Constant Content

Client Conversations: New Business

Janet Ellen Raasch — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:00:25 -0700

Each of the 47 lawyers was given a list of five customized questions around which to structure the conversation. The conversation should be all about the client, and not all about the law firm.

After 60 days, more than 100 client conversations had been completed, generating useful qualitative and quantitative data. The results were shared with 17 client teams. The firm achieved 13 additional matters in the same practice area, 15 cross-selling opportunities, and one significant new business opportunity.

Based on feedback from clients, the law firm was able to:

1. Engage in a training program with the client that enhanced visibility.

2. Encourage the client to use the firm’s litigation management extranet, in order to manage legal costs from multiple law firms.

3. Help the client re-scope a fixed-fee arrangement in order to improve realization.

4. Help the client draft an article for the ACC on partnering on pro bono opportunities.

5. Leverage client conversation into a plant tour, a meeting with the founders and a request for proposal for a broad range of legal services.

By developing a packaged training program and toolkit to prepare each attorney for the challenge, encouraging participation, and tracking feedback and results, attorneys at this firm gained great insights into their clients’ businesses, expanded contracts within the clients’ organizations, built goodwill and better relationships, and improved internal communication among lawyers and practice groups.

This is part five of a five-part article. To see the entire article:

Client Conversations Strengthen Relationships, Lead to New Business

Client Conversations: Case Study

Janet Ellen Raasch — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:57:26 -0700

Leonard, Street and Deinard is among Minnesota’s largest law firms, with 200 attorneys. Wicker Park Group worked with them on a highly successful “client conversation” program to retain and expand quality business. They developed tools and trained the firm’s trainers.

Forty-seven of the firm’s attorneys accepted an invitation to participate in the program. “A firm should start the program using the attorneys who are the most interested,” said Slavin. “In any group, there are 10 percent early adapters, 10 percent absolute naysayers, and 80 percent who will wait and see. Positive results from a pilot project can be used to persuade the reluctant.”

Each attorney was asked to identify three, four or five high-value clients to visit face-to-face within a 60-day time frame, schedule the visit, prepare for the meeting, rehearse for the meeting, meet with the client, report on the outcome of the meeting and follow up with the client. The lawyer making the appointment should be someone neutral, not be the relationship lead.

The firm’s marketing department supported the volunteer attorneys with each step of the process.

“Support included creation of talking points to use in scheduling a conversation; development of best practices for conducting the conversation (including role play, practice dialogue and listening skills); and collection of primary (existing), secondary (competitive intelligence) and relationship (who knows whom) research to thoroughly educate the lawyer prior to the conversation,” said Slavin.

Support also included development of a tool for recording and reporting results of the conversations as well as a method of rewarding and recognizing successful efforts.

This is part four of a five-part article. To see the entire article:

Client Conversations Strengthen Relationships, Lead to New Business

Client Conversations: Meeting Client Needs

Janet Ellen Raasch — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:54:28 -0700

Obviously, there are many ways in which a lawyer and law firm can address these concerns and make life easier for the CLOs with whom they work. The purpose of a client conversation is to uncover these concerns and come up with practical solutions that address them.

Communication between inside and outside counsel is a hot button for many CLOs. “One of the most common complaints we hear from clients is about unclear emails,” said Slavin. “Be specific in the message line. Keep the message succinct, with the main point up front. After a chain of three emails, pick up the phone and speak with the client. Do not send an email at 2 a.m. It just makes the client nervous. Write it at 2 a.m., if you must, but send it in the morning.”

If your client prefers to communicate in person or by phone instead of email, respect those preferences. Make sure that a real, informed person answers your phone and that messages do not go to voicemail or to an uninformed switchboard.

“Cost of legal services is also obviously a big problem for CLOs,” said Slavin. “Prior to the recession and current economic pressures, in-house counsel were comfortable sending work to outside counsel. With current cost pressures, legal departments are forced to handle more of this work in-house. Competition for ‘outside’ work and pressure to control cost is extreme.

“When a client gets a series of monthly bills for $20,000, and the outside lawyer says that the next month will be more, and the bill shows up at $65,000,” said Slavin, “that is a massive failure to manage the client’s expectations and an equally massive disconnect in understanding the client’s budget. Without exception, CLOs hate surprises.”

