Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog

Google+ now has 40 million users. Tell me if you agree with my viewpoint in this article from Law.com, Turning Pages: Does Google+ Add to the Business of Law?

With last week's launch of Google+ Pages, Google announced that its social network is finally open for businesses. But is this new tool, which boasts more than 40 million users, ready for lawyers and law firms to start using for marketing and networking? And, perhaps of equal importance, are lawyers and law firms ready for Google+?

For Larry Bodine, former Law Technology News board member and current editor-in-chief of LexisNexis sites Lawyers.com and Martindale.com, it's been ready for months: "I see HUGE potential for using Google+ in law firm marketing," Bodine says. "Many lawyers have already proceeded to set up Google+ accounts individually, not waiting for brands to be

Having a direct connection to the most popular search engine in internet history wouldn't seem to hurt your brand. Bodine sees multiple advantages on the horizon in the way Google's social network "ties in with the entire Google suite:

• SEO is central to web marketing, and 65 percent of all searches go through Google.
• A lawyer's Google Local online bio is the center of all your Google marketing. 82 percent of local searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, phone call, or purchase.
• I see the future of law firm marketing in online video. YouTube, which Google owns, is the king of online video.
• Google+ taps into the users of Google calendar, docs, Gmail, photos, Groups and Reader."

If Google+ delivers on these promises, what's not to like?

Read the full text of Turning Pages: Does Google+ Add to the Business of Law?