How to get more search engine traffic

February 6, 2014 by
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Would you like to get more search engine traffic from prospective clients who are looking for a lawyer who does what you do? I thought you might. Okay, let’s write a blog post together and make that happen.

The title of your post is, “What to ask a _______ lawyer”. (Fill in the blank with words that describe one of your practice areas.)

Why this title? Because every day, prospective clients type the following words into a search engine: “What to ask a ________ lawyer?”

Are you with me? You’re going to write a post that uses the exact keywords that your prospective clients are searching for. Put those keywords in your title and again in the body of your post.

Later, you can write variations on this original post with similar keywords they may use in their query, i.e., “What questions to ask. . .,” “What do I need to know about. . .,” “What information should I find out about. . .”, and so on.

Now, write five to ten questions prospective clients should ask a lawyer in your field. Start by jotting down the questions prospective clients typically ask you. Add some questions they don’t ask, but should.

Here are some ideas to help you get started:

Background/experience: Years in practice, practice areas, certification/specialty, awards, jury verdicts, etc.

Doing business: Fees/payment plans, free consultation, satisfaction guarantee, etc.

Procedural: How long, what happens first, what happens after that, what if X happens?

Law/advice: Why do I need to do X? or  When would you recommend x instead of y?

Why you: Why should I hire you instead of any other lawyer in your field? or What do you do/offer that other attorneys don’t do/offer?

Personal/philosophy: What do you like best about your practice?or Why do you do what you do?

Once you have the questions, answer them. Obviously, you should have a good answer to these questions yourself.

Many, if not all of these questions, should already be answered on your website, on a FAQ page, your “About” page, and in articles or posts. Then, in this new post, link to those other pages or posts so the reader can get more information.

And, that’s all there is to it.

Now, when someone searches for “What to ask a _______ lawyer?” in your market, there’s a good chance your post will come up at or near the top of the search results. When the reader clicks through and reads your post, they’re going to find exactly what they have been searching for and see that you have some really good answers to those questions.

Targeted traffic made simple.

Want more ways to get more search engine traffic? Click here.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , ,

Quick and painless blogging for lawyers

February 4, 2014 by
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One of the reasons lawyers often cite for not writing a blog is that it takes too much time. But it doesn’t have to.

This morning, I was reading, 12 Most Tedious Blogging Tasks You Can Outsource, and thought, “great topic for lawyers.” But as I went through the list of tasks, I thought, “I don’t do that”. In fact, I don’t do many of the things on the list, and the ones I do take me very little time.

Here’s the list of tasks, and what I do:

  1. Editing. I do my own. If I’m unsure about something, I run it by my wife.
  2. Finding photos. I used to add photos but I rarely do now, primarily because it takes too much time to find the right one and make sure I have the right to use it.
  3. Resizing and retitling photos. See above.
  4. Formatting. This takes seconds. I paste my text into the WordPress composition window, add bold or bullets or numbering, and done.
  5. Writing social media updates to promote the post. I paste the url of the post into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. If my title is well written, that’s usually enough. I could do more here, I admit, but social media isn’t a major focus for me, so I don’t.
  6. Posting multiple updates once the post is live. I don’t do this either, but if I did, I’d automate it, as the author suggests.
  7. Social media mentions for anyone referenced in the post. If I want to reach out to someone I’ve written about, I’ll send them an email, and this doesn’t happen too often.
  8. Monitoring blog comments. I don’t get a lot of comments (lawyers are busy, yo), so not a problem. If I did, and it took too much time, I would consider outsourcing this. Or, just turn off comments.
  9. Monitoring social media activity. Again, I don’t do much with social media, so I don’t have much to monitor.
  10. Handling guest contributions. To date, I have one guest post on my blog. If I was doing this regularly, I would turn this over to an assistant.
  11. Managing audio and video files and slideshows. Nope.
  12. Writing. I like to write and make time for it. If I was still practicing, I would probably post once or twice a week, instead of daily as I do now. If I still didn’t have enough time, I’d have an assistant help with ideas, research, rough drafts, editing, polishing, and so on.

Blogging for lawyers doesn’t have to be tedious, time consuming, or painful. For one thing, as I wrote in a previous post, having a blog doesn’t make you a blogger.