Another common complaint is bills with small increments, like 30 or 40 minutes a day listed over several days for the same project. Clients want lawyers to be focused in their use of time.

Understanding the preferences of individual clients is also essential. “I spoke with one new corporate counsel who had been invited out by a client for an evening of steak, scotch and cigars,” said Slavin. “This approach had apparently worked well with her predecessor. However, she was a vegetarian with a husband and a three-year-old waiting at home. She just wanted to be able to spend more time with her family! This was not the best way to build a relationship with her.”

This is part three of a five-part article. To see the entire article:

Client Conversations Strengthen Relationships, Lead to New Business

Client Conversations: What Clients Really Want

Janet Ellen Raasch — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:51:33 -0700

A client who has hired a lawyer as outside counsel assumes that the lawyer is qualified to do good legal work. Otherwise, the lawyer would not have made the cut in the first place. Quoting a client, Slavin said: “Smart is what gets you in the door. How you manage the relationship is what keeps you inside.” The relationship is what builds loyalty.

“We have conducted more than 1,000 client interviews,” said Slavin. “As a result, I have a pretty good sense of ‘what clients want.’ They want lawyers who can fix their problems. They want lawyers who can make their lives easier. They want lawyers with whom they can have a close and enjoyable personal relationship.”

In 2011, the ACC conducted a survey of chief legal officers and general counsel. Forty-two percent came from private companies, 34 percent from public companies, and the rest from non-profits, subsidiaries of foreign companies, LLCs and other organizations.

Survey respondents look for good value for the money they spend, reasonable cost, transparency between the lawyer and the client, and understanding of issues facing the client and its industry.

The most pressing issues expressed by these CLOs are:

Keeping apprised of company issues with potential legal implications,

Reducing outside legal costs,

Dealing with too much work and too few resources,

Staying on top of developments in the law,

Communicating changes in the law to management, and

Demonstrating the value of the legal department to management.

The biggest challenges faced by CLOs include regulation/legislation, general economic outlook, growth, globalization, competition/maintaining market share, controlling risk, being sole risk manager, increasing litigation, lack of funding, healthcare reform, compliance, internal actions with legal implications, quality of law firms, being spread too thin, need for a strategic business partner, and training and motivating a law department as well as the company’s executives.

This is part two of a five-part article. To see the entire article:

Client Conversations Strengthen Relationships, Lead to New Business

Janet Ellen Raasch — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:44:03 -0700

Lawyers are always interested in getting more work and better work from their existing clients. If you ask a lawyer what his or her client really wants, the lawyer is likely to say “good legal work.” If you ask the client, you’ll get a far different answer. The client’s answer is what counts.

“To get more and better business from their clients, lawyers and law firms need to have ‘the conversation’ to find out what clients really expect from the relationship,” said Nat Slavin. “Only about 10 to 15 percent of law firms are actually having these essential conversations with their clients.

“It is important to understand that these are not traditional ‘sales calls’ in which a lawyer’s primary concern is asking for new business,” said Slavin. “Nor are they point-by-point surveys.

“They are structured, customized conversations in which a representative of the law firm skillfully probes to discover client needs, preferences and opinions,” said Slavin. “Without directly asking for it, these conversations almost always generate new business.”

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Value Challenge developed a “meet, talk, act” approach to effective client conversations: meet with a client face-to-face, talk to the client about problems and needs, and act by coming up with and implementing concrete ways to solve problems and meet needs.

Slavin discussed the use of strategic client conversations as a business-development tool at the March educational meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. The event took place March 12 at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in LoDo, Denver.

Slavin is a founder and partner in the Wicker Park Group, which focuses on law firm client feedback interviews, client growth programs, and training and development. Slavin is the former publisher of Inside Counsel and former president of the Legal Marketing Association.

This is part one of a five-part article. To see the entire article:

Client Conversations Strengthen Relationships, Lead to New Business

PR Skills: During the Interview

Janet Ellen Raasch — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:36:27 -0700

Once a reporter has responded to a law firm’s pitch, the subject matter expert must understand his or her rights in the interview process.

Before an interview, ask about the context of the story. Ask if a list of questions can be reviewed ahead of time (sometimes a reporter will provide this). Do some background research on the reporter, to determine the tone of the reporter’s usual work. Find out who else might be interviewed for this particular story. Do some research to understand these sources’ points of view.

