Your website visitors are self-centered and selfish.

Potential clients aren’t initially coming to your website to see how great a lawyer you are or to see what solutions you have to offer for their legal troubles.

Fact is, the couldn’t care less about you. They care only about themselves.

Their needs. Their wants. Their world view.

Nothing wrong with that. The sooner you learn to live within those confines, you’ll be better able to help them with their problems.

Here’s what I mean. [Read more...]

Building a fire is fun. Roasting the marshmallows is usually a treat, and sitting around watching the flames is one of the primal joys of our species.

It’s around a fire, after all, that our ancestors spent countless evenings telling stories, singing songs and generally deciding the fate of the entire tribe.

When the fire burns low, we’re left with embers.

We grab a poker and try to bring up some fire and keep the magic going a bit longer, but any fix is temporary. We were a few dancing sparks, maybe a bit more heat, but that’s it.

In order to bring the fire back to life, we’ve got to add something. More kindling, more wood, and more effort.

So, too, in the way we practice law. To bring in business, you’ve got to add something. What worked a decade ago isn’t doing the trick in the age of digital communication. People are finding their own answers in new places, reaching out to nascent networks for help.

Notice that I didn’t say you should be moving all of your business building efforts online, or to the “flavor of the week” social network. That would be irresponsible of me.

Your existing marketing channels worked for a long time without help, so unless you’re not getting any return on your investment you should remain there. The trick is to add an online component in a way that complements your existing strategy.

Which media you choose to add – a blog, a podcast, video, social networking platforms, or whatever else is out there – depends on where your prospective and existing clients can be found. Failing to do that almost ensures the failure of your online efforts.

And we all know it’s a shame to see a good fire die out for lack of tending.

Image courtesy of  colorblindPICASO

Too often, we approach content creation with a sort of “evergreen” mentality. That’s great if all you need from your content is for it to fill space, but when you want more than that you’ve got some thinking to do.

You want to move your reader to take action – give you a call, set up a consultation and, ultimately, become a paying client.

When you want content that delivers, content that improves your brand, your practice, and yes, the lives of your clients, it’s important to go into the process with a goal in mind. This goal will guide you through the process, so don’t put your fingers to the keyboard until you’ve determined what you want your content to do.

As Rick Springfield famously said, “we all need the human touch.” [Read more...]

It’s tempting to take the advice you read here and jump in with both feet. But without a goal, you’re not going to get far in terms of marketing your law firm.

You may get tons of traffic and kudos from your colleagues, but that’s not going to pay the bills.

In order to make it work, you need to figure out where you want to go.

Here are some things to consider before you put your fingers to the keyboard. [Read more...]

With the flood of marketing messages, it’s difficult for people to tell who’s the best anymore.

We’ve got a never-ending stream of blog posts, Twitter updates, Facebook messages and more. Whereas five years ago the landscape was clear, now it’s the equivalent of a bustling city filled with information.

Go onto your platform of choice and ask a question. You’ll be presented with a nearly-limitless stream of responses.

In some fields of knowledge, the information is variable at best. Get a cold and some sites will tell you to take some Nyquil while others will advise you to speed to the emergency room.

When it comes to consumer-based areas of law such as bankruptcy, however, that’s not the case. [Read more...]