I see writing a blog as, (a) a strategy for generating traffic, mostly from search engines, and build my list, and (b) a way to show website visitors what I know and what I can do to help them. This doesn’t (have to) take a lot of time. You could write a weekly blog post in an hour or less.

I don’t do much with social media. Many experts say that blogging and social media are inexorably intertwined. That may be true for (some? most?) bloggers but not for me. If you’re not writing a blog because you don’t have time for social media, or don’t like social media, you could do what I do. Or you could get some help.

I wrote a course on getting traffic (and clients) online. Click here.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Writing

How to start your writing project (finally)

January 15, 2014 by
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I want to help you start your writing project. You know, the one you’ve thinking about for months but haven’t been able to start.

A report, a book, a seminar, some blog posts. Something you can use in your marketing.

Whatever it is, if you’ve been procrastinating on getting started, today is the day you start.

And guess what? Starting is the most important part.

The first thing you need to do is to think about why you’re doing this. What do you hope to accomplish?

Whatever your objective, imagine it already being done.

If you want to write a few blog posts so you can attract new clients online, imagine getting an email or phone call from a prospective client who finds you through your posts. Imagine him telling you they like your site and were impressed by your post. Imagine him asking for an appointment.

Nice.

As you imagine this happy outcome, you may feel an emotional tug and the urge to start writing. Often, this is all you need to get your pen moving. If not, go for a walk or for a drive and think about this some more. Bring a recorder, in case you get inspired.

Now what?

Now you need a working title. It doesn’t have to be brilliant. You’ll make it better later. Write something simple to describe what your article, post, or paper is about.

“My [article/post/book] is about __________________.”

What if you don’t know what to write about? Try this: think about the questions prospective clients typically ask you about their case or matter. The ones you get over and over again. Choose one of those questions. That question, and your answer, is what your article is about.

Got it? Good.

Now I want you to write down three ideas or points you think you might include in your article or post. This can be a short sentence, a phrase, or a single word.

Do this quickly. Write down the first three things that come to mind.

Why just three things? Because three is easy. If you want to write down more than three, that’s fine.

You’re making progress. You have a working title and three points you want to write about. You’ve started. You may feel like continuing and getting the thing written. If you do, just start typing or dictating or scribbling. Before you know it, you’ll have your first draft.

If you’re still having trouble getting started, choose a date when you’ll have this done and mark it on your calendar. Don’t give yourself too much time. In fact, choose a date that gives you less time than you think you’ll need. Like tomorrow. Or the the first of next week.

Seriously. You can write an article in 30 minutes, a short report or ebook in a weekend.

Finally, if you’re still having trouble getting started, or you’ve started but can’t seem to finish, here’s what I suggest.

Call up a lawyer friend and tell him what you’re writing. Tell him when it will be finished, the actual date, and that you’ll send him a copy. And then ask him to hold you accountable. Tell him you’ve been procrastinating on this and that if you don’t get it done on the specified date, you want him to call you on it.

Accountability is very powerful. It will help you get your writing project started. And finished.

The 30-Day Referral Blitz has lots of ideas for topics and titles. Check it out here.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Personal development, Writing Tagged With: ,

Lawyers with blogs aren’t necessarily bloggers

January 13, 2014 by
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One of the best ways to show prospective clients and referral sources what you can do to help them and the people they know is to post high quality information on your website. Whether that information comes in the form of articles, blog posts, videos, or anything else isn’t that important. It’s also unimportant whether you post that information on a static website or a blog.

If you post your content on a blog, that doesn’t make you a blogger. A blog is merely a convenient format for displaying content to visitors in a way that is accessible and search engine friendly.

Blogging is often said to be more than just writing and posting content. We are told that there is a distinct social aspect to blogging, involving things like engaging visitors through comments, interviewing subject matter experts, and conversing with other bloggers. But it appears that the importance of these activities may be overstated.

I read a post this morning which asked whether introverts can be successful bloggers. The author cites Pete Cashmore (Mashable), Guy Kawasaki, Brian Clark (Coppyblogger), and Darren Rowse (Problogger.net), four successful bloggers and self-confessed introverts, in support of his position that yes, introverts can be successful bloggers. In fact, these four individuals have all built big businesses through blogging.

I noted recently that a preponderance of attorneys are introverts. I am, too. I have a successful business that is built on a framework of blogging. While I don’t ignore the social aspects of the job, my primary focus is on creating and delivering content.