Ask for permission to videotape or record the interview yourself or, alternatively, for a tape/copy of the interview. There may be a charge associated.

During the interview, an interviewee has the right to courteous treatment. A subject matter expert can refuse to answer questions that are pejorative or insulting, but should remain courteous when doing so. A legal expert can refuse to answer questions that involve client confidentiality, conflicts or litigation, but can and should refer the interviewer to another source who might be able to provide the answer.

An interview subject has the right to request that difficult or confusing questions be re-phrased. The interviewee who is not sure of something should always be comfortable saying, “I don’t know that answer right now, but I will find out for you.” Then, get back to the reporter as soon as possible.

Finally, a legal expert should never ask to review an article before it goes to print. The expert can offer to do so in order to help the reporter, but should never make a direct request.

Lawyers and law firms are often needlessly concerned about working with the media. With a clear understanding of what is newsworthy, a list of qualified subject matter experts, the right pitch to the right reporter and an understanding of the interview process, media relations can be a great way for law firms to earn an enhanced reputation within a targeted marketplace.

This is part five of a five-part article. For the full article:

PR Skills Boost Law Firms

PR Skills: Making Your Pitch to the Media

Janet Ellen Raasch — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:34:10 -0700

Following development of a newsworthy story idea and selection of a qualified lawyer-expert, the third step in a successful media policy is to actually pitch the story idea.

Identify the best media outlets for a newsworthy story idea. These could be mainstream print, television or radio; “niche” trade or business publications; or any number of online content sites.

Once an outlet has been identified, determine the most appropriate reporter within that outlet. Some publications still assign certain editors and reporters to specific beats, but many more currently use generalists. Find out who has written in a related subject area before. Reference the firm’s familiarity with the reporter’s work. Customize the pitch. Never pitch an idea as an “exclusive” unless it is actually an exclusive. Use exclusives to reward reporters who have treated the firm well.

Many reporters prefer to receive pitches by email. Others prefer a phone call. A pitch for a newsworthy story differs from a press release. It is a “hook,” not the whole story. A pitch is brief, factual and demonstrates why the idea is newsworthy. It avoids hyperbole, which alienates reporters. It offers a credible expert, a photo opportunity, a promise to follow up and accurate “live” contact information.

A law firm should never assume that the fact that it buys paid advertising in a publication means that the publication’s editors and reporters will accept its pitch for an article idea. Most publications draw a clear line between advertising content and editorial content. A legitimate media outlet will be highly offended if the firm hints at a “pay to play” arrangement where none exists.

This is part four of a five-part article. For the full article:

PR Skills Boost Law Firms

PR Skills: Preparing Your Experts

Janet Ellen Raasch — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:31:56 -0700

The second step in a successful media policy is preparing the experts within a law firm who will be the media sources to flesh out a particular story idea. After all, it does no good to promise a good story idea to the media and then fail to deliver a credible source. Once that happens a few times, a firm will lose credibility for any story idea it pitches going forward.

Once the firm has a good story idea, determine which lawyers are best-qualified to speak with the media. They should be lawyers who actually work at the cutting edge in the subject area, but also lawyers who know how to work with the media -- and are willing to do so. Since editors and reporters must meet deadlines, the lawyer-experts must be available to respond quickly to media calls.

Before pitching a story idea, carefully prepare the selected expert or experts so that they can abide by firm, legal ethics and media rules without getting flustered. Know what the message is. Anticipate what a reporter might ask – including negative questions. Devise a number of concise quotes or “talking points” and practice them ahead of time. Be prepared to fit the story into a larger context.

Make sure lawyer-experts understand that a reporter in search of balance in a news story will talk to other experts as well. Almost always, the lawyer will be just part of the story, not the entire story. Be prepared with a list of other contacts and resources on the subject to provide to a reporter. A reporter will always appreciate and return to sources that help them write a good, well-researched story.

Law firms should create and distribute to the media a series of “subject matter expert guides.” A guide can be prepared for each lawyer who is willing and able to interact with the media. It includes a one-paragraph bio as well as a list of newsworthy story ideas or areas of interest a particular lawyer can address, such as marijuana laws, homeowners associations or eminent domain.

