3 smart ways to create content your prospects really want to read

June 5, 2012 by
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Have you ever struggled to come up with ideas for your blog or newsletter? After you read this blog post, you’ll never have that problem again. Even better, you’ll be able to create content your target market actually wants to read.

It makes no difference whether you have a static web site, a blog, an ezine or a paper newsletter. There are three proven ways to find out what people want to know. You can use these strategies for any kind of content–seminars, webinars, white papers, articles, audios and videos–and come up with the perfect idea every time.

CONTENT CREATION METHOD NO. 1

Let’s start with the most obvious way to find out what your target market wants to read: asking them.

You can email (or write) your list, or ask via your blog or through your social media channels, to find out what people want to know. A free online poll service like Surveymonkey makes it easy.

When a lot of people say, “I want to know X,” you can be fairly certain that this will be a popular topic for a blog post or newsletter article.

For best results, give people a choice of topics: “Do you want to read about A or B?” “Rank these five titles in order of preference. . .”. Of course, this means you will have to come up with the titles you are asking them to choose between so you might want to start your inquiry with one of the next two methods.

CONTENT CREATION METHOD NO. 2

Every day, your target market searches online for information and solutions. A keyword tool like Google Keyword Tool or Wordtracker.com will tell you precisely what words are being searched for and in what volume.

You should have a list or spreadsheet of your keywords and phrases. If not, using a keyword tool will help you get one started. Searching on words like, “Los Angeles divorce lawyer” will lead you to related words and phrases to add to your list.

You’ll also be able to see the volume of searches for each keyword, and the number of web sites that use them, i.e., your competition.

Although optimally, you want a combination of a high number of searches and a low number of competing sites, the purpose of this exercise isn’t to find the best keyword deals for you to bid on, it’s to find keywords that allow you to create content people want to read. Therefore, for writing purposes, it doesn’t matter how much competition you have for those keywords.

Nevertheless, if you can find variations of high-ranking keywords with low competition, i.e., “Certified family law specialist Torrance,” instead of “Los Angeles divorce lawyer,” you will increase your chances of getting search engine traffic, especially if  you use those keywords in the title, in subheads, in the text itself, and in the image tags.

CONTENT CREATION METHOD NO. 3

In school, we were punished for copying off of someone else’s paper. In marketing, copying others can get you a gold star.

The simplest, and arguably the most accurate way to find out what your prospects want to read is to look at what they are reading on other blogs. If a particular topic is popular on the blog of another lawyer with a similar target market, you can be fairly certain that topic will be popular on yours.

Create a list or spreadsheet of your competition’s blogs and add the urls of the posts they’ve published recently. Then, look at each post and note how many tweets or Likes those posts received. If they don’t have buttons for Twitter or Facebook, type the URL into twitter to see the number of re-tweets or mentions. You could also find a non-competitive lawyer, i.e., in another state or province, and ask them which of their posts is getting the most traffic.

Now you know exactly what your target market wants to read and you can write content related to those topics. Don’t plagiarize the post. Write your own unique content, a different take on the subject, your own stories and so on, and change the title.

For example, if a lawyer is getting a lot of re-tweets and shares for a post entitled, “How to get joint custody in California,” you could write a post with the title, “Strategies for men seeking joint custody in a California divorce.”

With all of these methods, the key is to first let the market tell you what it wants, then go create it. You’ll save time, you’ll never run out of ideas, and you’ll always give people content they really want to read.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , ,

If I were starting my law practice today, here’s what I would do to bring in clients

May 7, 2012 by
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If I were opening a law practice today, my “marketing plan” would be very different than it was when I opened my office thirty-plus years ago.

The Internet changes everything.

So. . . here’s what I would do:

I would start by setting up a web site to showcase what I do. It would be my online brochure as well as a mechanism for networking and lead generation. It would be an information hub, the center of all of my marketing activities.

My web site would be a self-hosted WordPress blog so I could update it without depending on anyone else. I would spend less than $10/yr. for a domain, and less than $10/mo. for hosting.

I would keep things simple, with a clean, professional look. I would favor quality content over bells and whistles. The look would say, “competent, confident, accomplished and approachable,” because that’s what I would want if I was looking for an attorney.

I would add articles and other content to the site, to provide value to visitors and generate search engine traffic. I would continue to add content, seeking to make my site the most comprehensive in my practice area. When someone needed an answer, everyone would point them to my site.

I would make it easy for visitors to contact me through the site and I would encourage this. I want people to ask questions. My answers bring me one step closer to an appointment and a new client. Their questions and my answers would also give me fodder for new content.

I would add testminonials and success stories to the site, providing social proof of my capabilities and add a dramatic aspect to otherwise dry material.

I would set up a lead capture system, using an autoresponder to deliver an online newsletter. I would encourage visitors to subscribe so I could stay in touch with them. Over time, I know they will become clients, provide referrals, and generate even more traffic to my site through their social media channels.

