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The Attorney Marketing Center Now Featured in Alltop.com

August 1, 2011 by David M. Ward

The Attorney Marketing Center blog is now featured inÂ Alltop.com, the curated directory of the world’s top blogs.

What does that mean for you? Nothing really. For me, lots of smiley faces!

Actually, if you have a blog, you should submit it. If it gets listed, you can be assured of additional traffic to your blog as surfers browse the directory and discover you wrote something they’d like to read.

As mentioned, Alltop is curated, which means an individual will inspect your blog for quality of content and, I’m sure, other factors, before accepting (or rejecting) it. It may take awhile before you are included; I was approved some nine months after submitting the blog.

Check out Alltop; you’ll undoubtedly find some good reads. Set up a (free) account and all your feeds will display in one area.

You’ll find The Attorney Marketing Center and other law-related blogs on this page; (scroll to the bottom).

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: alltop-logo, attorney-marketing-now, checklist, how-to-use-a-video-camera-as-a-web-camera, kidswithbigmouths, local-internet-marketing-benefits-write-a-guest-post, overworked, set-goals-and-manage-time, subscribe-now

Is Twitter marketing for lawyers a waste of time?

February 25, 2011 by David M. Ward

A new study, reported by Mashable, finds that while nearly half of Americans use Facebook, only 7% use Twitter. Â So, is it safe to ignore Twitter in marketing your law practice? The answer lies in an understanding ofÂ who uses Twitter.

According to the study, Twitter usage is dominated by “power users,” (approximately 22%) who are responsible for the majority of Tweets (approximately 90%). While these probably don’t reflect the target market of most lawyers, it’s logical to assume that this group of regular Tweeters is comprised of well-connected, avid communicators who could turn out to be a great source of referrals for lawyers.

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here by suggesting that the frequent-tweeter club includes a lot of professionals, many of whom have followers in your target market. The numbers may be small but the influence is great. These are the folks you want to meet–and network with–and Twitter is a great way to find them.

Twitter is also continuing to grow and enter the mainstream. Those of us who have staked a small claim will benefit by that growth.

I don’t consider myself a power user of Twitter or any other social media tool. Far from it. But through Twitter, I’ve been able to meet some power users. And that’s the point. Networking is not about meeting everyone, it’s about meeting a few of the right people.

Filed Under: Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: attorney-marketing, attorney-twitter-marketing, attorney-twitter-usage, checklist, imagefortwittermarketing, lawyer-marketing-on-twitter, lawyers-twitter, marketing, Social media, Social networking, tagline-examples, taglines-for-twitter-marketting, Twitter, twitter-for-lawyers-marketing, twitter-lawyers-marketing, twitter-marketing, twittermarketing, twittermarketingimages, Writing, your-work-going-fill

Why the yellow pages will never die

January 31, 2011 by David M. Ward

For the last several years, the demise of the yellow pages has been repeatedly predicted, but they will never die.

In the same way that AT&T and other “wire” phone carriers re-invented themselves as mobile carriers, the yellow pages has reinvented itself in search engines and online directories. These new and improved directories allow advertisers to have a bigger presence, with more information about their firm, at lower cost. Smart attorneys (and other advertisers) are taking advantage of these changes by creating better web sites (and more of them), optimizing their sites to improve search engine ranking, and promoting their sites through social media.

There are other improvements. Technology makes it easy to see which ad is working best, allowing you to adapt immediately instead of having to wait until next year’s print edition. You can increase or decrease your advertising investment with a click or two and you can just as easily change your headlines and copy and offers, making the same dollars bring in even more business.

If you previously spent $1,000 a month on yellow pages ads, that same $1,000 spent online could yield a much greater return. A small firm that had been limited to smaller ads in print directories can, with some marketing smarts, compete with firms with a bigger budget. Consumers obviously benefit by the added information and convenience of the online world.

So, for advertisers and consumers, the changes are positive. But what about the publishers of print directories? What will happen to them?