Am I a blogger? Perhaps. I don’t know. I really don’t care. What’s important is I don’t let my introversion stop me from leveraging the power of the Internet, and neither should you.

Quality content attracts traffic via search engines and social sharing (done by your visitors). That content then educates visitors about their legal issues and the possible solutions. In so doing, it shows those visitors how you can help them and demonstrates your skills and experience. It helps visitors get to know, like, and trust you, and prompts them to hire you or inquire about doing so. If they’re not ready to hire you immediately, your content can prompt them to join your email list so you can stay in touch with them until they are ready to take the next step.

If you want to add more of the social elements to the mix, that’s fine. It can help. And if you’re an extrovert, you’ll be naturally inclined to do so. But if you are an introvert, you can dabble with the social aspects, as I do, or ignore them completely.

You don’t have to be an extrovert to have a blog and lawyers with blogs aren’t necessarily bloggers.

Content marketing for attorneys. Click here to learn how.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , ,

How NOT to propose a guest post

January 2, 2014 by
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One of the best ways to get targeted traffic to your blog or website is to write guest posts on other blogs in your target market. Guest posts bring traffic from prospective clients, exposure to prospective referral sources, sign-ups for your newsletter, and new clients. They should be a regular part of your online marketing activity.

Getting the go-ahead for a guest post is not that difficult, especially for a lawyer. Show the owner of the blog that you have something to say that will be of interest to their readers, show them that you are qualified to say it, and show them that you can write.

I get a lot of emails offering to write guest posts for my blog. Most of them don’t follow these basic guidelines and get no more than a glance from me before I delete them. Like this one which arrived this morning:

—
Hi,
I am interested in guest’s posting on your site, how much time you will take to review my articles. I assure you that all content will be legal and would add value to your reader.
Here are samples given below:

[links]

Kindest Regards

[Name]
—-

C’mon now, really?

If you want me to consider you for a guest post, sending me a poorly written bulk email with links to poorly written, off-target articles isn’t going to cut it.

Show me that you read my blog and understand my readers. Comment on one or two of my posts and tell me what you like about them.

Tell me what you propose: What would you write about and why would this be of interest to my readers? How would it be different from anything they might read elsewhere?

Tell me why you are qualified to write this. What is your background? Do you have your own blog I can look at? Have you done guest posts on other blogs?

It’s not difficult. And plenty of blogs want guest posts, especially from subject matter experts. You provide their readers with quality information and they provide you with traffic. You get to demonstrate your expertise to a targeted market of prospective clients and they get the day off from writing.

That’s the good news. The even better news is that because so few people follow these basic guidelines, blog owners are inundated with unprofessional proposals like the one above, making it so much easier for you to get their attention.

In fifteen minutes of searching you could find dozens of blogs in your target market that accept guest posts and would love to hear from you. Spend some time reading those blogs and then approach them with a proposal.

Learn more about guest posts, traffic, and marketing online for attorneys.

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Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Web traffic

Content marketing for lawyers made even simpler

December 13, 2013 by
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In Make the Phone Ring, my Internet marketing course for attorneys, I provide a comprehensive list of ideas attorneys can use to create content for their blog or newsletter. They can also be used to produce reports, presentations, articles, videos, and other kinds of content.

Whether you have my course or not, today I want to give you a homework assignment that will help you create ideas for content almost automatically. You see, it’s one thing to go looking for ideas when you need them. It’s something else to have those ideas coming to your in-box every day, filling your mind with raw material and providing you with a starting point for creating rich, timely and interesting content.

Your assignment is to subscribe to three types of newsletters (blogs, RSS feeds, ezines, etc.):

  1. Other lawyers. Find lawyers both in your field and also in other fields and subscribe to their newsletters or blogs. You may start out with seven or eight and then cut back to the best three or four. You’ll get ideas for your own articles, which may include commenting directly on theirs. You’ll also see how often they publish, how long their posts are, and what types of posts they write (case histories, news, commentary, etc.)
  2. Your target market. Read what your target market is reading–news about their industry or local community, for example. Also read the content produced by those who sell to or advise your target market–vendors, consultants, businesses, and other professionals. You’ll learn about the news, issues, causes, and trends that affect your clients, prospective clients, and referral sources. You may also identify new marketing opportunities as you learn about those trends and the people associated with them.
  3. Something different. Subscribe to content that interests you and has nothing to do with the law or your client’s industry. It could be hobby related or any kind of outside interest–tech, travel, food, sports, news. I get lots of ideas by reading outside my main areas of focus, and so will you. You’ll be able to create richer, more interesting content. And it doesn’t matter if your readers don’t share your interest. Not everyone follows sports, for example, but on some level, everyone can relate to sports analogies.

