SLS Consulting Celebrates National Pet Month
May is National Pet Month, which aims to raise awareness of how beneficial humans can be for pets, and vice versa. It also helps promote pet adoption, while highlighting the importance of service and emotional support animals. Here at SLS, our furry friends come in all shapes and sizes, and we love with all of our hearts.
Our feline friends have no shortage of personality. SLSer Rachael’s cat “Brixton” was adopted when he was only a few months old, as a surprise for her and her brothers. Brixton can be a bit smug and moody towards almost anyone that ISN’T Rachael (her dad was only very recently ‘allowed’ to pet him), but when Rachael is around, he can be described as “affectionate” and “vocal.”
SLSer Lety’s cat “Bella” is similarly fickle towards humans, and even towards other cats as well (her only animal friend is a dog). Bella has a penchant for following her human Lety around, finding a comfy place for herself regardless of how many times she has to move from room to room. She also ONLY drinks water out of a faucet. It could be said that both Bella and Brixton are very, very “catty.” Read the rest »
Why Is Good Content Marketing Important to Your Business?
Recently, Gilbert Galindo, Chief Technical Advisor at SLS Consulting, attended Lawyernomics 2015 in Las Vegas, a premier legal marketing and business conference hosted by Avvo. There, he gave a presentation on how businesses can use effective content marketing to boost their success.
We’re happy to say that the presentation was well-received. Afterwards, many attendees approached Gilbert to pay compliments and exchange business cards. Some even came with questions. One of the most common questions people asked – and one we at SLS Consulting get asked frequently by prospective clients – was this: why is good content marketing important to my business? Read the rest »
Celebrate National Small Business Week with SLS Consulting
May 4-8, 2015 was National Small Business Week, a time to acknowledge and celebrate the millions of small businesses across the country that employ nearly 60 percent of the U.S. workforce. This year, the U.S. Small Business Association’s theme is “Dream Big, Start Small” as most businesses originate from just one entrepreneur with a dream to go big, make a difference, and truly thrive.
At SLS Consulting, our own beginning was no less humble. More than 15 years ago, SLS founder Susan Ziegler decided to finally take the leap and start her own Legal Internet Marketing company. It is certainly no easy decision to venture out and become an entrepreneur, but as a mother of three, the prospect of being able to stay at home with her children, set her own hours, and take charge of her career made it a risk worth taking. Read the rest »
Why Saul Better Call a Marketing Specialist to Fix His Local Search Campaign!
Sunday night’s premiere of Better Call Saul opened with the title character (a lawyer) working in a Cinnabon® (presumably part of witness protection), and then flashbacked to earlier days in his career (as a practicing attorney). Early in the episode, Saul travels to his “office” located in the water-heater closet of a nail salon. Before making his way through the salon, Saul asks the receptionist for his mail, and then proceeds to his “office” to sift through it. Thumbing through his mail, we notice that Saul uses the same address as the nail salon (no suite number or anything). While it’s yet to be seen whether or not Better Call Saul is a hit like its predecessor Breaking Bad, one thing is for certain: Saul’s fictional local search presence is in some trouble. Let’s talk about the concept of shared and virtual office space and why they don’t really work in today’s internet.
Before we start, let’s clarify that Saul doesn’t actually have a “virtual” office, but “shared” office space. While he does seemingly share an address with the nail salon, and (from the looks of his mail) doesn’t have a unique suite number, he technically does have a real office space where potential clients are able to meet with him (which puts him well within Google’s local search guidelines). However, because Saul shares his address with the nail salon, it could potentially create some confusion with his modern-day local search presence (i.e. not having a unique NAP these days is a MAJOR mistake Read the rest »
End of Year Marketing Wrap-Up – Video Marketing
Video marketing didn’t take huge leaps in 2014. A lot of attorneys used videos as a means of marketing to potential clients, and a lot of them continued to do it in the exact same way that they had in 2013 and prior. While there’s no doubt that video ranks well and will continue to do so in 2015 and beyond, law firms interested in shooting videos this year should keep conversions in mind throughout every step of the process. Additionally, when marketing these videos on the internet, a sound strategy needs to be drawn out beforehand in order to get the absolute most out of your video efforts.
