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 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 MoreJan 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…
Read MoreDec 7
Lessons learned from a day of competitor research
Researching your competitors is an important aspect of both the website design and marketing process. Keeping an eye on what others in your field (and locality) are doing helps provide important insight as to what works and what doesn’t. It also helps you avoid making the mistake of marketing your firm in a way that is too similar to that of other attorneys in you area. If your website looks…
Dec 5
Do not let outdated advice stand in the way of good website design
Old web design advice is everywhere. You can tell a lot about the age of a list of website design tips is by what is being recommended. This, of course, is not the fault of the original author; screen resolution and browser usage statistics, along with programming languages, are constantly changing. At some point down the road, this post, like others before it, will be obsolete. When sifting through the plethora of…
Nov 30
The Law Firm Website Disconnect
Attorney websites have come a long way in the past few years. Lawyers are catching on to false marketing prophets and looking beyond cheesy and ineffective SEO tricks. Websites are becoming more helpful, more well-designed and more relevant to people seeking legal help. This is a good thing.
However, it is a big Internet, and there are still too many firms that fall victim to the lawyer website disconnect. To demonstrate this problem, Tech4Law created a law firm…
Read MoreNov 20
Practice simplicity in your articles and marketing materials
Keep your audience in mind when writing articles, blog entries and other social content.
Every profession has own language and jargon – a collection of terms that are used predominantly only by those within the industry. Some industries have more (and more obscure) jargon than others, and attorneys are one group of professionals who have acquired a reputation for being some of the worst offenders.
It is easy to succumb to the idea that using big words will make you…
Read MoreOct 5
Your Firm Can Use Social Media to Build Authority and Valuable Links
Much has been written about using social media to build a community, engage with potential clients and establish expertise. But what about the SEO benefits your firm can gain from a social media marketing strategy?
The potential value of social media activity for a firm’s own SEO efforts is often underrated. The two do not exist in a vacuum – social media, blogging and website optimization must all…
Read MoreSep 28
Harmonize your content and visual marketing for maximum reach
Content Marketing: Hail to the King
The key to a truly successful law firm marketing strategy has always been producing a steady stream of relevant content. Even before Google released Panda and now Penguin, the most reliable way to promote long-term goals – both of being found and converting visitors to clients – was to create value through quality, meaningful content. Now, with Google supposedly cracking down on…
Sep 7
Keep Your Website Development Running Smoothly
If your firm has decided to undertake a website project, you want the process from contract to launch to go as smoothly as possible. And you want a website that fits your firm’s needs and generates leads. Generally, this is how web projects progress.
But sometimes, the process breaks down. Attorneys may get frustrated with their web design and development teams. They think they are being ripped off (sometimes…
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