A subject matter expert guide includes a photo, and is also a good place to list the lawyer’s management role within the law firm and willingness to speak out on legal industry topics, such as associate pay, lateral moves of partners or law firm mergers. Expert guides also serve as great internal tools for generating ideas for blog posts, alerts, white papers or tweets.

Before speaking with the media, lawyers should be familiar with the legal ethics rules governing profession-specific issues like client confidentiality, conflicts and what can and cannot be said when discussing a case in litigation.

This is part three of a five-part article. For full article:

PR Skills Boost Law Firms

PR Skills: Crafting a Newsworthy Story

Janet Ellen Raasch — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:28:41 -0700

The first step in a successful public relations media policy is understanding what editors and reporters want - and crafting a story idea that meets their needs. To pique the interest of editors and reporters, story ideas must be newsworthy. They must also be authentic.

It is the job of editors and reporters to uncover and report the news, which is defined as information their readers, viewers or listeners need to know in order to make good decisions about their personal or professional lives, or their businesses.

In spite of how proud lawyers are about a particular development, news rarely consists of the internal workings of a law firm. Generally, the mainstream media do not care about legal awards and rankings, internal promotions, new practice groups (unless related to an emerging trend) or anniversaries (unless the firm is doing something unique and community-oriented to observe the anniversary).

What makes an idea or an event newsworthy in the eyes of a media gatekeeper? Usually, some combination of these characteristics:

Proximity – The focus of a newsworthy story idea will be local, either geographically local (of interest to a local or regional publication and audience, like The Denver Post) or “niche” local (of interest to those with shared legal issues, like a construction trade publication).

Prominence – A newsworthy story idea will feature someone or some event with “star power” – perhaps a well-known lawyer or client, or a connection with a front-page legal matter.

Timeliness – A newsworthy story idea will feature “breaking news” or a timely reaction to breaking news. The first one to pitch a timely idea is the most likely to get the media opportunity. By nature, lawyers like to study every aspect of an issue before making a statement. This is a common mistake. By the time the lawyer feels ready, a dozen more-nimble law firms have already pitched the idea.

Significant – A newsworthy story idea will directly concern a large number of people or, alternatively, a smaller number of very influential people (like lawmakers, a regulatory board or general counsel).

New or unusual – A newsworthy story idea will involve something new that has not been covered before. Also newsworthy is a fresh or local perspective on an existing national or regional news story.

Human Interest – A newsworthy story idea will have a personal face that sparks an emotional connection. Readers, viewers and listeners identify with other people and their problems. Abstract concepts, like an obscure change to a law, must be connected to the real-world problems of a person or number of persons who will be impacted by that change.

Conflict – A newsworthy story idea should involve conflict. A journalism maxim states: “If it bleeds, it leads.” This can be literal blood, like a crime story, or it can be figurative blood, like a disagreement over gun control, gay marriage or a court case (which by nature involves conflict).

Trends – A newsworthy story idea often involves a local “take” on a regional, national or international trend that has been in the news. How will the Affordable Care Act, passed in Washington, D.C., affect the ability of local employers to grow larger than 50 employees?

Visual aspect – Reporters are particularly attracted to stories with a visual component – a compelling still photo for print, for example, or video footage for television. Radio reporters like stories with sound.

This is part two of a five-part article. For entire article:

PR Skills Boost Law Firms

Janet Ellen Raasch — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:18:36 -0700

A law firm that wants to position and maintain its brand in the marketplace has two options. It can pay a considerable amount to get its name before the public via advertising and sponsorships. Alternatively (and often additionally) it can “earn” an enhanced reputation via skillful use of public relations.

Public relations is defined as a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.

One of the best ways for law firms to build these relationships is through the media, which often serve as gatekeepers between organizations like law firms and their publics like clients, potential clients and referral sources, as well as internal audiences like the firm’s lawyers, management and staff.

Earned media is more credible and powerful than paid advertising, because it brings with it the objective endorsement of the third-party media outlet that has vetted it and decided that it is newsworthy.

However, public relations does not come with the same amount of control as advertising. Once the media begin to work on a story, a law firm has little control over how the story actually turns out. Plus, there is no guarantee that the story will appear. If implemented carefully, however, a good public relations media policy brings much reward.

