and concerns. This not only helps attract potential clients but also positions your firm as a trusted authority in the legal field. Consider starting a blog or a YouTube channel where you share valuable insights and tips related to your practice areas. Networking and backlinks Build relationships with other professionals and organisations in your industry (and/or the industries you service) to earn high-quality backlinks. Guest blogging, participating in industry forums, and collaborating on joint ventures can help you acquire valuable links that boost your SEO efforts. The path to long-term success Future-proofing your SEO efforts requires a blend of staying informed, embracing new technologies, and adhering to best practices. For Australian law firms, this means creating high-quality, authentic content, optimising for user experience, and maintaining an agile approach to SEO. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/september/seo-future-proofing/ Sun, 15 September 2024 00:00:00 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has long been the backbone of online visibility for businesses. Law firms are no exception to this. And, one of the ways you can attract more traffic, secure clients and maintain a strong online presence is by staying on top of the latest SEO trends. This is where AI comes in. There’s no denying that AI has revolutionised the world as we know it in recent years. But, just because there are AI tools available doesn’t mean you should be using them for everything! While a lot of people are now turning to Large Language Models (LLMs) for SEO advice, Google’s very own John Mueller has cautioned against using these AI tools for SEO advice, and for good reason. The hype around AI tools AI tools have revolutionised many aspects of our professional and personal lives. From automating mundane tasks to providing deep insights into data, AI has shown immense potential. It's no surprise that the SEO industry is also exploring AI's capabilities. However, when it comes to SEO advice, the story is quite different. Google's warning Google’s John Mueller has been vocal about the limitations and risks of using AI tools for SEO advice. In a recent LinkedIn post, he advised strongly against using LLMs for SEO advice. This approach can lead to misguided strategies and potential penalties from search engines. But why is this the case? Lack of contextual understanding Even the most advanced LLMs lack the nuanced understanding of context that human experts bring to the table. SEO is not just about keywords and backlinks; it involves understanding the intent behind searches, the competitive landscape, and the ever-evolving algorithms of search engines. For instance, consider the complexity of legal jargon and the specific needs of your clients. An AI might suggest generic keywords that fail to capture the unique aspects of your practice. A human SEO expert, on the other hand, will tailor strategies that resonate with your target audience and adhere to the latest SEO guidelines. The risk of outdated information SEO guidelines are in a constant state of flux. What works today might be obsolete tomorrow. AI tools often rely on historical data and may not be updated frequently enough to keep pace with these changes. This lag can result in strategies that are not only ineffective but potentially harmful! Imagine investing in an SEO strategy based on outdated practices, only to find your website penalised for using techniques that are now considered black hat . The repercussions for your law firm could be significant, affecting your reputation and client acquisition. Potential for misinformation Another critical issue with AI-generated SEO advice is the potential for misinformation. AI tools can sometimes produce content that appears accurate at first glance, but is fundamentally flawed. This is particularly concerning in the legal field, where accuracy and precision are paramount. For example, an AI tool might generate a content strategy that suggests using misleading or exaggerated claims to attract clicks. While this might boost short-term traffic, it could damage your firm's credibility and result in legal repercussions. Ethical considerations Building trust with your audience is essential , especially for law firms. Clients rely on you for expert advice and representation. Using AI tools for SEO might compromise the authenticity of your content. People are becoming increasingly effective at detecting AI-generated content, and the perception of inauthenticity can erode trust. Moreover, ethical considerations come into play when automating processes that require human judgment and expertise. Ensuring that your content is not only engaging but also ethically sound is crucial in maintaining your firm’s integrity. The importance of human touch in SEO One of the biggest advantages of human-driven SEO is the ability to craft customised strategies. A professional SEO expert will take the time to understand your firm's unique strengths, weaknesses, and goals. This personalised approach ensures that your SEO strategy is aligned with your broader business objectives. AI tools lack this level of personalisation. They can offer generic advice that might not align with your firm’s specific needs and market conditions. The value of professional SEO experts SEO experts bring a wealth of industry knowledge that AI tools simply cannot match. They stay abreast of the latest trends, algorithm updates, and best practices. This expertise is invaluable in navigating the complexities of SEO and ensuring that your strategies are both effective and compliant with current guidelines. By working with an SEO professional, you can tap into this deep reservoir of knowledge and experience. They can provide insights and recommendations that are grounded in a thorough understanding of the SEO landscape and tailored to your firm’s specific needs. Practical steps for law firms Rather than relying on AI to advise you on the steps you should take for successful SEO, some practical steps are as follows: Conduct an SEO audit Before implementing any SEO strategy, it’s crucial to conduct a thorough audit of your current online presence. This includes: Analysing your website’s performance; Identifying areas for improvement; Setting clear goals. A professional SEO expert can guide you through this process, ensuring that your strategy is data-driven and targeted. Create high-quality content Content remains king in the world of SEO. Focus on creating high-quality, informative content that addresses the needs and concerns of your target audience. This not only improves your search engine rankings but also establishes your firm as a trusted authority in your field. Read our post on AI content to find out whether this should be part of your strategy! Monitor and adjust your strategy SEO is not a case of set-it-and-forget-it! It requires ongoing monitoring and adjustments to stay effective. Regularly review your performance metrics, stay updated on the latest SEO trends, and be prepared to tweak your strategy as needed. An SEO expert can provide valuable guidance in navigating these changes and ensuring that your efforts continue to yield positive results. There’s no replacement for human know-how when it comes to SEO While AI tools offer exciting possibilities, they are not a substitute for human expertise and judgment when it comes to SEO. If you’d like to know more about how to take your law firm’s SEO to new heights, please do not hesitate to contact Social Hive today. We’ve helped many companies to attract new clients and cement their online presence. Will you be next? Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/august/dangers-of-ai-for-seo/ Mon, 12 August 2024 00:00:00 Redesigning a law firm website is a significant undertaking, offering an opportunity to improve user experience, update your brand and attract more clients. However, the process can quickly become an SEO nightmare if not managed carefully. A drop in search engine rankings can lead to a loss of visibility, traffic, and ultimately, clients. Why website redesigns can ruin SEO Redesigning a website offers opportunities to enhance user experience and update your brand's image. However, it can be an SEO nightmare if not managed properly. So, what can go wrong? Loss of SEO equity One of the biggest risks in a redesign is losing the SEO equity your current site has built over time (its Google juice). SEO equity encompasses all the factors that contribute to your website’s search engine ranking, such as backlinks, content, and domain authority. If not properly managed, a redesign can disrupt these elements, leading to a significant drop in rankings. Key factors at risk: Backlinks - When URLs change without proper redirects, you lose valuable backlinks pointing to your site. Page authority - Pages that previously ranked well might lose their authority if they’re moved or deleted without proper measures. Keyword rankings - Changes to content or structure can affect the keywords for which your site ranks, potentially lowering your visibility on search engines. Improper URL structure changes Changing the URL structure during a redesign without implementing appropriate 301 redirects can be catastrophic for SEO. Search engines and users rely on consistent URLs to find and navigate your content. Without proper redirects, search engines might treat the new URLs as entirely different pages, leading to a loss of existing rankings. Common mistakes: Not setting up 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones. Switching from static, keyword-rich URLs to dynamic URLs that are less SEO-friendly. Creating unnecessarily complicated URL structures that are hard for both users and search engines to understand. Content changes and deletions Content is king in SEO, and any significant changes or deletions can negatively impact your rankings. When redesigning a site, it’s crucial to evaluate existing content and understand its performance before making changes. Risks involved: Removing high-performing content - Deleting pages or posts that generate significant traffic and backlinks. Changing content layout - Altering the structure of content can affect how search engines interpret it. Keyword dilution: Changing content without considering the targeted keywords can dilute your site’s keyword relevance. Ignoring technical SEO Technical SEO involves optimising your site’s backend structure and foundation, which is crucial for maintaining search engine visibility. A redesign often involves changes to the website's code, which can introduce new technical issues if not properly handled. Potential issues: New designs with heavy images or complex coding can slow down your site. Changes in structure can lead to broken internal and external links. Misconfigurations of robots. txt can accidentally block important pages from being crawled by search engines. How to handle SEO during your website redesign So, what steps will professionals take to ensure your SEO is protected? Pre-redesign SEO audit Before diving into the redesign, carry out a thorough SEO audit of your current website. This will help you understand what is working well and what needs improvement. Steps for conducting an SEO audit Keyword analysis - Use tools like Google Analytics , Ahrefs and SEMrush to identify high-performing keywords. Content review - Evaluate the quality and performance of your existing content. Technical SEO - Check for issues like broken links, duplicate content, and slow page load times. Backlink profile - Use tools like Ahrefs to analyse your backlinks and identify any toxic links that need disavowing. Setting clear goals and objectives Establish clear goals for your website redesign. Whether it's improving user experience, increasing conversion rates, or updating your brand image, your objectives will guide your SEO strategy. Make sure to align your goals with your SEO priorities to ensure a cohesive approach. Creating an SEO-friendly design An SEO-friendly design balances aesthetics with functionality. Ensure your new website is mobile-friendly . A responsive design adjusts to different screen sizes, providing a seamless user experience across devices. Google prioritises mobile-friendly sites, so this is crucial for maintaining your rankings. Site architecture is also key. A well-organised site structure helps search engines crawl and index your pages efficiently. Use a logical hierarchy with clear categories and subcategories. Implement breadcrumbs to enhance navigation and improve user experience. Maintain a clean and consistent URL structure. Avoid using complex or dynamic URLs. Instead, use descriptive, keyword-rich URLs that clearly indicate the content of each page. Content migration and preservation Migrating content from your old site to the new one is a critical step that can impact your SEO. Here's how to do it right: Content inventory Create an inventory of all existing content. Identify which pages are performing well and should be preserved, which ones need updating, and which can be removed. 301 redirects Implement 301 redirects for any URLs that will change in the new design. This permanent redirect tells search engines that the page has moved to a new location, preserving your SEO equity and ensuring users find the content they're looking for. Meta tags and descriptions Transfer all existing title tags  and meta descriptions to the new site (and update them where necessary). These elements play a crucial role in SEO and should be optimised to reflect the content of each page accurately. Technical SEO considerations Technical SEO ensures that search engines can crawl and index your site effectively. Optimise your site for fast loading times. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement. Compress images, leverage browser caching, and minimise JavaScript and CSS files. Create and submit an XML sitemap to search engines. This file lists all the pages on your site, helping search engines discover and index your content more efficiently. Update your robots.txt file to ensure search engines can access all the important pages on your site. Avoid blocking any resources that are necessary for rendering and indexing your content. Post-launch monitoring and Adjustments Once your new site is live, ongoing monitoring and adjustments are essential to maintain your SEO performance. Set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your website's performance. Monitor vital metrics such as traffic, engagement conversion rates and any issues causing URLs not to index. Analyse these metrics regularly to identify any issues and make necessary adjustments. Conduct regular SEO audits to ensure your site remains optimised. Check for any broken links, duplicate content, or other issues that could negatively impact your rankings. Also, feedback from users should be collected to identify any usability issues. Use this feedback to make improvements and enhance the overall user experience. Redesigning your website doesn’t have to be an SEO nightmare With careful planning and execution, your redesigned website can become a powerful tool for attracting and retaining clients. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/july/seo-rankings-after-site-rebuild/ Sun, 14 July 2024 00:00:00 The world of SEO never stays still, and if you’re serious about taking your law firm higher up in Google’s search results, you need to know what’s hot and how to make the most of it! “Information gain” is a term that’s very much on the lips of a lot of SEO professionals. So, how do you take this buzz term and turn it into something that brings sustainable success to your business? The three pillars of information gain Information gain is often discussed in three main subject areas, which can spark a little bit of confusion. Machine Learning Google Patent Information Foraging Theory In the context of machine learning, information gain is used to train decision trees. This process involves selecting the best attributes to split data, helping algorithms make more accurate predictions. We’ll be leaving the machine learning pillar out of this SEO analysis. The other two areas - Google Patent and Information Foraging Theory - are of significance to our discussion, though! What is Google Patent? Google Patent (started in 2022) introduced the concept of an information gain score, which measures the originality and value of content. This score helps Google prioritise unique and informative content over rehashed or copied material. For law firms, this means that producing high-quality, original content is crucial for ranking well in search results. What is Information Foraging Theory? Peter Pirolli's Information Foraging Theory likens the way humans search for information to how animals forage for food. This theory suggests that humans seek to maximise information gain while minimising effort. Understanding this behaviour can help professional services create content that is both accessible, easily digestible and highly informative. Why Information Foraging matters for law firm SEO If you’ve read our earlier blog on Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) , you’ll know that the search engine giant is integrating generative AI to provide intuitive, natural, and contextually rich search results. So, rather than getting a list of links, users will now get answers tailored to the intent of their search. What this also means is that we’re now optimising for AI, not simply for Google. We need to make sure that viewers get content that’s easily discoverable and highly relevant. According to a Google report , the abundance of information online can overwhelm users, making it difficult for them to make confident decisions. As a law firm, you want to ensure that you’re answering a user’s immediate query and then making it easy for them to take the next step, i.e. get in touch or book a consultation. Understanding the rate of information gain In the context of Information Foraging, the rate of gain is defined as: Rate of gain = information value / cost of obtaining that information Both search engines and humans incur costs when processing information. For search engines, these costs include indexing, retrieving and serving up information. For humans, the costs are cognitive, involving the effort and time spent finding and understanding content. Ultimately, we all want to get as much information as we can in as little time as possible. That’s the objective here! So, how do we go about that at the moment? Usually, the process looks something like the following: We start by identifying the information we need. We then decide on where we’re going to get this information. It could be, for example, a review website, news site, or social media platform. We search for the information on our chosen platform. Often this is Google, so we’ll go and type in the keywords in the search engine. We look for signals that we’ve found good information , from page titles to reviews, and we click on sites and scan information to decide whether or not it’s worth it. We consume information from various sources before we make our decisions. We click on different sites and read various pieces of information. It’s the final step that Google has referred to as the “messy middle” part of our search process. It’s this phase that we’re looking to optimise. Where to begin with information gain optimisation Law firm websites must be structured to facilitate easy information retrieval. Yes, we all know that quick load times matter. Without them, people will leave your site! But what if someone lands on your site and is overloaded with information and cannot quickly digest what they need? You guessed it; they’ll probably leave too! Here’s a step-by-step guide to optimise your content structure: 1. Content structure Ensure your page layout is intuitive. For instance, a law firm’s service page should be organised with clear headings, subheadings and bullet points to guide users. Consider using faceted search options to help users find specific information quickly. Example: H2: Legal Services H3: Family Law H3: Corporate Law H3: Criminal Defense 2. Information architecture Present key information early in your content . Start with a summary of what the reader should expect in the entire piece of content. Example: When is the best time to hire a divorce lawyer? The best time to hire a divorce lawyer is as soon as you decide to pursue a divorce to ensure your interests are protected from the outset. 3. Content design Incorporate visual elements like infographics, bullet lists, tables and images to convey complex information quickly. This not only enhances the aesthetic appeal but also improves information retention. Example: Use diagrams to explain legal processes. Include client testimonials and case reviews to build trust. 4. Content uniqueness Differentiate your content by offering unique insights and expert opinions. Avoid generic information (where possible of course) that can be found elsewhere. Highlight your firm’s specific expertise and success stories to stand out. Example: Share case studies (without breaching confidentiality) that demonstrate your firm's approach and successes. Provide expert commentary on recent legal developments. Embracing information gain for law firm SEO Understanding and implementing information gain principles can significantly enhance your SEO efforts. By focusing on providing high-value, easily accessible information, you can improve both your search engine rankings and user satisfaction. For law firms, this means: structuring content to be clear and navigable; providing high-value, unique information quickly and efficiently; and enhancing UX with a focus on readability . By embracing these strategies, you can ensure your content not only ranks well but also effectively serves the needs of your audience, building trust and driving conversions. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/june/information-gain/ Sat, 15 June 2024 00:00:00 Content marketing is a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to building your online presence. However, one thing that has come into question over the past year is how we go about generating this content. The allure of artificial intelligence (AI) to churn out articles at breakneck speed is undeniable. For many, the temptation to replace human creativity with AI-generated content seems like a quick fix to the constant demand for fresh material. But is this a viable long-term strategy or just a temporary advantage? Before you ask ChatGPT to create your next blog, ask yourself: Will this benefit my business, or could it actually hurt my law firm in the future? Why AI-generated content could spell trouble in the future AI can churn out a 500-word article for you in a matter of minutes. But is that short-term time gain really worth the potential repercussions later down the line? Google's watchful eye While AI can generate countless articles swiftly, the overarching risk of Google penalties looms large. Google has a history of penalising sites that employ manipulative SEO practices, and mass-produced AI content could easily fall into this category. The tech giant values quality and user experience above all, making it crucial to consider the potential SEO implications of using AI-generated content extensively. The mediocrity trap AI-generated content tends to be average. It's designed to replicate existing information without introducing new insights or perspectives. This intrinsic limitation means that while AI can generate content quickly, it often lacks the depth and originality that human writers bring to the table. For content that resonates with readers and stands out in a crowded digital landscape, mediocrity is a significant handicap. The branding dilemma Can AI content effectively convey your brand’s voice or ethos? The short answer: not really. Brand identity is built on unique, consistent messaging that AI cannot replicate with the same nuance as humans. When your content is the primary interaction customers have with your brand, settling for AI’s impersonal touch can dilute your brand's impact. The accuracy issue In industries like law, where precision and up-to-date information are paramount, the limitations of AI can be particularly problematic. AI tools have a 'knowledge cutoff', meaning they are not aware of any developments or changes in law that have occurred after their last training update. This can lead to the generation of content that is outdated, short on detail or simply incorrect. For legal professionals, the stakes of giving inaccurate information are especially high. Incorrect legal advice (even with disclaimers on your site) or outdated legal references can mislead clients.   Moreover, in the legal field, where the nuances of language and the specificity of terms are crucial, AI-generated content often falls short, risking not only the firm’s credibility but also its compliance with stringent legal standards. The potential for AI to "hallucinate" information - fabricating data or misrepresenting facts - heightens these risks. In practice, such inaccuracies could harm your reputation and misguide legal proceedings, leading to serious ethical and professional consequences. Therefore, while AI can assist with certain administrative tasks or provide initial drafts, its use in creating client-facing legal content requires careful oversight and should not replace the expert judgment and bespoke analysis provided by qualified legal professionals. The content that counts = human-written content The risks associated with AI-generated content are there for all to see. Instead, by leveraging the skills of an expert writer, you can create content that is accurate, engaging, SEO-optimised, and gives you the platform to flourish. Build trust and loyalty - Content marketing isn’t just about driving traffic; it’s about building relationships. Trust and loyalty are the cornerstones of any successful brand, and they are built on genuine, thoughtful interaction. AI struggles to match the empathetic and engaging touch human writers offer, which is essential for creating lasting connections with your audience. Innovation and creativity - Innovation in content creation comes from human experiences and imaginative thought processes. While bots offer speed, they can’t offer this level of creativity. The engagement factor - Consider the engagement that comes from content rich with personal insights, lively anecdotes, and a conversational tone. Content that engages is not just read; it’s felt. And that emotional impact is something AI is far from achieving. Practical tips for content creation Now, we’re not saying that AI is a forbidden term that should never be spoken about, let alone used, in the future! It certainly has its uses and its benefits. But, when it comes to content creation, caution is needed. Here are some practical tips to help you out. Use AI wisely AI can be a powerful tool for certain tasks like generating reports or SEO back-end optimisation. Use AI to handle the quantitative, leaving the qualitative, soulful content creation to humans who can inject personality and flair (and accuracy) into your articles. Focus on quality over quantity It might be tempting to push out vast quantities of content but focus on quality. A few well-crafted pieces will have a greater impact on your audience than hundreds of mediocre articles. They’re also more likely to be shared, increasing your brand’s reach organically. Engage through varied content formats Mix up your content formats to keep the audience engaged. You could consider including (if relevant): infographics that break down complex data into digestible visuals; videos that can humanise your content and increase engagement; podcasts that cater to the growing number of people who consume content on the go AI is not the long-term answer to content creation While AI offers tempting shortcuts for content production, it's clear that it should not replace human creativity. For businesses looking to build a sustainable and respected brand, investing in high-quality, human-created content is the key to long-term success. AI might offer a quick fix, but the depth, creativity, and emotional connection of human-produced content are irreplaceable and essential for building lasting relationships with your audience. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/may/ai-in-content-strategy/ Mon, 13 May 2024 00:00:00 As the digital world continues to progress, so does our quest for more intuitive, efficient, and insightful ways to navigate the vast oceans of information at our disposal. And, of course, Google is at the forefront of this! Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) enables you to make the most of the powerhouse’s new generative AI capabilities so that you’re able to understand a topic quicker and get things done with greater ease. Introducing Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) At its core, Google's SGE is an advanced search mechanism that integrates generative artificial intelligence to provide more natural, intuitive, and contextually rich search results. Unlike traditional search engines ,  which return a list of links with a snippet of text, SGE aims to deliver comprehensive, coherent answers that feel tailored to the user's intent. How does SGE work? SGE leverages generative AI to interpret search queries not just by keywords but by understanding the context and nuances of user questions. This allows SGE to generate responses that are not merely a collection of information but a structured, well-articulated answer that provides depth and perspective. For example, when users inquire about hiring a lawyer, SGE can synthesise data from various sources to offer a holistic overview. I can suggest options, compare factors, and even incorporate personal preferences. It's like having a conversation with a knowledgeable assistant who not only answers your questions but also anticipates your informational needs. SGE is a new dimension of search Google's implementation of generative AI in search is not just an incremental update; it's a fundamental shift in how search engines operate. By focusing on generating answers rather than just fetching links, SGE creates a more interactive and engaging user experience. It invites users to explore topics in-depth, discover new perspectives, and gain insights that were previously obscured by the sheer volume of available data. Moreover, SGE is designed to be dynamic, continuously learning and adapting to provide better, more accurate responses over time. Google's commitment to enhancing AI's responsiveness and efficiency is evident in its efforts to reduce AI snapshot generation time by half since SGE's launch, promising even faster interactions in the future. What does Google SGE mean for legal SEO? Google's Search Generative Experience is not just a buzzword; it's a game changer, especially for the legal industry. Let's examine how SGE is reshaping the digital landscape and what this means for  SEO for your law firm . Boosting your firm's online mojo SGE presents you with a great opportunity to take your online presence to the next level. Be the answer - With SGE, your firm's expertise can shine brighter. Imagine a user asking a complex legal question and your firm's content popping up as the top-notch, comprehensive answer; not just a link, but the actual answer. That's visibility gold! Spotlight on authority - This is your chance to showcase your firm's knowledge. Detailed, accurate answers can elevate your firm's online status as the go-to legal authority. Content is still king, but context is queen Content has long been a vital part of SEO, but now more focus is being placed on the context, so it’s vital to keep this in mind when crafting blog posts, guides, and such. Quality over quantity - Gone are the days of keyword stuffing . It's time to craft content that speaks directly to your audience's needs with the clarity and depth that SGE loves. Answer the unasked - Think ahead. What are the deeper, underlying questions your clients might not even know to ask? Address these in your content to align with SGE's anticipatory nature. For example, the main question could be, “How do I file for divorce?” Deeper, underlying questions could then include: "What are the financial implications of a divorce, and how can I prepare for them?" "How can I ensure the best outcome for my children during the divorce process?" "How can I manage the emotional stress of a divorce while ensuring my legal rights are protected?" "What steps should I take post-divorce to secure my financial future?" By anticipating these deeper questions and addressing them in your content, you can demonstrate empathy, expertise, and a proactive approach to client concerns, aligning with SGE's aim to provide comprehensive, context-aware answers. Redefining user experience First impressions matter - Users will be greeted with more immediate, relevant answers. So, you need to ensure your firm's online touchpoints are clear, engaging, and, most importantly, helpful. Ease their journey - With more direct answers, potential clients are just a click away from your services. Make sure that click is a satisfying one! Stay ahead with AI smarts Dive into the SGE wave and let it lift your firm's digital presence. Understanding and adapting to this new AI-driven search realm can set you apart from the competition. Test different content formats and strategies to see what resonates best with SGE and your audience. Keep iterating! Leverage data for deeper insights SGE's advanced capabilities can offer a treasure trove of data on user preferences and behaviours. Use this to refine your marketing strategies and connect more effectively with your audience. Action stations for legal marketers! Be curious - Keep your finger on the pulse of AI and search technology trends. Being proactive can turn the SGE evolution into a strategic advantage for your firm. Tailor your tactics - Use SGE's insights  to craft marketing strategies that are as dynamic and intelligent as the technology itself. Embracing SGE in legal marketing All in all, there’s no denying that SGE represents a massive shift in the world of online marketing. Here are some key takeaways to keep in mind: Showcase your expertise Content depth matters Enhance user experience Adapt and be innovative Leverage AI insights Focus on E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) Special note: As at writing this article, SGE is still an experiment (it is only operating in 120 countries and in seven languages). It doesn't work for all search queries, and you need to opt in to see it. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/april/sge/ Sun, 14 April 2024 00:00:00 In the intricate world of law firm marketing, the rules of engagement are evolving all the time. At the forefront of this is the concept of E-A-T; Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These three pillars stand as the cornerstone of effective legal SEO. In an industry where precision and credibility are musts, understanding and implementing E-A-T is not merely advantageous – it's imperative. With that in mind, read on to discover everything you need to know about E-A-T in the legal sector. Understanding E-A-T in law firm SEO So, what exactly is E-A-T , and what does it mean for your law firm? Expertise In the world of legal SEO, 'Expertise' refers to the depth of knowledge and skill demonstrated by the content on your website. It's about showcasing legal acumen and proficiency in specific areas of law. For a law firm, this means creating content that reflects in-depth legal knowledge written by or attributed to legal professionals with relevant qualifications and experience. Authoritativeness ‘Authoritativeness' is the measure of the credibility and reliability of your website and its content within the legal industry. It's about being recognised as a leading source of legal information. This is achieved by ensuring the content is not only accurate but is also recognised and cited by reputable sources, including other legal experts and authoritative websites. Trustworthiness 'Trustworthiness' relates to the integrity and reliability of the website. In legal SEO, this translates to how much a user can trust the information provided. It involves aspects like website security, clear and honest presentation of information, and transparency about the firm's credentials and achievements. Further reading: "6 things that make your website appear untrustworthy" Implementing E-A-T in law firm SEO: strategies and examples So, how can you make sure you display E-A-T? Let’s take a look at some strategies and examples to give you a helping hand. Demonstrating expertise through content There’s only one place to begin, and this is with your content strategy ! This is all about contributing valuable information on your own blog, as well as others, through guest posting. The sort of content you could place on your own blog… A family law firm develops a series of blog posts addressing common misconceptions or intricate details about family law procedures, written by their senior lawyers. Each post links to relevant case studies or judgements where the firm has achieved notable outcomes. What about guest posting? An example includes a tax lawyer contributing an article on recent tax legislation changes to a well-known legal magazine, therefore reaching a wider audience and establishing expertise. Building authoritativeness online Collaborate with legal academies or institutions for joint webinars or workshops. For instance, a corporate law firm could partner with a business school to host a seminar on corporate governance. Regular press releases on significant case victories or firm milestones are also beneficial, like a landmark case win, which is then featured in legal news portals. Cultivating trustworthiness Displaying genuine testimonials on your website where clients speak/write about their positive experiences with your firm helps to create a feeling of trust. Transparency is also key. A clear breakdown on the website of how billing works, what services are included, and a FAQ section addressing common client concerns can be highly beneficial. Leveraging technology for E-A-T You need to deliver an outstanding website user experience . Is it time for a redesign of your website? You could reap huge gains if you redesign your site for easy navigation , faster loading times, and accessible contact forms, enhancing user engagement and trust. Also, use tools like Google Analytics to track which articles are most read and engaging, and use this data to inform future content creation. Ongoing learning and adaptation Regular training sessions for staff are a must, ensuring they are kept in the loop in terms of the latest legal developments and SEO best practices. Feedback loops are also recommended. Implement a system for collecting client feedback post-case resolution, and use these insights to improve service quality. E-A-T in social media and online presence Share insightful commentary on recent legal developments on social media platforms like LinkedIn, enhancing your firm’s thought leadership. Don’t forget consistent branding! Ensure your firm's values and areas of expertise are consistently communicated across all online platforms, from your website to social media. E-A-T checklist for law firms Before we conclude, we’ve put together this checklist to help you make sure you’re doing everything in your power to tick the E-A-T criteria. Expertise Ensure content is created or reviewed by legally qualified professionals or those with experience in the industry. Include author bios with qualifications and experience for each article. Regularly update content to reflect current legal trends and updates. Authoritativeness Gain backlinks from reputable legal websites and industry publications. Seek opportunities for lawyers in the firm to contribute to authoritative external publications. Showcase awards, recognitions, and memberships in prominent legal associations on the website. Trustworthiness Maintain a secure website with HTTPS encryption . Clearly display contact information, physical address, and privacy policy. Encourage client reviews and testimonials, and respond professionally to both positive and negative feedback . Website and content quality Ensure your website has a user-friendly design and is easily navigable. Fact-check all content for accuracy and cite sources where applicable. Optimise for mobile devices to provide a seamless user experience. Engagement and social proof Regularly engage with your audience through blogs, newsletters, and social media. Share case studies or success stories to demonstrate expertise and results. Participate in online forums or Q&A platforms related to the legal field. Continuous improvement Regularly review website analytics to understand user behaviour and preferences. Stay updated with SEO best practices and Google’s guidelines. Solicit feedback from clients and peers to identify areas for improvement. Show expertise, authority and trust, and watch your law firm soar So, there you have it: an insight into E-A-T and why it’s pivotal for law firms today. If you would like to improve the Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness of your online presence, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our expert team today. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/march/eat-for-seo/ Sun, 17 March 2024 00:00:00 One thing is for sure; the world of SEO never sits still! We’ve got to the point when staying ahead of Google's updates is not just beneficial – it's a necessity for businesses aiming to maintain a competitive edge. Google's core web vitals update represents one of the most significant shifts in how the search engine giant evaluates and ranks websites. This Google update brings a renewed focus on the user experience , emphasising the importance of a website's speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. The Core web vitals update is not simply about tweaking a website's aesthetics; it's a comprehensive overhaul aimed at enhancing the overall user experience. So, read on to discover everything you need to know. What are core web vitals? Core web vitals are a set of metrics that Google uses to measure the health and user-friendliness of a website . They focus on three key aspects of the user experience: Loading Performance - Largest Contentful Paint ( LCP ) Interactivity - First Input Delay ( FID ) * Visual Stability - Cumulative Layout Shift ( CLS ) These metrics are part of Google's ongoing efforts to enhance the user's web experience, ensuring that sites are not only informative but also accessible and pleasant to navigate. * Why have we highlighted number 2? Well, this is what the most recent update focuses on, so keep your eyes peeled as we reveal what lies ahead. How often does Google update core web vitals? There’s no set timeframe! Google updates its algorithms and metrics regularly, with significant updates announced periodically. Core web vitals, being part of these metrics, are subject to change as Google adapts to new web technologies and user expectations. The impact of these updates can be substantial and can significantly affect your website ranking. Staying informed about these updates is crucial, but don’t panic; that’s what we’re here to help with. The latest core web vitals update On 10 May 2023, Google announced that FID (#2 referenced above) will be replaced by INP in the core web vitals as of March 2024. INP stands for Interaction to Next Paint. What is INP, and why is it replacing FID? INP (Interaction to Next Paint) measures the time from a user's interaction with a page (like a click or key press) to the time when the browser is able to start processing event handlers in response to that interaction. This metric goes beyond just measuring the input delay; it also accounts for processing time and presentation delay. FID (First Input Delay – the metric that is being replaced ) , on the other hand, only captures the delay in processing the first input. While useful, it doesn't provide a complete picture of the user's experience on a page, especially after the initial load. The introduction of INP aims to offer a more comprehensive measure of interactivity. It will observe all interactions within a page view and report on the longest interaction, encouraging websites to ensure that all interactions are optimised. Impact on rankings and preparing for the update The introduction of INP will start affecting Google search rankings from March 2024. Websites need to focus on improving interactivity beyond the initial load of the site. To prepare for this change, websites should start by collecting real user data on INP. This involves using Real User Monitoring (RUM) providers that can collect and analyse performance data from actual browsers. Key strategies for optimising INP include: 1. Breaking up JavaScript tasks This involves dividing JavaScript code into smaller, more manageable chunks instead of running long, monolithic scripts. Smaller tasks are processed faster, reducing the time the browser's main thread is blocked. This improves the responsiveness of the page, as the browser can quickly react to user inputs. 2. Reducing DOM interactions and layouts This strategy entails minimising the number of manipulations to the Document Object Model (DOM) and reducing complex layout calculations. Frequent or complex DOM manipulations and layout recalculations can be resource-intensive, slowing down the page's responsiveness. By streamlining these processes, you reduce the delay between user interaction and the browser's response. 3. Avoiding excessive use of timers This involves being cautious with JavaScript timers like setTimeout and setInterval, which can delay the execution of code snippets. Excessive or improper use of timers can interfere with the browser's ability to promptly process user interactions. Efficient use of timers ensures that the browser remains responsive and ready to handle user inputs without unnecessary delays. 4. Limiting third-party code This means minimising the use of external scripts and widgets that are not essential to your site’s core functionality. Third-party scripts can significantly affect your site's performance, as they often consume resources and processing time. By limiting these scripts, you can enhance your site's speed and responsiveness, positively impacting the INP score. These measures aim to reduce input delay, processing time, and presentation delays. Another aspect to consider is the impact of third-party scripts, which can degrade INP by blocking the main thread after an interaction. Solutions such as Cloudflare Zaraz can help by removing third-party scripts from the browser, consequently boosting interactivity. LCP adjustments in the update There have been adjustments to the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric as well. LCP now excludes images with low content-to-size ratios. This change aims to set a higher standard for what’s considered “contentful,” focusing on images and text blocks that genuinely contribute to the user experience. You cannot afford to slip behind when it comes to Google updates These changes emphasise the need to stay up-to-date with Google's guidelines and metrics. It's important to remember that while core web vitals are a critical component of Google's ranking system, they are part of a broader set of factors that contribute to page experience and overall ranking. So, if you want to master Google and boost visibility for your law firm, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our expert team today! Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/february/core-web-vitals-update-2024/ Mon, 19 February 2024 00:00:00 In the digital age, where every click could lead to a potential client, understanding search intent (also called keyword intent and user intent) has become the cornerstone of an effective SEO strategy. Keyword intent refers to the underlying purpose behind a search query. It's what the user is hoping to find or achieve when they type words into a search engine. Grasping this concept is not just beneficial; it's crucial in crafting content that meets potential clients right at their point of need. What is search intent? Search intent is the goal a user has in mind when typing a query into a search engine. It’s the “why” behind the search terms. This intent can vary widely. Some users seek information, others are looking to make a purchase, and some are comparing options. In the context of legal services, understanding keyword intent is pivotal because it aligns the content on your website with the needs and expectations of your prospective clients. There are generally four types of keyword intent: Informational intent - Users are seeking information. For law firms, this could be queries like "what is conveyancing" or "implications of a criminal record ". Navigational intent - Users are trying to reach a specific website or page, often entering the name of a firm or lawyer directly. Transactional intent - Users are ready to take action, perhaps looking for a consultation or a legal document template. Commercial investigation - Users are in decision-making mode, comparing services or lawyers, typically prior to a transaction/engaging a lawyer. By identifying the intent behind the keywords your potential clients use, your firm can create content that directly addresses their needs. For example, if the keyword intent is informational, your next blog could provide a comprehensive guide on a certain legal process. If the intent is transactional, ensuring your firm has clear calls to action and accessible contact forms could be the key to converting a website visitor into a client. Why search intent matters Search intent matters immensely because it bridges the gap between random traffic and targeted visitors who are more likely to engage with your law firm's services. Understanding the intent behind a search allows you to craft your content and services to meet the specific needs or questions potential clients have. Here’s why this is particularly crucial for law firms. 1. Precision in client targeting Legal issues are often complex and specific. By aligning your content with the user's intent, you ensure that the traffic to your site consists of individuals actually interested in legal services, rather than those merely seeking general information. 2. Enhanced user experience When users find the answers they're looking for on your website, it enhances their experience and trust in your firm. This can lead to higher engagement rates, more inquiries, and ultimately, a better conversion rate. 3. Increased relevance in SERPs Search engines aim to provide users with the most relevant results. By optimising for search intent, your firm's website is more likely to rank higher in search results, as it is deemed more relevant to the user’s needs. 4. Higher conversion rates When content matches the searcher's intent, users are more likely to take the desired action, whether that's filling out a contact form, signing up for a newsletter, or requesting a consultation. 5. Competitive edge Many law firms compete for the same keywords, but not all understand the importance of search intent. By focusing on intent, your firm can outperform competitors by addressing the specific stages of the client's journey. 6. Cost-effective marketing By targeting keywords with the right intent, you can allocate your marketing budget more effectively, focusing on high-intent keywords that are more likely to lead to client acquisition. In essence, keyword intent is not just about getting visitors to your site; it’s about getting the right visitors . For legal firms, where the decision to engage a lawyer is a significant one, understanding and utilising keyword intent can make a substantial difference in the quality of online interactions and the success of your firm's digital marketing efforts. Applying search intent in your law firm's SEO strategy Knowing the “why” behind your potential clients' searches is one thing, but applying that knowledge effectively to your SEO strategy is where the real impact is made. Here's how your firm can apply search intent to enhance its digital presence and attract more qualified leads: Content creation - Tailor your content to match the different types of intent. For informational queries, write informative blog posts , FAQs, and resource guides. For transactional queries, ensure your service pages are clear and persuasive, with straightforward calls to action. Keyword research and selection - Use keyword research tools to uncover the intent behind the terms and phrases related to your legal services. Look for patterns that suggest what users are looking for when they enter certain queries. User journey mapping - Map out the typical user journey for your potential clients and create content that caters to each stage. From learning about legal terms to seeking specific legal advice, your content should guide them through the journey to choosing your firm. Optimising for SERPs - Optimise your content for the search engine results page features, like featured snippets or local pack listings , which are often aligned with particular types of intent. For instance, a concise bulleted list of steps to take after a car accident can land in a featured snippet for a high-intent query. Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) - For high-intent transactional and commercial investigation keywords, focus on CRO by simplifying the enquiry or contact process. Use forms and clear calls to action to make it as easy as possible for potential clients to reach out. Measuring and adapting - Use analytics to measure how well your content matches user intent. Look at metrics like bounce rate , engagement rate, time on page, and conversion rate to understand whether users are getting what they expect from your content, and adjust accordingly. Harnessing search intent for law firm SEO success All in all, understanding and applying search intent is a critical element of modern SEO that law firms must leverage to connect with their audience effectively. By aligning your content strategy with the diverse intents behind search queries, your firm can attract more relevant visitors, provide a superior user experience, and improve conversion rates. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2024/january/keyword-intent/ Sun, 21 January 2024 00:00:00 With the ever-changing world of SEO continues to evolve, unveiling new challenges and opportunities. Keeping ahead of the game isn't just advantageous; it's imperative for maintaining online visibility in an ever more competitive digital arena. In 2024, we're set to see a pivot towards more intricate and user-focused SEO methodologies that will redefine how law firms are discovered and interacted with online. With that in mind, in this blog, we’ll explore the top SEO trends forecasted to significantly influence the legal sector in 2024. 1. Voice search optimisation In 2024, voice search is expected to continue its rise as a dominant force in search engine queries, and law firms must adapt to stay relevant. The convenience of speaking rather than typing encourages users to seek legal advice and services through voice-activated devices. This shift demands a new approach to SEO that prioritises natural language processing and question-based content. Law firms should gear their online content towards conversational keywords and phrases commonly used in voice searches. For instance, content that answers direct questions such as "What are my rights in a car incident?" or "How do I apply for divorce?" are more likely to align with spoken queries. Moreover, since voice searches are often local, ensuring your firm's local SEO is robust can significantly benefit your visibility. This means having up-to-date listings on local directories, a strong presence on Google Business profiles , and content that speaks directly to the legal concerns of the community your firm serves. 2. Revenue-focused SEO strategies As the digital marketing landscape matures, law firms are increasingly looking beyond traditional metrics like rankings and traffic, shifting towards revenue-focused SEO strategies in 2024. The goal is simple: to ensure that SEO efforts contribute directly to the bottom line. For legal firms, this means crafting an SEO approach that not only attracts visitors but also converts them into paying clients. To achieve this, legal firms must refine their understanding of client intent and align their content strategy accordingly. It’s about creating content that addresses specific stages of the client's journey — from awareness to consideration and finally to the decision stage. For example, a blog post titled "What to do after a car accident" captures early-stage clients, while a service page for motor vehicle accident compensation speaks to those ready to engage legal services. Also, tracking the right metrics is paramount. Instead of just looking at page views or rankings, firms should focus on the likes of: engagement rates; client acquisition costs; client lifetime value . By leveraging data analytics, you can identify which keywords and content types drive actual client engagement and adjust strategies to double down on what works. 3. 'Zero-position' or 'zero-click' searches 'Zero-position' or 'Zero-click' searches are where the answer is displayed directly at the top of a search engine results page (SERP), so the user doesn't need to click through to a website to find the information they're seeking. For law firms, this means a strategic reorientation to capitalise on these types of searches. To leverage this trend, firms need to focus on providing clear, concise, and direct answers to common legal questions within their content. By structuring content to directly answer questions - using bullet points, numbered lists, and tables - it becomes more likely that a search engine will feature this content in a 'zero-click' snippet, which could be anything from a paragraph to a list or a table. Rich snippets and FAQ sections are particularly useful for legal firms. A page that concisely explains "How to file for divorce in Australia" or "Eligibility criteria for corporate fraud claims in Queensland" can be formatted using schema markup to improve the chances of being chosen for a 'zero-click' search result. However, while 'zero-click' results can increase a firm’s visibility and position it as an authority, they can also mean fewer clicks through to the website. Therefore, it’s crucial to strike a balance by ensuring the snippets contain just enough information to establish expertise and credibility while still enticing users to click through for more detailed guidance. 4. Search-generated engagement Finally, search-generated engagement is anticipated to be a key SEO trend in 2024. This approach goes beyond traditional search engine optimisation, focusing on engaging prospective clients the moment they enter a query into a search engine . For legal firms, this means creating an interaction-focused online experience that begins on the SERP itself. Provide interactive content in the search results One of the key tactics to drive search-generated engagement is to offer interactive content directly in search results. For instance, law firms can use SERP features like: Google’s People Also Ask boxes; Related questions; Interactive polls; and These features provide value to potential clients and encourage them to interact with the firm’s content straight from the search results, increasing the likelihood of them visiting the website for more information. Local SEO Enhancing local search strategies is critical for law firms, as many clients prefer local legal advice and representation. This can involve ensuring the firm appears in local "near me" searches, optimising for Google Business listings, and engaging with reviews and queries on local listings. By doing so, firms can start engaging with potential clients before they click through to the website. Mobile search optimisation Another facet of search-generated engagement is optimising for mobile search . With the increasing use of mobile devices for Internet searches, legal firms should ensure their mobile sites are not only responsive but also offer an engaging user experience. Features like click-to-call, easy-to-fill-out contact forms, and quick-loading pages can significantly enhance mobile user engagement. 5. Technical SEO While optimising your site using all of the above will help to achieve online authority and visibility, the foundation of any successful SEO strategy also heavily relies on the technical health of your website. Technical SEO encompasses a broad range of backend optimisations that ensure your site is efficiently crawlable and indexable by search engines. This includes improving site speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, securing your site with HTTPS, creating an XML sitemap, and implementing structured data to enhance understanding and visibility in search results. Focusing on technical SEO ensures that, once users are enticed to click on a search result or compelling snippets, they land on a site that offers them a seamless, engaging experience. This not only helps in reducing bounce rates but also significantly improves the chances of conversions. Moreover, a technically sound website strengthens your site’s relationship with search engines, aiding in higher rankings and more visibility. ​ Making the most of 2024’s top SEO trends By embracing these emerging trends, you can ensure that you not only reach potential clients but also resonate with them, providing value at every digital touchpoint. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/december/seo-trends-for-2024/ Sun, 24 December 2023 00:00:00 Did you know that updating old blog posts can boost organic traffic by as much as 106%? With Google updating its algorithm on a continual basis, it’s no surprise that some blog posts end up losing their power in terms of search engine rankings.  However, rather than forgetting about these older posts and focusing on new content entirely, it makes sense to revisit the old blog posts and improve them so you can improve their results. Let’s take a look at how to do this successfully. Identify content that’s worth refreshing The first step is to do an audit of your existing content so you can figure out which posts might be worth refreshing. You can use the following approaches to do this effectively: Traffic analysis - Use Google Analytics or a similar tool to identify posts that once had high traffic but have since seen a decline. Keyword potential - Check if your old content is ranking on the second or third page of Google. These articles may need just a nudge to reach the first page. Engagement metrics - Assess the average time spent on the page and the engagement rate. If users are leaving quickly or not engaging, the content might need an update. Conversion rates - Look at how well the old content converted visitors into leads or customers. If conversion rates were high, it's a good indication that this content is valuable and should be refreshed. Content freshness - Older articles, especially those over a few years old, may be perceived as outdated by search engines and users, even if the topic is evergreen . Update outdated information Stale data can significantly hinder your credibility . So, make sure that you do the following: Replace old statistics with current ones ✅ Remove outdated SEO practices ✅ Use a "Broken Link Checker" to identify and replace dead links ✅ Enhance your content Now you need to look at what you can do to make your content better and more comprehensive to improve the user experience. Some ideas include: Add related subtopics - If you wrote about social media marketing , for example, can you include sections on newer platforms or trending strategies? Incorporate visual elements - Infographics, relevant images, or even videos can break content and provide a visual understanding. Add some internal linking - Link to your newer articles or other relevant pieces of content. This not only aids in SEO but keeps the reader engaged. Optimise your content for SEO Your older content may not have been effectively optimised with the latest SEO practices. Start by making sure that your content is optimised for current high-ranking keywords. Tools like SEMrush or AHREFS can help. Next, update meta titles and descriptions to be more enticing and include relevant keywords. Finally, make sure that all images have alt texts and are compressed for faster loading. Improve readability Now that you’ve gotten rid of outdated information and optimised your content effectively , it’s time to improve readability so that users have a better experience. Here are five ways you can do this: Break up your content with relevant H2 and H3 subheadings (while retaining your all-important H1 tags , of course); Avoid long walls of text; keep paragraphs short and concise; Use bullet points and lists to make your content skimmable and more digestible; Ensure that fonts, colour schemes, and design elements remain consistent throughout; Integrate relevant images, videos, charts, and infographics. User engagement An engaged audience is more likely to spend more time on your page and share it with others. Here are some of the ways you can improve old content to boost engagement: Add or update Calls to Action (CTA) - Encourage readers to comment or share related articles. Incorporate interactive elements - Incorporate polls, quizzes, or interactive infographics to keep readers engaged and make your content more memorable. Highlight social proof - Display testimonials, case studies, or user reviews to bolster your content's credibility and encourage more interactions. Personalise content - If possible, use dynamic content to tailor the user experience based on their previous interactions, location, or preferences. Personalised experiences are more engaging and can result in longer page visits. Use storytelling - Narratives and stories are engaging. Where applicable, structure your content in a storytelling format, guiding readers through a journey that captures their attention and answers their questions from beginning to end. Optimise for mobile viewing More and more people are viewing the web using their mobile phones today, so make sure they can access your content. You may want to consider using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for faster loading on mobile. Republish and promote Once you have updated your content, make sure you do the following: Change the publish date ✅ Highlighting the fresh content gives it new visibility on your site. Promote the post ✅ Share your revamped content on social media platforms, email newsletters, and other channels. Reach out to websites that have backlinked to yours ✅ If there have been significant updates, reach out to websites that previously linked to you and inform them about the fresher, more comprehensive resource. Monitor and adjust Finally, bear in mind that improvements may not deliver immediate results. You’ll need to continuously monitor metrics to gauge the effectiveness of your updates. Also, keep an eye on reader comments, as they may provide insights into further improvements you can make. Revamp old content and feel the benefits Revitalising old content is a highly effective strategy for law firms looking to boost visibility and engagement. Not only does this approach capitalise on work you’ve already done, but it ensures that your content remains evergreen, valuable, and ranking-friendly. With the evolving nature of digital landscapes, making this a habitual practice can set your content, and by extension, your brand, apart from the rest. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/november/refreshing-old-content/ Mon, 27 November 2023 00:00:00 Social media is an important tool to use in your marketing campaigns. You have to wield the tool properly though, otherwise you run the risk of doing damage to yourself and your brand. It can feel like a minefield. There are things to avoid doing. You definitely do not want to make these errors that can seriously hinder your social media marketing growth . 1. You try to “wing” your social media Trying to do social media for your company or your brand without having a solid plan behind it is almost always doomed for failure. While there may be an outlier with people who have nimble enough minds to quickly pivot to trends, you should have something outlined in advance. That means researching things and then looking inward at what you, your company, or your brand would offer on social media. Then start constructing and posting things. But be careful, or you could make the mistake listed below. 2. You focus on quantity over quality This is not the place to just keep throwing out stuff to see what sticks. If people see you throwing out rapid-fire stream of consciousness type things, they will think that your efforts are amateurish at best. That will likely lead to them tuning you out. Instead, think hard about how you want to present yourself to the world. Craft things to put out on social media that represent you or your company’s brand and share your company’s experience and expertise. People will appreciate the extra effort. 3. Inauthentic communication with your target audience Building a genuine connection with your audience is essential for social media marketing growth. Using bots or automated responses can give the impression of engagement, but it often comes off as insincere. Real-Life Example : An influencer hired a service to boost their follower count on Instagram. While they gained thousands of followers, their engagement rate plummeted because most of these followers were inactive or fake accounts. 4. Responding poorly to negative comments or reviews Criticism is an inevitable part of the social media landscape. Brands that ignore or delete negative comments and feedback risk damaging their reputation. Handling criticism with professionalism and empathy can turn a negative situation into a positive one. Real-Life Example : A restaurant faced backlash on Twitter when a customer complained about a bad dining experience. Instead of addressing the issue and offering a solution, the restaurant's social media team deleted the tweet, sparking further outrage. 5. You use the same content on different platforms You may think that you are saving time and effort by just doing a cross-platform post. Instead, you are showing yourself to be lazy and unimaginative. Also, it often suggests that you don’t know the purpose of each platform. Putting the same pithy tweet on LinkedIn would not garner the attention that you want. Look at what is being posted on each platform and create content specifically for those. Do a great visual post for Instagram, for example. There are other things to avoid doing, like trying to join every platform … which will stretch your capabilities. It’s best to find a couple that fit you best and then master those instead of being adequate or worse in all. Not finding your audience is a mistake, as well. Social media can be hard, but if you put in the work, then seeing the success can be fun too. Just be careful not to make the above mistakes, and your chances will improve. About our guest author Brandon Leibowitz Brandon Leibowitz is the founder of SEO Optimizers , a Digital Marketing Agency in Los Angeles, California. He is also the founder of Bosmol.com, a social media news log. He has been involved with search engine optimisation and internet marketing since 2007. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/october/social-media-mistakes/ Sun, 22 October 2023 00:00:00 In the first half of 2023, users conducted about 3.1 billion voice searches every month . With voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant, people are doing more voice searches than ever before. The very nature of a voice search makes it different from a written search query. People are more conversational, and more questions are used when they use voice search. This is something law firms now need to consider when developing their SEO strategies. In this blog, we delve a bit deeper into the impact of voice search on law firm SEO. What is voice search? Voice search is a feature that employs advanced speech recognition technology to allow users to input search queries into a device verbally rather than typing them out. The system is designed to comprehend spoken language, interpret the request, and provide relevant results in response. This functionality has revolutionised how individuals interact with devices, creating a hands-free experience that extends from answering queries to executing commands. Understanding how voice search differs from traditional text-based search Voice search stands apart from traditional text-based search in a few fundamental ways. Voice search tends to be more conversational and question-based, reflecting natural speech patterns. Voice search is often used on mobile devices or smart home devices, demonstrating a different context and urgency than text searches that are often done on a mix of desktops and mobile devices. The immediacy of voice search responses often bypasses the presentation of multiple options, unlike a text-based search where users can review and select from a list of search results. Why law firms should embrace voice search There are a number of reasons why your law firm should embrace voice search and adapt your SEO strategy accordingly: Enhanced accessibility and convenience for your users Voice search drastically improves accessibility and convenience for users. It allows potential clients to find legal services without having to type queries, making it especially beneficial for those on the go or with impairments. This hands-free capability ensures that legal assistance may only be a spoken phrase away, expanding a law firm's reach and potential clientele. Increased engagement and interaction with potential clients Voice search also boosts user engagement. It fosters a more interactive experience as it uses natural language processing, making it feel like a conversation. This conversational aspect makes the user more likely to engage in a query-answer dialogue, so you can present your services interactively. Furthermore, optimising for voice search can position your law firm as a forward-thinking and innovative entity, enhancing your reputation and appeal to potential clients. Personalised results and improved user experience Voice search enhances user experience by offering personalised, instant, and relevant responses. It can provide location-based results, which are crucial for local law firms trying to reach nearby clients. This ultimately improves your chances of conversion and client retention. Strategies for law firms looking to optimise for voice search Now that you know why voice search is so beneficial, let’s take a look at how you can optimise your SEO efforts . 1.  Research and target voice-specific keywords The first step in optimising for voice search involves researching and targeting voice-specific keywords. Voice searches are typically more conversational and longer than text searches. They often involve full sentences or questions, so it's essential to incorporate long-tail keywords and phrases that match the natural language patterns users would use in voice search. Tools like "Answer the Public"  can be instrumental in understanding the types of questions people ask about legal services. 2.   Create conversational and informative content In the realm of voice search, content that reads naturally and conversationally tends to perform better. This is because voice search queries are often in the form of direct questions. It may be beneficial, where suitable, to structure your content in a Q&A format, directly addressing common queries your potential clients may ask. Additionally, your content should be informative, providing comprehensive and useful answers that can position your firm as an authority in your legal area. 3.   Optimise website structure and technical aspects for voice search The technical setup of your website plays a crucial role in its voice search performance. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly , as a significant portion of voice searches occur on mobile devices. Your site should also load quickly, as voice search platforms tend to favour sites with faster load times. Structured data markup is another crucial element, helping search engines understand the context of your content and potentially increasing the chance of being featured in voice search results. 4.   Embrace local SEO strategies Given that many voice searches are local in nature ("law firms near me"), law firms should prioritise local SEO strategies. This involves: Keeping your firm's name, address, and phone number consistent across all online platforms; Optimising your Google Business listing; Garnering positive online reviews . These actions can boost your visibility in local searches and make your firm more likely to be recommended by voice assistants. 5.   Implementing a voice search analytics strategy Finally, it's essential to track your success with voice search optimisation. Implementing a voice search analytics strategy can help you understand what's working and what needs improvement. This could involve tracking rankings for your target voice search queries, analysing website traffic from voice search, or using tools designed to provide insights into voice search performance. By understanding your performance, you can fine-tune your strategy and ensure you're effectively reaching potential clients through voice search. The impact of voice search on law firm SEO The rising popularity of voice search presents law firms with new opportunities to reach and engage with potential clients. By embracing voice-specific keyword targeting, creating conversational content, optimising website infrastructure, and employing local SEO strategies, law firms can enhance their visibility in voice search results. With the right approach and ongoing analytics, voice search optimisation can serve as a powerful tool in a law firm's digital marketing arsenal, fostering client interaction and boosting conversion rates. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/september/voice-search/ Mon, 25 September 2023 00:00:00 In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, where algorithms and trends shift like sand dunes in the wind, it's imperative to keep your sights set on the horizon. One of the most intriguing and impactful developments in recent years is the marriage of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This fusion holds the promise of reshaping the entire digital marketing terrain, and here's why. AI's arrival in the SEO realm Imagine an orchestra where every instrument plays in perfect harmony without a conductor. That's the magic of AI in SEO. It's like having a digital assistant that not only understands the language you speak but can also predict what you want to say next. This is where AI enters the SEO scene. Ranking rhapsody with AI: SEO's essence lies in ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs). AI algorithms, powered by machine learning, dissect mountains of data to discern patterns that human minds might overlook. This leads to smarter keyword analysis and thus, better content optimisation. AI can identify which keywords hold the golden ticket and are most likely to bring traffic. In fact, it's like AI holds the treasure map to the internet's hidden gems. Keywords and content - a bond forged by AI If SEO is a ship, then keywords are the sails that catch the wind, propelling it forward. AI doesn't just find these keywords; it anticipates what users will search for next. It's like having a crystal ball that shows you what's on people's minds. SEO and the art of keyword sorcery: AI-powered tools take keyword research to a level even Merlin would be envious of. They analyse user behaviour, dissecting the phrases they type, and even interpreting the context behind their searches. This leads to a profound understanding of intent, and thus, the ability to predict future keywords. So, when someone searches for "comfy shoes" today, AI might tell you they'll be searching for "ergonomic footwear" tomorrow. Content creation: from paintbrushes to AI brushes Creating content that resonates with both humans and search engines is like baking a multi-layered cake that's both delicious and visually stunning. AI adds the icing to this cake, making it even more delectable. AI-painted content canvases: Generating content can be as challenging as capturing the beauty of a sunset on canvas. AI, armed with Natural Language Processing, can now craft compelling articles, blogs, and even product descriptions. It's like having an AI apprentice who studies Shakespeare and learns to write just like him. This means less time spent on laborious content creation and more time strategizing your SEO moves. User experience: the AI guide in the SEO zoo Picture this: you visit a zoo, and instead of wandering around cluelessly, you have an AI-powered guide that not only shows you around but also knows which animals you're most excited about. This is the sort of user experience AI brings to your website. AI-Powered user experience overhaul: SEO isn't just about keywords and backlinks. It's also about the experience you offer to your visitors. AI studies user behaviour, like which links they click, how long they linger on a page, and what makes them bounce away. It then optimizes your website accordingly, making it a pleasant journey for your visitors. It's like having a personal concierge who caters to everyone's preferences. SEO & AI: a bond forged by data Remember those buddy-cop movies where two seemingly different individuals team up and create magic? That's SEO and AI. They might have different methods, but their goal is the same: to crack the case of getting noticed in the sprawling city of the internet. The dynamic duo of data crunching: AI thrives on data like flowers thrive on sunlight. It digests colossal amounts of information to predict trends, customer preferences, and emerging market shifts. SEO, on the other hand, has its roots in data analysis, tracking metrics like click-through rates, bounce rates, and conversion rates. When these two forces unite, it's like Sherlock Holmes teaming up with Batman – an analytical powerhouse that's unbeatable. Tomorrow's SEO: an AI-infused odyssey As we stand at the threshold of a new digital era, the future of SEO with AI seems nothing short of an odyssey – a journey where technology and creativity dance hand in hand, drawing a roadmap to digital success. As AI's role in SEO grows, we find ourselves at a crossroads where it becomes more than just words. It's a proclamation that the future of SEO is tightly woven with AI's ability to unravel the mysteries of human intent and behaviour. It's a journey that will lead us to new strategies, new tactics, and a new definition of what it means to be at the top of the digital food chain. So, buckle up because the future of SEO with AI isn't just a glimpse into what's coming; it's a front-row ticket to the show that's already begun. And the best part? The lights have just dimmed, and the curtain is about to rise on an exhilarating performance where technology takes the lead, and the stage is set for success. In conclusion, the future of SEO with AI is a captivating saga, where the protagonist, AI, transforms the landscape of digital marketing. With its predictive insights, content crafting prowess, user experience optimization, and data-driven strategies, AI emerges as the driving force behind SEO's evolution. As we embark on this AI-infused odyssey, it's clear that SEO and AI are not just allies; they are inseparable companions scripting a new chapter in the ever-evolving digital narrative. About our guest author Brandon Leibowitz Brandon Leibowitz is the founder of SEO Optimizers , a Digital Marketing Agency in Los Angeles, California. He is also the founder of Bosmol.com, a social media news log. He has been involved with search engine optimisation and internet marketing since 2007. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/august/what-is-the-future-of-seo-with-ai/ Fri, 25 August 2023 00:00:00 The web development market is constantly changing, and businesses and staff need to stay updated. In 2023, the web will experience several fascinating developments. Building cutting-edge and profitable websites will be easier for you if you are aware of these trends in web development, from new technologies to changing consumer expectations. Recent research indicates that about 38% of users will stop visiting a website with poor design, and 85% believe it should be mobile-friendly. Furthermore, other pieces of research demonstrate that websites with faster loading times have greater conversion rates, which may rise by 7% for every extra second. These figures indicate how important it is to keep up with web development trends. By following these trends, you can create cutting-edge, user-friendly online apps that meet shifting customer expectations. This blog explores the newest web development trends in 2023 for businesses looking to create a distinct image for themselves. Emerging trends in web development for business We have compiled a list of the top web trends worldwide that a business can leverage to change its web development game. Let's explore each of these trends. 1. Chatbots with AI In 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots will become more sophisticated to better serve customers. Businesses can utilise machine learning, natural language processing, and information retrieval techniques to match user behaviour with bots. AI-enabled chatbots increase customer happiness by speeding up business procedures in voice or text discussions. AI-powered chatbots can gather data, answer frequently requested questions, and solve various issues. Many well-known B2C companies now deploy AI chatbots to help consumers. Between 2018 and 2020, marketers' use of artificial intelligence surged by 190%, and many abandoned traditional chatbots in favour of services like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Skype. In 2023, you may anticipate an even larger rise in AI chatbots. 2. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) Though progressive web apps (PWAs) are not entirely new, their most recent iteration will displace web apps completely. PWAs facilitate offline functionality in apps like Google Maps and accelerate the loading of websites. Businesses like Starbucks, Uber, Pinterest, and Twitter have used PWAs to enhance their user experience , and many more will do the same starting in 2023. In the second quarter of 2022, mobile devices, excluding tablets, accounted for more than 58% of all international online traffic . It is now more vital than ever to turn web apps into PWAs because of the rise in the use of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets for various online activities. There are many progressive web application frameworks that developers should consider while developing web applications. PWAs deliver a superior user experience, saving the provider money on website development and making maintenance easier. Additionally, they mimic the behaviour and aesthetics of a single web page. Written with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, WebAssembly, or Angular, PWAs will be trendsetters in 2023. 3. Serverless architecture The serverless architecture eliminates the need to handle server hardware and software using third-party hosting. Data loss, system overload, and excessive development expenditures are all reduced by using this technique. Reputable companies like Amazon Web Services embrace serverless architecture, which permits the replacement of traditional servers with cloud-based substitutes for better control over resource utilisation. In addition to the advantages already mentioned, serverless architecture contributes to the long-term sustainability of the internet. In the coming years, widespread usage is anticipated, particularly for IoT applications and complicated backend queries. 4. AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and mobile-friendly content that loads quickly on mobile devices are two of the most prevalent web development practices that stress users. Google's open-source AMP initiative attempts to create mobile-friendly web pages and websites. Websites accelerated by the AMP framework ensure an excellent mobile experience. Business owners may provide customers with essential, speedy, optimised landing pages by posting AMP advertisements. Browsers can understand AMP HTML faster and more readily, thanks to AMP. Developers can avoid common coding issues because of the system's inventive architecture and elevated productivity. 5. Responsive website design As was already established, more than 58% of all web traffic worldwide comes from mobile devices. Additionally, mobile devices account for about three-quarters of all global e-commerce sales. These statistics demonstrate the importance of creating websites with mobile users in mind. A lot of developers have used this strategy for years. However, what ’mobile-friendly’ actually entails changes all the time. One-click ordering on e-commerce apps, fingerprint scanning, and voice recognition, among other developments, will be used in 2023 to provide customers with highly tailored experiences. Responsive design will benefit your visitors, including a more seamless user experience and improved brand recognition. 6. WordPress development WordPress powers almost 40% of websites , so its prominence warrants consideration. Open-source platform WordPress continuously increases its feature set to serve customers better. It makes sense to look at some web development trends specific to WordPress. The approaching year will likely bring about several improvements for WordPress. For example, a new navigation scheme will make user interaction simpler. This redesign will combine the separate post editor and template interfaces. WordPress also provides fresh design alternatives to give your website new vitality. 7. Single-Page Applications (SPAs) SPAs are JavaScript-based web applications that load just one HTML page in a visitor's browser and dynamically change the content as necessary without refreshing the page. These are the most important game-changing advancements in web development. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and the developer community have all adopted SPAs to a substantial extent. Since users can access a website without waiting for the server to finish loading a new page, overall performance is noticeably faster. Although SPA maintenance is more laborious, it could be worthwhile. SPAs are easy to construct and cheaply priced, thanks to the well-liked AngularJS framework. Additionally, they use less server space and successfully provide customers with the information they require on a single page without requiring them to navigate. 8. Standardisation of dark mode At least 8 out of 10 users now choose dark mode, which has lately increased in popularity. The ability to switch between light and dark modes is already available on popular networks like Facebook and Twitter. The need for website personalisation drives developers to include built-in choices for alternating between the two approaches. This pattern will become the norm and the application's default setting. Adopting dark mode guarantees a personalised user experience and takes into account changing user preferences. ­­Conclusion It can take time to keep up with the evolving trends in web development. But regardless of whether it affects customer pleasure, conversions, or the user experience, you must try it! Businesses must comprehend the essential web development trends on the list. Adopting them into their processes through upcoming web projects can give them an edge and make them future-ready for the rising demands of their users. It also helps them create a unique brand image for their business while ensuring they serve their users the best and the latest. Now is the time to put them into practice to determine which web development trends will work best for you. About our guest author Harikrishna Kundariya Harikrishna Kundariya is a marketer, developer, IoT, SaaS & Blockchain savvy, designer, co-founder and Director of eSparkBiz Technologies, a software development company. His 12+ years experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT and SaaS applications. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/august/web-development-2023/ Mon, 14 August 2023 00:00:00 Google is always evolving. We’re constantly hearing about algorithm changes and new features.  Because of this, it’s imperative to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and updates. Otherwise, you’ll only end up getting left behind! In this blog, we’re going to tell you all about one of the newest Google features : Perspectives. What is Google Perspectives? How to optimise for Google Perspectives Originality and quality are key with Google Perspectives How do you create original, premium content? Personal experiences and stories will be a focus What is Google Perspectives? Google Perspectives is both a filter and a dedicated section that Google is adding to its search engine. When you visit this section or tap on the filter, you’ll diversify your search results, meaning you’ll see various types of content - not just website links! You can expect: written posts; images; long videos; short videos; and much more, which have been shared across social media and online forums. Basically, Perspectives has been created so that searchers can find stories, advice, and tips shared by content creators and real people. Google has said it’s going to display the author’s name, profile photo, or data about how popular the content is, which should help you decipher just how credible and trustworthy a website and content is . How to optimise for Google Perspectives We can expect the introduction of Google Perspectives to have a large impact on SEO. After all, traditionally, SEO has been about optimizing your website to feature higher in the search engine result pages. However, with Perspectives, the game is changing once again. We can expect to see a real focus on the following areas. User-generated content with Google Perspectives There’s only one place to begin, and this is with user-generated content - something Perspectives places a strong emphasis on! What this means is that you can use content on Q&A websites, discussion boards, and social media platforms to rank higher in the SERPs (search engine results pages). As a consequence, you may need to rethink your content strategy to include more user-generated content or to engage more actively on these platforms. Here are some tips for creating more user-generated content: Hold contests or giveaways - Run fun contests where users create posts about your services to enter. This tactic can produce a wave of fresh content and generate buzz around your brand. Launch hashtag campaigns - Propose a unique hashtag for your followers to use when sharing their experiences with your brand. It makes it easy for you to locate and reshare their posts. Request customer reviews - Encourage your customers to write reviews or testimonials . Featuring these on your website or social platforms can demonstrate the value of your products and services. Highlight user posts - Regularly share user-generated content (including content written by your own in-house bloggers/authors) on your own platforms. Foster a community - Create an inviting space for your brand community, perhaps through online forums or social media groups. Communities often naturally generate discussion and content around shared interests. Promote user-created guides - For more complex services, you can create simple explanatory guides and ask customers for their input. Such content can be extremely helpful to others and showcases your service in action. Partner with influencers - Influencers can create appealing content and inspire their followers to do the same. When looking for a legal influencer, make sure they, and their audience aligns with your brand. Engage with user comments - Prompting your followers to ask questions or comment on your posts can stimulate conversation and engagement. Always remember to ask for permission before sharing a user's content, and give them the credit they deserve. Originality and quality are key with Google Perspectives Google will put an increasing focus on the originality and quality of the content. This means content creators need to concentrate on producing high-quality, original content which offers unique experiences and insights. With the rise of AI , such as ChatGPT, content creators will be pleased to know that their original work will hold a significant edge. How do you create original, premium content? It involves a deep understanding of your audience, your content topic, the value you can provide, and how your content can stand out. Begin by identifying your audience's needs and interests through market research or audience feedback. For example, what are your new clients consistently asking about when they first meet with a lawyer? Then, develop content that addresses those needs, whether it's in-depth articles, informative videos, engaging podcasts, or detailed guides. Make sure your content is not just original but also provides valuable insights, expert knowledge, or unique perspectives that your audience can't find elsewhere. Additionally, investing in high-quality production, engaging storytelling, and professional design can help make your content more appealing and reinforce its premium status. Personal experiences and stories will be a focus of Google Perspectives Last but not least, we’ll see an increased focus on personal experiences and stories now that Google Perspectives has arrived. You can share case studies that display how your legal services have helped individuals or businesses with the challenges they’ve faced. Of course, you’ll always need to get permission before doing this. There are some other ways you can add more relatability and authenticity to your content: Create personal videos - Create video content that provides visual and narrative depth to your stories or the information you’re sharing. Videos can be very engaging and can help convey emotions more effectively. Share personal experiences on social media - Use social media platforms to share day-to-day experiences, behind-the-scenes content, or employee stories. Instagram Stories or Facebook posts can be great for sharing such content. Make the most of your About Us page - Tell your brand's story; share the journey, the ups and downs, and how it all started. Make it a narrative that's easy to connect with. Share your involvement with the community - Share your experiences related to community service or social responsibility initiatives. This shows that your brand has values beyond business. Capitalise on Google Perspectives before the competition does So, there you have it: a basic insight into Google Perspectives and what this means for your business from an SEO perspective. While Google Perspectives is in its infancy, it makes sense to capitalise on it now before your competition does. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/july/google-perspectives/ Sun, 16 July 2023 00:00:00 Scheduling tools have become essential for businesses and individuals alike as they streamline the process of planning and organising meetings, appointments, and events. With the increasing demand for remote work and virtual meetings, the need for reliable and efficient scheduling tools has only grown. In this blog, we introduce you to our top 10 scheduling tools that can help you save time, increase productivity, and manage your schedule effectively. What is a scheduling tool? A scheduling tool is a software application or online service that helps individuals and businesses manage their appointments, meetings, events and online content publishing. Scheduling tools automate the process of planning and organising schedules, enabling users to create and share calendars, set reminders, send invitations to participants and schedule, for example, social media posts. These tools typically integrate with other productivity tools such as email, project management software, and video conferencing platforms, allowing users to streamline their workflow and optimise their time. Scheduling tools are useful for a wide range of users, from busy professionals who need to manage multiple appointments and meetings to teams who need to coordinate schedules and plan events collaboratively. What to consider when selecting a scheduling tool When selecting a scheduling tool, there are several factors to consider to ensure that the tool meets your law firm’s specific needs and preferences: Platform integration Check if the scheduling tool integrates with other platforms and tools you use, such as email, project management software, and video conferencing platforms. This can streamline your workflow, saving you a considerable amount of time. Price Consider how much the tool costs and whether this is within your budget. Some scheduling tools offer free versions with limited features, while others require a subscription or one-time payment but offer more features. Stability Look for a scheduling tool that is stable and reliable, with minimal downtime or technical issues (check reviews before purchase). This ensures that you can depend on the tool to manage your schedule effectively. Mobile app Check if the scheduling tool has a mobile app that allows you to access your schedule on-the-go. This is especially important for those who work remotely or travel frequently. Ease of use Make sure that it’s intuitive and easy to use, with a user-friendly interface and clear instructions. This can save you time and minimise frustration. Customisation Consider whether the scheduling tool allows you to customise your calendar, schedule, and settings to fit your specific needs and preferences. Security Check if the scheduling tool provides adequate security measures to protect your data and privacy, such as encryption, two-factor authentication and secure login. Top 10 scheduling tools Now that you know the importance of using a scheduling tool and the different factors to consider, let’s reveal our top 10 picks for best on the market today: 1. Google Calendar Google Calendar is a free and widely used scheduling tool that integrates with other Google productivity tools such as Gmail and Google Meet. It is easy to use and allows you to create and share calendars with others. Google Calendar offers a range of features to help you manage your schedule and appointments effectively, including: easy scheduling; multiple calendars integration with other Google tools; customisable notifications; mobile app; availability scheduling. 2. Calendly Calendly is a popular scheduling tool that offers a free version with limited features and paid plans with more advanced options. Users can customise their scheduling preferences and availability to suit their needs, making it easy for clients or colleagues to book time on their calendars. Plus, Calendly can automatically send reminders to attendees before scheduled meetings, reducing the likelihood of missed appointments. 3. Doodle Doodle is a simple, user-friendly scheduling tool that allows you to create polls to schedule meetings with multiple participants. It offers a free version and paid plans with additional features such as calendar integration and branding. 4. Acuity Scheduling Acuity Scheduling is a scheduling tool designed for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs. It offers features such as appointment scheduling, client management, and payment processing and integrates with platforms such as PayPal and Zoom. Users can also process payments through the platform, including one-time payments and recurring subscriptions. 5. ScheduleOnce ScheduleOne offers advanced options for teams and businesses. For example, users can track and analyse their scheduling data, including appointment types, revenue, and more, to help optimise their scheduling process. You can also create customised booking pages, automate reminders and notifications, and integrate with platforms such as Salesforce and Zapier. 6. Microsoft Bookings Microsoft Bookings is a scheduling tool that integrates with Microsoft 365 and allows you to create and manage appointments, send reminders, and customise your booking page. 7. Zoom.ai Zoom.ai is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to schedule meetings and appointments. It integrates with platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace. Zoom.ai offers a mobile app for both iOS and Android, allowing users to manage their schedules on the go. 8.  Setmore Setmore is a scheduling tool designed for businesses of all sizes. It offers features such as appointment scheduling, customer management, and payment processing and integrates with platforms such as Square and QuickBooks. 9.  Appointlet Appointlet allows you to create customisable booking pages, automate reminders and notifications, and integrate with platforms such as Salesforce and Google Calendar. Time zone detection is one of the best features. Appointlet can automatically detect the time zone of the user and the client, ensuring that appointments are scheduled accurately. 10. YouCanBook.me YouCanBook.me is a scheduling tool that allows you to create custom booking pages and automate reminders and notifications. Users can customise their availability and appointment types to suit their specific needs, and clients can book appointments online at their convenience. Manage your schedule effectively with the right tools Scheduling tools are essential for managing appointments, meetings, and events efficiently and effectively. By considering factors such as platform integration, price, stability, mobile app, ease of use, customisation, and security, you can choose a scheduling tool that meets your specific needs and preferences. Our top 10 scheduling tools offer a range of features and options to fit different use cases and budgets. With the right scheduling tool, you can optimise your time and productivity and focus on what matters most in your personal and professional life. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/june/scheduling-software/ Mon, 19 June 2023 00:00:00 UX (user experience) is crucial when it comes to any product or service that interacts with users, be it your website or a mobile app for case management. Writing and content creation, together with other experiential components, is essential for successful UX, as they provide users with the necessary information and guidance to navigate through your app or website and improve the engagement rate of your audience. However, writing for UX requires a different approach than traditional writing, as it is geared towards creating a user-centric experience that is easy to understand and use. In this blog, we explore the key elements of writing for UX, including understanding your audience, creating clear and concise content, and designing a coherent information architecture. By following these principles, you can improve the overall user experience and create a product that is both useful and easy to use. What is writing for UX/user experience? Writing for user experience refers to the practice of creating written content that is specifically tailored to enhance the user's interaction with a product or service. This includes all forms of text-based communication, such as labels, instructions, error messages, menu items, and tooltips, among others. The goal of writing for UX is to create a seamless and intuitive user experience by providing clear, concise, and helpful content that guides the user through the product or service. Effective writing for UX involves a deep understanding of the user's needs, motivations, and expectations. It requires a user-centric approach that prioritises the user's experience over other considerations, such as marketing goals or technical constraints. By providing well-crafted and thoughtfully designed written content, writers can contribute to the overall usability and success of a product or service. The importance of writing for UX/user experience There are a number of reasons why your law firm needs to write for user experience, including: Clarity and understanding UX writing helps users understand how to use a product or service. Clear and concise writing can help prevent confusion, reduce errors, and improve the overall user experience. Consistency Consistent language and tone across a product or service can help build trust with users and reinforce brand identity. Accessibility Writing for UX considers users with different abilities, languages, and cultural backgrounds. By using simple language, avoiding jargon , and providing translations or alternative formats, writers can improve the accessibility of the product or service. This is especially important in the legal sector. User engagement Good UX writing can also help to engage users and create a sense of connection with the product or service. Business benefits A positive user experience can result in greater customer satisfaction, repeat customers, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Writing for UX can, therefore, have a positive impact on a business's bottom line. How to plan your writing for optimal UX/user experience To create content that is tailored to your audience, effectively conveys information, and guides the user towards their desired outcome, follow these seven steps. 1. Define your audience Understanding your audience is critical when generating content that resonates with them. Consider their demographics, goals, pain points, and preferred communication style. 2. Define your goals Clarify what you want to achieve with your writing. Is it to inform, educate, persuade, or entertain? Keep your goals in mind throughout the planning process to ensure your content aligns with them. 3. Map out the content Create a content map or outline that structures your writing and ensures a logical flow of information. Consider the user's journey through the piece of content and how the structure and form of that content can guide the reader. 4. Use clear and concise language Use language without any jargon or technical terms that may confuse the user. Instead, it should be in plain English and easy to understand. Keep sentences and paragraphs short and use active voice to make the content more engaging. 5. Use visual aids Visual aids such as images, videos, or infographics can help convey complex information more effectively and improve the user's engagement with the content. 6. Use effective calls-to-action (CTAs) Use CTAs that are clear, concise, and action-oriented. CTAs should align with your goals and guide the user towards the desired action. 7. Use links and navigation Use links and navigation to help users find relevant information quickly and easily. Ensure the links are descriptive and the navigation is intuitive and easy to use. Leverage the power of sub-headings when writing for UX Using sub-headings as key indicators is an effective way to enhance the user experience of your writing . Subheadings provide a clear structure to the content, making it easier for users to scan and locate the information they need quickly. Here are some tips on how to use sub-headings effectively: Your sub-headings should be descriptive and clearly communicate the main topic or point of the section. Avoid vague or generic sub-headings that do not provide any meaningful information. Use a logical hierarchy of sub-headings that reflects the structure and flow of the content. This helps users to understand the relationships between different sections and how they fit together. Use consistent formatting for your sub-headings throughout the content. This helps users to quickly identify the sub-headings and distinguish them from other text. Sparingly apply sub-headings to avoid overwhelming the user with too much information. Use them only when necessary to break up long blocks of text or to introduce new sections or ideas. Use sub-headings to create a narrative that guides the user through the content. This can help to create a more memorable and engaging user experience. Apply these tips when writing for UX and enjoy much more engagement and success All in all, writing for user experience is a crucial aspect of creating effective and engaging content that guides users through a product or service. By understanding your audience, defining your goals, mapping out the content, using clear and concise language, and leveraging visual aids, calls-to-action, links, and navigation, you can create content that is tailored to the user's needs, improves accessibility and engagement, and ultimately benefits your business. Follow these best practices to create content that delivers a seamless and intuitive user experience and builds trust, satisfaction, and loyalty with your users. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/may/ux-writing/ Mon, 22 May 2023 00:00:00 There’s no denying that AI is taking the world by storm. In fact, it’s estimated that the global AI market value will reach $267 billion in the next five years. While 72% of people believe AI can handle repetitive tasks , producing interesting, accurate, and grammatically correct content is not one of the tasks you should attribute to an AI tool. Although you may see lots of adverts for AI writing tools, switching to this approach is ill-advised, and below we’ll reveal the different reasons why. What is an AI writing tool? An AI writing tool is a software application that uses artificial intelligence to produce content . Based on pre-determined rules and the so-called intelligence the application gains over time, it will automatically create content based on different topics. Some of the AI writing tools on the market today include ChatGPT, GetGenie, Jasper, and Writesonic. They promise to deliver content in seconds, with minimal user input. Sounds a bit too good to be true, right? As the saying goes, when something sounds too good to be true, it often is! Reasons why legal firms shouldn’t let AI write for them There are a number of reasons why using an AI tool to produce blog posts and other pieces of content for your law firm is a bad idea and here’s why. AI writers make heaps of mistakes There’s only one place to begin, and this is the fact that the content produced by AI writing tools is littered with errors. At first glance, this may not be evident. However, once you start using AI more often, you’ll notice that there are often many silly errors. This is even more so with a complex topic such as law. A big issue is that AI is designed to write convincing content , presenting everything as fact. That would be great if all of the information presented were accurate. But that’s not always the case. This is a massive concern in the legal industry because if you present something false as the truth, you could find yourself in a whole world of trouble. AI makes fact-checking incredibly difficult. It can be hard to spot the parts of your blog post that are factually incorrect because the tone is so convincing. Plus, even if someone experienced oversees the editing process, it’s easy to let a mistake slip through the cracks. Instead, it’s easier to remove the risk of posting incorrect content on your blog and handle the entire process yourself. Human intervention is needed While these apps market themselves as requiring little human intervention, this is not necessarily the case. You’ll need to go over the content to make sure it’s grammatically correct, and most importantly, you’ll need to fact-check the information every single time you use it. Also, as AI writers make many mistakes, you’ll find yourself reviewing every sentence several times. Ultimately, it can end up taking longer to use an AI writing tool because the proofreading and editing process is so extensive. SEO issues Google regularly updates its algorithm, ensuring low-value, thin content doesn’t rank highly. The search engine wants to ensure it delivers users as much value as possible. If you use an AI writing bot to create content, you’re probably not bringing anything unique or new to the table. AI is simply going to take what’s already on the Internet and present it in a different manner. It doesn’t offer any extra value. It won’t have your voice or your personality. Writing an SEO-optimised piece of content requires a human touch nowadays because search engine optimisation has moved on. Gone are the days when you could simply keyword stuff an article. Now, it’s all about value, the natural incorporation of keywords, and originality. These are three elements that AI tools simply cannot provide. Plus, as Google gets more and more intelligent, it may even start punishing AI-produced content, which can make your online future quite uncertain. A lack of originality and plagiarism concerns Usually, an AI tool will generate content for a subject based on what’s already on the web. This creates plagiarism concerns and does nothing in terms of helping you stand out from the crowd with original content. If you ask the AI writing tool to answer a specific and maybe complex question, it could produce an answer that’s very similar to what’s already on the web. Because of this, it’s critical that you use a reliable plagiarism tool to make sure you don’t find yourself in hot water. AI tools often produce dull content If you hand your content creation efforts over to a robot, you won’t get any personality. Even though you can request that the tool uses a different writing style or tone, it still has no human element. AI writing software is simply an algorithm full of program code and maths. It doesn’t have the capability to imagine or think as humans do. Rather, AI models make predictions, which result in the content generated. It’s purely the work of a calculation. Because of this, it’s impossible for an AI writing tool to add personality or human quality to your content. This is something only a human can do. Considering law firms deal with many sensitive topics, a human touch is even more critical than it may be in other industries. Protect your reputation by creating your own content While an AI bot promises to be quick and efficient, it doesn’t promise to deliver quality. You’ll find that you could spend hours upon end fixing grammatical errors and removing incorrect information. Ultimately, having a human create content is much quicker and easier. If you need help improving your law firm’s blog, please don’t hesitate to contact Social Hive. We’ve got many years of experience helping you to create unique, engaging, and SEO-optimised content for the legal sector. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/april/ai-writing/ Sun, 23 April 2023 00:00:00 For law firms with a digital presence (hopefully all of you), brand visibility is critical for business growth and revenue expansion. LinkedIn offers a remarkable platform that can be used as an alternative to other sales channels to increase engagement and attract potential clients. By creating a company profile page on LinkedIn, you have the ability to display your services, knowledge and experience in order to build meaningful relationships with those seeking legal advice. However, crafting an effective LinkedIn company page takes more than just throwing up a few pictures and some text. It’s about presenting yourself as an authority in the industry, engaging current followers with interesting content, and providing helpful resources that will keep people coming back for more. Here are five tips to help you create an impactful presence on LinkedIn for your law firm. 1. Define your target audience Before you create your LinkedIn company page, take some time to decide who would be interested in your legal services and tailor your page accordingly. Identify key demographic information about potential clients and referrers, such as where they are located, how old they are, and what their interests are. This will help ensure that the content you create resonates with your intended audience. For example, if your law firm is targeting young professionals looking for legal services, you could use your LinkedIn company page to showcase your expertise in areas such as contract disputes and employment law. This can be done by sharing blog posts outlining the basics of these topics and providing useful resources for further reading. You could also include links to articles from industry experts or videos you have produced discussing current issues in the field. Additionally, you could feature interviews with clients or staff members who have benefited from your services, which would help to build trust and credibility with potential customers. 2. Use professional imagery Content on LinkedIn should be professional but also engaging and visually appealing. To make sure that visitors stay on your law firm’s company page longer, consider incorporating videos and photos into your posts to keep the page interesting. You should also add a banner image and logo at the top of the page to enhance its visual impact. Take into account the following suggestions when building your LinkedIn company profile: Utilize high-quality images or videos to capture the attention of viewers and draw them in. For example, a law firm can share a photo of their team in action or a video highlighting the services they offer or a “how to” guide to make their page more visually appealing while also providing relevant and useful information. Take advantage of LinkedIn’s visual media features like slideshows and infographics to present complex legal topics in an easy-to-understand way that is both engaging and informative. Slideshows can be used to showcase important information about a particular service offering, while infographics can be used to break down the key elements of a case in a visually pleasing manner. Use interactive content such as polls, quizzes and contests to engage followers and encourage them to interact with your page more frequently. Polls are great for gathering feedback from followers and getting them to engage with your page, while quizzes can be used to test their knowledge on legal topics. Contests are also effective for boosting engagement as they give followers an incentive to get involved with your page and share it with their network of contacts. Visuals give people a better understanding of what your firm offers as opposed to text-alone posts. They also make it easier for potential customers to connect with your brand since they can quickly recognize what you do without having to read paragraphs of text. 3. Connect with people in your network To further broaden your law firm’s company page reach, connect with people in your professional network who may be interested in the services you offer and/or the knowledge you share. By connecting with individuals who have similar interests or are in related industries, you can increase visibility and attract new potential clients as LinkedIn followers. Establishing a presence within your network is key to generating visibility and building credibility. To do this, here are some useful tips: Identify the influencers Create a collection of people passionate about the legal industry - think lawyers, judges, and other specialists. After gathering your desired targets, directly approach them to connect with you on LinkedIn. An alternate strategy is utilizing tools such as a lawyer email database to facilitate locating potential partners in the law field. Connect through groups LinkedIn has a variety of groups related to legal services and topics, which are ideal platforms for networking with other professionals. Join relevant groups and start participating in discussions while promoting your lawyer company page. This will allow you to engage with people who have similar interests and make connections that could be beneficial for your business. Leverage endorsement Ask existing clients or colleagues to endorse or recommend your services on LinkedIn. This will help show potential customers that your service is reliable and trustworthy, which can encourage them to visit your page and see what you have to offer. Additionally, sharing positive reviews from satisfied customers can also help build trust in the eyes of prospects. Attend events Attending professional events such as conferences or seminars is a great way to meet new people in the industry and build relationships with potential customers or employers looking for legal help. While at the event, promote yourself by exchanging business cards or introducing yourself as someone who is knowledgeable about the law field. You can also post your attendance on your company's LinkedIn profile, tagging other companies/people and using hashtags to drive further engagement. 4. Build an email database Developing an email list of contacts from your LinkedIn company page is a terrific way to stay in touch with potential clients and referrers and keep them informed about the services you provide. This allows you to send customized content, such as newsletters or promotions tailored specifically for each recipient. You can then precisely target leads who have demonstrated interest in what your law firm has to offer. With this approach, it's easier than ever for customers to discover the value that your practice offers. When building an email database, it's important to make sure that you are clear and transparent about how your data will be used. State what information will be shared, how often people will receive emails, and any other relevant details. Additionally, make sure that you include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each communication so that people can opt out if they no longer wish to receive emails from you. Another good idea is to segment your email list into different categories based on user interests or customer type. This allows you to tailor content more effectively based on who it is being sent to, ensuring that each individual receives content that is relevant and useful for them. This can help increase customer engagement and sales conversions over time as well as reduce unsubscribes due to irrelevant content being sent out. 5. Utilize LinkedIn ads If you have room in your budget for paid advertising, consider taking advantage of LinkedIn’s ad platform, which allows businesses to target specific demographics with their ads. These campaigns can be highly successful as they allow you to reach individuals who are interested in legal services such as yours. Conclusion To maximize your law firm's presence and reach potential customers, creating a successful LinkedIn company page is essential. By using the advice provided here, such as: building an email list - developing a focused email list is crucial in effectively reaching and engaging with your target audience to promote your brand; networking with current contacts - leveraging your existing network can help you build new relationships and generate leads for your business; displaying endorsement s - showcasing positive feedback from satisfied customers or respected organizations can enhance your credibility and inspire potential customers to select your products or services; attending events - participating in pertinent events and conferences can facilitate connections with prospective customers, foster knowledge of industry trends, and increase visibility for your brand; and, implementing LinkedIn ads - targeted LinkedIn ads can effectively reach a specific audience and enhance the visibility of your brand among professionals in your industry. Using these tips, you can construct a LinkedIn company page that will help to cultivate success for your business. Take advantage of LinkedIn's powerful tools and maximize your visibility to generate more leads for your business. When you wield these strategies effectively, you'll soon notice a great influx in sales opportunities. About our guest author Jonnah Actub Jonnah, a Partnership Manager and SEO specialist at ContactOut , is proficient in off-page SEO. With a passion for the digital industry, she derives fulfilment from assisting businesses in achieving success through well-planned SEO strategies and providing informative content. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/april/linkedin-company-pages/ Mon, 10 April 2023 00:00:00 Updated February 2024 Google Universal Analytics is now gone! Google Analytics 4 is the new kid on the block. If you were using Universal Analytics, you must have, by now, transitioned to GA4 as UA is no longer collecting data. Google is clearly ahead of the pack when it comes to the web analytics technology sector . In 2022, Google Analytics dominated 29.62% of the industry, Google Global Site Tag represented 23.73% of the market, and Google Universal Analytics made up 19.61%. One of the reasons Google has such a dominant position in terms of web services, in general, is that the search engine giant never remains stagnant. It’s constantly updating its algorithms and services to provide users with the best possible experience and results. This is something we’ve seen with Universal Google Analytics, as Google Analytics 4 was recently introduced. This also means that Universal Analytics properties were made redundant in mid 2023 . (Something you should take note of for your sites running analytics). In this blog, we explore what you need to know about Google Analytics 4 and how to get started. What is Google Analytics? Google Analytics is a web analytics service that provides you with the tools to analyse your site’s performance. The data you gather and analyse enables you to optimise your marketing initiatives for your target audience. This service is free for anyone with a Google account and is part of the Google Marketing Platform . You can use Google Analytics to track site performance and gather visitor insights. It can help businesses to: discover trends and patterns in user engagement; track goal completions; gauge the success of marketing campaigns and activities; determine top sources of traffic and more. Small and medium-sized law firms often use Google Analytics to understand how potential clients use their websites so they can enhance their marketing efforts, drive website traffic, and retain visitor engagement.  Introducing Google Analytics 4: the next generation of analytics There is now only one type of analytics: Goog le Analytics 4 (GA4) Universal Analytics stopped processing data in early 2024.  GA4 has been created for the future of measurement. Let’s take a look at some of the key highlights: Direct integrations with media platforms that help drive actions on your app or website; Predictive capabilities that provide guidance without complicated models; Private controls are included, such as conversion modelling, behavioural modelling, and cookieless measurement ; GA4 utilises event-based data rather than session-based data; GA4 will collate both app and website data better to understand the consumer/visitor journey. So, what’s actually changed with GA4? The short answer: a lot! Google Analytics 4 utilises significantly different data collection and data structure logic. Rather than everything being built around sessions, it’s built around events and users. An events-based model like this processes every user interaction as a standalone event. This change is a monumental one, as we’ve historically relied on a session-based model where user interactions are grouped within a specified time frame. By moving the focus onto events, there are major advantages you can gain, including an enhanced capacity for path analysis and cross-platform analysis. The move to an event-based model means that Google Analytics 4 is more flexible and better able to predict how a user will behave. GA4 revolutionises reporting Google Analytics 4 is a forward-thinking solution that utilises enhanced machine learning techniques to effectively fill data gaps. It creates a single-user journey for all data connected to the same identity. Further, as the reporting interface is simple and easy to use (although a little overwhelming when moving from Universal Analytics), marketers should be able to spot data irregularities and trends with ease. GA4 makes the most of overview reports in summary cards, instead of presenting you with an extensive list of predefined reports that attempt to cover every use case. If you do want to dig a little bit deeper, all you need to do is click on the scorecard. Do I need to move from Universal Analytics to GA4? Yes, although if you have not done this by now, it's too late. It’s imperative that your law firm made the switch to Google Analytics 4 before Universal Analytics disappeared.  Gathering data and strengthening your machine learning (MIL) models will ensure that analysis in the future is much more meaningful. When you collect data more effectively, you’re able to make more intelligent marketing strategy decisions. How can I get started with Google Analytics 4? There are three possible options when getting started with Google Analytics 4. Setting up Analytics data collection for the first time - to do this, you’ll need to create an Analytics account and then a new GA4 property. You can then add a data stream and set up data collection for all of your websites. Adding GA4 to a website that already uses Universal Analytics - the good news is that there is a GA4 Setup Assistant Wizard that will guide you through all of the steps. You’ll find this by going to your Google Analytics account and then clicking on the following: Admin > Account > Property > GA4 Setup Assistant. Adding GA4 to a CMS or website builder platform - the process depends on the website builder you use . The majority of website builders enable you to provide your “G-” code to set up analytics. This includes WordPress, WooCommerce, Wix, TYPO3, Squarespace, One.com, Magento, HubSpot, Google Sites, GoDaddy, Duda, Drupal, Blogger, Awesome Motive and many more. Making the transition to Google Analytics 4 So there you have it. Everything you need to know about the introduction of Google Analytics 4. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/march/ga4/ Mon, 27 March 2023 00:00:00 Trust is one of the most essential ingredients for any business. If you have a trusted brand image, people will feel comfortable choosing you for their legal services. This is the case whether you’re talking about your real-world brand experience or your digital/online brand. It’s that simple. When you consider that legal services carry a lot of weight and the quality of service can greatly impact someone’s life, it’s not hard to see why trust is more important in this industry than in many others. However, a lot of law firms are eroding consumer trust without even realising it due to a poor-quality website. When you consider that every 3 in 4 people base the credibility of a business on the experience on their website , it’s clear this is something you need to pay careful attention to. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the things that may make your law firm’s website appear untrustworthy. 1.   A sparse website with insufficient content The first place to start is with a lack of information. If your website doesn’t contain a lot of content, people may assume you’ve got something to hide or, equally as bad, you don’t know very much about your product or service! People like to know who they’re working with. They want to see the team behind the brand name. They want to know about your credentials. Of course, you need to display this information in an attractive manner that’s easy to digest. However, don’t simply omit big chunks of information about your business. 2.  Poor design - UX matters! Did you know that 94% of a user’s first impressions on a website are related to the design? Researchers believe that website visitors will often make a decision on trustworthiness based on what the website looks like alone. If your website looks outdated and it takes a while to load, your credibility will tumble. Some of the signs of a poor website from a design perspective include: inconsistent fonts and colour schemes; tiny fonts (almost illegible); flashing letters and outdated graphics; poor-quality images and a lack of original visual media; a website that’s not mobile-friendly ; scrolling, blinking, or spinning text; unclear navigation ; a poor overall user experience ; a website that takes a long time to load. 3.  A lack of customer testimonials When looking for a business nowadays, we often spend time reading reviews and finding out what past clients have to say about their experience. If you attempt this and no feedback appears, it can feel like the business is either a scam or hasn’t had many customers, both of which can be a worry. This is why it is critical to make sure you have plenty of customer testimonials on your website that potential clients can read. Simply having these reviews is not enough, though. People are increasingly becoming wary of businesses that appear to write their own customer reviews. This is why it can help to install a widget that displays reviews that people have posted about your firm on independent review platforms. This will ensure site visitors that you have had no influence over what’s been written. 4.  No SSL certificate Online security is a big concern for people today. It seems that there’s news of a fresh data breach every week. Because of this, consumers are paying more attention to the security efforts online businesses are making. While you may not take payments online, this doesn’t mean you don’t have any responsibilities. Potential clients will share personal contact information and details about their case with you, so you need to do everything in your power to protect this. One of these approaches is to use an SSL certificate . This is a secure site certificate providing your site with an HTTPS prefix rather than the old HTTP . This means you will have an added encryption layer, which will protect login data and sensitive information from prying eyes. SSL certificates don’t cost a lot, so there’s no excuse for not having one.   5.   Irrelevant and uninspiring images Humans are visual creatures. We like to see images alongside our words. We like diagrams, illustrations, and other forms of visual media. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean you should simply use images for the sake of it. All of your images need to do at least one of two things: Illustrate the narrative of your page; or Demonstrate your value proposition. If you have irrelevant images throughout your website, it’s only going to confuse the viewer and dilute your brand image. There are several stock image sites available for you to subscribe to. Some offer royalty-free images, and some are paid subscriptions. Both have a place, depending on what you’re after, your firm size and your budget 6.  Asking website visitors for too much information Gated content is an excellent data capture method. A lot of legal firms will create blog posts that are only for members, for example. Notably, these tend to be commercial firms (B2B rather than B2B). This means that website viewers need to share information to view the post. However, you do need to be careful that you don’t go too far with this and ask for an unreasonable amount of information about the individual. If you ask for too much personal information, people will feel like you’re invading their privacy, and they’ll wonder why you need so much data about them in the first place. Ultimately, it’s a bit of a balancing ask. After all, if you don’t ask for much information at all, your visitors may end up undervaluing your content. You need to make sure you don’t slip to either extreme. If you do, it will make your proposition appear less authentic, and your conversions will suffer as a consequence. You also need to remember that with so much content available online nowadays, what is the potential your website visitor can find the information from your competitor without providing personal details? How trustworthy is your legal website? If you’re feeling unsure as to whether or not your legal website feels credible or you have noticed some of the signs we’ve mentioned above, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for more information. We’ve helped many legal firms drastically improve their online presence. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/february/untrustworthy-site/ Mon, 27 February 2023 00:00:00 Law firms are one of the most highly competitive markets in today's world. To ensure that your company stands out, it's vital to plan an effective marketing strategy that not only performs well at a technical level but also looks good and appeals to your visitors. In this blog, we explore the use of free stock images to enhance your digital assets (and your traditional assets will benefit also). It’s crucial that you always use proper and legally acquired images across your digital platforms from your website to social channels and advertising campaigns. For a law firm marketing campaign , the pictures should be aesthetically pleasing and lively for the bland content. Ultimately, this will attract clients and boost conversions. And critically, they must be legal to ensure you don’t get caught out by copyright laws . In most cases, using custom photos is the ideal solution. But if you have time constraints, it may not be the best option. It can also be very costly. In scenarios like these, stock photos save the day as they are pre-existing, ready-made images that you can use to enhance your website. Stock photos can be paid or free There are many websites on the internet that offer both paid and free stock images. However, choosing an affordable stock imagery website has many benefits. Since they have a cost associated with them, they will not appear as many times on other businesses’ websites as free ones do. Moreover, they offer peace of mind for you as a business as they furnish upfront licenses for the images you purchase from their website. But that doesn’t mean you cannot use the resources available on free stock image websites. If you are on a tight budget, you should consider exploring these. The only trick is to choose the safest stock photo websites with a good collection of styles that suit your firm’s website. Here are a few you can explore. Our top pick free stock images sites Let's discover seven top-notch free stock photo sites and change the landscape of your web page from plain boring to exciting and intriguing.  1.  Freerange Thanks to photo enthusiasts, Freerange offers thousands of high-quality images to its users. All it requires is to register on the site. You can choose the photos from 30 categories using the refined search tool and filter the content according to date or popularity. The service monitors image quality standards, so rest assured that any image you choose will be vivid, unique, and attractive. Why choose Freerange? Simple, easy-to-use interface. Documentary style shots. Contains high-resolution pictures. The website is updated with new photos every day by in-site and community photographers. 2.  Unsplash Started as a side project by Crew, Unsplash has become one of the most-used copyright-free stock photo sites. It features more than three million photos and is a hub of trendy, artistic images that can elevate your page's look. Browse the photo you want by typing in the keyword and narrow down your search based on orientation and color. If you're unsure about exactly what you're looking for, make use of the category feature on the homepage and get ready to be inspired by the unique shots. Why choose Unsplash? Robust search system. Astonishing database of images, textures, wallpaper, and designs. API integrated with popular tools like Notion, Trello, and Figma. Its "collections" section sorts pictures according to themes. 3.  Pixabay With more than 2.7 million photos, vectors, illustrations, GIFs, music, sound effects, and videos, Pixabay is a one-stop shop for all your photography needs. The clean layout of the website enables people from all backgrounds to navigate easily. Its advanced search option is fantastic, as the filter lets you sort the image by orientation, category, colour, and size. Why choose Pixabay? Super trendy collection of over 2.7 million curated stock photos. Its blog keeps you updated with the latest trends. You can search according to the photographer of your choice. Its editor's section highlights the best images chosen by the website's dedicated team. 4.  Adobe Stock If you want a premium collection of stock images, look no more than the Adobe Stock Free Collection site . The robust and innovative search engine is unique and eye-catching as you can select a plethora of filters, like asset type, artist, background, colour, people, and many more, to find your desired picture. Why choose Adobe Stock Free? Innovative search engine. Aesthetic and appealing user interface. The "find similar" feature lets you access the relevant pictures. A vast collection of images, videos, designs, motion graphics templates, illustrations, and vectors. 5.  123RF 123RF is another free stock image website that offers a substantial library of stunning images. Here, you will find a diverse range of footage, vector illustrations, and audio. Moreover, its clean interface lets you browse the desired content easily with just a few simple clicks. You can choose a download size and save yourself hours of effort spent on optimizing and resizing the image for social media platforms. The auto-enhance option makes instant professional adjustments to the photos and takes them to the next level.  Why choose 123RF? Its trending word section makes the search easier. Has a background removal tool. Spice up your photos with its cool filters and effect feature. Its blog keeps you updated with the latest trends and tips. 6.  Pexels Launched in 2015, Pexels is home to hundreds of thousands of high-resolution stock images contributed by in-house photographers or sourced from free image websites. Find the image with the help of standard search options or use advanced features such as collections and trending topics. Choose photos from here and customize them to create visually appealing content for your site. Why choose Pexels? Well-organized collection of images and videos. The library is searchable in 28 languages. The Pexels team only adds high-quality pictures on the site. Explore feature lets you discover hidden (and unexplored) images. 7.  StockSnap.io StockSnap.io is another popular source for free stock images, thanks to its versatile collection and updated media. The search engine is easy to use and has no learning curve, which allows people from all backgrounds to navigate the site easily. Just type in the keyword of what you're looking for or browse the categories and find your favorite pictures among them. Why choose StockSnap.io? Compelling, eye-catching visual images. The database gets updated weekly. It keeps you in the loop with the trending collection feature. Its blog brings forward valuable tips and tricks that are beneficial for digital marketing. Conclusion Images are essential to enhance the visual appeal of your law firm website and other digital platforms because if it's not intriguing enough, the bounce rate goes up. To ensure this doesn't happen, it's important to incorporate relevant and high-quality photos as they help keep the readers engaged on your site, generate leads, and turn potential clients into long-term, paying ones. Now that you know about some of the best free stock photo sites, it's time to check them out and revamp your online presence to take your legal business to the next level.  Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au About the author Ivy Attie is a content creator specialising in digital marketing and visual media. She understands the importance of marketing tools and advocates their benefits to ensure success. She also enjoys literature and performing arts. https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/january/free-stock-images/ Mon, 30 January 2023 00:00:00 Your heart might skip a beat or two when you see that your website has been removed from the Google search results altogether. A lot of business owners tend to assume that this simply can’t happen. However, Google has strict terms and conditions in place, and any sort of breach can result in your website being removed from its search results altogether. In this blog, we delve a little deeper to explore why this may have happened. Your website has been penalised by Google If your website has a penalty applied by Google, it may not show up in Google’s search results. If you haven’t followed Google’s quality guidelines, you may have a permanent or temporary removal from the Google search results. There are three primary types of Google penalties: Your website is sandboxed , which means you experience a sudden drop in Google traffic , but your domain is not penalised or deindexed. Your website is penalised, which means that your domain still exists, but domains (that is, your website) cannot be located via a Google search. Google can manually apply penalties or they can occur due to algorithm updates. Your website is deindexed , which means your domain is completely removed from the search engine results. To find out whether you have a penalty, check Google Search Console for any penalty alerts. Once you know what has happened, you need to take the appropriate steps to fix your website. You can then submit your website for reconsideration so that you get back onto Google. Your UX is poor Nowadays, Google does not only consider links and keywords. It is concerned about the entire user experience you deliver to its searchers. If you improve your UX , people will stay on your website for longer, bounce rates will drop, and ultimately, Google will pick up signals that your website is relevant and of high quality. This will help your rating. To make your UX better, here are a few places to start: Incorporate visual elements to engage visitors and break up chunks of content; Streamline your website’s navigation so people can find the information they require without having to think twice; Speed up your website’s load time by using page speed optimisation tools. If you’re struggling with this, the best thing to do is hire an experienced web development company that can ensure your website delights anyone who visits it. Your keywords are too competitive If your presence on Google has gotten worse and worse, it could be because you’re targeting keywords that are simply too competitive. Now would be a good time to revisit your keyword strategy . If you only aim to rank for highly competitive keywords, you are going to be competing with big brands, and it can be incredibly difficult to make your voice heard. It’s fine to have all those highly competitive words and phrases on your site, but you also need to include a strategy that targets the less competitive phrases. It makes sense to target long-tail keywords , which contain three or more keywords. Yes, long-tail keywords will have a lower number of monthly searches. However, you are going to have a much better chance of ranking higher, meaning visibility will be much better. It’s simple mathematics: You have 500 firms targeting a high-value keyword with 5,000 monthly searches; the bigger sites, with more content and more regular updates, will likely take out the top spots on page 1 of the results. You have 10 firms targeting a low-value, long-tail keyword with 50 searches per month; all ten firms have a higher chance of appearing on page 1 for that search. Furthermore, those conducting such searches will have a very specific search intent, which means you’re much more likely to have people landing on your website that are genuinely interested in your legal services. To fix your keyword strategy, go back to the drawing board and conduct keyword research. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner , KeywordsFX , and Keyword Tool are ideal. Start targeting less competitive phrases to boost your visibility. You have not optimised your website effectively Your SEO could be the issue! There are hundreds of different ranking factors that Google considers when ranking a website. Plus, with algorithms changing all of the time, what worked a few years ago may not be effective now. You should start by carrying out an extensive SEO audit of your website. This will enable you to discover any areas that need to be improved so that you can make the required changes to achieve a top ranking. Here are some areas to help you get started: Create high-quality, unique, in-depth content that answers people’s search queries; Incorporate keywords in your website copy, page titles, and headings; Streamline the design and navigation of your website so it delivers an excellent user experience; Make sure your website is quick to load; Clean up your technical SEO and website code. Your website isn’t indexed Websites that are not indexed by Google will not appear in the search results. Not only can this happen when a website is new (and you’ll need a bit of patience when you submit a new website for indexing), but also if your website has ‘no index’ tags. These tags will prevent search bots from crawling parts of your website and indexing specific pages. If your website operates on WordPress, it could be that one of the in-built features is instructing the search engine not to index your website. This setting can be manually disabled. Head to ‘Settings,’ ‘Reading,’ and then uncheck the box next to ‘Search Engine Visibility.’ Finally, Google crawlers may not be able to visit portions of your website due to a robots.txt file . Make sure you didn’t disallow pages you actually want to rank by accident. Looking to make your website work harder for you? Is it time for a refresh or rebuild of your website ? We provide services to develop your website and optimise your content (SEO). Get in touch for an obligation-free quote. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2023/january/not-showing-on-google/ Mon, 16 January 2023 00:00:00 As we close another year, it provides us with a great opportunity to reflect on the year that was and look forward to the year ahead. In business, you achieve nothing by remaining stagnant. Investment in digital marketing in 2025  is expected to increase across many industries. The best businesses constantly evolve, and to do this, you need to keep up with the latest trends. So, with that in mind, in this blog we are going to reveal some of the key marketing trends we expect to see dominate in 2023. AI chatbots Love them or hate them, chatbots have become useful for marketers, but we will see the next evolution of chatbots over the coming years. AI chatbots will be a lot more sophisticated (thankfully), and they will be able to assist clients with specialist queries and concerns. This can help to boost customer experience while ensuring that your team only has to deal with complex queries where the answers cannot be found online. If you are going to use a chatbot, make sure you do it right , though! There’s nothing more frustrating than going around in circles with a robot agent who does not understand your question or really adds no value to your experience. Gathering zero-party data Zero-party data is information that customers voluntarily share with organisations. As someone who is ingrained in the legal world, you will know all too well that rules and regulations are changing all of the time. There are more stringent rules regarding data collection and use, and rightly so. However, this does not take away from the fact that data is more vital to businesses than it ever has been. Because of this, you need to carefully consider how you gather consumer data while also ensuring all of the legalities are covered. Form and survey building are obvious choices here, and it is a great way for you to learn more about your customers so that you can offer a better service going forward. Social responsibility We expect to see a lot of legal firms create social responsibility content throughout the coming year. In fact, 89 percent of marketers who create social responsibility content plans are going to maintain or increase their investment. This is almost double the year prior. It is not hard to see why this is such a pivotal trend. Transparency, ethics, and social responsibility all matter to the modern-day customer. For example, 40 per cent of millennials and 50 per cent of Gen Z’s want businesses to take a stance on climate change, gender inequality, LGBTQI+ rights, racial justice, and social issues. If your business advocates for such issues, it can have a powerful impact on whether a client chooses to work with you or a different law firm. Many businesses have started to pivot social media strategies so they can concentrate more on inclusive offerings and initiatives while also highlighting the missions or causes they support. While this may not immediately sell your services, it does show a sense of social responsibility, and this is highly effective and thoughtful. People will remember your brand, and they will be much more inclined to use your services whenever they need a lawyer. Using social media for customer service Did you know that 89 per cent of customers may want to message your brand ? Further, 73 per cent of clients (2021 data and likely increasing) say they love a specific brand or business due to helpful customer service. Because of this, it makes sense to prioritise customer service when creating a successful business in 2023. One of the ways you can do this is by offering customers different methods of connecting with your business. Social media is an obvious place to begin. If someone searches for a law firm on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and they see that you have your direct messages turned on, they may choose to start a discussion. However, if they have to then head to your website and either call or email your business, you may find that this is simply too long-winded, and you never hear from them. Offering effective customer service across social media should also lend itself well to receiving more positive reviews from people, which will help to enhance your social proof. After all, when someone searches for something as vital as legal help, they are going to want to see proof that others have been happy with your service. Short-form videos Short-form video is another trend that is really coming into its own. While long-form videos provide large amounts of information and in-depth content, short-form videos can be much more effective at getting a point across.  One great way to create engaging short-form videos is by using a free online video maker . Online audiences today have short attention spans, and short-form videos align perfectly with this. This is why we have seen a lot of social media platforms offer reels and quick-fire video features in the past year. Plus, short-form videos are easier to create , and they use less bandwidth, so it’s a win-win! Influencer marketing Influencer marketing has really picked up steam in 2022. However, we expect things to heat up throughout the following year. In fact, 17 per cent of marketers intend to invest in it for the first time , while 89 per cent of those who already engage in influencer marketing will either maintain or increase their investment. In the past, many viewed influencer marketing as a tactic reserved for beauty and fashion brands who would team up with celebs and reality stars. However, it has gone far beyond this. Lawyers can collaborate with industry thought leaders and influencers to increase brand awareness. Micro-influencers will become increasingly important, especially for those on a restricted budget. These influencers have a lower follower count, but they have high levels of engagement, so they pack a powerful punch. Leverage key marketing trends and watch your brand soar in 2023 So, there you have it: an insight into some of the marketing trends we expect to flourish throughout 2023. If you don’t know which marketing tactics you should leverage or you need help putting together an effective marketing plan for your legal firm, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Social Hive, and we will be more than happy to help. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/december/marketing-trends-2023/ Mon, 19 December 2022 00:00:00 If there is one thing we know about Google, it’s that it never remains stagnant! The search engine giant is continually making changes to its platforms and algorithms, and it is critical that businesses keep up. Over 2022, Google has been rolling out the new look Google Business Profile which replaces Google My Business. Let’s take a closer look at the new look and feel. Starting earlier in 2022, Google commenced changing how businesses manage their Google business profile. This used to be known as Google My Business , but it’s now Google Business Profile . Below, we will tell you a little bit more about the changes and what to expect so that you can manage your business’s presence effectively in search. You can now only manage your Google Business Profile in-SERP Google has been slowly rolling out new business profile management options for users. For the past few months, you may have noticed a pop-up whenever you log into your account, asking if you would now like to manage this live (in-SERP, meaning on the search engine results page) or stay within the dashboard (how you were accustomed to managing your profile in the past). We’re sure most of you would have been selecting to stay within the dashboard. After all, we all like to stick with what we know, right? However, this is no longer an option. Whenever you log in now, you will be taken directly to the “in-SERP” or “live” management mode. The dashboard is a thing of the past. You can take a look at the image below to see what Google Business Profile management now looks like. A new editing and management experience Of course, SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page . So, you’re managing your business profile on your SERP. This provides a completely new editing and management experience. We have noticed that some performance metrics have disappeared, as have some photo insights. There are also some small changes in terminology. Rather than being a ‘user,’ you’re now referred to as a ‘manager.’ Furthermore, in the old dashboard, the term ‘posts’ was used, and this has been replaced with ‘updates.’ In the SERP, a lot of the features are hidden behind the three dots. You no longer have a dashboard experience with full visualisation of your Google Business Profile performance and data. Performance metrics has a new look We have had to say goodbye to performance metrics that were helpful when managing a Google Business Profile . You cannot access insights on how people search for your business on Google. There is no longer a pie chart that offers visualisation on your searches. Instead, you must download data from your Google Business Profile to evaluate and visualise it. Alternatively, you can access it using the API. You won’t be able to get data on where searchers are located or how people use directions. Instead, there is a new ‘Performance’ area, which shows you, amongst other things, the number of requests you have over time. You can break this down, using the tabs, for website clicks, bookings, messages, and calls, all of which can be located under the Performance section in the in-SERP editor. What this means is that there is a critical data visualisation element missing for businesses. This will be felt by more companies than others. For example, if you run a seasonal business, these insights and data were incredibly valuable. You could use them to understand how to budget properly and how much money to set aside for marketing. Now, different methods must be used to establish this. Photo insights no longer available A lot of people have also been shocked to discover that Photo Insights is no longer available on Google Business Profiles. Previously, these insights provided you with data regarding the types of views your photos received. You would also be able to find out how many photos you had contributed to your profile in comparison to the number of photos your customers had uploaded. You could use this data to find out what sort of influence your photos were having on your Google Business Profile and, ultimately, how engaging and active your profile was. Of course, the in-SERP editor has only just been rolled out, so we can expect some changes and improvements going forward. It will be interesting to see if Google provides us with anything similar to photo insights going forward. The three dots (...) With the dashboard version of Google Business Profile, you would have been used to seeing everything you need in front of you. However, they are now clickable icons. As in-SERP has limited space, the three-dot menu button is used to organise your listing. By clicking on this, you will find a whole host of different options, such as notification settings. This basically means that you need to look a little bit more to access the features you need, but we’re sure everyone will soon get used to this. What do the Google Business Profile changes mean to you? As is the case with any change, it takes a little bit of time to get used to. Google has taken away some metrics and insights. If you relied on these, you will need to find different ways of getting the data you need and analysing it. You may choose to download the data and use your own visualisation techniques. We recommend spending a bit of time exploring the in-SERP editor so that you can get used to it and understand the changes that have been made. We’re here to help you optimise your Google Business Profile If you are finding it difficult to navigate the changes that have been made or if you previously relied on the performance and photo insights that have now been removed, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Social Hive today. We have helped many law firms to optimise their Google Business Profile listing. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/november/gbp-replaces-gmb/ Mon, 28 November 2022 00:00:00 Law firms carry a lot of confidential data. Because of this, the risk of a data breach is a severe one. Statistics show that the average cost of a data breach in Australia is $3.35 million per breach, which represents a 9.8% increase year-on-year. When you combine the financial losses with the reputational damage your business will suffer, it is not hard to see why many law firms struggle to come back from cyber attacks. In fact, six in 10 small companies go out of business within six months after they have been a victim of a cyber-attack or data breach. However, if you’ve had the misfortune of suffering a data breach, it doesn’t need to be the end for your business. Aside from rectifying the issue, you will also need to work on rebuilding your reputation, and this is where a stellar marketing plan comes into play. Put together a proactive crisis management plan No matter how secure your law firm’s digital assets are, there is the chance that a sophisticated hacker could break your defences. This means that you need to prioritise proactive planning and establish a crisis communication strategy. Your crisis management plan needs to be comprehensive and thorough. It should include the following elements: Executing continuous effectiveness testing; Outlining response protocols; Identifying sensitive documents; Identifying responsibilities; Inventorying software and hardware. You need to make sure that all employees are briefed on how they communicate with customers and anyone who is worried about the impact of the data breach. Remember, every move now is going to be scrutinised. So, you need to begin by making sure that your team is your biggest branding asset. After all, all of your hard work on other marketing channels can quickly be undone if your staff members end up taking you two steps back. Don’t hide from the truth A data breach has happened. You cannot deny it. You cannot pretend it has not happened. Instead, you need to be honest and upfront. Whether it is a video or a detailed blog post explaining what happened and how customers can protect themselves, it is important to acknowledge the incident. Be transparent, honest, and helpful. Remember, trust is likely at an all-time low. Appearing sheepish or running away from the truth will not do your business any favours. Ramp up your content marketing efforts When news of a data breach becomes public, a lot of negative pieces of content end up online. Not only does this include negative reviews from clients, but the story can hit the news. You may even find that competing businesses take advantage of your bad luck, using your story to criticise your business and show people that their law firm is a more secure and reliable choice. It is for this reason that it makes sense to start ramping up your content marketing efforts . After all, you want to put the balance back in your favour. You do not want every story online to be about your business’ data breach. Instead, create authoritative content that will help your clients and show you as an expert in your field. Use a range of different mediums, from infographics and written content to photos and videos. Videos work well because they develop a human connection. Of course, we do not recommend that you start spamming everyone! However, it is time to get some fresh content out there so that people don’t only see data breach stories whenever they search your law firm’s name. Respond to negative reviews about the data breach If your law firm has suffered a data breach, negative reviews may start to crop up online. However, burying your head in the sand is one of the worst things you can do. Instead, you need to respond to negative online reviews . You always need to make sure you show empathy. Express your sincere apologies for what has happened and the stress and upset that this incident has caused. Next, you need to explain how you can help the customer. What actionable steps have you taken to ensure their information is secure? Does the customer need to do anything? Be clear and concise, and cover everything that is needed to ensure the situation does not end up getting even worse. Finally, offer something to keep the customer on side. When trust is eroded, it can be very difficult to prevent a customer from leaving and heading to the competition. This is why you may want to consider making them an offer they can’t refuse to try and keep them onboard. Not only is this vital in terms of holding onto your customers, but it is imperative for reputation management and showing that you care about your clients. Use secure marketing tools Last but not least, ramping up your marketing efforts during this period makes a lot of sense. After all, you need to get people back on your side again. However, while you’re doing this, the last thing you want is for another data breach to come your way. This really could mean the end for most legal businesses. So, irrespective of your marketing efforts, make sure that any tool you use is fully secure. The tools you use should offer data management, visibility, two-factor authentication and reporting. A stringent level of security must always be maintained. Marketing wisely after a data breach Navigating life after a data breach is not easy. A lot of eyes are going to be on your business. You need to regain trust and build your brand image again. If you need a helping hand, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the team here at Social Hive for more information. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/november/data-breach/ Mon, 07 November 2022 00:00:00 Your digital presence is more important than it ever has been. With 65 million decision makers and a highly engaged user base, LinkedIn is the perfect social media network for those in the legal sector. LinkedIn also boasts an ever-increasing range of brand-boosting tools to help your business enjoy greater success. One such tool is the LinkedIn post boosting feature. What is LinkedIn post boosting? Boosting a post on LinkedIn is precisely what it says on the title. It’s all about increasing your post’s visibility and helping it to be viewed by a wider and more targeted audience so that you can achieve your goals effectively. What are the benefits of boosting a LinkedIn page post? LinkedIn currently has more than 830 million users , with around half of these users active at least once a month. This makes it the most influential and biggest professional community on the web. While this presents endless opportunities, it also means competition is fierce. Rather than your content being hidden amongst a sea of other posts, boosting your LinkedIn content can ensure it appears in all of the right places. Your post will even pop up on the feeds of users who do not follow your page, to begin with. With just the click of a button, LinkedIn post boosting enables you to reach a much bigger audience! It is also incredibly easy to use. You don’t have to be technically-minded to make the most of this marketing approach. Plus, if that was not enough, you can target your marketing efforts effectively. LinkedIn utilises reliable and accurate member-generated data that enables you to target whomever you wish based on location, job function, seniority with their respective business, and much more. 8 steps to boosting a LinkedIn page post Before we take you through the eight steps to follow when boosting a LinkedIn post , there are three criteria that need to be met to use this feature: You can only boost a page if you have “content admin” or “super admin” access on the LinkedIn page in question; You can only boost videos, single-image posts, text posts or events; You cannot boost the same post twice. Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s take you through the steps required. Access the admin view of your LinkedIn Page (that’s your company page, not your personal profile) and find the post you want to boost in the ‘updates’ section of your page feed. There is a ‘Boost’ button just above the post of interest. Click on this. You should now be on the ‘Boost Post’ page. Open the dropdown menu and choose an objective that matches your company's needs. Choose the type of audience you wish to target through boosting. For example, you could target an audience based on their interest, where in Australia they are, or what job they have. Uncheck ‘Automatic Audience Expansion’ and ‘Include LinkedIn Audience Network’, unless you want to keep these features on. Set your ‘Schedule’ and ‘Lifetime Budget.’ Choose the ad account for billing. Click on ‘Boost’ 4 tips for optimising the success of your LinkedIn boosted post Simply boosting a post is not necessarily enough. You should also be making sure that the content you are boosting is engaging and will help you to reach your objectives. Here are some helpful tips: 1.  Develop an organic presence on LinkedIn You cannot simply dive right in, open an account, and start boosting every post. This will appear spammy. Instead, you need to develop an organic presence. To achieve this, you should post content on a consistent basis. Make sure it is authentic and focused. Also, spend some time replying to feedback and engaging in the comments section. You will want to ensure your LinkedIn page profile is complete too. 2.  Boost high-performance posts From photos to polls, there are many content types you can make the most of. However, on LinkedIn, the types of posts that usually get the most engagement include new service launches, topical news and industry reports. When deciding what content to boost, not only do you need to ensure you pick something interesting that will perform well, but you need to make sure it aligns with your objectives too. 3.  Strategically target your audience The ability to reach ultra-specific target audiences is one of the great benefits associated with LinkedIn boosted posts. You can reach people by their professional interests, industry and seniority. Ultimately, you can make sure you target the right people at the right time, which you need to do when boosting posts on LinkedIn. 4.  Select the right objective for your campaign Selecting an objective that is meaningful is critical. Do you want to build web traffic? Do you need more followers? Are you looking to increase awareness of an event? Your chosen objective will not influence the way your post looks but it will help to make LinkedIn aware of your goals and requirements. This ensures you are matched with the best audience for optimal impact. For example, selecting an objective for ‘engagement’ will optimise your opportunity for followers, reshares, and likes. ‘Brand awareness’ will ensure you are in front of as many people as possible. How much do LinkedIn boosted posts cost? One of the great things about boosting posts on LinkedIn is that you are in control of how much you spend. You are free to assign a daily budget or a lifetime (for the life of your campaign) budget. However, there is a minimum spend of approximately AU$15.00 per day, so do keep this in mind. You can easily track your spending from your LinkedIn account and you can make changes to your budget, so long as you do not dip below the minimum spend required. Make a big impression on LinkedIn with post boosting LinkedIn organic posts can be highly beneficial for law firms when it comes to their social media efforts . However, if you’re struggling to get results with organic posting only, then leveraging the ‘post boost’ feature could be just the thing you need. This is a great way to increase brand exposure and reach more people online. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/october/linkedin-post-boost/ Mon, 17 October 2022 00:00:00 There are many ways to improve the on-page SEO of a website. Some of the methods include ensuring that the site has relevant anchor-text links and using meta descriptions and page titles. This will improve the website's ranking and get more traffic. You can also make use of schema markup, which is an HTML element. In this blog, we explore the top on-page SEO tips and strategies you need to know to succeed in 2022 and beyond. 1. Page titles One of the most important on-page SEO tips is to optimise your page title. It is the first thing that a reader will see and often carries a substantial amount of SEO value. A good page title tells Google and users exactly what the page is about. Further, the title doesn't compete with ads or snippets - it just lets users understand what they're reading. When writing your page title, make sure to include your main keyword phrase. While putting keywords in your title doesn't directly affect your ranking, it tells users that you have high-quality content. Besides keywords, you can use trigger words or adjectives to make the title more interesting. You can also include your company name, but avoid using it more than once because it will harm your click-through-rate (‘CTR’) and readability. It’s also a good idea to keep your page title a bit different from your H1 tag of the page. The H1 tag is equally important to on-page SEO, but many companies have the same page title and H1 since that’s a default setting in many page builders. Be sure not to make this mistake and change your H1 tag a bit from the page title. 2. Meta descriptions Meta descriptions are one of the most important elements of any web page, and they should clearly convey what the page is about. However, they should be written in a way that appeals to human readers rather than search engines. The meta description should also speak to the content of the page, and it should be as interesting and engaging as possible. The meta description is typically 120 to 156 characters long. Google will display your meta description in the search results (the smaller text immediately below the title), so it is imperative to optimise it properly. It should be clear and action-oriented and should include the main keywords. Importantly, it should not contain duplicate keywords or create false trust. Instead, it should provide the solution, benefit or value that users are looking for. If done properly, meta descriptions can boost your CTR and help you get more traffic. If you were running any other local advertising , you would definitely consider the copy you use in the ad. Meta descriptions are no different. Be sure to optimise your meta description just as you would the text contained in an ad. 3. Schema markup Schema markup is a powerful SEO tool that helps search engines understand your content better. Basically, it tells search engines what elements and content on your page are important. For example, Google can determine that your article is about a particular topic, or it can tell it's about a specific author. It can also influence organic traffic and how your website appears in search results. If you do it correctly, you may receive rich snippets or even take a zero position (a featured snippet that appears above the first organic results) for certain search queries. This simple yet powerful SEO tip improves the appearance of your web pages and can increase traffic significantly. Schema markup increases click-through rates and can drastically improve your local SEO efforts as well. Furthermore, the rich snippets you achieve in the SERPs should be interesting enough to drive traffic and increase conversions. 4. Image alt text If you're struggling to get the most out of your website images, image alt text can help. Image alt text can help your images appear higher in image search results. It can also increase your keyword rankings. When used properly, alt text is descriptive but should not be spammy or keyword-stuffed. Rather, it should describe the image and its contents to those who can't view it. As a rule of thumb, image alt text should describe the image rather than simply repeating the image's title. For example, if you're using a cake image on your page, the alt text must describe the cake. This will help sight-impaired people understand what the image contains. 5. Internal link anchor-text Anchor-text of your internal links can be very helpful to your SEO strategy. Anchor-text is the selection of words you apply a hyperlink to. Proper use of anchor text can help you achieve higher rankings. However, you should be cautious while choosing the right anchors for your internal links. If you use the wrong anchors, they may harm your website. To avoid this, it is important to choose relevant anchor texts that are related to the content of your website. These anchors should also be created with good quality. When choosing the anchor text of your links, try to make sure it sounds natural. Search engine algorithms are getting better at natural language processing. Also, consider the type of content on the page you are linking to and ensure it is relevant. Conclusion On-Page SEO can make or break an SEO campaign. Be sure to cover the basics and follow our top on-page SEO tips to succeed with SEO this year and beyond! About our guest author Roger Avila Roger Avila is an SEO Manager at JetRank that’s based out of San Diego, CA, USA. Other than work, Roger enjoys biking, most sports and spending time with family. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/september/on-page-seo/ Wed, 21 September 2022 00:00:00 Planning content to guarantee your website not only gets traffic, but the right traffic to convert to desired goals is a complex and often expensive problem for many firms. Doing your research before diving into a website build or update is essential to understanding who your future customers from the web are going to be. Surveys can be a highly cost-effective research method for understanding behaviour from a variety of cross sections to your business. However, surveys must be planned carefully to avoid an outcome of limited or biased insights and wasting participants or your valuable time and money. Set clear objectives By far, the most important step is understanding the objectives of your website content and how a survey is going to help this. Common objectives to analyse website content could be: generating backlinks on your site (links from other sites to yours); improving current content or generating more high-value SEO content using insights from current clients; or growing social media platform engagement. A survey is most effective at understanding user behaviour and pain points with your business or services that your industry offers. Examples of tasks to prepare your survey could be: asking users why they came to your website; supporting research from Google analytics for proposed changes; or getting feedback from a new page implemented. Consider your target audience Now that the objectives of the survey are sorted, choosing the correct survey type for your unique audience is the next step. Understanding where your relevant respondents are is the key to the type of survey you run, and your respondents may not be located where you think. For example, when planning content on your website, having a survey pop-up on your site for feedback on the current layout could easily annoy a user, prompt them to exit and for you to lose business. Instead, rich insights could be drawn from someone waiting in the reception area of your office who chose your business after submitting an online form and came close to submitting a form on a competitor's website. Types of surveys   1. Online intercept survey A survey that is triggered during the use of a website or app. This type of survey is best used for website feedback, usability issues or post-purchase feedback from customers. It is also used when you need to reach a wide audience. Intercept surveys must be designed carefully to discourage exits. 2. Email survey A survey in which participants are recruited from an email message. This type of survey is potentially powerful for segmentation when integrated with an email marketing tool like Mailchimp. Segmentation is where you separate your audience by a variety of demographics. Some may receive one version of your email, while another receives a slightly different version. Effective copywriting with a relevant headline to ensure the message does not get lost against competing emails is critical. 3. Face-to-face survey This type of survey can be effective for recruiting respondents, with limited effort on the part of the responder if the interviewer is prepared. Simple ways this can be done include: asking participants to meet at a prearranged location for an interview; asking responders waiting in your reception to fill out a form while waiting; or getting feedback from staff in your lunchroom. 4. Phone/video call survey This type of survey has effectiveness in recruiting.  Phone/video call surveys are great for pinpointing a specific target audience.  Be prepared for phone respondents to decline (or hang up on you), if you are cold calling. Be "SMART” with your survey design and execution Before building your survey, determining the objectives that deliver effective and usable results is key. Using a framework like SMART goals can be a great way to achieve this. SMART Specific Stating desired actions & variables affected Measurable Desired metrics, KPIs or analytics Attainable Feasible within budget and resources Relevant Listing desired outcomes or improvements to variables Time-Bound Set a date to achieve desired measurable outcomes Speak like a human Starting with the copy for your survey can be overwhelming, but it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of your respondent and speak naturally to them. Imagine you are writing the script for an ideal interview with anyone from your grandmother to the Prime Minister. Your time is finite with them, and you want to probe as much as you can in a natural way and have everyone be comfortable. Below are the four key tips to getting the tone of your survey correct. 1. Use present, past and future to introduce the survey and questions that need extra context Using this framework enables you to effectively introduce your problem to the respondent. This may be done in an email before entering the survey link or at the header of the survey. Present – State who you/your company are and what you do. . For example. "We are Social Hive and we provide market research for legal services firms across Australia." Past - Provide background to the problem at hand. For example, "Nationally every year, thousands of injured Australians will need to lodge a TPD claim due to being unable to work and many are unaware of where to go for help." Future – Give context to how the participant’s response will help investigate the problem. Be careful not to give suggestions to answers and keep it brief. For example, "Our goal is to investigate what the general public’s pre-existing knowledge of TPD claims are." 2. Avoid yes/no questions For some questions, your respondents may feel neutral or passionately one way or the other on a topic.  An option of a yes/no answer may not capture an accurate reflection on the respondent’s view. Opening your questions with descriptive answer sets can provide more accurate feedback and reduce bias, for example: Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 3. Avoid jargon Refrain from including complex concepts or words your audience may have to look up, and where needed, use definitions. For example, terms like TPD claims should be introduced in the first instance as Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) claims. Be sure to test with a variety of people before committing to sending out your survey, and if possible, in person to hear immediate feedback. 4. Focus on one problem per question Be sure to focus on one topic per question to avoid inaccurate answers. It can be easy to create a question focussing on two loosely related topics, so make sure questions aren’t too long and review if they include an “and”. For example, “How do you feel about the initial consultation and follow up visits with your lawyer?”. This can be broken down into the two areas of the initial consultation and follow-up visits. Design your survey ethically It’s important for you or your company’s reputation that your survey abides by best ethical practices. This can be done with several straightforward checks before testing your survey. In your introduction, gain consent from your respondent, express confidentiality with the data collected and allow them the chance to leave if need be. An example could be: Participation in our survey is voluntary. All data collected with be confidential and securely managed with company XX. You are welcome to cease participation at any time however, data will only be recorded from participants who complete the whole survey. Ensure demographic questions are inclusive and avoid discrimination for themes such as gender, income, age and employment status. Make sure your survey allows anybody to participate, and if you are looking for a specific demographic for your survey, this should be highlighted and explained in your introduction. Examples include: Gender – use male, female, nonbinary or prefer not to say Income & age – use ranges (requires less reading) Employment – refrain from using words such as “unemployed”. You could consider using “looking for work” instead and also consider the variety of work types. Open the floor for further interviews Give yourself the chance to probe respondents further if answers aren’t clear, or be open for interviews as another form of research. Interviews are great for a deeper understanding of peoples’ behaviours and pain points that they may not be aware of. Include the option for interviews at the end of your survey with a thank you message and make sure respondents include contact details (phone or email). Be sure to keep this optional and state contact details will not be shared. Test test test! An important and crucial step is to test before sending it out. Depending on the number of people you a sending your survey to, at least test with 5 people who you are okay with not recording their data for the survey. Probe them to ensure grammar is correct and questions flow. About our guest author Marcus Kirchner Marcus Kirchner is a Digital Marketer and UX Designer specialising in user research and usability testing. Experienced in marketing research and data analysis, most notably with his employer for 3 years, Maggie Beer Products, he knows how important it is having the right tools in place to the success of a campaign.  Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/september/using-surveys-effectively/ Fri, 02 September 2022 00:00:00 Receiving a negative review online can make your heart sink. It’s hard not to take it personally when you have put so much time, effort and resources into building your law firm. However, with 86 per cent of customers being hesitant to use a business with negative reviews , it’s imperative to put together a strategy for dealing with bad comments about your business online. So, let’s take a look at why you should respond to negative reviews and how you should respond. Monitoring reviews about your business Google reviews are used by 72 per cent of customers to find businesses. Set up Google Alerts to track mentions of your business online. Here are the steps to follow: Log into your Google account Head to google.com/alerts Add keywords, such as the name of your firm You will receive an email notification whenever there is a new piece of content matching the terms you have entered For those who have Google My Business properly set up and optimised , you will already be receiving notifications of all reviews (good or bad) to the email address attached to the profile. Why should you respond to negative reviews about your law firm? When you receive a negative review, it can be tempting to hit the ‘x’ button and close the page. However, responding is essential and here are the reasons why: Customers expect to see a response – Did you know that 53 per cent of customers expect companies to respond to negative feedback within one week? In fact, one in three have a shorter timeframe of three days or less. If you do not respond, people will assume that you don’t care what your customers think. This is not the sort of law firm that people want to do business with! Showcase outstanding customer service - Responding to reviews is a simple yet effective way of practicing and showcasing outstanding customer service. Whether a review is negative or positive, responding in a prompt manner shows your clients (and prospective clients) that you are caring, active, and engaged. You may be able to change their mind - One study has revealed that seven out of 10 consumers changed their opinion about a company after the business responded to a review. It’s good to show clients that you are willing to resolve their issues and earn back their business. By taking customer service and reviews seriously, you could end up turning a one-star review into a five-star review. How to respond to negative feedback in online reviews Responding to negative reviews in a timely manner is crucial. The longer it takes your business, the less you appear to care. Responding within 24 to 48 hours is vital so that your words feel sincere. But how exactly do you respond? Acknowledge the client’s comments It’s hard not to feel like a bad review is a personal attack, yet you must keep your emotions out of it. Show the client your willingness to see things from their perspective. This displays the ethics of your business to potential customers, as well as setting the right tone for a productive conversation for the disgruntled client. Starting off with a phrase such as “we are sorry to hear you had a poor experience with us” displays empathy and this can go a very long way. Your client will feel heard. Apologise (if warranted) and empathise with your client Once you have acknowledged the client’s grievance, if you feel their grievance is justified, you need to apologise. Even if you do not fully agree with what the customer is saying, taking the high road is key. It needn’t be war and peace. Just a simple comment will suffice. Try something along the lines of “we sincerely apologise that our service was not satisfactory for you.” You may want to add a line or two about the high standards you hold your business to, how important your clients’ satisfaction is and what measures you may look at to ensure this does not happen again. Don’t be defensive - take responsibility Excuses are not going to sit well with anyone. Now is not the time to be defensive; this type of responsive behaviour can come across as combative. Even if the poor experience was not your fault, you need to have a customer-centric approach, which means taking the moral high ground. For instance, if the client felt that the staff at your law firm were rude, don’t say that they are wrong. Instead, say that you are disappointed they have had a poor experience and that you will make sure it does not happen again. You could also comment that you are going to investigate the issue. Figure out whether you need to provide an explanation Whether or not you should provide an explanation depends on the nature of the complaint. If the issue has stemmed from miscommunication, for example, you may feel compelled to explain that this is the case. If you do provide an explanation, you should never justify what happened, but simply explain what happened. There is a difference! The last thing you want is for it to sound like you’re making excuses. Instead, simply give some clarity as to why the error happened. Even if you are technically not in the wrong, emphasizing that you are sorry for their experience, is important. Your client is entitled to feel the way that he or she does. Make things right Last but not least, if the issue can be fixed, fix it. If the customer deserves it, you may want to offer them a full or partial refund or a complimentary meeting with another lawyer. Alternatively, you could offer some sort of free service to make up for the last one. If nothing can be done to rectify what has happened, a compelling public response can be written to display your sincere regret and your keenness to make sure this sort of situation does not happen again. A bad comment does not need to ruin your firm’s online presence While a negative review can be a step back, it doesn’t need to derail your online presence. Use the advice we’ve provided above and you could turn an unhappy customer into a loyal one! Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/august/bad-online-reviews/ Mon, 15 August 2022 00:00:00 Google typically makes changes to its algorithm every day, yet most of them are unnoticeable. Every so often though, Google does a ‘core update,’ which refers to wider changes being made to the algorithm that could result in notable fluctuations in search results. They don’t usually give any advance warning and, in fact, sometimes it takes a while for them to formally acknowledge it even after it’s rolled out. The most recent core update was released in May 2022. Since then, a lot of websites have reported experiencing significant drops in organic traffic; ie. as much as 20 per cent and sometimes even more. Search queries most impacted When discussing keyword searches (people typing their search query into Google), intent can be split up into four main categories: Transactional: complete a purchase or action. Commercial: investigate services or brands. Navigational: find a specific page or website. Informational: find general information or an answer to a question. Interestingly, the founder of Searchmetrics, Marcus Tober , broke down rank volatility by keyword intent, using sensor data from Semrush . He found that both informational and transactional keywords experienced rank volatility of over 50 per cent; 54 per cent and 51 per cent respectively. Many law firm searches fall into these categories. Many law firms report losing featured snippets Achieving the coveted “featured snippet” spot can be a big win for any business, so it can be devastating when you lose this. Unfortunately, volatility in this area is not that uncommon for a core update, as losing organic rankings does make it more difficult to rank in a featured snippet. What has been noted about the May 2022 Google Update, is that a lot of law companies have lost the featured snippet even if their organic ranking had not dropped. It is feasible that Google has raised the bar in terms of what level of E-A-T is needed to rank for a featured snippet. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is also possible that the search engine giant is making the most of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to get a better understanding of whether the content is trustworthy and relevant enough to rank for the position in question. A shift toward more specialist content Google has announced that it will be prioritising specialist content over general-based content. So, this is something that you can certainly focus on if you have encountered a drop as a consequence of the May Core Update. The focus is going to be on well-researched and in-depth pieces of content, rather than blog posts that are thin on the ground, basic and do not offer any new insight. Do you publish the latest legal news on your website? It is worth noting that sites with very general content were primarily impacted, i.e. publishers who write about everything, ranging from career advice and the weather to sports results and celebrity news. If the articles you publish on your site are highly niched in terms of the legal realm, you should not have experienced such a big drop in traffic. Were there any big winners? Video websites like Twitch, Hulu, Disney Plus, YouTube, and TikTok increased significantly. In fact, the latter had an overall gain of 133 per cent . While we’re not suggesting that your law firm uploads TikTok dance challenge videos, this trend is reinforcing what we know about the internet evolving; people like watching videos online! Videos can be located in many ways on Google; eg. via the main results page, Discover, Google Images, and video search results. From customer testimonial videos to knowledge-based videos , there are lots of different kinds that can be used to build your law firm’s online presence. What can you do if your site has been negatively affected by the May 2022 Google Core Update? If your site has been negatively impacted, here are some of the steps you can take: Review the pages that started outranking you after the Google Core Update - Ask yourself why a searcher may find these websites more helpful than yours. Improve, consolidate, or trim thin content - If you have heaps of content on your website that is not helpful to searchers, this can make it hard for Google to determine how topically relevant your content is. Make sure your site is technically sound - While technical fixes do not typically reverse a core update hit, tech problems can make your content more challenging to read or crawl, so they must be fixed. Go beyond the obvious - It is important to make sure your website’s content goes beyond the obvious. Provide interesting information, analysis, or insights in an easy to read format. Use other sources properly - Ask yourself whether you would expert particular content to be referenced by a source. If you do draw from available sources to craft your content, make sure re-writing and copywriting issues have been avoided. Improve your E-A-T - This can involve getting mentions and links on authoritative websites, as well as enhancing Google’s understanding of the entities linked with your brand. Review the questions Google says to ask yourself in their core update blog post - You can find the Google Core Update blog post here . Some of the questions include: Are you known as an authority on your topic? Are there any factual errors that are easy to verify? Do you have original analysis, research, and reporting? Contact us today to get your online presence back on track If you have been impacted as a consequence of May’s Google Core Update, we are here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact our professional and friendly team for more information. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/july/google-may2022-core-update/ Mon, 18 July 2022 00:00:00 Growing your brand on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can help you reach new people and solidify your relationships with existing customers. However, managing your law firm’s social media presence is time-consuming and let’s face it, often frustrating. With a record 3.96 billion people using social media (worldwide) and spending an average of 147 minutes on social media platforms a day , you simply can’t afford to miss out on this opportunity. The good news is that numerous social media scheduling tools have been developed to help you keep on top of this. These tools enable you to schedule social posts across multiple platforms and accounts. You can schedule posts ahead of time, ensuring a consistent social media presence while allowing your team to stay focused on other tasks. Some popular social media scheduling tools that law firms (or their digital agencies) are using include: Post Planner Planable Tweetdeck Buffer Plann Hootsuite CoSchedule Sprout Social HeroPost Each has its own pros and cons. Each has options to schedule to different social media platforms and most allow you to work with the most common platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. Many also have numerous other marketing features aside from social scheduling. The pros and cons of using social media scheduling software There are many benefits associated with using social media scheduling tools and also a few drawbacks you need to consider (which we talk about later). Benefits of social media scheduling tools Run your social media accounts more efficiently You won’t need to log in and out of accounts as much anymore. This can be a real time-saver for any business with multiple social media accounts. Some companies like to have different Twitter handles for various departments of their law firm, such as family law, criminal law, etc. Others like to have a primary Twitter handle and one for customer support and queries. In situations like this, constantly having to switch between accounts can take a lot of time, making social media software a much more efficient option. Ensure a consistent posting schedule Consistency is vital when posting on social media . If you post three times a week on Facebook and then disappear for a few weeks, your followers will lose interest. Instead, a balanced and consistent posting schedule is a must. It’s also important to have regular content if you’re using sponsored content (paid ads). Often viewers of your ads will click through to your page to see more about what you’re about. This can be almost impossible to achieve when posting manually because other tasks get in the way. However, social media tools enable you to set up many of your posts ahead of time. Refine your social media strategy and publish at the most effective times The best social media scheduling tools on the market today come with advanced analytics and insights, enabling you to better understand your social media presence. You can discover which types of posts have the most and least engagement. You can also learn the best days and times to send out a Tweet or LinkedIn or Facebook post. This can help you refine your social media strategy to optimise your engagement rates. Reach people across the world For global law firms (and even national), managing their social media presence can be even more challenging, as you have significant time differences to contend with for reaching your various audiences. With social media automation, you can post a Facebook message or a Twitter poll while you’re fast asleep. This means you have more opportunities to reach a larger audience, and you can use analytics to optimise your efforts for different audience groups based on their location. Re-use content effectively Recycling content is an excellent way of driving fresh eyes to your blog posts and legal videos. You can simply re-post a piece of content with a different message or a different image. Social media scheduling tools make this easy, ensuring you leave sufficient time between every re-post. Cons of social media scheduling tools Social media scheduling can feel spammy if not done well Social media has humanised brands, enabling us to get closer to our favourite businesses. If you are simply posting scheduled tweets, at the same time every week, with no other interaction, it can come across as spammy. Scheduling too far in advance can result in a lack of relevancy If you plan posts too far in advance, your content can end up being irrelevant or even worse, insensitive. You only need to consider the recent Covid-19 pandemic. People lost loved ones and many went into financial hardship. Failing to factor this into the messages you sent out during this period (or scheduled prior to this period) could have led to you posting something inappropriate considering what people were experiencing. So, while scheduling can be an efficient tool, we would recommend not scheduling too far in advance. You miss out on the opportunity to engage with your followers live Interacting with your audience is one of the easiest and quickest ways of building rapport with them. We acknowledge it’s more difficult nowadays with quite a saturated market and further, law firms aren’t necessarily at the top of the ‘follow list’. However, many firms still get solid engagement and even more importantly, messages about their services. If you pre-schedule your posts and do not interact with people live, you are missing out on the chance to respond to comments, likes, messages and shares, which can give you multiple chances to convert followers into clients. Mistakes can happen Finally, when using social media scheduling tools, it is easier to make a mistake if you are not careful. You could end up posting a message on the wrong account or getting your dates mixed up. Unfortunately, most people do not tend to realise these errors until their messages have gone live. Should you use social media scheduling tools? It is clear to see that there are pros and cons associated with social media scheduling tools. While they can be highly beneficial in terms of refining your strategy and ensuring you post content on a consistent basis, you still need to have a live presence so you can interact with your followers and ensure your account feels genuine. If you’d like to refine your law firm’s social media presence, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the team at Social Hive today. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/june/social-media-scheduling/ Fri, 24 June 2022 00:00:00 There are several reasons a business may consider redesigning (or totally rebuilding) their website. These range from technical issues with the current site to look and feel and finally, the user experience and functionality. In this article, we look at some of the primary reasons that may lead you to consider a redesign of your website and the things to consider when redesigning. Why redesign a website? If you already have a website and it’s quite old (say 5+ years), you might be giving consideration to redesigning it or at the least, refreshing it. Some of the most common reasons a website gets redesigned (including a total rebuild) are: Technical The platform the site is built on is too old and no longer fully supported; Perhaps the site is not secure (http rather than https ). This in itself is not a reason to redesign/rebuild but could be the impetus for considering a rebuild; The website is not mobile optimised . Look and feel You’ve rebranded (and re-imaged) your business and your website now needs to reflect this new style/brand; The site looks like it was built 20 years ago; The site does not reflect the culture, personality and service of the business; Visitors to the site may be forming a very dim view of the capability of the site owner, given “they don’t even have a good website”. Functionality The site is simply not easy to use; The navigation is not clear and does not flow; There is no, or minimal SEO on the site (again, not necessarily a reason to redesign but a solid precursor to considering a redesign/rebuild); Over many years, a lot of content has been added to the site and you now find there is substantial duplicate content or content that is no longer relevant or content that is simply incorrect; Over many years, you’ve added a lot of assets/media (images, videos and other content) to your site. These assets may not be performing optimally; either from a user experience aspect or they may be slowing down the loading time of your URL’s; You need to add more CTA (call to action) opportunities to drive more leads and conversions. User experience User experience (and page experience) are now primary factors considered by Google when choosing how to rank your site; The “Google page experience algorithm” rolled out in June 2021. Page experience is the latest search ranking benchmark that is going to be used by the major search engine, Google. This metric is all about determining how usable your website is. It’s more about technical fixes that, in turn, lead to customer experience and website performance; User experience/customer experience is also a key ranking indicator. You can learn more about what you may need to do with your website, to achieve optimal user experience in our blog, “Your digital customer experience – 6 critical factors” . Redesign or rebuild? You should ensure you have a solid handle on why you’re redesigning. It could be one or more of the above issues. The number and type of concerns you have with your current site will determine if you undertake a redesign or a total rebuild. You may have a perfectly “functioning” site; simple to use, easy navigation, good content that addresses the user queries, and great SEO. But it might just be missing that sparkle; outdated images (or heaven forbid, no images), not matching your brand, no tagline etc. This could be perfectly suited to a redesign. Alternatively, you may have a number of issues particularly related to an outdated CMS (eg, the platform your site is built on), no/limited SEO, poor navigation, little site visitation (meaning no leads/conversions) and so on. If this sounds like your site, you’re likely in the market for a total website rebuild. A note of caution: your IT department is not the place to go to redesign or rebuild your website. IT departments, as terrific as they are at what they’re engaged to do, are not (usually) marketers. If you want your investment in a redesign/rebuild to be optimised, we strongly recommend you engage an agency highly experienced in website development, including SEO. How much does a redesign/rebuild of a website cost? Eeks, that age old question; how long is a piece of string? And that age old answer, it depends. Some factors that determine how much your website build will cost, include: The size of your site (how many separate pages/URL’s); What CMS you choose to build your site (eg, WIX – very cheap but you get what you pay for vs WordPress which starts with very affordable basic themes through to fully customised); The rates (usually associated with the expertise and experience) of the specific agency you choose to engage; Whether you use a basic template or a fully customised site; The costs associated with the media (images, videos etc) you will have on your site; and more. There are many agency sites touting the costs associated with building a site and they all differ (quite a bit). For example, WebFX (US pricing) suggest it could be anywhere from $12,000 to $150,000. Really, what can you do with that assessment? At Social Hive, we provide a fixed price quote for rebuilding or building from scratch. We do this after liaising with you and coming up with a scope of what you’re looking to achieve and what we recommend you need for optimal performance. You should always try and find an agency that provides a fixed quote. Of course, if you change the scope during the build period, that fee may change too. But with us, we’ll always talk with you about any cost changes before proceeding. We work with only smaller to medium-sized law firms in Australia and our aim is to provide an affordable solution. Our website builds (this is the technical build component only) to date (as of May 2022) have ranged from $3,000 to $12,000. Some of these have had pro-bono components. Our SEO services are in addition to the technical build of the site and can range from about $2,500 to about $5,000, depending on the size of the site. How long does a redesign/rebuild of a website take? Website rebuilds or new builds should not be rushed. Speed rarely wins over quality. Time and energy must be invested into: what you want to achieve with your site (information sharing only, leads, conversions etc); how you want it to look and feel (for example, using concept drawings); how big (how many pages/URL’s) you’re looking to start with; how many levels of navigation you need; whether you’ll be including video content; will there be a chatbot ; will there be online forms; are you looking to integrate with third-party platforms; and more. At Social Hive, we ordinarily tell our clients that the build phase is 10-12 weeks. This is also dependent on the speed with which the client provides necessary content along the way. There are occasions where we can provide this service in under 10 weeks (urgent cases), but this is rare. Looking to build or rebuild your website? It costs you nothing to find out more detail about your options; whether to rebuild, refresh or completely build from scratch. We take the time to get to know you and your firm and what you want to achieve. That may take an hour or two in the beginning but it’s our philosophy to be thorough from the beginning and 100% transparent about the service you’ll get and the price you’ll pay. If, after that initial conversation (and sometimes a few conversations and/or emails) it’s not for you, we’ll happily thank you for at least considering us and wish you well with your endeavours. Contacting Social Hive 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au Find this article useful or interesting? You may also like to read: The Australian law firm SEO guide updated for 2022 It's now essential to up your game on critical user experience issues for SEO and conversion gains How to write a blog post? https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/may/website-rebuilds/ Tue, 24 May 2022 00:00:00 Online marketing is all about helpful information that is original and unique. The more unique your content appears to your target audience, the easier it will be to stand out against the competition. That's why plagiarism-free content is a necessity of SEO strategies today . However, many things in online marketing can be easier to say than to do. Writing plagiarism-free SEO content is one of them. So, why is it necessary? How do you write plagiarism-free content? Moreover, how will it affect your online search engine results? These are all viable questions that need thorough answering. This article explores this topic to help you understand a few key essentials to delivering plagiarism-free content. What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is the unethical act of copying another writer's work (including content, media and even ideas). While plagiarism can be in many forms, the type we’re addressing in this article is when a writer steals another writer's content, word-for-word. Some other common types of plagiarism include: Patchwork Mosaic plagiarism Direct plagiarism Accidental plagiarism Self-plagiarism Patchwork is the most common and unethical type of plagiarism. It includes a writer copying the content but changing it just enough to pass it off as original. Mosaic plagiarism is more or less the same, except some plagiarism can still be found in this type. Direct plagiarism is the blatant duplicity of another writer's content without changing anything or giving the author any credit. Accidental plagiarism can happen if a writer unwillingly writes something that might be very similar to another writer's work. Lastly, self-plagiarism is common in writers who produce content every day. They can accidentally write content similar to their own. That's why it also counts as the accidental type. 3 reasons plagiarism happens Plagiarism can happen due to a variety of reasons. One of the most common causes is the fact that writers tend to be lazy at times. In SEO, there's no space for such problems. That's why these are some of the most common reasons you need to avoid. 1. Lack of research Lack of research or topic understanding is one of the most common reasons behind plagiarism. That's why some writers will spend more time doing their research than they would spend on writing the content as it ensures original content. 2. Common or redundant topics You need to pick your topics wisely. Picking a common topic might also lead to accidental or self-plagiarism from your own content. 3. Copying or bad paraphrasing Copying another writer's content (in swathes) is bad. However, what's worse is copying and paraphrasing badly. It reduces the content's quality, and well… it's still plagiarism. 4 ways plagiarism-free content boosts website ranking Understanding the ways content can boost website search results requires us to dive deeper into this topic. We need to understand the role of avoiding plagiarism and the importance of writing original content. So, here are four major benefits and ways that plagiarism-free content can boost your website’s ranking. 1. Original content helps draw more traffic to your site Original content is one of the key components to making a website or blog rank higher in the SERPs (search engine results pages). And here’s why we need to make sure our content is plagiarism-free and therefore original: Search engine crawlers look for it; Searchers (visitors to your site) appreciate it; and Original content establishes credibility. 2. Being plagiarism-free builds a strong reputation In order to establish online credibility, a brand or business needs to create original content consistently. In turn, this builds your online reputation, because: it will establish credibility (with Google and with your readers); it will garner better and bigger audiences; it will exhibit your experience and expertise; it will ensure your content is unmatched (including against your competitors). Therefore, you need to write content that's original, unique and led by expertise. 3. Avoid search engine penalties If your content has any degree of plagiarism, search engines may penalise it. Or worse, they might blacklist your website for using black hat SEO . To avoid the potential for penalties, it's imperative that you ensure your content is plagiarism-free. When it is plagiarism-free, your overall ranking will improve and help you stand out in the SERPs. 4. Improved quality of content One common factor in plagiarism-free content is that it will be in the unique style of your entire site which ordinarily translates to being high in informative value and user experience. That's exactly the kind of content search engine crawlers look for and precisely what the online audience wants. How to avoid plagiarism? Avoiding plagiarism is something you must learn to ensure your site is healthy and performs well. Here are our top 3 tips for avoiding plagiarism. Use a free plagiarism checker Using a plagiarism checker for free on a regular basis is a good habit. There are a number of options available but a couple we use regularly include: Check Plagiarism Editpad Here’s an example of how a report may look when you run some content through a plagiarism checker. Rewrite plagiarised content When you find plagiarised content, make sure that you rewrite or rephrase it. You can use a rephrase tool like “ Rephrase.info ” to help you. Extra tip : Make sure, when changing plagiarised content, your site’s normal tone doesn't change. Here’s an example of how a report may look when you run some content through  Rephrase. Cite or quote plagiarised content (provide attribution) You can also prevent plagiarism by providing the original source of duplicate content. This is often referred to as ‘attribution’. You may quote the duplicate content or add the proper reference to that content. Summing up These are some of the crucial reasons for removing plagiarism from your content. 100% unique content (or cited/quoted content appropriately tagged) will deliver improved website ranking on search engines. Always focus on writing content that's original, useful, accurate and importantly, plagiarism-free. Need help with your firm’s digital marketing strategy? We help SME Australian law firms improve their digital performance from their website (new builds, re-builds and SEO), to Facebook advertising campaigns, organic social media management and direct marketing initiatives. Get in touch for a free consultation. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au About the author Zubair Saleemi writes mainly about Search Engine Ranking factors, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Deep Learning technology, and Artificial Intelligence. His articles appeared on many high authority websites. He loves to explore technology, he enjoys travel adventures, food tasting, and reading Machine Learning masterpieces. https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/march/plagiarism/ Thu, 31 March 2022 00:00:00 Updated February 2023 Since early 2020, we've been all over Zoom, Skype , online conferences and online networking events. A plethora of platforms have pivoted to online initiatives over the last few years. And now, LinkedIn is pushing the boundaries for increased and improved online connections. All LinkedIn members can join an audio event and access to create and host an audio event is available to all members based on a set of criteria. What is a LinkedIn audio event? The primary purpose of LinkedIn is for professional connection, learning and development. LinkedIn has a number of tools to drive this from your profile to text posts, image posts, video posts, job posts, advertising/sponsorship options and LinkedIn publishing . Now comes the audio event. LinkedIn audio events are pretty much precisely what it sounds like. It’s in audio-only format and the host can run their event for anywhere between 15 minutes to 3 hours. Sure, there are a lot of online event options now, including Twitter Spaces and Facebook Live Audio Rooms . There’s also Clubhouse , which was initially only available to an ‘elite’ few on invitation but is now available to all. But LinkedIn has a few tricks in its basket that the others don’t necessarily have. Some features that make LinkedIn’s audio events stand out It works brilliantly on desktop with the ability (with so much screen space available compared to using, for example, a mobile app) to have your audio going, a chat setup section and LinkedIn itself with participant profiles to click on. Attendee and presenter profiles not only show your name but your ‘headline’ too. This is great for working out, quickly, who’s who and who does what. Coming soon (ish), you’ll be able to monetise your events as LinkedIn is working on a paid ticketing option. Networking made easy – profiles of attendees are front and centre during an audio event so you can learn more about your fellow participants, on the fly. Free InMail to 2 nd and 3 rd degree connections while on an audio event – no need for premium membership. The algorithm will be continuously tailored to ensure you’re seeing event options that are much more tailored to you. Instant reactions (emoji style) during presentations, for either the presenter or participant commentary. When you elect to ‘attend’, you’ll get the option to automatically add it to your preferred digital calendar. This is all designed to help you connect, network and learn more seamlessly on the world’s largest professional networking platform, than ever before. Who can attend a LinkedIn audio event? Any LinkedIn member who has the link or an invitation to an event can attend. Event attendees can also invite their own connections to attend the event and can share the event on their own timeline. LinkedIn members can also be speakers at an event. Who can host a LinkedIn audio event? LinkedIn members who meet the below criteria can create and host an audio event.  Members with more than 150 followers and/or connections are eligible to host Audio Events. Members that have a good standing record will be considered for Audio Event access. They must abide by LinkedIn's Professional Community Policies . Audio Events are not available for members based in mainland China. How to create your LinkedIn audio event LinkedIn audio events started a beta testing rollout in early 2022 but they are now available to all members.  Click on ‘add event’ from the bottom of the left-side menu on your LinkedIn Home screen Select ‘event type’; online or in-person Add a name/title for your event ( give it some impact to attract attendees ) Confirm the time zone – it will default to your profile time zone Add start/end date and time Add an event description; you’ll have 5,000 characters to play with here. Add your speakers Click next and you’ll be provided with a ‘post to your timeline’ opportunity. Here’s where you can make it a ‘public’ event or restrict your attendees. Remember to add your hashtags and… post! How to find a LinkedIn audio event? Currently (early March 2022), you can find events in your feed, via a notification or via an invitation. In time, it’s hoped there will be search options for events to attend. What safety mechanisms does LinkedIn have for its audio events? As with most reputable online platforms, there are strong and significant terms and conditions of use. Individual attendees, hosts and/or speakers can be reported to LinkedIn for inappropriate behaviour or content. Reporting is easy within the audio event by simply clicking on the attendee’s profile and selecting “report”. Likewise, an actual event can be reported to LinkedIn as being inappropriate. Notably, LinkedIn records all audio events to enable them to investigate any violations of their terms and conditions of use. Need help with your firm’s digital marketing strategy? We help SME Australian law firms improve their digital performance from their website (new builds, re-builds and SEO), to Facebook advertising campaigns, organic social media management and direct marketing initiatives. Get in touch for a free consultation. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/march/li-audio-events/ Wed, 16 March 2022 00:00:00 Earn more traffic to your law firm website and do better legal business with this roadmap to SEO for lawyers It's high time to give your law firm's website SEO (search engine optimisation) full attention. Smart law firms will move fast in 2022 to power up digital marketing efforts by prioritising improvements in SEO performance. Check out more of Social Hive's specialist SEO insights, like: How to master title tags for better website traffic and conversions Master meta descriptions to boost traffic and conversions Why you should add structured data to your law firm website How to optimise your content for featured snippets Understanding the value of quality keyword research Knowing what optimisation tasks to focus on for best results in 2022 starts here. Let's jump right in, starting with a clearer understanding of... What search engine optimisation (SEO) is, in simple terms SEO is the practice of optimising your law firm's website to win high rankings in organic search. An organic search result is the free listings in search engines like Google. It appears because the page is relevant to someone's search term used to find information. Search engines to match the best pages to a searcher's query (searcher intent). They need to find and understand your page. Their algorithm's scan the net looking for content value. The pages they serve up must satisfy the searcher's need for a clear, helpful answer. And for algorithms to do that, they must find and understand your website pages with ease and speed. To make that happen, you need to make sure your web pages are technically "sleek" and algorithm bot friendly. Plus, the quality experience and value transfer need to be measurable. This takes technical and web-smart creativity expertise to achieve on an ongoing basis. Talk to Social Hive to get the expertise and experience you need to make that happen now. Because this is the bottom-line on ... Why search engine optimisation matters so much Most website traffic comes via search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing. Statistics  indicate that  search engines account for  nearly 90% of all web traffic . In fact, Google is by far the dominant force. Its market share is 92.47%, as of June 2021 . Ranking high in search engine results is, thus, critical. Do it and win more law business. It's sobering to know some of the statistics relative to Google search, like: 60% of users click on one of the top three organic search results; the first five organic results account for 67.60% of all the clicks; but only 0.78% of Google searchers click on results from the 2nd page; and 80% of customers use search engines to find local information, like legal services. So, do what you must to position high on page one of Google's search engine page results (SERPs). This means prioritising organic search outcomes, starting now. After all, organic search accounts for 68% of all trackable website traffic . And a little data on paid search; while still valuable under the right circumstances, know that 70-80% of users ignore sponsored search results. So now you're inspired to focus on winning page one organic search results. Since Google dominates, you'll follow Google's guidelines. Do what's needed to improve your Google ranking signals Ranking signals are website characteristics that search algorithms might consider to calculate value. The value calculation then determines where content will position in search results pages. Ranking signals are also known as ranking factors. Major search engines don't disclose the details of their ranking algorithms. To do so would encourage people to "game the system". Instead, search engines often provide guidelines. There are also many reputable sources of information that offer insights. Many sources include search engine patent filings, extensive testing and case studies. Official search engine representatives also make statements about what's expected. And this type of invaluable information is evolving all the time. Google alone changes its algorithm more than 500 times per year. For sure, not all updates are game-changers. But some are. You can read about one of the most recent major updates here: Google page experience algorithm now in operation And it's Google's ranking signals that must be front and centre of your attention in 2022 Any effort to optimise your website must focus on what Google says is acceptable or expected. Beware of SEO "specialists" who claim they can game the algorithm to your advantage. Amongst the creepy techniques they'll "infect" your site with are: cloaking; keyword stuffing; low-quality content from cheap content creation farms; automated link generation; toxic backlinks; satellite pages; hacking, hot-linking, cyber-squatting and typo-squatting; spammy comments, reviews and link forums, and on-and-on... Don't go there! Also, watch out for SEO agencies that claim they have a special relationship with Google. They might promise insider access to rankings. Remember.. Google does not disclose its algorithm ranking details to anyone! This "gaming the system", is what we call "black hat" SEO . It's a very high-risk recipe for disaster. Game it and you'll pay a high price. Your online business will suffer. At Social Hive, we do nothing of the sought. We follow Google's best practice guidelines to the letter. And we'll always keep you up-to-date with what's matters most . This means doing "white hat" SEO all the way. And the bundle of tasks is wide and varied. Google looks beyond pure technical matters to a full-spectrum performance assessment In the early days, SEO was almost 100% technical. Today, it goes way beyond that. It's full-spectrum now, covering your entire digital marketing efforts, like: content marketing; public relations and branding; content design and user experience; conversion rate optimisation; and coding and web development. Yes, this means SEO is getting more complex. But this brings opportunities for smart law firms leveraging full-spectrum digital marketing. If you're not going to, your competitor will. But to do so, you'll want to know what's acceptable and expected by search engines like Google. So let's dive into a roundup of what is essential in SEO for law firms in 2022. Pay close attention to on-page SEO factors On-page (or on-site) SEO refers to the work done on your own website. It includes content (written for humans and optimised for search) and the optimising of technical components. On-page SEO optimises web page content for both search engines (Google, et.el.) and users (e.g. your clients). Google considers this of critical importance. Common on-page SEO practices include: optimising title tags; internal links and URLs; and creating high-value content for your customers. Underscored here is the need to optimise both for search engines AND your users. If your content doesn’t help users, Google will not serve it up in search results. But likewise, if your content isn’t “coded” to let search engines assess value with ease, it will remain invisible. Give on-page SEO a high priority at all times by focusing on ... The essentials of on-page SEO for law firms in 2022 Many of your on-page SEO efforts are made for search engines. But always remember this... Search engines, like Google, always want you to optimise for the user experience. The people who visit your site are always paramount. They visit your site expecting value; an answer to their question, a solution to their problem. You need to deliver, every time. Writing content for Google is about giving the reader everything (and more than) they need. SEO technical elements serve algorithms. Qualitative human elements make exceptional on-page experiences. Both work in tandem to up your SEO game. Be hyper-useful for search engine algorithms AND people. Having stressed this, here's a list of the technical elements that'll move you to SEO success. Optimise every page with keywords and key-phrases Keywords are still primary elements used by Google. Smart keyword choices help in signalling what your page is about. They tell algorithms what the relevance of your page is relative to a search query. Do smart keyword research . Discover keywords that your clients use to find answers and solutions. and make sure the page's information matches the intent of the keyword query; that is, the intent of what the searcher is seeking. Add your target keyword to the first 100 words of your page. Google puts more weight on terms that show up early on the page. And be sensible with keyword frequency. Don't keyword stuff your website pages. Keyword frequency is how often you use the keyword in your content. The early days of the Internet were all about mentioning the keyword as much as possible. That's a definite no go, today. Today, keyword use for natural flow is the game. Google does not say that using a keyword more than once will help your rankings. But testing shows that pages with more than one or two mentions tend to do better. It helps confirm for algorithms, what page's focus is on. Having said that, increase frequency only when it makes sense to the copy; that is, when it reads properly to the visitor. The flow and meaning of the text must be clear and easy to read without feeling like badgering. Wrap your page title in an H1 tag Google is clear about this. Using an H1 tag "helps Google understand the structure of the page" . A page that is well-structured is easy to read and helps visitors to understand the content and value transfer. And that's great news for search engines and users. The H1 tag gives search engines a high-level overview of what your page is all about. Front-loading your keyword in the title tag can help, too. Social Hive's smart design websites make it easy for you to add the H1 title tag without coding new page content. Wrap your subheadings in H2 tags Structure the page's information even more by using H2 tags. Make the hierarchy of information super clear for both algorithms and users. It will build flow and understanding. Include your target keyword in at least one subheading. Add external/outbound links to your pages When appropriate, link to external sites that offer related information and strengthen the authority of your own content. Build your page up as a high-value source for people searching for answers and solutions. This will also help Google know what your page is about, how it fits into the web of knowledge. That can build page authority, another ranking signal. Optimise web addresses for SEO Webpage addresses (URLs) are often underrated parts of on-page SEO. Don't overlook this opportunity. Make your URLs are as short as practicable, particularly concentrating on the slug for each unique page. Be precise and clear, adding a keyword where possible. Write unique, keyword-rich meta descriptions Google is clear. " Adding description meta tags to each of your pages is always a good practice ". Search engines won't always use your meta descriptions in search result snippets. They may generate a snippet from other elements on your page. But it's still a good idea to write your own for every page. A well-written meta description stands out in search results. They encourage people to click through to your site. This can boost organic click-through rate (CTR), in turn, a great ranking signal. Like title tags, try to front-load your keyword in the meta description. The Google algorithm will bold keywords in search results. It increases the result's visibility. Learn about mastering meta descriptions here Write unique and super-valuable content 100% focus on satisfying the website visitor's needs, is all about great content. Great content is clear, easy to read and answers the visitor's questions to the full. Great content solves their problems. Great content gives readers value beyond their expectations. In turn, great content establishes your authority, enriching your brand. It builds trust, making readers more likely to click through to other pages on your site, for more value. And it leads to business-making actions like phone calls and consultation bookings. All this equals conversions, click-through rates and other ranking signals. Optimise your content for click-through rates Click-through rate (CTR) is the ratio of users who click on a link to the number of total users who view the destination page. Algorithms do assess CTR. Improving it can drive more organic traffic to your site. Several practical ways exist for you to improve CTR, like: using question-based title tags; ensuring every page has an original meta description; using schema markup to encourage Google to display rich snippets; and adding some emotion to your headlines. And make sure your site-wide user experience (UX) is excellent This is an ever-increasing value point. Site visitors' interaction with your content has a lot to do with UX factors. And Google measures several key UX factors, like dwell time and bounce rate. Learn more about UX here Websites with mediocre UX will experience lower search performance. It's a critical on-page SEO factor for 2022. But it's not all. You'll also want to ... Pay attention to these off-site SEO factors "Off-page SEO" refers to actions taken outside of your website, that impact your rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs). It is also known as "off-site SEO". Good SEO is a combination of both on-page and off-page SEO work. Off-site SEO involves improving how search engines and people perceive your site's popularity. That includes the site's relevance, trustworthiness and authority. Off-site SEO concerns the quality of sources linking to or promoting your site. Those links "vouch" for the quality of your content. So, here's a quick run-down of ... The essential off-page SEO factors for law firms in 2022 The core of classic off-page SEO is: generating quality backlinks; encouraging branded searches; and increasing engagements and shares on social media. In fact, these ranking signals still form the foundation of Google’s algorithm. So in 2022, it's time to... Grow the number of quality backlinks to your site Note that quantity doesn't trump quality. Backlinks add value when they're from authority sites. The link must be relevant to the destination content on your site. Backlinks that add no value to your user's experience are worthless at best, damaging at worst. Publish quality content and authoritative sites will link to you. An authority site will not link to low-quality information. So write solid blog posts that educate. Make them helpful. And provide that value for free. Data-rich content or long-form content takes the reader deep into a subject. Research-backed posts featuring your lawyers' insights will work well. Other websites that are authorities will gain by linking to your sources. It's a win-win for both you and them. You can also earn good backlinks by having your lawyers guest post on other reputable sites. The added benefit is that this approach gets your firm's brand noticed. It broadens your audience, too. Guest posting can generate unlinked brand mentions which algorithms can pick up, too. It's all part of signalling the virtue of your firm's experience, expertise and authority. Keep track of and fix broken links Make sure that all links to your site are working. A broken link (Error 404)   is a dead-end. That's frustrating for users. For algorithms, it can signal that the site is not up-to-date. Generate brand signals Google wants to verify your law firm's brand is legitimate. It needs to know that you are who you say you are and see proof of quality status. Do an audit to assess your current online brand footprint. Leverage Google Search Console and use its Performance Report function. Look at the 'Impressions" column. It will show branded searches to benchmark progress and measure improvements over time. Ask us at Social Hive and we'll take care of auditing and Google Search Console for you with ease and efficiency. Invest in YouTube, a Google-owned source of quality backlinks YouTube is an excellent media channel to help boost your firm's online footprint. It's a popular source of knowledge for many. Conversion rates from YouTube content are often amongst the highest performers. Creating helpful law-related videos for YouTube can be a cost-effective off-site SEO strategy. There's a huge audience out there for audio-visual content. And Social Hive has done facilitated this for many of its clients with great results. Improve your E.A.T score Google values websites that offer expertise, authority, and trustworthiness ( E-A-T ). Your website's E-A-T value depends on how well you can communicate your firm's expertise. Put your talent forward. Write web-adapted content showcasing your lawyers' knowledge. Make the law accessible to everyone, with ease and comfort. Get your lawyers visible on the net. When they appear at seminars and conferences, publish posts sharing their contributions. Make sure it's done in an accessible way for laypeople. After all, you're trying to attract client business, not the accolades of other lawyers. And try to attract the attention of the media with press releases and doing interviews (but we do acknowledge this is a tough call for many smaller firms). A well-written press release or quote in a news article can lead to invaluable brand mentions. And with all that, you'll have your hands full Or better still, talk to us at Social Hive and we'll make it all happen for you. Let's talk about prioritising your law firm website's SEO the easy and most effective way in 2022. Need help 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/january/seo-in-2022/ Fri, 21 January 2022 00:00:00 Of course, we can’t tell you precisely what’s going to happen in 2022. The social media landscape is huge and, more importantly, fast! The traditional platforms will likely survive through the year but what new platform’s lie just over the horizon is anybody’s guess. So, with that mini caveat in mind, what do we “think” are going to be the better social media platforms for law firms to consider? You cannot be all things to all people So, here are just a few of the platforms available out there to sell your wares and spruik your existence: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube ( OK is it a social channel or a search engine? ), Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Tumblr and so on. Unless you’re a behemoth of a company (which pretty much excludes most Aussie law firms and definitely excludes those we choose to work with), you’re really only going to concentrate your efforts on two or three of these. You may dabble in others but, just like high performing firms concentrate their services on what they’re really good at (so they can deliver optimal results), those same firms need to concentrate their online promotion in places that also deliver optimal results for the firm. So, choose your social platform(s) wisely. It’s important to remember you’re a law firm (selling services), not an e-commerce store with 50% off discounts every second week. Your ‘customers’ may need you once or twice on average, in their life time. Your ‘product’ is expensive. For you, it’s all about building your brand, embedding trust and driving home your expertise. What works well for e-commerce is not always (and often never) going to be what is worthwhile for your firm. So, beware the digital marketing agency selling your stats and promises based on their e-commerce (or other emotional tug industry) experience. Our top 3 social media platforms for law firms Another mini caveat here; this post is primarily aimed at B2C firms. That is, those delivering their services directly to individuals. Facebook Facebook continues to lead the flock in terms of engagement and monthly active users but it’s being heavily chased down by TikTok ( which saw the most app downloads worldwide for 2021 and the second most in Australia for 2021 with the first being…. Zoom! ). But, as a general rule, we’re not recommending TikTok for our firms (at least, not just yet). In January 2021, over 77% of Australian internet users were on Facebook at some point . This trend has not abated in recent times with over 16 million active monthly users in Australia with the largest age demographic being 25-39 years old (6.1m) followed by 40-55 years old (4.1m). So, with audience size and age demographic alone, it’s certainly considered a good place to be for B2C law firm brands to make an appearance. We then add the relatively cost-effective advertising platform which delivers your ads not only across Facebook but also Instagram and Messenger. With branch awareness campaigns in particular putting your firm’s name out there in record numbers, Facebook should definitely be on your ‘social media marketing’ agenda for 2022. LinkedIn LinkedIn reports having over 10 million registered users in Australia with just over half of them logging in each month; not too shabby. In our view, LinkedIn provides a two-pronged approach for B2C Aussie law firms. Firstly, every user on LinkedIn is also an individual who may need your services at some point. Secondly, many users are in positions/roles where they need to build referral networks. In many instances, that referral network needs lawyers. Not only should your firm be regularly sharing experience, expertise and accolades, but it should also be encouraging all its lawyers and senior support staff to do the same. YouTube YouTube is the second most visited website in the world and in Australia (Jan 2021), it out-performed Facebook (by about 1%) on the most visited platform . Video content is not high on the agenda for many law firms. For many smaller firms, production of the content is resource heavy and can be (comparatively) costly. All that said, it’s slowly on the rise and your production does not have to be Hollywood quality. It’s primarily about the expertise and experience you’re sharing in an easy-to-digest manner. We’re by no means suggesting a slap-dash approach will do the trick. If you have no one in-house you feel can convey the right image for your firm, you could consider animated content, including creating characters that you use across all your videos. Videos about the people, your firm’s values, how you work are great foundation pieces. But often what people are after are “how to” videos. So, remember to consider those when planning your approach to a YouTube channel. We’re strong proponents of video content across your website, on your own YouTube channel, and importantly, shared regularly on your social media platforms. You can use your video content across your native social media platforms but it also works incredibly well in, for example, Facebook advertising campaigns. Video content is not going away anytime soon and if the last several years are anything to go by, it’s only going to increase in popularity. But… people want fast and immediate nowadays. So, plan your video content to be engaging, informative and super importantly, short. You can learn more about creating your video content in our previous blog ‘Seven tips for creating video content for your law firm’ . Some extra platforms for law firms to consider Instagram In Australia (Jan 2021), over 55% of internet users aged 16-64 were Instagram users . The big thing to understand about Instagram is that it’s a ‘visual’ platform; more imagery, less words. Firms (and individual lawyers) using Instagram successfully, will often curate their content to be visually pleasing, more personalised and more about ‘who you are’ than ‘what you do’. It’s therefore, not for everyone. Whereas often firms can ‘cross-post’ for Facebook and LinkedIn (and even Twitter to an extent), meaning they can share the same content across different platforms, more often than not, you probably want to craft unique content for Instagram. This of course, requires more resources; more time, more skills (or more accurately, the right skills) and sometimes more expense. We have clients who use Instagram but we don’t provide the service ourselves. This is because we truly believe it requires a more personalised approach; it has to be done from the inside. As much as it can be great for some firms (and individual lawyers), remember not to confuse ‘likes and loves’ of your posts (your images) for a brand engagement or the potential for profitable work. Twitter At the beginning of this post, we said the bulk of our content was geared to the B2C firms. Well, this one’s for them too but probably even more so for B2B (commercial/corporate) firms. It’s reported that 82% (worldwide) or B2B content marketers use Twitter for organic content . This outranks B2C company use which sits around 53%. (Note, these stats are not specifically for law firms). Twitter relies heavily on ‘conversations’ and substantial sharing of content. Simply broadcasting several tweets a day with no interaction (no shares, no comments leading to ongoing conversations) is not going to be worth it. As with many social media platforms nowadays (as opposed to the early days), but possibly even more so with Twitter, ‘likes’ are 100% vanity metrics. In 2022 (and even well before now), your Twitter time and effort needs to concentrate on carefully curated content. Remember, you only have 280 characters (of which 22 are used by any shortened URL you include) plus your image(s) or video, to succinctly convey your message. If done well, Twitter can be an excellent platform for building your brand’s expertise and experience. We do, however, strongly feel it is best suited to the B2B law firm. What about Google My Business? Is it a social media platform? No, but maybe, sort of. GMB is not strictly a social media platform but it can be used in a similar way. It hangs off the Google search engine. So, when someone searches Google for their family lawyer, if your GMB listing is well optimised, you’ll likely appear high up in the results. The bit that acts similarly to a social media platform, is the ability to add ‘posts’ to your listing; as often as you like. For B2C firms, those posts you add to your GMB listing can be almost the same as (if not identical) to the same content you’ve already curated for Facebook and other platforms. If your firm is not on Google My Business by 2022, you’re missing a whole lot of potential traction. Learn more about the importance of GMB for your law firm and how to get started today, in our blog, ‘Why is a Google My Business Page important for my law firm?’ Need help with your firm’s digital marketing strategy? We help SME Australian law firms improve their digital performance from their website (new builds, re-builds and SEO), to Facebook advertising campaigns, organic social media management and direct marketing initiatives. Get in touch for a free consultation. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2022/january/social-media-2022/ Mon, 03 January 2022 00:00:00 It has been a long time coming... Google has now upped the ante on website user experience . It's game on to deliver the best online experience possible for your clients. Doing so helps maintain and gain search engine rankings and higher conversion rates . Fail to do so and face declining rankings, less traffic and lower conversion rates. Welcome the tougher internet marketing game and enjoy giving more customer experience love Internet marketing is getting tougher. It's more complex now. The playing field is maturing. And Google is telling us how to respond. Ignore Google's guidance at your peril About 80% of new traffic to most sites nowadays comes via search engines. How Google ranks your content in search results matters. So when Google tells us to pay attention to user experience, you don't just consider it, you do it. Otherwise, forget relying on the massive free source of organic traffic. Don't despair. This is actually great news. Firstly, Google is telling you with clarity what to pay attention to. Secondly, your potential clients are the winners. And that's good reason to rejoice! After all, you are 100% in the business of satisfying client needs, right? Your clients point of view (what they need and hope for) must be 100% centre stage. Fail to do so and Google will strike you down. Google's latest algorithm updates (Page Experience in particular) have made this very clear. It's all about user experience optimisation . Pay attention if you want to keep: improving SEO to attract more quality traffic ; and enhancing conversion rates and converting more leads into clients. User experience (UX) explained, plus why it's pivotal for your firm's website performance The International Organisation for Standardisation tells us that UX relates to: “[a] person's perceptions and responses resulting from the use and or anticipated use of a product, system or service.” That's to say, website UX concerns how a person experiences your brand and service online. Having said that, that subjective experience can begin and end off-line, too. Let me explain. When your prospects search online, Google serves up search results including your website. The snippet includes content that entices them to click. It also promises them they'll get the answers they hope for. The user experience journey has begun, right here, because your snippet has made a promise. They click with intent, looking for fulfilment. And the journey continues even after they leave the site. For example, the moment they pick up the phone to call your reception. Online, they've gathered information and valued the firm's ability to deliver value. Expectations carry over to the receptionist experience. And so on goes the online/offline user experience journey. UX thus relates to how prospects feel about every interaction with your firm. From search to first appointment to case management and case settlement...  and beyond to the final invoice. Pretty big experience, right? But that's what Google's user experience framework is expecting you to respond to. How user experience (UX) differs from user interface (UI) and why it matters The user experience challenge is vast. It includes both subjective design and planning work with more technical aspects. Recapping, UX concerns the subjective feelings and attitudes users have when interacting with your digital assets. UI concerns the more technical aspects of this process. UI concerns the degree to which the website is effective in functional terms. Is the site easy to use, easy to learn, efficient, error-free, satisfying to use, etc.? UI is a question of functionality. "Don't make me think," so the classic UI call goes. We can add, "Don't waste my time". Buttons and links must work. Navigation mustn't leave you reeling for orientation. Videos must not freeze. Images must not fail to load. Colours and typography should help us read, not hinder our access to messages, and so on. Important point: you can have great UI without awesome UX. You cannot have great UX without great UI. With that in mind, here's... Why UX matters so much to Google and your law firm Google's Page Experience update was clear. It will measure elements of how users perceive the experience of using your website. That is UX centre stage. It takes a few seconds for site visitors to know if the UX works for them. In 1 to 2 seconds the ease of engagement becomes clear. If they can't see what the page is about in an instant, you're off to a bad start. Distracting sliders or annoying pop-ups blocking them? Things fall apart, fast. You've got 1 to 2 seconds before feelings and attitudes form and harden. In 10 to 15 seconds, it's game over. They either like what they see and feel, or they're gone. Capturing attention is an art and science. It's what is on the page: design, visuals, text. And it's what lies behind: technical functions and procedures. And Google is going to extreme lengths to understand and measure it all; the full user experience. How you measure up will determine how you rank in the search results and ultimately, how well you convert. Google measures in ever-more complex ways. Earlier Core Web Vitals measured page speed and mobile responsiveness. Now Page Experience goes further. Google will continue to up the pressure. Sites serving UX excellence will win. Those that do not will lose. And this is great for you if you take up the challenge. Competitive advantage is up for grabs. All you need to do is pay attention and execute on... What Google is looking out for in UX excellence (so far) Google tells us that its UX ranking signals include: Core Web Vitals is essential; which relates to how fast your site loads and how stable it is for visitors. And talking about speed and stability, we're referring to factors like: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) , which concerns how fast the largest page element renders; First Input Delay (FID) , which is the delay between a discrete user input and a browser's response; and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) , which measures how much page elements shift around. These are pretty technical matters. But you can see how your site is doing by using Google's Search Console and Page Speed Insights . Social Hive is well placed to help you assess the results and optimise UX outcomes. Let us know you'd like to talk about taking your law firm's website and online marketing further Social Hive will take you even further with the full range of UX matters, like... Mobile-friendliness: We now use our mobiles daily for search. In fact, 60% (and probably more) of Google searches now are from mobile devices. Your website must now provide adapted page experiences for those devices. Pages designed purely for desktops won't provide great UX in all instances. Of course, your copy (the words that deliver your content) must work for mobile readers. Optimised sites often have unique and adapted copy for mobile displays. There are technical issues to prioritise, too. Optimal button sizes or positioning can change across devices; for example. Image sizes, colour ranges, form fields are all sensitive to screen size. Solutions include using AMP pages to boost load times with cache optimisation. But there are many other things to consider, like... Safe browsing Your website is your law firm's online branding machine. Don't leave your site visitors feeling at risk. They will if your site feels like spam or unsafe, jumping around or unresponsive. Insecure servers and weak security lead to malware, spyware or malicious scripts. And automated ads can be an open door to undesirable content, damaging your brand image. Google is watching out for signs of this nature. Make your site secure, which brings us to another critical issue .... Site security and HTTPS Security online must be a paramount concern. Data encryption is critical to user experience. Massive amounts of sensitive information moves between users and servers every second. To protect them, use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate . SSLs scramble data during transit. Hackers can't intercept it. Here's how to know if a site is using an SSL: the address will begin with https:// If it is not, the address will only show http:// Up your Google UX score by adding an SSL certificate. And also pay attention to... Nonintrusive interstitials (pop-ups) Pop-ups drive most (all) people mad. They get in the way of us getting to the content we came to the site for in the first place. Don't obstruct or disrupt a visitor's journey to the content they expect to find. Having said that, not all interstitials are bad. If your site is visible in Europe, for example, you'll need to display GRPD information. Or wherever you are, display "Cookies" policies. Let users know what data your site is collecting (e.g., site analytics). You can also use them to warn about sensitive content or login dialogues. Interstitials are not "banned" by Google. They request careful use; use that enhances the user's experience. Make interstitials minimal and non-intrusive. Put them at the bottom of the screen, for example. Don't make people click to remove them. Don't make them so big they block key content. And on the subject of content... Never underplay the importance of high quality, value-generating content This should be no surprise. Helpful, quality content is the staple of healthy business generating online marketing. And Google keeps telling us that it is so. For over a decade, Google has been on a crusade to increase the quality of content. It is a major SEO ranking factor. The mantra sticks, "Content is King". SEO studies place content quality and relevancy in poll position again and again. It's the #1 factor influencing search results. And awesome UX is not possible without it. Repeat after me, " CONTENT IS KING ". What you need to do now to keep ahead of algorithm updates for UX optimisation Google's latest update is now active. Read about it in detail here . UX is now, more than ever, at the forefront of online marketing. And the range of tasks to take it further will only get larger as time goes on. This should be of no surprise. Customer service has always been a challenge demanding ongoing adaptation. Remember how the COVID pandemic threw us all into a flurry of inventing online services. Smart law firms embraced video-conferencing to take their legal services online. What a great tool and a perfect example of the new era of UX challenges! To make these shifts work, keep diving deep into how your clients experience your firm. Customer discovery should be integral to UX development, both online and offline. And from what you learn, act. Adapt your website and online marketing strategy in an agile fashion. Some key pointers to explore right now include: Upgrading your web host to a faster, more secure service Compress and resize images Redirect broken links and pages Make sure you redirect broken links and have an error 404 page Use heat-mapping to observe user behaviour to improve user flow and navigation These are a few ideas only. Talk to Social Hive about identifying key needs and prioritising development work . And get ahead of the curve with law firm UX. It's your competitive advantage in the making. Your clients, prospects and Google will love you for it. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your law firm's digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/november/ux/ Mon, 15 November 2021 00:00:00 Google is considered the king of all search engines! It’s not hard to see why. Not only does the platform attract approximately 5.6 billion searches per day, but it constantly develops new services and features for businesses and users to benefit from. Google Search Console Insights is one of the latest examples of this, and we will reveal everything that you need to know about it below. What is Google Search Console (GSC)? Before we can tell you more about GSC Insights, we first need to explain what Google Search Console is. This is a free service that Google provides to assist you in monitoring, maintaining, and troubleshooting the presence of your website in the Google search results. You don’t need to sign up for Google Search Console in order to be featured within the Google search results. However, you do need to sign up to it to access all its juicy goodies. It’s a very important platform that gives you the ability to better understand your site’s search traffic (where they’re coming from, what search terms they’re using etc), troubleshooting and fixing issues with your site, along with other metrics.     Some of the different things you can do via Google Search Console include: Troubleshoot problems for mobile usability, AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) , and other search features; Discover which websites are linking to yours (and to which pages they are linking); Receive alerts when Google encounters issues like spam or indexing; View Google search traffic data for your website, including how often searchers click through certain queries or how often your website is featured in Google search; Fix indexing issues and request re-indexing of updated or new content; Confirm that Google is able to locate your website and coral it properly. What is Google Search Console insights? Google Search Console insights is a new experience that has been designed with publishers and content creators in mind, giving them the ability to get a deeper understanding of how audiences find their website’s content and what sort of content performs best. You will be able to answer the following questions (and more): What pieces of content perform the best? How are new pieces of content performing? Which articles or other sites refer people to your content and your website? Prior to visiting your content, what did people search for on Google? How do people find your content across the internet? You can also use GSC insights to do a deep dive of your site’s current performance with a view to preparing (or updating) your site to be compliant with Google’s ‘page experience’ algorithm . When did the new GSC insights roll out? Google has only just launched the full version of GSC Insights . It has been available since August 2020 but was only in beta testing then and you had to be invited in order to use it. Aside from availability, there have not been any announced changes between the version that was released last year and this month, although it is reasonable to expect tweaks both now and in the future. Make sure you “associate” your GSC with your Google Analytics In order to maximise the full potential of this new future, one thing you will need to do is associate your GSC with your Google Analytics . Associating both accounts is imperative because it enables you to establish a direct channel of communication with Google so that you can get all of the data you need about your website. So, how do you associate your Google Search Console with Google Analytics? Create and verify the URL prefix property - either use your Google Tag Manager or upload an HTML file on your site Head to Admin, Property, and the Property Settings, and select the ‘Adjust Search Console’ button On the next page, click on Add, and then choose the newly created GSC property Follow these three simple steps and your GSC should be associated with your Google Analytics . Of course, this may be a little technical for some. If that’s the case, you should simply ask your service provider to ensure your GSC and your Analytics are associated. The top 6 features and benefits of new insights in GSC There are a lot of great features that you are going to be able to make the most of with the new insights in GSC. Let’s take a look at them in further detail. 1. Trending content insights You will be able to learn about what sort of content is trending for your site (assuming your site has sufficient traffic to analyse this). This will enable you to focus your content efforts on the best-performing content types. 2. Content queries Find out about the exact queries people are searching for in order to find your content ( the keywords and phrases they are using ). This enables you to effectively satisfy the intent of the searcher. 3. High-traffic results You will also be able to determine what sort of search queries and types of content are getting the most traffic for your content. 4. Recent content performance Whenever launching a new content campaign (for example, a new post on your blog), it is important to track its performance so that you can learn what you’ve gotten right and where changes may need to be. Google Search Console insights enable you to do this. After all, trends are changing all of the time, so it is not only important to know about your all-time top-performing content, but how recent pieces are performing. 5. All-time content performance Moving on from point #4, you will be able to learn about your best performing content of all time. 6. Make intelligent decisions with a snapshot of your business’ content strategy The main reason to consider using Google Search Console insights is that you are going to benefit from insights that you can use to make more intelligent decisions and drive your business forward. After all, you are never going to be able to enhance your content strategy if you do not have a thorough understanding of how it is performing in the first instance. That is exactly what GSC insights can provide you with. Summary So, there you have it. The new Google Search Console insights platform! We hope that this has helped you to get a better understanding of the platform and how it can help you to take your content marketing strategy to new heights. If you have any further questions about effective marketing on Google, please get in touch. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your law firm's digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/july/gsc-insights/ Mon, 05 July 2021 00:00:00 Updated 29 January 2025 Good SEO involves many different techniques. One of the important parts of "on-page SEO" (that is, everything that you do on your visitor-facing website itself), is formatting the page through the use of HTML. The use of H1 tags on your pages is a vital part of this. They are one of the most important search engine ranking factors on your site, so it's important to learn how to use them. What is an H1 tag? HTML heading tags are used to format headings on your page in order of importance. The H1 tag is the one that comes first and shows search engines what content can be expected on the rest of the page. To expand a little on what an HTML tag is, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a language used to create websites. An HTML tag is a small piece of code that tells a web browser (for example, Google) how the content on a page should be displayed. There are six different HTML heading tags, from H1 to H6. They go from most important to least important, with the size of the text generally decreasing in size with the importance. An H1 tag is created by putting the heading in between HTML formatting like this: <h1> add your content here </h1>. <h1> tells the search engine that the tag starts here and then </h1> tells the search engine the tag finishes here. Why are H1 tags important? As Moz says, " H1 tags are an important part of on-page SEO and a key method of organizing information so it can be easily comprehended by search engines and humans ." On the page, H1’s are very noticeable due to their size and they tell people what they're going to see on the rest of the page. Over the years, SEO has become much more about usability and accessibility and offering people a good user experience , rather than just hitting all of the right technical requirements. Unlike an HTML title tag , an H1 tag doesn't tell (or moe accurately, suggest) search engines what to display. However, it does affect user experience, which is important for SEO. Many people actually use the same HTML title tag and H1 so that they match when a user clicks through to the page. The H1 tag is essentially the page title. The title tag is what you will (generally) see on search engine results pages (for example, on Google it’s the large blue writing in the search results), but the H1 tag is what is visible on the page itself. Appropriately selected and formatted H1 tags can make a significant difference to how well your content ranks in search engines and the response that you receive from searchers. Should your page title be an H1 tag? The title on a web page is often tagged as an H1 tag. While this isn't always the case, it makes sense in most cases. By making the title of your page an H1 heading, it shows that it's one of the most important pieces of content on the page. It's an opportunity to use relevant keywords and to indicate what the following content will be about. When you tag your title as H1, it will also usually make the text a larger format than the text on the rest of the page. This is ideal because it allows you to highlight your title for your website visitors. It’s also important that each unique page has only one H1 tag, so it makes sense for it to be the title of your page. What to consider when creating an H1 tag There are a few things to keep in mind when creating an H1 tag. It's worth spending some time on your H1 tag to craft the perfect heading for your page and reap the SEO benefits. One thing to consider is making sure your H1 heading is reflected in your HTML title tag . Remember, the title tag is the text that will display in search engine results, the browser tab, and on social media. The only time an H1 tag must match a title tag, in line with official search engine guidelines, is when you are a Google News publisher. Otherwise, there is no requirement to do so from search engines. If you choose to have your H1 and title tag the same, they don't necessarily have to match exactly, but they should at least be similar in their wording. Should every page have an H1? Yes… Generally. The answer to this question is that all important pages should have an H1 tag. But what makes a page important enough to have one? There are some minor pages where a unique H1 heading might not be necessary, partly because it might be a page that you don't need to show up in search engines. Be sure to only use one H1 per page to form a clear heading hierarchy. How long can an H1 tag be? As a general rule, you don't want the title of your page to be too long. It should be concise and provide a snapshot of what the page is going to be about. Technically, an H1 title could be as long as you like because there's no limit on the page. However, if you're matching your H1 tag to your title tag (which does have limitations on how much of it will be visible to users), you're going to need to pay a little more attention to the length. A shorter title is often more powerful and gets your reader's attention but sometimes you may need to use a few more words to have clarity around your message. Google will typically display the first 50-60 characters of your title tag. If it’s too long, they will truncate how it is viewed on the search engine results page. Key takeaways H1 tags are an important part of SEO. All of the important pages on your site should have H1 tags to draw in the reader and give a clear indication of the content on the page. When you have great H1 tags, especially when you match them to your title tags, it can make a big difference to SEO performance. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/june/h1-tags/ Wed, 09 June 2021 00:00:00 A blog post is an article that typically talks about a specific topic. We often say to our law firm clients: Your practice areas/areas of expertise content is over-arching information which is reasonably static; it doesn’t change often. Your blog site is continuously updated (added to) and answers very defined queries. You write it in the style of one question, one ‘detailed’ answer. In this blog post, we’re going to look at some of the primary things to consider when writing your own blogs. Why have a blog? Your blog provides your firm with the opportunity to add consistent, detailed, informative and educational content to your website on a regular basis. It increases the positive user experience and drives your SEO hard , to ensure you get found more often for what you do. Make sure you identify your target audience? Identifying your audience is critical in deciding how to write your content. If you write your content to suit your intended audience, they are more likely to read the entire article and more likely to peruse more content on your website. If you’re writing for peers in the legal industry (other lawyers for example), your content will likely be more formal, more technical, with significant references to cases, legislation etc. If you’re writing for commercial clients, again, it is possibly going to be a little more formal and it may also be more technical. If you’re writing for a blue-collar worker, for example, you’ll have more plain English, clear explanations, definitions of non-standard terms etc. Blog structure Title There are many different ways to structure the naming of your blog post. Many say the “How to…”, “10 steps to…”, “Top 12….”, will outperform standard “What is…” type content. We don’t necessarily agree with this. It’s our view that your title should: reflect the content the user can expect when they arrive on your post; include your primary keyword(s); and be magnetic, attract attention and convince people to read it . How long should it be? It should be as long as is necessary to convey the points, in detail, without the waffle. That said, significant research suggests that longer blog posts outperform shorter ones. This is due to a number of reasons with two of the most common being: Google has more content to index and interpret in longer posts, which it then determines are going to provide better, more thorough answers for the searcher. The reader’s experience will be improved because the content is more likely to answer all their queries on the topic. Basically, there is no set length your blog post should be. We generally suggest to our authors that they should aim for 700 words minimum (which is not that many in reality). They’re often surprised how quickly they get to 700 words and actually finish up on 1,000 or even 1,200 or more. Use sub-headings The flow of your blog content is very important to the user experience. Most people would agree that it’s much easier to read a long page of content where it has been broken down into bite-sized pieces as opposed to reading a full page with text with no breaks and no sub-headings. Sub-headings also provide you with the opportunity to use keywords with an H2 tag applied to them; telling Google this is important. When preparing to write your blog, think about how you would verbally "tell this story". Let’s use the example of writing a blog titled “ Five reasons your law firm should have a blog ”. In this blog post, we used the following structure: Opening paragraph – this needs to be captivating and clearly articulate what the reader should expect to gain 1 . Your blog will demonstrate your expertise and authority to a wider audience 2 . Online is where your clients are 3 . Your blog builds a library of knowledge and expertise you can share across multiple platforms 4 . Your blog will increase your revenue 5 . Google loves blogs A reference to some more blog topics, associated with this blog Get help We’ve told the reader what to expect. We’ve outlined the top 5 reasons, numbering them and providing a clear sub-heading title and we’ve finished with options to get more tips and a call to action (contact us for help). With the sub-headings, readers can scan those when they initially arrive on the page and (fingers crossed), at least one of them will grab the attention of the reader and get them to want to read more or the entire article. Include images There are a number of reasons to add images (including infographics) to your blog post: They provide an opportunity to break up the text content which offers a better user experience; They provide a visual aid to drive your point(s) harder; Infographics can often be more explanatory than simple text; They allow you to be more creative with your content; Content with images is much more likely to get greater engagement; They provide another opportunity for improved SEO with the use of Alt Image tags . Link to other supporting content To provide a more holistic and thorough experience for your readers, rather than writing thousands of words in one blog post, you should hyperlink specific content in your blog to other blog posts which provide more insight or more detail. This may be linking internally to your own content – great for branding, authority, trust-building and SEO. Or you may link to external content for authority, data confirmation, court decisions etc… Choosing your writing style The writing style will be very specific to you and your firm. However, there are some key things to consider: Use tools like Grammarly (there’s a free version) to ensure your spelling and grammar is accurate; When writing law blogs, there can often be a significant amount of legal jargon to contend with. Sometimes you can write this in plain English but other times, it’s necessary to use the legal term. On those occasions, always define the term (in plain English), the first time you are using it. Ensure the style is consistent. If more than one person is writing the blog post, you should collaborate on the style of writing. Make sure you have a call to action (CTA) at some point. You may include this throughout the blog (being careful not to over-do it) or perhaps, in the column and at the end. Proofread and edit your blog post Once you’ve finished your first draft, proofing and often editing, is crucial. You can proofread yourself but you’ll often just read over any ‘errors’ (including grammar and spelling); it’s natural for us to often read what we intended rather than what we actually wrote. We’ve found it works best to have someone else proofread your content for: grammar; spelling; flow; clarity; accuracy; and Optimise for SEO This can sometimes get tricky. Many writers are tempted to add keywords obsessively. So much so, it completely detracts from the content, disrupts the flow and distracts the reader. Your optimisation needs to be smarter. Keyword research, using proprietary tools will be very beneficial to the success of your blog post, so long as it’s done properly and in a considered manner. Likewise, expert use of Title Tags and Meta Descriptions is important. Using an SEO agency to proof and finalise (or make recommendations) your content, will likely provide improved results in the long run. SEO is a complex (and ever-changing) beast so keeping up with the latest can be time-consuming if it’s not your core business. Ready to start blogging? As with many things, getting started is the hardest step. Ultimately, however, you know the content for the topic you’re writing about, so start by getting your knowledge, experience and expertise down in writing (remember, one simple question, one detailed answer). Then follow the steps above to refine and finalise your article. As always, if you need help to get you going (or finishing), whether it be with your writing or your SEO, we’re just a phone call away. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au Find this article useful or interesting? You may also like to read: SEO Q&A: Our top 15 SEO questions answered How do I choose topics and titles for my blog? Your digital customer experience – 6 critical factors https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/may/writing-blogs/ Mon, 10 May 2021 00:00:00 There is a range of issues that can impact your ranking online, including keyword cannibalisation. This article explores why it can sometimes be an issue and what you can do to fix it. You may have heard that content is king in terms of digital marketing. Content can be incredibly important with many marketers favoring it as one of the crucial tools in your arsenal. Your content needs to be of high quality and should be targeted so that it appeals to the specific audience you are hoping to attract for that specific topic. However, this can cause a side issue. You could end up with multiple pieces of content that target the same keywords on your website or address the same query. If that’s the case, then you can run into the issue of keyword cannibalisation. This could cause problems with your ranking. What is keyword cannibalisation? Keyword cannibalisation means that there are various posts and articles on your site that have significantly similar content and/or have the potential to rank for the same query in Google. This can occur because the topics that they cover are far too similar or because they were optimised using the same keyphrase. If the content is optimised for the same search query, then they can ‘eat away’ (thus the term, cannibalise) at the chances they have to rank. Remember Google will typically only show a couple of results from the same domain high up in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). If you have a high domain authority, you could get more results but this is not a given. Does keyword cannibalisation affect my website rankings? When you try to rank for keywords for your industry (in our case, ‘law’), you’re already facing a lot of competition. Keyword cannibalisation adds another spanner to the works because then you’re also competing with yourself. This significantly lowers your chances of success. The best way to understand this is with an example. You might have two articles on the basics of family law property settlement. Google is going to struggle to determine which article should be ranked higher for search queries related to your chosen keyword (“family law” and “property settlement”) or it may possibly choose not to rank either page. This isn’t the only issue. Additional elements that can support your SEO campaigns, such as backlinks and CTR will be spread out over two different posts. So, these will become diluted as well and ultimately both posts could end up ranking lower, or not at all. Google might even view signs of keyword cannibalisation as poor page quality . It suggests that your content is largely repetitive and therefore won’t be providing many benefits to users. Is it ever OK to have keyword cannibalisation? Some marketers do suggest that keyword cannibalisation should be viewed as an opportunity rather than an issue. The reason they tend to highlight is that pages can rank for multiple keywords. So, it’s not a question of whether you are repeatedly focusing on the same queries but more a question of whether or not you are showing the right level of intent for each article. In other words, while the article may not rank for the targeted keyword, it could be chosen to rank for related keywords if it is relevant or useful. A second article with the same query could even be under consideration to rank by Google and may eventually replace a competing website page. At Social Hive, we tend to err on the side of caution and avoid, wherever identified, the potential of keyword cannibalisation. How do I identify keyword cannibalisation? The good news is that once you understand keyword cannibalisation could be an issue, it’s easy to identify it and ensure that it doesn’t create more problems for you. One of the ways that you can do this would be by creating a spreadsheet. You can then use a spreadsheet to list all the key URLs for your site and their associated keywords. In doing so, you can ensure that it is easy to identify which pieces of content are too similar. Do note cannibalisation may occur if your meta information is too similar as well. As such, you should check your title tags and other metadata for any issues here. There is a range of different tracking tools that you can use that could help with keyword cannibalisation. For instance, like us, you can use AHREFS to identify this problem. With a tool such as this, it’s easy to spot areas of your site where you have targeted the same queries multiple times. SEMRush can also be useful if you want to track content and check whether it has been optimized for the right queries. A word of caution: No matter what way you choose to identify keyword cannibalisation, it is usually quite an exhaustive process. But the results can be highly beneficial. Options to address keyword cannibalisation There are countless ways to address keyword cannibalisation. You could consider merging the two pieces of content. Research shows that long-style content that provides depth will often rank higher because it delivers more value than other pages. You could also consider deleting the page that is ranking lower or setting up a redirect page. That way, you can ensure that users are only seeing one page that is related to a particular search query. Alternatively, you may want to add a no-index tag to one of the pages. This ultimately means that the page will not be indexed by Google (but could still be found on your website by visitors trawling around your site) and thus will have no impact on your ranking. One final suggestion would be to use a canonical tag. This is a great way to consolidate duplicate URLs that may exist on your website and to specify which URL you want users to see. You can do this by adding a <link> tag to any duplicate pages. In summary Keyword cannibalisation can cause problems for your SEO campaigns. However, it’s also easy to fix. You just need to keep track of your content and the queries you are targeting with the right tools while also correcting any issues that crop up, ensuring that you’re not competing against yourself. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au Find this article useful or interesting? You may also like to read: Keyword research – is it necessary for my law firm? SEO Q&A – our top 15 SEO questions answered Your digital customer experience – 6 critical factors https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/april/keyword-cannibalisation/ Thu, 15 April 2021 00:00:00 Are you looking to add something new and boost your marketing strategy to drive more traffic to your site and ultimately, more clients to your firm? Long tail keywords could be the answer. Keywords are an important part of SEO and a tactic used by many in order to boost their ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs). While it’s true that keywords are not the be-all and end-all of your marketing strategy, they are still i mportant and you should utilise them wherever you ca n. In this article, we are going to be focusing specifically on long tail keywords, providing information such as what they are and how you can find them. What are long tail keywords? When you’re searching online and not 100% sure what you’re searching for, you tend to type in vague terms which are often quite broad (at least initially). These are the kind of keywords and phrases that businesses optimise (if they’re applying SEO to their content) so that their content appears in the SERPs and is presented to you. But a lot of these broad (or parent keywords) are highly competitive (lots of business want to use them) and difficult to rank for; particularly if you’re a very small business or a very new business. Long tail keywords are a longer (usually about 3-5 words or so) and more specific; you’re targeting precisely what you’re searching for. A user is far more likely to use long tail keywords if they are closer to the point of purchasing something or wanting to engage a service provider (like your law firm), because they have a more specific idea of what they want. While it’s true that long tail keywords will usually get less traffic than regular keywords, it’s also true that many businesses do not actually use them properly. Therefore, the ROI on them is often higher.   Consider this example You’re looking for a lawyer to prepare a financial agreement for you only weeks out from your wedding If you search “financial agreement” or even “financial agreement lawyer”, there will be hundreds of firms using those terms on their website. So, this reduces your chances of appearing on page one of SERPs. If you search “I need a financial agreement prepared at short notice”, the number of firms using those terms (or very similar) will be much reduced, thus increasing your chances of appearing higher up in SERPs for this specific long tail query. Examples of long tail keywords To understand what a long tail keyword is, you’re going to need to understand a short tail keyword, better known simply as a keyword. It is generally agreed that anything over 3 or 4 words, which is quite specific in terms, is going to count as a long tail keyword. There is no set length and, contrary to rumours, a long tail keyword does not specifically relate to the length of a keyword. An example of a normal keyword might be ‘find lawyer’ and a long tail keyword would be ‘personal injury lawyer specialising in medical negligence.’ As you can see, the main differences are that the long tail phrase is longer and it’s also far more specific and detailed. With the first keyword, the search engine was left open to find all just about any type of lawyer. The second keyword is far more nuanced and specific.   Another example would be if someone types ‘SEO tips’ into a search engine. This is of course, a normal keyword. But if you add a couple more words to it and turn it into ‘SEO strategy to implement long tail keywords’, then it becomes a long tail keyword. Why are long tail keywords important? One of the reasons that long tail keywords are important is because it is far easier to rank using these keywords than it is other ones; assuming it’s done well. This is simply because fewer websites are competing for the top spot when it comes to long tail keywords. If you find yourself focusing on long tail keywords, it is possible (and probably) to deliver more traffic to your website and thus, more enquiries and leads. Another reason that long tail keywords are important is because they produce high quality leads. What this means is that the people who end up on your site after searching using a long tail keyword are more likely to have their query answered via your content because your content contains their specific search query. Of course, the old adage of having quality content for them once they arrive, is critically important too. Like most things “SEO”, it’s not only about the long tail keyword. There are many other factors at play to ensure your website works hard for you. How do you find long tail keywords? There are actually a few ways that you can find long tail keywords; some paid and some free. Below are a few examples (of the many available tools). Google autofill (free) Start typing your query into Google and prompts will appear suggesting a completion of your query. These suggestions are based on previous searches. People also ask (free) When you complete a search query, you will often be provided with a list of searches people used which Google feels are related to your search. AHREFS (paid) AHREFS is a powerful SEO analysis tool . It is able to: explore keywords and other metrics of websites (not just yours); provide a range of relevant keyword ideas, difficulty (of ranking for that keyword) and traffic estimates; website audits (how sound is your site); competitor analysis; and more. Social Hive uses AHREFS with for all our clients’ SEO. If you don’t want to spend the time manually keyword finding and checking, there are professionals that you can pay to do this for you. This is much quicker than doing it all manually and you’re likely to get significantly better results because they’re experts in their field. In summary Keyword research (short and long tail) is critical to your SEO strategy. If you’re looking to improve SEO for your business, Implementation of long tail keywords is a must. However, remember to try and not get too caught up in all things keywords. While they are important, there are many other things that will need your attention when it comes to digital marketing efforts, including some of the following: Google page experience algorithm to rollout in May 2021 Law Firm Bloggers: How to write magnetic headlines that compel prospects to (enthusiastically) read your posts SEO Tips for Lawyers | Mastering title tags for better website traffic and conversions Black hat SEO Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/march/longtail-keywords/ Fri, 19 March 2021 00:00:00 Measuring social media engagement lets you discover which aspects of your digital outreach work well, and which may need a little more love. In this post, you’ll learn how to measure social media engagement and how to improve it. Just like you measure your website performance ( using Google analytics for example), measuring and reviewing your efforts prevents you from wasting your marketing dollars and ensures that you’re delivering content that your audience wants. What is social media engagement? You can think of social media engagement as the degree to which users of platforms, like Facebook and LinkedIn, are followers of your brand. It’s a measure of how well you’re connecting with your audience, as measured by statistics such as likes, shares, comments and views. How do I measure and monitor Facebook engagement? Measuring Facebook engagement is relatively easy because the platform collects and presents all the data you need. That said, there is a lot of data so don’t get stuck down the rabbit hole exploring every single measurement you possibly can. First up, choose the metrics you would like to track. Options include: Reach: The number of users who see your posts in their timelines. Clicks: The number of times users click on links or images in your posts. Shares : The number of times users share your posts or ads with their connections. Comments: The number of people who comment on your posts. Likes: The number of people who like your pages. Typically, you’ll want to combine a range of metrics to get a more comprehensive picture of how you’re engaging users. For instance, “reach” could be high because you’re spending a lot of money on advertising. But “shares” and/or “comments” could be low, suggesting the content isn’t as impacting as you may want. A small word of warning here for law firms though; generally, organic engagement (non-paid that is) is lower for law firms because there’s not as much of an emotional pull as there is, for example, with animal-related posts or fashion or food. How to access your Facebook insights Next, you’ll want to use Facebook’s own tools to track your engagement. To do this:  Login to your Facebook business account page Select the “Insights” option in the menu at the top Use the options list on the left-hand side to view individual statistics, such as likes, reach, page views, actions on page, people, messages and so on. Apply a date range and either read the results directly on screen or download to an excel report. If you need to, you can sort information by demographics, such as gender and location etc. You can also track changes in engagement before and after specific advertising campaigns. How do I measure and monitor LinkedIn engagement? Measuring LinkedIn engagement is similar to what we’ve outlined above and again, relatively simple. You first pick metrics you’d like to track and then log into the platform’s analytics dashboards to see how they’re performing. You can access the analytics dashboard from the menu above your cover image on your company page. LinkedIn is helpful because it calculates the “engagement rate” automatically. It does this by adding up all audience interactions (reactions, likes, shares, comments) together with clicks and new followers and divides them by the total number of impressions the post receives. The result is a ratio between passive and active actions users can take. To view LinkedIn metrics, open your company page and select the ‘analytics’ tab in the top menu. There are then three sub-menus you can choose to obtain metrics on: Visitors Updates (your posts) Followers LinkedIn visitors’ dashboard This dashboard gives you metrics on how many visitors you have on your company page. You can also break down these visitor metrics into which part(s) of your company page they visit; for example, home, about, people etc. As with most metrics, you can also add a date range. LinkedIn updates dashboard This dashboard provides metrics on your posts. You can break it down into impressions, clicks, reactions, comments, shares etc. You can also look directly at your ‘engagement rate’ (worked out by LinkedIn) for each post. Again, you can add a date range to your selection. LinkedIn followers’ dashboard This is a very basic dashboard designed simply to provide you with the aggregate of followers along with when new followers came on board. Again, you can add a date range to your selection. What are good engagement rates for Facebook and LinkedIn? A study of nearly 3,000 Facebook pages calculated the average ‘post engagement rate’ to be 3.22%. Marketing expert Michael Leander cites even lower figures, suggesting that businesses that achieve a one per cent engagement rate are doing well. Both these references are across a range of industries (not just legal). In light of this, any post that achieves an engagement rate over 5% could be considered a star performer. The story is similar on LinkedIn. Experts consider any engagement rate above 2% is good and anything over 10% to be mind-bogglingly brilliant.  How do I improve my social media engagement rates? Law firms face significant challenges in engaging on social media. This is due to a number of factors. It could be partly to do with the specific training professionals undergo and the language they use or it could be that ‘legal information’ is not necessarily considered ‘sexy’ and firms are competing with more emotional pull or fun content. Law is a linguistic art, ordinarily requiring precise use of language. Legal professionals and/or their marketing agencies need to approach social media in a manner that removes legalese and speaks plain English. They should also not shy away from having a little fun here and there with their posts. Making your law firm’s social media posts more ‘human’, less legalese Share personalised posts : Your audience isn’t interested in the logic of statute. They want to know who you are and what you stand for. Shining on social media, therefore, often just requires writing a few posts about the everyday goings-on at your law firm - the stuff your team enjoys or loves to do, or your personal mission. Be authentic: Don’t allow your training to get in the way of connecting with your audience emotionally. Prove your authenticity by backing up your words with actions. Use plain English: Avoid legalese and complex sentence structures that confuse regular people. Speak to them as you might a friend. Use images and videos: Visually-rich social media outreach performs better than blocks of static text . Time your posts: Evidence suggests that there are better and worse times to post on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites. Posting in the early afternoon, for instance, could be better than the early morning for Facebook and vice versa for LinkedIn. Use your analytics/insights to determine the best times for your specific audience. Give your posts entertainment value: Social media users dislike direct sales. They’re on the platform to connect with friends, learn, gain knowledge etc. Law firms need to be sensitive to that by creating the type of content users are in the “mood” to consume. Entertaining snippets, for instance, are a great way to promote your brand and win over potential clients at the same time. In summary Measuring social media engagement is relatively easy. Both Facebook and LinkedIn - as well as most other major platforms - provide intuitive and simple dashboards that show you how your posts and campaigns are performing. Plus, they provide tools that allow you to track the impact of changes you make over time, telling you whether new ideas are working or not. If you’re not already monitoring your analytics, you could be a missing a trick. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/february/social-media-engagement/ Fri, 19 February 2021 00:00:00 Blog update: July 2021 - despite a delay in the originally rollout time frame for May 2021, this algorithm is now in play Have you made the necessary changes to your website for the Google page experience algorithm? This was originally scheduled for May 2021 but was actually delayed until June 2021 and is now complete. Google’s algorithms are complex systems that are used to gather data from the search index so that users get the best possible results when they type in a search query. A number of ranking signals and algorithms are used by Google to present webpages on its search engine result pages (SERPs). In the beginning, only a handful of algorithm updates were made. Now though, Google makes thousands of changes every year . A lot of these amendments are so slight that they won’t even be noticed. However, some of them are significant and can have a big impact, and that’s why we’ve put together this post on the page experience algorithm that is set to be rolled out in May. What is page experience? Page experience is the latest search ranking benchmark that is going to be used by the major search engine. This metric is all about determining how usable your website is. As Google has stated, this algorithm will measure elements of how users perceive the experience of using your website. By optimising your site for these specific page experience factors, you can make sure your website is more enjoyable for all web browsers and devices, as well as helping you to evolve to mobile expectations as well. It is all about removing any friction that may be involved in the website experience at the moment. How important is this new update? With Google releasing updates all of the time, you may be wondering how important this latest update is. The answer is: very important! The introduction of the page experience algorithm is all about bringing people more of the websites they love. It’s about user experience/UX. Yes, keywords and links are important, but we’re seeing a greater focus on the experience the user has while on a website, and this is a trend that is unlikely to change. In fact, we’re pretty sure you will end up seeing more algorithm updates focused on user experience in the near future. What factors will Google look at to determine page experience? Now we must pose the question: what makes a good page experience? What is Google going to consider when determining whether your website is enjoyable or not? There are three main areas that Google has specified: Visual stability; Interactivity; and The focal points that have been outlined correspond with the three new metrics: Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - This metric is designed to measure the percentage of the screen that is impacted by movement; i.e. whether items are jumping around on the screen. First Input Delay (FID) - This metric assesses how long it takes for a browser to respond to an interaction that has been triggered by the user; for example, clicking on a website button. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - This metric will tell Google how long it takes for the biggest content element on your page to load; for example, your primary banner image. These new metrics will join a number of other factors that are already used to rank page experience. This includes safe browsing, interstitial use (i.e. whether your site stays away from nasty pop-ups), how secure your website is (HTTPS) , and whether your site is mobile-friendly . What enhancements do you need to consider to prepare for the page experience update? With the introduction of these new metrics, you will likely need to consider making some improvements to your website so that it is ready for the page experience algorithm. This will ensure your site does not drop down the rankings and can even lead to some gains if you are able to master the user experience of your website. Invest in a usability audit - Speak with your website service provider and ask them to can carry out a usability audit for you. They will be able to get to the bottom of any usability issues that may result in Google penalising your website in search results. This gives you the opportunity to rectify errors and make improvements prior to the rollout of page experience. Focus on every page - Have you noticed that the rollout is called page experience rather than website experience? Of course, delivering an excellent site experience is important, but it’s important that you go through your website on a page-by-page basis to ensure that none of your pages is letting the team down! Use heatmaps to evaluate site design - Heatmaps can help you to get a better understanding of the areas of a web page that are being clicked on the most . This helps you to find out whether there are any areas of your site that are proving troublesome; i.e. users are clicking on a part of your site that isn’t clickable, indicating that your design is misleading. You can run other tests to determine the usability of your site as well. Optimise site speed - The final step you should take to improve your website in light of the new algorithm is to optimise site speed. You need to ensure that all of the elements of your page load within recommended time frames. There are a number of free tools you can do this with. Google PageSpeed Insights , which provides results for both mobile and desktop users. Experte Page Speed Test , which is an excellent tool that allows you to test multiple URL's at a time. Some final words on the new page experience algorithm from Google As you can see, the new page experience algorithm from Google is going to put even greater emphasis on the experience your website delivers to its users. This may mean that you need to make some changes to your site. If you’re feeling a bit concerned by the new update or overwhelmed at the changes that will need to be made, don’t panic; you have until May to make the necessary adjustments. If you need help, as always, feel free to give us a call . Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2021/january/page-experience-algorithm/ Tue, 19 January 2021 00:00:00 As a law firm, creating an exceptional online experience is a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from other firms in your industry offering similar services.  Interestingly, many firms simply don’t pay any attention to this. Their webpages and social media posts are like old-style brochures dropped into a digital world. And they don't take full advantage of modern digital tools.  The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Your internet presence can be so much more than a mere digital shopfront. With the right ideas, you can delight your audience and make them hungry to choose you over others.   Here’s how to do it.  1.  Make your website mobile-ready How many law firms have websites that users can Comfortably, easily and effectively access the information they need and/or interact with the firm. The answer, incredibly, is “not many” or at the least, “not as many as there should be”. But think about what a wasted opportunity that is.  Data suggests that mobile devices account more than 60% of online interactions in 2025 . It also indicates that a staggering 62% of global website traffic comes from mobile phones . Today’s customers expect to get a fully-fledged service on all their portable devices - even when ordering services from law firms. Thus, small changes in your mobile functionality can create huge benefits in user experience between you and your rivals.  2.  Make your website simple Lawyers are naturally wordy people by nature. After all, language is an integral part of their craft.  But if you run a law firm, you should save the legalese for the courtroom. The goal of a website should be simplicity and plain English.  What does that mean in practice? Basic colours: The general advice here is to use a maximum of two to five colours on your website palate. That seems to be the sweet spot. Any more than that and you end up creating visual confusion.  Legible typefaces: While law firms might be associated with ink quills, avoid using swirly fonts if you can. Stick with those that are more legible.  Graphics: Graphics are very helpful for many people and can tell their own story but keep in mind the need to keep ‘visual clutter’ to a minimum. 3.  Make your pages and your content consistent Let’s say that you offer pages for family law, criminal law, drink driving, personal injury, medical malpractice and so on. Ideally, you want the experience of each to feel the same, no matter which your user/visitor clicks on. That includes the layout, the language, the style, the imagery etc. That’s not to say that the page layout has to be identical. But the aesthetic elements should be consistent.  Doing this provides two benefits:  It makes it easier for visitors to know where to look on each page as they browse through your site; and It allows you to remain more committed to your brand. 4.  Respond to online enquiries and comments Data from Microsoft shows that 63% of millennials begin their customer service interactions online . The old days of simply presenting your pages as a digital shopfront are long gone. You need tools to facilitate proper interactions with your customers. It’s also worth noting that millennials were born between 1981 and 1996 (so aged 24-39 in 2020); many of these are your sweet spot for potential client acquisition. We already see law firms being more ‘interactive’ on LinkedIn and Facebook. Native chat features make it easy to go back and forth with clients. But of course, there are similar tools for websites too, with chatbots. Chatbots are not for everyone though. You can learn more about their suitability for you and your law firm in our blog ‘ Pros and cons of chatbots for your law firm ’. Mostly, law firms get bots to answer basic FAQs before funnelling visitors to the ‘contact page’. But you can use advanced versions to answer more general questions or provide quick tips.  If you have a ‘comments board’ on your site (usually under your blog posts), you can also use this to provide answers to users' questions. Clients who use ‘comments’ on blogs will expect an immediate response; or near immediate. You can set up your comments section to send automated general email responses to customers and also an email alert to the firm so a more detailed response can be provided. 