Lawyers.com Editor in Chief : Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, sales training, practice development, training, marketing consultant, legal consultant, individual lawyer coaching, business development, client team, practice development, business development, law firm coach

All that's missing from Wikipedia is a banner reading "Going Out of Business Once More!"

The world's source of cut-and-paste text for high school term papers now presents this green box hassling visitors for a gift. Wikipedia is more desperate for money than a Republican running for President.

Pumping up the drama is an accompanying message from programmer Brandon Harris saying, "I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary." Oh, the pathos! Oh the humanity!

Then he goes over the top saying, "We’re not just building an encyclopedia, we’re working to make people free." Oh, please. All the over-controlling mothers of America will applaud this cloying guilt trip.

I'd feel more concerned but I remember that Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales demanded donations at exactly the same time last year. If the content is worthwhile, why doesn't he charge for it?

Gee whiz, if Wikipedia is such a great idea, why hasn't a venture capitalist drowned it in cash? Perhaps Wikipedia should come up with a business model to replace its strategy of begging. Or they could adopt a new tagline, "Will create content for food."

Marketers were impressed that the average Facebook user spends 7 hours and 45 minutes per month on the site according to The Nielsen Company.

More time is spent on Facebook than any other website.

However, that's small change when compared to how much time people spend watching TV. Remember TV? It's the video that you watch "not on your computer."

Americans watch 146 hours and 20 minutes of traditional TV per month in their homes. Nielsen also reports that among Americans watching video, the women watch 153 hours of TV per month, with women aged 50+ watching more than 200 hours per month. In contrast, male viewers watch 138 hours of TV per month. African-Americans watch more than double the amount of TV (202 hours per month) than Asians (97 hours).

97% of Americans watch TV in their homes, double the number -- 48% -- who now watch video online, according to Nielsen's new report, “The Cross-Platform Report.” Watching video on the Internet and on smart phones is certainly growing fast, but they have a long way to go to catch up to traditional TV.

Imagine a law firm where:

• A supervisor like a drill sergeant calls associates "little maggots" and bellows, "no cells phones, no Internet, no chit-chat and no eye contact" during work.
• Jaime, the cute blond associate who sings in the bathroom, walks out and meets a male associate with his zipper down. He can explain.
• Nick, an associate up to his eyeballs in files, meets weeping colleagues in the hallway who have been laid off. In his own review he's searched for weapons because a fellow associate called security on him for joking that he wanted to kill the managing partner.
• Red-headed associate Tim says, "Yep, obviously I'm Irish. Does that mean I have to drink excessively and have heated arguments with my girlfriend over trivial matters? Yes I do."

It's from The Bottom Rung, an online web show that is a humorous take on document review hell. Created by lawyer and comedian Matt Ritter, the show brings the dysfunction of the TV show "The Office" to a law firm where second-tier lawyers toil in a basement. Episode One and Two are online now and they cracked me up.

"I created The Bottom Rung out of my own experience doing document review in Los Angeles," says creator Ritter. "Until I moved out to LA in 2010, I worked as a big firm corporate associate in New York and had never heard of document review. A former lawyer and TV writer told me that if I was short on cash, document review was an easy way to earn a stress-free paycheck, allowing me to focus on my comedy work."

The reality was nightmare bosses, no windows, no ventilation, no personal space, sick people everywhere and no running water. "During the entire season I am highlighting the doc review characters and the world of some of these darker document review projects. It’s all loosely based on the places I’ve been assigned and the people that I’ve met on some of the more hellish projects," he says.

Check out Episode One below.

I find myself in a grateful place at this time of year. This is true even though it's been a year of double hand surgery, scrimping to pay off debt and a wrenching death in the family. On a public level it's been a another year of a bad economy, a government that can't do anything and prices going up everywhere. The evening news is horrifying because it's all about murder in the streets.

But then I think -- right here and right now -- everything is OK. Sure, my life could collapse in a shambles tomorrow. And my life is far from perfect today. But the Higher Power has been incredibly kind to me by giving me good work that I enjoy, a warm home with people and pets I love, and four days of free time this weekend.