This article is based on a presentation on public relations media strategies by Sarah Hogan and Cori Streetman to the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. Hogan and Streetman are principals at Barefoot Public Relations in Denver. The event took place Feb. 12 at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in LoDo, Denver.

This is part one of a five-part article. For the full article:

PR Skills Boost Law Firms

Law firm SEO: Take off your black hat

Janet Ellen Raasch — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:29:10 -0700

Part seven of seven-part article Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

“The Google algorithm is very smart,” said Mears, “and it gets smarter every day. You might think that you can fool it, but you can’t. Do not unnaturally ‘stuff’ or ‘cram’ your site with keywords. Do not include keywords and links in the same color as background text, in hopes of hiding them and juicing up your results. Do not use metatags that do not match page content. Do not work with ‘link farms.’”

“Once Google has associated you with such ‘black hat’ practices, you will be penalized with reduced rankings or even elimination from their database,” said Mears. “The only way to get indexed and ranked again once this happens is to change your URL – and your practices.”

Law firm SEO: Content marketing takes the stage

Janet Ellen Raasch — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:26:43 -0700

Part six of a seven-part article Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

The hottest new element in the field of SEO is content marketing – providing a steady stream of interesting and informative content to improve your rankings in organic (non-paid) search results.

Content can be words (including web pages, blog posts, articles, lists, press releases and white papers), but it can also be photos, videos, slide decks or webinars. Linking back from content you post on Facebook or YouTube brings with it the high popularity weight of those sites, which rank 10 on a scale of 1-10.

Search engines search only words. Any time you use non-verbal content, like a picture or video, be sure to have good, keyword-rich “alt tags” behind them.

Search engines love words, and they give twice the weight to the words on home pages as they do to other pages. “It is a huge mistake when a law firm’s home page is heavy in graphics, especially flash graphics, and light in words,” said Mears. “If there are no words there, especially important keywords and phrases, search engines will pass this page right by.”

Home pages should also include keyword-rich internal links. “You should be able to reach every page of your website from the home page,” said Mears. “A site map containing links to your website’s various sections or pages also helps make sure the search engines find their way.”

Content that is attractive to search engines will be useful and informative. It will balance good use of keywords and phrases with natural phrasing. Emphasize keywords in headlines, subheads and the first sentence/paragraph of each section. Use heading tags, which carry extra weight.

Be aware that search engines will penalize any content that is not original. If you plan to syndicate content to more than one page, section or site, change it up a bit.

Law firm SEO: Incoming links add weight

Janet Ellen Raasch — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:24:02 -0700

Part five of a seven-part article Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

Your website can have two kinds of links – outbound and inbound. It never hurts to link to credible sources from your website, but it does not do much to enhance SEO.

“Having inbound links, where other Internet sites link to your, is important,” said Mears. “It is seen as an endorsement. The more popular your website is, as measured by the number and quality of links coming to your site from other sites, the higher it will be ranked in search engines. The more popular the site that links to you, on a scale of 1-10, the bigger the boost.”

Incoming links should be from websites and pages that contain content relevant to the law, your practice, your focus industry, or your location. “You can have an intern methodically contact these sites and ask that they link to you,” said Mears. Sites with ‘.edu’ and ‘.gov’ are ranked particularly high.

Law firm SEO: Create effective metatags

Janet Ellen Raasch — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:21:42 -0700

Part four of a seven-part article, Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

Metatags are searchable terms that lie “beneath” each page of a website. Although metadata are not displayed, they are visible to search engine spiders. To see the metatags on your site, right click on a page and then go to “view source.”

“What appears when you do this is a page of code,” said Mears. “Near the top of that code, you will see metatag titles, descriptions and keywords. If these areas are populated with automatically generated strings of text and numbers, this is a problem. There is nothing for the spiders to read.”

Each page on a website should have its own unique metadata. Poor metatags will significantly compromise your search engine results.

The title tag is the title that you want to appear as the link at the top of a search result. It should identify the contents of a document and be 72 characters or fewer, so it will appear in its entirety.

The description tab tells the search engine and viewers what your page or site is about. It contains the descriptive text that appears on a results page underneath the title. “A page with a good description tag will entice more people to click through to the site itself,” said Mears. “Ideally, it should be between 150 and 160 characters. If there is nothing there, Google will populate this area with something random.”