Once my hub was set up, my focus would be to drive traffic to the site and grow my list. I would start by leveraging my existing contacts, telling them about my site and the benefits of visiting. I would ask them to spread the word to the people they know.

Every piece of printed collateral, including my business cards, would include a link to my web site. Every email I sent would link to the site. Every article I wrote would include a resource box and a link to my site.

I would become active in forums and on social media. I would do some networking and speaking to meet new contacts and to stay up to date with the news in my target market.

I would look for other professionals who target my market and propose writing for each other’s blogs and newsletters. If they were physically near me, I would meet them for coffee and explore other ways we could help each other.

I would regularly email to my list, notifying them of new content on the site and sending them other content I found that I thought they might like to see. I would stay in touch with them so that I would be “in their minds and their mailboxes” when they needed my services or encountered someone who did.

I would let people know I appreciate their referrals and thank those who have provided them in the past. I would suggest other ways they could help me, i.e., forwarding my emails to their friends and contacts, promoting my seminar or other event, or introducing me to people they know that I should meet.

I would look for ways to provide added value to my list and even more so to my clients. I would give them information and advice, but not necessarily in my practice area or even anything legal.

I would smother my clients with attention, exceeding their expectations in every way possible, because I know the best way to build a law practice is with referrals from satisfied clients and other people who know, like, and trust me.

Wait. . .  the Internet doesn’t change everything. Marketing is the same today as it was thirty years ago. The Internet just makes it easier, quicker, and less expensive.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Email, Image, List building, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Referrals, Social media marketing, Technology, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Help, my website isn’t getting me any traffic (or clients)!

May 3, 2012 by
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“If you build it, they will come,” may have been true of fictional baseball fields, but it’s clearly not true when it comes to web sites. More like, “if you build it and do nothing else, the only ones who will see it are the ones you send there.”

But you know what? That’s a pretty good reason to have a web site. Being able to send clients and prospects to learn all about what you can do for them is a good thing.

Not only that, your clients and prospects can send their friends and collegues to your web site, and that’s even better. I’ve said it before, you don’t have to be a social media maven to take advantage of social media. If you have the right buttons and links on your site, your visitors will promote it to their social media contacts.

But there are things you can do to get more traffic to your web site. This blog post about how to start getting traffic to a new web site can obviously be used with an existing web site:

  1. Set up a listing in Google Places (et. al.) A law practice is a local business. When someone searches for an attorney with your practice area in your city, your page will be much more likely to show up in their search results.
  2. Set up a content plan. Attorneys frequently object to the idea of blogging because they don’t have time to keep it up. As mentioned, you don’t have to add a lot of content to your blog or web site if you are relying on your existing network to send visitors. You certainly have time to put up a handful of good quality articles to showcase your experience. But if you want the search engines to send you more visits, regularly updating your content is something you should do. Add something once a week, if possible. It’s not as challenging as you might think.
  3. Get some links. The author suggests asking for links from associations or groups you belong to because incoming links “tell” the search engines that you have some content others should read. If you represent businesses, ask your clients to post a link from their site to yours. You can do the same to theirs.
  4. Set up Google Analytics. The more you know about where your traffic is coming from and what key words your visitors are using to find you, the more you can “tune” your site to get more of the same.
  5. Mobile enhance your web site. Many people use their mobile devices to find businesses today. If your site isn’t easy to view and navigate on a mobile device, you may be losing traffic and clients. I’m currently updating my blog and this is one thing I’ve been itching to take care of. It was as simple as installing a free plug-in.

If you have a new web site or want to bring more traffic to your existing site, these are five good ways to do that. If you don’t have a web site, as a friend of mine frequently asks, “how’s that working out for you?”

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Filed Under: Blogging, Online Marketing, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

LinkedIn: The number one social media platform for attorneys

April 16, 2012 by
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I’ve said before that if you’re new to social media you should start with Twitter. Reason: you only need to fill out one paragraph of information to set up your account. Your profile on LinkedIn, by contrast, requires more effort.

LinkedIn is important for attorneys because it serves as a sort of online CV. In fact, many professionals link to their LinkedIn profile precisely for that purpose. Your profile helps prospects and other professionals quickly assess what you have done for others and thereby see what you can do for them.

As LinkedIn develops, it is also becoming a platform for meeting and engaging others. Their forums are a great way to find and connect with other lawyers, as well as prospective clients and referral sources (or employers).

And LinkedIn is all about business. Unlike Facebook, you won’t have to wade through photos of your friend’s kids or cats, or listen to updates about their most recent meals. In fact, one writer is predicting that LinkedIn will survive Facebook precisely because it is dull and business-like.

But while LinkedIn may be considered dull, your profile need not be. You aren’t limited to posting only the facts about where you have been and what you have done. You can add personality to your profile, and well you should.

As much as your capabilities, people want to know about you, the person. Give them a sense of what it would be like speaking with you and working with you:

What motivates you to do what you do? What kind of movie or book character do you identify with? What is your mission?