Some have already made the shift to online and are will thrive. Others, will die out. And some will see a void in the market left by theÂ disappearanceÂ of their competitors and make a killing in the next frontier.

What do I mean? Our mailboxes today contain far fewer pieces of mail compared to ten years ago. As a result, direct mail advertising is potentially more effective. Smart advertisers will eventually shift dollars into mailings–catalogs, solo sales letters, coupon books, and so on, and I believe we’ll eventually see phone (and web site) directories being delivered by the post office. But, as more and more advertisers shift dollars from online to offline, the effectiveness of that advertising will decline and advertisers will shift yet again back to the Internet or to the next big thing.

Change is inevitable in business and advertisers need to be nimble to survive. Gone are the days when an attorney could write a check to “the” yellow pages, the only viable advertising option, and forget about it until the following year. Attorneys today must understand that advertising online is just one facet of an integrated marketing plan and they must be prepared to continually acquire the knowledge and resources needed to stay competitive.

Filed Under: Advertising, Online Marketing Tagged With: attorney-marketing-yellow-pages-not-working, checklist, do-i-need-the-yellow-pages, do-i-need-to-be-in-the-yellow-pages, getting-things-done-evernote, iphone-call-logo, logo-by-themselves, logomarca-da-yellow-pages, searchengineslogosofyellowpages, the-yellow-pages, theyellowpages, why-we-need-yellow-pages, will-yellow-pages-survive, Yellow pages, yellow-page, yellow-page-logo, yellow-pages-com-logo, yellow-pages-logo, yellowpage, yellowpages

Register for this free goal setting webinar and achieve your goals in 2011

January 12, 2011 by David M. Ward

“Most people fail to achieve the goals they set,” my mentor and personal coach David ByrdÂ told aÂ group of 2000 entrepreneurs over the weekend. You probably already knew that. ButÂ doÂ you know why?

The first part of the answer is that they don’t know how to set goals in the first place.

Should youÂ choose goals that are so easy you know you will accomplish them? Well, if you do that,Â you’ll feel good about accomplishing a lot of goals but you won’t see much growth. So how aboutÂ choosing huge, lofty goals you will probably never accomplish? Is that the answer?

I used to think so.Â For years, I set goals I never came close to achieving. Year after year I wouldÂ set the same goals and year after year, fail to accomplish them.Â It was discouraging and eventually,Â I lost interest in goal setting.

Now, things are different. I know how to set goals that are both inspiring and achievable and I amÂ achieving them. ButÂ not justÂ because I know how to set them properly. You also need a system forÂ goal achievement.

On Wednesday, January 19, I’m hosting a webinar featuring David Byrd who will teach you howÂ to set goals and achieve goals. You’ll learn a system he has used for more than thirty years workingÂ with professionals, executives, and business owners, as an executive leadership coach.

The webinar is 100% free and I promise you will learn a lot that you can use to achieve more in 2011.

Click here for details and to register.

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Mentors & Coaches, Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: 1st-place-goal, achieving-goals, achieving-the-goal, achieving-your-goals, business-goal-setting, checklist, goal-achievement-webinar, goal-setting, goal-setting-webinar, goal-webinar, goalsettings, how-to-set-personal-goal, my-interest-and-goal-setting, overworked, set-goal, set-goal-and-achieve, setthegoals, tagline-examples, webinar, webinar-for-goal-setting

The cure for the overworked and overwhelmed attorney–part two

January 4, 2011 by David M. Ward

So it’s a new year and you’re ready to get back to work. If you’re like most attorneys, you’re excited about all of the plans you’ve made for the future but feeling overwhelmed with everything you have to do. You’ve got “too many”.

Too many articles and blog posts to read (not to mention the books piled up on your shelf (or floor) and in your Kindle or iPad
Too many people to call, letters to write, lunches to attend
Too many projects you’ve been putting off but promised yourself (spouse, partner) you will (finally) do
Too many continuing education seminars you don’t have time for but must do because your compliance group is “due” (guilty)
Too manyÂ commitmentsÂ you’ve made that you know you can’t possibly keep

And let’s not forget your legal work. You know, the stuff that actually gets you paid.

