Maybe you’ve heard of email lists but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about it, but it sounds like something you should know.
Wherever you are on the spectrum, this post will help. We’ll discuss everything you need to get started on building an email list for your law firm along with why you should build an email list to begin with.
Would you like a five step quick start guide to building your email list? Subscribe to receive this extra guide.
An email list is the most valuable marketing resource you have. Your email list represents people who want to have a relationship with your law firm – subscribers. These subscribers want to know what you have to say about hot topics and enjoy reading your advice.
Let’s take a look at the main benefits of creating an email list:
Top of mind awareness
An email list keeps your law firm at the top of subscribers’ minds. They may not need your legal services now or even six months from now. However, when the need arises, you’ll be the first (or only) law firm your subscriber will think of.
You own the list
You may be thinking, Isn’t my social media platform good enough? I already have a ton of fans and followers on social media.
Although a social media presence is important, it’s inferior to creating an email list. The main reason is that you don’t own that list of fans and followers. If Facebook or Twitter decides to delete your account tomorrow, everyone who follows you will go bye-bye, whether that’s 10 people or 10,000.
When you own an email list, you won’t ever have to worry about losing your subscribers.
Promote your services
Did you know that email is one of the best ways to market your law firm? That’s because your list contains people who actually want to be on it. It’s not just random people who stumbled onto your website via an ad or review site.
The people on your email list are highly interested in the services that you provide. It stands to reason that the people who took their time to sign up for your email newsletters actually want to hear from you.
In your email, discuss what you offer. Highlight key services. Describe these services in plain English.
You may think, why do I need an email list now? My site is brand new and I don’t have a lot of traffic.
[Tweet “If you haven’t already, now is the perfect time to set up an email list.”]
Now is the perfect time to set up an email list. You want to have a method in place to catch any and every visitor who arrives on your site and wants to subscribe.
Think about people who visit your site and then leave. They’ll never return– not because they don’t want to, but because they’ve forgotten. They may love your site and want to receive more content from you, but you don’t have a way to ask for their email address.
So, now that you know why you need an email list, let’s talk about how to create a successful one.
Email Newsletter Best Practices
1. Choose your subject line carefully
The success of your email newsletter rests solely on your subject line. Choose a subject line that makes your subscribers want to click on it.
Get them interested
Why should the subscriber open this email? How will it benefit them? Using a subject like “Granger & Associates Newsletter: June 2016” won’t move the needle, I assure you. However, a subject like, “Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About PreNups” is interesting and makes your subscribers think, hmm… what don’t I know about prenups?
It’s all about getting your subscriber to actually open your email.
Keep it short
The ideal length for an email subject line is between 50 to 70 characters. Many email service providers cut off the subject line after 70 characters. This is approximately eight words. Eight words seems short, but there’s a lot you can do in that space when you’re creative.
Avoid certain words
Creativity in word choice is a must, but you’ll want to steer clear of certain overused or spammy words and phrases. These words make your email look like spam to humans, and can also trip an email service’s spam filters. If that happens, your email won’t even make it to the inbox.
Here’s a partial list of words you should avoid in your subject line:
2. Choose your sender email address and name carefully, too
Chose a sender name that reminds the subscriber who you are. You may choose to use the name of your law firm (P&R Law), your own name (Debra Smarts, esq.), or a combination of the two (Debra Smarts from P&R Law). I’m partial to the third option because it provides maximum identification.
We’ve already discussed keeping it short on your subject line. You should also adopt this mentality in the body of your email.
Attention spans are short in inboxes. Your subscribers don’t want to spend 30 minutes reading your newsletter, and they won’t.
Instead of creating a lengthy email newsletter, provide short and easy-to-consume content. Direct them out of the inbox and onto your blog or website to get the full scoop. Email is a quick burst of information, but it shouldn’t attempt to tell the whole story.
