On Page Optimization In 52 Seconds

There are many factors that go into a successful search engine optimization campaign. As a start, it’s important that you include properly researched keywords into certain areas of your site. This video will show you several key areas or your site where you should include keyword phrases. You can learn more about implementing law firm SEO strategy by downloading our Short Guide To Getting Your Law Firm Found In Google below.

Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google Do You Want To Know How To Get Potential Clients To Find Your Law Firm On Google? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide On Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google.

AttorneySync’s newest free guide, How To Get Your Law Firm Videos Found On YouTube, is available for download.

Videos give you a chance to interact with potential clients in a way that text on the page simply can not compete with. You have invested time and effort into creating effective online videos for your firm, now you need to get more people to watch them.

This Guide Will Give You A Proper Introduction To Getting Your Law Firm Videos Found On YouTube Including:

• Why YouTube Is The Most Important Video Sharing Site
• How To Perform Keyword Research For Video
• How To Optimize Your Videos Title, Description, Tags, & Category
• Other Important Factors For Ranking Videos Including Popularity, Links/Embeds, Ratings, & More
• Taking Advantage Of YouTube Insight

Download your free guide: How To Get Your Law Firm Videos Found In YouTube today!

I read a great article at The Rainmaker Blog about ways to achieve marketing success. One particularly interesting point he made at the end of the article was to emphasize price at your own peril.

This is not the time to reduce your rates just to pull a few more clients in the door. It’s often the price shoppers who are the most demanding, take up more of your time, complain more frequently, and are slow payers.

He hits the nail on the head here. It is so tempting to adjust your pricing to get that next client in door. Cash flow is tough, your account receivables aren’t coming in, whatever the case may be. You are simply trading one set of problems for a different set.

Here are three reasons you shouldn’t sell your legal services on price:

1. Anyone can undercut you: Selling any professional service on price is difficult and risky positioning. The biggest reason is that at any time, someone else can decide to undercut your price. If that happens, you lose. You are no longer the cheapest guy in town. Also, you face the problem that people often associate quality with price. I remember when I was living outside the Detroit area there was an eye clinic that offered lasik surgery. Their big marketing push was that they were the cheapest place in town. Only $200 an eye! It was structured like a used car commercial. I always thought to myself…..you know, if someone is going to perform surgery on my eyes, I probably want to go with the best guy…not the $200 an eye job. I don’t see legal services being any different.

2. Cheaper price means you need more clients: It’s simple math. The less you sell your services for, the more clients you will need. You have now created a business that is more volume based. To get more volume you are going to need more leads, more marketing, more hours, etc. This doesn’t mean it can’t work, it just is a fact. Something to think about before deciding to lower those prices in the hopes of more clients.

3. Your demographic changes when you sell on price: This is the point made in The Rainmaker Blog article. It’s important to think about the type of client you desire beforehand. What type of demographic does your client fit into? What is their socio-economic status? What do competitors of yours charge for the same type of client? Just be aware that lowering your price will not necessarily get you more of that type of client. You will get a different type of client that is attracted to your lower prices. The trick is to find ways to market, appeal to, and get in front of the type of client you desire. Simply lowering your price is an easy way out.

Photo by the justified sinner

5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid Want to learn 5 of the most common mistakes when marketing your firm? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide: 5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid.

I read a post recently by Seth Godin called When Data And Decisions Collide.   Seth discusses the role the internet is playing in presenting us with more concrete data to make informed decisions:

Until recently, most of the decisions we were called on to make were based on hunches, insight and a little bit of data.

It took Ignaz Semmelweis more than twenty years (he died before it happened, actually) to persuade doctors that washing their hands could save the lives of mothers giving birth. He had the data, he had the proof, but that wasn’t enough to change minds.

Data mining and the proximity of the internet to most of what we do is changing the proximity of proof to decision. Now, you don’t need to do a lot of research, the data is just a click away.

What are you going to do when your hunches don’t match the data that’s now pouring in?

The data shows, for example, that texting while driving is more dangerous than driving drunk. It doesn’t feel that way, of course, but will you respect the data and stop, cold turkey?

The data shows that the vast majority of wine drinkers can’t tell the difference between a $20 bottle and a $100 bottle. Will that keep you from buying the fancy wine? How much is the placebo effect worth?

What struck me while reading this is how often I talk to law firms that judge the effectiveness of their marketing based on “feelings” and a “hunch”. They do this even when the actual results are right in front of them. Worse yet, they continue to invest in marketing that isn’t working because they choose to ignore the data!

Are You Measuring Your Results?

If you aren’t measuring and tracking your marketing efforts, how do you know if what you are doing is worth your time? How do you know if it’s bringing in more business (the only real measure of the effectiveness of your marketing)? Why continue paying for a directory listing, a yellow page ad, a web marketing company, or a television commercial if it isn’t bringing you in more money than you spend on it? Because you’ve always done it? That isn’t a good enough reason.