5.  Increase the responsiveness of your pages At some point time in 2021, Google will launch its new “page experience” algorithm . The goal is to serve up search results that are both relevant to users’ queries and create “delight.” It’s a little way off but worth being aware of and Google has advised they will give at least six months’ notice of the release. Google wants websites to respond to user inputs in less than 100ms (or a tenth of a second). Currently, though, many sites are failing to make the cut.  It’s a big problem - and not just because of the SEO penalty. HubSpot found that 93% of people leave sites because they don't load properly on their device. Now’s the time to talk with your website developer about getting ready for the new Google page experience algorithm.  6.  Give your pages conventionality Blending originality with conventionality is one of the biggest challenges of web design. It’s not always the best choice to go with the latest look, theme or gadgets on your site. Site performance should be your first priority, following by visual appeal. You can read more about this in our blog ‘ Is your website form over function? A few things to remember when building your website ’.  You want your law firm to have pages that stand out. But you also need to fulfil some of your user’s basic expectations. If you don’t, you risk losing them to your competitor’s site.  So, what counts as conventional and non-negotiable? Check out the following which is just a sample of what’s non-negotiable:  Putting the main navigation at the top: Users expect this, so try to avoid “experimental” navigation designs.  Image slider buttons: Users expect to be able to choose which images they view in your rotating banners and galleries. If you have text overlay on those images, ensure the user has sufficient time to read the text before the image changes. Link buttons that change colour when users hover over them and click them: Additions like this help to make your website feel more tactile and usable. The alternative is to have your hyperlinked content a different colour at all times. A clickable logo that links to the homepage: Users know that if they get lost in your sub-pages, they can click this to get back to the home page.  Wrapping up These guidelines should serve you well in your quest to deliver a quality website experience to your visitors.  Delivering a quality website experience substantially increases the potential that your site visitors will ‘click-to-call’ or ‘click-to-email’ and you’re secure their work. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/november/online-experience/ Mon, 23 November 2020 00:00:00 Optimising your web content for appearing in featured snippets can increase your chances of driving more traffic to your site. In this blog, we look at how to optimise your content for featured snippets, to improve your chances of getting noticed on page one of search engine results. Ultimately, you’re striving to get your website content appearing high up in search results. For some firms, web visitors come through a referral such as a friend or family member. Sometimes, it could be through links on your social media pages. But most of the time, people are going to find you through search engines such as Google. In order to get more of your pages appearing higher in search results, you need to optimise your content with the right keywords and information to deliver the content the searcher is seeking. Search engine optimisation is a simple concept but can be relatively difficult to implement. However, it’s arguably still one of the best ways to grow your brand and get noticed on the internet. The coveted number one spot on Google is always being fought for. Companies spend a lot of money on website content and marketing to reach that first place, but fail to look at options to appear above the number one search result and in a featured snippet. Featured snippets sit above the #1 organic result on Google Above the number one spot is where featured snippets sit; short and concise bits of information that link to a website. Claiming a featured snippet position is the newest strategy that many websites are investing in, but it takes a slightly different approach than regular SEO. In this post, we’ll be taking a looking at how you can optimise your content for featured snippets. What are featured snippets? A featured snippet is a small block of text that answers an exact query. If you Google something like “top coffee brands in the world”, you’ll get a featured snippet above all of the search results which shows a list of coffee brands and a bit of information on each one. It also provides you with a link to the site that the information is located on. Since the question can be answered with a list of multiple brands, it’ll be formatted with bullet points as well to make it easier to read. You can also do this with exact questions such as “how hot is the sun?” and “what is the population of the world?”. These featured snippets can also contain images. Many people refer to the featured snippet as “position zero” because it sits directly below the search query. This makes it extremely easy to find and gives a real answer to the question that the user typed. This greatly improves the chances that someone will click on it, making it a coveted position that every brand is aiming for. Types of featured snippets There are several different types of featured snippets, some of which you may have already seen while searching on Google. Paragraph Paragraph snippets show blocks of text that are often taken directly from a page. These usually answer questions that start with who, what, when, where or why. Paragraph snippets are the most common type and they’ll typically be paired with an image. Notably, however, the image doesn’t always have to be taken from the website and can actually link to a totally different place. List List snippets present information in a bulleted or numbered list. These snippets can be used as instructions, as a ranking or even just to show several related items to the search query. Table Table snippets are often used for data and comparisons; for example, price comparisons on mobile phone models. Google structures this content based on how the data is formatted on the website. It typically displays numerical data. Why are featured snippets important? Featured snippets have a number of unique benefits that make them worth optimising your content for. Featured snippets help you occupy more space on a search page. While not everyone browses the entire front page of search results, a featured snippet takes up more real estate on the page which makes it more likely for someone to click it if it’s relevant to their search. If they don’t click the featured snippet, there’s still a chance that your SEO has helped you appear in the top five or at least on the front page. It improves your website’s position as an authority on a subject. Having a featured snippet can drastically improve your authority on a subject. This makes people more likely to trust your brand in the future and you essentially get a recommendation from Google. Increased organic traffic. While the number one position of a search page can often result in the most organic search traffic, having a featured snippet essentially lets you “steal” traffic from the number one spot, resulting in more organic traffic. Optimising your content for featured snippets There are a couple of ways to help improve your content for a higher chance to appear in featured snippets. Write original content that provides value to your readers. Make sure it’s helpful in some way and provides some kind of benefit, even if that benefit is just more knowledge. Look at what your audience is asking or searching and try to answer those questions directly. Don’t give vague answers. Instead, make them direct and as clear as possible. Format your content to make it clearer. If something deserves a list, use numbered or bulleted points. If you’re displaying a lot of information, make sure it’s in an organised table. Do keyword research to see what your audience is searching for. Don’t stuff your content with these keywords, but do use them liberally and make your content is helpful. Don’t neglect to aim for the coveted number one spot, or at least page one on Google. By improving your SEO , you’re also improving your chances of getting a featured snippet as many of the strategies are shared. In summary Getting a featured snippet on Google is an excellent way to increase your exposure and get noticed. It can sometimes be surprisingly easy to appear in a featured snippet but also annoyingly difficult at other times. But as long as you’re honest with your SEO and provide value to your customers, your chances will be greater. As always, make sure you focus on creating useful content, format it correctly and post regularly and consistently to your site. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/october/featured-snippets/ Tue, 27 October 2020 00:00:00 A big part (but by no means the ‘whole’) of attracting visitors to your firm’s website is your use of keywords. With proper use of keywords, your website can rank higher on search engines meaning your audience will find you faster and more easily. To be successful with your keyword usage, you need keyword research. What is a keyword? A keyword (or term) is a word or set of words that you want a specific page on your website to rank for. So, when people do a search on Google for example, and they use the keywords you have on your page, the chances of your page appearing in search results is increased. A keyword is a significant part of any SEO strategy .  Picking the most appropriate keywords and implementing them in the right places will improve your site’s performance. You have to target the right keywords so that search engines can detect what you're talking about. Keywords should be placed in headings, descriptions and the main content itself. You mustn't oversaturate your website with your keywords though, as excessive use may see the search engines black mark your site ! What are short-tail and long-tail keywords? Keywords should be almost unnoticeable and rather natural to the eye of the reader.  They are often either short-tail or long-tail. Short-tail keywords are about 1-2 words in length while long-tail keywords are 3-5 words (or sometimes more). People will search using more words when looking for very specific results and this is where long-tail keywords are essential. If it is a general topic, people will use short-tail keywords to get what they need from the website. For example, if someone simply wants a family lawyer close to them, they may search “Family lawyer Melbourne”. But if they want a family lawyer who specifically deals with international child relocation matters, they may search “My partner wants to relocate my child overseas. Can he do that?” Generally, short-tail keywords have higher search volumes than long-tail. But then they’re also much more competitive. Consider this scenario: You choose the keyword ‘family lawyer’. It has about 800 searches per month in Australia (AHREFS research Oct 2020) You choose a long-tail keyword ‘How to win child relocation’. It has about 100 searches per month. With this scenario, every family law firm will have the keyword ‘family lawyer’ across their site but only a handful (in comparison) may have content about winning child relocation cases. So, your odds for getting the search result are increased. What is keyword research? We mentioned earlier that keyword research is one of the most important things that you can do as part of your SEO campaign. SEO research can be done using a variety of tools to figure out which words or specific phrases that you should be ranking for online as well as what people are actually using in their searches. It’s in this research that you can discover which terms are most frequently used by your target audience when they search in each search engine. Not only this, but you can learn all about the level of competition that is present for each of the terms; that is, how difficult will it be to rank for that term. This information can help you put together the best strategy for your keywords going forward. Keyword research has many benefits from learning what terms you should use in your own content to discovering what new phrases may relate to your niche and services. It helps you to learn exactly how your audience is searching and where they are searching, so you can tailor your services and content to deliver what they want or need. A word of warning though; it takes time . Implementing a solid keyword strategy across your site today could take several months to convert to positive traffic and new clients. But if you don’t start today (or you haven’t already started), you’re only going to fall further and further behind. Why is keyword research important? One of the very early steps to a successful online marketing campaign (which includes your website’s content) is your keyword research. ( The first step is to write good, useful, relative and accurate content ). When you whittle down the right keywords and phrases, you improve the odds of appearing on search engine results listings in the right place - the top. Notably, however, keywords (or any words you use on your site) are not for you; they’re for your target audience. You cannot get caught up in legalese and what an Act of Parliament says; you have to interpret it on behalf of your visitors. After all, when a client comes for their first appointment with you, you don’t simply recite a section from a specific Act (or do you?!). What techniques can be used to do keyword research? There are several tools and techniques that can be used to do your keywords research.  At Social Hive, we use AHREFS (as our primary tool) to ensure we deliver optimal keyword research for our clients. Here are some of the other ways to do it. Get together with your team and manually brainstorm those important keyword ideas. It’s an often-overlooked piece of the puzzle but it needn’t be! Get out a pen and paper or use MindMeister - it’s an online tool to help you to mind-map possible keywords. There are plenty of online tools that are ready to help you to generate long-tail keywords for your website. We often use Ubersuggest to enhance our research but you can also investigate a number of free options here . As said, we use AHREFS at Social Hive. It gives you everything you need to help boost the search engine traffic to your website. It’s a very popular tool to use and was initially created to drive backlinks, but now does so much more. Do I have to repeat keyword research over time and adjust old content? Yes! As time goes on, industries evolve and change - including your business. Sometimes, repurposing old content with new keywords can drive new traffic to your website, attracting an audience with a different intent! It’s important to stay on top of keyword research if you want your business to remain relevant. The takeaway! Keyword research is critically important for your online success. If you are looking to improve your digital marketing strategy, keyword research, whether crafting new content of repurposing old content, should be one of the first places that you start. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/september/keyword-research/ Tue, 29 September 2020 00:00:00 Just like lawyers wouldn’t recommend their clients represent themselves, we wouldn’t recommend you do your own SEO. But we do recommend you have an understanding of what it is, how it works and how important it is.  A lot of people think it’s easy; a few steps here and there and you’re done. In some ways, it is but there are also lots of things you could do and the task list changes regularly. Staying on top of your site’s SEO and SEO techniques themselves (just like law), is an ongoing exercise. To help you get your head around some of the basics, we’ve compiled a Q&A on some of the most common questions we hear from clients. 1.   What is SEO? SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimisation . In the simplest terms, it means improving your site so you can get a higher level of visibility when it comes to relevant online searches. The more pages you are able to get ranked highly in search results, the greater the chance you have of garnering attention and attracting even more prospective clients to your business. 2.   What is a Google algorithm? Google algorithms are a very complex system that is used when deciding which sites should be shown, and where. The algorithm is designed to deliver the best result possible (in Google’s view) to searchers when they enter their query. The search engine uses a combination of ranking signals to deliver pages depending on the relevance of the search request and the searcher’s intent. When you work on your site’s SEO, aside from always writing with the reader in mind, you are also trying to craft your site so that it works in favour of the algorithm. 3.   What’s the difference between ‘on-page’ and ‘off-page’ SEO? There are two main distinctions that search engines look at when evaluating your site. On-page SEO takes into account what your site is about. Off-page SEO looks at how popular, or how authoritative your site is. Simply put, the terms you rank for will be largely influenced by your on-page factors. How high you rank will be influenced by your off-page factors. 4.   What are the HTML title tag and meta description and do I need them? Meta descriptions and title tags are small parts of HTML code which are present in the backend of each page. Title tags help search engines to know what a page is all about . Your title tag will be shown whenever your page shows up in the search engine results page, so yes, it’s important. Where a title tag is definitely used by Google for SEO and ranking purposes, a meta description is only sometimes used for that reason . Here’s what MOZ says about meta descriptions : “Meta description tags, while not important to search engine rankings, are extremely important in gaining user click-through from search engine result pages (SERPs). These short paragraphs are webmasters’ opportunity to advertise content to searchers and let them know exactly what the given page has with regard to what they’re looking for.” 5.   What’s the difference between a ‘keyword’ and a ‘longtail keyword’? A keyword could be a single word, or a few (but not too many) words put together. When you have a long-tail keyword, this tends to be a phrase. Long-tail keywords are easier to rank for but don’t get searched for as often. An example of a keyword would be “family lawyer” but an example of a long-tail keyword would be “best family lawyers in Queensland”. As you can see, one is much longer and more specific. We always have a mix of primary keywords and long-tail keywords (or key terms) to improve the likelihood of pages ranking well. 6.   What’s the difference between an ‘internal link’ and an ‘inbound link’? Simply put, internal links are links that are within your site. They link to other pages on your site to provide an improved user experience. Inbound links, on the other hand, are backlinks which are on other sites, but which link to your site. Inbound links are a very important component of SEO and getting your site to rank highly but it is also an intensive process to get them. 7.   What is CAPTCHA? CAPTCHA is a challenge-response test. It’s used to try and determine whether someone is human or not when trying to access certain things on your site; for example, completing an inquiry form. It’s most often used to try and stop bots from accessing a site or filing information. 8.   What happens when Google crawls my site? Crawling is the process where Google bots (called crawlers or spiders) visit your site and update any new content that needs to be added to the site index. When the bot visits your particular pages on a site, it then finds links to any new pages and adds them to the index. Changes to your site, new sites or even dead links are all updated accordingly. 9.   What happens when Google indexes my site? In layman terms, indexing is the process where website pages are added to an index (like a filing cabinet or database of all the search information) where Google deems the content to be good enough to serve up in search results. When a search is undertaken, Google (or whichever search engine you’re using) goes through their index to locate the most relevant content for that particular search. If you don’t want your page to show on the search engine results, then you can add what’s called a no-index tag. 10.  Can I ask Google to index my site or specific pages? Yes. It’s possible to manually ask Google to index certain pages so that they get uploaded faster. At Social Hive, when we add new content to a site, we submit a request immediately upon publication, for Google to index the new URL. 11.  How can I see what pages Google has indexed? It’s very easy for you to see which pages have been indexed in your Google Search Console. If you are not using the Google Search Console then you can do it for free by entering ‘site:yourdomain’ into Google. For example, if your law firms web address is smithlawyers.com.au, you would enter ‘ site:smithlawyers.com.au ’ into Google search and it will serve up all the pages your site has indexed. 12.  How long will it take for my SEO to work? SEO is a long and ongoing process. It’s not something you do once when you build your website. You have to manage it continuously. You may find that you start seeing some immediate results fairly quickly but it can take 12-18 months to start seeing the results you were hoping for. You can read more about this in our blog “ How long does it take Google to find my new blog? ” 13.  Do I need to ‘submit’ my site to Google? No, but… You don’t have to submit your site to Google. But if you do submit your site, you’ll find that you can usually get indexed faster. You submit your site through Google Search Console. 14.  Why do some of my pages come up as ‘404 Page Not Found’? The 404 error comes from your website and not the server. The 404 error is an HTTP status code and it essentially means that the site is communicating with the server, but the server cannot find the specific page in question. The most typical reasons for a 404 error are when a page has been removed from your site or moved to another URL. There are ways to counter 404 errors (by creating redirections to suitable published pages). It’s important to regularly check your site for 404 (broken link) errors and fix them. 15.  Can I do my own SEO or should I hire an expert? Doing your own SEO is possible. Some people have had success by taking care of their own SEO, but it’s time-consuming and mistakes can be costly. If you accidentally (or deliberately, without understanding the consequences) use black hat techniques, then you may find that your site becomes penalised and that you struggle to recover without making some drastic changes. At Social Hive, our clients are law firms whereas we are a digital marketing agency. We wouldn’t presume to think we could do our own complex legal work so... Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/august/seo-question-and-answer/ Mon, 31 August 2020 00:00:00 Click onto many websites nowadays and in a few seconds a little box will likely have popped up on your screen asking you if you have any questions or would like to speak to a representative. Welcome to the new world order of chatbots. What is a chatbot? A chatbot is an application used to conduct online conversations, generally via text and usually on a business website. Some chat windows are live chats; meaning that as soon as you send a message, it will pop-up on the phone or computer screen of a person sitting in the office who is available to respond to your queries. Others are chatbots and thanks to the fantastic evolution of artificial intelligence (“AI”), it can actually be pretty hard to tell the difference. When did chatbots enter the scene? Given how smart modern-day chatbots are, you wouldn’t be alone in thinking that they must be a relatively new technology but their existence, in fact, dates back to mid last century (1966) with the invention of Eliza. Eliza was the first-ever chatbot but she wasn’t exactly smart. She just replied to a list of pre-programmed questions with standardised answers based on key-words and this didn’t really change for decades. Despite their novelty and occasional usefulness, chatbots such as Microsoft Word’s virtual assistant, Clippit , and AOL’s SmarterChild and other voice assistants, didn’t catch on. It wasn’t until 2016 that people began to see and engage with them more regularly thanks to Facebook’s Chatbots for Messenger. Like any new technology, the first generation of chatbots had teething problems with the vast majority of users finding them too basic to be able to answer their questions. But this didn’t stop them from taking off and fast forward four years, they’re being used by businesses worldwide as a key part of their customer service and customer acquisition strategies. The pros of chatbots The recent success of chatbots can be put down to three key factors: They’re cost-effective; They’re versatile; and People are spending more time online looking for more engagement opportunities. Cost-effective In essence, chatbots are replacing employees during the early stages of the customer enquiry and customer service process. Available 24/7, rain or shine, midnight or midday, chatbots don’t charge extra to work late hours or public holidays. They don’t take vacations and they don’t expect costly salary packages with extra parental leave or more super. With a large proportion of initial enquiries going nowhere and many customer service questions answerable online, replacing people with chatbots at this early stage can makes sense when time is money. They’re versatile Programmed by people for people, chatbots don’t need extensive training to get your brand’s tone right. The bot knows your tone from the outset and can apply it from day one. Whether you like to inject a little humour into your conversations, use emojis in your messages or prefer a more formal tone, a chatbot can accommodate. What’s more, they can be customised depending on the service that you require and the budget you have to spend. Whether you want them to be basic or need them to be more complex, it’s possible. People are spending more time online Last but not least, people (i.e. your potential clients) are spending more time online and as a result, a large number are more likely to want to use a digital communication method rather than picking up the phone or heading into a branch unless they have to. Chatbots give them a sense of instant recognition and service. The cons of chatbots But what about the cons. Of course, chatbots aren’t perfect, and there are some cons to consider too. Most obviously: The fact that they can’t understand everyone; That they may not be able to answer all queries; and That they can become expensive the more complexity they have. They can’t understand everyone Although chatbots are now very sophisticated and are programmed to be able to read between the lines (including spelling and grammar mistakes), they still can’t understand everyone; especially if they are using broken English, have horrific spelling or just don’t know how to interact with the bot. As a result, it is not uncommon for some people to get very frustrated when trying to communicate with the chatbot, which can be made worse when the chatbot can’t understand that they are getting frustrated. In this situation, the key is setting up your chatbot in such a way that allows users to speak with a real person (and some point during the chat) or to call the office if they need or want to. They can’t answer all queries Despite AI helping more advanced chatbots to learn answers to commonly asked questions, they still can’t be expected to know everything. There’s always a chance that someone will have an extremely unique set of circumstances which are unexpected. As such, they may not be able to answer every query and this can lead to significant frustration and potentially brand and reputation damage. They can become expensive Of course, if you are trying to create an intelligent chatbot and are using a more complex system, then it’s important to note that they can become more expensive; and possibly more expensive than actually having a person on the ground. At this point, it is up to the business to decide whether the benefits of the chatbot outweigh its cost. What can you do to improve the success of your law firm’s chatbot? Although there are cons to consider when implementing a chatbot into the communication strategy of your law firm, there are things that you can do to improve your chances of success. Monitor your Q&A interactions  The key to setting up a chatbot and ensuring that it proves successful from the onset is being able to program it using data from your current Q&A interactions. Monitor your current chats, emails, phone calls and even your in-person meetings. Consider which conversations a chatbot could replace and write down all of the scenarios that come up regularly. These scenarios can then be used within the chatbot.  Update your chatbot regularly Over time, you’ll be able to see what is working and what isn’t, so be sure to update your chatbot regularly to correct any faults and to make sure that it continues to provide your visitors with the right information. Give your chatbot a personality Your customers are more likely to have a positive experience with your chatbot if you give it a likable personality. People may be getting more used to speaking with robots but that doesn’t mean that they want to be spoken to in robotic language. Keep the process conversational Even if the purpose of your chatbot is to help with customer acquisition, try to keep the process conversational as overly pushy sales language can be incredibly off-putting. Always provide a clear end to the conversation At the end of each interaction, always ensure to program a clear end to the conversation, for example: ‘ I can see you might have a case but please ring us on XXX to make sure’ ; or ‘ I’m sorry, but it doesn’t look like you have a case, but ring us on XXX, and we’ll double-check for you ’. Give users a way out To ensure that you don’t miss out on business from people who either can’t or won’t talk to your chatbot, always give people a way out by programming in answers to visitors questions such as ‘what number can I call to speak to a person?’ or ‘who can I email my enquiry to?’ What to look for in a provider if you want a chatbot created Choosing to add a chatbot to your law firm's communications and digital marketing strategy can be a big decision, and so it’s only right that you want to make sure you have the right company on-board.   Here are three of the main things that you should focus on: Performance Cost & value Customer support Performance At the end of the day, you need your chatbot to work and you need it to work well. The easiest way to assess the performance of a chatbot agency is to look at their previous work. So, be sure to ask for case-studies/testimonials and don’t forget to check out chat-bots that they have created and which are in action on other sites. Cost & value The cost of a chatbot can vary tremendously but it’s important not to get too hung up on cost and forgetting that you are also paying for value. Consider (and analyze if possible) your potential return on investment but don’t forget to include set-up and maintenance costs in your calculations too. Customer support Lastly, never underestimate the importance of good customer support. Remember how you feel if you get a bad Google review due to poor service . If things do go wrong or you need tech help at short notice, then you need to make sure that you have a business by your side who is just as committed to your goals as you are. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au Find this article interesting or useful? You may also like to read: SEO for Lawyers | Why you should add structured data to your law firm website The importance of website navigation Is your website form over function? https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/august/chatbots/ Mon, 03 August 2020 00:00:00 Content marketing is essential to build brand awareness and generate leads for your professional services. But if you’re not using “long-form content”, you could be missing out. Quality content allows professionals to engage with their online audience by giving them what every consumer wants… something for nothing. The right content (including the right mix of content) can demonstrate your outstanding knowledge and expertise and provide an insight into your firm’s personality. It shows prospective clients all the things they might not be getting from competing firms and helps to build a relationship before they even pick up the phone to arrange a consultation. But content marketing is a broad church. It encompasses everything from your tweets to your Facebook and LinkedIn updates through to email marketing copy and even e-books. Many firms focus exclusively on short-form types of content marketing. Those that can be produced quickly and posted frequently; such as status updates, short videos, infographics, tweets and short blog posts (250-600 words). But if you exclude long-form content from your content marketing strategy, you could be missing a trick.  What is long-form content? Long-form content is an umbrella term that applies to any form of content that’s designed to be consumed slowly and in detail. It is usually at least 1,000 words in length and allows you to tackle subjects in more detail than can be managed in shorter forms. Examples of long-form content might include: lengthy blog posts; “How to” tutorials; e-books; in-depth case studies; annual reports/end of year “wrap-ups”. What are the advantages of long-form content? It’s easy to understand the appeal of short-form content. It doesn’t take too much time or effort to read it and it doesn’t eat up too much of your resources to produce it; which might otherwise be billable. It also allows you to post frequently and in high volumes to keep your followers engaged. However, if you’re not also using long-form content, it’s like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle with only half the pieces. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of long-form. It allows you to showcase your expertise Prospective clients want to see how you can bring your expertise to bear on their specific problems. This is much harder to accomplish in a short 250 to 500 word article. When you post long-form content, it makes for much more effective thought leadership. It allows you to thoroughly showcase your knowledge and expertise, making you a much more appealing prospect than competitors who post less detailed content. It can help to improve your SEO Engaging, high-quality content (usually delivered in a longer format) can improve your SEO in a number of ways. It’s of higher value, therefore potentially generating more search results and more views. When users take the time to read through it, it improves metrics that search engines notice, such as time on page and (more importantly) scroll depth. If users found your content informative, helpful and satisfying to read, they’re more likely to seek out other content they might find useful, encouraging movement around your site. And search engines will notice this, too. It creates a resource for other sites to link to When you create long-form content, you’ll create a handful of resources that definitively tackle the subject matter. This is often called “cornerstone content”. These are your most important pieces of flagship content. Not only will you refer back to them in future through internal links and social media posts, but others will also link back to them for reference. When trusted, high Domain Authority sites link to your content. Not only does this improve your SEO but it’s viewed as a seal of approval by prospective clients. Lead magnets High-value long-form content like free informational blogs, “how-to” guides and e-books not only generate value for prospective clients, they can be leveraged as “lead magnets” that encourage users to surrender their contact information in exchange for some more free valuable insights.  How to write compelling long-form content There’s evidence to suggest that our attention spans are getting shorter , especially when we’re online. As such, your content needs to be engaging and compelling if you expect readers to keep scrolling through it. If readers lose interest after a few seconds, this can send your bounce rates soaring; they’ll be hopping off your site quick smart. And high bounce rates can be harmful to your SEO. Firstly and most fundamentally, your content needs to address something that’s of interest to your audience. It needs to help them address a pain point that they’ve encountered or solve a problem that they experience regularly. Why would readers spend several minutes reading an article that’s not going to be useful to them? Using sub-headings (and lots of them) is an excellent way to break up your long piece of content and keep your reader engaged and scrolling. If your piece is particularly long, you could consider a ‘table of contents’ at the beginning so your reader can see what you’re going to write about and select sections of specific interest. Even though you’ll use long-form content to tackle some weighty subjects, that doesn’t mean you have to do so in a dry and boring way. Ask rhetorical questions. Sprinkle in a few moments of levity. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through. After all, wouldn’t you much rather do business with someone you liked? So, should I stop writing short-form content? Not at all. A comprehensive content marketing strategy should allow for both short and long-form content. The former can be used to keep your followers engaged on a regular basis and remind them who you are. Your long content should be used to remind them why you’re so useful and valuable to them. How can we help? We only work with law firms so we understand what you’re up against. We work collaboratively with you to help you identify: what you should write about ; how often you should be writing ; and how to curate your content . We help you ensure your tone of voice remains consistent and that your brand is represented properly. Want to know more about how we can help in all aspects of your digital marketing strategy? Get in touch with us today. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/july/long-form-content/ Mon, 06 July 2020 00:00:00 Email marketing (often called electronic direct marketing or eDM) should be considered an important part of a law firm’s marketing strategy. But like any form of digital marketing, there’s a knack to it and this article is designed to address the primary things to look at. When you run your own law firm, you’re fighting a battle on several fronts. You need to fully service your current clients but at the same time, you need to keep hustling for new clients and generating new business. Get that balance wrong and you could find yourself in trouble. Lean too far one way and you’ll struggle to gain new client traction. Lean too far the other way and you’ll spend more time and effort on marketing than servicing clients and generating revenue. Email marketing is a great way to walk this fine line; improve your firm’s visibility and generate business without consuming hours that would be better spent with clients, retaining staff etc.   What is email marketing? Email marketing is used by all kinds of businesses to engage with existing clients, referrers and contacts to share knowledge, build their brand and generate new business. Lots of law firms use it to keep their clients abreast of what’s going on with their firm and maintain their relationships. Some use it more proactively in ways we’ll discuss shortly. As with any form of marketing, however, execution is the key to success. Successful email marketing for law firms (or any business) requires three components; A quality recipient’s list; Appropriate software (we’ll discuss why later); Quality content. Lots of it! When law firms put too little effort or consideration into any one of these three, their efforts are less likely to be successful. Here, we’ll look at how to address these components in ways that won’t erode your billable time. The benefits of email marketing At this point, you may be wondering whether it’s really worth putting your time and effort into mastering this marketing strategy. To work through that, it’s worth taking a look at some of the benefits. Helping you develop your business Many law firm’s worst nightmare is being forgotten by former clients. Email marketing keeps your firm at the forefront of existing clients’ minds while also helping you to gain new work from referrers (on your recipient list) and brand awareness (directly from people on your recipient list and those who share your content). Keeping leads “warm” When coupled with a relevant and useful landing page, email marketing can generate new leads. It can also be used to ensure that those leads stay “warm” and more likely to arrange a consultation because they haven’t been given the opportunity to forget you. Also, when your emails are full of high quality, valuable content it can help to build legitimacy and trust in your firm. Improving the client experience One of the most common complaints about law firms is poor communication. Investing in email marketing means investing in automation. And that can be used for far more than distributing newsletters. It can be used to confirm appointments, follow up after consultations and collect client feedback. All of this can improve the client experience. Low cost / high return Email marketing is a highly cost-effective form of digital marketing. You can ‘reach’ thousands of contacts for a relatively low cost. It is low cost and (at least potentially) high return. Creating a recipient list Now that you’re (hopefully) sold on the benefits of email marketing, let’s look at your first action… creating a recipient list. This goes way beyond collecting and cataloguing the email addresses of your clients. You need to get creative in collecting the email addresses of promising leads too (including referrers, potential referrers). The best way to do this is by creating a piece of content of real value such to your proposed audience. This could be an e-book, a case review, a webinar or other piece of useful content. This is known as a “lead magnet”. Next, create a landing page (which could be as simple as a blog) which allows prospects to enjoy your lead magnet for free; sharing your knowledge and experience and building trust. This helps to get your relationship with your email leads off to a good start because they’ve already gotten a piece of free quality content. Over time, you can improve this relationship even further by giving them more. What is "segmenting" and what are the benefits? People will join your email marketing list for all kinds of reasons. Some may be more likely to convert than others, and different leads may be interested in different services. Segmenting allows you to create a more relevant stream of content for people on your recipient list, based on set criteria. This increases your chance of understanding what they want from you and ensuring that you follow up with the right content to engage them. Segmenting can improve open rates, reduce unsubscribe rates and improve your relationships with prospective clients before they’ve even walked through your door. You might, for example, have segments for ‘In-house events’, ‘Networking’, ‘Family Law seminars’, ‘general blog’ etc. Recipients can belong to more than one segment. Creating content Of course, segmenting is all well and good. But if you don’t have a stream of high-quality content, you may still see unsubscribe rates rise or open and engagement rates drop. Good quality, useful, relevant content can improve trust in your firm, establish your experience and expertise, help to create a personal connection and generally build value for leads and existing clients. That said, maintaining a steady stream of content can be challenging, especially if you’re doing it all by yourself. But don’t forget that you can easily use (or repurpose) content from your blog to liven up email marketing copy. This also has the added benefit of driving traffic to your website which is of course, great for SEO . Choosing a software platform A software platform is really the only way to manage your email marketing effectively. Sending marketing emails through your professional email account could get you blacklisted as your emails are marked as spam by some recipients. Further, there are ethical considerations. You can’t unsubscribe from an email sent from your personal account. Your provider may also limit how many emails you can send out in a given day. There are many different kinds of software platforms for email marketing and it’s up to you to choose which one best suits your needs. Standard Email Marketing Software - (eg. MailChimp, Constant Contact , Campaign Monitor ). Advanced Email Marketing Software – these have additional features like connecting with your CRM or using automation sequences for different lead magnets (eg. Active Campaign ). Marketing Automation Software - these often have their own built-in CRM’s, blogging software and the capability to create your own landing pages (eg. Hubspot ). The right choice for you will depend on your needs, scope and budget. Monitoring your campaign results Whatever software platform you choose, it’s important to stay proactive in monitoring your campaign results. Try different lead magnets to see which generate the most interest. See what kind of content gets the highest open rates and which segments of your recipients list engage the most with your content. This will help you to ensure that you’re getting optimal engagement from your email marketing. How we can help? As you can see, effective email marketing involves keeping a lot of plates spinning on top of managing the day-to-day operations of your firm. We can work collaboratively with you on your email marketing to help you build your brand and drive engagement without investing your own time and effort that could be better spent with your clients. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/june/email-marketing/ Tue, 09 June 2020 00:00:00 The role of hashtags in digital communication has come a long way since the days of being used primarily for creating ringtones on the Nokia 3210 or typing “*#10#” to check your pay-as-you-go balance. Whether launching a new business, taking an existing brand online, or trying to build your social media profile on a personal level, knowing how to use hashtags effectively is an essential feature of digital marketing and branding in 2020. So, read on for #MarketingSuccess. What is a hashtag? A hashtag, typed with the # symbol, is a tool used to identify a topic on social media. The # symbol itself can turn plain text into hyperlinked text. Once a user clicks the text, it will navigate them to a list of social media posts that contain the same # content. The idea behind the use of hashtags is very simple: it groups social media posts by topics of interest, enabling users to gain more info about the subject in question or interact with other users that are talking about a common interest. Hashtags can be used to identify a single word (example: #sport) or a phrase (example: #GoSocceroos). Staying with the theme of soccer, people may use #NEWvPER to signify Newcastle Jets versus Perth Glory, highlighting how hashtags can get people to communicate on a topic. If using a hashtag for a phrase, the phrase or sentence must not use spaces. If you want to say 'Happy Weekend', it must be #HappyWeekend and not #Happy Weekend – the latter example identifies the word 'Happy' without any inclusion of the word 'Weekend'. Why should I use hashtags? Hashtags can be a very powerful tool. They have become a central feature of social media lexicon. They are used by individuals and businesses alike on a very frequent basis across multiple channels. When used effectively, they offer a range of benefits, including but not limited to. Increased Engagement Instagram posts that include at least one hashtag are shown to see a 12.6% boost in engagement . However, this climbs significantly higher when hashtags are used well. On Twitter, it is shown that a hashtag can boost engagement by over half! Audience Growth Tweets that include a hashtag are 55% more likely to be retweeted , enabling your content to reach an even greater number of users. Meanwhile, people that are interested in the topic are far more likely to follow and stay loyal. The engagement extends far beyond one post. Brand Building Plenty of brands use hashtags to create slogans or stand out from the crowd. This encourages people to talk about the company (or individual) and can inspire trust and familiarity. Given that 8 in 10 consumers need to trust a brand before buying , it can actively boost the bottom line. Monetising Opportunities The boost in visibility and engagement can also unlock direct monetising opportunities on social media. For example, some YouTube videos can rack up US$5 per 1,000 views . If hashtags can drive traffic to the content, it can bring big rewards. Ultimately, hashtags can be used to build a bigger audience, inspire trust, interact with communities and join the social conversations of the day. Whether for business or leisure, those outcomes are telling. Which social media platforms are good for hashtags? When discussing the concept of hashtags, it's impossible not to mention Twitter. The hashtag revolution started on Twitter in 2007 as digital marketing expert Chris Messina pitched the idea. The first Tweet to use the # symbol was: Over the years though, hashtags have made their way onto a wide range of platforms, including but not limited to: Facebook; Instagram; LinkedIn; Pinterest; Google Plus; TikTok; and Snapchat. Essentially, if you’re using any public social media platform, you may want to consider mastering hashtags. Hot tip : It should be noted that their usage will be futile if your accounts are set to private as nobody other than existing followers will be able to see your posts. Can I use the same hashtags on all my platforms? In a word, yes. However, it's important to note that there are significant differences in how people react to hashtags depending on which platform they use. Generally speaking, people are more forgiving of multiple hashtags on Instagram and other visual social media platforms than they are on Twitter or LinkedIn. In fact, engagement falls on Twitter once you start overloading on your hashtags. You should also note that many users will interact with brands and online friends via multiple platforms. While they'll be happy for you to discuss the same topics, reading the exact same hashtags several times can encourage them to hit the 'unfollow' button or keep scrolling past your content. Besides, the list of popular and trending hashtags will vary from one platform to the next. On Instagram, for example, the most popular hashtags include #selfie, #like4like, and #photooftheday . On Twitter, the best hashtags include #cryptocurrency, #giveaway, and #vegan. These contrasts alone should underline why you may want to mix your hashtags depending on the platform, your content and your audience. Where (in the post) should I place hashtags? Once again, the contrasts between different platforms should underline the fact that you must use hashtags according to which social media site you are on. Ultimately, you may find a little trial and error ( along with the use of Google analytics  and analytics/insights from your social media profiles) is required to identify the best opportunities across the different social media channels. As a rule of thumb though, here’s a little bit of guidance: Instagram - Leave a clean caption for your post but then add your hashtags as a comment. While you can add up to 30, studies show that anywhere between 5 and 11 should be used for optimised results . Twitter – Place your tags within the main Tweet itself. A popular choice is at the end of the Tweet, using a line break to make the hashtag stand out. However, you can also place it within the content itself, especially when it aids the flow of content. Facebook & LinkedIn – Within the title of the content, especially if using a sponsored post. The bottom of a post is fine for organic traffic. In the middle of the content looks clumsy. Pinterest & TikTok – You can follow a similar pattern to Instagram with multiple hashtags used. However, they are probably best used at the end of the original post. Whichever site you are using, it is also worth using branded hashtags within your profiles. Tips to gain more engagement from your hashtags Knowing where to place a hashtag – both in terms of the platform and the individual post itself – is vital. However, you also need to think about the content of the hashtag. After all, it doesn't matter where you post a hashtag if it's a word or phrase that nobody is interested in searching for (or if it is a tag that is incredibly broad). Once again, it may take time to master the process. Nonetheless, the following tips will help you achieve greatness. Avoid using too many words Nobody is going to type #WhatAreYouWatchingOnNetflixRightNow. It's better to be straight to the point with #OnNetflixNow. Besides, it creates less room for typos. Don't tag irrelevant topics Just because #MondayMotivation is trending, it doesn't mean you should add it to an Instagram photo that has nothing to do with positivity in business or leisure. Look at the trends If you're struggling for ideas, get involved in the conversation by checking out the latest trends and hottest topics. You can manufacture content to fit the agenda. Incentivise people to share When hoping to spread branded hashtags, using competitions can be a great way to get the hashtag trending. Do not underestimate the power of it, even in a small demographic. Look for partnerships Collaborating with popular accounts encourages people to engage with your hashtags as well as your content and profile in general. Make it memorable  If hoping to create a branded hashtag, aim for short and memorable hashtags that will not fall into the trap of becoming vague or too broad. Conclusion If you are using social media in 2020 and beyond, hashtags can be a powerful tool at your disposal. It's an easy way to piggyback engagement off what people are already discussing and can when used correctly, show the brand identity as well as a professional understanding of the digital marketing arena. Generally, when writing legal content, the use of # can be difficult to build engagement. But remember, not all law firms should only be sharing their legal content. Don’t forget to humanise your social media content too. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/may/hashtags/ Tue, 12 May 2020 00:00:00 “Not another COVID-19 article!” , I hear you scream. But, yes ... because this is no time for law firms to go silent online . People across Australia need your law firm’s expertise. Prospective clients face daunting challenges. Health threats. Work insecurity. Confinement life. Future anxiety ... And many challenges of a legal nature, too. Vulnerable Australians are under pressure. Their professional, economic and family lives are upended. They face job insecurity and income loss. Health insurance and superannuation doubts. Unscrupulous profiteering. Fines for non-respect of social distancing … and on-and-on. And in confinement, your prospective clients are spending hours online . Their questions abound. And yes ... Your law firm has legal answers to Australians' COVID-19 era problems Going silent online isn't the right choice, today. To the contrary … Now is the time to boost your social media and content marketing presence . Reach out and educate people. Show how your firm can help. Be open for people at this historic and critical moment. With the COVID-19 crisis, you should be online: maintaining and building your brand; securing your hard-fought-for presence; re-assessing your marketing messages; tweaking (or overhauling) your website; future-proofing your online marketing; and writing new content, projecting your firm into the future. And yet, many firms have gone into shutdown mode … if not panic mode. What Social Hive is hearing from law firms facing the Coronavirus crisis “Not much point putting time and effort into our marketing as no-one’s around”. Really, “no-one’s around”? Where are they all? There are millions of people affected by COVID-19. Some experience minor degrees of discomfort. Others, much more so. Their stress is high. People have lost their jobs Many face unemployment Shops selling non-essential goods are losing sales fast Multitudes of businesses will not last the distance, facing bankruptcy And the list goes on … On the other side... Millions are still working, living, buying and selling People are still suffering road or workplace injuries Crime is continuing with some states reporting surges in certain types Scams are proliferating Unscrupulous employers are taking advantage of vulnerable staff Family law issues are continuing (anecdotal evidence suggesting increasing) and, yes ... Domestic violence is increasing With traditional avenues of help "closing shop", people affected are going online. They're searching Google . They're surfing Facebook . They're watching YouTube . Here’s the thing ... Every firm that has gone silent presents you with a competitive advantage Be the "open shop" for legal help online. Be the ear and voice accessible to those in need. Leave the lights on! Show your firm is open for business, ready to give expert legal advice and representation. During this critical time, maintain your online presence Don’t be the firm that goes into online hibernation. Ask yourself ... Can your law firm afford to hibernate in the face of COVID-19? We've also heard some say, “We can’t afford to continue our online work.” Is this something based on a full financial audit? Is it based on solid forward forecasting and modelling? Unfortunately, in some instances, the answer is no. For many, it's a knee-jerk reaction; what expenses can we cut to improve profit margin. Consider the Federal Government JobKeeper scheme . It should ease at least some concerns about expenses and profit for the immediate future. There are other State and Federal Government initiatives for business, too. And caution short-term thinking. You've invested time and effort in building your online brand. Stopping now for 2-6 months will undermine that investment. A re-start in September mindset, for example, is foolhardy. Lost traction could be permanent. Your organic marketing gains take time. Wins are compound effects. Some of the following will help you understand why: What is search engine optimisation? How long does it take Google to find my blog page? Losing search result 'position’ can mean being overtaken by other competitor firms. That's the smart marketing law firms who've maintained their online marketing activity. To add fuel to the fire, consider this. The negative impact of abandoning for six months won't be undone by six months of re-boot. Lost traction could take 12 to 18 months! Keeping the fire stoked is your insurance policy ... but also your continued return-on-investment. But moving on doesn't mean beating the COVID-19 crisis drum. Continue serving up high-quality, helpful legal insights We've also heard firms say ... “People are only looking for COVID related content and I don’t have enough to write about.” I call furphy! As you could imagine, Social Hive manages many law firm websites. We guarantee you, not everyone is visiting COVID-related pages only. Certainly, those pages get traffic now when the content is engaging and informative. But for law websites with, say, 100+ pages, non-COVID traffic is still significant. The same stands for social media feeds (both organic traffic and Facebook paid ads). Facebook paid ad accounts have been going crazy in the last couple of weeks. This is the case for both COVID-related and "normal" content. The reasons for this are unclear. But that's consistent with this pandemic experience. Like most we read about right now, "It's unprecedented". We have nothing to compare it to. It's clear from our perspective, based on performance results, that people want more. They want both Covid and non-Covid related content. Now’s the time to make time for online marketing ... We’re not suggesting that there isn’t a downturn in new client numbers for many, if not most firms. We recommend you see that as an opportunity for future-proofing your firm, not an abject disaster. Indeed, it is time to ... Strengthen your online presence, making your firm resilient for the post-COVID emergency days Here are a few things you could be doing, starting now: Review and update ‘static’ content across your website Optimise pages like your "areas of practice", "solicitor profiles" and "about this firm" Develop a schedule of blog topics, both COVID and non-COVID content Share your content writing tasks across the firm Create a publishing calendar, posting at regular intervals (Google loves new content) Refresh firm profiles on your social media platforms Consider updating your social media banner images You can also pay attention to the online insight reports . That's the high-value data coming from Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and LinkedIn Analytics. Also, draw conclusions from the marketing reports your agency provides. Find areas where you can improve the targeting of your online marketing. And consider these valuable email marketing actions : Review or build your digital marketing email database Share your content with electronic direct marketing (eDM) You'll also want to update your Google My Business page . With office closures due to confinement Publish your new hours Update "virtual appointments" program Add regular posts, too, at least twice weekly and, Change your images. This work on your Google My Business could boost your local search presence. And go further: Take time to consider video marketing (like explainer videos or whiteboards); and Consider switching out your visuals for fresh, more powerful images. Refreshing content is a plus for search engine optimisation . And it improves user-experience for "repeat" visitors. They get a sense your firm is moving forward. And when it comes to ... Publishing COVID-19 related legal blog posts Remember ... Don't be alarmist Don't leverage COVID beyond a focus on its relevance to your practice areas Don't capitalise on the crisis, like offering free Wills "just in case" But do ... most definitely do this: Keep active online; Be seen and heard on social media platforms; Engage with comments and messages with promptly helpfully; and Communicate in a positive manner while demonstrating empathy and understanding. After all, COVID is not forever ... but your law firm should be . Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/april/covid-law-firm-marketing-guide/ Fri, 10 April 2020 00:00:00 Your law firm blog headlines deserve attention , now. Here’s why … The headline is the first impression you make on a blog visitor. In a split second, you must give a compelling promise to turn that browser into a reader. Fail in that and your post most likely won’t get read. And unread, your blog posts can’t convince anyone you’re the go-to-legal expert they need. Stop wasting time and budget generating website visits that don’t convert  Blog posts are great business-building opportunities for law firms . Blogs teach readers about your firm and valuable expertise. They establish authority and build trust. Direct calls for client appointments follow. You invest time writing posts. You invest in social media marketing , pay-per-click advertising and search marketing to get blog visits. Generating traffic is essential. But this is investment without return if your content isn’t read! Enter the hard-hitting headline. Why blog headlines are a critical gateway to your content marketing success David Ogilvy, legendary advertiser, put it this way, “On average, five times as many people read the headlines as the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline. Only 2 out of 10 will read the rest in its entirety. Hard-working headlines turn those statistics around. They convince the visitor it's worth their while reading on . A headline's primary job is to compel the browser to read the next line of copy ... then the next, and so-on. And yet... Even if they do read on, many will not give your full content its due. A recent study shows that 55% of consumers read an article for 15 seconds or less. Much of the 15 seconds go to scanning the headline and sub-headlines (but only if you have them). See how critical headlines look now? Let's take a closer look at ... What we mean by law firm blog headline(s) The (main) headline is the title of your post. The main headline is the H1 tag in SEO (not always the same as the title tag) . Every post must have one (and only one) H1 headline. High-performing blog posts do more, though. They include sub-headings that structure the content (SEO tags, H2 to H6). Search engines love sub-headings . Humans do, too. They help navigate and understand information fast. This is of critical importance, so … Give yourself time to structure your posts with powerful headlines and sub-headlines Every post has a main headline. But not every post needs every level of sub-headings, from H2 through to H6. The choice depends on the depth and complexity of your information. This post, for example, has one headline (H1) and nine sub-headlines (from H2 to H3). Read them together without the body content and you'll notice that, each subheading has a strong promise of value they're focused on a sub-subject of the main topic, and read together, they provide a summary of the post’s entire content value So, in 15 seconds or less, the reader can scan the core value and insights of this post. And to get that happening, time-and-again, you'll want to ... Write headlines like a pro-copywriter, using the 4U's framework to optimise impact Pro-copywriters use proven techniques to write powerful copy time-and-again. One useful framework for perfecting headline writing is AWAI's 4Us. When drafting headlines, write to ... Be USEFUL to the reader Provide a sense of URGENCY Convey the idea that the post’s main benefit is UNIQUE and, Do all the above in an ULTRA-SPECIFIC way It’s not always possible to inject all features. Two or three might be your limit. Of course, all four will work best. Take a look at this post's headline as an example. Law Firm Bloggers (ultra-specific) How to write magnetic headlines ("how to" = useful) compel prospects (“compel” = element of urgency) (enthusiastically) read (“enthusiastically” = an element of uniqueness - passionate reading) Test the effectiveness of your headlines further using this “6 key questions” checklist Don't settle with your initial drafts. Stress-test them for effectiveness with these questions from Clayton Makepeace (pro-copywriter). Does your headline offer the reader a reward for reading? What specifics could you add to make your headline more intriguing and believable? Does your headline trigger a strong, actionable emotion the reader already has about the subject at hand? Does your headline present a proposition that will instantly get your prospect nodding his or her head? Could your headline benefit from the inclusion of a proposed transaction? Could you add an element of intrigue to drive the prospect into your opening copy? Giving your headlines this level attention isn't time wasted. Pro-copywriters often use the 50/50 rule. They put in 50% of their time writing post content and 50% perfecting headlines. Draft 8 or 12 versions, aiming for more attraction and persuasion power each time. Then, use the drafts you reject as the post headline to feed your social media posts. Watch how the "rejects" perform. If one shines better than your post title seems to be doing, try switching it over. That's the data-driven marketing approach, to ... Focus on what works to get browsers to become readers of your law firm blog posts It’s tempting to write to shine creatively. Don’t! Headline writing, like blogging, isn’t about impressing with your literary flair. Your headline's goal - get the post read Remove all resistance, including "legalese" that confuses. Opt for plain language. It's easy to read and understand. It helps the reader move into the content fast. Do what works. A headline is not meant to be clever. It’s got one job, to get the browser to read. Give your post time to convince. By the way ... Did you notice how long this post's headline is? It’s 16 words. That's long, right! It might surprise you to know that long headlines often work best. Data-driven insights suggest the sweet spot for headlines is between 12 and 18 words . And the use of parenthesis, like “(enthusiastically)”, can also help boost conversion rates. Interesting, right! Well, check out the upcoming post on mastering law firm blog headlines . We'll share more data-driven headline insights for your legal marketing success. Until then, go draft some fabulous, high-converting headlines .... And boost your law firm blog readership today . Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/april/write-compelling-headlines/ Fri, 03 April 2020 00:00:00 No-one can deny the power of social media platforms; at both a personal and business level. More and more law firms are taking to social media every year and whether you like it or not, it’s here to stay for now. Getting the text right for your posts is one thing but the use of images is a whole new ball game; particularly when we talk about the ‘legal use of images’ and breaching copyright.   This is not specifically the images that you take and share, but ones that are more business-related, generic, and are used to support your content. The images that you may not have taken, but found on the internet, for example. This is where you enter into a world of copyright, and it can be daunting if you have little or no knowledge of what you can or can’t share and more specifically, how you should be sharing the images and crediting where it is needed. Posts with images get more clicks There is no denying that content with an image gets more views. Most people respond to something visually and are more likely to interact and read the content shared if it is supported by an eye-catching image. This is especially important for businesses who are wanting to stand out. Social media is now a saturated market with everyone wanting to get a piece of the action and have their posts liked, shared, and engaged with. Sharing a piece of content that includes your offers, services and products only in text format is less likely to be read than the content with an added image.  Further, using images which support the text component is also more likely to encourage or entice people to read the content.  This is ultimately what you want as a business. Considering the content, intent and style of your image is also essential. You want something that is a little unique, a bit different, that draws the attention of the reader, which leads to clicking, message, comment, share etc.   Can images help your brand to be more visible in social media feeds? You only have to think about how inundated your own personal social media feeds are to understand that people are presented with a lot of content to consume. An image, and one that is eye-catching and relevant to your content, is what will make someone “stop scrolling” and consume that content.  This is especially important for platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter when we’re talking about law firms. This is because the content you share on these platforms can easily be served up with text as opposed to primarily image-based platforms like Instagram or Pinterest. Sharing an image to support your content also breaks up your social media feed and again, means your viewers can see your various posts more clearly and decipher the content faster which leads to more clicks, shares, engagements etc.   What is image copyright? You may think it’s all relatively straightforward. Share an image with your content and you’re good to go. But this is where it gets a little blurred in terms of what you can or can’t share, legally. The general rule is that any image you share that you have taken, such as product images or images of your business or your brand is yours to use how you like. Then there are times where you may not have a suitable image that supports the content that you want to share; so what now? Everyone knows you can access a whole host of images online. However, you can’t necessarily just share that image. You need to consider copyright . In a nutshell, photographs, illustrations, and other images will be protected by copyright. This is because that image or photograph is owned by someone and if you want to share that image, use it or post it online, you will need to seek the permission of the owner before doing so. The person who owns the copyright of the image is usually the person that takes it. So, any images you take, you are the owner of the copyright to that image. Some people make their images available for use for free and many make their images available for use by way of licences. What types of image licences are there? There are literally millions of images that can be used with your content, under licence. These are often images that have been created purely for that purpose.  There are several different types of image licences available; some free and some paid. Here are some of the options available to you to use images without breaching copyright. Creative commons A creative commons license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the image to be used and distributed with attribution. A creative commons license is used when the owner of the image wants to give others the opportunity to use the image and share it on their social media or website. The user must then credit the source and make note that it is a creative commons image. Credit attribution comes in many forms and you should check how you have to attribute at the time of downloading the image. Editorial use only (fair use) The "editorial use only" image is a publishing term based on the fair use exception of copyright law where copyrighted work can be used without the need to gain permission and authorisation. But it can only be used for purposes of news reporting, criticism, and even things like education. However, it cannot be used for commercial use and gain and cannot be adjusted (re-sized, text or logos added etc).   This is where things can get confusing. Attribution required When it comes to attribution, the basics are that it is the act of giving the original author of the content, credit for their work. So if you are to want to share an image and it has an attribution required license, it generally means that as long as you give the owner and author credit, you can then use that image for yourself. This is very similar to the creative commons licence requirements. Paid subscriptions There are a number of paid image subscription platforms like Adobe, iStock, Shutterstock and many more . Using these paid platforms can be one of the easiest and safest ways to ensure you do not breach image copyright laws. Can I use images from Google? You can use images from Google but there is a process to ensure that you do it legally. When you search for an image on Google you will be presented with thousands of potential options but not all of them will be free for you to use. Within the ‘image search’ section of Google, there is an advanced search option (immediately before all the images are displayed). Here, you can specify to only present results that are “free to use, share or modify, even commercially” (amongst other selections like minimum size). Using only these images will protect you and your business from infringing copyright laws and not gaming the relevant permissions. What happens if I use an image that I shouldn’t have? What you have to remember is that there is a level of effort, creativity and time that goes into people creating their images. You may know yourself the time it takes to edit and curate an image that you want to then share. But sometimes accidents happen.  You may end up sharing an image that you shouldn’t have. This is when you could be infringing copyright laws. You may find that you are asked to remove the image and you also may be subject to law enforcement where damages and compensation may be owed to the author and copyright owner. This is particularly so if it is proven that you have previously (and regularly) breached copyright laws. In conclusion It isn’t that you can’t share an image you feel is perfect to support the content you want to share online. An image will always be more powerful in terms of engaging with your potential audience. But it is always best to be responsible. In many cases, if you’re not sharing an image that you own, then it is still best to have the right copyright license in place or to search out “free to use” images or that you subscribe to a paid image licencing platform. Did you know that if you use Social Hive for your digital marketing, we can bundle your ‘licenced images’ into your package at highly discounted rates? Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/march/image-copyright/ Fri, 20 March 2020 00:00:00 What is black hat marketing? When planning a digital marketing strategy, you might have come across the term ‘black hat marketing’ or ‘black hat SEO’. As many know, (or at least should know), it’s vital that you use ethical and organic SEO techniques when promoting your business online. Black hat SEO, however, is the complete opposite to ethical practices. Thought to be unethical and sometimes illegal, it uses SEO strategies that are designed to ‘trick’ search engines into giving their website a higher ranking – leading to more traffic to their site.  For example, a user might search for ‘five-star hotels near me’ obviously hoping to get a list of the best hotels in their location. But by using black hat marketing ‘hacks’, a company is able to promote their business to appear higher up in results when they don’t necessarily deserve it.  One of the main reasons some businesses opt to use black hat marketing in their digital marketing strategies is that they can often get immediate results. But this benefit comes with a price – it can cost a business its reputation in the long run. Not only could your business be deemed untrustworthy in the eyes of consumers but by utilising these techniques, you could be subject to fines and/or removal from any Google search results for a period of time. How is black hat SEO unethical? Not only is black hat SEO thought as unethical as it’s directly tricking both users and the search engines, but it also directly goes against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines . Attempting to bypass the best SEO practices laid out by the search engine means companies are using negative practices that focus solely on ranking higher and not on delivering the best content to the searching audience.  The key differences between ‘black hat’ and ‘white hat’  As well as black hat marketing, you might have come across white hat marketing. But how do they differ? Let’s start with looking at what white hat SEO is, before directly comparing the two. White hat marketing – what is it and what are some examples? White hat marketing (also referred to as white hat SEO) is known as the ethical way to optimise a website and other digital assets. Writing content that’s targeted for users and using practices that follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines is far from manipulative – unlike its counterpart.  