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

Trust me, I’m a lawyer

January 29, 2014 by
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We all know that if people don’t trust you, they won’t hire you. And trust is not automatic. You have to earn it. 

Many people will give you the benefit of the doubt, at first, especially if you were referred to them. But their trust can be lost in a heartbeat.

My wife used a referral service she likes to have some roofers come out for an inspection. First one, great. On time, friendly, plain spoken. He showed her photos of some minor issues that need work and gave her an estimate. She liked what he said and he’s in the running.

Yesterday, the second one showed up (from the same referral service), but there was a problem. He couldn’t get up on the roof. It seems he had a short, fold-up ladder, which he transported in the trunk of his car, and it wouldn’t reach. When my wife asked why he didn’t bring a longer ladder, he explained that he would need to drive a truck and the gas would be too expensive.

Done. My wife instantly knew this guy wouldn’t get the job.

He said he could send someone with the truck later in the week. Right, after waiting for this guy to show up and experiencing his bewildering lack of preparedness, my wife will happily sit around waiting for one of his guys to show up. Guess again.

“I don’t trust him,” she told me. And I don’t blame her.

So now, he’s not getting the job and he’ll get a bad review on the referral service website.

Booyah.

Prospective clients aren’t looking for a reason to hire you so much as they are looking for a reason to disqualify you. And it doesn’t take much. If you are unprepared, if you squawk about your costs of doing business (build the gas money into your fees, bub), if you do anything that says “unprofessional,” that’s it. You’re off the list.

Anything can knock you out of the running. Someone doesn’t like your photo on your website because you look mean, or there is no photo on your website so they can’t look at your eyes, or you didn’t call them back right away, or you yawned on the phone and sounded like you didn’t care.

Anything.

Am I saying you have to meet certain minimum standards to even be in the running? Yes. Getting the basics right only gets you in the game. If you want to get the job, you have to do even more.

Yes, it’s hard. You have to be ever vigilant and pay attention to detail. When you are in a service business or a profession, it’s not just the quality of your work, it’s about the entire client experience.

But hey, you’re lucky. At least you don’t have to schlep a ladder.

Want more referrals? Get The 30 Day Referral Blitz

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Filed Under: Client relations, Closing the sale, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship Tagged With:

Help me if you can I’m feeling down

January 27, 2014 by
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Actually, I’m fine. Just singin me some Beatles and thinking about how difficult it is for folks to ask for help. It’s an ego thing. We don’t want to appear weak. So we don’t ask, and when help is offered, we often turn it down.

But people want to help. It makes them feel good. I know this because I know how good it feels when I help others.

So we should ask each other for help more often. It’s good for them and good for you.

You can get just about anything you want just by asking. You can ask your clients for all kinds of help. You can ask the readers of your newsletter, personal friends, professional contacts, anyone, including strangers.

What do you want? Whatever it is, someone can help you get it.

  • referrals
  • information
  • advice
  • introductions
  • copies (forms, letters, checklists)
  • recommendations (products, software, books)
  • time (as a volunteer)
  • testimonials
  • someone to talk to
  • donations (to your cause)
  • write a guest post or allow you to write one
  • invite you to their next networking event
  • speak at their event
  • pass out your cards, reports
  • feedback
  • mentoring
  • Likes, Re-tweets, and Shares
  • a ride to the airport

Just about anything.

Time out. Take a break. Sing along with me and the Fab Four:

When I was younger,
So much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s
Help in any way
But now those days are gone
I’m not so self assured
Now I find, I’ve changed my mind
I’ve opened up the door

Help me if you can,
I’m feeling down
And I do, appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me

And now my life has changed
In oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then
I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you
Like I’ve never done before

Okay, you may need some help asking for help. You’re out of practice. You haven’t asked for help since you needed Mom to tie your shoes. How do you get started?

First, make a list of what you want. Big things, little things, and everything in between. What could you ask for? Write down as many things as you can think of that would make your life better.

Next, write down the names of people you know who could help you get the things on your list. Match people with tasks suited to their interests, strengths, and resources. (Later, when you get better at asking, you can ask strangers.)