The keywords tag includes a list of keywords. “There is much debate as to their value in the location,” said Mears, “but they can’t hurt. Keywords included here must actually appear somewhere in the page and should not exceed 500 characters. “

Law firm SEO: Keywords do the heavy lifting

Janet Ellen Raasch — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:18:58 -0700

Part three of a seven-part article Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

SEO involves researching the most relevant and searched keywords and phrases for your practice and target industry, and using them so that your website will get more traffic.

Analytics programs will let you know the exact keywords or phrases that visitors are using to find you. “Never assume that you know the best keywords,” said Mears. “There are as many words (and spellings of those words) used to search for something as there are individuals. If your website does not include the exact words a user enters in a query, your site will not show up in the search engine result set.

“Once you know the most common keywords, make sure that they appear throughout the site – in content and in metatags,” said Mears. Good keywords include “lawyer” and “attorney” and “law firm,” as well as words related to geographic location, areas of practice, and industries and problems of clients.

In choosing keywords, remember to use words that a potential client would use rather than words that an attorney would use. Be specific. “Bitten by a dog” is more specific than “personal injury.” The Wordtracker website provides valuable information on keywords you are using or considering.

Law firm SEO: Is your website working?

Janet Ellen Raasch — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:14:38 -0700

Part two of a seven-part article Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

Although there are a number of search engines, Google dominates this field with 85 percent of search traffic. “If you aim to optimize for Google and its algorithms,” said Mears, “you should be in pretty good shape with any search engine.”

Google Analytics is a service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about traffic on a website. The basic service is free and fills the needs of most lawyers and law firms. It generates useful reports on site performance and tracks visitors from online referral sources.

“Google Analytics provides valuable insight into the effectiveness of your website,” said Mears. “You need to know what’s going on. Once you have a clear picture of what is working well, you can do more of it. When you have a clear picture of what is working poorly or not at all, you can fix it or eliminate it.”

Reports generated by an analytics program can be used to determine visitors, bounce rates and page views. “Unique visitors or users are the number of distinct entities that visit your site,” said Mears. “’Bounce rate’ refers to the number of visitors who look at one page, don’t find anything they need, and leave the site immediately. A bounce rate above 40 percent is bad.”

Page view reports also yield useful data. “The longer visitors stay on your site, the more useful the site is and the higher Google ranks the site,” said Mears. “Page views let you know exactly how long visitors stay on your site, what pages they look at, which pages are most popular and which path they follow through your site. Internal links encourage visitors to navigate throughout your site.”

Analytics programs will also let you know which external domains are referring visitors to your site – search engines, directories, ads, social media or other websites.

Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

Janet Ellen Raasch — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:07:19 -0700

If your law firm is not showing up on the first page of search results, you are nowhere. Very few online searchers ever go beyond the first page of results. In the eyes of Internet users (everyone), if you do not appear on this first page, you are not credible. You will not get the call.

What can you do to improve your search engine results?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an online marketing strategy that helps position your firm among the top results for given search terms. It involves creating a structure for your website that meets the need of search engines, and populating your site with a constant supply of fresh, keyword-rich content.

Automated search engine spiders constantly “crawl” through web pages, compiling word indexes which they then use to rank pages based on algorithms. The algorithms assign varying weights to elements like keywords and phrases, as well as links. The resulting calculation pushes some web pages higher on a search engine results page than others.

“Search engine spiders must be able to access and easily make their way through all of the pages of your website,” said Kim Mears. “Anything that prevents them from doing so will affect your ranking. Poor optimization could even prevent your site from being indexed at all.”

Mears is chief visionary officer and founder of Mears Interactive, a Denver-based online marketing agency. She discussed search engine optimization before the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. The presentation took place Jan. 8 at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in Denver.

“The basics of SEO are not hard to master,” said Mears. “There are things you must do and things you must avoid. In general, you should track your results using Google Analytics, choose the right keywords, create effective metatags, build incoming links and add well-written, fresh content.”

This is part one of a seven-part article. For the full article:

Easy, essential SEO for lawyers and law firms

Next gen law firm websites: Keep content fresh

Janet Ellen Raasch — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:31:08 -0700

This is the final part of a seven-part article on innovative law firm websites. Link to entire article below.

Previously, law firm websites content consisted mainly of words and pictures. Today, they include a vast range of content, from illustrations to webinars to video.

