Your Law Firm Name Here

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:20:43 GMT

What does Google return to consumers searching for lawyers in your practice areas and geographic location? Your website? Your profile on Nolo, Avvo, Expert Hub, or Justia? Perhaps it’s your law firm blog. Maybe it’s your paid search advertisement. Or maybe you’re not appearing at all. Marketing your law firm through [...]

Marketing your law firm through search engines will increase the number of people that “see” your law firm. The more people that use the web for locating local professional services, the more lawyer internet marketing campaigns just makes sense. For the consumer, finding a lawyer online can be more effective than using traditional methods (like yellow book, or directory listings).

Even initial legal consultations can be performed almost completely online. More information is available about a lawyer or law firm than ever before. Once you build and maintain a strong online presence, you will begin to access the overwhelming number of people in need of legal services on the web.

There is vast variation in the efficiency and effectiveness of law firm web strategies. However, each strategy plays some role in your law firm’s search engine profile. Some of the more important components are a comprehensive keyword strategy, your website’s architecture, and the content found on your website.

Mixing all these components together, will produce a certain outcome for your law firm’s ability to attract new clients from the internet. If any of these components are out of balance, it will significantly decrease your chances of leveraging the internet successfully.

Lawyer internet marketing can be one of the most effective ways to generate new clients. However, partnering with the right SEO firm will increase your likelihood of success. They can advise you on keyword discovery and link building. If you’re interested in learning some basics on building links, check out our free guide.

Free Guide: How To Build Links For Your Law Firm Website

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Editorial Calendars for Legal Blogs

geri@legalmediamatters.com (Geri L. Dreiling) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:59:01 GMT

Searching for story ideas can consume time and derail your blogging efforts. Try using an editorial calendar to keep your blawg – and your legal marketing – on track.

Turn your blawg into a legal marketing success

By Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

If you are a legal blogger, you know that the writing process isn’t your first big challenge when it comes to posting an entry. Instead, it’s this: What do I want to write about?

Searching for story ideas can consume as much time — or even more —than the writing process itself, and, as any busy lawyer knows, the more barriers that come between you and a blog post, the more likely it is that you’ll abandon the blawg effort completely.

To help overcome this hurdle, consider adopting a practice I learned in the newsroom: Create an editorial calendar for your blog.

I use an editorial calendar for my own blog, I’ve created them for clients who hire me to supply legal content for their blogs, and I’ve helped clients create editorial calendars for the blogs they write themselves.

Legal Blog Editorial Calendars as Planning Tools

The mainstream and legal publications I worked for as a reporter all had mandatory weekly editorial meetings. The editorial staff would gather, provide status updates about our stories and pitch new story topics. From that meeting, a four- to eight-week editorial calendar, listing story deadlines and run dates, was developed.

If your law firm has a blog with several contributors, consider convening a weekly blog editorial meeting where attorneys can share blog post writing ideas. Assign topics, schedule deadlines and stick to them.

If your blog has only one contributor, schedule an editorial meeting with yourself and brainstorm possible future topics. To get started, review the keywords people are using to find your blog, then ask yourself who your blog audience is and what topics they will find most helpful.

For example, if you are a personal injury lawyer who has a blog focused on car accident claims you may want to have separate posts addressing questions often asked by injured clients, such as:

What should I do after an accident?
Should I let a claims adjuster record my statement?
What can I do if the other driver doesn’t have insurance?

In addition, help your clients or others who have been injured in a car accident connect with resources outside the legal community. Seriously injured individuals who have suffered a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury — or their caregivers — may want to turn to a nonprofit agency for help and advice on how to handle this challenging situation.

Using the editorial calendar, you can not only plan future posts but also note agencies that you may wish to highlight.

Another advantage of the editorial calendar is the ease with which you can incorporate breaking news. If a judicial decision is handed down that significantly affects auto accident litigation, you can write a blog post about the decision and simply push all of the other editorial items back.

Editorial Calendar Take-Away Tips

Here are a four take-away tips to help you put together an editorial calendar:

Use keywords as a way to identify what potential readers are most interested in learning.
Set aside time to brainstorm.
Commit the information to a calendar with firm deadlines.
Include links to outside resources on your calendar for easy access when it’s time to write.

Blawgs can be a great way to share information, and they’re also an important legal marketing tool. Unfortunately, an abandoned blog with content that is several months old can detract from your legal PR efforts and any search engine advantages your blog achieved will evaporate if you do not supply fresh content.

If you have a legal blog, what do you do to keep up with posting?

If you need help creating an editorial calendar or would like to learn more about our legal content writing services, contact Legal Media Matters via our online contact form or email geri@legalmediamatters.com.

