When I converted this website from a static site to a blog in 2007, I didn't want my "new house" to look unfurnished so for the first month or so I added posts and articles almost every day.
It was a very good thing that I did.
I saw an immediate upsurge in traffic to my site, I received many emails thanking me for the content, and I got a lot of new leads for my products and services.
I was new to blogging, but I was very glad I made the leap. Today, I post every day, Monday through Friday, and I am again seeing an increase in traffic and engagement like I experienced in the early days.
Wait. I know what you're thinking. You're too busy for blogging.
But hold on. Hear me out.
Many lawyers would like to have a blog. They see other lawyers building their practices online and they want to do the same. But they "just don't have the time."
Some argue that quality is more important than quantity, that frequency of posting isn't a critical factor. But frequency does matter.
It seems that most people who read blogs do so by visiting the blog itself (instead of reading posts in a "feed reader") and their visits to that blog become a habit. They visit the site to see the latest post and if there isn't an update today, and there isn't one tomorrow, they fall out of the habit of visiting. Soon, they don't visit at all.
Posting once a week is considered the minimum for keeping a blog alive. (If you do post once a week, do it on the same day.) But if you can't blog daily or weekly, if the best you can do is post content once or twice a month or once in awhile, does this mean you shouldn't bother?
No. Not at all.
You may not get as much traffic to your blog if you don't post frequently but if you post anything of decent quality, the traffic you do get will see you as an expert who can deliver the benefits they seek. A blog is just a web site that is updated more than once in a blue moon. It's a great idea, even if you don't update it all that often.
Besides, frequency of posting is only one way to get traffic. You may not get a lot of search engine traffic if you post infrequently, but you can send traffic to your site in other ways: offline, via networking, advertising, public speaking, and writing, for example, and online, via social media, your email signature, and dozens of other ways.
And, while infrequent updates won't get your visitors into the habit of regularly returning to your site, if your site has an opt-in list (and it should), you can capture visitor emails and notify them when you do have updates or something else to offer.
If you want to start a blog but think you don't have the time, you do. If you have a blog but it's not being updated very often, don't worry about it.
Think of a blog as a place to showcase your problem-solving abilities, if nothing else. Prospects may or may not find your blog when they search for "your key words" but when they hear about you from a friend and search for you by name, they will find your blog and your content will convince them to call for an appointment.
Filed under Blogging, Online Marketing by 
A social media hub page is a virtual business card: a single web page with a brief bio (or link thereto) and links to your websites, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. This allows you to provide a single link in your email signature, your (paper) business card, in an article byline, and anywhere else your name appears in print or online. A single link is clean and professional looking, one reason why virtual business cards are becoming more popular.
I've experimented with different options. Recently, I set up an account with about.me. My page was easy to set up and customize. I uploaded a background image (me, looking fierce) but did not include a bio. Instead, I listed my professional roles as attorney, writer, and entrepreneur.
If you click on the doo-hickey at the top of the page, it will take you to a random assortment of other about.me pages, many of which are quite creative. Great for ideas.
About.me is integrated with Klout, a new social media "rating" service that tells you how influential you are in the online world. It also tells you who you influence and who influences you. I'm not sure how useful this is but it's interesting to watch my klout index increase.
I also set up an account with flavors.me, which allowed me to create an almost identical page. They have a paid version ($20/yr.) with added customization features. Attorney Dan Gold set up a page on flavors.me and took advantage of those upgraded features.
About.me is free; I couldn't find a paid version. I'd like to see more options for configuring pages, like the paid version of Flavors.me seems to provide, but all in all, this is a great way to quickly set up a virtual business card. Give it (or flavors.me) a try. Send me a link to your page and I'll feature it in a future blog post.
Filed under Business cards, Online Marketing, Social media by
Steve Jobs' abrupt resignation yesterday had social media buzzing about the news and what it means for Apple (which saw its stock immediately drop, and then rebound) and for the tech world. Every news channel and blog had something to say and the tweets and wall posts abounded.
But what does his resignation mean for attorneys? How will this affect your law practice?
Well, unless you work for Apple or one of their affiliates, it won't affect your practice at all.
So. . . why the tease? Was my headline a gimmick to get more clicks?