Rather than focus on what I don't have or how things could be even worse, this Thanksgiving I'm going to focus on gratitude. I found a wonderful blog entry by Kevin Eikenberry on The Power of Gratitude, which outlines five ways that gratitude makes our lives better:

• Gratitude attracts what we want. The universal law of attraction says that we will attract into our life the things we think about and focus on. Since this is true, wouldn't you want more of what you are thankful for?
• Gratitude improves relationships. Express gratitude for people, their contributions, their talents and their actions - and make sure you let them know how you feel.
• Gratitude reduces negativity. One of the fastest ways to improve your mood or outlook is to count your blessings.
• Gratitude improves problem solving skills. We typically look at a problem by focusing on what is wrong, the barriers in our way and how we can fix it. Conversely, when we think about what we are grateful for we open our minds up to new possibilities and connections.
• Gratitude helps us learn. Being grateful for our situation - even if we don't like everything about it - allows us to be thankful for the opportunity to learn something new.

Thanks Kevin, I'm grateful for your blog entry.

In this interview of Stephen Fairley, CEO of the Rainmaker Institute, we talk about marketing for lawyers, including:

• The Rainmaker Retreat has trained 8,000 lawyers from solo and small law firms. The two-day program distills 65 different strategies that can be used to market and grow a small firm. Among other things, it covers using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to develop more business.
• Every successful law firm has the right people and the right systems in place. There are 7 critical systems that every successful law firm has. The people run your systems and the systems runs your law firm. However, most law firms are run by people without any systems in place.
• A memory tip from presidential candidate Rick Perry.

This is a guest post by Christina Canright, the President of Canright Communications in Chicago. Her firm loves to help companies create presentations, websites, marketing materials that are distinctive, compelling, and effective.

One of the most important sales tools a company has these days is its website. It's often one of the first impressions a potential customer has about your firm. Often I hear owners or principals in firms say they don't want to bother with their site. I get one of two responses: Either they're embarrassed by their site, and don't want to spend the time and money to rework it. Or they say they have a site they just had done, and it is "fine."

Considering how much a website could do for the firm, those responses essentially amount to wasting a valuable sales resource. Many firms will put a lot of money into making their reception area look impressive and comfortable, because they understand the value of that impression. The website is in that same category, except it can be set up to deliver leads and tell a lot about your firm before a potential client even contacts you.

But what if the firm decides to go ahead and redo its site. Here are the five most common mistakes I've come across:

1. Looks like everyone else- impersonal. Many sites try to look like each other, or follow what the trend is for websites. They start with a home page with too much content. These often feel cold and impersonal. If you try to find a phone number, you get sent to a form. A site needs to reflect the firm's personality - whether it's "we play tough, nothing is too difficult for us to tackle" or "we listen to you and will handle all your legal issues with expediency, so you don't need to worry." The tough players will have an in-your-face site; and the service-oriented firm will have a warmer, more accessible feel. Professionalism comes through for both.

2. Internally focused on the company rather than externally on the client. Frankly, clients don't care that much about your company's mission. What they do care about is: What can you do for them and what kind of reputation do you have? And when you focus more on the benefits you offer, your prospect senses you will focus on them-and you more readily differentiate your firm.

3. No resources that support specialty practice areas. This is where a firm can show what it knows and what it specializes in. Client alerts and articles in your areas of expertise show what your firm and its people feel passionate about and have special expertise in. A firm can gain a lot of credibility if it provides client briefings and backgrounders on especially complex issues. It helps to include articles written not only for law journals but ones written for the general public.

4. No calls to action. Many sites make it difficult for interested people to contact the firm and get access to any resources it does offer. Use download buttons and links that are obviously buttons to click on. Guide them on the site to what you want them to do, whether it's calling you, downloading issue briefings, reports or white papers. Buttons also make it easier for them to see where to sign up for a newsletter or how to access your blog if you have one. (You should.)

5. Photos that don't relate to what the firm does (pictures of the city) - artificial. There are exceptions to this, but because so many sites use the city they live in as the main home page photo, it's best to stay away from a city photo. (One good exception is how Sanchezdh.com integrated the city with an oversize image of Sanchez, the founding partner.) Look for images that are compelling but not cliché. How many law firm sites have the Scales of Justice as a dominant image? How many have people sitting around a conference table? How many use stock photography and models rather than real people? Every firm can find creative ways to present its work without breaching client confidentiality. Find a design firm that can help you come up with something fresh.