4. Include a call to action for each email
Piggybacking off of the above practice, use a strong call to action in your emails to bring people back to your website. At the end of each section of your newsletter, include a button or a link that tells your subscriber what to do next, i.e. “Read the rest on my blog…” or “Sign up for my upcoming class here.”
5. Segment
Have you ever heard of segmenting? Segmenting is the process of taking one email list and grouping subscribers based on demographics or other criteria. For example, you can group everyone who signed up from your blog post about adoption law into one segment and everyone who signed up from your blog post about divorce law onto another segment.
What’s the value of segmenting? In the example above, you can see how a family hoping to learn more about adoption won’t necessarily be interested in advice to divorcees.
By segmenting, you can create specific newsletters for each group. Your subscribers win because they’ll get relevant content they can actually use.
6. Come Up with an Interesting Topic
There are so many great ideas that you can use to create content for your email newsletter. Here are some of my favorites:
Answer frequently asked questions
Highlight success stories (with your client’s permission, of course)
Discuss hot topics/current news
Tease your most recent blog post
Ask for feedback and reviews
Share company news
Highlight a member of your staff
Share the details of upcoming events (webinars, clinics, meet and greets)
Write a newsletter about past events you’ve hosted (charity drives, classes, etc)
Set up an editorial calendar on a spreadsheet and list all the ideas you have for your newsletters. Choose a frequency (once a week, bi-weekly, or once a month). Then, come up with an idea for each newsletter. By working in batches, it’s easier to brainstorm ideas.
7. Remember Your Audience
Who are your subscribers? Speak directly to them. Tone down any legalese because they won’t understand all the fancy lawyer-speak (unless they are lawyers also).
Along these same lines, choose subjects that matter to your subscribers. They may not care to know the finer details of the law. They simply want to know how a law will affect them.
Whether you have a small or medium-size law firm, one need remains the same: clients. But not just any warm body will do. You need to find clients who are qualified and have a need for your services. That’s a tall order, but one that we’ll fill by the end of this post.
Stick around to find out how you can use the magic of the Internet to find qualified clients for your legal practice. Let’s discuss!
Would you like a worksheet for finding the perfect client? Subscribe to receive this extra resource.
The best way to start is by identifying your ideal client. To aid in this, I’ve provided a list of questions to help:
Who are they? Include basic demographics such as age, gender, location, and income.
What do they need from you? How likely are they to reach out to you?
Why do they need your service? If you offer more than one service, consider creating a client persona for each.
Where do they live online? Are they mostly on Facebook, Google (everyone’s on Google), Instagram, LinkedIn, Yelp, Avvo Law, or Pinterest? If you’d like to know which platform you’d be more likely to find clients, check out this post on Choosing the Best Social Media Platform for your Law Firm.
When do they research lawyers? Does your target client wait until the last minute? When they do reach out, what time do you get the majority of your calls? Is it 10 AM? 3 PM? This can indicate a lot about your average client.
Create a Website
Now that you’ve compiled a client persona, it’s time to create a marketing strategy to welcome those clients in.
When trying to find and nurture clients, always start with a website.
Remember, it’s not the 90s anymore. Folks use the Internet (not the Yellow Pages) to find everything from appliances to Zumba. As an attorney, you’ve got to make sure that your services are represented online, too. The way to do that is with a website.
A website is like an “always on” salesperson. Your website works for you even at midnight and on holidays. If you plan it right, your website can provide just as much information as your front office staff (but don’t tell them I said that).
On your website, be sure to create a blog that people actually want to read. Blogs are a powerful tool that can help you educate your site visitors and establish yourself as the knowledgeable pro that you are.
Use Paid Advertising
We’ve discussed how to use paid advertising before, so I won’t rehash it here. Check out how to use paid advertising to dominate the local search listings. Be sure to click on that link because there we discuss what SEO and search advertising really means for your law firm. I also give you the exact formula for how to get on a first-page listing on Google’s search results.