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Marketing Your Law Firm In Church

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:42:25 GMT

Interesting post by Deborah L. Cohen in the ABA Journal online, Having Faith in Marketing, about a lawyer who advertises his service on the back of a church’s weekly bulletin. While some might take issue with advertising in churches, if the place of worship is willing, this may be an excellent source of new clients. [...]

Interesting post by Deborah L. Cohen in the ABA Journal online, Having Faith in Marketing, about a lawyer who advertises his service on the back of a church’s weekly bulletin.

While some might take issue with advertising in churches, if the place of worship is willing, this may be an excellent source of new clients. Advertising in small close-knit communities has historically been very effective. It’s certainly not like putting up a highway billboard to catch as many passers-by as possible.

Depending on your place worship, it’s usually a more intimate setting. You probably know many of the other members. Depending on your attendance, other members will see you there on a frequent basis.

Minus the religious context, this form of advertising reminds me a lot of the ads in the back of my high school’s various sports programs. Many law firms and other local business found great success in placing ads in the back of the football program. Further, they felt good sponsoring the sports program.

So, if you’re looking for a new place to spend advertising dollars, try talking to your house of worship. Hey, if it doesn’t work, chalk it up as a donation.

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5 Tips for Using Online Video to Market Your Law Firm

chris@echicagoweb.com (Chris Costa) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:22:38 GMT

Statistics show that video improves online visibility and drives more action online than plain images and text. For example, according to the BIA Kelsey Group, viewers engage more after watching a video, with clicks for more information increasing by 30-40%...

Statistics show that video improves online visibility and drives more action online than plain images and text. For example, according to the BIA Kelsey Group, viewers engage more after watching a video, with clicks for more information increasing by 30-40% and phone inquiries by 16-20%.

Whether you choose to do-it-yourself or hire a pro, marketing your business with online video doesn’t end with the production. Remember, videos need to be seen. Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your video marketing:

1. Aim for Authentic, Actionable Content

Don’t worry about stock photography, templates, or videographers who will make you look like all their other clients. Be authentic. Be personal. After all, this is your big chance to highlight your strengths and show what really makes you different. Keep the video short and the less scripted, the better — since customers are jaded by typical sales pitches and marketing buzzwords. Creating authentic video that captures the human element behind any business allows customers to connect on a personal level.

This is TRUE and creating a video that is personal and shows who you are and what you do can be a big factor when a new client chooses your law firm. Also creating a video of client testimonials can be another powerful tool.

And don’t forget to incorporate a call to action. While your authentic video builds trust and drives action, viewers must be given a reason and a way to call you, visit your website, or stop by your store. Be sure to include some action path — for example, a trackable URL, a coupon, discount code, or unique phone number to call. This not only encourages viewers to engage with you, but also provides a tangible way to measure the results of your video.

2. Optimize Video for Google Search

The advent of blended or universal search has changed the search game. Search engines now display more and more videos, images, blogs, maps, and books in their results. These new search algorithms weigh video heavily, giving you a great opportunity to increase your relevance in search results (and even achieve that coveted first page ranking on Google). In fact, Forrester Research ran an experiment on the top-searched keywords and discovered that videos have an 11,000-to-1 chance of appearing on the first page of Google’s results, while text has a 500,000-to-1 chance of making it on the first page — in short, video has a 50 times better chance than plain text for getting to the top of search rankings.

Even with this incredible opportunity, many marketers don’t yet think about making their video Google-friendly. There are several simple steps you can take to optimize your online video content.

3. Add Video to Your Facebook Page

Most likely, your Facebook fans are already customers — the social network gives you the chance to strengthen existing relationships, build your brand, present special offers, as well as find some new customers as you reach into the extended networks of your current fan base. On Facebook, use video to show the human side of your company. Think fun and creative. Show a ‘behind the scenes’ peak at your office or shop. Use video to announce a new contest or special. Post video highlights of past events, customer testimonials, etc.

4. Put Video on YouTube and Other Video Sites

YouTube has quickly grown from a network of user-generated content to become an invaluable repository of content. Next to Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine, with more than 3.5 billion queries a month according to comScore. YouTube and other video sites are great vehicles to reach an audience who might not find you otherwise. Best of all, you can create a branded YouTube channel and host your videos without incurring any bandwidth costs. And don’t worry — you don’t necessarily have to create the next viral sensation to find success on YouTube. Small businesses can create valuable new relationships and build sales without generating a million views.

5. Add Video to Your Google Local Business Listing

By adding video to your business listing on Google Local, you’ll be able to tell your story and connect with those people who are looking for your products or services, at the very point in time when they’re actively researching or ready to buy. This ultra-targeted form of marketing is highly effective for driving clicks and calls. And amid a list of company names, addresses, and phone numbers, an engaging video brings your listing to life and sets you apart from the crowd.

Most Importantly – Get Started

There’s no time like the present to get started with video. While spare time is always in short supply for the small business owner, online video can be less time intensive and is relatively low cost compared with other marketing initiatives. Most importantly, video will reap dividends in both the short and long term.

