The Rainmaker Blog : Law Firm Marketing and Business Development : The Rainmaker Institute : Stephen Fairley : Professional Legal Marketing

In our Rainmaker Retreat two-day law firm marketing boot camp, I talk about how everything you do on the Internet starts with a great blog. Create a blog, post to it regularly with great content, then link your posts to your social media profiles and pages, and watch your traffic and search results improve.

Most attorneys find blogging to be cumbersome because of lack of time and lack of ideas for content. One of the best ways to hurdle both of these stumbling blocks is to create an editorial calendar for your blog. Here’s how:

Create a template. Use a calendar template or an Excel spreadsheet, whatever works for you. Decide how many times per week you will be posting (3-5 times is best) and try to plan at least three months out.

Research content. Take your top keywords and create Google alerts for each one. This will funnel news items on these keywords directly to your inbox. Bookmark leading blogs in your practice area at www.justia.com. Scour legal directory sites like JDSupra and Avvo to see what kind of content is trending for your practice area. Check out www.lawprofessorblogs.com and www.lexmonitor.com for practice area-specific blogs to mine for content.

Schedule content. Fill your calendar with specifics for each posting day, including your topic, potential title and your keywords. Populate your calendar with special events and holidays you could use to theme relevant posts. If you’re publishing a special report or e-book, schedule posts to promote those. Leaving a few holes is fine, and will allow you to capitalize on newsworthy items – your calendar is a flexible tool, not something written in stone.

Now you’re halfway to creating a thriving law firm marketing blog that will help you generate more traffic for your website and leads for your practice. The other half of the equation is, of course, actually writing the content. And if you can’t find time for that, we can certainly help!

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FREE REPORT: How to Use Blogs as a Secret Weapon in Your Online Arsenal

One of the secret tools of Internet marketing for attorneys is the power of having a targeted blog. According to HubSpot, B2B marketers with a blog generate 67% more leads per month and B2C marketers generate 88% more leads per month than those without a blog.

Here’s what you’ll discover when you read this report:

• Why you must have a blog in order to stay relevant
• 3 keys to successful blogging
• 7 Guidelines for achieving ROI
• Your 3 choices for managing your blog and social media efforts
• And much more!

Click now for your FREE REPORT: How to Use Blogs as a Secret Weapon in Your Online Arsenal.

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If there is one common complaint I hear from attorneys when I am speaking to a group about social media, it’s the time demands that mastering this important marketing function entails. 

As I always respond, you do have a choice: you can either spend time (yours or a firm employee’s) or money (by hiring it out). 

Of course, ignoring it all together is also a choice. But it’s a bad one.

I got this infographic in my inbox the other day from Pardot that shows how you can whittle your time investment in social media down to 30 minutes a day. That is, IF you do the work beforehand in identifying your target market and zeroing in on the social media channels they frequent. 

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Proven Strategies to Win More Clients for Family Law, Personal Injury and Estate Planning Attorneys

Does this sound like you?

You spend thousands of dollars and countless hours trying to generate more business for your law firm. And still you end up with less business than you hoped. You’ve put “get more clients” at the top of your list, but have no time to do anything about it.

If someone calls your office and doesn’t make an appointment, what happens to them?

What if they don’t show up for the appointment?

What if they show up and don’t retain you?

What if they want to retain you and you never hear from them again?

If you answered, “I don’t know” or “We leave a message,” then this on-demand seminar is for you. Register online to receive the Proven Strategies to Win More Clients seminar, where you will learn:

• 3 major areas to examine when analyzing your law firm
• 5 numbers every law firm must track to increase their conversion rates
• A simple diagnostic tool you can use to track your leads and fix your follow up
• 3 steps for turning more leads into appointments
• 5 ways to increase your “show up” rates
• 4 ways to get more appointments to sign up this week
• What to do when a prospect doesn’t sign up at the initial consultation

Lead Conversion is one of the most overlooked areas at consumer law firms. You spend tens of thousands of dollars every year trying to generate more leads…yet virtually nothing to ensure you convert the maximum amount of those leads into paying clients!

Lead conversion is the 5-stage process of converting more prospects into paying clients and turning more browsers into buyers. Over the last decade, The Rainmaker Institute has become a national leader in assisting consumer law firms to rapidly and dramatically increase their conversion rates.

We have worked with all types of consumer law firms to help them double and even triple their conversion rates within 3-6 months.

If you want to double your revenues this year there are 2 ways you can do it: either double the amount of leads you get each month or double your conversion rates!

Register online now for this on-demand seminar and discover how attorneys just like you are doubling their revenues by converting more of their costly leads into more paying clients!

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In the category of “Things that make you go, ‘Really?!?’” comes this latest study from B2B digital marketing software maker Optify that says when it comes to B2B lead generation, Twitter outperforms Facebook and LinkedIn by a staggering 9-to-1 ratio.

Optify’s 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report extracted data from more than 600 small and medium-sized B2B websites in the U.S. with 100 to 100,000 monthly visits. This infographic highlights the key findings in the report:

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On-Demand Webinar: The 5 Best Strategies to Beat Your Competition in 2013

Are you tired of seeing other attorneys land all the good clients?

Have you noticed how tough it’s become to market your law firm?

Are you ready to do something to make this a bigger & better year?

Knowing which legal marketing strategies are working in today’s economy gives you a huge advantage. Implementing the correct business development strategies allows you to spend less money and get better results faster!