Content marketing for lawyers is relatively simple. Subscribing to other people’s content makes it even simpler.

Get Make the Phone Ring and get more clients on the Internet. Click here.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Presentations, Public Speaking, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Ron Burgundy promoting your law practice?

December 11, 2013 by
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Advertising works. Even silly campaigns like the one Dodge is running featuring fictional newscaster Ron Burgundy, played by actor Will Farrell, as spokesman. Sales of the Dodge Durango were up 36% in November versus last year, thanks to these ads and the tie-in with the upcoming sequel to the 2004 hit movie, Anchorman.

Why do these ads work? There’s nothing new being said about the Durango. And the Ron Burgundy character isn’t a car expert, fictional or otherwise. It works because people recognize the character, talk about the ads, and think about the Durango when they are in the market for a new vehicle.

Most lawyers don’t use celebrity endorsements in their advertising, but they could. It’s not as expensive as you might think to hire a former sports figure or B-list actor. In fact, there are agents who specialize in booking their clients for just this purpose. I recall seeing former Los Angeles Dodger’s stars Steve Garvey and Ron Cey doing local TV ads long after they were retired from playing.

Also, you don’t need someone whom “everyone” would recognize. You can hire someone who is well known in your niche market. The former head of a trade association, for example.

But let’s say you don’t want to hire anyone. Hell, let’s say you don’t want to do any paid advertising, (or aren’t allowed to). What then? You can still leverage the celebrity of famous people.

My friend, attorney Mitch Jackson, regularly interviews famous people for his video podcast. These videos bring traffic to his website and bolster his reputation as someone who is successful enough to have famous people willing to “take his call”. In essence, their appearance on his “show” provides an implied endorsement for his practice.

How did he get some of these folks to agree to an interview? I’m sure he’ll tell you he just asked them. Celebrities, speakers, authors, professionals, and entrepreneurs need exposure. I love being interviewed. It free advertising, easy to do, and lots of fun.

If you don’t have a podcast, video or otherwise, you could interview well known people for your blog or newsletter. Who do you know who is famous, if not to the world, within your target market? Do you have a famous client or friend? If not, do you know someone who does?

If nobody comes to mind, ask yourself, “Who would I like to know? Who might my market like to hear me interview? What semi-famous person has a list of followers or fans who would be good candidates for my services?’

Another thing you can do is piggyback on a charitable cause. Invite celebrities to come to an event you are involved with, lend their name to it, or promote it to their social media channels. Celebrities love to be seen associated with causes they believe in.

You don’t need a direct endorsement for your services to benefit from a celebrity’s name recognition. Even mentioning that you met a well known person at an event you attended has value. Hey, you don’t even need to talk to them. Just take selfies with famous people and post them online.

Do you have a marketing plan for next year? Start with this.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Publicity, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Why lawyers should start a SECOND blog

November 8, 2013 by
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“Blog” is a scary word for some lawyers. They think it takes too much time relative to the rewards, and/or that they don’t have anything to write about that anybody (i.e., prospective clients) would want to read.

This isn’t true. But let’s put that aside for now and talk about why you should start your second blog. (If you don’t have your first blog, you can come back and start that later.)

And by the way, don’t call it a blog if that word makes you nervous. Call it a “website with mostly non-promotional content,” because that’s what it is.

Anyway, why should lawyers start a second blog? To attract prospective clients, of course. And the people who can refer them.

Here’s the idea: you choose a subject that is of interest to your target market (or the people who can refer them) and that also interests you. You write about that subject and post it on a blog, er, website. Interested people find your content and read it. They sign up for your list to get more of your awesomeness. They promote your content to their friends and followers, colleagues and business associates. Your list grows and grows.

You briefly mention your day job to everyone who visits the site and signs up for your list. You tell them what you do and provide a link to your legal website. Every so often, you remind them about what you do.

So, now you have a list of people who share an interest with you. They know, like, and trust you, and while their trust is not directly related to your legal services, when they need a lawyer who does what you do, it won’t be difficult for them to make that leap.