White hat marketing focuses on providing relevant, consistent and high-quality content on your website so that it’s beneficial to all that visit it. This credibility makes the site more useful in the eyes of Google (as well as other search engines) meaning that your content is perceived as more ‘evergreen’ and higher quality than that promoted through using black hat marketing techniques. Another key factor of white hat SEO is that it takes a long-term approach to boost rankings . As it follows Google’s guidelines in order to create a more memorable, useful and positive user experience, sites which use white hat SEO tend to be more successful in the long run. Some other white hat techniques: Keyword analysis and implementation Backlinking  Link building – internal + external  Creating relevant meta tags Some marketers opt for black hat marketing over white hat as they want quick results and to be honest, they’re lazy about it. By implementing these unethical processes to improve their search visibility more quickly, they are actually hurting their long-term SEO. Examples of black hat techniques  Keyword stuffing - repeating high-ranking keywords in the content Plagiarism - copying content from other websites in order to compete Purchased links – buying links Hidden content - hiding keywords that are stuffed into various parts of the website (a very old technique was to add white text keywords hundreds and hundreds of times onto a white background so not visible to the visitor but visible to search engines) Linking to spam sites As well as SEO, there are several other related digital marketing strategies that are often linked to black hat marketing. These include: Social media manipulation: websites can sometimes install a feature that forces visitors to the site to automatically ‘share’ or ‘like’ something on their social media accounts.  Cookie stuffing: although this usually tends to be legitimate, when it’s linked to black hat marketing, it’s the act of secretly implementing fraudulent cookies on a user’s computer when they don’t click on a specific link. This act is illegal and can result in heavy fines. Scraper blogs: blogs created using plagiarised content to generate traffic. Will I be penalised for black hat marketing? There is a high possibility that if you use black hat marketing, you’ll be penalised for it. As you aren’t using accurate, unique content and techniques that follow the search engine's strict guidelines, not only will you face a negative impact on your search rankings but you’ll potentially be fined.  So, how can you tell if Google has sanctioned your website? If the traffic to your website has faced a sudden drop in traffic and you know you’ve been using black hat techniques, chances are that they have banned your site for using unethical SEO practices. Your website can be penalised either manually by the search engine, or through an algorithm update they’ve carried out. What are Google’s algorithm updates? When your website is manually penalised by Google, it’s been flagged up to a human team who have then sanctioned it. However, an algorithm update is something that’s happened automatically. Google frequently updates its systems in order to improve the results that it displays to users. Many of these updates are directly designed to identify any websites that are using black hat marketing. Over the years Google has released many updates - such as the Penguin update of 2012 - which was designed to catch out any websites using spam links or that were buying links in order to rank higher. Final thoughts It’s clear that black hat marketing is bad for business – whether you have a small business or a large organisation. Even though it yields fast results, its unethical features make it a bad move for those looking to improve their brand’s credibility and reputation.  To increase rankings and for users to recognise your website’s value, it’s worth opting for white hat marketing techniques instead. Not only will you see benefits for much longer, but you’ll also be following legal practices and you won’t risk receiving any penalties, including being removed from search engine results altogether. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/february/black-hat-seo/ Sat, 08 February 2020 00:00:00 YouTube has been around since 2005. This is a staggering fact, given that the site still feels fresh for users in 2020 and its influence has only ever increased. This makes it the perfect social marketing channel for all types of businesses to promote their goods and services; including law firms. YouTube’s ongoing success is mostly due to its continuous evolution over the years. It started out as a quirky platform for homegrown content creators who didn’t even call themselves content creators. They were just people who wanted to post goofy videos on the internet. Now, a lot of those homegrown content creators have become entrepreneurs who earn astounding amounts of money from the video platform. It’s a website platform that’s created fully-fledged business owners. Of course, it’s also a platform that’s used by all sorts of businesses. And we’re talking about more than simply paying for adverts on someone else’s YouTube videos. Your company can create its own YouTube channel to market itself. If you run a law firm, and particularly one that delivers services to the individual, this blog is designed with you in mind. Below we outline the primary points to consider when setting up your own YouTube channel. Create a Google account You can’t create a YouTube channel until you have a Google account. We’d hope you’d already have a Google account because you needed that to set up your absolutely necessary ‘Google My Business’ listing. But just in case your firm is brand new or you missed setting up your GMB listing, make sure you begin by setting up that all-important Google account. We recommend you do not use an individual’s email address but rather, an email address for the firm. You can even create, for free, a new Gmail address for your firm to use for precisely this type of thing. Pro Tip : if you set up a separate, for example, Gmail address for your firm, you need to remember that you might receive interest from potential clients on your YouTube videos. This may be direct comments or sending you emails after viewing a video. So, it’s important to check your email account regularly. It’ll be a part of your YouTube account (and any other accounts you use it for). The two depend on each other, so make sure you get it set up properly. Optimise the channel to be found online You need to focus on optimisation to ensure that your company’s YouTube channel is as successful as it can be. Much like your company’s website, you need to create your content to your target audience. For example, if your law firm deals with personal injury matters, then you might want to create safety-related videos as a way of targeting potential clients who might have had accidents. Or perhaps ‘how to’ videos like ‘How to lodge your motor vehicle accident claim’. Channel optimisation is all about knowing your intended audience and creating content that will help you to reach new customers for your law firm and also applying some of your SEO tactics to that; your video title, keywords, tags etc. Add ‘channel art’ – your channel’s banner Channel art is another important way to make your law firm stand out on YouTube and to give your firm its own personality online. Much in the same way as your company’s website does, your channel’s aesthetic has a big effect on its success. If you want to attract the right kind of clients (those you consider to be your target audience) you need to present your firm in a way that resonates with that audience and what they are looking for.   You could take a look at competing companies in your industry to get some ideas if you’re unsure. It’s also important to make sure your artwork is relatively consistent across your channel. Add a profile image This might not seem like an incredibly significant aspect of your channel’s design but your profile image is actually very important. In some ways, it’s more important than your channel’s artwork. Your profile image will be seen by people all over YouTube and you want visitors to your channel to be able to instantly see who you are. Also, if you leave a comment on another video, your profile will show up next to the comment you make. You can use a professional image that resonates with your brand or use your brand’s logo. Think about the way in which profile pictures affect your impression of channels. If you see a comment with no profile picture or an uninspiring profile, do you feel motivated to click on the name of the channel and learn more? If you want to compete with other law firms on YouTube, then you need to make your channel appear enticing. A great profile picture will help you with that. So, that’s definitely something to get right. Channel art and profile image sizes differ on YouTube to other social media platforms. You can check out those sizes in our blog ‘Nobody likes lazy social media profiles – let’s refine a few things’. Add your other social media sites to your YouTube profile and adding your YouTube channel to your website You want your YouTube channel to promote your firm in as many ways as possible. Adding your other social media platforms to your channel’s ‘About’ section will help to do this. You should also add a link to your YouTube channel, somewhere on your firm’s website. You can also embed appropriate videos you’ve uploaded to your channel, directly onto a specific website page. The goal of your channel is to share your knowledge and expertise, entertain and/or inform your audience and secure potential clients for your business. You should also include a link to your firm’s website home page and if you have a blog (which, by the way, we really think you should have), place a link to that primary blog site. Add your first video Once you’ve created and refined your new channel, you need to create and add videos. A well-designed YouTube page with no videos won’t do much for you. It can be worthwhile doing some research to get inspiration. Take a look at the things your rivals are doing and how much success they are achieving. Your goal is to post reasonably regular content because, just like other areas of SEO, that’s how successful YouTube channels build the brand.  Importantly though, you need to make sure that you post high-quality content. Your videos are a reflection of your company. If you want potential customers to see that your firm is highly skilled, knowledgeable, approachable and trustworthy, then you need to create professional videos.  By using an  online YouTube video editor , you can demonstrate your company's skill and expertise with the use of professional videos. As suggested earlier, you should create optimised content that will reach your target market. It’s also a good idea to copy your script to the platform (in a way that it is legible if someone is not viewing the video) when posting your new video. This way, all the relevant content (including keywords and key phrases) will be searchable. Finally, your videos don’t have to be 100% business-related. If you offer legal services in the field of family law, for example, then you might want to create videos that deal with relationships and families. Likewise, if you offer services in workers compensation, you may want to create some content around workplace safety. You can also create content that promotes your services to the community or what your team is up to from time to time. You may find some assistance for creating your videos in our blog ‘ Seven tips for creating video content for your law firm ’. Creating your YouTube channel is not difficult. It’s just a matter of going through the various steps and, like most things related to digital marketing, being thorough and consistent in your setup. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2020/january/create-youtube-channel/ Mon, 13 January 2020 00:00:00 If your business has an online presence and you’re using Facebook (organic and paid ads), then setting up Facebook Business Manager could be beneficial to you. The standard Facebook platform may be working OK for you but if you’re looking to be more organised, safe and central with your Facebook account(s) and who has access to them, you should consider Business Manager. A lot of businesses haven't got a clue what Facebook Business Manager is or that at event exist, let alone knowing how to set it up. So, let’s dive in a take a look. What Is Facebook Business Manager? You need somewhere to keep all your marketing and advertising activity on Facebook and as Facebook is such a huge site, Facebook Business Manager is one of the most helpful tools you could have for your firm. Business Manager is basically one location to manage your assets, your business tools and the access your employees or agents have to those assets. You can control multiple users and their access to additional online resources, such as ad accounts, pages, Facebook pixels , product catalogues and Instagram accounts. Some of the key functions include: Keeping your business Facebook separate from your personal page - a necessity for smaller businesses without the risk of posting cat videos to the wrong place. You can track, with more detail and accuracy, what your ads are doing, download reports to see ad performance and A/B test your ads You can give outside individuals like agencies, total access to your adverts and pages without having to hand over the password or ownership of those assets. Your staff and colleagues will never see your personal Facebook, just your work information, ad accounts and name. How do I set up Facebook Business Manager? Business Manager is genuinely one of the best tools that you could use as a business owner with Facebook assets and it allows you to get serious about what you want from your business. Creating an account You’ll use your personal Facebook to confirm who you are, but don’t worry, the memes and cat videos will remain sacred. Head over to business.Facebook.com and click on the big, blue “Create Account” button in the top right of the page. Enter your name, your business name and the business email address you plan to use to manage the account and click Next. Fill in the boxes about your business, and choose whether you are using the account to promote your business or provide services for other business. Press ‘Submit’. Check your email for the link to confirm all of the above. Add a Facebook Business Page to your new Business Manager This is a page with choices and can be a little confusing. If you already have a Facebook company page, choose to add existing business pages. If you do not have a business page, you can create a new one. If you manage pages for someone else, you can access other pages, too. To add your Facebook company page to your Facebook Business Manager, you need to: head to the ‘Business Settings’ and in the ‘Accounts’ section, select ‘Pages’. Click the blue ‘Add’ button near the top of the page. If you own your Facebook company page, you can select ‘Add a Page’ If you are an agency or seeking access to someone else’s Facebook page, select ‘Request Access to a Page’ Type the name of the Facebook business page click ‘Add Page’ or ‘Request Access’ If you are ‘requesting access’, the owner will receive a notification and provide you with access. Add a Facebook ad account to Business Manager If you are already using Facebook ads , follow these steps: Go to ‘Business Settings’ and in the ‘Accounts’ section, select ‘Ad Accounts’ Click the blue ‘Add’ button near the top of the page If you own your Facebook ad account, you can select ‘Add Account’. You will need the ad account ID If you are an agency or seeking access to someone else’s Facebook page, select ‘Request Access to Ad Account’ You will need the Ad Account ID (if it is not your Ad Account, you will have to ask the client for the ID) If you are ‘requesting access’, the owner will receive a notification and provide you with access. If you don’t have a Facebook Ad Account, follow these steps: Head to the Facebook Business Manager ’business settings’ and select ‘Accounts’ and ‘Ad Accounts’ from the left side menu Click the blue ‘Add’ button near the top of the page Click ’Create a New Ad Account’ and complete all the details. Adding people to manage your Facebook assets It’s no small feat to keep on top of your Facebook marketing strategy all by yourself. This part of the process gives you the chance to add people (perhaps other employees or an agency) to help you to work on your Facebook Business Page and ad campaigns. Go to the Business Manager ‘Business Settings, then to ‘Users’ and click ‘People’ Click the blue ‘Add’ button near the top of the page Enter the business email address of the person that you want to add Decide how much account access you want them to have (Employee access or Admin access). You can see the descriptions for what those accesses give, on this page. Click Next. Click Pages in the left-side menu and choose which Facebook pages you’d like people to work on and then customise their access. Click Ad Accounts in the left-side menu and customise their access again. Then click ‘Invite’ You can continue to add people in this way until you are finished and then click ‘Done’ Each person you have added will get an email inviting them to work on the company pages or ad accounts you’ve elected for them.  It can be a good idea to let them know you’re adding them so they can keep a lookout for the invitation email(s) and not assume they are spam. If someone leaves your business, you can follow the steps to customise their access and remove it. You don’t want ex-employees able to log in and see confidential information; so don’t forget this part! Facebook Business Manager allows you to see your ads, manage your activity as a business and generally be able to monitor your marketing successes online. With this tool, you get better insight into your customers; what they like, what they’re interested in, what they respond to. Business Manager is another powerful way to optimise how you bring in the online traffic and subsequently, customers. Fair call, it can be a little daunting a little confusing at times but don’t be afraid to sign up today! And if you run into trouble setting it up, feel free to give us a call . Sidenote: we’ve really only touched on the basics of Facebook Business Manager; adding Pages, Ad Accounts and People. There’s so much more to explore so once you’ve set up the basics, don’t be afraid to have dig around. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/december/facebook-business-manager/ Tue, 10 December 2019 00:00:00 Updated October 2025 In this article, we’ll demystify duplicate content, show you how it affects your site’s SEO (search-engine optimisation), and give you practical steps to identify and fix it. Whether you’re in law, retail, or any industry with a website, you’ll learn why unique content matters for visibility and user experience. We'll specifically explore: what duplicate content is; how you can detect duplicate content; and other key aspects to clear up any confusion. What is duplicate content? Duplicate content is a set of text (or other content) that appears on the internet in more than one place. to be clear, if you’ve written exactly the same content as another website has, it will be defined as a duplicate. Nowadays, particularly with the rapid rise of AI use , it might seem difficult to write original and personalised content. And whilst in actual fact, there are no explicit penalties associated with duplicate content, if you don’t want your rankings to be affected, you’ll want to avoid it. Google might find it difficult to rank the duplicate content and will have to decide which site's content is the original. This could result in your content being considered less relevant. How do I check for duplicate content on my site? When you’re writing your content, it might unintentionally be the same as other published content. So, it can be a good idea to double-check everything that you write using plagiarism tools. Through these tools, you’ll identify if your content is unique. Although there are paid tools such as Grammarly and Plagium , there are also several free sites that you can use: Plagiarism Detector Duplichecker Copyscape With each of these featuring its own handy tools, they will highlight the duplicated content and show you the percentage at which it matches other existing content on your site. If you’re still unsure if the content is duplicated, you can use a variety of different plagiarism checkers – this will give you a more accurate result. You can view research that selected 8 commonly used and free plagiarism checker sites and tested each one, providing pros and cons for each, here. If you’re at all concerned about duplicate content, this is an essential stage in the process. It will put your mind at ease when it comes to publishing new content. Is duplicate content bad for my SEO? As mentioned above, Google will rank your content based on individuality, uniqueness and trustworthiness. So, if it finds your content is the same as (or substantially similar to) other published content (and also, that it happens regularly), you could lose your web page’s search engine rankings. But that’s not the only reason it’s bad for your SEO. As well as not ranking certain pages, Google won’t even index them. The Google Index lists all of the web pages that it’s aware of. If you want your content to appear on the results pages after a Google search and rank well, you need it to be indexed. A common reason behind it not being indexed is that the crawl budget could be being wasted on the duplicate content you’re producing. Your crawl budget is the number of pages Googlebot (Google’s web crawler) is willing and able to crawl on your site within a certain timeframe. It determines how often and how deeply Google indexes your pages.. With an ever-increasing number of new websites being published in recent times, crawl budgets are stretched, and some new sites will find that even quality pages are taking longer to index than they did, say 5-10 years ago. What if your duplicate content is accidental rather than deliberate? When duplicate content is accidental, Google can often understand that it’s not done maliciously or as a way to rank well using ‘black hat’ marketing strategies . Yes, there are content scrapers that exist that ‘steal’ content from other websites in order to rank highly on Google (or another search engine). But if you do accidentally publish some duplicate content, it will just result in your content ranking lower than the original site. So, it’s a better idea to try and avoid it by using those plagiarism tools that are available to you. Can you duplicate your own content? Lots of people duplicate their own content across their website; for example, if they have a handful of category pages that are the same or substantially similar. And although Google won’t penalise you for this, it may affect your website in terms of SEO. When someone is searching for something, these duplicated pages will all appear (possibly in a series of results, one after the other), resulting in some of your pages receiving more traffic than others. If you want to stop this from happening, ensure that you have an SEO professional on hand who will advise you as to which pages need adjusting. Alternatively, you can search within your website for duplicate content by doing a simple trick: Type Site:yourwebsitename.comintitle: target phrase This will restrict your search to your website only. Generating results that correlate to that specific phrase you enter, it will show you all of the pages that feature content around it. You can then go into each individual page and rewrite the content so that it’s unique. Will my site be penalised for duplicate content? People often wonder whether Google penalises sites with duplicate content. The simple answer is no, when it comes to accidental duplication. However, if the intent is to be deceptive or to manipulate the results that come from a search query, the site might be penalised. In this case, your content may be removed from search results. If you notice that it’s been removed, you should review Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to see how to adjust it. Once you’ve made the necessary changes and you’ve run all the content through a checker, you can resubmit your URL for inspection with  Google Search Console . Google is constantly updating its duplicate content policies. Detailing its approach to duplicate content, its indexing process, how you should keep URLs ‘friendly’ and more. Webmaster guidelines are a useful resource to use when you’re creating new content for your website. In a nutshell Make sure you look at your website through the eyes of your clients and site visitors. They are searching online for useful and informative content, not duplicated content. If they keep seeing the same content over and over again, they get pretty frustrated, pretty quickly. Remember, user experience is key to high site performance. So, spend time to ensure that all of your content is well-written and unique so that your visitors will have the best experience possible when they’re on your site. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/november/duplicate-content/ Tue, 26 November 2019 00:00:00 We encourage law firms to make the most out of social media marketing, purely because it’s proven to help generate leads and improve engagement. Facebook is a key platform to use for social media marketing, but it can sometimes be a bit complicated. If you’ve dabbled in Facebook advertising for your law firm,  then you may have come across something called Facebook Pixel. Many people are confused by Facebook Pixel but it can be a useful tool when marketing your business. We’ll explain how you use it, but let’s first take a look at what it actually is. What is a Facebook Pixel? Facebook Pixel is a piece of code that you can put on your website. In simple terms, it collects data from your site that helps you track your Facebook Ads activity. When somebody clicks on your ad and ends up on your site, Facebook Pixel drops a nice little cookie. This cookie tracks the individual who visited your site, providing you with information about the user. It can also remarket to people (who have a Facebook account) who have already been to your website. Why should you use Facebook Pixel? It might sound a bit confusing but it can be worth giving Facebook Pixel a go. Why? Well, it gives you lots of vital information that you can use to improve your Facebook advertising campaign. In doing so, this means you can alter your ads to make them more effective, ensuring that you target the right people. In the end, this will also make Facebook advertising more cost-effective for you.  If you think about it, when you use data to guide your ads and target the right audience, then it will improve your conversion rate. How do you use Facebook Pixel? The best thing about this tool is that it can be used in a variety of ways. Below, we’ve listed some of the top ways you should start using Facebook Pixel. Retargeting Facebook retargeting is a smart way to show your ads back to people who’ve already been on your site. If someone was on your site, then they must have been interested in something. The data you get from the Facebook Pixel means you can be very precise and show an ad for a service that they looked at for a long time before leaving your site. Conversion tracking Essentially, you can use it to track the people who end up on your site after viewing your ad. See what they do on there, how long they stay on the site, and when they leave. You can even track them on two different devices. So, you may see they saw your ad on a mobile device but then left and returned on their laptop. Facebook ad optimisation You can also use this tool to optimise your Facebook ads for specific conversions. Normally, you can’t do this. But with this tool you can improve your ads, so they encourage people to perform certain tasks that benefit you. For example, clicking on your ad and then signing up to a mailing list. Or, clicking the ad and contacting you about a specific service. Create lookalike audiences The data collected by Facebook Pixel lets you build something called a lookalike audience. Basically, this means you create an audience profile based on the people who are visiting your site and interacting with your ads. Pixel will make a note of their interests, demographics, shopping habits and so on. As it spots patterns, it will create a lookalike audience full of all these common traits. Now, you know more about your target audience, giving you a specific type of customer to market to.   How do you create a Facebook Pixel? You know what one is, you know how they work, now it’s time to create a Facebook Pixel for yourself. The good news is that it’s very straightforward. Log into Facebook Events Manager and click on the Data Sources tab - which should be on the left-hand side. Here, you’ll see a list of data sources, and Facebook Pixel will be at the top. Click the blue ‘Get Started’ button, and a new screen will pop up. Here, you get to choose the name of your Pixel. Call it whatever you want, then add your website URL underneath. We suggest copying it directly from your site, just to make sure you don’t make a mistake. From here, you can click ‘Continue,’ and the Pixel will be created for you. How do you install this on your website? Next, you have to install the Facebook Pixel on your website. This can be tricky, but there are some easy ways to get it done. If you work with a web developer or someone else manages your site, then you can choose to email the instructions to them, and they’ll handle it. Otherwise, you can use an integration or Tag Manager to seamlessly install it on your site. This only works with certain websites that are built on platforms like Magento, Wix, Shopify, and many more. If the above options aren’t viable, then you have to copy the code into your website. Ideally, you will either have someone who can do this for you, or your site integrates with it naturally. How do you know if your Pixel is working? Lastly, you must know if you installed it correctly and if the Pixel is working. To do this, go to your website and load up any page. Go back to the Pixels tab in Facebook and it should say when the Pixel was last active. If there’s nothing there, then it’s not working. If you use Google Chrome, then download the Facebook Pixel Helper extension. Once installed, you should visit your website. The extension icon turns blue and provides you with a popup telling you how many pixels are on the page. This lets you know if it’s working or not as well. The Facebook Pixel may sound a bit complicated, but it’s a very handy marketing tool to have. If you use it properly, it can help you manage your ads more effectively and potentially convert more leads or clients.   Important information regarding Apple's IOS update - January 2021 Apple’s IOS14 update (with changes around user security, data tracking, permissions and privacy), will more than likely have a significant impact on Facebook ads accessed via an IOS device. It’s still early days but it’s anticipated many metrics will be affected. At this point, there is no (known) impact for access via desktop or android device. You can read more about this in Jon Loomer's excellent series of articles here . Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/november/facebook-pixel/ Mon, 04 November 2019 00:00:00 Updated 1 May 2020 You’ll likely have heard of Google Analytics and its benefits  but not everybody has heard of Google Tag Manager (‘GTM’); even fewer use it for their own site. However, if you’re trying to improve visitor engagement and all-around improve your website performance, then Tag Manager is an important tool. Before we get into all the ways it can help benefit your site, let’s first take a look at exactly what Google Tag Manager is. What is Google Tag Manager? To put it in basic terms, it’s like a box where you can store all of your website’s tracking codes; that is, codes (or tags) you set up to track certain actions or visitor behaviours on your site. When they’re all in one place, it’s easy to change, add or remove any of the tags that you’re using to measure the success and use of your website. You’ll be able to see all of your individual tracking codes in one place and it’s a way to keep on top of what is sometimes a complicated aspect of maintaining your website. Why should I use it? It’s free! We’re going to get to some more of the real advantages later on but first, let’s just outline one pretty big reason why it’s at least worth considering integrating Google Tag Manager into your website: it’s free. So, what have you got to lose? Now, there is a premium version available and there is a cost for using that but fear not, the free version is more than enough for most small and medium-sized businesses. In any case, if you’re so taken with the free version and you’ve learned what it can do and how beneficial it is, then at least you’ll know that it might be worth your money investing in the Google Tag Manager 360 option. Give it a go risk-free and cost-free; you’ll likely find that it was worth your time and effort. It’s simple to use Some people naturally recoil with all things tech but even if you don’t have a wealth of tech knowledge, you’ll still likely find that there’s very little that’s scary about Google Tag Manager. As with everything, there’s a little bit of a learning curve but nothing overly complicated. If you’ve managed other areas of your website, then you’ll find that you can pick it up pretty quickly. You can track more data on your website One of the primary advantages of using GTM is that it allows you to track more. The more you track, the better your website will be: you’ll know what’s working, what isn’t, and so on. For example, you’ll be able to track website clicks relating to purchase links that point towards third-party websites or for form completions. You’ll find plenty of use if you’re hosting videos on your website too as GTM can tell you how many people are watching your video content and for how long. It can even tell you the scroll behaviour of your visitors, too; for example, how far down the page they are going? Do they get bored and hit the X button before they get to your website’s good stuff? Then you’ll know that you need to bump that info up to a higher position. It’s secure It’s never been more important to stay on top of your website’s security. These are dangerous cybercrime times after all. In order to keep your data secure and to build trust with your website visitors, you need to be doing all you can to make sure that nothing untoward is happening behind the scenes without your knowledge. Most Google products are pretty hot when it comes to security and GTM is no different. Any tags you add will automatically be scanned by the software to ensure that there’s nothing sinister going on. The manager also allows you to give and revoke access to other parties as and when needed, so you can also be in full control. Make sure things are working as intended on your site Everyone knows that there’s nothing worse than putting in a lot of time and effort to improve your website only to find that, after you’ve hit the launch button, all you’ve done is created chaos. The website or sections of it may not work as you intended. When you’re dealing with tags, there’s plenty of potential for things to go slightly askew, however, the boffins of Google were thoughtful enough to think ahead and give us a way out of this problem. Google Tag Manager allows you to check for any problems before you execute the plan. It’ll both ensure that you don’t do any harm to your site, and also prevent your visitors from seeing the site in the transition phase. Version control of any changes you make You never quite know what will happen to your website as you make changes. You might make a few changes but then, after a few days, realise that things were better as they were previously. Instead of having to undo all the changes you made, you can simply revert to an older version. GTM comes with version control as standard. Every time you make changes, a new copy is made, and the old one stays there intact. It comes with ‘pre-loaded’ tags We said earlier that GTM was useful for people with minimal experience and to further that claim, we point to the presence of existing tags that are built-in to the platform. Rather than adding all of them yourself, the manager comes with many of the big hitters that every website needs already loaded. It’ll all be ready to go. Easy to manage Ultimately, the main benefit of Google Tag Manager is that it’s good for the performance and health of your website and to maintain that health, GTM is easy for you to manage. While you could do many of the things that the GTM does by using other means, having everything in one place and easily changeable makes everything much more straightforward. Give it a go; you’ll soon find that you’re benefiting from the advantages outlined above as well as many others, and all without too much fuss or stress. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/september/google-tag-manager/ Mon, 23 September 2019 00:00:00 Hosting a competition on Facebook is a great way to engage people. Both your existing followers and others will jump at the chance to win something if it's a prize worth having. Running a competition on your Facebook page is surprisingly easy, but there are some rules that you need to follow. Facebook has a set of policies that you need to keep in mind if you want to run your competition “by the book”. If you don't, you run the risk of having your competition removed or perhaps even having your page deactivated. Here's how to make sure you follow the rules and avoid getting in trouble, and why you should run a competition in the first place. The benefits of Facebook competitions Before getting into the rules, why should you use Facebook to promote a competition? A competition on Facebook engages your current followers and can help you to be seen by other people too; a new audience of people! Your competition can promote your services and you might even give away a prize relating to your services. By encouraging more engagement on your Facebook page, you can boost your SEO for your page and your website. Competitions can also be great for collecting information, like the email addresses of your entrants. Set out the rules of your competition When you decide to run a competition or any other promotion, Facebook asks you to be clear about the rules. They want you to run your competition lawfully, which includes having a list of official competition rules, terms and eligibility requirements. You should make the rules for your competition clear and easy to access so all your entrants know what they're agreeing to when they enter. You can set out rules like who can enter (age, location and other requirements) and what they have to do to enter - whether they need to submit their email address or do something creative. Follow the law Facebook asks you to comply with any rules and regulations governing your competition and the prizes you're offering. You should be doing this anyway, even if your competition isn't on Facebook! There are two types of competition - games of skill and games of chance. A game of skill involves anything where competitors are asked to do something, even if it doesn't technically require any skill. A game of chance is where a winner is selected at random. A game of skill usually doesn't require a license, but in NSW for example, a game of chance does require a permit. Some higher value prizes might need a permit too, so check the rules for your state. Release Facebook from responsibility or association Facebook wants to be sure that no one thinks they're involved in your competition. So, they ask you to make it clear that they have nothing to do with it. They ask you to acknowledge that your competition isn't sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook. Plus, you need to have a statement that releases Facebook from any responsibility to participants. Basically, make sure everyone knows that Facebook is not connected to your competition in any way. Use your business Facebook page One of the biggest things to remember is that your competition needs to be on your business page, not your personal page. You can also use a group or event page, or you can administer a competition within an app on Facebook. But Facebook says you can't use "personal timelines and friend connections". This means you can't post your competition on your personal page or encourage people to share your post on their timelines or tag their friends. These kinds of things are against the rules, even though you might see some people trying to get away with it. Run the right type of competition Only some types of promotion are allowed on Facebook. As we indicated earlier, you can run a competition where the winner is chosen at random. You can also run one that's judged based on skill or creativity. However, you're not allowed to run a lottery that requires anyone to buy a ticket. Collect information responsibly Competitions are good for collecting data but you need to do it in a responsible way. Facebook wants you to make it clear that you're collecting the data , and not them. They also say you should get consent from users for using the information and content that you collect from them. Tell your competition entrants how you're going to use their data or content and make sure that they agree. A Facebook competition is a great way to promote your business, but don't risk having your competition removed or your page deactivated, for not following the rules. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/september/facebook-competitions/ Wed, 04 September 2019 00:00:00 Did you know you can schedule your Facebook company posts? Let’s assume you need to post some company news. It’s 10.00 am and you prepare your post content and its accompanying link but the timing of posting it right now is not quite right. You know your audience is more active after 7.00 pm, but you’re not at work after 7.00 pm. Likewise, you may have different audiences in different time zones. The Facebook scheduling tool will allow you to draft posts and schedule them to publish at a time more suited to a specific audience. Preparing your Facebook posts and scheduling them to publish later The process of preparing your Facebook posts now and scheduling for publication later, directly within Facebook (not using a third-party scheduling platform), is really very simple; once you know how to do it. Your working week might not always be a smooth set of daily tasks with a set allocation of time to complete each task. Like many, you probably have super busy days and days when you could slot in a few more tasks. On these days, you could spend a little more time preparing a few Facebook posts and scheduling them to publish across the following week/fortnight/month. This takes the pressure of your workflow commitments and ensures your company Facebook page is still getting the love it deserves. A step-by-step guide to prepare and schedule a Facebook post Create your post Find the ‘Write a post’ box on your Facebook page’s Home tab. Click on ‘Write a post’ and the following should appear. Write your post, just like you would if you were going to write it and publish it straight away. Enter your link, if you’re sharing a web article. Remember, you can add a URL and once Facebook loads the image and meta tags for that link, you can then remove the typed linked from your post. Do NOT press ‘Share Now’ at the bottom of the screen (pale blue box). You need to select the ‘Share Now’ box with the drop-down arrow to the right of it instead. Now, from the drop-down list, select ‘Schedule’ and Facebook will show you your scheduling options. Add your desired date and time. Note, you can only schedule posts a minimum of 10 minutes from the time you are preparing the post. For example, if you are preparing your post at 10.00 am, the soonest you can schedule it to publish, is 10.10 am. If you have set your Facebook profile to the correct time zone, your post will schedule in your time zone. If you have not done this, you will see, next to the time you are selecting, the actual time zone related to the scheduling. Once you’re satisfied with your post and the date and time you’ve selected for it to be published, hit ‘Schedule’. What if I need to change the post contents or the date and time schedule? From time to time, you may schedule your Facebook posts but find you need to make changes to your post. You may need to change the content, the link, the image or the date and/or time you scheduled it to publish. You can do this under ‘Publishing Tools’ on your company Facebook page. This is located in the top menu. Select ‘Publishing Tools’ and on the left side menu, select ‘Scheduled Posts’ You’ll then be shown any posts you’ve got in your publication schedule. To make any changes, you simply click on the post you want to amend and select ‘Edit’ at the bottom of the post. This then gives you the following options: Publish (to publish immediately) Remove schedule (to remove it from the schedule, meaning it will not publish) Re-schedule (to change the date and time it publishes) Backdate Delete Note, you also have the option here, to ‘Boost Post’. This is an advertising option for your post. For more about advertising options on Facebook, have a look at: Is Facebook advertising right for your law firm? Should I boost that Facebook ad? That’s a wrap for scheduling your company Facebook posts, using the Facebook platform. Third-party platforms for scheduling social media posts There are several third-party platforms for scheduling posts also. These are more likely to be useful if you are scheduling posts across multiple platforms; for example, Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter. Many have a ‘free account’ option but you will be limited to how many posts and how many platforms you can use. Some other features are also limited on the free accounts which usually makes it more effective to have a paid subscription if you are publishing regularly and across multiple social media channels. Three of the most common ones are: Hootsuite Buffer Sprout Social Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/august/schedule-facebook-posts/ Mon, 19 August 2019 00:00:00 For legal industry managers across Australasia, the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA) annual Summit is the peak conference and trade show of the year. The “Road to Transformation – Move Forward Confidence” summit is being held in Melbourne this year, from 4 to 6 September. And Social Hive will be there! This is our first foray into ‘exhibition’ and needless to say, it’s rather exciting. So, if you’re already registered, don’t forget to drop by and say hello. What will the ALPMA Summit 2019 deliver? As the theme this year suggests, attendees can expect to return to their firms with the tools and resources to develop a pathway to lead their firms into the future. They can also expect to be re-charged and energised after three days of knowledge and experience sharing amongst peers, colleagues and professional speakers. Why is Social Hive attending? We know we sit fair smack in the middle of this year’s theme. Building and strengthening your firm’s online marketing initiatives is pivotal to its growth and development; its transformation. Creating, revising, finessing and developing your digital assets is designed to drive your brand; to serve your clients, your potential customers, your colleagues and your peers. We’re at Booth 17. It’s a ‘start-up’ so on the petite side and we’ll be up the back of the exhibition hall. Aside from our charm and sharing our knowledge + experience, we’ll have a few freebies and of course, the all-important prize draw. You’ll need to come by to enter. It’s free! The program It’s fast and furious. For those who’ve attended in the past, you know what we’re talking about. Go with your mind wide open and laptop charged. A program teaser ‘Workshop Wednesday’ Deep dives with hands-on, small group, workshops.             Workshop #1 – The Business Case for Culture             Workshop #2 – Unlocking the Business Development Conundrum in Your Firm Wednesday Welcome Drinks             Meet and greet all the delegates, speakers, sponsors and more Thursday             Opening address by keynote speaker, Chris Riddell – Global Futurist on Emerging Trends             Plus a full line up of plenary and breakout sessions with national and international speakers Thursday evening             The ‘oh so famous’ Summit Gala Dinner incorporating the highly anticipated Lexis Nexis Thought Leadership Awards. Friday Another excellent line up of plenary and breakout sessions Ooh, the ‘prize draw’ – your chance to win one of up to 60 amazing prizes donated by sponsors and trade exhibitors. Registrations are now closed for this summit https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/august/alpma-summit-2019/ Thu, 01 August 2019 00:00:00 Updated: 21 May 2020 If your firm has a website and uses social media channels for your business, you should be using current and correct social media icons across your site. Social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn have highly recognisable icons. Using these on your firm’s website and elsewhere, to link to your own social channels, just makes good sense. Where should I use social media icons? There are a number of different places you can use social media icons, including: On your company website – to either link to your social platform or for people to share your page content to their own feeds In your newsletters – you should have ‘connect with us’ options in your newsletters to connect recipients to your social channels. If you are using a third-party platform (like MailChimp or Campaign Monitor) to develop your company newsletters, these will have their own versions of social media icons already embedded into your design options. Email signatures – you can add your social channels to your email signature, for example in Outlook or Gmail. Old school printed material – even though we’ve used the term ‘old school’, there is still a place for printed marketing and business development material. Although you can’t electronically link to your social channels from the printed document, you can still use the highly recognised social platform icons to instantly indicate to readers that you are active on certain channels. Often, it’s difficult to find the most current icons or a variety of icons in different styles and sizes. That’s why most (if not all) social media platforms have a resource that contains all their media, in downloadable format, available for public use. Sometimes you will have to complete and authority and sometimes you can simply download the icons that you want. At all times, you should abide by the ‘commercial use’ policies of each platform. In today’s post, we’re going to share those resource pages with you, for the social platforms of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Facebook All the digital assets you need for Facebook, in one place here . Make sure you read the ‘request permission’ section which indicates when you need permission from Facebook to use their logo. YouTube All the digital assets you need for YouTube, in one place here . This same link shares a full “Do and Don’t” list when using their logos and icons. Instagram All the digital assets you need for Instagram, in one place here . Make sure you stay on top of Instagram guidelines here. LinkedIn All the digital assets you need for LinkedIn, in one place here . (downloadable zip file) Twitter All the digital assets you need for Twitter, in one place here . Check out the Twitter brand guidelines with this downloadable pdf . Important tips when using approved social media icons Always follow the brand guidelines relevant to each platform Use an appropriately sized image for each use - remember, no-one likes lazy social media profiles and content . Do not change the colour of images unless the guidelines for each platform permits it Investigate any requirements by any platform, for you to obtain permission prior to using their digital assets. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/july/social-media-icons/ Wed, 17 July 2019 00:00:00 Most law firms have at least one social media profile, and some have multiple. Australian law firms are commonly using both Facebook and LinkedIn and some are also using X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, amongst some others. In today’s blog, we’re going to look at refining your profile to deliver a better customer experience. Customer or user experience is often overlooked when building social profiles. With over 15 million Australians using Facebook at an individual level, and pulling that experience to pieces on a daily basis, it’s incredible to then see those same issues replicated on their business pages. When referencing metrics and data for social media, we’re only going to reference Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. Here we go. Your profile image Unbelievably, some firms don’t even publish a profile picture. It’s not difficult and for the sake of brevity, we’re going to suggest at the very least, just upload your logo. BUT … make sure it’s the right size first. It’s not a particularly pleasant experience seeing half a logo. In 2019, your profile image sizes are: LinkedIn: 400 x 400 Facebook: 180 x 180 Twitter: 400 x 400 YouTube:  800 x 800 Make sure you use a DPI of no less than 72. Tip: Create your YouTube one and then crop (evenly) for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter – too easy! Your cover image Your cover image is the banner at the top of your social network page. Not quite as simple as adding the firm logo but still not too difficult to simply ignore either. You can use the same image for all your social platforms. This defines your brand and drives visual recognition and recall. Your cover image should reflect your firm, its values and/or culture and/or people. It could be: the type of law you practice; your staff; a recent community event; a seasonal image (for example, Christmas or holiday time) an image that evokes emotion. We recommend updating your cover image from time to time. For our clients, we look to update the images about every 8 weeks. This keeps the platform fresh for your returning visitors and it also creates a new post, each time you change your cover. To reinforce your brand or a specific message, you can include text overlay on your images also. In 2019, your cover image sizes are: LinkedIn: 1536 x 768 Facebook: 820 x 312 Twitter: 1500 x 500 YouTube:  2560 x 1440 (this is called 'channel art') Again, make sure you use a DPI of no less than 72. Sadly, no shortcuts for creating these images. They are such different sizes that you’ll have to create them all from scratch. But you can still use the same primary image. Naming your social pages Wherever possible, you should try and keep the same name across all platforms. If you’re coming a little late to the platform, your chosen name (also known as your handle) may not be available. You need to remember that social media page names are unique across the globe. So, you’re ‘competing’ for names right around the world. If your desired name is taken, you should try and create a name as close as possible to your other handles. How might that look? Let’s assume your firm name is Charleston Family Law. You created a LinkedIn page years ago and called it CharlestonFamilyLaw You created a Twitter page years ago and called it CharelstonFamilyLaw also You didn’t create a Facebook page but want to now; CharelstonFamilyLaw is already taken You might consider CharelstonFamilyLawAus or CharelstonFamilyLawyers You may then also wish to consider changing the LinkedIn and Twitter handles. But check first, that your new name is available. Complete every field in the page setup process The more you complete your profile, not only will you provide a better user experience but you’ll also be more ‘searchable’ for what you do. You’ll have the opportunity to add more keywords and keyword phrases. Tip: Write in sentences, not just hashtags. Sure, hashtags have their place but not in your business description of services, who you are, what you stand for and how you can help. Remember to review your profile sections from time to time. A lot of it won’t change very often, so it’s as simple as having a quick read of your pages; say a couple of times a year. Obviously, if something substantial changes at your firm, you should ensure you update your social pages. Finally, social media platforms add fields from time to time and, surprise, they don’t always tell you. But if you’re hopping into your firm’s profile from time to time, you’ll be able to make the necessary adjustments. Check your work When you add new content to your social profiles, check your work. Spelling and grammar checks are paramount. You should also check any links you entered are working. Most social profiles will have a word or character limit per field. If you’re using the same field content across all your social media pages, check the word/character limit on each occasion. You may, for example, have 750 characters on Facebook for one field. So, you write your content and enter it. You then cut and paste the same content to LinkedIn but it only allows 550 characters for that field. Your text will be ‘cut off’ at the end. That’s not a good user experience. When adding your images, check they are displaying well – nobody wants their head cut off! Reviews and recommendations Although not something you actually enter yourself, it is something you can drive. Having good reviews and recommendations on your social pages is good for business. People trust the experiences of other people. On this point, you may want to read our articles: Why should I develop a plan to drive Google reviews for my law firm? Why is a Google My Business Page important for my law firm? The trick here: don’t be afraid to ask. There is a small number of people who will give you a positive review without being asked. But the truth is, most will not give it any thought. However, when asked, you’ll be surprised how many of your clients are more than willing to help. Remember, nobody ever died from asking for a review. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/july/lazy-social-media-profiles/ Wed, 03 July 2019 00:00:00 Employee advocacy is when your employees promote your business, outside their day-to-day contractual requirements; the work you do, the way you work, your successes, your culture, your corporate social responsibility etc. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But not many businesses have a strategy in place that encourages employee advocacy. In this article, we’re going to look at employee advocacy through the use of social media. Why is employee advocacy good for your business? According to a survey by communications firm FleishmanHillard : Thirty percent [of participants] agreed that employees who work in the company are the most reliable source, just behind the top answer, knowledgeable friends, family and colleagues at 34 percent. Leaders of companies scored 11 percent. Aside from the fact that employees rate above leaders for trust , the highest-ranking ‘trust index’ was for friends, family and colleagues. So, when your employees share your firm’s content online, they are sharing it with friends, family and possibly colleagues; that is, the highest-ranking trust index. Over the last few years, the largest social media platform Facebook has publicly announced, time and again, their algorithmic changes to reduce the impact of ‘brands’ in the feeds of individuals. For a number of reasons, there are still benefits to organic posting but that’s an article for another time. However, what should not be dismissed here, is the power of an individual’s Facebook feed (or LinkedIn or Twitter etc) to reach a much bigger and diverse audience than a brand’s feed can. Many, or possibly most of your employees will have a Facebook account. Imagine if they all shared your brand’s content to their on average, 300+ friends! You can view ‘ average Facebook friends by age ’ here. Here’s how that might look: Your firm posted your latest blog to your 500 followers Organically, this will enter the feed of about 2% of those followers – 10 people (although the potential, of course, is 500 but unlikely to ever be achieved) Assume you have 30 staff Assume 15 of your staff are on Facebook All 15 Facebook users in your firm share your update to their 300 friends Now the potential reach is 4,500, vs your firm's 500 And we’re not even going to get into the potential that one of those 4,500 people share it again to their 300 or so friends, and so on! Employee advocacy is good for your firm. How do you turn your employees into advocates? There is no one-size-fits-all option here. A lot of the answer to this question lies in the culture you have built for your firm. There are numerous surveys over the last several years which clearly indicate that workplace culture has a direct effect on employee engagement and how much an employee loves their job. A workplace that sees high employee engagement, trust and loyalty will be more capable of helping employees become brand ambassadors or employee advocates. Options to build employee advocates Bring your employees along on your brand building journey. Including them in your planning improves morale and the strength of workplace relationships, promotes a team culture and increases loyalty. Share the successes of individuals, as well as the firm. Recognition is key to employee engagement. Make employee advocacy using social media, easy. Remind your employees about your social media platforms, on a regular basis. You could even share your posts with them internally from time to time and ask them if they’d like to share. Lead by example. You can’t expect your employees to do something that could be a considered a little ‘out of the ordinary’ if you’re not prepared to do it yourself. Add incentives – yes, prizes! The person who shared the most posts in one month is a great starting point. Your prize doesn’t have to be huge. Imagine if it were something as simple as $50.00 cold hard cash. Who wouldn’t love that? And it’s far less than you might have to spend on advertising to achieve the same or similar result. The double whammy of developing team culture whilst creating employee advocates – encourage employees to team up and develop their own strategies for sharing your firm’s online content. This is not rocket science but does require dedication to the goal. It’s not simply a matter of getting it started and hoping it continues. You need to be there with it, every step of the way. Finally, by way of a small reminder; an incentive to get you going Your Facebook company page has 500 followers Assume you have 30 staff Assume 15 of them have a Facebook account Each of those 15 has about 300 friends When you post to Facebook, as a business, you have the potential to reach 500 followers (but you’re likely in reality, to only reach about 2% of that) If your 15 staff with Facebook accounts share your content to their 300 friends, that’s a reach of 4,500 Just muse on that for a minute and then look at introducing an employee advocacy program for sharing of your firm’s online content. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/june/employee-advocacy/ Wed, 12 June 2019 00:00:00 SEO for lawyers - is adding structured data and schema markup to your law firm website is a good idea? Read on to discover the answer … And then act to optimise for enhanced search results and increased click-through-rates . In this post, we’ll tell you: ✓ What structured data is; and ✓ Why it’s so important for your search engine optimisation (SEO) Plus, we’ll give you examples tailored for law firm marketers. See how structured data and schema markup can build better online brand identity. Learn how it can increase quality traffic to your law firm website. This is post one of two covering structured data for law firm marketers. Part two will show you how to set up structured data on your own law firm website. For now, let’s start with … Search marketing and SEO for lawyers in the age of structured data Search marketing is the process of getting visibility and traffic from search engines. There are two ways to do this; through paid and unpaid (organic) strategies. SEO is all about getting organic search traffic to your site. It’s the on-page and off-page technical work done to help search engines find, understand, and match your content to relevant queries. The cornerstone of good SEO is always producing high quality, authoritative and useful content for your users . But there are also many technical things you can do to boost your chances of good search results. Good search results are about ranking well (getting on page one). And not only that, your listing has to stand out from the crowd . Here’s a page one result that does quite well at standing out. Note the clear title that answers the search query, “property lawyer sydney”. Also, note the bolding of targeted keywords. Even if you rank on page one, there’s no guarantee you’ll win the search race and get the click. This listing fails to capture attention and has little information to encourage a searcher to click. Your listings in search engine page results (SERPs) are "mini ads". Their job is to attract attention and persuade searchers that your page delivers value. That value is a clear and empowering answer to their query. Take a look at this search result for “need an unfair dismissal lawyer in brisbane”. The first listing includes the location, “Brisbane”, specified in the query in the title. The second does not. The third result includes “Brisbane” but buried in the description. The first result answers the query clearly. For the query, it stands out. Now, you can’t dictate to search engines like Google how your listings appear. But you can do a lot to suggest how the content is listed. In previous posts, we’ve talked about optimising title tags for better search results . You can also read about how meta descriptions can improve your search results . And in this post, we look at how structured data can enhance how your listings appear even further. From simple search listings to rich results In the past, all search listings were quite uniform. They consisted of a title (green), a URL (red) and a description (blue). Today, though, search engines have upped the game. There are now many different types of listings and search results. Take a look at SERP for the query, “need an unfair dismissal lawyer in brisbane”. In top position is what we call a “ Featured Snippet ” (red). And it's also the same content the second organic result (blue) after the “People Also Ask” section.  And here’s another example for a search query, “best personal injury lawyer in south melbourne”. The first listing is a standard listing with title, URL and description. In the second listing, things are quite different. There’s a lot more information made available. It includes three more elements: review stars and ratings (green arrow) pricing information pointing out that you get a “Free case review” (red arrow) and, breadcrumb navigation, showing the navigational hierarchy (blue arrow) This is called a "rich result” or "rich snippet" . But there’s more on this SERP. Before these organic listings, you see this. In pole position is this featured block listing the business details of three law firms. The block includes an interactive map. Ratings, addresses, opening hours, telephone numbers, website link and access directions appear, too. Top notch advertising real-estate! How did these rich information listings get on the SERP? Several things are at play, as is always the case with how search engines do things. But what is clear is this; structured data is at the foundation of this rich result. Star ratings, breadcrumb navigation and pricing information would not appear if the web developer had not added structured data markup. And without it, your law firm will have less chance of appearing in business listings. What does that mean, exactly? Let's find out by understanding ... What structured data is Structured data is coded language added to a page's HTML. It’s parsed. Search engines consistently understand it. On-page, it’s not visible. But behind-the-scenes, the code tells browsers how information should be organised. And web crawlers (search algorithms) learn more about the content.  Here's some structured data coded in this page's HTML. And here's what Google 'understands' (green arrow) from the markup (blue arrow). The schema markup, in this case, gives Google vital business information: postal address and geo-location details. Structured data like this helps search engines determine greater relevancy for queries. They can return more enriched search results. Enriched results, in turn, help searchers make more informed decisions to click. And the better informed they are, the more likely their click will be meaningful to you. Breaking it down to formats and syntaxes Structured data uses standardised formats and syntaxes are deployed. It classifies concepts, relationships and terms (vocabularies). Search engines typically support three syntaxes; microdata, JSON-LD, and microformats. And two common vocabularies are used: schema.org and microformats.org. Schema is the most commonly used markup for SEO purposes . It’s Google’s preferred method for Google. So let’s grapple with … Schema markup for law firm SEO Schema markup is a semantic vocabulary co-developed by major search engines, (Google, Yahoo, Bing and Yandex). Quick Tip :  See the archive of Schema code here: schema.org . There’s a section dedicated to “Legal Services” . Adding schema markup to your pages will help search engines understand your content better. They can use it to deliver enhanced search results. It’s the foundation allowing for the rich snippets and rich cards.  