This is all great video advise. Putting a video on your lawyer website is a great move for many reasons, just do it!

Read full post at Reel SEO

Squash, Short-Term Thinking, & Lawyer Internet Marketing

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:13:05 GMT

There is an interesting post at the Predictably Irrational blog that discusses the author’s troubles he had recently while playing squash. He tells us that he enjoys playing squash as it not only provides exercise, but is also a game of strategy. The strategy comes in as each player tries to build an [...]

Anyway, I have not played for a while so yesterday when I played I was out of shape. But what was interesting was that I realized that my thinking ability was also diminished. Usually I try to plan my moves in advance, and think about where my opponent will move, what I will do next etc – but being out of shape made me think very myopically, and focus just on making the next shot. This of course was a very bad strategy and to my delight of my opponent I lost badly.

Perhaps the larger point is that being exhausted (and maybe also being under stress, physical exhaustion, sleep deprived, etc) makes people focus on the short-term and ignore the long-term – and this way become more susceptible to making mistakes….

How This Applies To Lawyer Internet Marketing

Marketing your law firm properly is a time intensive and strategic task. Just as in the squash example given above, there is the execution of your marketing strategy (actually hitting the shot and placing it where you wanted) and strategic planning (thinking about where the next shot should go). One of the problems that I see as an SEO consultant is that firms become so entrenched in their current marketing and getting short-term results, they forget to explore new ways of marketing. They lose focus of the long-term marketing strategy for the firm. Their strategy is focused on just connecting with the next shot, instead of thinking strategically where the next shot should be going.

A good example would be a firm where the entire marketing plan consists of spending money on advertising. The appeal is that by investing money into advertising, you get immediate results. The problem is that advertising costs will rise and if you want more leads, you have to pay more money. I’m not insisting that advertising is bad, it’s just that it doesn’t provide a sound, long-term strategy. You are simply “hitting the next shot”. You are not building equity in something you own that will continue to produce for you even if you stop paying money tomorrow. This is why it’s important to complement your advertising campaigns with other types of marketing avenues that position you for the future such as SEO, name recognition, social media strategy, networking, referrals, etc.

Make sure you are focusing on both your short-term and long-term goals with your marketing plan. Think about where you want your next shot to go in addition to how you’re going to actually hit the shot.

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Think Like A Local Business Owner

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:02:37 GMT

Depending your practice areas and nature of your law firm, you might be able to leverage many of the advantages that the internet and search engines afford to local businesses. For example, if you have a consumer-based practice (i.e. injury, bankruptcy, criminal defense, divorce, etc.) and a very targeted geographic area, you will most [...]

In addition to the more generalized local business solutions, there are several “legal-specific” platforms, networks, and services that really work wonders for producing results for local search marketing. You see, law firm internet marketing isn’t ONLY about seo for your law firm.

Like local business owners, when it comes to law firm marketing matters, you want more quality potential client leads, some of whom will turn into new clients for your firm. Do you really care from which source these potential clients come? For example, assuming the quality of the leads is generally the same (which often is not the case for a variety of reasons), do you care whether new client leads come from your website, a directory listing, or some other source? Typically, the answer is no (although the cost, effectiveness, and efficiency will vary greatly). The key performance indicator is whether or not the source is producing a positive return on your law firm marketing investment.

That is why diversification across several local-legal internet marketing platforms is so important. It exposes you to many more segments of the legal services market and allows you to identify which platforms, networks, etc, are actually producing positive results for your firm.

Thinking like a local business owner has generated excellent results for many of our clients. In our experience, there’s simply no magic bullet solution that works equally well for all law firms. Successful lawyer internet marketing isn’t as much about seeking out that one method that works best, but rather, testing many methods and allocating more resources to those that perform well.

Free Guide: Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant

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Lawyer Advertisements in Liturgical Newsletters: One New Lenox, ILL Lawyer Finds It to Be an Effective Marketing Tool

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:50:00 GMT

Here’s an interesting story in the ABA Journal by Deborah L. Cohen entitled, “Having Faith in Marketing - Houses of worship offer affordable and effective advertising possibilities” Here’s what Attorney Daniel Adler has to say about his advertising in the...Here’s an interesting story in the ABA Journal by Deborah L. Cohen entitled, “Having Faith in Marketing - Houses of worship offer affordable and effective advertising possibilities”

Here’s what Attorney Daniel Adler has to say about his advertising in the weekly bulletin at Saint Jude Catholic Church in New Lenox, Illinois:

“I’ve had quite a few people call because they’ve seen my little ad in the back of the bulletin,” says Adler, who now pays $65 per month for the message he has been placing for some 20 years.