In a previous post, I wrote about how I dramatically cut my work hours (and stress) by delegating. If you’ve ever emptied a closet or a desk drawer, all that empty space feels good but you know it won’t last. It’s only a matter of time before that closet or drawer is once again filled to overflowing. Once you get good at delegating as much as possible and have more time available, it’s the same thing: you find more and more things to fill your time and before you know it, once again, you’re overwhelmed.

I’ve still got “too many”. I have a backlog of hundreds of articles I need to read and I’ve bookmarked so many web sites to visit my head is spinning. I glance at the updates in my Twitter stream and wonder how I could possibly read even a fraction of the tweets that go past me, let alone follow up on the relevant ones, let alone connect with the people who sent them.

I think it’s safe to say we all have “too many”. So how do we avoid being overwhelmed?

First, take a deep breath. Exhale. Once more. Now, repeat after me, “I can’t do it all, I will never get everything done, and that’s okay.”

None of us will ever get it all done. We’ll never read all those articles or complete all those projects. There’s too much and there will always be more and the first thing we need to do is acknowledge that we’ll never get it all done AND THAT’S OKAY.

So relax.

The key to success and a well-lived life Â isn’t doing everything, it’s doing the most important things. It is the 80/20 principle: a few things matter, most everything else doesn’t; the ones that matter are the ones that produce most of your results. Focus on doing a few important things, and don’t worry about the rest.

Success comes from achievement, not from being busy.

About a year ago, I started working with David Byrd, an executive coach, who helped me get clear about what I wanted to accomplish. He taught me the value of being driven by vision–my vision of the future I want to create–instead of being driven by circumstances. The idea is to start with the end in mind and then set goals that are consistent with that vision. In doing so, we cut through the clutter of “too many” possibilities and focus on the most important ones. The system gives me a place to come back to whenever I find myself wandering. WhenI feel overwhelmed or losing clarity about what to do next, I revisit my vision and my goals and I’m back on track.

David Byrd also taught me a system for achieving my goals. I plan each month so that my activities (projects, actions, etc.) move me forward towards my goals. I also plan each day. As a result, I always know what I need to do.

In short, the system helps me putÂ one foot in front of the other and continually move forward towards my destination. I don’t get distracted by all of the side roads or billboards.

So, as we begin a new year, have you chosen your most important goals? Have you put them on paper? And do you have a plan for achieving them?

If you are driven by vision, have goals that support that vision and a plan for achieving them, you’ll have clarity about what to do and what you can let go of. You’ll be empowered, not overwhelmed. And you’ll be excited because you know where you’re going and you have a map that will get you there.

—

On January 19, Mr. Byrd will be conducting a free goal-setting webinar for my subscribers. Please join us.Â Register here for this free webinar and make 2011 your best year ever.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Increase your income, Law office management, Mentors & Coaches, Productivity Tagged With: americans-overworked-and-overwhelmed-2011, businessforcastclipart, checklist, Delegating, goal-setting, high-contrast-photography-of-race-cars, how-to-deal-with-law-firm-stress, ive-got-too-many-projects, lawyer-and-overwhelmed, lawyer-overworked, lawyers-overworked, overwhelmed-at-work-lawyer, overwhelmed-attorney, overwhelmed-lawyer, overwhelmed-lawyers, overworked-as-an-attorney, overworked-lawyer, tagline-examples, webinar, Writing

Where good ideas come from by Steven Johnson

December 23, 2010 by David M. Ward

Soon, we’ll all be thinking about the New Year. How can we grow our practice? What can we do to enhance our personal life?

For some, the answer is to continue executing plans that are already in place. They know what to do, they just need to get better at doing it or simply give it more time. Others need a new plan. What they’ve been doing isn’t working. New plans call for new ideas, but where do ideas come from?