And it also feeds data into Knowledge Graph results, like this: Note : There’s no guarantee adding structured data markup to your pages will result in these rich results. But to have a chance, you must add it. An upcoming post will show you how to add schema markup. For now, let’s consider … Why structured data is so important for your law firms website’s SEO You might ask if structured data will improve your search engine rankings … And the answer you’ll get from Google is, no. That is, not directly. Structured data is not a ranking signal in their algorithm. It doesn't (directly) affect rankings. But this isn’t a reason not to see it as valuable. It is valuable for getting visibility, user-experience and enhancing click-through-rate. Consider this. While it won’t have a direct impact on your rankings, it can generate indirect SEO benefits by making your page more easily indexed and providing more accurate and targeted information for searchers. Better search engine results can mean more attention, increased conversions and, consequently, better quality traffic to your site. They’re more prominent “mini ads” for your page, organically earned with SEO and powered by structured data like schema markup. That all helps you improve brand appearance online. It helps you stand out in the ever-increasingly competitive and saturated world of search marketing. And we do know that on-page behaviour like click-through-rate, bounce rate, time on site, etc, do have an impact on rankings. The more qualified and targeted the traffic you get, the better. Better snippets help people make more solid decisions about the relevancy of your page. It can mean a click to your page has a higher chance of retaining attention. Rich snippets pre-qualify visitors. With rich snippets, your visitor knows what you do and can see social proof up front. This additional information can be very persuasive at getting searchers to choose one search result over another. Example of Knowledge Graph If you add structured data markup to your site, more of your page’s functional and visual elements appear directly in the form of rich snippets or Knowledge Graph cards. Users have an easier time recognising the value of your page. Wouldn’t you just love to have your logo and business contact details on prime advertising real-estate on Google? In our upcoming post, we’ll show you how to optimise with structured data markup to give you the best chance of that happening. And you’ll also get great value by checking out our other posts in the series, SEO Tips for Lawyers. SEO Tips for Lawyers | Mastering title tags for better website traffic and conversions SEO Tips for Lawyers | Master meta descriptions to boost traffic and conversions For more on SEO for Lawyers, visit our other instalments in this series: SEO Tips for Lawyers | Mastering title tags for better website traffic and conversions SEO Tips for Lawyers | Master meta descriptions to boost traffic and conversions Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/may/structured-data/ Mon, 13 May 2019 00:00:00 In this post and as part of our series on SEO for lawyers, we take a  deep dive into meta descriptions for law firm marketing optimisation . Meta descriptions are an essential element of on-page search engine optimisation (SEO). Together with optimised title tags, they can improve your law firm website’s performance in organic search results . The best law firm websites include optimised meta descriptions on every page. While they aren’t a direct ranking signal, meta descriptions can help search results get better click-through-rates. That means better traffic and more conversions for your law firm's online marketing efforts. In turn, this can indirectly lead to improved rankings. In this post, you’ll learn what you need to know about: meta descriptions for legal marketing and search engine optimisation; and how to create and optimise them on every page of your law firm’s website. Note : this is part 2 of our ongoing series on search engine optimisation for law firms . Read part 1 on meta tags and how to optimise title tags . Now, let's get started by understanding ... What meta descriptions are At its simplest, a meta description is a short text marked up in your web page's HTML code. It's placed in the page's source code. The meta descriptions primary on-page job is to tell search engines what the page is about. Let's see what that looks like. View this law firm service page. This is the front-end, user-friendly side of the page. It's what a site visitor sees. It's a page link from a keyword search for “superannuation insurance lawyer melbourne”. This is the listing on page one of Google's results page. The webmaster who created this page added a unique meta description to the source code. It is: “Superannuation insurance claims and compensation Super insurance lawyers in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and across Australia We fight for fair”. Quick SEO Tip : To view a page’s title tag, meta description and other vital performance elements, use a tool like SEO Quake Addon for your choice of browser. But like all meta descriptions, it's not visible on-page for the visitor. To see it on-page, you have to look at the source code; the “back-end” of the page. This is what the same page looks like as source code. Note : This example shows only the first 26 lines of the source code. The full page runs to 2055 lines of code. The whole code makes the user-friendly page viewable to site visitors. At the top of this source code, see the opening <head> section at line 4. It ends with the code </head> at line 110. Every meta tag for this page lives in this <head> section. Search engines scan this first to understand different aspects about the page. Quick SEO Tip : To view any web page's source code, right-click anywhere on the page and select "View Source Code". And this is what our example service page’s meta description looks like at line 10: <meta name="description" content="Superannuation & insurance claims and compensation. Super & insurance lawyers in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and across Australia. We fight for fair." /> Notice the meta description code starts with: <meta name="description" content=" And ends with: " /> The words between the code snippets describe the page’s content. The raw code for any meta description is this: <head> <meta name="description" content=“YOUR DESCRIPTION GOES HERE”> </head> Let's now look at ... How search engines use meta descriptions Meta descriptions, in the first instance, tell search engines what your page is about. They provide the search engine with a summary that helps it determine what the value of the page will be for any given search query. But that's not all they're used for. Search engines like Google often display meta descriptions in search results. They may appear as the snippet in a search engine page results (SERP) listings. Let's see how that works. Here’s a SERP for a key-phrase search for "personal injury lawyer in north sydney". Look at the first-ranked listing. The snippet (framed in blue) is exactly the same text as the destination page’s meta description. Title and meta description data extracted using SEO Quake Google has used the meta description unaltered as the result snippet. For Google, “Good meta descriptions are short blurbs that describe accurately the content of the page. They are like a pitch that convinces the user that the page is exactly what they’re looking for .” And in this example, Google’s algorithm views the meta description as succeeding in doing just that. Your meta descriptions as prime advertising real-estate on Google Consider meta descriptions, when displayed in search listings, as “mini-ads”. Meta descriptions are your first opportunity to attract attention and tell searchers what’s in store if they click your link. That’s a prime opportunity. Don’t waste it! What your meta descriptions contains can influence (in a split second) a searchers decision to either click your link (Great!) or your competitor’s link (Bad!). Titles attract and give a promise of value. For some searchers, that's enough to get them to click and visit the page. For others, they need a little more information and convincing. Descriptions provide more depth. They elaborate on the title. They summarise the page content and compel the searcher to click through and visit the page. Note : Meta descriptions can also appear when pages are shared on social media channels like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. This is most likely the case when a publisher opts not to add a customised snippet. With Facebook, for example, descriptions can be “tweaked” using Open Graph markup. Twitter lets you do the same with Twitter Cards. Now this is great news. By tweaking and optimising your meta descriptions, you have control over “primary advertising space” in SERPs … … But not in every instance. Search engines will not always display your meta description in search results Unfortunately, nothing in search engine optimisation is always that simple. Let’s be clear … While search engines will often use your meta description as the search result snippet, it’s not guaranteed every time. In fact, expert research suggests this is only the case in a third of instances. In two-thirds of cases, Google uses sentences from the first paragraph of the page content as the display snippet instead of the meta description. To understand this, know that your meta description is not the same thing as the snippet . Meta descriptions are something you control . You can create it and optimise it. Search snippets , on the other hand, are controlled by search engines . Look at this snippet example for the keyword search, "car accident lawyer perth". And now look at the on-page meta description. Meta description : Trusted motor vehicle injury lawyer car accident injury compensation claims lawyers Perth WA We are experts in personal injury compensation claims for motor vehicle car accidents in Western Australia Call Foyle Legal 0408 727 343 The meta description and the search snippet don’t match at all . In this example, the snippet text doesn't even show on the linked to page. Google has aggregated the phrases from content site-wide. In another example for the same website, however, the result is different. When searching for the long tail phrase, "speak to a lawyer car accident claim perth", the listing shows the meta description nearly intact. It is only truncated at the very end. In another example, the search "car accident claim lawyer adelaide" includes this listing. The destination page does not have a meta description in the <head> section. It has been left blank. And so Google has aggregated a search snippet from copy in the first paragraph of the destination page. You can see the highlighted phrase highlighted in pink. So, you might wonder ... Why doesn't Google show my meta descriptions every time? This is how Google explains its automated process and how it decides whether to use your meta description as the search snippet. “Google will sometimes use the <meta> description tag from a page to generate a search results snippet, if we think it gives users a more accurate description than would be possible purely from the on-page content.” It gets used if the automated process doesn’t “think” a better description can be aggregated directly from copy within the page itself. Thus, the snippet can be generated from two primary sources. the meta description; or the content of the page. Let’s take a look at what often happens. The snippet can come from the meta description when: your description matches the searchers query very closely; it includes the exact match (or very similar) keywords; and/or the page of content doesn’t have enough information to “build” a coherent and valuable snippet. The meta description must be accurate to justify being used. It has to be concise and useful. It must respond fully to the "intention" of the searcher's query. On the other hand, Google will opt to display its automatically generated description from the content when the search query isn't directly answered by the given meta description. In this instance, Google believes elements of copy from the destination page do a better job at answering the query. The snippet will come from the content when: content that can be extracted is more relevant to the specificities of the searcher’s query; and when the search query isn’t a match for your optimised meta description. Now, you might be asking ... If Google’s going to make up its own description, why bother writing a unique one myself? Wouldn't it be easier to let Google choose its own description every time? Well, here's why that's not a good idea. Why optimised meta descriptions matter to your online marketing Just because Google doesn’t display meta descriptions in search results every time, doesn’t mean they won’t do it sometimes. And when they do, they’re functioning as carefully crafted “mini ads” for your page. That’s the first reason they’re of value. And when they do appear, you want them to work hard to attract, convince and convert searchers into visitors on your website. Don’t leave your “mini-ad” to chance, looking like this: Or worse, Craft them, so they work hard like this: It's short and sweet. The opening questions align with the searcher's query. The firm's name is linked to a value claim. The location is clearly Sydney, and the benefit of "No win, no fee" entices interest. And there's also a call to action; "Call Us". Take the opportunity to control how the snippet appears. Tailor them to reflect your unique brand . Deliver your law firm’s voice and personalise the messages to appeal to the types of clients you want to attract. Having a shot at controlling how the snippet appears can also help filter traffic so you get the right kind of connections; hot prospects that lead to legal representation. And while it is true that meta descriptions won’t directly impact your page’s ranking in search results, there is an indirect affect to leverage. Increasing click-through-rates will often positively impact rankings There’s plenty of evidence to show that carefully written meta descriptions can greatly increase the click-through-rate (CTR) from listing to page visit. When a snippet mirrors a searcher’s query, CTR increases. Google, for example, does use click data to refine results. CTR is a ranking signal. The more people click your link suggests that they also trust your answer to their query. The better your CTR, the more likely Google will move your page link up the ranking hierarchy. In this way, a low ranking site that receives a lot of clicks can soon climb in the SERP’s hierarchy. So it is well worth your time to optimise meta descriptions to drive more prospective clients to your web page. Use them to increase your click-through-rate Treat them as high-performing ads for your page And that means, pay close attention to the copy your write; the words that inform and compel people to click! How to write an optimised meta description The more descriptive and relevant a search result snippet is, the more likely people will click through. Always remember, your meta description is like a mini-ad. It’s a chance to quickly grab attention and persuade a searcher to click. You want prospects to see in an instant that your page link is going to solve their problem right away. And you want that message to stand out from the crowd of alternatives. To grab attention and persuade them to click, you must work the descriptions clarity, effectiveness and visual impact. It must be user-friendly and persuasive. Here are some key things to keep in mind when crafting those all important phrases. Always start by putting your prospective client first You are writing for your prospect, not your firm. The prospect enters the query in search of an answer to their needs. They’re only interested in “What’s in it for me”. Write for them, 100%. Put them upfront, in a language they’ll immediately understand. Answer their query, clearly and concisely. Make your copy readable Your meta description should look and feel natural. Make it attractive and easy to read. Searchers are often in a rush to find a solution. They’ll scan SERP's in seconds, looking to click. Long sentences with difficult words will be less likely to grab attention and persuade. Privilege instead short, active sentences that are logically bound. But also know that you don’t have to always write full sentences. Active, value-packed phrases work well, too, in the same way you can write body copy as bulleted points. Don’t make your reader think too hard. The attraction and decision-making process online happens in a split second. Use active voice and instructing verbs. Get people moving; clicking your link. Resist the temptation to use “elevated” language. That might be fine for the courtroom. It’s just too weighty for the speed of online decision-making. Don’t obsess about character length In the past, the length of meta descriptions mattered. Today, that’s less so. Google tells us that there is no limit on how long meta descriptions should be. What’s more relevant is that they’re concise, accurate and hyper-useful. Write as much as will describe the content and its value accurately. But also be aware that what search engines will scan is not the same as what people online will see. Google truncates snippets when the available display space is used up. The pixel width varies across devices, from desktop to mobiles. Evidence today suggests the safest length in character terms is between 155 to 160 characters. This is, however, indicative. In some instances, longer snippets are displayed. Not all characters need the same amount of pixel space. For example, a “W” uses twice as many pixels as a “Y”. ALL CAPS will also consume a lot more pixel width. Consider length as an indicator and … Front-end load your meta descriptions To be certain the searcher gets the most important information to help them make that “click this” decision, front-end load your description. Add your main keyword at the front of the description. Deliver the most important and persuasive points in the first 155 characters. Try to include a clear call to action up-front to guide searchers to click. Use something like, “Learn how” or “Call” work well. When crafting a call-to-action, be aware that some words can leave searchers with a negative feeling. “Read” can sound heavy and time consuming. “Call” is perhaps a quicker and more instantly satisfying promise, for example. Be hyper specific Vague text doesn’t communicate quickly in the split second most searchers will give your snippet. Give enough details to answer the query and make it compelling so you get the click, not your competitor. Don’t duplicate meta descriptions Avoid using the same description for multiple pages. Write distinctive description for the unique content on each of your pages. Quick SEO Tip : Use a tool like Screaming Frog to crawl your website pages and see what titles and meta descriptions are duplicated. While you won’t get penalised for duplicate content for meta descriptions, you will miss an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. Help search engines identify what is unique and valuable about your page. And help searchers know why you’re different from your competitors. Don’t forget to use keywords Just because Google no longer considers keyword tags a ranking factor doesn’t mean keywords are no longer important. Also, just because Google’s algorithm has become more complex to include synonyms and similar phrases, doesn’t mean your chosen keyword or key-phrase is no longer relevant. To the contrary, your choice of keywords helps Google understand your page content and your intentions in publishing the page; who you might be targeting. In addition, your keyword choice draws in a range of similar phrases, thus anchoring the page intention to query intention. An added benefit is that Google will highlight keywords; a visual display benefit. But don’t keyword stuff. It just looks like spam. It also wastes valuable “advertising” real estate. Google is quite capable of understanding your chosen keyword or phrase is similar to a whole range of other keywords and phrases. Always remember, however, that your keywords must be relevant to the page’s content. Ensure your meta description and the keywords used align to the page’s title and body copy. If they’re not, you risk ending up with truncated descriptions pulled from the content that don’t present a clear and branded message that align with your hopes; who you want to attract and for what reason. And don’t be boring or inhuman Sounding like an elite expert unconnected to your prospects way of thinking is boring. Filling your snippet with in-house gobbledygook won’t convert or impress. It can confuse and slow down the “click” decision-making process; or stop it dead. Write in a way your prospect will immediately identify their problem and your solution; in plain English rather than legal-speak. Make it personal, too. Show that you’re human, approachable and ready to listen. Reach out and let your prospect know that it’s a real person and not a machine on the other end of the link. How to “compensate” (and take back some control) if Google won't show your meta description If Google’s algorithm decides your meta description isn’t the best snippet it can provide for a certain query, not all is lost. You can still potentially impact what Google displays by crafting on-page content with the snippet display in mind. Here’s what SEO copywriting master Heather-Lloyd Martin says, “When you write your page copy, try to include a benefit statement or call-to-action near the first instance of your main key-phrase (which is typically in the first paragraph). That way, when Google does grab a snippet of text for the search engine results page, your copy has as much marketing oomph as possible.” Another SEO expert, Yoast, “recommends spending extra attention to your main paragraph”. Populate it with short, active sentences that quickly communicate the page’s main value. But also be aware, Google can “pull” the phrases from anywhere on the page. If you write bloated, sloppy page, an automatically generated search snippet will also read bloated and sloppy. How to manage the process of optimising meta description You might be saying right now that “all this is great but I have no time to write or rewrite meta descriptions for all of my web pages”. Answer to this dilemma: prioritise . Pay attention first to all the top priority pages on your site: Home Page, About Page, Areas of Practice, Solicitor Profiles, etc. Work on pages that get the best traffic today. But before you change the meta description, keep a record of the existing tag. If you optimise a description and it turns out to not work, you can always switch back. And before starting, take a look at the competition. Do a search for a targeted keyword and see how your competitors’ meta snippets read. Use what works but also think about how you can make yours unique, to stand out from the crowd. Looking ahead for even better meta descriptions There are, of course, many other things you can do to optimise your law firm website’s meta descriptions. In upcoming posts, we’ll add more tips to your tool kit, including how to optimise for rich snippets so snippets can look like this: Also, we’ll look at how to add HTML tables for direct answer queries, so you have a chance of getting a result like this: For more on SEO for Lawyers, visit our other instalments in this series: SEO Tips for Lawyers | Mastering title tags for better website traffic and conversions SEO for Lawyers | Why you should add structured data to your law firm website Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/april/seo-meta-descriptions/ Fri, 12 April 2019 00:00:00 It's time to take care of your law firm website's meta tags, starting with the all-important titles; the first deep dive in our SEO for lawyers series. “Part One” of an upcoming series of “SEO Tips for Lawyers” featuring the importance of meta tags. Act on this simple SEO tip to improve your law firm's search marketing (SEM) results. It's easy to do with a small amount of effort. This is cornerstone search engine optimisation (SEO) , designed to: better your web page rankings in Google search results; and enhance click-through rates for more traffic and quality leads. That means, more qualified leads and prospective clients landing on your law firm website. Though it may sound technical, like a lot of SEO , it's actually quite simple. Read on to find out how to make it happen. Let’s get started by clarifying what meta tags are and why they matter to your law firm’s online marketing efforts. Meta tags explained, simply Meta tags are snippets of text that describe a web page’s content. They help tell search engines what the page is about. The “meta” stands for “metadata” (data about the content on your page). As a visitor to a web page, you won’t see the meta data. They’re hidden in the page’s source code. Here’s an example of what a meta description tag looks like: <meta name="description" content="Leading superannuation and insurance law firm specialising in all super and insurance matters; TPD, income protection, death, terminal illness claims, financial advice disputes." /> This code sits in the head section of the page's source code, right at the top of the page. It begins with the opening code <head> and closes with </head>. The meta elements contained within are some of the first things (amongst many), that search engines "read" when scanning a web page. Take this law firm's homepage, for example: This is what the first few lines of its source code look like. For this homepage, the head section is 131 lines of code. It includes many different meta tags. Quick Tip: View your own page's source code, right-click anywhere on the page. Select “View Page Source Code” . Meta tags are one of the most basic elements of SEO To rank well in organic search, where the bulk of online business begins, pay close attention to meta tags. There are many types of meta tags which web developers can use to enhance your web page's performance. Some meta tags are very important. These include title tags, meta descriptions, alt tags and canonical links. Others are of relative importance to your unique SEO needs, like no index and no follow tags. And there are others that have lost a lot of their relevancy. This is the case of the once central keywords tag. The choice of meta tags for your web pages, beyond the essentials, depends on your unique SEO strategy. Today, the focus is on the title tag as one of the most valuable meta tags for SEO. The title tag, when optimised, can have a direct impact on how your page ranks and converts. So let's look at what title tags do in a real world organic search scenario. How potential clients for your legal services can land on your website Imagine an ideal client. Let’s call her Patricia. Patricia had a car accident last week. She’s suffering from injuries and a good friend has suggested she talk to a lawyer about compensation. Now, legal representation is a mystery to Patricia, so her first port of call is Google. “93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine” (Good reason to take advantage of the SEO benefits of blogging to your law firm’s online marketing strategy! ) In the search box, she types “car accident lawyer”. She doesn’t type Adelaide, where she lives. She doesn’t need to because Google will take care of serving up results that are geo-located to her local area. And with this, Google's algorithm will show a list of relevant results. Patricia’s in a hurry, so she’s only going to look at the first page of the search engine results page (SERPs). And because she’s just researching at this point, she’s not interested in ads. Instead, she scrolls past them and focuses on the first organic results. This is what she sees: One of the data sources Google uses to deliver these links and snippets is the SEO elements encoded on each of the destination pages (elements you have inserted). Particularly relevant are the title tags (framed red) and meta descriptions (framed blue). Now, imagine Patricia is in a hurry, looking for an immediate alignment with her query. Of course, we can’t presume to know how Patricia’s brain will process the information. But let’s assume, in scanning the results she wants instant clarity. Let’s say her eye catches the first result. When we look at the title link it is an exact match for the page’s actual title tag. The summary text too, matches almost exactly with the page’s meta description. Title Tag : Motor Vehicle Accident lawyers | Personal Injury Specialists Meta Description : Motor vehicle accident compensation lawyers for South Australia. Our lawyers specialise so you ll get a solicitor highly experienced in MVA claims.  It’s easy to read. She sees the words “lawyer” and “injury compensation”, which is what she needs. It’s a South Australian law firm. And she feels good to read “you’ll get a highly experienced solicitor”. It looks professional. It feels authoritative. The snippet matches Patricia’s search intent. It's what she’s looking for. Click! And that click is marketing gold for your law firm. It’s a hot prospect landing on your web page in search of legal representation. And the SEO elements on the destination page are a significant reason that has happened. So let’s dive in and look more closely at how this works, looking specifically today at the title tag's role. The SEO marketing power of title tags explained Like all meta tags, the title tag is a code placed in the head section of your web pages source code. The code looks like this: <head>   <title>Motor Vehicle Accident lawyers | Personal Injury Specialists</title> </head> For optimal performance, every page on your site should have an optimised title tag (and meta description). This code gets “read” by search engines. The data is used to help inform the link, title and snippet included in a SERP, like in the examples above. How to add a title tag to your law firm’s web pages To add a title tag, you can code it directly into the page’s source code. This does, however, require coding knowledge and can be a fiddly process. But there’s an easier way to do it. Most modern websites should include SEO software that allows you to easily add the essential meta tags as you publish or edit pages. That’s certainly the case with Social Hive’s optimised websites for law firms . This is how easy it is in the backend of a Social Hive website. All you need to do when publishing a page of content is add your title tag in the SEO field provided, update and it’s done! The value impact of title tags for ranking and click-through-rate The title tag of a web page must be an accurate and concise description of a page's content. It’s a major factor helping search engines understand what your page is about. In search results, the title is often the first impression people have of your page and firm. And when done correctly, title tags can directly influence the ranking of your page. “well-written optimized titles and higher rankings still do go hand in hand” ( Search Engine Journal) Like the visible title on the web page (the H1 headline), the title tag’s job is to attract attention . It has to communicate an immediate value to the reader. It should compel them to click on the link . Or, if they need more convincing, it should draw them to the descriptive snippet. In that first instance, they'll size-up your authority, professionalism and value. It's important not to miss that opportunity to convince and convert. A title link in a search result is always a branding opportunity, too. A poorly written, confusing one looks unprofessional. Where title tags can appear online Title tags are used in three key places affecting your online marketing efforts: 1. Search engine result pages Your title tag determines (with exceptions) your display title in SERPs. Even if your site ranks well, a good title can be the make-or-break factor in determining whether or not someone notices it and clicks on your link. 2. Web browsers Your title tag is also displayed at the top of your web browser. This acts as a placeholder, especially for people who have many browser tabs open. Unique and easily recognisable titles with important keywords near the front help ensure that people don't lose track of your content. 3. Social networks Some external websites use your title tag to determine what to display when you share that page. This is the case with social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. It's also the case with sites like Reddit and RSS feeds. Such is the case with this post via Twitter: In this instance, the title tag of the destination page is an exact match for the post's title which is truncated near the end. Original title tag : Financial services industry overdue to deliver reform on codes of conduct | Maurice Blackburn Lawyers Of course, some like Facebook advertising options, have their own meta tag functions. This lets people set unique titles and descriptions to the context of the social media posting. But if they’re not used, the original page’s meta tags will automatically appear. And beyond these three locations, you can also see title tags influencing how page content is rendered on SERPs. As Google's search offering becomes ever more complex, new results are appearing all the time. Take a look at this SERP for the keyphrase search, “drunk driving charge need a lawyer”. Here you can see a number of different results including, a "Featured Snippet" and "Question & Answers". How to optimise your title tags for SEO and better search user experience As we’ve seen, title tags are an important part of search engine optimisation. They're critical to the user experience, too. If they’re clear and concise, they’re easy to spot. They can quickly channel attention to the main points of value. And that’s essential when capturing the attention of an overwhelmed searcher. In a few seconds, your ideal client has 10+ organic search results thrown in their face. Not to mention the paid ads and other elements screaming out for attention on any given SERP. Spending time optimising title tags then, is a high-impact SEO strategy. Here are some ways to write good title tags: Optimal title length There is, in fact, no hard-and-fast answer to the question, “How long should my title tags be?” As a general rule, you can be sure a title tag of 50 to 60 characters in length will display most, if not 100% of its words. But not always. What is, in fact, more relevant than character length is pixel width. Google's maximum width is currently 600 pixels. This can and often does change from time to time. The width can also vary between different search engines (e.g. Google, Bing, Yahoo). This is relevant because not all characters take up the same amount of pixel space. A “w”, for example, uses more space than an “i” or “n”. ALL CAPS, too, take up a lot of space. They’re not advisable for your meta tags for this reason (plus the fact they’re very hard to read online). The net result of a title tag that's too long for the allowed space is a truncated title. If Google truncates your title it will add an ellipsis (“…”). A truncated title can look messy. It may chop off vital information you intended searches to see. So make sure you front-end load the most valuable information. Longer titles might work better for social sharing or blog style pages. This is the case if you’re targeting long tail keyword phrases. Things also get “complicated” when factoring the different devices people might be using. There’s a difference in displays between desktops and mobile devices. Take a look at this desktop search for the keyword search "car accident lawyer" in Adelaide. Then look at the same search on two types of mobile phone . See the difference! Optimal format for title tags Like the previous point, there’s no hard-and-fast rule here, either. Having said that, making it clear and concise means it should be structured with the end user fully in mind. There are formats that work well time-and-again. For example, Moz, a respected SEO authority, suggests a formula like this: Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name You can see this functioning here: The destination page for this example has exactly the same wording in its title tag: Car Accident Lawyers Brisbane | No Win No Fee | Carter Capner Law This works well in this example. But there is a risk that your title tag will fail to stand out. Many law firms use this format and this often leads to SERPs with indistinguishable titles. In the following example, all organic results use essentially the same formula. There's no title that stands out with a quick scan. This puts all weight on the meta description to do the "heavy-lifting" of getting the click. So think about how it will appear sitting on the page with your competitors' results. Do a quick search of your targeted keyword to see how your competitors’ snippets appear. Then consider modifying your title tag to include a unique value proposition . Work it so it stands apart from the crowd. Another SEO authority, Yoast, uses a long-tail model which gives this type of outcome. Take a look at this example: Here the destination page's title tag reads: I tripped and fell on a footpath. Can I make a claim? - Andersons Solicitors, Adelaide Lawyers It has been truncated slightly but renders well in in the SERP, standing out with its unique position. The important thing to remember is, make the title easy to scan. It has to be readable, clear, concise and value packed, all in a split second. Add keywords but don’t spam The days of keyword stuffing are well behind us for content creation. Stuffing keywords into content can lead to penalties for poor value content. And that includes your meta tags. Emphasise the user-experience and scanability. Make it easy to read and comprehend in a split second. Too many keywords can confuse and distract. What's more, search engines have become much better at interpreting variations of keywords. There’s no longer any need to pile on variations. Front-end load your keywords, too. A well placed, relevant keyword is always a clear and concise way to show value and attract attention. By positioning the keyword at the front of your title tag, it will still show if words get cut off the end. SEO evidence suggests title tags beginning with keywords have more impact on rankings. Choose your keyword, rather than your brand, to open the title. Give every page of your law firm website a unique title tag Don’t use the same title tag for lots of pages across your website. They may cause Google to think you have duplicate content across your site which can lead to a site penalty in rankings. Unique titles help search engines understand that your content is unique and valuable. They also drive higher click-through rates. Will my title tag always appear in search results? The short answer is, no. Sometimes Google will display titles that don't match your meta tags. This generally happens when Google thinks the existing title tag doesn’t answer a user’s specific query well enough. In this instance, Google may look for a title that better suits the query in the destination page's content. This might sound frustrating but it can be a positive thing. What Google is doing is matching your page to a number of other related keywords. That can only bring more traffic to your page. Now there is a little “hack” you can add to your page to help mitigate the risk of horrible titles appearing in search results. Heather-Lloyd Martin, master in SEO copywriting, tells us: “When you write your page copy, try to include a benefit statement or call-to-action near the front instance of your main keyphrase (which is typically in the fist paragraph).” You can add a series of similar keywords to the opening paragraphs too, to help the process.  In this way, if Google does resort to pulling content snippets from your page’s body copy, you’ll already have tailored it to look clear, concise and value-laden. This does, of course, demand a greater level of input on your part to optimise your pages. But it’s worth it. Better quality content and SEO, whichever way you look at it, can only lead to improved performance in search and conversion online. For more on SEO for Lawyers, visit our other instalments in this series: SEO Tips for Lawyers | Master meta descriptions to boost traffic and conversions SEO for Lawyers | Why you should add structured data to your law firm website Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/march/seo-lawyers-title-tags/ Tue, 19 March 2019 00:00:00 From time to time you’ll make changes to your website which might include deleting a page of content or changing the URL of a certain page. Likewise, when you build an entirely new site, the structure may be different which, in turn, will make the URL’s of your various content pages different. So, what happens when someone clicks on the old URL – they usually get an error code 404. You may also have occasions where an external website is linking back to your site but sending their link to a page that no longer exists on your site. Again, visitors will experience that annoying Error 404. What does Google think of Error 404? When you build your new site or make amendments to your current site, new content gets indexed with Google. That means, Google keeps a massive list of all the pages and content on your site and serves up those pages to searchers on its platform. It doesn’t necessarily know you may have removed some content or changed the name of some content. If your site has Error 404 pages on it, Google could deem your site to be unreliable; not maintained, inaccurate sitemap or even lazy SEO procedures. It’s important to check your site reasonably regularly for errors in the indexing. You can do this using the free tools in Google Search Console. Using Google Search Console to find errors on your site If your site is not already connected to Google Search Console, you can do this by following these instructions . Google Search Console (previously Google Webmaster Tools but rebranded in 2015) is a free Google tool that gives you insight into the performance of your site. One of those insights is to view URL performance. The steps to checking your site’s indexing errors Go to Google Search Console “ Index Coverage Status Report ”. Click on “Open Index Coverage Report” You may be asked to log into your Google account If you manage more than one website, you’ll have to select the website you want to index This report will show you the “Performance”, “Coverage” and “Enhancements” of your site. For our purposes, you’re interested in “Coverage”. It will show you pages with errors along with valid pages. Needless to say, the ideal situation is 0 pages with errors and all page valid What should I do if I have 404 errors on my website There could be a few reasons your site is delivering 404 errors. You may have removed a page from your site but Google still has it indexed. You may have changed the URL (slug) of the page. There may be a technical error on your site. 1. You’ve removed/deleted a page from your site The example we’ll use here is when a staff member leaves. The day they leave, you delete their profile from your site. But the page is likely still indexed by Google. So when someone Google’s the staff member at your firm, they may get a result in Google’s search results but it’s an error 404. In this situation, you can do a permanent redirection of that URL. Ask your web developer to permanently redirect the staff member’s page to another live page on your site; for example to your Home Page or to your Our People page. Now if people search for that staff member, any results will still take them to your site. 2. You changed the URL of a page on your site Again, we’re going to use a staff member as an example. Let’s say a staff member, who is Molly Donnelly, is originally indexed with the URL www.smithandcolawyers.com.au/our-peope/molly-donnelly . Molly gets married and chooses to change her name. She is now Molly Bishop. You hop into your website, change her profile page and update the URL to www.smithandcolawyers.com.au/our-people/molly-bishop . Unfortunately, if people search Molly Donnelly and the original page is indexed by Google, the search results will show the first URL in our example and the visitor will get an error 404. You need to get your developer to permanently redirect the first URL to the new URL; that is molly-donnelly to molly-bishop. 3. There are no apparent or obvious reasons for the error Sometimes there is a technical problem within your site. It may not be immediately clear to you. You will need to engage your web developer or a third-party web consultant to analyse the site to find where the problem is. Naturally, this is the trickiest of any fixes. For the most part, there is no good reason that your site should have error 404’s. If you monitor your site on a reasonably regular basis, any errors should be kept to a minimum and the task of fixing them less laborious. It’s important to be aware that error 404’s can have a negative effect on your SEO , and therefore a negative impact on the number of visitors finding you online. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/march/404-errors/ Tue, 05 March 2019 00:00:00 Updated January 2024 LinkedIn is the world’s largest social media network targeted specifically towards professionals. Australia has  12,700,000+ registered LinkedIn users (over 2023). If you want to be found in professional circles and appreciated for what you do and how you do it, you need to be on LinkedIn. Why do people create a LinkedIn profile? There are a number of different reasons people create a LinkedIn profile but some of the common ones include: Sharing your knowledge, experience or views; Building connections with like-minded people and/or people you want to learn from; Staying in touch with colleagues – in or out of your own business; Engaging with LinkedIn groups; Recruiting – to be found and highlighted for career opportunities. The primary things to consider when creating a performing LinkedIn profile Headline This is a short piece of text which displays immediately below your name. Many people will simply add their current job title here. Others include what they deliver; for example: “Helping companies achieve their financial potential”. And others write what they’re looking for; for example: “Looking for opportunities in the not-for-profit sector”. Make sure your headline clearly articulates what you want the viewer to know about you in a short one-liner.  Images – your photo and your background image Although you’re not expected to go out and hire a professional photographer, your profile picture should be of a somewhat professional nature. That said, it should also depict “you”; your style and your personality. Keep an eye on the latest “social media image sizes” (these change reasonably frequently) and ensure you size your profile picture appropriately. Heads and chins cut off is not necessarily the best look. In 2021, the LinkedIn profile picture size is best to be 400px x 400 px. You also have the option to add a background image. If you do not add a background image, LinkedIn will apply the basic blue wallpaper. That looks a little lazy on your part so we recommend you add a suitable background image. This would be a generic image or something that reflects you or your interests. Your background image should be sized to 1584px x 396px. Hot tip : Getting your image sizes right for the intended use; the recommended image sizes for "personal pages" is different from the sizes for "company pages". Your profile "About" section (previously called summary) This is a critical component of your profile. Many users give it insufficient credit. This is your opportunity to talk about yourself the way you want others to see you. It’s not so much about your work experience and work skills but more about you, the person. Share a little personality and talk about what makes you stand out from the crowd. What life experiences have you had, and what makes you tick. You have 2,600 characters to do this so make sure you use them wisely. Write your summary in the first person; you are telling a story about yourself. And finally, you don’t have to be boring to be professional. Your experience This section is where you complete your work experiences – in chronological order. You need to add the company or employer. When adding an employer, you can check first if they have a company LinkedIn page. If they do, check what that page is called and start typing in their page name. They should appear in a search results box and you can select them from there. This way, their company name and logo will appear against your entry. Add the location you worked. Simply a town/city and country will suffice here. You should include clear dates for both the commencement in a particular role and the finishing date in that role. If you are still in that role, you can select “I currently work in this role”. You have a maximum of 2,000 characters to explain the role. You can include a small snippet about the company, but the primary emphasis here is on your experience, your achievements, results, skills, and tasks. Finally, you will have the option to upload media files. This could be a company brochure, a website link or perhaps some papers you wrote. Hot tip : You can include relevant/substantial 'volunteer' roles here like Board appointments, committees etc. Education This should be pretty straightforward. Include any tertiary education, high-level secondary education and vocational training. There is no need to include your primary school or your kindergarten (and yes, this does happen). Include the institution you attended, the dates you attended and the qualification you achieved. Volunteer experience If you volunteer or have volunteered, this is a great opportunity to show off your sense of social responsibility. You can use a similar process to how you created your “experience” sections. Be clear and concise about your tasks and the experiences you had. Include all relevant volunteering. Skills There are two schools of thought with this section – love it or hate it. Endorsement of your skillset comes from your connections (those people you have linked with). At times, it can be quite easy to accidentally endorse someone for skills, including skills they don’t actually have. If this happens to you, you can go into your profile and remove that endorsement. Likewise, you can set how skills are managed. To ensure your skills are well thought out by those giving them, we recommend you turn off “Include me in endorsement suggestions to my connections”. You can do this by clicking on the three dots to the right of the “skills ” section and going to settings. Recommendations On the opposite end of the scale to endorsements, recommendations are an excellent addition to your LinkedIn profile. When someone gives you a recommendation, they have to take the time to go in and action it; think about it and write it. You will get a notification of any endorsements and you can choose to publish them or not. We recommend you actively encourage recommendations for your LinkedIn profile. This could mean actually asking for them. You can request recommendations from 1st-degree connections. Be brave. Miscellaneous There are some other options for adding additional information; for example, languages, accomplishments, certificates etc. These can be added at any point. In late 2021, LinkedIn also offered the opportunity to add your pronoun and any additional name you may wish to be known by. These two features are in the introductory section of your profile, accessed by clicking the "writing pen" immediately below your banner image. The major components outlined above, are where you should be concentrating your efforts. Most importantly though, the more complete your profile is, the harder it will work for you. Ensure you complete ALL the major sections fully. Getting connections Once you’ve completed all the necessary components of your profile, it’s time to get some connections. You can start by searching for, and connecting with, people you work closely with. Then move on to people in your wider circle. As you meet new people where you experienced a professional connection or are interested in what they do or how they work, you can add them to your list. When sending connection requests, you will have an option to include a personal note. We recommend you do this most times, particularly with people you don’t know. Otherwise, how will they know why you want to connect with them? For example, you could say: “Hi Mary, I attended your presentation today at ABC and found it very intriguing. I’d like to connect with you to stay in touch with what you’re doing in this space”. You will receive connection requests from time to time. It is up to you whether you choose to accept or not. That said, don’t simply reject a connection request because you don’t know the person. As it suggests, the idea is to build connections. Have a look at their profile and see if they are someone that may add value to your experiences on LinkedIn. Publishing on LinkedIn This is a whole new subject and you can read our blog, "How to publish articles on LinkedIn" for everything you need to know. In summary If you want to make your LinkedIn profile work hard for you, give it the time and effort it deserves. And remember to update it whenever anything changes: Your physical look – change your photo Your interests – change your background image Your job – update your “experience” (and remember to change the finish date in your most recent employer) Your education – add your latest achievement New volunteer role – add it to LinkedIn Your summary – give this a general review a couple of times a year. Finally, remember that LinkedIn is regularly changing the way profiles appear and what options you have for additional content to add to your profile. So, it's a good idea to consider hopping into your profile a couple of times a year to ensure you're taking advantage of all the options that could work in your favour. Happy LinkedIn profile creating! Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/february/create-linkedin-profile/ Tue, 19 February 2019 00:00:00 Updated 3 November 2022 Commencing earlier in 2022, Google has been rolling out changes to business listings. Businesses used to create a "Google My Business" listing which could be displayed on Google Maps and Google Search. The name of this type of listing has now changed to "Google Business Profile". We've subsequently updated our content. With stiff competition among business growing daily, it’s essential for SME’s who deal directly with consumers, to create and continuously build a digital presence online. The legal industry is not immune to the need to drive an online presence and your Google Business Profile is an excellent starting point. Many law firms are now making use of several social media platforms and SEO tools to attract new clients and your firm’s Google Business Profile listing should always be on the list of platforms you maintain. Without it, you could be looking at paying good rent for an empty reception area. Why a Google Business Profile is relevant for your law firm? Google Business Profile (“GBP”) is a free tool that any business can create a listing on. Alongside your website and your other digital strategies, GBP (formerly GMB) gives your firm a new and powerful platform to share the firm’s contact details, services, locations, expertise, photos, videos etc, and it’s also where your clients can review you and your law firm’s services. When your account is set up and published, there are three key places GBP provides visibility for your firm. Google Knowledge Graph This is the box located to the right-hand side of a Google search page, describing a business and information about the business; contact details, website, hours, photos, reviews etc. Google Maps We all know Google Maps and we probably all use it. When you’ve set up your Google Business Profile listing, potential new customers can find you using search terms or, where they know your business name, simply entering it directly to Google Maps. Google Local 3-Pack Not all businesses get listed here however, if your business doesn’t appear here it will still show on Google Maps. The Google Local 3-Pack is usually for what Google decides are the top three businesses in a particular location. You can work your way up the ladder to be viewed here, with regular and accurate content on your GBP listing and with good and ongoing Google reviews . To get the most out of your Google Business Profile listing, it’s imperative to create a comprehensive listing, entering as much detailed information as possible. Let’s go through the primary components to get your listing going. Create your Google Business Profile listing You will need a Google account to create a Google Business Profile listing. If you do not have a Google account, you will need to sign up for one – it’s free. If you have an account already, log into your Google account and navigate to the Google Business page . If you do not have an account, you can sign up for one here . Claiming your business Once logged in, go to Google Maps and search for your business name. If it does not show up in the results, you’ll be invited to create a listing – look for “Add a place”. Simply complete all the sections and click submit. This will create a Google location listing of your business. (Note, it may take up to 24 hours for it to appear live in Maps). If your business does show up in the Maps search, you will need to “claim it”. If you didn’t create the listing yourself, don’t worry as sometimes they get created by Google (in very simple format) from third party sources about your business. To claim your business if it’s already on Google Maps To claim it, if there is a listing: Click on the name of your business on the map An option should appear to “Claim the business” Click on “Claim the business” and you’ll be directed through the relevant steps You’ll also have an opportunity to update any incorrect details and add new details like your URL etc. Google will want to check that you are actually the owner or responsible person for this business. They can do this in a few different ways, including: They will send a postcard to your physical “bricks & mortar” address. There will be a PIN on the postcard and you use this to claim your listing. They will phone, text or email you to provide a PIN – using the phone/email details attached to the account. You will get instant verification if your business has already been validated in Google Search Console. Maintenance and promotion tips going forward Remember to keep all your basic details updated at all times and, for all locations. This includes things like addresses, phone numbers, website details, hours of business etc. You can add “unusual hours” to your GBP listing – for example add public holidays you are closed on, or any other days you have different hours. You have an opportunity to add images to your GBP. We suggest you add new images regularly, including updating your cover image. Your Google Reviews will be visible on your GBP page. Remember to respond to all your reviews – good or bad. Google Business Profile provides you with insights on visitors to your listing; number of people searching for your business, map views and actions (like calling you or visiting your website). So what are you waiting for? There’s no time like now to create your Google Business Profile listing for your law firm. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/february/google-my-business/ Tue, 05 February 2019 00:00:00 If you’ve considered Facebook advertising for your law firm and, you’re still only thinking about it, now’s the time to take that step. There are 2.27 billion users on Facebook worldwide and 15,000,000 monthly active users in Australia alone. It’s one of the best and cheapest paid ways to build your brand’s awareness online. We’re often asked, “do Facebook ads for law firms deliver value for money?” We believe the answer is a resounding yes. Facebook combines both your organic brand building options and paid advertising (paid digital search) and the paid option allows you to target specific demographics depending on the services you’re selling. Let’s take a quick look at the various components of Facebook advertising. The campaign The campaign is the starting point for your advertising. At this point, you'll choose your advertising objective. For example, do you want the most number of people to see your ad or do you want people to click on a link in your ad or do you want people to fill out a form or attend an event. Campaigns are grouped into awareness, consideration, and conversion all of which play a specific role. Facebook Awareness Campaign As the name suggests, this creates more visibility for your law firm by advertising your business to a specific target that may require your services. Awareness campaigns are a great way to get recognised by potentially new clients and reach out to a target audience that may want a lawyer right now or at some time in the future. It’s not necessarily designed to get instant results but more as a branding exercise. It’s designed to get your ad in front of as many people as possible for the amount of budget you apply. People will see your ad and your firm name, over and over (assuming you run regular campaigns) and when the time comes that they need a lawyer, your name has resonance. For example, they may search for a lawyer on Google, and assuming your website SEO maintenance has been ongoing and is in order, if you come up in the search results, your firm name will be familiar and thus have more trust (even if only perceived). Likewise, they may see your ad on Facebook time and again and either like your page or search for you on the platform. So if you want to advertise your law firm generally, or generate leads for your firm page and/or increase your follower base, you could start with a Facebook awareness campaign. You can start today with as little as $20.00. Facebook Consideration Campaign This campaign is more so designed for the potential client who may require a lawyer or perhaps is at a point where they want to know more about a particular topic.  It is designed to provide a number of different options including: Sending more traffic to your website by clicking on your ad Getting more engagement (likes, comments, shares etc) on your ad Driving video views Performing lead generation Consideration campaigns also expose your brand by making your law firm visible to more people when other Facebook users click or comments on ad. It automatically translates into all their friends also seeing your law firm. Consideration campaigns are also very cost effective (compared to Google) when you want people to click through to your website. There is however, a number of factors to consider when choosing a consideration campaign: Is the page you might use to send traffic to, offering something valuable? If selecting lead generation, will viewers who provide you with contact details, perceive value in that? If selecting video views, is your video something informative, educational and/or entertaining? So if you want to drive traffic to your website, make clients see a video about your law firm or your services, increase the addresses of your email list and get a response to a particular event, then a consideration campaign could be good for you. Facebook Conversion Campaign We think conversion campaigns are better suited to consumer goods. As the name suggests, it converts the ad viewer into a purchaser or a potential purchaser. Given legal services are a rare (and expensive) purchase for individuals, it’s not commonly likely that they would see a law firm ad on Facebook and immediately contact that firm for services. That said, there could be occasion to use this campaign. For example, let’s say there’s a class action involving potentially tens of thousands of members. You could create a conversion campaign to the target audience getting them to enter their details to a database for you to contact them. This could be a perfect scenario for a Facebook conversion campaign. The Advertisement Once you’ve selected the type of campaign you will run, you can then create your specific advertisements. Find out more about creating Facebook ads on our recent post “ What’s the difference between Facebook Boosted posts and Facebook ads? ”. Why should your law firm consider Facebook advertising? You are able to target an audience. If you’re used to Facebook, you would know that it gathers significant information about its users. You can leverage this by precision targeting of your ads to capture the right people for your practice areas. A cost effective platform to provide valuable content to potential clients With Facebook ads, you are able to provide valuable content to potential clients with blogs, events and video. It’s an extremely cost effective advertising platform to build your firm’s brand and reputation. So with all this in mind, should your law firm consider Facebook Ads? We think that’s a resounding “yes”. Using Facebook ads in a planned and consistent way, can take your law firm to the next level. We recommend it to all law firms providing B2C services. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/january/facebook-ads-for-lawyers/ Mon, 21 January 2019 00:00:00 Digital marketers commonly refer to the phrase “ content is King ”. We now pose the question, where does video sit in your digital content strategy? “Content is King” was first coined by Bill Gates in an essay he wrote in 1996 . Way back then, he said: “When it comes to an interactive network such as the Internet, the definition of "content" becomes very wide. For example, computer software is a form of content-an extremely important one, and the one that for Microsoft will remain by far the most important. But the broad opportunities for most companies involve supplying information or entertainment. No company is too small to participate.” So, the original definition includes video content, hosted on your website, on your YouTube channel, in your social media accounts etc… In fact, digital marketing experts say video is one of the fastest growing content types already and predicted to continue to increase in terms of web traffic, engagement/interaction, sharing and purchasing. So it’s time to get your law firm’s video content up and running and we’ve put together a few tips on where to start. 1.   Select the style for your video There are many different types of videos; “Hollywood” style productions, animations, whiteboard video, interviews, ad hoc/live videos. Choose what type of video you are going to create first. 2.   Select a topic that is interesting, informative or helpful to your potential clients Not all your video content has to be about the law. But it does have to engage with your audience. It has to either be informative, educational and helpful or entertaining and interesting. You might choose to do a series of videos about the areas of law you practice in – these will be “educational/informational”. You might also choose to do videos about your staff, or your community ventures or corporate social responsibility activities – these will be interesting or at times, entertaining. 3.   Create an engaging title Make sure your title is designed to either grab the attention of the viewer or inform the viewer what the video is about. For example, you create a video on your staff volunteering their time at a local domestic violence shelter. You may be tempted to simply call this “Staff volunteering”. But it’s not particularly appealing and it could mean just about anything. You would be better of considering “XYZ & Co staff donate their time and experience to benefit victims of domestic violence”. Likewise, if your video is a Family Law video about getting a divorce in Australia, you won’t get much attention from “Family Law Video #1”. You would be much better placed to use something along the lines of “How to get a divorce in Australia”. 4.   Prepare your script before launching into your video creation Once you’ve chosen your topic and your title (or you may choose to add your title later), your script should be researched to determine the primary points you want to address and to ensure the relevant keywords and key terms are included. Ideally, your law firm video would be no longer than 1 minute, 30 seconds. In fact, a lot of data is now indicating videos of 15 seconds or less perform exceedingly well. In our view however, this is more so likely for a product (as opposed to a service) video where there is a positive emotional response to the video. It is more likely your law firm videos will be watched for educational and informational purposes. However, given the “15 second ideology”, it’s extremely important that you convey the primary message of your video in both the title and the opening scenes. Writing your script in bullet point format can be helpful to determine that you’ve covered all the major points you need to convey. You can then go through your bullet points and put them in the best order (so the flow is correct) and make adjustments to the wording. You can have a “call to action” at the end of your video but make sure it’s not too salesy. It should definitely include your logo/brand name, your website address and perhaps a phone number. 5.   Just because you provide professional services, doesn’t mean you have to be boring No-one wants to watch a boring video – no matter how informative you might think it is. Make sure the lighting is good; Use inspiring imagery; If you have voice-over, either use a professional or practice your own recording; If you have background music, make sure it’s aligned with your message and that it doesn’t drown out any voice over; Depending on the topic, you can have a little fun with it; Don’t be afraid to use content from, or including, your clients; perhaps in interview style. 6.   Proof, edit, publish This one is super important. Proof your work. Check your script (for typos and grammar too because remember, you’re going to publish it as text also, for SEO purposes and for hearing impaired) Watch your video, carefully and thoroughly, before you publish it Make necessary edits; as frustrating as that may be Publish 7.   A few technical points when creating your video content Make sure your final production is mobile friendly As we know, more and more people every day, are accessing the internet via a mobile device. It’s imperative your video is mobile friendly. Text scripts for SEO purposes and the hearing impaired When uploading your video to YouTube or directly onto your website or any other platform, either include the full script or at the very least a text component with all the keywords and key terms and in plain English. Video content will improve the success of your law firm’s digital marketing. It doesn’t have to be high-end, or high budget to be effective. These tips are designed to get you started on your strategy for using video as another “content type” in your strategy. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2019/january/video-content-for-law-firms/ Wed, 09 January 2019 00:00:00 As a Facebook page Admin or Owner, you cannot simply delete a review, whatever reason you have. But you can report it to Facebook if you think it doesn’t comply with Facebook’s community standards. Many of us have been there right? We’ve got a great performing Facebook page for our company and our engagement is excellent. We’ve got great reviews and everything is performing as we’d like it to. Then, suddenly after months (or even years) of great reviews, we get a shocker; one star and a totally deflating written review. Unfortunately, if you want those great reviews, you have to take the “not so great” too. As indicated above however, if it doesn’t comply with Facebook’s standards, you can report it and see if Facebook themselves will remove it. You can turn off the option for people to review your company on Facebook You can also “turn off” the ability for people to provide reviews on your page altogether. To do this: Go to your page Select “Settings” in the top right corner Select “Templates and Tabs” in the menu that now appears on the left hand side Scroll down to “Reviews and turn them off Why you should keep your Facebook reviews option available About 70% of Australians (2018) have a Facebook account. That’s a huge potential audience, right? And just like Google reviews, a huge percentage of the Facebook audience place significant trust in what others, particularly their “friends” say and think. When someone leaves a review on your page, their friends ordinarily get a notification. And as we know, users put significant emphasis on what their friends think. Therefore, your customers are helping build your brand awareness with their reviews, resulting in a bigger potential engaged customer base. And here are a few “big numbers” from Crowd Learning Hub , that should suggest reviews are critical to your business’ success: 95% of online users read reviews. That’s huge. 72% don’t take action until they’ve read the reviews. Displaying reviews can increase conversion by 270% (this is dependent on industry and what you determine a “conversion” to be) If there are two similar products/services, consumers are more likely to buy from the one with more/better reviews This a just a handful of very powerful statistics and there are plenty more to back up driving reviews of your business. So, we encourage you to leave the option for Facebook reviews open on your page. But just like our earlier article “ Why should I develop a plan to drive Google Reviews for my law firm? ”, it’s also important to be proactive about driving positive reviews on your page. That way, you can bury that one bad review with hundreds of great reviews. How should I respond to a bad review? There’s no denying it, it feels like a slap in the face when you get a bad review; particularly if you think it’s unwarranted. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who say nothing when the service they received was great but will go all out across multiple mediums if they think they were hard done by. Many businesses do not respond to reviews at all; good or bad. That’s not a good strategy. We recommend you respond to all your reviews. With the good ones, it’s pretty easy. But with the bad ones, what do you say? Some of our top pointers for responding to bad reviews From an internal perspective only, determine if the review is warranted or not. Was your service up to scratch? Were you slow to provide your service? Was your communication timely? Etc. Gather all your information before responding. Always respond to online reviews – even if they’re bad. Make sure you are calm before responding and take the emotion out of your response Keep your online response short but ensure they’re aware you’ve thoroughly read their concerns. Show empathy, but not necessarily sympathy. You understand they’re not happy and you should acknowledge this. It is not an acceptance of “guilt” on your part. Do not engage in a confrontational manner. Invite them to bring further conversation off-line; by phone or email or an in-person meeting. Example of responding to a negative review Hi Mary, thanks for taking the time to leave your review which, as I’m sure you could understand, I was disappointed to read. I was very sorry to hear about your experience at ABC & Co. It’s certainly not the level of service we aspire to deliver. I’d really like to discuss this with you and see if we can assist you further. Please feel free to contact me directly on 8888 8888. Regards, John Smith, General Manager, ABC & Co. In summary Keep reviews open on your Facebook page (and anywhere else you’re receiving reviews) Respond to all reviews – good, bad or indifferent (and respond in a timely manner) Be respectful when responding to bad reviews Implement a strategy to drive reviews Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/december/bad-facebook-reviews/ Tue, 11 December 2018 00:00:00 Updated January 2022 Advertising options through Facebook can be one of the most cost-effective paid advertising platforms available to businesses. Generally, you have two options; to boost your organic post or to set up a full-blown campaign of ads using Facebook Business Manager. More often than not, we would recommend the latter. What is a Boosted ad? A boosted ad is simply applying some budget to an organic post to get it in front of more eyes on Facebook. If you have a Facebook page for your business or community group, you may have experienced one of the following: Once you’ve posted to Facebook organically (that is, you’ve simply put a post on your page), you will see a “Boost Post” button in the bottom right corner; Facebook may send you a message along the lines of, “This post is performing better than most. Would you like to Boost it?” Boosting a Facebook post is an easy process Click on Boost Post in the bottom right of your organic post; Select an action button (for example, Learn more, Contact Us, Shop etc…); Select a goal (brand awareness, messages, likes etc); Select a previously used audience or create a new one (with limited criteria available); Apply a budget; Select the duration for the ad to run. When is Boosting a Facebook post suitable? You want more people (both current followers and also non-followers) to see your post; You have a current post that’s doing quite well organically and you just want it to do a bit better (maybe for just a short period of time); You have a limited budget; You have limited knowledge and experience with more complex Facebook advertising options. What is a Facebook Ad campaign? To set up a Facebook ad campaign, you will need a  Facebook Business Manager  account. The process for paid advertising on this platform is a little (well OK, a lot) more complicated and detailed than simply using Boost options. You will create a Campaign that sets your objectives or goals. Within that campaign, you will create Ad Sets that determine who will see your ad, when, where, for how long and how much you will spend etc. Within your Ad Sets, you will create your actual Ads which could be image ads, text ads, video ads and so on. You may choose to run them on Facebook only or perhaps Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, display ads etc. Why should I create Facebook Ad campaigns instead of Boosted ads? Facebook ad campaigns allow you to do much more of the following: Select an objective - more choice An objective is a result you want to achieve from your ad. For example, that might be: Awareness – get more people to know your name and your product; Reach – get as many people as possible to see your ad; Traffic – get more people to click on your ad and go through to your website; Engagement – get more people to like, comment, share your ad; Watch video – get more people to watch a video you have posted, and more. Based on the objective you select, Facebook will serve up your ad to the people who are most likely to act upon or interact with your ad in the manner that you want. This is due to the platform’s powerful algorithms. Facebook’s algorithms know exactly how its users behave. It knows, for example: who is more likely to watch a video; who is more likely to “like” your page; who is more likely to comment, like or share your content; who is more likely to click through to your website, and so on. So, selecting your objective is incredibly important and you need to ensure you give it due consideration. What action do you want Facebook users to take when they see your ad? Define your audience - more choice Sure, you can select an audience with Boost but the defining options are limited. With Business Manager, you can select, amongst many things, age, gender, location, interests, occupation and many more detailed options. Decide where your ad will show - more choice You have a number of options for where your ad will show, using Business Manager ad campaigns. This could include: Facebook feed (desktop and mobile) Facebook right column Messenger Audience network Instant articles Instagram This allows you to optimise your ad for your specific target audience by selecting where to show your ad based on where your audience is. It also allows you to change your creatives (your images) to better suit each platform. Specify your copy With your Boosted post, your only option is to ad budget to the current organic post – that is, your boosted (paid) post will look exactly the same as your organic post. With a Business Manager campaign, you can A/B text copy, have different CTA's for each ad etc. With an ads campaign, there are several components of the ad copy and content you can adjust: The introductory text; The heading; The sub-heading; The URL(s); The image(s); The video; Will you use a single image, a video or a carousel, etc. In summary As tempting as it is to react to Facebook letting you know your post is doing well and that you should consider Boosting it, we recommend you resist (although sometimes it is an appropriate action). Sure, it seems so simple and that’s the point. It is simple; both in what you have to do but more importantly, what you might get out of it. But the Business Manager can be complex; both in planning for your campaigns, setting them up, monitoring them and adjusting them when/if required. So, make sure you do your homework and seek assistance if you're not sure. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/november/facebook-ad-vs-boost-post/ Tue, 27 November 2018 00:00:00 Content updated February 2021 Evergreen content is content that can be read or viewed over time and it will always remain relevant, for the most part. It is content that is interesting, informative and relevant, and remains current – basically, it's timeless. The amount of evergreen content topics available in professional services, including law firms, is immeasurable. An example of non-evergreen content would be posting content about an upcoming event. The event might be on in a month’s time but once it is over, that content becomes obsolete. Conversely, some evergreen content, particularly for lawyers, could be a title like “How do I get a divorce in Australia?”  Now I hear you say, but divorce laws might change and then that article would be obsolete. Correct, but as we suggested in our opening paragraph, “for the most part” is an important factor. That said, the title will still be relevant but you'll just update the actual content to reflect the new legislation. It is unlikely that divorce laws would change significantly, on a regular basis. They may change ever several years. The content is therefore relatively current for quite a long time. What can I use evergreen content for? Content on your website Your evergreen content will sit on your website (and of course, you may make minor tweaks every now and then), for a long time. It will be content that is relevant to your target audience and your potential customer/client base and if well written and informative, it will be visited time and time again; either by new visitors or repeat visitors. The more and more people that visit this content, the more its search engine rankings will improve. That means, when people search for this type of content, there is an increasing likelihood your piece of content will appear higher up in results. Over time, you can create new content which relates to this piece of evergreen content and inter-link all the articles. What might inter-linked articles look like? You write an article, “How do I get a divorce in Australia?”. This is an evergreen piece. You write a second article, “If I marry in Australia, can I divorce overseas?”. This is also an evergreen piece. (And remember, there are some exceptions – for example, if there is major legislative change). You can link these two articles to each other as their content is related. You write a third article, “Couple marry in Sydney but the husband is already married”. This piece of content is about a newspaper article. It is not necessarily evergreen content. It is a media piece about a specific case. It can, however, still be linked to your first article as already being married is grounds for a short marriage. Posting to your social media platforms As you build your list of evergreen content pages on your website, you're creating s a bank of articles you can continue to promote across your social media platforms; for example, Facebook and LinkedIn. It will solidify your expertise and experience in relation to that information. If we consider our divorce articles above, you can post articles #1 and #2 several times over several years, thus increasing the number of people that see that specific article. This reinforces your knowledge and experience in Family Law, particularly divorce law. Sharing in your eDM campaigns To further drive your experience and expertise, you should be delivering regular eDM campaigns (email newsletters) to your database of contacts. Having a bank of evergreen content gives you an opportunity to share this content at various intervals. For example, you may send four eDM campaigns a year to your Family Law database of contacts. You could include your “How do I get a divorce in Australia?” article once every year or two, along with other articles; perhaps new evergreen articles or a topical case review. Again, this will get more eyes on your article, thus improving its visitor numbers and subsequently, its search engine organic results. How do I know if my evergreen content is popular? You should be checking the relevance, authority and interest levels of your online content regularly. For your website, you can do this using Google Analytics and Google Search Console . For social media platforms, you can use their own insights/analytics results. If your evergreen piece is not performing as well as you’d hoped, you need to review the content; perhaps there are insufficient keywords or you’re missing critical keywords, or perhaps it is too short. There are a number of factors to consider when creating your online/digital content. For more insights on content creation, you can read our blog "8 things to remember when creating your law firm's online content". Updating your evergreen content as required As previously mentioned, you can (and often should) make minor tweaks to your evergreen content to ensure it’s hitting the mark of what searchers are after. You should regularly review your online content and ensure it is up to date.  Even evergreen content, although we say it doesn't change, will often require minor adjustments every now and then. When you make the adjustments and publish them, make sure you resubmit the URL to Google (via Google Search Console) and get it re-indexed. Although Google will re-index it at some point, by manually requesting a further index, you are speeding up the process of your new content (with the new adjustments) being found faster. In summary Evergreen content is good for your digital development You should create a mix of evergreen and non-evergreen content Remember to check the performance of your evergreen content on a regular basis and make necessary tweaks Use your evergreen content on a regular basis across multiple distribution channels; your website, your social media platforms, eDM campaigns, flyers, presentations etc. Find this article interesting and/or informative? You might also like to read: 4 essential tips for writing your law firm blog article How often should I add new articles to my law firm’s blog site? Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/november/what-is-evergreen-content/ Tue, 13 November 2018 00:00:00 Google reviews, along with Facebook and other online platforms, provide an opportunity for consumers to share their thoughts on your product or services. And, whether you like it or not, they will share the good, the bad and the ugly. What you’re looking for is “the good”. But as the saying goes, if it was good, they’ll tell a mate, and if it was bad, they’ll tell the world. And they can literally tell the world now, with the advent of the internet. Research shows that, in 2017, 84% of people trusted online reviews. That’s huge in anyone’s books. If you search for a lawyer (in all its shapes and forms, type of law, location, experience, etc), your results will likely show very few reviews for the most part. So now’s the time! Get ahead of the mark with online reviews It’s highly unlikely for a law firm that your clients would, as a matter of course, hop online and give you a positive review. Even your most happy and delighted clients are unlikely to consider this. It’s not that they’ve actively considered it and decided against it; it’s just not on the radar. So, you need to give them a little prod. You’re the ones talking to, meeting with, working with your clients every single day. You know who loves you and who doesn’t. Once you’ve got the attention of your client, you’ve shared your experience and expertise and the relationship is solid and trusting, why aren’t you asking for an online review? Well, you’re not alone, and that’s in your favour… today. For many firms, particularly plaintiff, your clients are searching online for a lawyer. When they enter their search terms, they’ll often be served up a list of law firms via what Google calls “local search”. They’ll get a list of law firms in their area and that list will show location and…. yes, reviews. It will show the average “star” rating and, importantly, how many reviews that rating is achieved from. The star rating is important, but the number of ratings is most important. So we don’t put anyone in the spotlight here, below is a Google search screen shot of local dentists.   