You create this website, promote it, and have fun with it. You write about things that interest your visitors and subscribers and yourself. Or, if “writing” is a scary word for you, think of it as “curating” other people’s content that you append with your brief comments.

Do you see how this could be easy and how it could also bring you a lot of business? Basically, you are expanding your “warm market” (people who know you). When those people need a lawyer, or when someone they know needs a lawyer, you’ll be at or near the top of their list.

What do you write about (or curate)? Well, what interests you?

If you love sports and lots of your prospective clients do too, bada bing, there’s your subject.

You could write about classic cars, photography, food, exercise, or travel. Whatever floats your boat. Hey, how about boating?

What about referral sources? Well, for other lawyers, you could write trial tips, law office management, or marketing (!) Tell them how you do what you do.

You could write about personal development, productivity, or your favorite technology.

In other words, you could write about anything, so long as there are enough people in your target market who share your interest. And if there aren’t, you could always start your third blog.

For help in creating and growing your second blog (or your first), click here.

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Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, Online Marketing, Referral sources, Writing Tagged With: , ,

Here’s a topic for your newsletter or blog

October 17, 2013 by
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I just updated my privacy settings on Google. They were going to use my name and face in ads. Now they can’t. It was easy. Here’s how to update your Google settings.

Next, Facebook. Last time I checked, my settings allowed anyone to post updates on the front lawn of my house. Or something like that.

By the way, if you know how to turn off all game invitations, could you do me a solid and let me know?

Anyway, privacy is a hot topic today, and your clients want to know what you think and even more, what you advise. If you’re looking for a topic for your newsletter or blog, something that will get opened and read and appreciated (and bring you some search traffic, too), this is it.

What are the current laws? What needs to be changed? What can people do to protect themselves?

Do you have an opinion on Snowden, the NSA, or The Patriot Act? Have we gone too far in the name of stopping terrorism or is our lack of privacy a necessary evil?

You don’t have to take a position if you don’t want to. You could present both sides and let your readers decide. Or, you could come out with both barrels blazing and get people fired up.

At the very least, pass along to your readers some basic information about how to update their settings, as I did at the top of this article. Of course changing settings doesn’t really protect you from much of anything. It just makes us feel a little less powerless than we really are.

Get hundreds of ideas for your blog or newsletter with this.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , ,

Attorney website content for getting more referrals

September 17, 2013 by
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A lawyer in New York needs a lawyer in San Diego (that’s where you are) who does what you do. He’s got a client he needs to refer. Will he find your site? Will he like what he sees enough to recommend you?

An attorney across the street has a client to refer and doesn’t know anyone who does what you do. Will he find your site? Will he recommend you?

If you want to get more referrals from other lawyers, your website should have content for other lawyers.

Start with keywords.

A lawyer may include keywords in his or her search that are different from those used by prospective clients. He may want a lawyer who belongs to a certain bar association, for example, or who has a certain designation (i.e., “Certified Specialist”). He may use certain geographic keywords in his search that a local would not use.

Make sure your pages and posts are optimized for those keywords and phrases.

Set up landing pages specifically for other attorneys. Greet them “lawyer to lawyer”. Tell them about yourself the way you would if you were meeting in person or speaking on the phone.

Offer them lawyer-like content (articles, posts, white papers, briefs, etc.) that demonstrates your bona fides and makes them see you as a peer. Use terminology and examples likely to resonate with a practicing lawyer.

Talk about how you work with other attorneys. Provide stories and testimonials from other attorneys who have given you referrals. Talk about referrals you have given, too. If appropriate, talk about referral fees and how you handle them.

Provide content that helps lawyers do a better job for their clients. For out of state lawyers, for example, you might write an article on, “What out of state lawyers must know about [your field] in [your state or province]. For local lawyers in other practice areas, “What every [your state or province] lawyer who doesn’t handle [your field] needs to know about [your field]”.

Once you’ve done this, do the same thing for non-lawyer referral sources.

Your attorney website content shouldn’t be limited to prospective clients. Professionals and others have clients, customers, or patients to refer. Help them find you, give them reasons to trust you, and you will get more referrals.

For help with your attorney website content, get my Internet marketing course for attorneys.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referral sources, Referrals Tagged With: , , ,
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