Some websites that work:

• Mofo.com - great URL based on company names, sense of humor
• Gtcr.com - In your face, the people behind the success
• Sanchezdh.com - personality, service-oriented
• Willmont.com - good content, knows who they are

You are invited to tune into LexisNexis' new, free webinar, "Keywords to Success: How to Generate More Business for Your Law Firm with Search Engine Optimization" to be broadcast on Tuesday, December 6, 2011.  LexisNexis is applying for CLE credit* for the program.

You can register for free at www.lexisnexis.com/webinar.

I'll host the webinar and will describe how your law firm can focus its online search marketing strategy to drive more business.  The program will show you how to optimize your website to promote the areas that matter most to your clients and prospects.

At a time when more and more consumers are searching online before meeting with a lawyer, this seminar will show you how to make your website more visible to prospects searching for the areas of law you practice.

You will learn:
      •     How keywords and search engine marketing works     
      •     The difference between organic links and paid links, off-site and on-site optimization     
      •     How to promote specific business initiatives at your firm such as entering a new market and targeting new types of clients.

There's no charge and no obligation. You can register at for free at www.lexisnexis.com/webinar.

*CLE is in the process of approval. LexisNexis is approved for telephonic/Webinar training on this topic in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York†, North Dakota, and Utah (self-study only).

†Only experienced (having completed their first 32 hours of CLE) NY attorneys may take telephonic training for CLE. New York regulation requires that all CLE sessions must be conducted by a JD or an attorney in good standing.

Google+ now has 40 million users. Tell me if you agree with my viewpoint in this article from Law.com, Turning Pages: Does Google+ Add to the Business of Law?

With last week's launch of Google+ Pages, Google announced that its social network is finally open for businesses. But is this new tool, which boasts more than 40 million users, ready for lawyers and law firms to start using for marketing and networking? And, perhaps of equal importance, are lawyers and law firms ready for Google+?

For Larry Bodine, former Law Technology News board member and current editor-in-chief of LexisNexis sites Lawyers.com and Martindale.com, it's been ready for months: "I see HUGE potential for using Google+ in law firm marketing," Bodine says. "Many lawyers have already proceeded to set up Google+ accounts individually, not waiting for brands to be

Having a direct connection to the most popular search engine in internet history wouldn't seem to hurt your brand. Bodine sees multiple advantages on the horizon in the way Google's social network "ties in with the entire Google suite:

• SEO is central to web marketing, and 65 percent of all searches go through Google.
• A lawyer's Google Local online bio is the center of all your Google marketing. 82 percent of local searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, phone call, or purchase.
• I see the future of law firm marketing in online video. YouTube, which Google owns, is the king of online video.
• Google+ taps into the users of Google calendar, docs, Gmail, photos, Groups and Reader."

If Google+ delivers on these promises, what's not to like?

Read the full text of Turning Pages: Does Google+ Add to the Business of Law?

A California appeals court has reinstated a jury's $17.35 million damage award to more than 100,000 businesses and individuals who took out ads in Pacific Bell phone books that were delivered either late or not at all.

The Yellow Pages advertisers' money was wasted. 

Jurors awarded damages to advertisers in 66 of Pacific Bell's 163 directory service areas in the state, including the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, finding that the company had failed to use its "best efforts" to deliver the books as promised. In most cases, those were districts in which fewer than 94.5 percent of the directories arrived on time.

A Superior Court judge had overturned the verdict in June 2009 and dismissed the suit. But the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco overruled the judge on Tuesday and restored the verdict. The court said the advertisers had relied on a delivery verification survey by Pacific Bell's contractor, the nonprofit Certified Audit of Circulations, which offered the only data available.

The jury found that the plaintiffs "paid for advertising distribution services they did not receive," the court said, and they are entitled to compensation even if "precise proof of the amount of damage is not available."

The evidence, including admissions by phone company distribution managers, showed "ongoing, severe problems in delivering directories," said Presiding Justice Ignazio Ruvolo in the 3-0 ruling.