No matter what the type of content you are posting, however, one rule remains the same. It must be kept fresh. Each time you add new content to a law firm website, it “shakes” the web and attracts the search engine spiders to take a new look.

“Words will always be an important part of law firm websites,” said Walsh. “We just have to be more careful how we use them. On the Internet, people read 25 percent slower than they do on paper. Plus, they scan rather than read. You cannot present them with a dense block of grey text and expect them to read it carefully – or at all.

“Headlines and subheads are important for providing ‘clues’ to the busy reader,” said Walsh. “Sentences and paragraphs should be kept short and active, with lots of white space. Lists and bullet-points are good, as long as they are not too long. Keywords should appear in headlines and subheads, and in the first paragraph of any text.

“Avoid abstract language about legal concepts,” said Walsh. “Use concrete, engaging stories to keep readers interested.”

Attorney bios or profiles are a good place to introduce fresh content. Most law firm bios consist of a dry list of accomplishments. Instead, create bios and profiles that truly reflect an individual lawyer’s personality. What makes him or her unique? Supplement credentials with meaningful quotes and personal outside-the-office interests. Support this message with meaningful graphics.

The best law firm websites do not sell, they teach. They establish law firms as thought leaders in their targeted niches. In addition to case stories, websites should provide links to a steady supply original work like the firm’s blog posts, e-alerts, newsletters, white papers, analysis and original research.

Law firms should know that more than 75 percent of potential clients will use the Internet to find and research them before making a call. In the Internet age, your website has become extremely valuable real estate. It should look and feel unique. One way to do this and set yourselves apart from the competition is to adopt the look, feel and navigation techniques made popular by social media.

Next generation of law firm websites influenced by social media

Next gen law firm websites: Think outside the box

Janet Ellen Raasch — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:28:21 -0700

This is part six of a seven-part article on innovative law firm websites. Link to entire article below.

“On the websites we design,” said Walsh, “we often use handwriting and drawings. We create diagrams on whiteboards. We arrange a collage of personal and professional items on a lawyer’s desk or on a bulletin board, and use that picture on the lawyer’s bio.”

In a website designed for a law firm composed of lawyer/scientists, Greenfield/Belser used the layout of the periodic table of the elements to organize information on the site. “This resonates strongly with the firm’s clients in the scientific community,” said Walsh.

Color, motion and sound also grab attention. “Online color is free,” said Walsh, “and yet many law firms fail to make full use of it. In the age of YouTube, visitors to your website are used to video and animation. Although eight minutes of a talking head can be deadly, 30 seconds of a professionally done video can be extremely effective.”

Webinars, seminars and presentations should be recorded and made available on a law firm’s website. “We recommend building a ‘mini-site’ for a special event within the main law firm website,” said Walsh. “This includes information about the benefits of the event, the presenters and the topic, as well as links to useful resource materials.”

Certain items lend themselves to be broken out or placed in sidebars as graphic elements for special emphasis. These include case stories, client testimonials (print or video), fast facts, awards, accolades and rankings. This sort of information disappears when it is buried in paragraphs of text.

Next generation of law firm websites influenced by social media

Next gen law firm websites: All about graphics

Janet Ellen Raasch — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:25:25 -0700

This is part five of a seven-part article on innovative law firm websites. Link to entire article below.

Today’s online news, content and social media sites are rich in graphics. Take a look at Facebook, Flickr or Pinterest. Carefully consider USA Today, or the homepages of CNN.com or MSN.com. Today’s effective law firm website should also use graphics.

Photos are an important element, as long as they are original (not stock) and reflect the firm’s unique message. Imagery is central and defining. Photos should do more than simply break up blocks of words.

Also, photos are a good way to demonstrate client-orientation. Make ample use of photos of clients, their businesses and their industries. Photos of lawyers that appear on their bios are often stiff headshots. Instead, use a less-formal photo that provides additional information about the lawyer’s personality and interests.

“But don’t limit yourself to photos,” said Walsh. “There are many interesting ways that other types of graphics can be used to display information. Why present a dense page of unreadable text when a list, chart, table, map, diagram or illustration could present the same information in a much more interesting and compelling way?

Online elements like surveys, questionnaires and “games” invite user interaction.

Next generation of law firm websites influenced by social media