Create a Call-Only Ad Campaign
Have you ever searched on the Internet with your smartphone? Chances are, you’ve seen a little call button to the right side of the top few listings. That’s little button is going to transform your online marketing campaign, and here’s how:
People who search for lawyers with their smartphones are motivated to go beyond “research mode” and into results mode. They want to speak to a live person. Instead of directing them to a webpage, you should offer a call button for quick access.
[Tweet “People who search for lawyers with their smartphones go beyond research mode and into results mode. “]
This is known as a call-only ad campaign.
It costs the same as a regular headline click, but you’ll have a much more engaged prospective client who wants to act now.
By the way, don’t forget about Bing. While Google is the undisputed giant in Internet search, Bing does have 20% of the market share. You can follow these same steps on Bing to find qualified clients there, too. And it may even be cheaper.
Provide Enhanced User Experience
Did you know that a bad first impression of your website can lower your chances of getting clients? It’s true that you can lose site visitors just by a slow website– and by slow, I mean a site that takes three seconds or longer to load.
Three seconds.
No one wants to wait for answers. You’ve got to make sure that your website is fast load and provides all of the answers your prospective clients need immediately.
Even worse than a slow-loading website is one that’s completely disorganized and hard to navigate. If your site visitors have to click a lot of links trying to find the answers they’re looking for, they’re going to give up and hit the back button.
Here’s how to prevent a disorganized website:
Get clear about what information you’d like to share on your website. Here’s a good idea of where to start:
On your Homepage: Discuss what services you offer and who would benefit most from them. Keep it short, simple, and clean.
On your About page: Discuss who you are but keep it client-focused. Craft your About page to help the prospect understand why they should choose you. It’s good to underscore the kind of cases and clients you often work with in this page.
On your Services page: Be very clear about what services you offer and then break it down even further. Remember, your prospective client probably doesn’t know much about law, they just know that they need a lawyer. Use language they would understand. Oftentimes, a layman doesn’t know exactly what something’s called. Here’s your chance to educate and empower them to figure out what service they need from you.
You may also find it helpful to create a separate page for each service that you offer.
Prepare a Thorough FAQ Page: A lot of folks head straight for the frequently asked questions page, if you have one, to decide whether they need your services. This is yet another golden opportunity to answer common questions that you’d normally discuss over the phone. It’ll free up your phone lines for more specific questions, and provide a valuable resource to online prospective customers who are searching for answers.
There are times when you’re just not available. For example, maybe the caller left a message after hours. Perhaps you’re on another line. Whatever the case, don’t let that prospect fade– be sure to follow up immediately whenever possible.
Here’s the thing to keep in mind: a prospective client who doesn’t reach you will oftentimes go to the next attorney on the list. Boo. But, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re out. By calling that person back in a reasonable timeframe (by the end of the business day), you may be able to persuade them to choose you – especially if you’re presenting yourself as friendly and helpful.
Unlike emails and voicemails, phone calls are great for gauging interest.
Push the In-Office Consultation
Of course, you don’t want to give away everything in a phone call. It’s so crucial to get the caller into an in-office consultation. This is where you’ll be able to separate those who just want free legal advice from actual paying clients.
Should you offer free or paid consultations?
There’s compelling opinions on both sides. The benefit of offering:
A free consultation – You’ll definitely set more appointments because everyone loves “free”. You’ll also separate yourself from your competitors because they’re more likely to charge for consultations.
A paid consultation – You’ll get more motivated prospects. People who are willing to pay an initial consultation fee are more likely to sign a representation agreement.
A happy medium? Consider charging a consultation fee but then crediting it back to their account if they choose to retain your services.
You can also explain your process over the phone and on your website to help drive the in-office consultation.
Polish Your Profiles
By now, you know how important it is to have a website, but that’s not the only way to represent your law firm online. You also need to expand to social media networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter
Being on a social platforms helps you extend the reach of your online marketing. You can start amassing followers and then updating them through your social platforms. While they may not always come to your website, they can always be connected to you through your social media updates.
Prospective clients may head to these review sites first before even starting a Google search. What will they find once they get there?
