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7 Ways For Law Firms To Use Social Bookmarking Sites

7 Ways For Law Firms To Use Social Bookmarking Sites

Social bookmarking websites are some of the fastest growing and most exciting places on the web today, with over 300 million unique viewers going to the five top social bookmarking sites every month.  However, less than a third of law firms are using social bookmarking sites as part of their link building strategy—and if you're not, you're making a big mistake.  If you're hesitant to jump into using social bookmarking websites because you're not sure how to use them, keep reading.  You'll find out how to interact with users of the top social bookmarking sites in a way that will lead to good publicity and better link building opportunities.

#1: Get More Readers For Your Law Blog

If you're already keeping a blog, social bookmarking websites are perhaps the best way to get new readers and more links.  Most of the top social bookmarking sites are divided into many different subcategories, so that people can more easily look for links that pertain to their interests.  By posting your links in relevant subcategories of social bookmarking sites, you'll be able to put your blog in front of the readers most likely to be interested in the topics you're covering.

Make sure not to just post and run—sticking around to answer questions about your law blog can make you much more well-liked on social bookmarking websites.  Some social bookmarking sites will even allow you to do an interview (for example, Reddit calls this an “IamA,” as in “I am a lawyer who specializes in tax fraud and evasion defense, AMA [ask me anything]”).

#2: Attract People to Your Youtube Videos

Video is much more likely to lead to conversions than text, so if your law firm is primarily consumer focused, you may want to use top social bookmarking sites to promote your videos.  Social bookmarking websites often promote videos and images much higher than blog entries, so consider this as an alternative if you can't seem to make any headway by posting blog entries on social bookmarking sites.

In order to get the most views from top social bookmarking sites, you'll need to put your video link into a subcategory that gets a large amount of traffic and that would be interested in what you have to say.  However, if you use smaller subcategories, you may rise higher in these categories even if you get fewer page views, making your reputation on social bookmarking sites grow.

#3: Answer Legal Questions and Start Dialogues

Social bookmarking websites have also become a place where people ask questions about anything in their lives, from relationships to career opportunities to legal problems.  If you're good at conversing with people about legal issues, take that talent to the top social bookmarking sites so you can use them for link building.

Make sure that you don't include links to your website in every comment you make on social bookmarking websites.  If you do, you're going to be called out as a spammer and may be banned from most social bookmarking sites.  However, even on the top social bookmarking sites, an occasional relevant link is welcome and can help you bring in traffic and even convert clients in addition to improving your SEO.

#4: Find Like-Minded Colleagues For Networking

By sticking to subcategories of social bookmarking websites with large numbers of other lawyers or other types of professionals you work with on a regular basis, you give yourself many networking opportunities.  The really interesting advantage that social bookmarking sites give you is the ability to check out what else someone has said, learning a lot about them, even if they haven't yet added you as a friend or connection.

By finding like minded colleagues on top social bookmarking sites, you'll be able to generate more opportunities for link exchange.  This is also a great way to use social bookmarking sites if you get most of your business through referrals from other attorneys.

#5: Debunk Legal Misconceptions

Is there something about your field of law that everybody seems to just get wrong?  Social bookmarking websites can be a great way to help them get it right.  By posting on top social bookmarking sites about common legal misconceptions, you'll be giving people content that they are very interested in, and proving your subject matter expertise.  Social bookmarking websites have audiences who are hungry for more and better information, so if you can explain these misconceptions well, you'll get a lot more connections on top social bookmarking sites.

While this kind of activity on social bookmarking sites won't always generate client leads (remember, people visit top social bookmarking sites from all over the world, not just your geographic area), the leads they do generate are likely to be excellent.

#6: Talk to Law Students

Once upon a time (perhaps not that long ago!), you were a nervous law student unsure about where you'd be working after graduation.  Today, many law students spend time both in and out of class keeping up with social bookmarking sites.  Top social bookmarking sites often have a specific category for law school students.

These students may be very interested in your work, and what's more, putting a link to your firm's homepage is pretty much always acceptable when you're talking to law students—they'll want to know where you work and what you do!  Inbound links like this won't get you banned or chastised, but instead will be considered value added for that part of the website.

#7: Create Inbound Links for SEO

Why is this the last tip, even though many of the other techniques in this guide can help you build links through social bookmarking websites?  Because you should always keep in mind that building inbound links should never be your only goal when using social bookmarking sites.  Top social bookmarking sites have little patience with businesses that only use their sites as free advertising without participating in the community.  You should therefore consider building inbound links with social bookmarking sites to be a secondary priority, and focus mostly on putting your content in front of interested eyes.

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