"Dollar for dollar it’s pretty good advertising,”

“I’m there, I’m at the church and people see me,”

WP Greetbox – A Nice Wordpress Plugin To Help Build Your Law Firm Blog Readership

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:56:19 GMT

WP Greetbox is a plugin for Wordpress blogs that can help build readership to your law firm’s Wordpress blog. The creators of the plugin describe it as such: This plugin lets you show a different greeting message to your new visitors depending on their referrer url. For example, when a Digg user clicks [...]

WP Greetbox is a plugin for Wordpress blogs that can help build readership to your law firm’s Wordpress blog. The creators of the plugin describe it as such:

This plugin lets you show a different greeting message to your new visitors depending on their referrer url. For example, when a Digg user clicks through from Digg, they will see a message reminding them to digg your post if they like it. Another example, when a visitor clicks through from Twitter, they will see a message suggesting them to twit the post and follow you on Twitter.

The photo above is a snapshot of what WP Greetbox does when a visitor arrives on our blog from a Google search. A dropdown box appears below the title of the article inviting the user to take an action such as subscribing to your blog, retweeting the post, etc. It’s a great way to automate a call to action that appeals to the visitor. Since the call to action is customized based on how they arrived, it comes across as more personal than just a simple “subscribe to my blog” you place on the sidebar.

We have seen our subscriptions and readership increase since using this plugin. I highly recommend it.

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Universal Search Chart

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:36:46 GMT

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when that picture contains a thousand words… Clever stuff from ProspectMX internet marketing with their Universal Search Optimization Chart: Are you leveraging universal search in your law firm marketing plan? Visitors who read this post also read:Universal Search For Your [...]

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when that picture contains a thousand words… Clever stuff from ProspectMX internet marketing with their Universal Search Optimization Chart:

Are you leveraging universal search in your law firm marketing plan?

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SEO Magic Trick

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:46:13 GMT

Great heads-up from Jerry Work at Work Media Internet Marketing on a classic law firm seo magic trick. It’s unfortunate how many law firms are falling for it right now. Here’s how the trick typically plays out: SEO “expert” claims that she can take a specific, relevant keyword and get ranked number one on Google very [...]

Great heads-up from Jerry Work at Work Media Internet Marketing on a classic law firm seo magic trick. It’s unfortunate how many law firms are falling for it right now.

Here’s how the trick typically plays out:

SEO “expert” claims that she can take a specific, relevant keyword and get ranked number one on Google very quickly. She performs her SEO magic, and viola, Number 1!

However, the web page she optimized is the ONLY result returned by Google for a search of that keyword. Which means, there was not a single other web page competing against her page for that keyword.

It is easy to be number one when you have ZERO competition!

So, how do you avoid this nonsense? Hold your law firm seo accountable for producing results, not rankings. Make sure you are getting traffic increases, conversion increases, and ultimately, clients. I mean after all, any law firm marketing should eventually generate more client revenue than it costs.

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Attorney Internet Marketing: Keeping In Touch With Potential Clients Using Autoresponders

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:32:24 GMT

One of the areas that becomes difficult for lawyers, especially solos and smaller firms, is keeping in contact with potential clients that have not retained your services yet. For example, perhaps you are offering a free guide or e-book to download in exchange for a potential client’s information. Once they download the guide, some lawyers are so busy they don’t even have the time to send out an email or make a phone call. Others may email or call the prospect once. However, if there is not a response back, than that is the end of the communication. Others find that a prospect that downloaded a guide or e-book might be in a different stage of the “buying cycle”. Another words, they are not ready to sign a retainer just yet, but could be ready in the near future. These people need more nurturing before they are ready. This takes time, which is difficult to come by. Fortunately, there is a solution to help with many of these issues.

Lead Nurture Campaigns aka Autoresponders

A lead nurture campaign, or autoresponder, is an email marketing campaign that allows you to send out a sequence of automatically delivered emails. The emails are delivered at a time interval that you decide. You supply the content for the emails and then the software will automatically deliver the emails on your behalf.

A Few Of The Advantages

The system is automated, you don’t have to personally write and send each email.
The users receiving your emails have opted-in to receiving them, giving permission for you to contact them.
You can “nurture” the potential client that is not ready to buy yet. By sending relevant, targeted, informational emails to them, you will build trust and help educate them about the benefits your firm can provide.
The automation allows you to stay in touch with and handle a much larger set of inquiries than if you had to do it all manually
It allows you to scale the “salesforce” within your firm without hiring additional assistants

Recommended Services

One of the better autoresponder and email marketing services is Aweber. They provide an excellent suite of email marketing tools at an affordable price.

You Will Need Leads To Make Use Of An Autoresponder System (Duh!?)

Of course, the use of autoreponders and lead nurture campaigns are only effective if you have a strategy in place that is generating leads for your firm. Download our free guide below to learn more about getting your law firm’s online marketing on the right track.

Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google

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SEO For Law Firms: A Break Down Of The Google Search Results Page

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:38:39 GMT

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video. We continue to get questions from lawyers asking to explain the differences between paid search, organic listings, Local Business Center listings, etc. I think since there are so many services out there offering all different kinds [...]

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

We continue to get questions from lawyers asking to explain the differences between paid search, organic listings, Local Business Center listings, etc. I think since there are so many services out there offering all different kinds of internet marketing options for law firms, it’s critically important for you to understand the Google search engine results page. By understanding each element of the page, how it works, and whether the results are sponsored or not, you can get a better idea of what each type of service is offering you. Here is a short video to get you started:

Free Guide: Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant

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LinkedIn Groups and Legal Public Relations

geri@legalmediamatters.com (Geri L. Dreiling) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:29:50 GMT

If you want to help grow your referral base and promote your practice, consider utilizing LinkedIn Groups. Doing so will help you reach a targeted audience of individuals who are likely to be interested in your professional expertise.

The social network’s focused groups can be a boon for professionals

By Geri L. Dreiling

An attorney I know who recently incorporated a blog into her website posted this question on her Facebook page: “Has anyone found a use for LinkedIn?”

It is a question that I frequently hear from my clients—and my answer often surprises them. When it comes to the return on the investment of time and effort associated with social media, it has been my experience that LinkedIn is the most effective. And if you have a blog or newsletter, membership in LinkedIn Groups is a good way to raise awareness.

LinkedIn Groups Legal PR Campaign

After launching a new website and blog in late December, I knew that it would take search engines a while to crawl and digest the information, no matter how well the content was search engine optimized.

Not being the type of person who likes to sit back and wait, I also launched a LinkedIn public relations campaign. I joined groups that were a good fit for legal public relations and attorney website content writing. I focused on a variety of topics such as legal marketing, public relations, law and media, alumni networks and business owners and entrepreneurs in my geographic area.

As I posted new articles on my blog, I also added them to the news section of the various LinkedIn Groups to which I belonged. I tracked my statistics in two straightforward ways:

iGoogle’s free Analytics tool
A spreadsheet listing the group submissions and number of times the LinkedIn group indicates that the article has been viewed

The spreadsheet is important because it allowed me to determine which groups were the most interested in the content and which groups could be dropped from the content submission list. The statistics also revealed some surprises. There were groups to which I submitted news articles that I did not think would be interested yet turned out to generate a number of views.

In approximately seven weeks, the LinkedIn campaign has:

Generated almost half of the traffic to the Legal Media Matters website
Resulted in reprint requests for Legal Media Matters articles
Triggered new connections with lawyers around the world
Produced business leads and inquiries about the legal public relations and content writing services provided by Legal Media Matters

By way of comparison, the Legal Media Matters Facebook page has generated approximately 5 percent of traffic to the website and blog and Twitter just over 3 percent.

Ultimately the capacity to reach a targeted audience of individuals using social media who are likely to be interested in the professional expertise or services my company offers seems to be the greatest with LinkedIn.

Attorneys and LinkedIn Groups

So, what does this mean for attorneys? In the article “Use Legal PR to Reach Your Referral Base,” I discussed the fact that, for attorneys, referrals continue to be a primary source of new clients.

The referral base could include attorneys who have the same type of legal practice but are located in different geographic areas; attorneys who are in your geographic area but practice a different type of law; professionals such as engineers, accountants and therapists with whom you regularly come in contact; or former classmates from college, law school or even high school.

Here are just a few examples of LinkedIn Groups an attorney might be interested in joining:

An insurance defense attorney might join the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
An employment attorney might join the Human Resources Professionals group
A family law attorney might be interested in the Child-Centered Divorce group.
A personal injury attorney might be interested in joining the Brain Injury Litigation Network or Personal Injury Attorney Network.
As a means of connecting with attorneys from a variety of practice areas, lawyers might consider Law and Social Networking, ABA Friends, Happy Lawyers, Rain-Making Lawyers Law Firm Marketing or Legal Blogging, just to name a few.

Don’t have blog articles to post? Consider joining one discussion as a way to share your expertise, network and expand your referral base.

Take-Away Tips

To make the most of LinkedIn, follow these steps:

Join groups that complement your legal practice, your hobbies and your educational background.
Participate on a regular basis by commenting on articles, joining in discussions or posting your own information.
Measure your efforts by tracking statistics, whether it’s through your own website analytics, iGoogle or a simple Excel spreadsheet.

Now it’s your turn. Have you found LinkedIn Groups to be a worthwhile use of your time? And if you do decide to try them out, tell us about your experience.

Want more legal PR, attorney marketing and legal website content ideas? Subscribe to the Legal Media Matters email alerts: Get articles via e-mail

Does Your Law Firm Have A Follow Up Process In Place?

