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Specialized Lawyer Directories: Get Listed and Get Found

August 13, 2018   |   R. Brian Cloninger

Today’s post covers improvements that have been made to the NCAJ Specialized Directories.

I always ask clients how they got my name. By far the most frequent answer is they found me online doing a Google search. Until recently, none of my clients found me using the NCAJ Traffic Referral List. Why are they able to find me (and other lawyers listed in the Specialized Directories) now? Keep reading for the answer, to learn why you should update your profile, and why you should get added to the directories, if eligible.

A week or so after NCAJ’s Annual Convention, I contacted Membership and Development Director Amy Smith to suggest changes to our membership profiles and the referral directories that would add a marketing benefit for NCAJ membership. She sent me a recent Trial Smith (aka MemberCentral) post entitled, “We’ve Enhanced SEO with Store, SeminarWeb, Events, and Blog Posts.” The single sentence post read: “New HTML Title Tags are now automatically inserted into pages making Store Items, SeminarWeb Programs, Events and Blog Posts not only more browser friendly for end-users, but also more search engine friendly, including more accurately titled search results in search engines.”

After I looked up the meaning of “SEO” and “HTML,” I started messing around on the NCAJ website and doing some Google searches. The improvements I suggested had already been made without me realizing it. I found myself.

Many of us have used the listserves to request referrals rather than using the NCAJ Specialized Directories. Now, we don’t have to use the listserve for that anymore. Even better, the public can now find NCAJ members easier using the directories or by simply doing a Google search.

All NCAJ members are listed in the Membership Directory. There is also a Bilingual Referral Directory (ncaj.com/bilingual). Listing in other Specialized Directories is only available to members of the Section. For example, listing in the Traffic Referral Directory (ncaj.com/traffic) is a benefit of membership in the Criminal Defense Section. These directories are accessible to NCAJ members and to the public. You must be a member of NCAJ to access the Products Liability and Construction Defects Section Directory (ncaj.com/products), and must be a member of the Section to be listed.

Update your profile (ncaj.com/updateprofile) to get added to the Specialized Directories, and get found!

About the Author

R. Brian Cloninger

Cloninger Law Offices, PLLC