To answer this question, author Steven Johnson takes us on a visual journey into the creative process in this fascinating video:

[mc src=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU&feature=player_embedded” type=”youtube”]Where do good ideas come from?[/mc]

Filed Under: Inspiration, Just for fun, Personal development Tagged With: attorney-marketing, attorney-marketing-ideas, attorney-marketing-social-media, checklist, Creativity, economy, economy-tagline-example, ideas-for-attorney-marketing, myfreef, ppt-where-the-good-ideas-come-from, simple-plan, Steve Jobs, tagline-attorney, tagline-examples, tagline-for-economy, whe-good-ideas-come, where-good-ideas-come-from, where-ideas-come-from, where-the-good-ideas-come-from, Writing

Lawyers: Do you make these mistakes in emailing your clients?

December 10, 2010 by David M. Ward

One of the best ways to get more repeat business and referrals is to stay in touch with your clients and other contacts and one of the best ways to do that is via email. But whether you email individually or to a list of newsletter subscribers, your efforts can backfire if you make some simple, but all too common mistakes:

Using your personal email account (e.g., hotmail, aol, gmail, etc.) instead ofÂ you@yourdomain.com.
Difficult to read messages–ALL CAPS, paragraphs that span the entire email window, long paragraphs and sentences, unusual fonts.
Poorly written or edited, boring “lawyer-like” prose, too much “technical” law talk, not enough human interest.
Lengthy disclaimers and CYA language that put distance between you and the reader.
Emailing too often or not often enough. People need to hear from you and if you send valuable and interesting content, they will want to hear from you. Occasional emails are better than no emails but monthly is better. If you have enough to say, weekly is better still.Â Daily is not unheard of for some markets.
Always selling. Your emails should be 90% content.
Never selling. Your offers (services, free reports, seminars, etc.) deliver benefits people need and want. Don’t deny them.
Not putting “you” into your messages. You are building a relationship with you, not your firm, so make your messages personal.
Putting too much “you” into your messages. Talk to your readers about their lives, their business, not about yourself.
Making it difficult for recipients to unsubscribe or change their email address. Don’t make people email/reply, automate the process with an autoresponder.

Have you made any of these mistakes? Are there any that you’ve seen your colleagues make that aren’t on this list?

Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Relationship marketing, Writing Tagged With: attorney-marketing, attorney-marketing-farming, checklist, clients, e-mail-icon, Email, email-icon, email-image, email-logo, emailicon, emailing, emailing-lawyers, emailing-pictures, f, imagesofemailing, mail-icon, overworked, Steve Jobs, tagline-examples, Writing

New Audio Program Helps Attorneys Improve Cash Flow

November 30, 2010 by David M. Ward

Attorneys are creatures of conformity. They don’t want to stand outÂ from the crowd. Think about it–don’t most attorneys offer essentiallyÂ the same services at the same “prices”?

A small group of attorneys, perhaps five to twenty percent in anyÂ given market, earn a lot more than other attorneys with similarÂ experience.

Why?

The world’s highest paid attorneys aren’t conformists. They thinkÂ and act differently. They don’t offerÂ the same services,Â at least not so you can tell.

Among other things, the world’s highest paid attorneys

Eschew the “average” client, in favor of their “ideal” client,Â the ones who can and will pay more
Package their services differently; you can’t compare theirÂ “apples” to your “oranges”
Bill differently; they don’t have trouble getting money fromÂ their clients (and not just because their clients have money)

The world’s highest paid attorneys may or may not have better skills than other attorneys, orÂ get better results. But theyÂ definitelyÂ think and act differently.Â Today, “The Attorney Marketing Center” released a new audio program thatÂ reveals those differences.

“Cash Flow for Attorneys: How to Earn More Without Working More,” is for attorneys who want to break out of the mold of the average but don’t know how. Or they know how but need a shove in the right direction.

“Too many attorneys have clients but aren’t making any money,” said David Ward, the program’s author. “Gross income is one thing, but we pay our mortgages with net income. For many attorneys today, net income is running a bit thin.”