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:09:22 GMT

So you have a website, a blog, and attack social media with reckless abandon. You hired a law firm SEO to get more traffic and leads from your online properties. At this point you have a nice marketing flow going, leads are coming in the door. However, you think to yourself…these leads [...]

Do you have a system to help maximize the effectiveness of working those leads and contacts?

This is probably the single biggest problem I have seen when working with solo practitioners, small, and even medium sized firms. Many have figured out how to get leads in the door, but don’t handle them properly once they’ve got them. Learning how to properly work your leads and developing a sales system is crucial in translating those online marketing efforts into revenue for the firm.

I know that many lawyers don’t want to think of themselves as salesmen, but the truth is that we are all in sales. Every day you sell yourself, your service, your practice, your competence, etc. What is important is that you develop a system so that you can be effective with your sales efforts. I have spoken with many attorneys that are fantastic at the art of practicing law, but not so much when it comes to selling that ability to someone looking to hire them. While there is an art to sales, having an effective and efficient system in place is a huge piece of the puzzle. If you are properly following up with your leads and potential clients, you will reap the rewards. (Here is a blog post for a more in depth look at sales for law firms: 5 Things Lawyers Absolutely Need To Know About Sales)

Persistence And Follow Up Are Key

You will encounter leads from your online efforts that are at all different stages of the buying cycle. Some are looking for information, others are comparing different firms, and some are ready to hire you right now. The key is to create a sales system for your firm that allows you to follow up with all your leads promptly and regularly. Are you calling leads or just emailing them all? Do you try several times before declaring a lead is no good? It simply isn’t enough to send one email and then when you don’t receive an immediate response, throw away that inquiry. Creating a system to schedule following up with potential clients after the initial contact is made is important as well.

Where To Start: Get A CRM (Customer Resource Management)

CRM’s could be a blog post all unto themselves. A CRM is a software program that is designed to help you keep track of your contacts and schedule follow up calls, tasks, etc. They are called CRM’s or Customer Resource Management tools. There are many free or inexpensive programs available. We use a paid version of SalesForce at AttorneySync. However, there are free ones available as well including Zoho or FreeCRM. Highrise is a good program from 37Signals that is inexpensive to try.

Photo by Stitch

5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

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Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Videos Found On YouTube

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:42:23 GMT

AttorneySync’s newest free guide, How To Get Your Law Firm Videos Found On YouTube, is available for download. Videos give you a chance to interact with potential clients in a way that text on the page simply can not compete with. You have invested time and effort into creating effective online videos for your firm, [...]

AttorneySync’s newest free guide, How To Get Your Law Firm Videos Found On YouTube, is available for download.

Videos give you a chance to interact with potential clients in a way that text on the page simply can not compete with. You have invested time and effort into creating effective online videos for your firm, now you need to get more people to watch them.

This Guide Will Give You A Proper Introduction To Getting Your Law Firm Videos Found On YouTube Including:

Why YouTube Is The Most Important Video Sharing Site
How To Perform Keyword Research For Video
How To Optimize Your Videos Title, Description, Tags, & Category
Other Important Factors For Ranking Videos Including Popularity, Links/Embeds, Ratings, & More
Taking Advantage Of YouTube Insight

Download your free guide: How To Get Your Law Firm Videos Found In YouTube today!

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Legal PR: Do You Make the Most of Your Successes?

geri@legalmediamatters.com (Geri L. Dreiling) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:45:35 GMT

Whether you try cases or play major league baseball, there are going to be days when you strike out.The trick is to come out ahead more often than you wind up behind, not only on the personal win/loss chart in your head but also in the legal media spotlight.

In the win-some, lose-some world of trial work, claim your successes more often than others point out your defeats

By Geri L. Dreiling

There’s a saying among trial lawyers: Show me a lawyer who has never lost a case and I’ll show you a lawyer who has never tried one.

Let’s put it another way: In 2009, even superb St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, with a batting average of .327, didn’t get a hit about 67 percent of the time.

The message is clear. Whether you try cases or play major league baseball, there are going to be days when you strike out. The more prominent the lawyer, the higher the stakes are and the more visible the success -- and the more stinging the stumble.

You only have to look at the annual roundups of top verdicts and settlements that are published this time of year to pick up a pattern: a core group of attorneys on both sides of the aisle who have soared to great heights and suffered setbacks.

The trick is to come out ahead more often than you wind up behind, not only on the personal win/loss chart in your head but also in the legal media spotlight.

Don’t Neglect Your Wins

Hearing a jury return a verdict on your client’s behalf is an exhilarating moment when time is suspended and you bask in the glow of victory.

Unfortunately, the time in which you can to relish the win is fleeting. That’s because all of the other client matters, cases and problems that you’ve pushed to the side now flood to the forefront. Now it’s your good intention of writing a verdict or settlement report that’s been pushed aside. Days turn into weeks, then months. Eventually your plan to report the results is abandoned.