The suit was a class action on behalf of 380,000 advertisers in the yellow pages in California between 2002 and 2004. Plaintiffs' lawyer Michael Schrag said somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 would be eligible for damages in districts where the jury found inadequate deliveries.

If you haven't canceled your yellow pages ads yet, now is the time to do so.

As law firm marketers contemplate their advertising buys, we should be aware that the audience for newspapers and magazines has moved online. For example, before buying a $12,000 full-page ad in a print publication, it makes sense to see if there is a cheaper online option -- which will reach more people.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations recently conducted a survey of print publications—newspapers, magazines and b-to-b titles—to learn how their mobile initiatives are progressing. Publishers’ growing mobile know-how, increasing confidence in mobile strategies, maturing product offerings and anticipation for future revenue streams is evident in the results.

• Eighty-five percent of survey respondents said they currently have mobile content for smartphones, e-readers or tablet computers, up from 76 percent last year. Newspapers (88%) were most likely to have mobile initiatives in place, followed closely by consumer magazines (83%) and business publications (79%). Publishers cite development and maintenance costs as the primary reason they did not have a mobile presence.
• Publishers are gaining confidence in their mobile strategies. Fifty-nine percent of publishers now say their company has a strategy for capitalizing on mobile platforms.
• Many publishers believe that e-readers and tablets will be the biggest boon to their business. Seventy-three percent said readers are most likely to read  their content on e-readers or tablets compared to 60 percent who said the same thing about smartphones. In Canada, the gap was even wider. Fifty-seven percent said e-readers and tablets had the brightest future compared to just 34 percent for smartphones.
• Publishers in the U.S. and Canada are investing in optimized mobile websites. Eighty-one percent of U.S. publishers and 65 percent of Canadian publishers said this was an important part of their strategic plan. Respondents said mobile websites often account for up to 15 percent of their overall website impressions.

Marketing takeaway: when you have a case outcome, completed deal or hot legal news story, conduct at Google search to find the newspapers and magazines to offer the story to.

There are only 3 days left to take the national survey of lawyers and law firm marketing directors and CMOs  on the use of social media tools in legal marketing.

Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NG88ZGL and take the survey right now.

Sponsored by Lawyers.com, Martindale-Hubbell and Vizibility Inc, the purpose of the survey is to reveal the extent to which legal marketers currently use social media to build their brands online and attract new clients. It will also explore:

• Participants’ future plans to incorporate social media elements into their marketing campaigns
• The types of tools they plan to use
• How they measure campaign effectiveness
• Social media policies

To encourage widespread participation among busy professionals, the survey is brief – fewer than 10 questions – and takes only a few moments to complete.

“We know the use of social media marketing by lawyers is growing, but there’s not much information available on the specific tools attorneys use, what they hope to gain and how they measure ROI,” said Vizibility founder and Chief Executive Officer James Alexander. “We hope this survey sheds additional light on a phenomenon that is mostly understood anecdotally today.”

The survey will close on Friday, November 18^th. Survey participants who provide their contact information get a first look at the findings. Take a few minutes and visit  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NG88ZGL right now.

As a legal blogger myself, I know it is a struggle for lawyers to set your blog apart from the crowd. It’s tough to come up with new article ideas, find your voice and engage your readers.

LexisNexis wants to help you set your blog apart from your competition—and we’re offering our assistance for FREE. Every two weeks we’ll send you Best Practices in Lawyer Blogs with blogging tips designed to help you generate new files and clients. In the coming months we’ll look at how to market your blog, build an audience, improve your articles’ search engine rankings and more.

The first issue contains:

• 7 Tips to Increase Comments on Your Blog
• 6 Steps to Focus Your Blog Content to Your Target Audience
• How Corporate Counsel Use Law Firm Websites

We just launched the e-newsletter with the talented help of editor Jennifer King, and it will be published twice a month. Thousands of lawyer are already getting it, so don't miss out.

If you want to start getting the newsletter, simply visit Best Practices in Lawyer Blogs and click on the Join Our Mailing List button.

Are there topics you’d like to see covered? If so, I hope you’ll drop me a note at larry.bodine@lexisnexis.com.

This is an excerpt of the Leader column that I wrote for the November 2011 issue of Professional Marketing magazine:

Everyone working in law firm marketing is looking for the ‘killer app.’ I’ve looked over the horizon and seen the future of legal marketing: it is online video.