“Cash Flow” is also for the attorney who is overwhelmed with work and wants time freedom. “They live at the office or in court or in the car and they miss their kids. They also want to earn more without working more,” Ward said.

“Cash Flow for Attorneys” is a 3.5 hour audio program and is available for instant download.

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Goal Setting, Increase your income, Law office management, Time Management Tagged With: cash, cash flow, cash-flow-services, cash-for-gold, cash-in-market, cashflow, cashflowicon, checklist, creating-logos-online-free, david-ward-cash-flow-for-lawyers, free-cashflowforattorneys, icon-social-deli, improve-cash-flow, improving-corporate-cash-flo, marketing-prices, pictures-of-attorneys, receiving-cash-clipart, ways-to-fold-cash, www-youtube-com, youtube-logo

The cure for the overworked and overwhelmed attorney

November 23, 2010 by David M. Ward

I don’t know a single attorney who wants to work more. Oh they want more work, they just don’t want to work longer hours.

Unfortunately, we have been trained to believe in an absolute correlation between our income and the amount of work we do, but that correlation simply does not exist.

As a young lawyer starting my career, I had very little work and an income to match. When I finally learned marketing and starting bringing in more clients, naturally, my income and work hours increased. Eventually, I had lots of clients and incredibly long hours, obviously proving there is a correlation, right? Well, that depends.

I realized that I wasn’t happy working so much but I wasn’t willing to cut back my schedule if it meant cutting back my income. I struggled with this for a long time and, thankfully, I figured out how to do it. I was able to significantly reduce my work week without reducing my income. In fact, when I got things fully underway, my income took a dramatic leap.

There were a few things I did to make that happen. One of those was to get comfortable with delegating.

Attorneys are famously bad at delegating. There are a number of reasons, ranging from fear that the person to whom the work is delegated will screw up, to ego, the notion that, “nobody can do it as well as I can.” I had a little bit of both going on in my head; it took some effort to come to terms with these beliefs, but I did.

On the “screw up” issue, I realized that I would still be supervising my employees, I was the failsafe. I also realized that happiness (or a successful law practice) doesn’t require the complete absence of risk. Risk can be managed. That’s why God created “E & O” policies, after all.

As for the idea that I was the best one for the job, I simply had to accept the premise thatÂ if I was ever going to have relief from eighty hour weeks, “good enough” would have to be good enough.

Once I crossed theÂ thresholdÂ of acceptance, Â I began to see that there were many functions in our office I could let go of and, in fact, there were many functions where I really wasn’t the best person for the job. Once I started the process of handing over responsibilities to others and saw that the sky did not fall and, in fact, good things were happening, I embarked on a quest to delegate as much as possible. Eventually, my philosophy was to only do that which only I could do, and this was a major turning point in my career.

If you are overworked because of reluctance to delegate (or delegate as much as possible), I urge you to do as I did. Change your philosophy and learn some techniques. Your kids will be glad you did.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Increase your income, Law office management, Productivity Tagged With: checklist, clients, Delegating, delegating-in-evernote, dont-want-to-be-at-work, dont-want-towork, i-dont-want-to-work, image-of-overworked, overwhelmed-lawyer, overworked, overworked-employees, overworked-image, overworked-lawyer, overworkedemployees, overworkedlawyer, overworkedpics, picsoverworked, picturesofoverworkedemployees, Steve Jobs, tagline-examples

Getting started with online video–so simple, even an attorney can do it

November 11, 2010 by David M. Ward

Online videos are easier to create than you might think. The video below shows you what I’m using to create my first online videos and how I’ve been able to use them to drive a lot of free traffic to this web site.

If you know of any resources I missed, please leave a comment. And please share on Twitter (Facebook, et. al.)

[mc src=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li111bDWyow” type=”youtube”]Getting started with online video[/mc]

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: Camstudio, Camtasia, checklist, getting-started-with-youtube, Jing, overworked, youtube