But another case may come along in which the results are not favorable. Your winning opponent may not neglect to report that win—and so, even if you’ve won or settled several good cases in a row, your loss could be the only matter that ends up getting publicized.

It would be like a highlight reel after a Cardinals game that only showed Pujols’ strikeouts and omitted his home runs.

Publicize Your Successes

To avoid that outcome, make preparing and submitting verdict and settlement reports a priority. Here are some tips to help you enforce your resolve:

The day after a win or big settlement, make a one-hour appointment with yourself to write up a rough draft of the trial report while it’s still fresh in your head. Choose a coffeehouse, the law library, your study at home. Treat the exercise as a celebration rather than a chore.

Ask an associate or paralegal to prepare a rough draft of the trial report, using the standard form provided by many verdict reporting services. Missouri Lawyers Weekly, The Civil Litigator, VerdictSearch and Verdict Reporter all supply forms that identify the key information needed. Getting a rough draft prepared will you take you 80 percent of the way to completing the project.

Outsource the reporting to a legal publicist. Most experienced legal PR writers can quickly prepare a trial report from the petition and answer, the expert witness disclosure and trial briefs, if any.

Ultimately it is crucial to recognize that reporting a favorable verdict or settlement is not about ego—it is about presenting an accurate track record. By not reporting your successes, you are editing out of your highlight reel the wins you’d like referring lawyers and prospective clients to see.

Want more marketing, legal PR and attorney website content ideas? Subscribe to the Legal Media Matters email alerts: Get articles via e-mail

Free Guide: AttorneySync’s Guide To Using ExpertHub For Lawyers

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:36:51 GMT

AttorneySync’s newest free guide, A Lawyers Guide To Using ExpertHub, discusses how to leverage the ExpertHub platform for your law firm. We talk to lawyers every day that are looking for web marketing solutions that actually work. The online haystack is large and finding diamonds can be rough. Ok, so I crossed proverbs. My [...]

AttorneySync’s newest free guide, A Lawyers Guide To Using ExpertHub, discusses how to leverage the ExpertHub platform for your law firm.

We talk to lawyers every day that are looking for web marketing solutions that actually work. The online haystack is large and finding diamonds can be rough. Ok, so I crossed proverbs. My point is that when we find something that works, we like to share it.

The following guide is intended to show you how to get the most out of the ExpertHub platform for lawyers.

AttorneySync’s Guide To ExpertHub For Lawyers Includes:

What Is ExpertHub
How To Get Started On The Platform
Profile Optimization & Hints
Content Publication & Leveraging Their Network For SEO
Measurement & Tracking Capabilities
How AttorneySync Leverages ExpertHub For Our Clients

You can download your free guide on using ExpertHub here.

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Hype For Apple’s Ipad And Setting Proper Expectations For Your Clients

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:06:24 GMT

This is a great quote from the Awl on the hype surrounding Apple’s Ipad announcement: I’m a little taken aback by the immediate and vocal lack of enthusiasm for the product. What does it lack? What was everyone hoping for that did not materialize? This is a very rough thought that I may or may not [...]

The Apple Ipad: Unreasonable Expectations?

This is a great quote from the Awl on the hype surrounding Apple’s Ipad announcement:

I’m a little taken aback by the immediate and vocal lack of enthusiasm for the product. What does it lack? What was everyone hoping for that did not materialize? This is a very rough thought that I may or may not refine, so take it as such, but the iPad is a lot like Barack Obama: Everyone was able to project their own fantasies and aspirations on a product with which they were mostly unfamiliar, only to sour on it once they realized that it did not live up to their impossible expectations. Only with the iPad it took about seven minutes for the disappointment to set in. I don’t know what that says about our accelerated culture or how we confuse hype and excitement for the tangible realities of life, but it says something. I mean, probably. Like I said, I’m still trying to work it all out.

Now let me start out by saying that the hype for a new Apple product, like the Ipad, is supposed to be over the top. They want a ton of attention and build-up for their product. It sells more of them. That being said, it does teach us a lot about expectation setting for our legal clients. Perhaps in the case of the Ipad, the lofty expectations are the fault of the media and consumers, not Apple. However, we can see how quickly word spreads in today’s digital age when even a few people’s expectations are not met. It only emphasizes to me how important it is that you are setting proper expectations for your clients.

Client Expectation Setting

Our culture is short on attention and short on patience. There is a sense of entitlement and lofty expectations with regards to the level of service a professional should provide. However, often with professional services, the value placed on those services is a matter of perception. The perception of your legal service can be influenced with proper expectation setting.

Competition for new clients is fierce and only getting more intense. It is more important than ever before that your clients have a good experience with your firm. Word of mouth referrals and happy clients are the best way to grow your practice. One of the best ways to have a happy client is to properly set their expectations as to the experience they can expect with your firm. If you do what they expect….and then a little more, you will have a created the best kind of marketing your firm can get, a satisfied customer. The cliche “under promise and over deliver” really does work. Unfortunately, I think in today’s age of hype this isn’t practiced as often as it should be.