Then, choose something, contact someone and ask for help. Be direct. Tell them why you’re asking them.

Compliment them if possible. Tell them you value their feedback or insights, or value them as a friend or client and know you can count on them.

Start with something small, and easy. Something that’s hard to turn down. Have them read something you wrote, for example, and tell you what you think. Or ask them to recommend a good movie. Be specific. “Would you introduce me to your life insurance agent?” is better than “Would you introduce me to some professionals?”

You start small to get used to asking. Get over your resistance and see that people are willing to help. See how good it feels when they say yes.

Later, you’ll graduate to bigger things. Eventually, you’ll get good at asking. And you’ll be amazed at how much people are willing to do.

You may also surprise yourself at how much you have to give others. When people do for you, you will feel obliged to do something for them. When you do, you’ll feel good about that. You’ll want to do more. The more you do, the more others will want to do for you.

And so it goes. Help begets help.

If you’re having trouble asking, start by offering. Call someone, find out what they need and help them get it.

Years ago, I read, “The Aladdin Factor: How to Ask For and Get What You Want in Every Area of Your Life” a book by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, the team that brought you “Chicken Soup for the Soul” and its progeny. If you’re interested in this topic and you like inspiring stories about people who experienced amazing changes in their lives by asking for help, you should pick up a copy.

Okay, now I’m going to ask you a favor. If you like this post, would you forward it to someone you care about? Thank you. I knew I could count on you. Now, what can I do for you?

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Inspiration, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Relationship marketing Tagged With: ,

Attorney marketing plan: 15 minutes a day or two hour a week?

January 21, 2014 by
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If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you’ve heard me repeatedly say that marketing doesn’t need to take a lot of time. “Just 15 minutes a day is all you need, just make sure you do it every day.”

Why every day?

  • So that it becomes a habit. Because if you instead block out two hours every Friday for marketing and you miss a week, you’ll fall behind and may have trouble getting back in the groove
  • Because doing something every day programs your subconscious mind to to find ideas when you’re doing other things
  • Because marketing should be an integral part of running your practice and something you enjoy doing, not a chore you have to force yourself to do once a week
  • Because the little things we do every day, a quick phone call or email, for example, are not only effective because they involve reaching out to people, they are also efficient, compared to big blocks of time which often involve a lot of waste
  • Because marketing ideas and opportunities present themselves daily, via people you meet, things you read, and ideas that pop into your mind, and if you don’t use them in the moment, they will pass you by

There are times when a big block of time for marketing can be useful, especially when you are working with a team. Planning and developing a new advertising or social media campaign or meeting with a web developer are examples. Of course some things like networking or delivering a seminar require a block of time.

You could also utilize blocks of time to get ahead of the marketing curve. With a little preparation, you could create a month’s worth of weekly blog posts in a single two hour writing session.

Investing 15 minutes a day (weekdays) for marketing is 5.5 hours a month, certainly not to much to ask of even the busiest attorney, especially considering the immense return on that investment. Could you add two more hours to that once a month for bigger projects? Do you need to?

How much time do you spend on marketing? Do you have a fixed schedule?

Need an attorney marketing plan? Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Productivity, Time Management

Why some attorneys earn more than you do

January 16, 2014 by
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With my CLE compliance deadline approaching (I finshed, thanks for asking), I’m being inundated with emails offering all manor of courses. I noticed that some companies charge much more than others. In fact, prices are all over the place. I could get all 25 credits for $299 or for $60. Are one company’s courses five times better than another’s? Probably not.

So why would attorneys pay more for something they could easily get for less?

Because some companies are well known to them and have good reputations. Lawyers will order from a familiar company because it’s safe. They don’t need to check them out. Click, order, done. They may realize they are paying more but the convenience and peace of mind are worth it.

I’m sure some attorneys equate a higher price with higher quality. They assume that by paying more they’re getting better courses. Or conversely, that if they pay a low price they will get inferior quality.

Other attorneys simply don’t want to take the time to shop around. They’re busy.

Still others never considered looking at anything else. They simply order from the company they ordered from the last time. They are a satisfied customer. When they get an email from “their company,” they just order.