Negative reviews are one thing; negative reviews without a follow up from you are a death sentence. Don’t make that mistake. Follow up on all reviews, trying to resolve those that you can, but acknowledging everyone else with a heartfelt thanks for their feedback. No sarcasm, please. Remember– you’ve got an audience.
I am not a lawyer. There. I said it. But I am married to a wonderful employment attorney who’s just recently hung her shingle. Like most solo attorneys out there, she’s found that building a client base is a constant exercise in hard work, ingenuity, consistency, and persistence.
I happen to be a really nerdy guy that has a background in building digital marketing platforms, so we sat down one night to figure out what ONE THING we could focus on that could get her the most bang for her buck in terms of getting in front of her ideal clients right now, and staying top of mind for when they actually had a need for her help.
We tossed SEO, as you’re not going to get to the first page in Google for anything but your name in the first few months of starting a firm. Anyone that tells you otherwise is peddling snake-oil. So what’s one to do when faced with the long-game that is internet marketing? Well, you have to get a little scrappy, and go places that most of your competitors won’t.
I’ll share what we came up with, and walk you through every step of putting this in place for you. And as long as you’re not an employment attorney in Southern NH, I’ve been given the green-light from the Mrs to let you in on the goods.
The Case For A Weekly Newsletter Over Say, Twitter or Facebook
The one constant over the last 20 years of the internet (besides cat photos of course) is email. Everyone has an email address. Everyone checks their email multiple times a day. Everyone gets a nice little dopamine kick every time an email comes in and their phone beeps or vibrates in their pocket. In short, it’s the most ubiquitous way to insert yourself into a person’s weekly routine.
But you know all that. The real beauty of an email newsletter is twofold.
One, email is easily shareable. We’re used to forwarding an email, and we don’t have to leave our browsers to do it. No fancy “Share This” buttons, no URL shorteners, just a simple forward to a friend is all it needs to spread, and spreading is what you really want right now.
Two, email generates a feeling of reciprocity. Our species has a hyper-developed urge to return favors given to us. If you’re able to provide enough value to your readers on a regular basis in the form of insights, aggregated interests, etc, when it comes time to seek legal advice in your area of expertise, you’re the one they’ll have that urge to go back to.
I promised two, but I’ll give you a bonus reason. Email is not controlled by another company’s desire for you to pay them money in order to reach your audience. It’s been shown that Facebook posts are seen by less than 6% of a brand’s followers, and internally, Facebook wants to see that number drop to 1%-2%. Why you ask? Because they need money in order to satisfy their share-holders, and the only way to do that is to be the gate-keeper (read: toll-keeper) between you and the audience you’ve painstakingly built on their platform.
So if you want to actually build that audience, you’re now going to have to use their Facebook ads platform to do so.
Own your audience! An engaged newsletter subscriber is orders of magnitude more valuable than a Twitter follower or Facebook fan.
[Tweet “An engaged email subscriber is orders of magnitude more valuable than a Twitter follower or Facebook fan.”]
Now that begs the question, who should your audience be?
Choosing an audience
Deciding who your newsletter is for is largely dependent on how you define your ideal client. In the example of my wife’s employment law firm, her ideal clients are small business owners and HR managers in larger companies. For her, it makes sense to market directly to those folks with updates about the changing HR landscape.
But, when coming up with your newsletter audience archetype, clients aren’t the only option. In fact, in many cases, you may want to skip writing for clients at all, and instead focus on the natural referral providers that make sense for your practice area. For example, if you focus on trusts and estates, you might consider writing a weekly update for financial advisors in your state, that would keep them in the know, and ready to hand out your business card if their clients have more complicated estate matters that the financial planner can’t handle on their own.
Choosing your content
Now that you have your audience decided, it’s time to figure out what content we can provide on a regular basis that will ensure that your email is always valuable to that audience.
It’s tough starting from a blank canvas, so I’ll outline a few items that should work for most audiences. But don’t be afraid to get creative and get inside the mind of your ideal client. Remember, this is about them, not you. If you have other ideas, please share in the comments!
