Most law firms understand that regular online activity helps with marketing efforts. But the formula for success can seem elusive, and frequent changes to search algorithms frustrate some firm’s efforts. Your ranking may bounce about unpredictably, making it difficult to determine what is working and what is not. It is clear that blogging and social media can be a force for good, but they may also backfire, harming your reputation…
Feb 6
Explore the possibilities of interactive website design
Static brochure websites are quickly becoming a thing of the past. People now expect frequently updated, current content and interactive design elements, even from an attorney website. Dated sites with links to old articles from your law school days do not connect with potential clients. As attorneys, you have a wealth of knowledge built from years of experience that you can harness to speak directly…
Feb 1
Interactive Guide Illustrates How Typography Affects Your Website’s Readability
The fonts you use on your website will affect visitors in a variety of ways. Font size, face, color and spacing all contribute to the design and readability of the pages. Large, open, sans serif fonts tell a much different story than small, compact condensed fonts, which in turn create a very different mood than those of the sturdy serif variety.
Fonts are an much overlooked design element. Too often,…
Read MoreJan 25
Fifteen Phrases You Can Drop (and not lose any meaning)
Good writing is essential to your ability to communicate with clients, judges, colleagues, and those who read your blogs and social media posts (whom you hope to convert to clients at some point). Whether you are putting together formal articles and briefs or sending a quick email response, your writing can confirm that you are a professional adult… or tell a different story.
Even the best of us…
Read MoreJan 23
Design Terms Part Two: Fixed vs. Liquid Layouts
Since nascent HTML began supporting images, colors and backgrounds, people have been experimenting with ways to dress up their pages. Website design has since flourished, with developments in code and technology giving designers the freedom to create layouts they could not have dreamed of ten years ago. But even with modern development capabilities, challenges still exist. Browser and operating statistics, coupled with on-site analytics, can help you predict what technology…
Jan 18
New and Revolutionary! Fifteen of the Most Overused Words of 2012
Every year, some words are more popular than others. As fashionable words get bandied about with abandon, you will find some of them begin to grate on you. The more they are seen and heard, the less meaning they retain. You can only read that something is “cutting-edge” so often before nothing will ever seem cutting-edge again. And how many times can you hear the phrase “best practices” before…
Jan 17
Design Terms: What is Grid Layout and is it Right for You?
Two websites that have a very different look and feel may, at their cores, be structured in much the same way. Before adding graphics, colors and text, you must decide what type of layout best fits your needs. Layouts can be fluid, fixed (more on that later), grid, one, two or three column. Grid layouts are popular because they can support a lot of information and content without looking unorganized….
Jan 11
Eight ways to come up with new ideas for your lawyer blog
If you blog or write articles on a regular basis, you will inevitably face times during which you believe there is simply no way you can come up with another interesting topic. The blank page stares at you, taunting and mocking. Everything that can be written about has already been done.
Generating a regular flow of informative posts is difficult, but it is a necessity for…
Read MoreCompany pages on LinkedIn are still an underused resource
In December, LinkedIn released its list of the 12 best company pages of 2012. According to a post on the official LinkedIn blog, the pages were chosen because they used a range of features to both enhance the company’s brand and communicate with its audience in a meaningful way. Some winners include Adobe, HubsSpot and CNBC. You can see the complete slideshow…
Jan 4
Communication counts – avoid clichés and buzzwords like the plague
Poor writing is an instant turnoff. Be it incorrect grammar, overused and tired phrases or a simple failure to proofread adequately, sloppy writing comes across as lazy and unprofessional. For attorneys who must be able to communicate with a range of audiences, from judges to peers to clients and prospective clients, bad writing habits can be costly.
You have read them – sentences that seem to drag on…
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