View this one-hour webinar on The 5 Best Strategies to Beat Your Competition in 2013 to discover:

• Why you can’t afford to dismiss social media any longer (Google is forcing you to use it)
• 3 major ways to triple your website traffic in the next 90 days
• How to use online tools to generate more offline referrals
• 3 keys all the best law firms are using to turn more website browsers into buyers
• 2 critical numbers you must track every month to measure your success
• Specific ways to jump-start your marketing efforts fast…even if you’ve stumbled before

Last year many of our clients experienced their best year ever! How is that possible when we are in the midst of the biggest recession our generation has ever faced?

It’s simple, they developed a game plan based on best practices and proven strategies and then they consistently took massive action! Notice I said it was “simple” not “easy.” The only “easy button” I have is sitting right beside my magic wand (I’ve found both of them work about the same).

There is no “easy” way to build a million dollar book of business, but if you’re willing to do the work we can show you the right path to take.

Click on this link now to access The 5 Best Strategies to Beat Your Competition in 2013 webinar.

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Google+ is one of those social media networks that many attorneys are still not sure what to do with...but with more than 500 million members now making it the fastest growing social media site ever, it’s worth your time and attention.

This infographic explains 7 benefits Google+ provides for business:

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Getting to the Top of Google: The Power of Link Building for Lawyers

Getting to the top of Google for any term related to the legal industry is highly competitive! Now you can get a recording of this recent webinar that will tell you how!

Attorneys spend millions of dollars every year on Pay Per Click (PPC) and banner advertisements, trying to drive more traffic to their website. Far too often it comes down to how much money a law firm has to spend on PPC to outbid their competition.

How are small law firms and solo practitioners supposed to compete when attorneys are spending $20 to $100 per click for keywords?

If you’re thinking, “there must be a better way!” then this webinar is for you!

You will discover a little known secret of how hundreds of attorneys are rapidly increasing their website rankings in 90 to 120 days through building targeted links back to their websites.

Join us and discover:

• What an “inbound link” is and why Google loves them
• One of the fastest ways to get your website blacklisted by Google (make this mistake at your own peril)
• Link building on the low down-building links on a shoe string budget
• The benefits of being at the top of the search engine rankings
• The ongoing debate between “quality” and “quantity” links
• Selecting the right keywords to go after with your search engine efforts
• Which directories are worth paying for…and which ones are not
• The top 5 questions you must ask before you hire any link building company

When you register, you will receive access to the recording of the webinar. Click on this Getting to the Top of Google link now to get full access to this webinar!

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I am in New York today hosting a featured panel on social media marketing for attorneys at LegalTech New York 2013, the top annual legal technology event on the planet.

Joining me for the session today are Larry Bodine, editor-in-chief of Lawyers.com and martindale.com, as well as LexisNexis chief marketing officer Steve Mann. 

Our topic is Taming the Wild West of Social Media: The Secrets of Social Media Success in the Legal Profession, where we explore:

• The state of social media in the legal industry today and an update to guide attendees through the year ahead.
• New and improved social media best practices in specific online channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging, etc.).
• The various ethical and legal considerations about which law firms must be aware, including an update of key decisions and guidance issued by various state bar associations.

While it may seem like the Wild West at times, social media does have a very real role to play in both the business and practice of law.

According to the 2012 Attorney Selection Research Study by The Research Intelligence Group (TRiG), 26 percent of American consumers used one of the major social media sites when gathering information about a legal issue and more than one in five (22 percent) said they turned to a social media site to actually find a lawyer they felt might be able to help them with their legal need.

If you were not in our audience today, you can still access this knowledge by attending one of our Rainmaker Retreat law firm marketing boot camp sessions. Here are the dates for upcoming Rainmaker Retreat sessions in the first quarter of 2013:



February 15-16, 2013 – Orlando, FL


March 15-16, 2013 – Newport Beach, CA

To register, call 888-588-5891 or visit www.RainmakerRetreat.com.

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How many times have you heard attorneys either inside your practice or in someone else’s say that social media just doesn’t work?

I would agree with these attorneys, and add just two words.  

Social media “used badly” doesn’t work.

In much the same way drivers who don’t follow the rules of the road get into accidents and collect tickets, lawyers who don’t follow the rules of social media will not get the response to their law firm marketing efforts they seek.

However, when you take the time to understand the rules (some of them written some of them simply understood by the community), you open yourself and your firm up to the immense power of these law firm marketing tools.

There is a long list of social media to choose from, to be sure. Some of the most notable are . . . .

·         Facebook and LinkedIn – two different approaches to building personal networks

·         Digg –  an innovative approach to customer-selected news networking

·         Twitter and Jaiku – offer something new called “microblogs” in which members can log in to view and participate in a wide array of topics and comments

In each case, you will get the best law firm marketing results when you. . .

·         Engage with other members by asking and answering questions

·         Watch and “listen” carefully to what is on the minds of potential clients

·         Offer thoughtful insights and sound legal advice at no cost

·         Refer clients back to your own site only after building trust

The value of social media to the consumer in many ways mirrors the value to your law firm marketing strategy. Consumers get free information from a trusted source, and you become the credible trusted source for them.

Ultimately, they will turn to you when they are ready to engage council – not because you have solicited their business – but because they see you as an empathetic, expert whose council they have come to rely on.   

When you become impatient, and attempt to turn forum participants into paying clients immediately, you break their trust, and ultimately lose the law firm marketing value of social media.

In Sum

As you enter the world of social media, remember what the real law firm marketing goal is – to build trust among consumers and credibility for your firm. Clients will choose you only after you accomplish those goals.

You can also connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter. Here's how:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/StephenFairley Send me an invitation to connect. Mention you saw my blog post.

http://twitter.com/stephenfairley Sign up for a free twitter account and then just click on the “Follow” button to start “following me” and get regular updates on what I'm up to.

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