Stop Measuring Your Marketing With Your Gut

With the internet, measuring results is easy. There are free analytics services, such as Google Analytics, you can setup to measure everything you can think of and even some things you can’t. It may make sense for your firm to hire a professional to handle measuring and tracking of your marketing efforts. The bottom line is that marketing a law firm is a game of trial, error, and analysis. All too often, lawyers forgo the analysis part and instead “trust their gut”.

Photo by pescatello

5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid Want to learn 5 of the most common mistakes when marketing your firm? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide: 5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid.

This is a terrific and funny talk by Rory Sutherland. As the description states on Ted.com:

Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value — and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.

The basic point is that the value a service provides is a matter of perception. Once we understand this, we can adapt our marketing to help influence and change perception rather than re-inventing our service again and again (which is costly and difficult to do).

Obviously, we need to begin with providing a good, quality service to our clients. But how do you go about differentiating and influencing perception?

With the proper marketing and branding, you can do so.

An Example:

Let’s say you are a general practice firm. You can handle a variety of legal issues and market them all on your website. Your website states you are a jack-of-all-trades, if they need it done you can handle it.

Your competitor across the street runs a similar, general practice firm. He decides to launch practice specific legal blogs for each practice area he operates in.

A potential client has a need for legal services, let’s say it’s a bankruptcy issue. He comes to your general practice website and sees that you handle bankruptcy amongst many other legal services. He visits your page about bankruptcy and reads that it is a service you can provide.

Next he visits the bankruptcy blog of your competitor. His perception is that he is someone that operates in the niche of bankruptcy since the entire blog discusses only this service. The bankruptcy blog provides an abundance of articles, information, and thoughts on bankruptcy (because he is posting 2-3 times a week like he should!) After reading up on the bankruptcy information on your competitor’s blawg, the consumer determines he is a specialist and thought leader in the area of bankruptcy.

Although the quality of your service and that of your competitors might be equal in every way, the way your competitor markets his practice is influencing perception. The quality of his service is determined to be a better fit because he is someone that deals specifically with the legal problem the consumer has.

This is just one example of branding your firm as a thought leader in a specific legal niche. The key is to think of how you are positioning your services and how you can influence the perception of the services you provide.

5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid Want to learn 5 of the most common mistakes when marketing your firm? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide: 5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid.

If you spend enough time around children, you quickly realize that they are seeing the world in a very different way than you and I do as adults.  They have a fresh, creative, and optimistic outlook on things.  The results are often unique because children don’t have years of experiences, biases, and ideas filling their heads.   It allows them to remove barriers for creativity and exploration.

I came across this video of a three year old child who is a phenomenal finger painter.  He obviously hasn’t had formal training, he just paints what he sees in his head.  As you can tell he paints pictures of things that he enjoys.  Can you say the same about the way you approach your lawyer advertisements?

I think that lawyers often take a very rigid, uncreative approach to their marketing and advertising.  I understand that it’s important to come across professional and also that the subject matter you are dealing with is serious and needs to be handled as such.  This doesn’t mean that you still can’t have fun with it and put together lawyer advertisements that are professional, unique, and creative.

Legal advertising is expensive and time consuming.  The most effective ads are the ones that others can remember, ones that differentiate your firm, and ones that appear as if the creator had fun making it.

Whether you are blogging, creating commercials, building an ad for the yellow pages, or designing your business cards, think about ways you can be more creative and differentiate yourself.  Try to deal with subject matters or legal niches that you enjoy.  Partake in marketing and advertising activities that stimulate you and bring out your inner creativity.  They will not only make your marketing more enjoyable for you…it will be more effective as well.

No whammies....no whammies....no whammies....STOP!

Two of the biggest obstacles lawyers face marketing law firms include:

1. Lack of a marketing plan

2. No systems in place to handle the marketing they are doing

Without a marketing plan and systems in place to follow through on your marketing….you are never going to achieve the results you otherwise could.

I want to tell the story of Michael Larson, a contestant on the game show Press Your Luck.

You can read the full story here, but as it goes:

On May 19, 1984, Michael Larson, an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Lebanon, Ohio, won $104,950 in cash, a sailboat, and two all-expense-paid vacation trips from two appearances on the CBS television game show “Press Your Luck.” At the time, $40,000 was considered to be a huge winning. Larson’s winnings set a record for the largest prize money award on any game show.

CBS initially refused to pay Larson his winnings, suspecting he had cheated. However, although Larson had won under unusual circumstances, he had not cheated. Instead, he had memorized the show’s computerized game board sequences, allowing him to continuously keep selecting winning board squares. He became the game’s biggest winner in less than an hour. CBS eventually conceded that Larson had done nothing illegal. He had simply outsmarted the game.