If you don’t yet have a LinkedIn profile, don’t let the volume of information requested, or its importance, stop you from getting started. Fill in the basics today. You can add more tomorrow. You can use this brief tutorial on optimizing your LinkedIn profile as a starting point.

A lawyer’s bio is the most important part of his or her social media profile and web site. Use it to tell people your story, not just the facts. Facts tell but stories sell.

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Filed Under: Communication, Image, Networking, Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to get your tweets re-tweeted

March 28, 2012 by
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I am not an expert on twitter. So when an expert says something, I’m inclined to listen. But sometimes, what an expert says doesn’t feel right to me. Case in point:

This article quotes a social media expert (a professor–hmm, maybe that’s the problem) who says that every Tweet should include:

  • One @ mention (This makes it more likely that someone will read the Tweet)
  • One hash tag (Makes the Tweet more searchable)
  • One link: (Links represent value and value is more likely to be shared)

I agree, we should make an effort to include these in Tweets, but all three? In EVERY Tweet?

If I Tweet a link to my latest blog post, who am I supposed to @ mention? I don’t know about you, but it kinda bothers me when someone mentions me for no apparent reason other than to get me to read something that doesn’t necessarily pertain to me.

I think a better rule of thumb is to do what’s natural. Tweets, like any social media message, are meant to communicate, and that should be the operative rule. If you force these three things into every Tweet, you may write the “perfect” Tweet but find nobody is reading it. As one comment to the post put it,

“Ick. I’m afraid that if you include one of each of those in every tweet, I for one will not follow you! I prefer the people I follow to be original, not simple link factories or repliers to someone else’s thoughts.”

The article has some good advice on the best times to Tweet, best practices for link placement, and other expert tips. But here’s this expert’s advice: don’t listen to any advice without having your BS detector in the on position.

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Filed Under: Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: ,

The one thing attorneys need to know about advertising, networking, and social media

March 13, 2012 by
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I’ve run a lot of ads in my lifetime. Big ads, small ads, and everything in between. And direct mail. And with every ad or campaign, there’s only one thing I wanted to know: the rate of response.

How many calls, opt-ins, or return cards? How many leads or appointments or new clients?

Response is the only that thing that matters.

You need to know which publication or web site is producing more response. Which headline, which offer, which key words.

You have to track response and then test one variable against others. It’s the only way to know if you’re wasting money and it’s the simplest way to increase your profits. One ad, letter, or web page can sometimes pull fifty times more response than another. FIFTY TIMES! Wouldn’t you want to know which one?

“What about “branding”–getting your name out there, isn’t that worthwhile?” Sure, but while you’re doing that, why not also get a response?

So, if you have a web page you need to track your stats. Google’s analytics is free and provides lots of information. If you do any offline advertising you need to put codes in your ads (and articles) so you can see which ad (article) is pulling best. At the very least, ask people who call your office how they heard about you.

One more thing. Track the time you spend networking offline and on social media. If you’ve been attending a group’s meetings for several months and you’re not getting any clients, growing your list or seeing any kind of response you can measure, don’t continue. The same for social media platforms.

You might not know as quickly as you might with an ad. I’ve run ads one time and pulled them when the response wasn’t there. Building relationships and getting referrals almost always take longer. But eventually, you’ll know. If nothing is coming from your networking with group A, either change what your doing or move to group B.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Networking, Social media marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Guy Kawasaki on social media and SEO

March 5, 2012 by
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If you’re like me, you (a) want more search engine traffic, (b) you don’t know much about SEO, and (c) you find the whole subject to be overwhelming and frankly, boring.

If so, you may like what Guy Kawasaki said about the subject in a recent interview:

My recommendation for SEO is very simple. It’s Write Good Stuff. In my mind, Google is in the business of finding good stuff. It has thousands of the smartest people in the world, spending billions of dollars to find the good stuff. All you have to do is write the good stuff; you don’t need to trick it. Let Google do its job and you do your job.

Relax. Don’t worry. Write what people want to read. They’ll find you.

Of course that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help them find us. When I can, I put key words in my blog post titles and body, but I don’t contort myself to make that happen. Yes, I want you to find me but more important to me (and you) is that when you do find me, you get value out of what you read. It means you’ll come back and read some more and you’ll tell others and they’ll come, too.

SEO is not the only way people find things on the Internet. Word of mouth is very powerful.

On the subject of social media, Kawasaki says many entrepreneurs want to hire consultants and formulate a plan before they get started. He has different advice:  just dive in. Set up a profile and “just have at it”. You’ll learn more by actually doing it.

I subscribe to a few blogs that write about SEO and social media but to be honest when I get to their posts my eyes glaze over. Most of the time I don’t read them. I use that time writing.

If the growth in the readership of this blog is any indication, I’ve made the right choice.

Write Good Stuff. People will find you. And hire you.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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