Well, yes and no.
It's true that I don't have anything to say about how this news story will actually affect your practice, and while that smacks of gimmickry, there is a lesson in this.
The headline that brought you here illustrates an important marketing technique: tying your message–blog post, tweet, post, email–to something already on the minds of your readers or followers. According to a new Kindle ebook by Dan Zarrella, about the science and metrics behind social media, this is called "priming". Zarrella says,
"If a subject is exposed to something related to your idea before he actually encounters your idea, he'll be more sensitive to it, and this makes it easier to catch his attention. . . .
"The easiest way to make priming work for your idea is to create timely content. If there is a topic or news story currently making the rounds in your target audience, relate your idea to that topic, and the zeitgeist will do the priming for you."
And so, primed as you were by the news of Jobs' resignation, you were more inclined to click through to read this story. Yes, I cheated a bit with my headline and yes, it would have been better if I had something to say about how the resignation affected the legal profession, but then this would have been a very different blog post.
Zarrella's book is brief, not at all dry, and has some great insights and data, such as the most and least re-tweetable words and the best times and days to tweet, blog, post to Facebbok, and send email. "In many cases, the most effective times to send are the less popular times. Because your messages have less clutter to compete with, they break through."
Zarrella also says that people share on social media not for altruistic reasons but because the information they share reinforces their reputation. People prefer to share breaking news, for example, because it is scarce, rather than humor or opinion which is all too common.
Some might say that putting news in your headlines to piggyback on what's already on the minds of your readers isn't a new idea, and they would be right. I'm sure this post, with the headline, "Man Accidentally Impregnates Goat," is getting lots of traffic. Like my post, the lesson is in the headline, not the story. (Be sure to download the free ebook he mentions, "How to Write Headlines That go Viral with Social Media".)
So, not a new concept. What's new is that now, social media metrics let us quantify what we always suspected, while leading us to discover ideas that never crossed our minds.
Zarrella's book is also free, through August 27.
Filed under Book review, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Writing by
The evidence is clear: content is still king and blogging does work. The more (quality) content you have on your web site, the more traffic and leads and clients you get.
The August issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, reports that, "sites that have 401 to 1000 pages get nine times more visitors than sites with 51 to 100 pages". Hubspot reports that consistent bloggers saw a 4.2x increase in the number of leads without four months, and reduced their lead costs by 60 percent.
The reasons are equally clear. Search engines like fresh content and so do readers who use those search engines to find that content. When someone has a legal issue, they're not looking for an attorney's "about" page, they want information that will help them understand their problem and their options for solving it. The attorney who provides that information is the attorney who gets more traffic, more leads, and more clients.
But it takes time to write good content and doing it consistently is hard work. That's why so many people who start a blog don't keep it up. (95 percent of blogs are abandoned, according to Technorati, long before they see an appreciable return on their investment.)
But you're not like other people, are you?
"If you knew you could earn an extra $20,000 per month by blogging, and it would take you an hour a day, five days a week, would you do it?"
Let me ask a question: "If you knew you could earn an extra $20,000 per month by blogging, and it would take you an hour a day, five days a week, would you do it?"
If the answer is "no," stop reading.
Of course I don't know how much you will earn by blogging any more than I know how much the attorney-bloggers in the top 5% earn through their blogs. I'm pretty sure they are happy with their "top 5% results," however.
And here's some good news: you don't have to spend an hour a day on your blog for it to be effective. An hour or two a week will probably be enough. That's because:
- You're already reading in your field; you don't have to invest a lot of extra time for blogging purposes.
- You can write. If you can pass the essay portion of a bar exam, you probably write well enough to write a blog (although you might want to have someone edit out the legalease).
- You can get help. Your staff can do research, find articles you can incorporate into your blog, write first drafts and even write finished posts. If you don't have staff, you can outsource.
- You don't have to post every day; once or twice a week, done consistently, is enough to put you in the top 5%. Even once or twice a month can bring you more business.
What are you doing now to market your practice? Could you use some of that time for blogging? If you're not doing anything right now to market your practice, don't you think you should?
