Archive for the ‘Legal Blogging’ Category

Turning Your Legal Blog into a Rainmaker 24/7

Monday, December 6th, 2010

If you have been an attorney for any length of time, you are probably very familiar with the term “rainmaker” as well as understanding exactly what it takes to be a rainmaker in the legal profession (profile the ideal client, develop a strategy, identify what clients need, ask for client’s opinions and make them feel like part of the team, communicate effectively, ask open-ended questions, listen to the answer, attend trade shows your clients might attend, etc. etc.) Perhaps you haven’t really considered, however, in our new digital age, how to be a successful rainmaker online. It has been theorized that twenty percent of legal firm lawyers bring in 80 percent of the business. With the Internet and social media rapidly turning into the primary path for people to find lawyers and legal information, the ability to “make it rain,” in your online presence, can be a mighty ability indeed.

The Importance of Your Brand

Although you may not even realize it, the most effective brands on television are not wishy-washy about what they do—we all know that Snickers satisfies, right? Many attorneys attempt to be all things to all people, which, if your firm really can practice every single type of law, good for you. But, even if it happens to be true, advertising your firm as a jack-of-all-trades can make it next to impossible to get quality online attention. Find your specific niche, then go after it, remember the rule of online marketing which is to market specifically, but practice broadly. Who is your ideal client? Answer that question, then go after that ideal client through your online presence, (website, social media), with a vengeance.

Your Online Profile—More Critical Than You Think

You probably already know this, but the legal world is unbelievably competitive, and, really, most people just don’t want to hire an attorney. What they do want to hire is someone they can trust and respect, both as their legal counsel and as a human being. If you are being diligent about maintaining an active online presence in the world of social media, you are promoting personal relationships with the people who will be your future clients and refer you to others—after all, isn’t that the whole idea of rainmaking? Building your online presence can include following and “friending” other people, then creating the most useful, high-quality content which your own followers will find applicable to their particular legal situations. Reading and commenting on content created by others is nearly as useful, although it will take time and energy on your part.

Ensure the Content You Create is Extremely Targeted

You are an attorney, thus a professional; you know important and serious things, and you write about issues which have value and importance to others. If you make sure your online content is created with your ideal client in mind, social medial will allow you to spread that content virally, making sure it will be passed over time and time again. When considering legal issues, the consumer generally wants to read something like “Seven Tips To Remember When Choosing a Criminal Lawyer,” or “How to Budget for Your Pending Litigation;” in other words, they want well-organized lists which gives them something solid and real to take away.

Try Moving Your Social Media Online Conversations Offline

If you happen to engage with somebody interesting online, what should you do next? Exactly what you would do if a particularly interesting client was in your lobby, and you struck up a conversation. Set up a phone call, breakfast, or lunch to enable you to get to know them better in the “real world.” Online connections are fun, sure, but it’s the offline connections that lead to business, which in turn leads to revenue.

Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up….

If you don’t already have a legal newsletter—get one. The monthly information you send to your connections can be invaluable in your quest for repeated contacts. Those who know about the rule of sales are aware that it generally takes seven points of contact before a person is ready to buy your goods or services. Social media allows you to pass along articles, comment on activities which your potential clients may be involved in, or just maintain friendships. Try to make sure your overall legal marketing plan is always hovering in the background of your mind so that your social media can fit into it nicely. Take the time to help others and offer advice when you are online, and it will come back to you many times over. If you praise the work of others, it is likely you will get praise back. Even online, the golden rule is alive and well….and extremely applicable in the context of social media.

Becoming a Rainmaker through social media is a process, and the process will not work for you if you only log in once a month. Do your best to spend at least twenty minutes per day building your online presence; set measurable goals and follow up, and the rain will surely come.

FREE ADVICE from experienced law firm blog marketers is available by calling (769) 218-6099.  Speak to an expert, not a sales representative!

Law Firm Blog Maintenance Tools and Content Management Software

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Since you already (hopefully) have your legal blog up and running and are reaping the rewards from a job well-done, don’t forget the importance of constantly maintaining your legal blogs. You can choose to update your blog or blogs the old-fashioned way—by hand, one at a time, or you can use a tool like Ping.fm, which allows you to update them all at once, although you must compose a blog post to do so.  You could also use RSS, which stands for Real Simple Syndication and essentially allows you to find or create an RSS feed which updates your blog in a more mechanical way, through an RSS URL feed, which feeds data you have chosen as content you would like to see on your blog as updates to your blogs. This method does definitely lack the personal touch, but can be somewhat effective. Beyond these two methods, there are plenty of maintenance that should be done on a regular basis to ensure your blog sites remain worry-free and exceptionally effective.

WordPress Applications Which Need Regular Checkups

WordPress can be an absolutely fantastic for your legal blogging, as it is generally full of features, fast, and works flawlessly—at least the majority of the time. Sometimes, however, we human beings play around with the program, installing themes or plug-ins, which can eventually make WordPress go crazy. To ensure your blog problems don’t have a runaway, make sure you do regular check-ups and maintenance such as:

  • Check your feeds—they can be broken without you even knowing it, so test them well.
  • Contact pages can be broken as well without your knowledge—check them often.
  • When you set up your blog WordPress automatically fills in the About section. Specific themes may display your About section on the main page by default, so make sure the information provided is always updated and filled out to avoid seeming unprofessional.
  • Make sure you check the bottoms of every page as they can appear to be working properly while hiding an error at the end.
  • Adsense Ads can confuse GoogleBot, causing it to show irrelevant ads on your blog which can be extremely detrimental; look into some of the plug-ins out there for targeting Adsense.
  • Be sure to check your link bar for broken links; you don’t want dead links sitting in your sidebar wasting space—and people’s precious time.

WordPress Plug-ins Which Can Help Your Legal Blog

Once your law firm’s blog has been up and running, for months, or even years, it is a sure bet that some of your links will be broken. Use Broken Link Checker as a plug in on WordPress to automatically find broken links, saving you time. Word Press Antivirus checks your theme for any lurking malicious code; you can easily enable a daily scan to ensure nobody is able to insert malicious code. Akismet is a spam-fighting tool for WordPress which can totally eradicate spam on your blog, and Redirect can help you redirect (hence the name) all URLs to the settings of your choice, thus preventing Google from thinking your site has duplicate content. Finally, the WP Security Scan can check to make sure your WordPress installation is secure by looking at several different factors including password strength and database security.

A Few More Tips for Legal Blog Maintenance

Blog maintenance also includes refreshing your header banner and site images on a regular basis, at least monthly, in order to keep the site looking new for your visitors. We humans tend to pay more attention to any site if we have the perception it is different, even slightly. Check your sidebar links for dead links, making sure it remains fresh and relevant, and that the sites you link to are current and are consistently providing content of quality which you support. Your content pages are essential to the success of your website so should be consistently updated with quality content, making them valuable to your readers and potential clients. Make sure your About page is consistently updated with content and photos. Perhaps someone in your firm has recently won a high profile case, or your firm is adding a specialty, these things definitely need updating. Consider enhancing and expanding your top five blog posts of the month; look over them and look for any outdated information, or take direction from the questions or comments your received on a particular blog. All of these tips, if done on a regular basis can ensure that your legal blog remains high in the search engine rankings, bringing traffic, thus revenue to your law firm.