The Rainmaker Blog : Law Firm Marketing and Business Development : The Rainmaker Institute : Stephen Fairley : Professional Legal Marketing

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I blogged earlier this week on Search Marketing for Law Firms: Everybody on Board the Google+ Local...or Else, in which I discussed how Google’s integration of Zagat reviews and review system into search results and its migration of Google Places to Google+ Local shows exactly how seriously Google is taking social signals when it comes to search results.

The fact is, attorneys cannot ignore Google+ and here’s why: when it comes to Internet search, Google owns the playing field.

In the new Google world, social rules. To gain a top listing on Google, you are going to have to have reviews, and lots of them. Of course, you want positive reviews because, after all, the idea is to attract new clients, not put people off.

Attorneys are going to have to embrace the review to reap the rewards of showing up well in search and driving traffic to your website. Here are some tips for doing this:

Just ask.  Most people enjoy sharing their experience with service providers, especially if it’s been a good one.  Just the simple act of asking a client to provide you with a review lets them know what they think is important to you – which makes them feel good.  You can start by contacting your old (happy) clients and asking them to provide a review.

Create great client experiences.  Cultivating a culture of great client service is a must for gaining positive reviews. Think about the greatest customer service experiences you’ve had and try to emulate them in your firm.

Implement a process for getting reviews.  Attorneys need to create a process for making reviews happen. Always look for those moments in your relationships with clients to create a review opportunity – when you have won a case for a client, when you have helped someone avoid litigation – all opportunities for you to generate a great review.

Remember that before they can post a review, your clients must have a Google+ account. Make it easy for them to review you by providing them with information on how to create a Google+ account (they automatically have one if they use Gmail) and how to post a review on Google+.