Many people use HTML emails with images and colorful templates and headers and footers. Their newsletters look like an actual newsletter or magazine. Very professional.

Most of the top marketers, however, use plain text. I do too.

Why? Because plain text emails get a better response.

Email is (or should be) a personal communication. From me, to you. Like I fired up gmail and sent you a personal email.

Even if it's a newsletter.

For five years, I wrote The Attorney Marketing Letter, a paid subscription eight-page newsletter mailed in a number ten envelope. It was printed on letterhead with the name and address at the top. The paragraphs were indented and the margins were "right-ragged," not justified. I used Courrier for the font. Each letter began with a salutation, "Dear _____,".

Just like a real letter.

Today, I try to simulate the affect of a real letter by using all text emails. I don't use HTML because I don't want slick and professional. It looks nice but I don't care about that, I care about communicating with my subscribers and I care about response.

People don't want slick. They get enough magazines. Their mailboxes are filled with junk mail. If your newsletter looks like it was produced by a graphic artist and a team of copy writers, it is mentally lumped in with all the other commercial messages that flood their mailbox and is deleted with the rest of the junk mail or skimmed and then deleted.

People like getting real letters from real people, and they read them. There's nothing more important.

You may have great content in your newsletter but you can't build a relationship with (or sell something to) subscribers who don't read it.

There's another reason why plain text emails are important: smart phones. More and more people check email on the little screen in their pocket. They can sometimes read it if its HTML; they can always read it when its plain text.

"But plain text is ugly!"

"Maybe so, but the money it produces is beautiful."

I usually don't know what I'm going to write about in this blog until I sit down in front of my computer. I go through my list of ideas, my RSS feeds from other blogs, and articles I've saved for later reading in Instapaper and Evernote. I read and skim, looking for ideas. Sometimes the topic grabs me right away, sometimes it hides and won't come out until I've had more coffee.

This morning, I thought about you sitting in front of your computer wondering what you should write about. You may have begun the new year resolving to write one or two blog posts per week and you're already falling behind. I've been there too, and it's not a good feeling.

But I also know there is a never-ending supply of topics you can write about, even if at times they elude you. I've written before about how to find ideas for your blog or newsletter, and today I've created a checklist you can keep and use as memory jogger. As you read the list you're bound to get some ideas for specific posts. Write down those ideas and pick one you can write today.

This is not something I spent a lot of time researching or thinking about. I just started writing. It is by no means exhaustive. If you have any suggestions for things I missed, or topic categories that you've found helpful, please let our readers know in the comments.

Blog and newsletter article categories:

• News (You, your firm, your clients, your client's industry, the law, procedural matters)
• How to (DIY/Small claims, hire an attorney, find a good cpa/insurance agent)
• Educate (Liability, claims, value, process, timing, legal terms, issue spotting, legal history, FAQ's)
• Predict (Trends, statistics, results)
• Ask (Polls, comments, referrals, information, like/tweet, blog topics, suggestions, feedback, testimonials)
• Comment (Other blogs, articles, news, trends, world affairs)
• Advice (Fact patterns/situations–yours, other lawyers, hypos)
• Recommend (Vendors, products, web sites, services, books)
• Invite (Seminars, live events, webinars, parties)
• Promote (Charities, causes, local candidates)
• Share (Stories, humor, articles, tweets, ideas, opinion)
• Offer (Your services, freebies, discounts, information)

Oh, and don't forget, a blog post can be a few paragraphs. It's not the length of the material, it's the quality. Five quick tips or even three, an intro and closing paragraph, and you're done. If you find yourself on a role and you write 15 tips, you might have a series of several posts you could do.

My best advice is to start writing. Say something, even if it isn't timeless prose. Find an article you read this morning or yesterday that you liked, say why you liked it (or didn't). Or, take one the points from the article and use it as the starting point for your own.

Another thing you can do is put your key words (or those for your client's industry) into a search engine and see what comes up. Careful, though. You might find yourself wandering off for an hour, reading other blogs instead of writing your own.

Many lawyers say they want to start a blog or newsletter but are afraid they won't have enough to write about.

If you think your prospects don't want to read all about case law and procedure, you're right. There will always be exceptions, but most clients have their own lives and businesses to run. If they were that interested in the law, they would go to law school.