You always have to keep the attention spans of your viewers in mind, and you should never market a video that runs too long or that doesn’t succinctly answer the questions that your audience wants the answers to. Give your viewers something of value, wrap it up in a short video, and be sure to tie it all in with your existing marketing efforts. Keep in mind though, the creative, pre-production process and the actual production itself are two entirely different things.
If you plan on shooting video in 2015, try to remember the following DOs and DON’Ts: Read the rest »
End of Year Marketing Wrap-Up – Social Media Marketing
All in all, 2014 was a busy year in the world of social media, and an even busier year for marketers trying to stay on top of all the latest developments and updates. Facebook removed like-gating, Twitter rolled out a brand new look, and Google+ removed authorship from the SERPs.
The number of people using social media sites continued to rise, and mobile apps (namely Instagram) really started to ingrain themselves into the everyday marketing practices of brands both big and small.
If you’re an attorney though, how should you approach your 2015 marketing efforts when it comes to social media? For starters, ask yourself the following two questions:
- How well are you using your social media presence to help leverage new business?
- Are you at least using it to help brand your law firm? Read the rest »
End of Year Marketing Wrap-Up – Content Marketing
So, how well did your content marketing strategy perform in 2014? With regular Google updates wreaking havoc on ever-changing search results, you’re in a good spot if your website is still ranking. Content-wise, ranking in today’s SERPs means that your site has quality content that visitors generally find helpful. You probably have a lower bounce rate than a lot of your competitors, and your web pages are almost certainly Hummingbird friendly.
So, what’s left to do now that you’ve given Google the high quality content that it’s always wanted? The answer is simple: review your content to make sure you’re doing everything you can to convert site visitors to potential clients. Here are a few points to keep in mind as you review your internet marketing strategy in 2015… Read the rest »
Bring on 2015! SLS Consulting is Trying Something New this Year…
Happy New Year, everyone! With 2014 in the rear view mirror, we wanted to start the year out with a post about where we disappeared to over the last couple of months, where we’re going in the coming months, and what our focus is going to be in 2015.
For starters, the end of 2014 was a busy one for us. With the holidays in full swing, we were already busier than normal, but an unexpected pipe burst quickly turned our office upside down. In November, the office across the hall from us flooded (from said pipe burst), and the water seeped across the hallway and into our office space. We really had to scramble to get our desks and office equipment away from the water, and spent the better part of a week moving, moving, and moving some more. When all was said and done, we were proud to have kept up with all our client work, but had neglected our own blog and marketing efforts, which we were already a couple of weeks behind on. But why were we already a couple of weeks behind? Read the rest »
Video Killed the Attorney Star
As most people are acutely aware, with smart-phones and Skype part of everyday life now, the camera can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. It is a microscope that focused one way somehow adds pounds, and another way, subtracts youth. It can highlight the things you don’t want on screen and shroud the things you want to stand out. It is relentless critic getting the best of you one day and a screaming cheerleader the next, determined to get the best out of you.
Take Richard Nixon for example. In the fall of 1960, then Vice President Nixon took on a young Boston Senator in the first televised Presidential debate. The contest was decided long before either of the two candidates opened their mouths. In one corner you’ve got sweaty, bulldogged Tricky-Dick looking like he’s got one foot in the grave and in the other corner, Camelot’s own smooth, suave and charismatic son – John F. Kennedy Jr. While there are plenty of contemporary examples, few offer the stark contrast between being fully prepared for the spotlight and just winging it. Read the rest »
The Ghosts and Ghouls of SLS Consulting
My name is Eric Watkins, and I am a Halloweenie.
I admit it. I come from a long line of dyed-in-the wool, Ichabod-Crane-loving, harvest-moon-worshipping, weirdos that considered Halloween on par, if not slightly more important, than every other holiday. My grandparents owned a costume shop and my father was chairman of a “haunted” something every year – so being scared, scaring others and coming up with inventive ways to accomplish both WHILE eating a metric ton of candy was just the way it was towards the end of October. Over the years, I became less and less enthusiastic, but the urge to carve a pumpkin or dress-up like a zombie-werewolf-thing at the first sign of fall never really left me.
So, when I moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles this year I wondered – how do Californians handle Halloween? I know what it is like for Northeastern ‘Weeners, but what was it like for kids growing up in LA?
Being the great folks they are, my fellow SLSrs took a few minutes out of their busy day to clue me in. I started with a simple question – As a kid, what did you most look forward to on Halloween? Read the rest »
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