In the past, my blogging has been sporadic. Stretches of consistency followed by stretches of "I'm busy with other projects and I'll get back to blogging when I can". Recently, I decided to take my own medicine. Not only have I started posting consistently again, at my wife's urging I've been doing it every day. Even though it's only been a couple of weeks, I'm already seeing a lot more traffic, subscribers, and new business.
Is blogging for every attorney? No. If you have other ways to build your practice and they are working, you don't need a blog. It is hard work and it is a commitment. (Actually, the writing really isn't hard, what's hard is the commitment.) But if you're looking for something to bring in more business, if you have more time than money or you're willing to make the time because you can see why it would be worth it, if you like to write or have someone on staff who does, then blogging is a great way to rise above the competition and get into the top 5%.
Filed under Blogging, Online Marketing by
We often hear that the secret to success in marketing is to "be yourself". But what if you're a jerk?
Can you build a successful law practice if you're not likable? Actually, I think you can. We all know lawyers who clearly haven't read, "How to Win Friends and Influence People" but build successful practices anyway. Their strengths–drive, work ethic, skill set–allow them to overcome their interpersonal shortcomings.
What if the successful jerks of the world weren't jerks–would their success have come any sooner or been any bigger? One could argue that it's better to have people like you and want to be around you, that it's better to be liked than respected. But that's not true of sports coaches or military leaders. They don't want friends, they want to win. In fact, in the sports and military realms, befriending your charges can be a liability.
Speaking for myself, yes, I do want to be respected and I also want to be liked. I feel good when people appreciate not only my work but me as a person. I like to be liked and I think you do, too, and while we may not need to be liked to be successful, for most of us, it does make it easier.
The article, "20 Reasons People Unfollow You on Twitter," provides practical advice for building your social followers, (actually, for not losing your social followers), but also a paradigm for un-likeability in general. If you are an unrelenting self-promoter of your legal services, for example, a common failing of many attorneys in social media and in-person networking, you're chasing people away. They don't like you and they don't have to listen to you–and they don't.
In social media, likability has another meaning: "follow-worthy". People may not like you personally but if you provide good content, they may "Like" you and follow you. Social media metrics don't care if you're nice or not, either your numbers are going up or they aren't and if they aren't, you can do something about it.
I just put, "Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (& Other Social Networks)." on my reading list, after reading this review. I think I'm a likable guy but hey, who wouldn't want to be "generally amazing on Facebook (& other social networks)"?
Filed under Client loyalty, Image, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing by
Larry Bodine said goodbye to Facebook and Twitter; he's now a "plusser". Jennifer Golden is fed up with Google+ fanatics; she says Google+ doesn't do anything you can't already do on Facebook. And with the recent growth of Linked In, Steven Fairly notes the increased opportunities for lawyers to meet new referral sources.
So who's right? Which social media is best for marketing legal services?
I think this is the wrong question.
If you're going to incorporate social media into your marketing, why would you want to ignore Facebook, for example, with 750 million users, or Twitter, with it's preponderance of influential Twitterati?
Social media marketing is time consuming. Checking in, following, commenting, posting, sharing, finds most people spending way too much time relative to the return on that time. And so most of us do have to pick and choose what we do with social media. But that does not mean we have to give up one platform in favor of another.
I am not a social media power user. I'm still trying to figure out Facebook fan pages, but I do have one. Twitter seems like the place to go if you like lots of noise, but I do regularly post. I have accounts with Linked In and Youtube. And I have a Google+ account which I haven't spent much time on yet. So I am "connected" via social media, at least insofar as the biggies are concerned, and you should be, too.
But here's the thing: I'm not connected via social media because I am "social," I'm connected because that's where the people are. I may not be very active on any one social media platform but many of the people who follow me are. When I share something they like, they share it with their followers. And that's the point.
If you want to do ANYTHING with social media marketing, here's what I recommend:
- You should have business accounts with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and, probably, Google+. Youtube is the only other option, if you produce videos. Don't worry about the hundreds of other social media platforms, stick with these, that's where the big numbers are. You will have to add/follow folks so that there is someone to talk to, but this can be done late at night, and will grow, over time. A few will lead to a few more and if you regularly post good content, this will occur (to some extent) naturally.