Here's a heads up: PI lawyers, nobody wants to read for the umpteeth time what to do in an accident or how to maximize the value of their case. I'm not saying this isn't important information–it is. You should write about it. Once. And link to so those who want and need this information can go read it.

So, what do you write about if not about your field of expertise?

Actually, the answer to this question is incredibly simple. And yet, not one in 10,000 lawyers does it, at least not consistently. When you hear what it is, you may just slap your forehead and have one of those "of course!" moments.

Now, I should also point out that when you do this, you will have a never-ending supply of fresh content and a huge surge in reader involvement and viral traffic. You'll have people talking about your blog and about you. Other blogs will mention your posts and link to them. Reporters may call to interview you.

Have I got your attention?

Here's the secret: don't write about the law, your services, or your cases, other than occasionally. When something interesting happens. Instead, most of the time, write about the niche market or markets you are targeting.

Did I just lose you? Well, if you don't have a target market, maybe so. If you think "anyone who gets injured as a result of someone else's negligence" is a target market, you're wrong. It's way too big. And every other PI lawyer says the same thing.

You want to target smaller sub-sets of the entire market. In a niche market, the people know each other on social media and in real life, they attend the same meetings, and read the same blogs. There is strong word of mouth in niche markets. And it's easier to identify the key people in them.

A niche market would be something like "health care professionals in Los Angeles County". Not too big, not too small. As a matter of fact, this happens to be a good target market. When a physician is seriously injured, there's usually some serious damages. But I digress.

So, you write about health care in Los Angeles. You write about who's doing what–promotions, speaking gigs, published articles. You write about trends and issues that affect this market. You champion their causes and support their charities.

You interview people who work in this niche. You read the popular blogs and comment on their posts.

So, you might write about some changes in policy at XYZ hospital. Not legal issues, necessarily. It could be anything that people want to know about.

Here's more good news: you don't have to do all the writing yourself. Other professionals who target this market will be happy to supply content. Consultants, sales people, other lawyers, accountants, hospital administrators, insurance brokers, medical supply reps–dozens of informed people with big networks of their own and they would love to provide a guest post or supply some tips or let you interview them. All you have to do is ask.

Guess what will happen? The people in your posts and those affected by this information will talk about them and share them with their colleagues and co-workers. They'll post them on Facebook and link to them on their blogs. Your blog will get noticed and so will you.

Writing a blog about your target market is one of the smartest things you could do. You're learning about this market, aren't you? Take what you learn and turn it into content.

Use your blog as a platform to stay in front of your market. You will become the attorney in this niche, the one that everyone thinks about when they think about personal injuries and the one they call when they need your services or know someone who does.

This is not rocket science. Choose a niche market and dedicate yourself to it. Learn everything you can about the market and the people in it. Subscribe to their blogs and newsletters. Attend their meetings. Become an expert in that market and then write about it.

And if something law-related occurs in that market, go ahead and write about that, too.

For many attorneys and law firms, newsletters bring in a lot of business. If you don't have a newsletter, here are ten reasons you should:

1. To get more business from current clients. A newsletter is an effective way to let clients know about your other services and show them how they can benefit from those services, without being "salesy".
2. To get repeat business from former clients. People who hired you once will hire you again–when they're ready. A newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with them until they are.
3. To add value to your services. A newsletter can provide an added benefit for clients. Give clients "subscriptions". Put a price tag on the newsletter but send it free to current clients.
4. To educate prospects. A newsletter that provides prospective clients with valuable information helps them make better decisions, allows you to demonstrate your expertise, and provides a mechanism for staying in touch with them until they are ready to hire you.
5. To generate word-of-mouth referrals. Newsletters have pass-along value. A good newsletter will be shared with an average of three other people, even more online.
6. To build your contact list. You can offer visitors to your web site a subscription to your newsletter in return for providing their email (and other contact information). When speaking or networking, you can offer to send your newsletter to people who provide you with their business card.
7. To establish expertise and credibility. Your writing helps prospects, publishers, reporters, meeting planners, and referral sources see you as the expert you are.
8. To provide content for, and traffic to, your web site. Your newsletter can drive traffic to your web site or blog. Your newsletter content can be re-used as content on your web site or blog, generating additional traffic from search engines and social media.
9. To shorten the sales process. People who respond to your newsletter are better informed about what you do and pre-sold on your ability to do it, in contrast to people who come to you via advertising.
10. To serve as a networking tool. Your newsletter is a tool to reach out to other professionals. You can interview them for an article, conduct a survey, ask them to write an article, or ask permission to put them on your mailing list.