Video is the number one reason that people go online, according to Pew Internet Research. Clients and potential clients would rather watch a two-minute verbal explanation than read a two-page article. “I don’t want anything on paper. I don’t have an inbox; if I did everything in it would go into trash. I want something that will catch my eye in 30 seconds or less, certainly not a long block of text. I’m more likely to look at a video,” said MeMe Rasmussen, VP and chief privacy officer of Adobe Systems Inc.

Consider this:

• YouTube videos were viewed 700 billion times in 2010.
• A video on your website improves Google results.
• For people to retain a lawyer, they must know, trust and like them. Video accomplishes all three.

A large law firm that has embraced video in its marketing is Allen Matkins of San Francisco, which issues video news releases and has uploaded 57 videos on YouTube. CMO Adam Stock hired a news reporter to give the firm’s videos a compelling sound and look, and even hired a helicopter to record ‘B-roll’ of the city’s skyline. See www.youtube.com/user/allenmatkins.

A small firm that is harnessing video is Tully Rinckey of Albany, New York. The firm has 200 videos on YouTube, and many are clips from TV news reports, in which a station interviewed a lawyer for comment about current events. CMO Graig Cortelyou has cultivated good relations with local TV producers who give him the clips for free. See www.youtube.com/user/tullylegal.

Click the link to read the rest of the Leader column.

This appears in today's GP Solo eReport:

I hereby attest that it is possible for a lawyer to switch from a Google Android phone to an Apple iPhone without being a computer programmer or electrical engineer. It’s like ripping a six-inch bandage off quickly, but you’ll survive.

I compare it to switching from steak to sushi. Or from rooting for Red Sox to the Yankees. Or changing from a PC to a Mac. It can be done, but there is an emotional component that almost requires counseling and therapy.

I loved my $300 Android Samsung Charge and its big, bright 5.11" tall and 2.66" wide display. The iPhone is smaller at 4.5" tall and 2.31" wide. Either way, I need reading glasses.

When I started my new job, I had to choose between corporate phones. My coworkers universally told me to get the iPhone. There was no Android choice, so I went with the majority view.

The phones are pretty much the same:  

• The iPhone dings a lot. It was ringing away in my pocket when I was at the dentist, who politely tolerated the racket.

• Both have equally slow 1GHz processors.

• The pictures are similarly grainy and blurry, even though the iPhone 4 has a 5 megapixel camera and the Samsung Charge has 8 megapixels.

• They both deliver an overwhelming torrent of text messages and email with frightening efficiency.

• Battery life is equally brief.

• The iPhone offers an alarm that sounds like a duck quacking. The Samsung offers a guitar solo alarm that is riveting. I like the duck because it makes me laugh.

• The iPhone comes with a condom-like rubber housing, which cures the “death grip” dropped-call problem. It’s hard as blazes to get off when you need to read the “IMEI” number.

• Both have lots of apps, and you can waste hours playing Angry Birds on either. Not that I do that on company time.

• Both take forever to find your location when you’re standing in the rain in San Francisco trying to find Union Square.

For the rest of my article, read on in published today in the ABA's GP Solo eReport.

Learn how to expertly handle business development opportunities with prospects, contacts and new referral sources in our upcoming webinar, What Do I Say To A Prospective Client To Win Their Business? On November 18, 2011, veteran business development expert David Ackert and I will  describe:

• How to test to see if a prospective client needs an attorney.
• What you should say about your firm and its capabilities.
• How to transition from a social conversation to a business dialogue.
• How to avoid looking like a salesperson. 

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Click here to register. Save 20% if you register on or before Nov. 11: fee $240

Save 10% if you register on or before Nov. 15: fee $270

Fee beginning Nov. 16: $300

You can pay online with a credit card. Display the program in a conference room and invite as many attendees as you wish.

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Topics Include:

• Common business development mistakes that attorneys make
• What clients care about when meeting you
• How to ask the right questions and listen effectively
• How to excel in a networking situation
• Diagnosing a clients' need for service
• How to overcome client objections to engaging your services
• How to sell ideas for next steps
• How to use a proven, step-by-step business development process

Who Should Attend:

• All Attorneys who want to understand and apply the best professional practices of business/referral discussions for successful business development.
• Associates looking to develop the right skills for business development and to begin now to develop their networks.
• Marketing Directors looking for ways to support their attorneys with sound, practical methods.

