Follow these tips and you'll always have something better to say than this!

Blogging is an easy way to attract more attention to your website. Lawyers’ blogs can be extremely popular and informative if published correctly. There are several things you can do to increase your law blogs’ popularity.

Not publishing consistently is one of the most common mistakes made by bloggers. Readers want to see consistent posts. If you let too much time pass in-between posts readers may think you’ve abandoned your blog. Worse yet, if your blog is linked to your website potential customers may assume your website is also out of date, rendering all of your valuable information useless.

Another common mistake bloggers can make is lack of professionalism in posts. Readers don’t want a lawyer that can’t produce a professional blog. If you want to write about something personal or anything you’re opinionated about, keep a blog separate from your firms’. Keeping a personal blog anonymous may also be a good idea. Your legal blog should only contain objective and helpful information.

Bringing community affairs into your blog is a great way to invite locals to visit your blog. Post information related to the legal issues surrounding top news in your community and readers will be flocking to your blog to keep up to date on current affairs. Just be sure to keep it objective and stick to the facts. Don’t let your opinions or emotions override your good judgment when writing, and responding to, posts.

If readers can’t understand what you’ve written they won’t be in a big hurry to visit again. While legal terms may be second nature to you, they’ll easily leave your readers confused and stressed out. Thoroughly explaining any legal jargon and using simple terms when possible will help your readers understand the topic at hand.

Using some common sense and following these simple tips will help you to use your blog to your firms’ advantage. Thinking before you post could easily mean the difference between a few sporadic page views and hundreds of loyal, weekly readers.

To learn more about Client Center, please visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/law-firm-marketing/feature/client-center/.

In an earlier post about marketing during a recession, I suggested recording short, informative movies and clips about your business. I’ll add to that by recommending you be genuine, passionate and energetic in front of the camera.

Video offers an opportunity to make you more personable and approachable, all of which influence that first client meeting.

Video Makes Your Website Sticky
Since it’s not uncommon for a website visitor to leave almost as soon as they click through to your website (just look at your Bounce Rate on Google Analytics if you don’t believe me), you immediately engage with video and keep them looking longer. So instead of viewing just one page, they’re more than likely to read on once they’ve viewed your video.

Here are some additional thoughts on using website videos to grow your practice:

• Keep videos short. We’re used to consuming content in bite-sized chunks, so try to keep your video under 30 seconds. Of course, if yours is longer, record the most important information first.
• When posting videos on your web pages, make sure to include content within context around the video. Consider posting a transcript as well.
• Now that you’ve recorded one or several videos, create your own YouTube channel and upload. Also use a service like TubeMogul for distribution to several dozen video search engines. Website videos are proven to increase your exposure on search engines. And if you’re listed attorney on Lawyers.com, add your video to your profile.
• Don’t forget a clear, call to action at the end of your video. Viewers should be invited to call or message you for further information about their particular legal needs.

And for those of you wondering where my videos are, stay tuned!

Photo credit by t9t.

A client testimonial!

An Econsultancy article from July 2009 refers to a Nielsen survey showing that 90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know and 70% trust opinions of unknown users. The client referral pays you once (maybe twice), but the client testimonial earns it keep every time it’s used.

Here is a sample template you could use (where permitted and based on your profession) to solicit better testimonials:

1. Why did you retain (business name) for your (service provided) needs?
2. Please list three things you like most about our services. Why do you like them?
3. What, in your opinion, is the strongest feature of our services? Why?
4. Is there anything about our services you would like to see changed?
5. May we use your comments for promotional purposes?

Once you get these back, have them signed and dated for everyone’s benefit. Then use them on your website and in other promotional materials.

The solution? Stop and regroup.

Don’t worry about what your competition is doing. Instead, plan out your own client development strategies and work your plan. You’ll sleep better, and your competition will worry about you instead.

Related Posts

• Three Free Ways to Grow Your Business in 2010
• The Guiding Principle of Marketing
• Strategy to get More Testimonials

But if you really want to know what’s on their minds, survey them.