A newsletter requires an investment of time, and possibly some capital, but the return on that investment can be substantial. If you want to grow your practice, a newsletter is one of the most highly leveraged marketing activities you can do.

Most lawyers go from case to case, client to client, never stopping to use the successful outcomes they create as marketing leverage for bringing in more clients. That's because they're thinking like a lawyer, not a rainmaker.

Instead of rushing from one case to the next, take a few minutes to think about how you can use the successful outcome (verdict, settlement, closing the deal, estate plan, etc.) to get the story told to the people who can bring you more business.

Here are five ways you could do that.

1. Your client. The best time to talk to clients about referrals is right after a successful outcome. When you hand them a check, sign papers, or otherwise bring things to a climax, it's prime time to ask for referrals, for a testimonial, or for other help.

   Ask consumer clients to refer you to their friends and family or to other professionals they know. Ask your business clients to introduce you to their vendors or distributors, to write about the case in their newsletter or blog, or submit an article to their local paper. (You can write the article for them).

   The favor you ask your client doesn't have to be related to their case. They're happy and willing to help, so ask them to distribute your new report, "like" your new blog post, or invite their friends to your upcoming seminar. And ask them to ask their friends to do the same.

2. Your other clients and prospects. Write about your successful outcome in your blog and newsletter. Post it on your web site. Do a little bragging on social media channels. Take advantage of the win to let others see you doing what you do, helping others "just like them" achieve the same benefits they seek.
3. Other parties/witnesses. Send a quick note to the other parties and/or their counsel, thanking them for their professionalism. Send a thank you note to experts and other witnesses, for a job well done. It's not uncommon to see the losing side hiring the winning attorney or sending referrals or opposing counsel referring clients when they have a conflict. By the way, do the same thing when you lose a case or settle for less than hoped.
4. Your colleagues. Tell other lawyers you know about your case. Send a letter, speak about it at Bar functions, write an article, point them to your blog post. Tell the story and share the legal nuances, give them tips about the judge or arbitrator or experts. Help them do better on their next case and they will appreciate you, reciprocate with good information on their next case, and send business your way when they have a conflict.
5. The media. Find something newsworthy or otherwise interesting about the case, your clients or their company and issue a press release or write an article for publication in their trade journal or home town paper. The media are starved for good stories; don't assume there's no news value to preparing a living trust for your blue collar client. In the hands of a good writer, there's always a story to be told.

Leverage means getting more results from the same effort. From now on, leverage your successful outcomes to get more publicity, more speaking engagements, more traffic to your web site, and more new clients.

The top people in any industry, whether sports or business or the arts, have coaches. Attorneys should, too.

A coach can provide training and mentoring and yes, some hand holding, but perhaps the most valuable service they offer their clients is providing a mechanism for accountability.

My coach taught me that accountability is one of the most powerful forces in motivating human behavior. I know when I have to report my progress to him at the end of the week, I get the work done. Without that accountability, it's too easy to delay and defer. I don't know why I listen to my excuses, but I do. I'll bet you do, too.

If you want to get more done, especially in the area of marketing your legal services, you should consider hiring a coach. Actually, you should hire me.

As an attorney, I built a successful practice by implementing marketing strategies and techniques that I learned through a lot of trial and error and a lot of study. As a marketing consultant, I've helped hundreds of attorneys with different backgrounds and practice areas in all phases of marketing and business development.

When we work together, you'll be able to:

• Get more repeat business and referrals
• Determine the best markets for you to target
• Get better clients and bigger engagements
• Develop a web site or blog that builds your brand and brings in new business
• Create compelling content for your web site or newsletter or for a speech or seminar
• Build targeted lists of prospective clients and referral sources
• Use social media to drive traffic to your web site
• Create marketing documents that make your phone ring
• Increase your gross income and your net income
• Earn more while working fewer hours
• Create a marketing plan that works for you, your practice, and your market

If you are on my newsletter list, you will be notified when the next group coaching program is open.