Click here to signup for this event.

“In the Internet age, online content marketing is the best way for lawyers and law firms to establish their reputations and attract new business,” said Per Casey. “And web traffic analysis is the best way for lawyers and law firms to measure the success of a content marketing campaign and move forward based on that information. Content marketing and web analytics are inseparable parts of the same strategic process.”

Casey, founder of Tenrec (www.tenrec.com), a web technology consulting firm that focuses on law firms, discussed strategic content marketing and web analytics at the monthly program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association in Denver.

“Content marketing involves distribution of your content using popular social media sites (like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) as well as successful content syndication sites (like JD Supra, LegalOnRamp and Scribd),” he said.

Each time your keyword-rich article is published on one of these sites, it is indexed by Google and other search engines – enhancing results for searches on terms like your name, your law firm’s name, your geographic area and the relevant subject area.

“Not only does the Internet facilitate the wide distribution of content,” said Casey, “it also allows lawyers and law firms to closely track distribution – to know how many visitors click on the content; how much time they spend reading, listening or viewing the content; and where (your website, search or some other site) they found the content.”

The popular Google Analytics program is free and yields information about site visitors, including:

• number of visitors (unique, new and repeat)
• page views
• repeat rate
• visit length
• page view length
• page view per visit
• bounce rate (those who leave quickly from a given page)
• entry pages (where visitors enter you site)
• exit pages (where visitors leave your site)
• referral sources (direct traffic, search engines and other referral sites)

“Web analytics programs are capable of generating a vast amount of information,” said Casey.

For more about Casey's presentation, read the story reported by Janet Ellen Raasch on the LawMarketing Channel.

Smart law firms are using social media to generate leads. 55% of marketers have closed deals from social media leads, according to a report from Webmarketing123, “2011 State of Digital Marketing Report.”

The November 2011 report says that marketers have had the most success with Facebook, with 40.7% saying they have closed a deal from a Facebook lead.

Roughly one in 5 have also closed a deal from a lead generated on LinkedIn or Twitter. 68.4% of marketers say they have ever generated a lead from a social network, with Facebook (47%) again ahead of LinkedIn (34.8%) and Twitter (33.8%).

"Lead and sales generation activities dominate as the most important objectives for digital marketing campaigns," according to the report, far ahead of other goals such as building brand awareness, generating web traffic or building a community.

68% of marketers have generated leads from at least one of the three major social media platforms. As for spending, "as expected, B2B marketers invest 1/3 of their digital budgets on SEO activities, while B2C marketers invest most heavily in PPC," according to the report.

The results are based on an online survey of 500 US marketing professionals. Webmarketing123 is a digital marketing agency that helps clients convert online visibility into measurable results.

The infographic below from Mashable describes:

1. What's an e-reputation.
2. Why your online reputation matters.
3. What potential employers are looking for.
4. What you can do about it. While there are companies like Reputation Defender out there to help you manage your online reputation, there are still plenty of things you can do on your own. Feel free to check out my PowerPoint slide show "How to Monitor & Enhance Your Reputation on the Internet as a Lawyer."

Thanks to Ryan Nelson of LegalWebExperts  for this guest post:

The ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference coming up on November 8^th and 9^th, 2011, will explore the ever growing importance of attorney website design in promoting three core elements of business success: reputation, referral and ranking. The conference has been named R³ after these three elements.

The conference is presented by the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) and will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia. This is the third legal marketing conference hosted by the ABA as they continue to help law firms of all sizes grow their marketing for the future.

The event offers the opportunity to learn from the ABA’s faculty of attorneys and expert keynote speakers from the industry. Networking with other fellow attendees is a major part of the event as opportunities are provided before, after, and during the conference.

Over the course of the two day conference the keynote speakers and other presenters will delve into how law firm web presence and legal website design can grow your business, how the internet is changing everything, and how the secret to success can be reduced to reputation, referral and ranking. 