When writing your survey questions, keep them brief. I’m sure a study has been done somewhere proving a drop in response for each additional question on a survey, so limit to a half-dozen or so. Be clear, concise and always thank your clients in advance for their participation.

With today’s technology, it won’t cost a fortune to gather valuable business intelligence. Here are a few tools for surveying clients:

• Survey Monkey
• Zoomerang
• Cvent
• Poll Daddy – especially easy to integrate into your Twitter account (you are on Twitter, right?)

The most important thing when surveying? Not what you ask, but how you apply the answers to your business.

Photo credit by kikashi.

• The purpose of the plan (what you want out of it — more sales, more website visitors, more email leads, etc.)
• Your main benefit to clients (more on this later)
• Your target audience(s) — describe the ideal client very specifically
• Your marketing budget, expressed as a percentage of gross sales, so it grows in step with your business’ growth

How to Define Your Niche
Your main benefit, or why a client does business with you, is critical to your success, so invest the time needed to carefully think about and answer these questions:

• How do I solve a client’s problem, achieve their goals or satisfy wants?
• What can I do to create desire for my service? Could be based around convenience, speed or a promotion.
• Could I make my service solve multiple problems or achieve multiple goals for my clients?
• What can I do to make it easier for clients to do business with me? For example, convenient hours, value pricing, excellent staff members, variety of services, speed of delivery, etc.

With your niche and plan in place, you’ll give clients a reason to hire you – and be foolish if they went with a competitor!

Photo credit by saavem.

After being introduced by Erin Melton Shea, an Associate with Rainey, Kizer in Memphis, I immediately fielded questions about SEO, social marketing, and reputation management. The comments were common:

• Do I need a blog?
• Should I be on LinkedIn?
• Do I need a listing on Lawyers.com?

Etc. (with a “yes” answer to all). We also talked at length about SEO, such as what factors play into your positioning on search engines, as well as how to measure success. My initial response about success measurement was a simple ranking report. But are these reports useful in today’s search landscape? We all know Google and other search engines serve up different results to each of us, based partly on our past search history, physical location and any given number of other factors. So if I check rankings for some keywords, you may do the same test and see very different placements.

In the SEO business, we tend to lean heavily on ranking reports as a measure of success, especially since most regular people looking for a lawyer online believe those listed first or amongst the first page are more important. But I think we need to look beyond these reports. Our objective with SEO is to ultimately drive conversions through great placements online. So placing too much value on a ranking report without looking at the overall traffic and conversion data is misleading and often causes frustration for your client.

I think we’re at or past the point where single purpose rankings reports are meaningful. I’m going to look at SEO campaigns more holistically, using rankings as a piece of the overall success, and lean more on results — leads, calls and inquiries. What do you think?

• List all practice areas you serve, not just the broad category. For example, if you’re a family lawyer, look at listing in categories like divorce, custody, parental rights, etc. Search results do not necessarily roll-up to the parent category, and you’ll be much more relevant to the searcher by including a practice area within your profile.
• Add content to your profile. Lawyers.com gives you the ability to add an unlimited amount of content about your firm, for each attorney’s profile and more. Take advantage of this feature when offered.
• List all cities where you’ll take clients. If you’re a criminal lawyer in Austin, cross-reference your profile in places like Round Rock, Cedar Park and Georgetown.
• Photos. All lawyers in your firm should have a professional photograph as part of their biographical profile. We’re visual by nature, and photographs help to personalize your listing. They also increase your call and contact rates.
• Add your firm logo to the overall listing. As with photographs, your firm’s logo personalizes the listing. If you don’t have a logo, take a clipping of your website header (you do have a website, don’t you?). And while you’re at it, provide as much information about your office hours, forms of payment, etc.
• Add a tag line. And no, “attorneys at law” doesn’t count. Tag lines are displayed on Lawyers.com search results, and increase the call and contact rate. Example tag lines:
• Former Prosecutor. Aggressive Representation.
• Former Adjuster Who Knows How Insurance Companies Work

Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be well on your way to improved visibility, contact rates and client conversion!

Photo credit by Mattox.