If you're interested in one-on-one coaching, please call me at (949) 888-2800 or use this contact form.

I can also provide referrals to experts in other fields. Please contact me if you're interested in any of the following:

• Copy writing (web, brochures, sales letters, landing pages, radio/TV)
• Media buying
• Email campaigns
• Print ads
• Web site (and blog) development
• SEO
• PPC
• Videos (scripting, shooting, editing, publishing)
• Social media campaigns
• List rental
• Web site metrics

If you want to be at the top of your profession, surround yourself with experts who can help you achieve more than you can achieve on your own. Hire someone to help you determine your most important goals, equip you with the tools and resources for achieving those goals, and hold you accountable to the monthly plans and daily activities that will help you accomplish them.

The Attorney Marketing Center web site launched in 1998 and transitioned to a blog in 2007. At that time, I wrote an article detailing the change, David's Website Diary, and promised updates. To be honest, I forgot about the article and didn't update it until today.

Sorry, but you didn't miss much.

From a technological standpoint, not much has changed since I switched to the blog format. I've changed the color and layout and added some new plug-ins, mostly having to do with social media integration, but not much else.

My site has grown because I focused on creating content, not on the latest bells and whistles. Content creates value for visitors, allows you to demonstrate your expertise, and brings traffic from search engines and from word of mouth. And so the number of subscribers to my newsletter has grown and the number of blog subscribers has grown and I have continued to sell products and services.

Do you need a blog? If you want to get more clients online I think you do.

A blog has several advantages over a static web site. As you update your content, search engines are notified and they bring visitors. As those visitors see the solutions you provide, they may (a) take the next step toward hiring you, (b) connect with you by subscribing to your newsletter or your blog feed or commenting on your posts, or (c) tell others about you via social media.

Your blog allows prospects and referral sources to see you "in action". Your content is not just puffery about how great you are it is an exemplar of your abilities. As visitors become familiar with your style and hear your "voice," as they get to know and trust you, your preeminence grows, your traffic grows, and your client base grows.

You can set up a blog yourself  in about an hour. WordPress makes is easy. There are many free and inexpensive "getting stated" videos available and you can hire people inexpensively to do it for you. Contact me if you would like some referrals.

Once you have your own blog, you control it; you don't have to wait for tech support to do updates for you, you can do them yourself. It's as quick and simple as using a web browser. And, other than paying for hosting (under $10/month), it's free.

What about content–do you have enough to say? Trust me, you have enough. There is an endless amount of material you can supply. Everything from posts about the law and procedure in your practice areas, success stories you helped created, general business (or consumer) advice, guest posts from experts (referral sources) in allied fields, and much more. A post can be as short as a few paragraphs and as simple as you commenting on something you found on another web site or blog or in the news. And you can outsource content creation, too.

A blog may seem to be a big commitment but think of it as the front door to your online office. You won't be there 24/7 but your presence will be. If you write an offline newsletter, publish articles, or do any public speaking or networking, you are already doing the things that are done online through a blog.

If you have a web site, you have something you can point to and that's good. But you have to do the pointing. If you want free traffic, you need a blog.

One of the best ways to get more repeat business and referrals is to stay in touch with your clients and other contacts and one of the best ways to do that is via email. But whether you email individually or to a list of newsletter subscribers, your efforts can backfire if you make some simple, but all too common mistakes:

• Using your personal email account (e.g., hotmail, aol, gmail, etc.) instead of you@yourdomain.com.
• Difficult to read messages–ALL CAPS, paragraphs that span the entire email window, long paragraphs and sentences, unusual fonts.
• Poorly written or edited, boring "lawyer-like" prose, too much "technical" law talk, not enough human interest.
• Lengthy disclaimers and CYA language that put distance between you and the reader.
• Emailing too often or not often enough. People need to hear from you and if you send valuable and interesting content, they will want to hear from you. Occasional emails are better than no emails but monthly is better. If you have enough to say, weekly is better still. Daily is not unheard of for some markets.
• Always selling. Your emails should be 90% content.
• Never selling. Your offers (services, free reports, seminars, etc.) deliver benefits people need and want. Don't deny them.
• Not putting "you" into your messages. You are building a relationship with you, not your firm, so make your messages personal.
• Putting too much "you" into your messages. Talk to your readers about their lives, their business, not about yourself.
• Making it difficult for recipients to unsubscribe or change their email address. Don't make people email/reply, automate the process with an autoresponder.