Don’t fall into the trap of telling a prospect everything they want to hear in order to make the sale. Give them realistic expectations so that their perception of what you can achieve is an accurate one. Then when you deliver what they were expecting, and hopefully a little more, they are a happy customer.

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5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

Want to learn 5 of the most common mistakes when marketing your firm?

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Is Your Marketing Resolve Slipping?

geri@legalmediamatters.com (Geri L. Dreiling) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:37:13 GMT

The new year brings with it a fresh resolve to do more in terms of legal public relations, marketing, networking or some combination of the three.The year may start off strong, but, as with most resolutions, reality throws up roadblocks. But you can get back on course. Here are seven things you can do in February to boost your visibility.

Seven easy ways to promote your legal practice in February

By Geri L. Dreiling

For many attorneys, each new year brings with it a fresh resolve to do more to promote their legal practice, whether through marketing, legal public relations, networking or some combination of the three.

The year may start off strong, but, as with most resolutions, reality throws up roadblocks. The client who took a holiday from legal problems now urgently wants a solution. That trial date that once seemed so far off is much closer, and the need to schedule depositions and finish up discovery has become more pressing.

In the face of tight deadlines and worried clients, legal promotional efforts often get pushed to the side.

But you can still get back on course—and you may find that instead of wearing you down, your legal PR, marketing and networking efforts reinvigorate your enthusiasm for the practice of law.

To help you get back on track with your law firm’s marketing good intentions, here are seven things that you can do in February to boost your visibility, strengthen your networks and promote your legal practice.

Send a handwritten thank-you note. If you’ve recently picked up a good client through a referral source, send a note of thanks. A token of sincere gratitude is always well received—and we like to help those who appreciate our gestures.
Take an old classmate to lunch. Is there someone from college or law school whom you haven’t seen in a long time, or with whom your interaction is limited to Facebook? Reconnect in person by getting together for lunch.
Seize a volunteer opportunity. Does your children’s school need volunteers to work the concession stand during basketball games? Is your neighborhood organization hosting a Valentine’s Day party? Volunteer a few hours of your time to help set up. Volunteering is a great way to meet people who share interests with you.
Catch up over coffee. Meet a client, former client, expert or other professional— psychiatrist, social worker, accountant or engineer—for coffee. Find out how your acquaintance is doing and use the time to learn about new developments in that person’s field or business. An expert may also be able to offer insight into what is and isn’t working when it comes to pretrial and trial strategy.
Send a note of congratulations to a colleague you know and admire who has recently been showcased in the media. Whether it’s a good settlement, a hard-won verdict, a guest article or a quote in the media as a legal expert, everyone likes to be acknowledged. Even if the lawyer practices the same type of law, there are always cases involving conflicts, and your genuine gesture could pay dividends later. For an extra boost, send a copy of the clip.
Report a verdict or settlement. Perhaps you’ve tried or settled a case in the past several months but haven’t gotten around to submitting it for publication. Make February the month when you finally write the case up and getting it published. For a lawyer, real results are the best form of promotion.
Inform the public about new hires, honors, awards and speeches. Send a press release to the legal, business and general media announcing your news. Include alumni magazines in your release. Growth, whether in the personnel department or professional development, is positive news indeed.

You know the old adage: Every journey, even the longest, begins with a single step. These are seven small steps for you to use as you begin your journey to boost your visibility and promote your legal practice.

As extra incentive for you to stay on track with your promotional efforts, Legal Media Matters is offering a 10 percent discount on the flat fee price of legal press releases and trial reports to new clients.

The new-client discount is good for one press release or trial report booked on or before Feb. 14. Simply fill out the online contact form and include “Promote Your Practice Offer” in the body of the comment section.

Want more legal PR , marketing and attorney website content ideas? Subscribe to the Legal Media Matters email alerts: Get articles via e-mail

10 LinkedIn Groups For Managing And Marketing A Law Firm

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:47:58 GMT

LinkedIn Groups are some of the best places for learning and discussing the most recent topics in law firm marketing and management. Keep in mind that if you have a free LinkedIn account, you can only join 50 groups. Here is a quick list of 10 of our favorites: Lawyer Marketing | Grow your [...]

Lawyer Marketing | Grow your practice*
Bisnar’s Lawyer Marketing Mastermind Group
Marketing the Law Firm
Lawyers & Legal Professionals using JD Supra
Lawyer Marketing 2.0*
Legal Innovation
Legal Marketing
Legal Blogging
Avvo Lawyers
LEGALTECH

*Groups we moderate

Come join the discussion.

LinkedIn Guide For Lawyers

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