Reputation

The key to your success is having the world know about you. Keynote speaker Dan Hill, President of Sensory Logic, Inc. of Minneapolis, MN begins the conference addressing how law firm internet marketing can improve or hinder your reputation in his speech “Lie to Mie! ‘Emotion Management’ of Your Marketing Will Invite Trust, Not Contempt.” Dan Hill is an internationally recognized authority on the use of facial coding, the method of reading facial expressions to know what someone is really thinking. Hill is a prominent figure in the national media on facial coding analysis on a wide variety of topics such as presidential elections. 

Also dealing with reputation in the talk “Social Media: Does Your Firm Marketing Plan Need A Face Lift?”, Steve Silverberg, the moderator and partner at Silverberg Zalantis LLP, White Plains, NY, will discuss how to use Social Media in a way that you are comfortable with to help the overall reputation and awareness of your firm. 

Referrals

A large part of maintaining business is referrals. The second keynote speaker, Peter Shankman, Founder of Help A Reporter Out and Founder of The Geek Factory, Inc. New York City, New York discusses the impact of the internet on law firm marketing and how it has changed everything. Shankman, known for “redefining the art of networking” will explain how social media, legal website design, internet marketing and public relations are transforming client referrals and retention.

The process of internet rankings and ratings - not search engine rankings; rather, the various companies and resources that rank lawyers - is growing more complex as it gets more attention. The conference luncheon “Effects of Rankings & Ratings on the Legal Profession” will address many topics surrounding this issue such as how to sort through the thousands of companies (Chambers USA, Martindale-Hubbell and American Lawyer Media) that do rankings and ratings. Other topics include the pros and cons of participating in rankings, how to deal with ethical quandaries, and how to incorporate rankings into your attorney website design and even marketing campaign. The roundtable discussion will include perspectives from law firm management consultants, in-house counsel, traditional print and online entities, and other media.

You can still register for this even. Visit www.lawpractice.org/marketingconference for registration and conference updates. 

This is a guest post from LinkedIn Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo.

LinkedIn is the most popular business social networking site used by attorneys. In fact, a recent report shows that 70% of corporate counsel use LinkedIn as a tool, and half rely on it. Executives from every Fortune 500 company are using LinkedIn.

To help law firms attract and retain more clients using LinkedIn, I have identified ten different opportunities attorneys should take advantage of.

10 Ways Law Firms Can Use LinkedIn to Attract and Retain More Business

1. Build relationships with potential clients – If you deal with corporate business, small business or real estate issues then you can use LinkedIn to network with potential clients – and educate them so they will want to come to you with their problems.

2. Build relationships with potential referral sources – For example, an attorney who specializes in social security law can network with partners or employees at general practice firms so they can pass business on to you. Business lawyers can network with accountants and business advisors. Lawyers that work in the real estate industry can connect with realtors who can refer business to them.  Elder care attorneys can network with assisted living homes and care giving service providers and associations who can refer business to them.

3. Create a community of like-minded professionals - For example if you are a real estate attorney educate a group of real estate agent so they can refer business to you or use you if their clients need your advice. Within this group, you need to create conversations and link prospects, referral sources and the media back to your blog or website where they can get even more information. Notice, your LinkedIn group is part of the lead generation funnel.

4. Build relationships with the media - 92% of all media professionals are on LinkedIn, which is more than any other social networking site. That means editors, journalists and reporters of local, regional and national publications and other media types are available to you on LinkedIn. You can reach out to these individuals and invite them to your group so they can see the type of information you can offer their readers, listeners or viewers.

5. Spread your content and prove you are a thought leader - Placing your content, expertise and messages in front of targeted prospects is the absolute best way to attract new clients and referral sources. That’s why you need to join groups where your prospects are going to for information you can provide and engage in conversations.

6. Nurture relationships with existing clients - Your marketing and relationship building efforts should not stop once someone becomes a client. That’s why attorneys should have a group specifically for providing ongoing, exclusive content and information just for clients where they can answer more specific questions. This will help you with client retention.

7. Perform market research that you can promote with articles and press releases - Recently a client of mine who is a workplace communication expert conducted on LinkedIn a study of CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents and manager. From his research he found that 44% of the executives surveyed were unhappy with their employees’ performance and their own communication style. Using his survey questions he was also able to uncover what problems they were encountering. 