Make sense?

Well guess what? The same things are true for buying legal services. People will pay more to hire an attorney who is well known to them or who comes through a referral. They will pay more to attorneys who make it easy and convenient to hire them. They will pay more because they believe they are getting more value than they would get from a “cheaper” attorney.

Yes, some clients shop price. You don’t want them. You want the low-hanging fruit, the clients who are willing to pay more for intangibles that are important to them.

And that’s why some attorneys earn more than you do for the same services.

Want to get paid more? Get the Check: Stress-Free Legal Billing and Collection shows you how.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Client loyalty, Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Legal industry, Marketing legal services

The second best source of new clients

January 14, 2014 by
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According to a study of online marketing metrics, the best source of new clients (customers) is through generic search engine traffic. Nothing else comes close.

You probably knew that.

What you may find surprising is what’s number two. According to the study, it’s email, which is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter.

So, if you aren’t leveraging generic search engine traffic by creating and posting quality content online, you’re missing out big time. Prospective clients go to search engines looking for information about their legal situation, the available solutions, and for lawyers who can help them. Post information that answers their questions and provides those solutions and they will find you.

You don’t need to hire a team of experts. You don’t need to spend a lot of time. Once a week or so, write 300 to 500 words about something prospective clients want to know and might go looking for and post it.

Make sure you use keywords in the title and body of your post and follow a few other best practice to tell Uncle Google and his cousins what your post is about. Remember, search engines want to help their customers find what they’re looking for. Write and post that content and they’ll help you find prospective clients.

Now, not everyone who finds your website and reads your content is ready to hire you right away. In fact, you have to assume that most visitors to your website aren’t ready. In a few days or a few months, or perhaps a few years, when they are ready (or know someone who is), they probably won’t remember you. There’s a good chance they’ll wind up on some other lawyer’s website.

Unless. . . you stay in touch with them . . through email. . . the second best source of new clients online.

Your website needs to collect visitor’s email addresses. If it does not, you’re losing business. Probably a lot of business. Even if you practice in an area where most people make a hiring decision quickly like personal injury or criminal defense, because some clients wait and some clients are unhappy with the first attorney they hire.

Offer your visitors something free as an incentive to sign up for your email list. A report, checklist, form, or ebook. Add a form to your site to make it easy for them to opt in. Use an autoresponder to collect emails and automate much or all of the “staying in touch”.

Marketing online is not difficult and does not take a lot of time. Create search engine friendly content and build an email list. They are the number one and number two best source of new clients online so if you do it, you won’t have to do much of anything else.

Need help? Get my course on Internet marketing for attorneys.

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

Marketing professional services: strategy vs. tactics

January 7, 2014 by
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Marketing professional services requires both strategies and tactics. A strategy is a process or plan. Tactics are specific actions for implementing that plan.

You may have several tactics you use to effect a given strategy. For example, your strategy may be to build your reputation in your community, target market, or among other lawyers. Your tactics may include doing charitable work, issuing press releases highlighting key victories, or teaching CLE classes.

Most attorneys employ similar strategies because we have similar objectives. We want to meet new prospective clients and referral sources, grow our lists, and generate more repeat business and referrals. Where we differ is in our tactics.

And that’s okay. You get to choose. You may like meeting people through social media while the next attorney prefers pressing the flesh. For most strategies, there are several tactics to choose from. You can do any or all.

If your strategy is to offer value to prospective clients so they (a) find you, (b) learn how you can help them, and (c) get to know, like, and trust you, there are many ways to accomplish this. You can conduct free seminars, offer a newsletter, put content on a blog, advertise a free report, create youtube videos, or engage with prospective clients via hangouts.

If your strategy is to meet and build relationships with centers of influence in your target market, your tactics may include general networking (e.g., Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, etc.), networking at niche-specific events, joint venture marketing, speaking at luncheons, or asking your existing professional contacts to introduce you to their counterparts.

If your strategy is to get more referrals from existing and former clients, tactics include educating them about your “ideal client,” making it easy to give referrals (e.g., outlining the process, providing a form), creating hand outs they can deliver to people they know, and endearing them to you by delivering more value and service than they expect.

