Do you want more visitors to your web site? Then take a look at this new opportunity.

Within the last several months, Justia and Cornell University have joined forces and are now offering attorneys and law firms a free listing on their branded directories.

I would imagine Tim Stanley (CEO of Justia.com) and his folks initiated this and in my humble opinion, it’s a wonderful offering to make available to attorneys and law firms. Is this new offering all about “love” for legal practioners? No – Tim’s a smart guy and I’m sure he’ll find a way to leverage the data their collecting. But it’s still a nice thing to do.

Okay, so what do these directories mean to you?

It’s an easy way to have your law firm show up extremely high in the search engines for search terms that relate to your practice.

For attorneys and law firms that practice in large metropolitan environments, it’s a great way to show up for search terms related to your practice that you might not show up for otherwise.

For those practicing in smaller population centers…it’s like putting your search engine rankings on steroids. These directories can help you dominate your practice area.

For example, here’s a search on Google for “akron new york attorney” – a Buffalo, NY suburb. It shows the Akron NY Law Firm of Friedman & Ranzenhofer shown 6 times on the first page – two from their own site, one from the Google Local Business Listings and three results from the new Justia – Cornell Directories.

What does that mean to this firm? It means that more than 80% of those using Google to search for an Akron NY Attorney….will be calling this firm or e-mailing them because the first page of the search results are dominated by this firm.

Are you ready to set up your profile? Good – this is how it’s done.

Go to Justia and at the top of the page, search for your last name, city and state.

You’ll then be directed to a page where you’ll hopefully see your name. Just to the right, you’ll see a link that says “View Profile” – click on it.

You’ll then be taken to a page where you can “Claim and Update your profile” – click on that link (upper right) and then select “Claim By Phone”.

Be right next to the phone number of record shown on this page because their automated verification system will call you immediately.

When that’s completed you’re on your way.

Now don’t make the same mistake a majority of attorneys that use this service make. Add as much information as you can. This is valuable space – take advantage of it.

If you set up your profile correctly, it will do wonders. Here’s how.

Just below are a few examples of how to set up your profile correctly. If you set up your profile like these, you’ll notice a huge difference. (Ed’s Note: I assisted these Attorneys with their profile – and note the extensive use of geographical terms, websites and practice areas)

Attorneys in Buffalo – a general practice law firm.
Northern KY Injury Lawyer – a PI Attorney
New York City Criminal Lawyer – Criminal Attorney

Two more things. One, you only need to complete the Justia Profile. That profile will automatically transfer to the Cornell University site.

And two, if you have a blog or other web property, set up a backlink to your new profiles. This will force the search engines to index your new profiles quicker, resulting in the profile showing up on the first page of search engines much more quickly for search terms that relate to your practice.

Enjoy.

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