An Editorial Forward
I wouldn’t spend more than one paragraph on this. Give the readers an overview of what they’ll find in the update, and perhaps a light call to action. Suck them in.
Interesting Reads
You no doubt spend a lot of time reading the latest news related to your practice area. When you come across an article that you want to share on twitter, place it in your email template as well. Be sure to add a one or two sentence takeaway from each that informs your reader why it matters to them.
If you want to link to one of your own blog posts, that’s fine, but limit it to one per newsletter. You don’t want to come across as spammy. This newsletter isn’t meant to drive traffic to your blog, it’s about keeping your readers informed.
Events
Curate a list of networking events in your geographic area. Make sure to ask readers to let you know about any events they’re sponsoring or attending as well. Highlight the events going on that week, and then list out a calendar of events spanning the next month.
Reader Questions
Solicit questions from your readers. If they have a particular problem that others in the group might be interested in, ask if you can publish your response to the group. Obviously, you should be careful to disclaim that the email doesn’t constitute legal advice.
Blog Posts
If you do want to have a place for all of your posts from the week, place them in their own section, and toward the end. Follow a similar format to the “Interesting Reads” section above.
Footer
This is essentially your business card. Make sure your readers have a way to contact you, and how to find you on your various social media accounts. Also, this is a good spot for a disclaimer if you have anything in the newsletter that might be construed as legal advice. Also, a good place to let folks know that replying to you doesn’t constitute an attorney-client relationship.
For this one time, and this time only, I’m going to advise ignoring that rule, mostly because we’re going to be following the intent of law, if not the letter.
We are going to be creating a weekly newsletter that your readers will WANT to look through every week. If we don’t reach that level of awesomeness, then this whole endeavor won’t be worth it anyways.
So, for your initial list, we’re going to build a list of people you know in person that would genuinely be interested in your content. This is not a “dump my address book” into a list type of exercise. This is a painstaking process of going through your address book, your Linkedin contacts, your Facebook friends, etc and asking the following questions:
Does this person know who I am personally?
Does this person fit my audience archetype?
Would this person likely look forward to this email every week? (Be brutally honest)
If the answer is “yes” to all three (and a real “yes” not “maybe” or “possibly”, a hard and fast “yes”), then you want to add them to your list in the following way:
Create a spreadsheet in google docs. You can do this in excel as well, but we’re going to do this using Google Docs because everyone has access to that tool, and particularly for marketing activities like this, Google Docs can be a lifesaver.
In Column A, put the email address. In Column B, put the person’s first name.
Rinse and repeat step 2 for every person that fits.
When you’re done, we need to download your list so we can import it into your email provider of choice. To download the file in the correct format in Google Docs, click File> Download as…> Comma-separated values (.csv, current-sheet). Remember where you place that file, we’ll need it later.
Now that we have a list, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
Tools
There are a TON of email providers out there. There’s MailChimp, Constant Contact, Emma, Campaign Monitor, and I could go on and on and on. They’ll all work and if you have one of them in place already, stick with it. Better to work with the one you know. If not though, I always recommend MailChimp for two reasons. One, it’s free for up to 2000 subscribers, which is more than enough for every firm I’ve ever worked with. Two, it has all of the features you’ll need, is easy to use, and it works on every device so if you have a few minutes of downtime, you can work on your next week’s digest without having to bust out a laptop.
We’ll be walking through how to implement this using Mailchimp.
Setup
Head on over to mailchimp.com and sign up for their free plan.
Once you create the account, you’ll receive a confirmation email. Just follow the link in that email to continue with the setup. Fill out the form related to your business size and whether you have a list (feel free to select “No” for now, we’ll build one later) and hit submit. You should now be staring at your Mailchimp dashboard.
We’ll start by creating an empty list. Click on the “Create List” button on the dashboard to get started.
Creating Your First Email List with MailChimp
Just click “Save” and congratulations, you now have your first email list.