- Connect your social media accounts to your web site or blog. Encourage visitors to follow/friend you and to use the social media badges on your site to share your content with their friends and followers.
- Use software that allows you to post/update on all platforms simultaneously. If you have a blog, your RSS feed should post to your social media accounts; when you tweet on Twitter, your Facebook friends and fans should see the update.
- Share your good content or somebody else's, once or twice a day. Check your emails and direct messages, reply if warranted (this is networking, after all), but unless you are very good at growing your social media network and it is resulting in clients, and thus, is a significant source of growth in your practice (or you want it to be), you don't need to spend more than 15 minutes a day on social media.
- As for your favorite platform, the one where you focus a bit more of your time and energy, just pick something. It doesn't matter which one. As the social media world grows, Facebook may wane and Plus may wax and many things will change. Nobody knows where social media will be in five years, let alone five months, so don't sweat it.
- Lastly, if you don't understand social media (and don't want to) or you don't enjoy it, if you have more money than time, I give you permission to disengage from all social media and do something else to grow your practice. Life is supposed to be fun, and that includes business, and if it's not, do something that is.
Filed under Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing by
The Attorney Marketing Center blog is now featured in Alltop.com, the curated directory of the world's top blogs.
What does that mean for you? Nothing really. For me, lots of smiley faces!
Actually, if you have a blog, you should submit it. If it gets listed, you can be assured of additional traffic to your blog as surfers browse the directory and discover you wrote something they'd like to read.
As mentioned, Alltop is curated, which means an individual will inspect your blog for quality of content and, I'm sure, other factors, before accepting (or rejecting) it. It may take awhile before you are included; I was approved some nine months after submitting the blog.
Check out Alltop; you'll undoubtedly find some good reads. Set up a (free) account and all your feeds will display in one area.
You'll find The Attorney Marketing Center and other law-related blogs on this page; (scroll to the bottom).
Filed under Online Marketing, Web traffic by
For the last several years, the demise of the yellow pages has been repeatedly predicted, but they will never die.
In the same way that AT&T and other "wire" phone carriers re-invented themselves as mobile carriers, the yellow pages has reinvented itself in search engines and online directories. These new and improved directories allow advertisers to have a bigger presence, with more information about their firm, at lower cost. Smart attorneys (and other advertisers) are taking advantage of these changes by creating better web sites (and more of them), optimizing their sites to improve search engine ranking, and promoting their sites through social media.
There are other improvements. Technology makes it easy to see which ad is working best, allowing you to adapt immediately instead of having to wait until next year's print edition. You can increase or decrease your advertising investment with a click or two and you can just as easily change your headlines and copy and offers, making the same dollars bring in even more business.
If you previously spent $1,000 a month on yellow pages ads, that same $1,000 spent online could yield a much greater return. A small firm that had been limited to smaller ads in print directories can, with some marketing smarts, compete with firms with a bigger budget. Consumers obviously benefit by the added information and convenience of the online world.
So, for advertisers and consumers, the changes are positive. But what about the publishers of print directories? What will happen to them?
Some have already made the shift to online and are will thrive. Others, will die out. And some will see a void in the market left by the disappearance of their competitors and make a killing in the next frontier.
What do I mean? Our mailboxes today contain far fewer pieces of mail compared to ten years ago. As a result, direct mail advertising is potentially more effective. Smart advertisers will eventually shift dollars into mailings–catalogs, solo sales letters, coupon books, and so on, and I believe we'll eventually see phone (and web site) directories being delivered by the post office. But, as more and more advertisers shift dollars from online to offline, the effectiveness of that advertising will decline and advertisers will shift yet again back to the Internet or to the next big thing.
Change is inevitable in business and advertisers need to be nimble to survive. Gone are the days when an attorney could write a check to "the" yellow pages, the only viable advertising option, and forget about it until the following year. Attorneys today must understand that advertising online is just one facet of an integrated marketing plan and they must be prepared to continually acquire the knowledge and resources needed to stay competitive.
Filed under Advertising, Online Marketing by
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.
Do lawyers need a blog?
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.
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Filed under Blogging, Communication, Email, List building, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Technology, Web traffic by David M. Ward