They all have 4.5 or 5 stars – pretty good. But one in particular, has 8 reviews where one only has 1 review. Which one do you think you might call first? Do reviews affect how you rate in Google searches? Yes. Reviews are a strong signal of authority of your site/services, to search engines and they need to form part of your overall SEO strategy . How should my Google reviews plan look? It does not have to be War & Peace. Policy/Procedure You need a policy within your firm to ensure all your staff are aware that your firm drives the attribution of positive online reviews. It’s not as simple as writing a policy and putting it on your intranet. (Does that actually work for any of your policies). You need to write it, explain it, share it with staff and then  constantly remind them . This is not a set-and-forget. Script Some staff may find it difficult to ask for a review. You could draft a script for them to use, either verbally or in writing. If it’s verbal, always follow it up with an email because the URL to your Google reviews can be complex, and it’s much easier if you just send your client a hyperlink directly to your review page. Monitor If your client said they’d do a review for you, monitor that they did. If your review doesn’t appear within two weeks, contact your client to see if they had a problem doing the review. Celebrate As your reviews come rolling in, celebrate them with your staff. This will encourage staff who have not yet participated that it’s a great feeling to be publicly acknowledged for the good you do. Respond Whether you get a positive or negative review, respond to them all and, respond in a timely manner. If it’s a negative review, remember your response will be fully publicly available; craft it carefully and try not to be defensive, personal, or too detailed. Promote Once you’ve received a number of positive reviews, you can use this information to promote on your website and your social media channels. And there you have it. One of the easiest, and most rewarding ways to drive your client and staff engagement and build your business that little bit more. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/october/google-reviews/ Tue, 30 October 2018 00:00:00 Just like with humans and animals, the personality of your website will determine what people think of you, how they react to you and whether they like you or not. How do I create a personality for my website? Your business, whether you’ve specifically created it, already has a personality. It’s called “your brand”. It may have formed organically or, for example, you may have worked on what values you think should drive your thinking and actions and then work on your business personality from there. Your website personality needs to match your business personality. So that’s your starting point. If you’re not already aware of your business personality; that is, you haven’t worked on it, you don’t drive it or reference it or you haven’t written it down, now’s the time to take a step back and work out what it is. How should your business behave on a day-to-day basis? What characteristics do you want to see in your people? How do you want your physical premises to look and feel? How do you want your clients to describe you? How do you want your staff to feel about working at your business? How do you want the general public to see you? What experience do you want your clients to have when they work with you? Etc… Should I have a “style guide” for my website? We don’t think you should be fully wedded to a set of concrete rules. That’s OK if you’re doing your formal legal work and working to the letter of the law. But times, people, environments and the like, change… and rapidly. You may change your processes, procedures, perhaps even your logo or brand colours from time to time, but it’s unlikely you’ll change your personality… at least not massively. We prefer to stick to the idea of creating a written document that determines your personality – your brand. You don’t have a style guide squirrelled away for how you should communicate with your friends, family and the general public; it’s innate as part of your personality. Of course, from time to time, you may change, for example, the fonts you use or the imagery you use but you’ll still be driving the same message about what experience people can expect from you. What could I consider when determining my online personality? The internet is awash with service providers of every possible type, including lawyers and law firms. Here are a few things to remember when creating your online experience. Humanise your site experience In recent years, Google has become very clever at reacting to humans and responding like a human itself. Google reads long winded search inquiries and works out the intent of the searcher . You need to “humanise” your website; plain English, succinct content, no rambling, links that provide further information, use of imagery that tells your story etc. Make it easy for your prospects to work with you It’s almost unbelievable, in 2018, that so many websites do not have “easy to find” contact details. Your phone number, email, social pages should be displayed clearly and visibly on every single page of your site. This says to your visitors, we’re open, we want to talk with you, we want to work with you. Taking this a step further, on your “people” pages, provide direct telephone and email details. Nothing says “stuffy old men smoking in the boardroom” more, than a Partner/Director of a firm having their PA/Secretary’s contact details on their personal profile. Providing such details also delivers an air of transparency and openness; a personality trait anyone would love to have. Finally, as more and more people access the internet via a mobile device, make sure you’ve enacted “click to call” and “click to email” . And if you have a “contact us” form on your site, make sure its mobile version is easy to use (particularly concentrating on text size/form size). Not paying attention to this sends the message that you are not thorough, you are not tech savvy and you are therefore, not keen for the business. Create a unique selling point You need to consider ways that make your brand stands out in your crowded market. You need to find your unique selling point (USP). You might not think you have one, but most businesses do; the struggle can be determining what it is. It’s important to remember that it doesn’t have to be huge or mind blowing. It could be as simple as “we respond to all our online inquiries within one business hour” but then remember, you have to deliver… and it is possible. Be consistent This doesn’t just go for your online personality. As we said at the beginning, make sure your online personality matches your “in person” personality. Make sure your message, your look and the overall experience of your business, are all consistent. A perfect example of how to (or not to) do this is with lawyer profiles on your site. We’re strong advocates for law firms writing their own content and then we hop in and tailor it a bit more for online use . So let’s assume every lawyer has written their own website profile. You’ll likely get a mix of styles; the “strictly formal”, the “somewhat boring”, the “too much sharing” etc. Here’s where you do need to step in and ensure your visitors feel, no matter which lawyer they are booked in to see, the quality of service, the level of required experience and the communication are going to be the same, or at least very similar. In summary If you haven’t done so already, take some time out to think about the personality of your business and make sure it’s replicated in your online world. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/october/building-your-website-personality/ Tue, 16 October 2018 00:00:00 There’s a lot of digital marketing terminology floating around. We’ve created a quick reference guide to a lot of common terms but sometimes, we find it worthwhile delving a little deeper. So what is a slug in digital marketing terms? You might have read blogs or news articles or heard your digital marketing agent talk about a post slug or a page slug. What is a slug? A slug is part of your page URL . Each page within your website has a URL and within each URL is a unique slug. The slug is the part of the URL that makes that address unique. Let’s use the Social Hive domain to identify our various slugs. Here are a few pages within the Social Hive website and we’ll identify the slug part of the URL. www.socialhive.com.au There is no slug here https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/2018/august/using-google-analytics/ The slug is “using-google-analytics https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/2018/august/digital-content-calendar/ The slug is “digital-content-calendar” Get the idea? As you can see, aside from creating a unique address for this specific page (no pages on the internet can have the same URL), the slugs also identify what the page is about. Are slugs important? Yes. Important for search engines As you know, Google and other search engines look at a lot of factors about your website and its content, to determine how to rank you in its searches. The URL, including the slug, for each of your pages, is one of those ranking factors that search engines consider. Google wants your slug to indicate what that page is about. Important for your site’s visitors and users It’s always important that you make your site as user friendly as possible. This includes having slugs that are easy to read and identify to the user, what’s on that page. Have you ever found yourself in the situation where you’ve got many tabs open in your browser; so many, that you’ve lost track of what each one is. If the slug is well written in each of these, it makes it much easier for users to know what page that browser tab is for. How should I write my slugs? As with all our recommendations, plain English with no industry jargon is a primary consideration. You need to include keywords. These are the words you want this specific page to rank for and the words you believe your website visitors will use in their search terms. There is no need to include “stop words”. These are words like “a”, “the”, “an”, “and” etc. Using our own site as an example, and a page we referenced earlier in this article, let’s look at the following page: https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/2018/august/using-google-analytics/ The title of this article is “How do you use Google analytics? A starter’s guide”. Notice in the slug we have removed words like “how”, “you”, “do” etc. Likewise, on our page: https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/2018/august/digital-content-calendar/ The title of this page is “What is a digital content calendar and do I need one?”. Again, we’ve removed the stop words and created a simple and short slug for our page. Keep your slugs short and to the point. It’s helpful to the search engine and assists your visitors and site users when they’re searching and once they’ve opened your page. Remember also, that your website URL shows up in the search engine results page. It’s much better to see a search engine result that looks like this:   Than a URL that looks like this: What if I want to change my slug after publishing a page? Finally, modern and respected web platforms allow you to enter your own slug (as opposed to simply adding the title of the page or article to the end of the URL). If you create a slug and find that you have to change it, in reality you are changing the entire URL of that page. It’s important to remember to apply a 301 redirection of the old URL to the new one. If you don’t know how to do this yourself, send your request to your web developer. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/october/digital-marketing-slugs/ Tue, 02 October 2018 00:00:00 Have you ever noticed these letters, “http” or “https” at the beginning of a website URL (the address bar in your website name) and wondered why there are two different options? If you haven’t noticed them before or you don’t know why they’re different, it’s to do with security and effects your SEO. Addresses starting with “http” means there is no password encryption. Address starting with “https” means the site has encrypted password. Which one is better? Your site should be https and if it is not, contact your web developer and arrange for it to be upgraded. Basically, https is the later model of http. The “S” stands for secure and that should pretty much tell you everything. What are the advantages of https? From a potential customer perspective, your page visitors will put more trust in a site beginning with https. The level of improved security on https website addresses provides you with protection from scammers and hackers. Vital information, for example credit card details, logon details etc are all encrypted and cannot (for the most part) be intercepted. This is on desktop or mobile device. Significant Google algorithm changes have prepared us for https over the last three or so years. There will initial warnings to get ready for https and now Google places higher emphasis on search results for sites with https. Google is moving (due July 2018 but unsure if this has occurred) to consider all “http” sites to non-secure Are there any disadvantages of changing to https? Not really; none worthy of not making the decision to upgrade. There is a cost in obtaining an SSL certificate (your “security” certificate) but in the scheme of things, it is minimal. Important steps to undertake when you move to https You will need to get an SSL certificate from a trusted source. Speak with your website developer. You will need to redirect all pages on your http site to their new corresponding location on your new https site. Your web developer will be able to assist with this. Finally, if you’re about to have your website rebuilt (either on the same platform you currently use or a new one), it is imperative that your website developer/builder provides you with an https site. If that hasn’t happened yet, deal with it, without delay. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/september/http-vs-https/ Tue, 04 September 2018 00:00:00 A content calendar is actually quite a simple concept but many businesses either don’t know what it is, think it’s too complex for them or don’t think they need it. Trust us, you should have one; even if it’s very basic. What is a content calendar? A content calendar is simply a calendar (could be as simple as an excel spreadsheet or Outlook calendar) that outlines what content you are going to produce, publish or share on each day/week/month etc. Businesses who have a content calendar, use it to stay organised with what they’re producing and publishing. Can’t I just publish whatever’s on my mind? Yes you can; but what if what’s on your mind with regard to your business or your work has a similar theme all the time? We think it’s better if you mix it up a little. If you simply keep publishing content about the same thing, with a similar look and feel, your potential clients will soon get bored with what you’re sharing; they won’t be seeing anything new; and they’ll probably move to your competitor for insights. But if you mix it up a little and provide your website and social media visitors with variety , firstly you’ll demonstrate a broad range of experience and expertise and secondly, they’ll be much more inclined to see what you’re up to – because it will likely be more engaging than seeing the “same old, same old” every day. A content calendar can ensure you’re publishing a variety of content A content calendar can simply outline, weeks or even months in advance, the type of content you intend to curate. It could include breakdowns like: Topics – you can look at a variety of topics to keep your visitors interested in what you’ve got to share Media type – blog, infographic, video, podcast Authors – you might want an even mix of authors or curators for your online content You can be as detailed as you want. You may simply record on which day, the title and/or medium (blog, video etc.) of what you intend to publish or post. Or you might go into more detail and actually write your blog or your social media post well in advance. From our point of view, providing the more detailed option earlier, takes the pressure off. What if you have a blog scheduled for next Friday (that you haven’t yet written) and suddenly next Friday arrives and something more urgent gets in the way? But if you wrote your blog several weeks ago or even months ago, it will be ready for publishing on Friday. Your content calendar doesn’t have to contain all new content When you write your blogs or produce your videos or animations or infographics, you should be thinking about the “life span” of that content. Often the content you produce can be shared over and over for many months, if not years (this is called evergreen content). This allows you to fill your content calendar with content you’ve produced (and shared) in the past. If you’ve already shared it before, just remember to leave a reasonable period of time before you start sharing it again. How do I start a content calendar? Firstly, pick a platform to build it on. Some people use a calendar format, some people simply use an excel spreadsheet and then there are also some content calendar specific platforms and templates available. Now you need to determine, generally, now often you want to publish or post something. Your content calendar may have a component for publishing new content to your website and then a second component, for example, for sharing content across your social media platforms or your email campaigns. Determine how often you can write a new article for your website; we’d recommend you try and strive for once a fortnight as a minimum. Then determine how often you’d like to share content from your page or other sources. Now you need to select what criteria you’re going to use to identify the type of content you’re going to produce and share. If you’re a law firm, you might colour code your areas of practice to ensure you have a good mix of content for each area. Then you’ll want to see a variety of colours evenly distributed across your calendar. It may be that you want to concentrate on one primary area of practice and some secondary areas. Then you would see a primary colour appearing more often than other colours but still a fairly even mix. You might realise your calendar is missing a particular colour and this could be your catalyst for getting one of your lawyers to write a new article. You might apply a text colour then to the type of content; a blog, a podcast, a video, a social media post. We think you should have a content calendar that provides you with at least the next 4-6 weeks’ worth of content. Of course, if you can have it filled for more than that period, that’s great. It’s also important to be flexible Once you’ve created your content calendar and you’re populating it on a regular basis, remember that it doesn’t have to be set in stone. If something comes up that you weren’t previously aware of and it’s topical, you might want to add it to your website or your sharing platforms immediately. You can adjust your calendar to accommodate this. Remember, if you’ve already prepared something for a particular day and you have something else to take its place, don’t simply discard your original content. Move it to a new date; don’t waste the hard work you’ve already done. If you publish or share something new, at short notice, it’s important to still remember to add it to your content calendar. That way you can search what you’ve done in the past. It’s much easier to search a content calendar than to search your website, your social media posts or your email campaigns. How much content should there be in my content calendar? It depends. You might read a lot of articles online that indicate you have to be publishing and sharing like there’s no tomorrow. Yes, generally speaking the more you publish (good content that is), the higher the likelihood of getting results. But what if you’re only small? Maybe it’s just you, or you and a couple colleagues or staff. You should do what you can reasonably do, and then a little bit more. If you’re producing quality content and you’re sharing it through social platforms, email campaigns, paid advertising and promotions, it will get traction. Once you see results, you might be tempted to do more… and more. Or you might realise it’s time to outsource your digital marketing. We can help and we’re more than happy to have a chat with you about your needs. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/august/digital-content-calendar/ Tue, 21 August 2018 00:00:00 Once you’ve built your shiny new website and filled it with all your magical content , you need to put some mechanisms in place to see how it’s performing. Google analytics (“ GA ”) is a perfect starting point for you to measure the performance of your website and your digital marketing initiatives. To extract data through Google analytics, you need to make sure your web developer has added the GA code to your website. If you’ve engaged a good and trusted website developer, they’ll have done this for you. Just in case they haven’t, visit Google to find out how to add your own personalised analytics code to your website . Three metrics to start with in Google analytics In this article, we’re only going to talk about a few of the many metrics you can analyse through your Google analytics data. Audience Acquisition Behaviour Within these three options of data analysis, there are many (many) options for drilling even deeper. In fact, you could find yourself drilling deep into GA first thing in the morning and before you know it – it’s go home time. But we’ve written this blog specifically for beginners to GA. Firstly, log into your Google analytics account. You can then set a date range you want to look at data from. Know we’re going to look at our three metrics mentioned above. Looking at “audience” In the left column, you’ll see the heading “Audience”. There will be a drop-down menu of what you can then look at. These include things like: Visitor numbers – both new visitors and returning visitors Demographics – the age and gender of your visitors Interest – general interests, industry interests, job interests etc. Geo – where do you visitors live (or work) and what languages do they use Behaviour – this is very similar to overall visitor numbers but also shows you the frequency of their visits and how engaged they are Technology – this will let you know the browser (for example Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox etc) Mobile – this sub-title is s little deceptive. It actually shows you mobile vs tablet vs desktop (not just mobile). So as you can see, you can glean a lot of information about the people (your visitors) coming to your website, simply by reviewing your Google analytics. You can use this information to build your target audience and fine tune your offering amongst other things. Looking at “acquisition” Again, in the left column, you can navigate to “Acquisition”. Acquisition provides you with detail on where your audience came from; what mechanism delivered them to your site? Did they type in your site URL directly, did they arrive from a Google search or perhaps via a Facebook post? The drop-down menu in Acquisition provides you with details including: The source of arrival: Google organic; AdWords; Email campaign; Facebook page; LinkedIn page; Twitter page; Another website etc. You can also drill much more deeply in Acquisition to analyse data on any paid advertising you’re doing, landing page success, Google search console etc. The data you can extract in relation to Acquisition tells you how your target audience is arriving on your site. You can use this to plan, for example, how you might enhance those initiatives that are working well or drive harder those initiatives that you want results from but you’re not quite there yet. Looking at “behaviour” We’re back in the left column again and we want to select the high level “Behaviour” tab. This analyses specific content on your page and your page’s performance. For example, under “Site Content” you will find your top performing pages; the specific page visitor numbers, how long your visitors stayed on that page (indicating how engaging it might have been for them), how many people visited that page more than once. If you’ve applied some AdWords funds to that page, you can also see data on that performance. Under other sub-headings, you can view the performance of your site. How fast does your site load using different browsers?  What’s the speed in different geographical locations? If your site has a lot of downloadable content that you want to track, “events” will do this for you. You might want to know how a particular PDF or video is performing. Note, however, your website developer may have to do some enhancements to your site to track this data so make sure you speak with them about this. With all of the metrics we’ve briefly looked at in this post, there are also secondary measurements you can apply. These allow you to dive even deeper into the way your audience is using your website. Google analytics is an extremely powerful tool and can become complex at times. However, for many users, simple overviews of your site’s visitors, behaviour and performance will be more than sufficient for you to understand how your website and your other digital marketing initiatives are performing. The trick There’s always a catch. And with analytics – it’s allocation of time. The trick is to check it regularly. We’d suggest monthly at a bare minimum. But if you’re running paid advertising (either Google or social media) or you really want to ensure you’re getting the best out of all your content, you may want to look at it more regularly. Not sure how to monitor the performance of your website and digital marketing? At Social Hive, that’s our speciality. Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to chat about options for maximising the potential of your digital marketing . Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/august/using-google-analytics/ Tue, 07 August 2018 00:00:00 Have you ever found yourself wanting to investigate your options for increasing your digital marketing initiatives but there’s just too much jargon to get your head around? You’re not alone; even we get stumped with digital marketing terminology from time to time and have to Google it ourselves. In this article, we’ve put together a straightforward, plain English set of explanations for a number of terms we think could be useful to you or that you’ll come across during your digital marketing journey. Hopefully this will assist to move you from 'bored and disengaged' to 'wow, that makes sense now'. For ease, our list is in alphabetical order; which means it’s not necessarily in order of priority. Algorithm A set of rules used for making calculations. In the digital world, all platforms (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc) use algorithms to determine, for example, how to serve content to you; what type of content and the regularity. It’s important to note that algorithms change regularly and you’re not always informed when there are major changes. Alt Text – Alternative Test Code added to images and non-text items on your website so search engines can read what the item is – often used for vision impaired internet users but also used for keyword search results. Analytics Each platform you use for your social media marketing along with Google as a search engine, retains data on the performance of your account. You can investigate this analytical data on any account you have assuming you have set up, for example your website, appropriately to record this data. Backlink A link from one website through to your own website. Backlinks are used by Google for SEO ranking. The more quality backlinks you have, the better results you will get in searches. Black Hat Marketing A common term for guerrilla marketing – unethical digital marketing techniques. If you use Black Hat Marketing your can be heavily penalised by Google, including having your website removed from search results altogether. Bounce Rate The percentage of visitors to your website that leave immediately without clicking through to another page or interacting with your site in any way. Breadcrumbs A trail of navigation links to show users where they are on a website. For example, if you’ve entered a home page, then gone to products and then a specific product, a site may show you a breadcrumb string like “home>products>product ABC” Clickbait The art of publishing content that is sensationalist and entices readers to click on it when the final content is not necessarily what the title or snippet suggested. Clickbait is often misleading and social media channels and search engines are continuously change algorithms to counter clickbait publishing. Content Anything you put on your website or social media channels – text, images, rich media, videos, infographics etc Crawl A piece of software that scans all websites to look for new or changed content so that search engines can update their index of sites and site content. CTR – Click Through Rate The number of times a person clicks on a piece of content which results in them ending up at a destination intended by the link. CMS – Content Management System A system or piece of software where all your content is drafted, edited and finally published. For example, your website will have a content management system (often referred to as the backend) where all your content from text to images to video etc sits and you can collate it into pages for publication. Conversion When a visitor to your site takes an action that you have set in place. For example, clicking on posts or articles where it says “click to buy”, “register now”, “book now”, “download this e-book”. Cover Photo Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube etc, have the option for you to insert a large format image as the main image in your profile. Cover photos can be changed at any point and are often used to promote a specific item or product or event. DM – Direct Message Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have forms of direct messaging although they may be called different things. It is a mechanism for sending a message to someone outside the public domain. eDM – Electronic Direct Marketing The process of building an email database for the purpose of marketing via email. Engagement Rate A calculation involving the number of followers you have on a particular platform divided by the number of people who saw your social media post and engaged with it (like, share, comment, retweet etc.). Geolocation Tagging photos, videos and messages with a location often using GPS from your smartphone. GIF – Graphics Interchange Format A file type that support both static and animated images Google My Business An important free Google product that allows businesses to input their business information to be found on Google search, Google maps and other Google products. Businesses can enter their name, services, hours of operations, apply images, video etc. A businesses Google Reviews will also appear here. Hashtag - # A way to highlight a word or string of words (with no spacing between them) on social media platforms to allow people to search those words or terms. HTML – Hypertext Markup Language A set of codes that tell a search engine how to display a particular webpage. Hyperlink Code that creates a link from a piece of text to either another webpage or email address or downloadable document. Influencer Put simply, a person with a social media profile with a very large reach; for example many followers or a very high engagement rate. They are usually very passionate about a specific topic or brand ambassadors for a product or service. Keyword / Keyword Phrase Words or phrases that form the primary basis of a piece of content. When a user enters search terms, the primary words in that search are the keywords. Website owners need to ensure they use keywords specific to their industry, services or products, evenly and consistently across all pages on their website. Note – if you use your keywords too much (for example, the text no longer flows), this called keyword stuffing and you can be penalised for this, including having your website banned from showing up in search results. Landing Page The page a searcher lands on when they click the link the search results page. META Tags / HTML Title Tags Snippets added to webpage code that provide search engines with information that allows them to choose which webpages to show on a results page – depending on what search terms (keywords) the searcher entered into the browser. After results show in a Google search, HTML Tags are the writing in bold and dark blue on the first line of the search results.  HTML Title Tags should be entered manually in the backend of your website at the time you prepare to publish a new page. An HTML title tag should be approximately 50 to 65 characters in length. META Description A further snippet of information that appears under an HTML Title Tag result providing the searcher with more information about the page they may choose to visit. META descriptions should be entered manually in the backend of your website at the time you prepare to publish a new page. A META Description should be about 150-165 characters in length. (NOTE: in December 2017, Google increased META description length to about 300 characters but in May 2018 they reverted to the 150-165 length). Organic Reach The reach your website or social media channels can achieve without paid or sponsored advertising. Paid Reach The reach your website or social media channels have after applying paid or sponsored advertising to them. Phishing A misleading communication aimed to fraudulently obtain personal details/data from your online activity. It is also used for spreading malware or viruses. Retargeting The process of registering visitors to your website (without their knowledge) by placing a tracking tag on your site. You can then retarget those visitors on your other marketing platforms, like Facebook. For example, if you visit a chocolate shop website which has the tracking tags on it, they can then place paid advertising on their Facebook page indicating that they want their ad to appear in your Facebook feed. RSS – Rich Site Summary An option to syndicate web content. Readers or visitors to a website (a blog or news stream for example) can choose to subscribe to the RSS feed to automatically receive updates through a news reader or aggregator. RT - Retweet Used in Twitter and means “ReTweet” – the action of selecting another person’s tweet and tweeting it yourself so it appears in your own home feed. Schema Markup Code that is added to the backend of your website to give search engines all the information they need about your business, what it does, it’s products, it’s people etc. It is also referred to as structured data. Websites with Schema Markup perform much better than those without. SEO A dark art - half art/half science. Read our blog “ What is SEO? ” SERP – Search Engine Results Page The list of pages that show up in Google (or other search engine) once a visitor has entered their search terms. Slug A common term for the portion of a URL that comes after the “.com”, “.com.au” etc. For example, your homepage may be " www.smithandcompany.com.au" . But if someone visits the Contact Us part of your website, they will go to " www.smithandcompany.com.au/contact-us .?  In this example, “Contact-Us” is the slug. Troll An online user who makes offensive or annoying posts or comments with the primary aim to upset others or provoke outrage or violence. URL – Uniform Resource Locator The location of a page on the world wide web. In search engines the URL is located at the top of the page. For example the long form URL for Google is https://google.com. UX – User Experience Refers to the experience visitors have when they visit your website; how they interact. Things that effect a user experience include poor layout, broken links, limited navigation, no images etc. Web 2.0 The second development of the world wide web when pages, for the most part, shifted from being static to being dynamic. White Hat Marketing In direct contrast to Black Hat Marketing, White Hat is ethical digital marketing. Wireframe A layout (often in a static format, for example as a jpg or an excel spreadsheet) which forms the first stage of a design of a website. 301 Redirect A code in the backend of a website to permanently redirect a visitor from one web page to another. 404 Error An error message users receive when a page they are trying to visit no longer exists. This is a perfect time for the website owner to put a 301 Redirect (see above) in place. That’s our list done for now. If you’re finding it too onerous or too foreign to try and work through your digital marketing plans and initiatives yourself, that’s what we’re here for. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/july/digital-marketing-terminology/ Thu, 19 July 2018 00:00:00 Many firms struggle to produce an effective digital communication policy and equally as many simply have nothing at all and don’t even address it. In this article, when we refer to digital communication, we’re talking about all the content your firm and all its employees put out in the public domain using any digital communication. These include: email your website content (text, images, infographics, videos etc.) your social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and all others Many firms’ policies look something like this: ABC Law & Associates Digital Communication Policy Blah blah blah blah blah which will incur disciplinary proceedings and which could include termination of employment . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah which will incur disciplinary proceedings and which could include termination of employment . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah which will incur disciplinary proceedings and which could include termination of employment . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah which will incur disciplinary proceedings and which could include termination of employment . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah which will incur disciplinary proceedings and which could include termination of employment . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. <Want to read more?  We didn’t think so.> What are the primary problems with the majority of digital communication policies? They’re threatening as opposed to educative They’re not communicated to staff, either at all or on a regular basis They’re all in the negative; “do not”, “shall not”, “will not”, “termination”, “disciplinary action”, etc. They’re not in plain English No-one reads them No-one remembers all the fine print They’re often out of date almost as soon as they’re published Your new digital communication policy All staff shall use the firm’s digital communication platforms in the same way they would if they were having a face-to-face conversation with clients, contractors, service providers, colleagues or members of the public. If you can’t (or should not) say it in person, you can’t say it online. Why do firms struggle with this simplified and rational concept? Trust. But if you can’t trust your staff, you have more problems than simply designing what you think is a protective policy. You’re hiring the wrong people. You’re not guiding, educating and mentoring your people. Your firm’s culture does not support its aspirations. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/july/digital-comms-policy/ Thu, 12 July 2018 00:00:00 We’re going to look at four important things often forgotten when building your new website; form over function, a sound technical platform, image optimisation and link building. Your site needs to be much more than an illusion of greatness. So you’ve decided to commit time and money to building your new website. This is an exciting time for your firm and everybody’s got ideas on what the final product should be and how it should look. But have you done your research about how your website will perform? Amongst the many components you have to make decisions on before building your new site, there are a few that often get overlooked. This is even more evident in “self-build” sites; for example, building your own site using the DIY platform options through Squarespace, Foursquare, Weebly and WordPress, just to name a few. Form over function Have you heard the term “if I had a dollar for…”?  Well, if I had a dollar for every time a lawyer told me to look at a certain firm’s website because it’s really good, I’d be retired on a healthy income. There are many fabulous looking home pages (and even internal pages) out there. It’s impact at first arrival as you’re wowed by images, movement and buzz. Some of them also perform brilliantly but with many, drill a little deeper than first glance and the problems start to gather, like: Complicated navigation causing users to lose their place on the site or go around in circles before ultimately giving up and moving onto the next site; Inconsistent navigation – some options are clickable and some are not Navigation options that disappear as you hover over them before you get the chance to click through No “breadcrumbs” – those tiny threads that let you know where you are on the site No flow – you have to return to main menus each time you want to visit a new section It’s great that you want a fabulous looking site; there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. You just need to ensure it’s functional too. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to use a professional developer to build the architecture of your site for you, rather than a free and/or DIY build. A professional developer will ensure your site is functional as well as dynamic and exciting. Pay attention to the benefits of a sound technical build If your site is not technically sound behind the scenes, it might work but it won’t necessarily sing for you. You want your new website to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible. If you have a professional build your site, they’ll be making sure you’re optimised for, amongst other things: Site speed Site security Meta-data for social media is properly coded (Facebook open graph, twitter tags etc) Microdata to optimise your HTML markup for search engines - schema Google Analytics, Search Console (previously known as Webmaster Tools), Facebook Pixel and other site performance measurement coding. Make sure your images are optimised for digital Images and rich media are a necessity in a modern website. There are some amazing sites with incredible images; original and stock. But if they’re not optimised for use on your website, they’ll do more harm than good. The most common types of images used on websites are jpg files and png files. JPG’s (JPEG) are the most popular and are used for photographs and complex images that use a large colour pallet or have lots of activity in them. PNG’s are a smaller file size and often used where transparency is required. These are good for logos, for example, where you want to place your logo over the top of other content without a border around it. Once you’ve selected the file type to use, it’s important to size it appropriately. By size, we mean file size not width by height. Poorly sized images (too large) can slow your page speed by up to 80%. In today’s world of “I want it now”, this is never going to work.  Your website images should have a resolution of 72dpi. To see how the image will look on your site, view them at 100% in a program like Photoshop. If you want the absolute best images for your site, there are a few tips to follow: Set the resolution to 72dpi Reduce the dimensions of the image Save the image (assuming it’s a photo) as a jpg – in Photoshop and other similar software, you can “save for web” which optimises it perfectly. You will have an option to select file type, quality etc. If you want to reduce the size even more, you could also compress the image, again using programs like Photoshop. Finally, you need to remember that search engines can’t read your images unless you’ve named them. The process of naming your images is referred to as applying an “alt attribute” or an “alt image tag”. Sometimes this could be the name of the article and other times a description of what the image is portraying. Applying an alt image tag to all your images not only ensures that search engines can read your images (therefore having your images act like keywords/key phrases) but you’re also assisting the visually impaired to access all components of your site. Links, links, links Do not underestimate the value of links; internal and external. And it’s a good idea to plan for them at the beginning and then continue to build them as your website grows. Internal links make it easier for your visitors to navigate around your site to ensure they’re absorbing as much information as possible and you’re providing the information without them having to search for it. They also keep your visitors on your site longer because you’re enticing them on to further information. All of this contributes to the authority of your site and thus your services. External links also promote authority and provide a qualitative balance for what you’re saying. Further, external links open up opportunities for the referring site to reciprocate with a link back to your site. It’s a known fact that inbound links from credible sources can significantly improve the search results for a page. So, when you’re drawing up the plans for building your new website, ensure you plan for all the internal and external links you’re going to incorporate across the site. Are you considering building a new (or first) website for your law firm? We work closely with a developer and we’d be more than happy to chat with you (obligation and cost free) to see how we can assist you to achieve the best possible outcome for your new site. Find this article interesting or useful? You may also want to read: 8 things to remember when creating your law firm’s online content What is search engine optimisation (SEO)? Five reasons your law firm should have a blog Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/june/building-your-website/ Tue, 26 June 2018 00:00:00 There is no definitive answer to how often you should be blogging, however, there is a clear correlation between how often you blog and how often you appear in Google’s search results. It’s important to note that it’s not just the frequency of adding content to your blog that will improve your search results but this is what we’re looking at in this article. Generally speaking, the more often you post new content to your website the higher the chances are that Google will index it and serve it up to searchers who are looking for the type of product or service you’re selling. We’ve specifically referenced blogging in this article because it’s one of the easiest ways for law firms to add new content regularly. Why is it important to regularly add new content to your website? One of the easiest ways to answer this is to look at good old fashioned bricks and mortar shopping. Consider one of your favourite boutique shops; e you’re happy to visit time and time again. It could be a clothing store or a homewares store or perhaps an electronics store. Maybe you need some of their products or maybe it’s simply a really pleasant or inspirational or even educational experience each time you visit. Remember, you’re happy to visit it time and time again.  Our guess is that you wouldn’t visit time and time again if the product range never changed. Your favourite store is likely to regularly change its product selection, its window and in-store displays and/or its pricing (sales and special offers for example). Let’s say you drop into your favourite store monthly. You continue to return each month because you get a new experience each month. You tell your friends and family about this store because you love it or it delivers what you’re looking for and you think they’ll have a similar experience. Your friends and family then tell their friends and family… and so the story goes. Your favourite store has now built a strong reputation for being the place to go for the product they sell. Now let’s consider that you keep visiting monthly for the next three months but there’s a substantial change in your experience; there are no new products! It’s just the same old displays with the same products each time. What are you likely to do?  You’ll look for another store for your favourite products. So let’s look at how that relates to your website You’ve built a new website and you’ve populated it with content about what you do, who you are, how you provide your services, your pricing, how to find you and, hopefully, a blog page. You’ve entered 3-4 blogs to get you started ; you want your visitors to see you’re highly experienced in what you do and you’ve written all your content to convey this. Understandably, for a law firm, information on the services you offer, who you are and where you’re located is unlikely to change very often. There might be legislative change, new staff members or a change in office location but these will often be relatively minor changes and relatively infrequent. Blogging provides your law firm with the opportunity to add substantial new content to your website regularly Google trawls the internet constantly, looking at all its content and using a set of complex algorithms, it quickly determines what results to display . Think of it like a points system, with the more points, the higher the ranking. You get points for example if your site: answers the intent of the searcher; is technically sound; has relevant and well written title tags and META descriptions; has rich media (images, video, animations, infographics for example); is current; regularly adds new content. You lose points, for example, if your site: contains out of date information; has substantial content that is irrelevant to what your site is selling; is not technically sound; has content that never changes. These are just a few examples of what Google considers when indexing your site. If Google trawls your site and finds no substantial changes time and time again, Google will choose to not show your site in its search results. If it sees regular, consistent and substantive change (for example a new blog post once a week or more), you’re more likely to appear in search results. So, just like that bricks and mortar shop we discussed earlier, your business (website?) will not be as successful unless you keep it updated with fresh content. What happens if you don’t maintain regular updates to your blog site? It’s important to remember that you might be highly engaged and driven when you first build your new site. You add new blog posts every week. You start to get a lot of web traffic that converts to inquiries that then convert to paying clients. Simply put; you get busy. One of the first things to fall off the “to-do list”, is that weekly blogging. You don’t blog for a few weeks. Then you add a couple of new articles and again, nothing for a couple of months. This erratic approach to keeping your website updated and fresh will do damage to the success of your site. Remember, Google indexes constantly and you’re competing in a very crowded online marketplace. Once you’ve set your blogging schedule at one per week (and that’s the minimum we’d recommend for a law firm), you need to maintain it and show Google and your potential clients that you’re worthy of their custom. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/june/how-often-to-blog/ Tue, 12 June 2018 00:00:00 Updated 5 June 2020 Has your law firm built a brand new website and you’re populating it with all your content? All your knowledge and experience can be collated on your firm’s website and shared across all your social channels . But it’s not simply a matter of putting heaps of content out there. It has to be the right content, targeted to the right people and added in the right way; both from a technical aspect plus a user experience aspect. All these elements together will maximise the potential of your online marketing. We’ve put together a little cheat sheet of 8 things we think are super important when creating your law firm’s online content. 1.  Have you clearly identified your target audience? Remember, each piece of content you have on your online platforms could have a unique target audience and you need to craft that content for that specific audience. For example, assume your firm does commercial and business law plus family law. The type of content you provide to your commercial clients might be a little more formal and your family law content might display more empathy and plain English in a conversational manner. 2.  You should include imagery and other rich media on your website and social media channels No-one wants to visit a website or social media channel that’s just full of blocks of text. It’s important to consider images, video, infographics and the like that are relevant to the content you’re sharing. We call this 'rich media' and it's good for your user and good for your SEO. 3.  Ensure you are providing a mix of engaging content on your social media channels If your content is very similar all the time and/or simply repeated each week or month, your audience will soon lose interest. Create a “content calendar” so you can ensure you have a good mix of articles and other content to share on a regular basis. Note: it's OK to repeat promotion of website content on your social media channels as long as you don't do it all the time; for example, posting the same content every week or every month. You can also refresh it with new images or reviewing it (rather than completely re-writing it) each time you re-post it. 4.  Have you included a “call to action”? A call to action is a piece of content crafted to encourage your visitors to perform a specific act; for example, to call you or complete a form. It’s a critical step in the "sales funnel" and one that is often overlooked. It may even be as simple as making your phone number or email address easily accessible so visitors can contact you instantly if they wish to. 5.  Write your own content You’re a law firm and your website and other communications are likely spruiking your expertise and experience in the law and legal services. How can someone else write this for you? Your own content written by you will be far more valuable to your readers than some over-arching article that has little detail about your area of expertise. Your online visitors will learn to value your content if they know lawyers write it, and they’ll continue to use you as a trusted source. You should curate your own content but you could use a copy-writer or agency to proof your content and suggest amendments in style or enhancements for SEO purposes . But ultimately, it will be your own original work. 6.  Commit to the long haul – consistent, relevant and regular publishing There is no point building a website and populating it with your carefully crafted content if it then sits idle for months at a time. For your online visitors to maintain their engagement with your content and for Google to find you a worthwhile destination, you need to publish consistent and relevant content in a substantive way on a regular basis . Having a blog on your website is one of the best ways to achieve this. Further, you need to commit to your online marketing plan. It could very easily take 12 months or more to start to show returns. Don’t simply give up after a few months – your determination will deliver results if you do everything right. 7.  Don’t over commit to the number of online platforms you’re on There is a temptation to spread your content far and wide. The truth is, you’re far better off mastering your website and perhaps two to three social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube or perhaps Twitter). Our experience shows these have been the most successful channels for law firm marketing. Each social media channel has its own unique purpose and audience. If you spread yourself across 5+ channels at once, you’ll be Jack of all trades and master of none. 8.  Monitor your progress and measure your results As an SME law firm, it’s likely you’re regularly monitoring the progress of your staff, your clients’ files, your finances etc… As a small law firm, you’re nimble and lean about the way you run your business. Your online marketing initiatives should be no different. Once you’ve put your digital plan in place, it’s important to also put in place systems to monitor the success of what you’re doing. If something’s not working as well as it should, and you’re monitoring and measuring it, you’ll be able to make changes quickly and effectively to get better results. Likewise, if you’re not monitoring and measuring, you could be throwing money down the drain. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/june/8-tips-for-online-content/ Tue, 05 June 2018 00:00:00 First things first, at Social Hive we work with small to medium law firms to maximise their online potential. Is your law firm ready to take the plunge? We choose to work with law firms because that’s what we know and we think it’s it's much more authentic to help sell a product or service if you know about and you've got experience working in it.  Does your law firm have an online presence and if not, why not? Perhaps you’re already getting too much work – more than you can support. It could be that it’s too expensive. Or is it because you don’t know anything about it and it’s a “little bit scary”? Maybe you simply don’t want to be in the online space. These and many other reasons are preventing small firms from delving into digital marketing to build their brand. If you simply don’t want to be there and it’s not for you, this article is probably not for you either. But if it’s any of the other reasons mentioned above, perhaps we can help. Have you simply got too much work already? This is a great position to be in. But what happens when/if that work source ends? It could be a referral source that chooses to send their work elsewhere. You’ll then be looking for another source to replace that revenue stream. It could be word-of-mouth. But in an increasingly competitive market with more and more providers popping up on a regular basis, that referral source will likely erode somewhat. Perhaps you work in a very niche area of law and have a low competitor ratio. With constant pressure on many law firms to discovery new practice areas that fit their culture and what they’re already doing, that niche area is always open to becoming main stream and your share of the pie will diminish. With a digital marketing presence, you control the flow of new clients. Digital marketing is too expensive for my firm Yes, a lot of digital agencies can be expensive for smaller firms. Particularly those that sell a “bells and whistles” package that’s more suited to a larger firm. But what if you could enter the online space at a rate that sits more comfortably with your size and revenue and with an agency that fully understands the legal industry? Of course you’re not going to get the exposure of a national or multi-national firm who are literally throwing millions or even tens of thousands of dollars into their marketing initiatives; but you don’t need that exposure. You need local, targeted exposure with a budget that reflects your income. The online marketing world is a little bit scary Yes it can be. But then, being a lawyer would be a little bit scary for us. Just like other experts you engage in your firm, a digital marketing agency is no different. We’re really good at what we do just like you’re really good at what you do. We always think “you wouldn’t hire a GP to do your brain surgery”. Like that relationship though, we don’t just take over. We work closely with you at every step of the way. We’d love you to learn as you go along. Have we convinced you to consider some digital marketing for your law firm? Want to know about what we do? Have a look at our services . Or maybe you'd rather talk to us about how we can help you maximise your online potential? Get in touch for a no obligation, no pressure chat. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/may/maximise-digital-marketing/ Tue, 29 May 2018 00:00:00 Law firm blogs used to be an option, with only a few firms participating. They’re now an important component of a successful SEO strategy. If your firm is about to produce its first blog article, we’ve got a few tips to share. Truth be told, lawyers tend to be terrible at writing articles in plain English. This is understandable because, at the end of the day, lawyers are experts in legal issues rather than writing in a language that’s engaging and informative. These days, however, having an engaging online presence is essential to your firm’s success. So we've got some simple tips to get you started. 1.  Know your audience Before you begin, it’s important to keep in mind who you are writing for. And let’s be honest, it’s rare that your audience will fully understand legal jargon. Try creating a persona in your head. Perhaps you’re writing for someone who is going through a marriage break-up or maybe you’re writing for a small business owner. Whoever it may be, make sure you get your tone and language spot on. Some audiences want lots of details while others just want a quick answer to a pressing question followed up with some options to fix their problem.  2.  Create a headline that clearly identifies what you’re writing about Your headline should let people know why they should care about your article. Google will also use your headline to determine if your article is something worth sharing in its search results. Headlines such as “Insolvency” do not attract many clicks; it's quite vague. Try to be creative and engaging whilst also being informative, with a title like “My company is insolvent - what should I do?”. You don’t have to be too fancy with your headlines; after all, you’re not writing for a newspaper. But your headlines do need to be immediately understandable to both Google and your potential clients. If people can’t figure out what your article is about or why it’s relevant to them, it’s unlikely that they will click through and read it. 3.  Use multi-media whenever you can – that’s images, video, animations, infographics These days the internet is awash with content. Unless you’re writing for a particular niche audience, you’ll quickly lose their attention if you shower them with text. It’s also worth noting that 80% of internet users in 2018 are browsing on their smartphones, which don’t lend themselves to big slabs of text. You can break up your article using: shorter paragraphs; sub-headings; bullet-points; photos; images like animations and infographics; and embedded video. You can try a paid subscription to stock image services such as Adobe Photo Stock or Shutterstock  so the images you use are good quality. Or if you’re short on budget, there are also plenty of free services such as StockSnap , Unsplash and Pixabay to name a few.  For smaller law firms providing services to individuals, explainer infographics and/or animations are perfect for your audience. To get people interested in complex legal questions in a simple way, a visual experience can be through the use of explainer videos. Videos also tend to gain more traction on social media. Tip - keep your videos under 2 minutes and preferably around 1 minute to 1:30. View this explainer video “ Racial Discrimination? Know your rights ” as an example. 4.  Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is imperative to have your blog found Gone are the days when there were just a handful of law firms writing blog articles. Nowadays, it’s harder to find those that aren’t actively posting content. The market is crowded and law firms that have not traditionally been in the digital space are now vying for a piece of that pie. Actually, we’ve written a whole blog post about the importance of SEO . In simple terms, it stands for Search Engine Optimisation – and it’s a process undertaken to make your content discoverable. Some think SEO is a bit of voodoo and to be honest, they’re somewhat right – it’s half art/half science. Building up a wide range of search optimised content is a far better long-term strategy than running costly pay-per-click search engine advertising. In doing so, you can establish yourself as a content leader and a voice of authority in your specific areas of practice.      You won’t be able to improve your SEO overnight but with a long term strategy and commitment, you will see results. We highly recommend investing time and resources into making sure your website is SEO friendly. Want your law firm to stand out from the pack but don’t know where to start? Social Hive works with small to medium sized law firms in Australia. With 30 years’ experience within the legal industry, we have a focus on delivering actual results. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/may/legal-blog-writing-tips/ Mon, 28 May 2018 00:00:00 SEO stands for search engine optimisation and is the optimisation of your website’s content designed to increase your organic ranking in search engine results and subsequently, the amount of traffic to your website. There are generally two types of search engine optimisation (SEO).  These are “onsite” and “offsite” which are also referred to as “on page” and “off page”. What is onsite SEO? Onsite SEO is the work you do directly on your own website including your content and the maintenance of the technical components of your site. It’s an extremely important component of your website and should be given high priority at all times. Websites with no onsite SEO will not perform as well as those that paid attention to their onsite SEO. What needs to be considered when applying onsite SEO to your site? Quality - your content needs to be of a quality that satisfies search engines and your potential site visitors. Make sure your written content is accurate, informative, relevant, thorough, regular and authoritative. Accurate – should require no explanation Informative – are you sharing something that searchers need or want to know? Relevant – there’s no point sharing content about “furniture for sale” or linking to furniture sites if your site is a law firm. Make your content relevant to what you do. Thorough – although many articles say your blog should be 1,000 or 1,500 words long, it’s more about your article being as long as it needs to be so long as it includes all the information the searcher is looking for OR includes links to all the information the searcher is looking for. Regular – once you’ve built your website, you need to add to it regularly, in a substantive way. A blog page within your site is the perfect option to provide regular content. You cannot simply change a few words or paragraphs around here and there. Regular and substantive means, for example, an entirely new page (like a blog article) at least once a fortnight, if not more often. Authoritative – don’t write about something you know nothing about. Provide relevant links to qualify your statements wherever possible. Keyword research is imperative when considering the SEO of your site. You need to consider: Who your audience is What your audience is seeking answers to How your audience is searching – what words and phrases are they using Simple forms of keyword research revolve around listening to your current clients – how they speak, what questions they’re asking and what topics their questions are about. More complex keyword research involves special keyword research software like SEMRush for example. You should also be regularly checking into your own site’s “webmaster tools”; a Google product which provides data on your own site and its visitors. Rich Media – you should be sharing more than written content. Search engines love rich media. Your site visitors will also love a high level of rich media on your site. Rich media refers to things like images, video, infographics, animations etc. Google indexing components – Google has a lot of components to look at on your site to determine how it will display you in its search results. Aside from providing quality content together with your rich media components, there are a few more things you can do yourself like: Title – the title of your page can appear in two places; the heading to the page or article and/or the tab at the top of the browser. Make sure your title is clear and concise and describes the intent of the searcher HTML Title Tag – when you run a search in Google, the search engine will display a number of results. Each result will have a large heading (usually in blue). This is the HTML title tag which can be set by you (in your CMS) and provides Google with clear instructions on what your article is about. Your HTML title tag should be between 50-60 characters long to ensure Google displays the entire title. META Description – this is the smaller text displayed under your HTML title tag. It provides a more extended description for searchers to make a final determination on whether to click through to your site. Here you can clarify the content on the page and provide more detail to the searcher. META descriptions should be between 200-300 characters in length (this was recently increased by Google, having previously been a maximum of about 160 characters). Alt image text – when you use images on your site, ensure you give them a “written explanation”. This does not appear to the reader but is set in your CMS in a way that Google can read what the image is about. Often, it can be as simple as your page title. Technical health of your site – there are hundreds of platforms you can host your site on and an innumerable number of service providers that can set your site up for you and maintain it. Choosing the right service provider to build and maintain your website is tricky. It’s not simply a matter of choosing “cheap and cheerful” simply to get your name onto the internet. The technical health of your site (in the initial build and ongoing maintenance) is paramount to your online success so when choosing a website developer, consider the following: Do they have a thorough understanding of SEO? What platform do they build their sites on? (then research that platform’s pros and cons) Ensure they have examples of their work to show you. Is it more about look and feel (bells and whistles) rather than user experience? User experience (speed, ease of navigation, use of engaging rich media, search options etc) can be the “make or break” of your success after visitors arrive on your site Is the platform they use “open source”? For most small-medium businesses, you want an open source platform so, if you’re not satisfied with the provider, you can simply pick up your website and take it elsewhere Use some of the free tools available to check the technical health of the websites they maintain. For example, you could use Screaming Frog to check some of the basics like 404 errors (page not found), crawl errors, SEO elements and the like. What is offsite SEO? Simple answer – inbound link building is the most prominent of offsite SEO techniques. The more credible links you have coming into your site, the more Google applies authority to your site. If you think about it, if websites are willing to refer to your site, they’ve made a judgement that you’ve got content worth referring to. When we refer to “credible” links, be sure that sites linking to you are linking for credible reasons. For example, you don’t want that furniture sales site we referred to earlier, linking to your law firm’s blog article, “If we separate, who gets the furniture?” Most importantly, do NOT be tempted to buy links to your site. You may be tempted by “1,000 links for $20.00”. To be perfectly blunt, this can end your online presence. Make no mistake though; link building requires a lot of effort and ongoing commitment. You need to secure your site’s authority and trustworthiness and then go about getting other sites to recognise this. It’s neither an easy, nor quick process. You can achieve backlinks through: Guest bloggers linking to your site Getting your clients to link to your site Adding your details to relevant online directories Getting traction in the media; articles referencing your firm or press releases Other types of offsite SEO include use of social media channels (your own and other individuals or companies) and influencer marketing. As you can see, there’s a lot more to SEO (onsite and offsite) than meets the eye. But make no mistake, your online presence will not exist or thrive, without SEO. If you haven’t paid attention to the SEO of your site yet, there’s no time like the presence. The faster you bring it into the practice, the faster your digital footprint will grow. Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/may/what-is-seo/ Mon, 21 May 2018 00:00:00 Updated 9 July 2020 A successful law firm without a website is no longer an option. And to make that firm's website work really hard for you, it must have a blog. In today’s rapid moving digital world, a blog is one of the quintessential tools for driving visitors and potential clients to your firm and ultimately, increasing your revenue.  If your firm is not blogging or is not blogging regularly, here are five reasons that should spur you into action. 1.  Your blog will demonstrate your expertise and authority to a wider audience Your clients want to know that you have the knowledge, expertise and experience to provide the results they need. Sadly, many law firm websites are what we might term “static”, not to mention dull and uninformative. They build a website, add some information to it about what they do, who their key people are and how to contact them. They then say “tick, job done”. Wrong. Your static pages will rarely be changed; maybe a change in legislation, or a new office location or a new staff member will prompt you to make a change but otherwise, the information usually stays the same. Your website is primed for a blog.  Although there are many views as to exactly what a blog is, we’re sticking with a traditional view. A blog is a standalone website or a dedicated page within your website, that hosts a series of articles usually in a style of “one question, one answer”. Each article is called a blog post. Blog posts give you the opportunity to demonstrate your authority in the areas of law your potential clients are searching; to articulate expertise and experience on specific topics.  Further, a series of blog posts, inter-linking to each other, is a testimony to your broader knowledge base. 2.  Online is where your clients are There are simply too many platforms to provide an overview of where your clients might be in the online world. So we’re going to have a quick look at some demographics on the three important channels:  Google, Facebook and LinkedIn. Google Of all the search engines available, Google nets approximately 76% of desktop searches and 86% of mobile of searches (2020 stats) Nearly 93% of web traffic comes via search engines There are approximately 75,000 searches on Google every SECOND!   (2020 stats) When someone uses Google, they’re looking for something specific, including legal services To put it simply, half of your potential clients are searching on Google Facebook Facebook has about 2.6 billion monthly active users  (2020 stats) Teens usage has dropped with about 32% saying they have ever used Facebook, wich is down 39% since 2015. The 65+ user group is increasing yearly (remember, Mum and Dad and Gran and Pop will refer their kids and grandkids to you if they know and/or trust you) Over 67% of social media marketers (2022) say Facebook is the most effective social media platform. That many people can’t be wrong. LinkedIn LinkedIn has over 690 million users   (2020 stats) It is the platform to reach one of the most affluent and educated demographics The most popular age demographics are 25-29 and 30-49 years. As you can see, your potential clients are likely online on a daily basis. They’re not only looking for entertainment, family moments and news; they’re looking for information, education and services. Your blog will provide answers to the questions your potential clients are asking every day online. 3.  Your blog builds a library of knowledge and expertise you can share across multiple platforms Once you’ve created your blog and you’re diligent with your blogging schedule, you’ll build a library of expertise very quickly. This library will sit on your site to be found organically by Google and other search engines but you can also use it to share across multiple digital networks. You’ve already done the hard work in curating and publishing your content, it’s not necessary to re-create that content for other platforms. You can simply re-purpose or share your blog content in many ways including: LinkedIn organic and paid posts Facebook organic and paid posts Twitter Google AdWords Monthly e-newsletter Part of your introductory correspondence pack for new clients Email blog links to prospective clients Printed versions for your reception display 4.  Your blog will increase your revenue If your law firm does not have a blog (either within your website or standalone), it is unlikely that Google is showing your firm in its search results as much as it could be or as much as you’d like it to. Your website will not be working as hard for you as it should. With a dynamic blog within your site together with a regular publishing schedule, your search results will begin to improve. The more you publish, the higher the likelihood of getting results. It then goes without saying, if you’re showing up more in search results, more people will contact you.  You should note, however, that it doesn’t happen overnight. You have to commit to your blog for the long haul but if you do, it will deliver one of the best ROI figures of all your marketing initiatives. A word of advice: Writing your content in a way to be found online is both an art and a science. It’s a very different style to writing for a printed publication or writing a legal document. It’s important to seek advice on “how to write a blog post” from someone experienced and successful in writing online content. 5.  Google loves blogs Google, and other search engines, want your website to be as dynamic, interesting and useful as possible. Google wants to share content that is accurate, current and up to date. If Google crawls your website, say monthly, and finds no changes, it may assume that your website is not well maintained and it may skip your site in search results; choosing to list more recently updated sites instead (your competitors’ sites). One of the easiest ways to show Google that your site is well maintained is to add regular and relevant new content to your site. This cannot simply be changing a few paragraphs here and there. It must be regular and substantive changes in content for Google to pay attention. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to have a blog on your website. If you publish an entirely new page to your website, say a minimum of once a week, in the form of a well-written blog post, your Google search rankings will improve. Want more blogging tips?  You may find these articles useful. How do I choose topics and titles for my blog? What is evergreen content and should I be creating some? What is long-form content and why should I be creating it? Get help Looking for assistance with any aspect of your digital marketing? We'd love to help. 📞  0412 338 376 📧  hello@socialhive.com.au https://www.socialhive.com.au/blog/rss/blog/2018/may/why-law-firms-need-blogs/ Wed, 16 May 2018 00:00:00