Have you made any of these mistakes? Are there any that you've seen your colleagues make that aren't on this list?

Ben Glass is a Fairfax, Virginia personal injury attorney who knows how to market his services. One of the many things he does (and does right) is his newsletter, which I just got in the mail.

The first thing Mr. Glass does right is that he has a print newsletter in the first place. I talked about the advantages of print communication in this digital age recently. For the record, Glass also has an online newsletter and more than one blog.

One of the key features of his newsletter, which promotes his web site and blog, is his firm's "communication policy," which describes how to communicate with Mr. Glass and his staff. He scores a home run with the following statement: "Ben Glass takes no inbound unscheduled phone calls whatsoever. It makes him much more productive and helps get your case resolved faster." This is followed by information on how to schedule a call or in-person meeting. Why is this so powerful? Because it says his clients and their cases are important and he will not allow interruptions. It means when you are in his office or on the phone with him, he won't make you wait; your call or meeting (and you) are important.

Many lawyers do just the opposite. They take calls from other clients (or whoever), they make clients wait in the waiting room instead of seeing them at their scheduled time, and their attitude is that they are more important than the clients they serve. Showing respect for your clients is simple and effective. Remember, clients don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Another key to the newsletter is telling stories. Facts tells but stories, sell, and Glass' newsletter is full of stories. For example, one story is about the tiger who killed a boy at the San Francisco Zoo recently. It discusses the law in a very informal, easy to understand way, and provides insights to what readers have seen on the news. It makes people think and quietly positions Glass as an expert in matters involving injuries and legal issues.

Another story is about a $1 million dollar verdict Glass obtained for a client in a "delay in diagnosis" medical malpractice case. It doesn't overwhelm the reader with facts, the law, or hubris. Further, it concludes with four "lessons from the case" readers can use to protect themselves and their loved ones from a similar fate. And it "proves" that Glass is good at what he does, without him saying so.

Another feature is a "contractor recommendation," lauding a company Glass and his wife hired recently. It's an endorsement (with web site and phone number) readers will appreciate if they're looking for a reliable contractor. If the company is a client, Glass also gains points with them. The lesson is that it's smart to position yourself as the hub of your clients' life, someone they can count on for information, recommendations and referrals for all matters important. When your client's think of you first, you're doing it right.

Finally, the newsletter does a good job of humanizing Glass with a (front page) story about the director of an orphanage where one of his adopted children used to live. Message: he's a real person and he cares about people.

Well done, Ben!

Q: My mailing list has 2,000 names on it and it's getting costly to mail. What can I do reduce my mailing expenses? Should I cut down the size of the list?

A: Ultimately, you have to determine whether your mailings are producing a profit and the only way to know this is to rigorously track response. If you aren't at least breaking even, you should make some changes.

You can reduce mailing costs by:

• Cutting older names
• Mailing to everyone and ask them to tell you if they want to stay on your list. (Make it easy for them to respond, however, with a postage paid response device, for example, because people are busy and may forget to respond even when they want to remain on your list).
  
• Reducing the frequency of your mailings
  
• Reducing the weight (which saves on printing/postage)
  
• Using bulk rate postage and professional letter shops
  

But marketing professional services is a process not an event and tracking results can be elusive. How do you know that someone who has been on your list for three years but never hired you won't become your client (or refer your next client) next month?

The answer is you don't know. Therefore, I would err on the side of keeping people on your list. But I would segment the list and create different mailing categories.

Your best clients or referral sources, for example, should hear from you more often; monthly is not too often. People who have never hired you or referred to you, however, might hear from you only once or twice a year.

Your BEST source of NEW business will always be people who have hired you or referred to you in the past. Spend more on  them.