With this knowledge he then created:

• A report that showcased the results. 
• Press release to reveal the results and position him as a thought leader.
• Webinars to discuss solutions to the problems his audience were encountering
• Articles and LinkedIn discussions to promote the study, the report and the event
• A complete marketing and PR plan and strategy based off this study

8. Build an extensive network of connections who can be expert witnesses for your clients. By building a relationship on LinkedIn with connections who can be expert witnesses for issues relating to your law specialty, you give prospects and clients a reason to hire you. Now, you are combining your expert knowledge in the industry with support that other law firms may not be able to offer.

9. Stay up-to-date on what’s happening in your industry – Join groups that your peers, colleagues and competitors belong to. This will help you way stay current on trends, problems, concerns and even cases in your industry. You will be able to see what others are talking about and what they have to share. And, you can use this as an idea bank for articles and press releases that you can write to promote your law firm.

10. Showcase your attorney’s abilities - Every attorney in your practice should have a LinkedIn profile and there should be a link to it on the company website. This will enable clients or prospects to reach out to your practice in another way and on a more personal level. And, the lawyers will be able to update their LinkedIn profiles to showcase their skills, abilities, articles that were published and media mentions without having to pay expensive webmaster fees. .

Now, as I said earlier, LinkedIn is reportedly the most popular business social networking site used by attorneys. In fact, a LinkedIn search for the keyword “legal” gave me more than 1 million results. However, only a small percentage of these attorneys are using LinkedIn to its fullest potential for bringing in more clients, referrals and publicity. The question is:

Are you willing to breakthrough the pack – and become part of that small percentage who of attorneys who are using LinkedIn effectively to market their law firms?

About the Author:

LinkedIn Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo creates online marketplace opportunities for lawyers and law firms who want to attract more clients. Now, you can uncover the LinkedIn marketing mistakes you are making the opportunities your law firm is missing by grabbing Kristina’s free special report at: http://www.Free14LinkedInMistakesReport.com <= Get this report for free and start getting more publicity, more clients and more referrals!   

Want a taste of what it's like to be a law firm marketer? Experience the joys of working with blockheaded partners who are more concerned with being in the Sunday newspaper magazine that their neighbors read than speaking engagements that will actually generate new business. Can you tell that an exasperated law firm marketer wrote this based on their actual experience?

Hat tip to Heather Morse of the Legal Watercooler Blog for finding this.

Intellectual property law is a competitive area of practice, and the Holmdel, NJ, law firm DeMont & Breyer LLC has launched a website that does many things right to make the firm stand out. It's the latest Drupal-based site by New York's eLawMarketing.

The home page presents a selection of slides shows -- organized by industry -- that makes it clear what kind of clients they serve and the firm's specific capabilities. For example, the small tech and semiconductors slide depicts a scientist with a computer chip and the text reads,

"Our professionals, with degrees in fields such as physics, electrical engineering, materials science, and chemical engineering, are highly familiar with the complex challenges on the cutting edge of MEMS and nanotechnology, as well as semiconductor technology."

The site is organized into three business-friendly sections: 5 practice areas, 10 industries and 10 areas of expertise. A visitor instantly knows what this firm is about. Each industry page shows a graphic of the industry, avoiding cliches like gavels, columns and scales.

The lawyer bios -- perhaps the most important section of any law firm website -- are concise and display on a single screen. You see a lawyer's work experience, technology background, patents held, a picture and v-card. There is no fluff and no padding. Education and admissions are kept out of the way in a right-side rail.

The expertise section is an example of effective law firm marketing. Each section includes links to PDFs of patents they’ve obtained.

Other impressive aspects of the site include:

• The color palette is simple and eye catching -- black and a bright #FF3300 orange.
• The site names 97 clients, showing that they represent businesses from Fortune 500 companies like Lockheed Martin to high-tech start-up companies like Bug Labs, Inc. - which is exactly what visiting GCs will want to see.
• The About Us page can be read in 7 different languages.
• Each page has an orange "share and print" icon, enabling visitors to syndicate the content by email, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and many other social media.
• The "news" section shows the firm's activities at conferences (instead of boring new-partner announcements).

 Check out eLawMarketing's law firm website portfolio to see more.