Since Larson was out of work, he watched Press Your Luck religiously.  Over the course of 6 weeks, Larson recognized there was a pattern to the light sequences that either resulted in prizes and money or a whammy….which caused you to lose everything.  He video taped the shows and eventually memorized the pattern.  He flew out to LA and made it on the show as a contestant.  After 40 spins and over $100,000 later, Larson stopped playing.  His win streak had to be broadcast over 2 episodes it went on for so long.

CBS later revised the light sequences and put a cap on the winnings of $75,000 so that no one else could duplicate Larson’s “success”.

So what does this have to do with marketing law firms?

Larson had two things in place in order to pull off the feat he did.

1. He had a plan in place ahead of time

2. He had a system for working that plan

Sound familiar?  All the other contestants on the show walked in haphazardly hitting their “stop buttons” when they felt they might land on the “Big Bucks” square.  They had no plan ahead of time and they had no system for landing on the correct square.  The result was that some got lucky and most lost everything.  You can’t afford to just get lucky when it comes to marketing a law firm.

Take the time to get a marketing plan in place.   How do you want to position your practice against your competitors?  What demographic do you want to appeal to?  How long are you going to run your campaign for?  How much do you want to invest (time and money)?

Additionally, think about the systems in place at your firm now.  How do you handle incoming leads?  How are you measuring and analyzing the results of your marketing?  Is someone responsible for maintaining marketing activities such as blogging, social media, etc?  If your marketing is wildly successful, have you accounted for an influx of leads?

5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid Want to learn 5 of the most common mistakes when marketing your firm? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide: 5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid.

What do The Beatles and your lawyer marketing have in common?  The answer is longevity….if you embrace change and re-invention like The Beatles did.

One aspect of what made the Beatles so great for such a long period of time was their ability to re-invent themselves.  Since the beginning, they created timeless music.  However, throughout the evolution of their careers, they had the ability to change the type of music they created so as to reflect the changing times.  The psychedelic Sgt. Pepper’s is a far cry from Please Please Me.  The talent, creativity, and unique touch always existed but their ability to try different sounds and venture into new areas gave them staying power and kept them relevant for decades.  Had they stuck with the exact same sound as when they appeared on Ed Sullivan, there is a good chance they wouldn’t have maintained the same level of popularity they still enjoy to this day.

Lawyer Marketing Works The Same Way

Times change, your firm changes, and your marketing needs to adapt to this.  I think the writing is on the wall that phone books and newspapers aren’t going to be able to sustain the bulk of your marketing in the coming years.  Lawyer marketing efforts need to be re-invented to remain relevant.  Those firms that understand this will adapt and experience longevity.  The rest will be one-hit wonders.

Make sure you are open to change, new ideas, and alternative methods for marketing your firm.  Simply “sticking with what has always worked” will eventually be outdated.  The legal field is too competitive now and that isn’t going to get better anytime soon.

There is a terrific urban legend about the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes.  In 1519, Cortes landed on the shores of the Yucatan looking to conquer the Aztecs and seize their riches.

As the legend goes, Cortes convinced 500 men and 11 ships to join him on his conquest.  Cortes knew that he had some distinct disadvantages.  He was far outnumbered and in a foreign land, “home court” for his enemy.  The Aztecs had survived and flourished for nearly six centuries before his arrival.  This was a monumental task for Cortes and his men.

As his soldiers rested, preparing for battle the next day, Cortes sent a few men to burn all 11 ships they had traveled in.  When the men awoke with their ships on fire, Cortes explained to his men “If we are going home, we are going home in their ships.”

With their backs against the wall, no means of escape, and no fall back position, Cortes and his men conquered the Aztecs.  The choices were simple, succeed or die.

The idea of “burning the ships” applies to many aspects of running a firm or business.  It’s easy to keep a safety valve instead of taking the risk to push through.

That’s not to say that it isn’t important to have a plan and a vision.  However, often what winds up happening is that we refuse to take much of a risk.  We stick with what we know and what is comfortable.  If we know that our ships are still out there waiting for us, when things get tough we instinctively head for them so we can escape. It’s just human nature.

I speak with lawyers every day that want to find new ways of marketing and advertising their firm, but without the risk or commitment.  Like any other aspect of running a law firm, we must take smart chances, try things out, and give them the focus, attention, and motivation they need to succeed.  Only then can we judge the merits of the directions we choose.

5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid Want to learn 5 of the most common mistakes when marketing your firm? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide: 5 Lawyer Marketing Mistakes To Avoid.

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Are you are currently spending money on legal advertising, attempting to grow your practice?  If so, download this free guide for some helpful tips on maximizing the return on your legal advertising investment.