If your strategy is to build your list of prospective clients, you can accomplish this through guest posts, keyword rich blog content, improved landing pages, and offering an incentive (i.e., a report) to encourage opt ins.

In my opinion, all of the above strategies are important, if not essential for building a professional practice. But there is enough variety in the tactics to allow each attorney to effect those strategies in a way that suits their practice and preferences.

In your planning, start with strategies. Decide what you want to accomplish. Then, choose from a menu of tactics. Infuse those tactics with your personal brand and style to create a plan of action that is both effective and well suited to you.

Once your plan is working, you can expand on the scope of your tactics (e.g., add more content to your site, find more places for networking), add additional tactics to your marketing mix, or both.

For a simple marketing plan that really works, get this. If you will be marketing online, get this.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan Tagged With: , , , ,

The best way to market your law practice

January 3, 2014 by
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I read a book once about book writing. The author gave some sound advice. He said to write the book you can write, not the book you think you should write.

Some books are harder to write than others. A how-to book, especially in your area of expertise, is much easier to write than a historical romance novel, for example, especially if you’ve never written fiction.

Write the book you can write. Let others write the books they can write.

The same is true for marketing your law practice. The best way is to do what you can do, not what you think you’re supposed to do or what some expert says you must do.

If you allow yourself to do what you can an do, you may actually do it. You don’t have to learn something completely new and different or force yourself out of your comfort zone, you’re doing what you already know you can do.

You’ll do it better. And stick with it longer. And get results, which will inspire you to continue. As you grow, perhaps you’ll add something new to the mix. And then, you’ll be able to do things you previously could not do. Instead of forcing yourself to be something you’re not, or do something you can’t, you’ll grow naturally and you will enjoy the process.

Where do you begin? With something that feels right to you. Yes, feels. Don’t assume that because you have experience with something that this is where you should begin. You might have a lot of speaking experience, for example, but if you really don’t enjoy speaking, you shouldn’t do it.

Here are some common marketing tactics for attorneys. As you go through this list, imagine yourself doing them and note how you feel.

  • Networking with other lawyers
  • Networking with prospective clients
  • Writing blog posts and articles
  • Finding and engaging prospective referral sources on social media
  • Working with your clients to foster repeat business and referrals
  • Radio advertising
  • Youtube videos
  • Writing a newsletter
  • Podcasting/webcasting (e.g., interviewing other professionals, authors, etc.)
  • Creating websites to attract search engine traffic
  • Self-hosted seminars
  • Joint venture marketing
  • Pay-per click advertising

When you think about some of these tactics, you feel anxious. It’s not a good feeling. You find that your thoughts want to intrude and tell you why you shouldn’t, can’t, won’t do that.

With others, you feel lighter. More relaxed or more excited, but better. You can see yourself doing it, or at least exploring it further.

Trust those feelings. If something feels good when you think about it, it’s probably something you should do.

What if nothing feels good to you?

You can continue doing what you’re doing to bring in clients even though you don’t particularly like it, but to be honest, if there’s nothing that feels good to you, you might want to re-think the idea of being in business for yourself.

Yes, you can hire someone to do some of your marketing, or you can partner with someone, but those are really only workarounds. Marketing is an extension of you and your commitment to your clients and if you can’t find a way to express that commitment in a way that feels good to you, perhaps that commitment doesn’t really exist.

On the other hand, maybe you just need more information.

I find a lot of lawyers who say they don’t like marketing don’t really have much experience with marketing. They made up their minds early on that marketing wasn’t for them and they’ve spent years believing this to be true and acting in ways that are consistent with that belief.

If that’s you, do yourself a favor and take another look. Do some reading and try some new things. You may find that they’re not so bad and you’re not all thumbs and that there are some things you’re actually quite good at and enjoy.

The best way to market your law practice is to do what you can do and you can do more than you think.

The Attorney Marketing Formula will help you to choose the best marketing strategies and tactics for you

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Filed Under: Legal industry, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan Tagged With: , ,
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