Importing Your List
Now that we have a list, we want to make sure all of our readers receive it. We need to import them from the list we created before. So go ahead and click on the import subscribers link, and then select “Import From a CSV or TXT File.”
How to import subscribers from a CSV file in MailChimp.
Now, find the file that you downloaded in the “Constructing your list” section above. Once you import that file, you should see a screen where Mailchimp is going to match up the columns in your list with the custom fields that Mailchimp uses to customize your emails to each reader.
Selecting which file to import your subscribers from.
If it works, it should look like this:
Making sure your data lines up with MailChimp’s dynamic fields.
Once you click then ‘Next’ button, you should see a confirmation screen. The defaults are fine, just click ‘Next’ to complete the import.
Alright, now that you have a list, we need to build a campaign. Campaign is just another word for sending out an email to your list. To start the process, click on “Campaigns” in the sidebar then in the dropdown on the next page, click “Regular campaign”.
Starting your first campaign with MailChimp.
When you do that you’ll be placed into MailChimp’s campaign creation workflow. In the first step, just select “Send to entire list” and click “Next.” The next step is where you start to define what this particular campaign (or mailing) is.
You’ll need to create a name for the campaign. I would chose something that can be easily modified in future campaigns since this is going to be a regular thing. In this example, I chose to name it after the newsletter, and then give it an issue number. That way, in the next campaign, all I have to do is change the issue number and they’ll be easily identifiable. You could use the date you plan to send it instead of an issue number too. I’ve seen that work nicely as well.
Once you have the name, it’s time for the subject line. Now I’ve always found the subject line to be a little hard to write before you’ve written anything about the content. So for right now, put in something generic about your newsletter and move on. We can change the headline later (before we send) to make it more specific to the actual content you put in the newsletter.
And the final change I’d suggest is putting *|FNAME|* *|LNAME|* as your “To:” field. Whenever you see *|SOME_CODE|* it means Mailchimp will replace that SOME_CODE with the data in your list that matches “SOME_CODE”. In the case of FNAME and LNAME, that’s the first name and last name of each recipient that was matched up when you imported your list.
As for the tracking section, you can leave that at the default values. If you use Google Analytics, you can go ahead and check the box there so that the campaign name will appear in your Google Analytics account as well.
Here’s what your screen should look like:
How to choose your campaign options.
Choosing a Template
Once you’ve set up your campaign, it’s time to decide how it will look. MailChimp provides a number of Basic Templates which allow you to build out your email, and they also provide pre-designed themes that have a bit of design to them.
I would stick to single column layouts to minimize complexity, but find one that works for you. It’s hard to go wrong here, so have fun! If you’re concerned about which one to pick, click “Themes” and search for “Minimal”. It’s organized into nice sections that you can customize to match the content you decided to include earlier.
While a template is one of the fun parts of setting up your marketing campaigns, be careful not to fall into analysis paralysis. There are a number to choose from, and you can always change it later. But for now, just pick one that’s simple and clear. After all, you want your readers to focus on what you’re writing, not the template that wraps it.
Writing your first email
And here we are, staring at a blank canvas. Intimidating right? I felt the same way. It gets easier, particularly once you find a format that really starts to resonate with your list, but for now, we wrote up an epic newsletter template that you can use to get yourself going on the right track.
Don’t get stuck on what to write.
We took care of the ideas for you, so you can focus on getting started. Click that green button there and you’ll have that template to use for whenever you’re ready to write your first newsletter.
You’ve now created your first email and you’re ready to hit send. That’s awesome! Now, when it comes to sending email marketing campaigns, you don’t want to just hit send when you’re done with it. You’re going to want to schedule the campaign to optimize for actually getting read.
Let’s face it, while our goal is to create an email marketing newsletter that readers actually look forward to, folks are busy. Think about the day-to-day business of your clients and try to schedule the campaign to go out when your readers will be able to sit down and read it.
For example, if your clients are HR managers, mid-afternoon on a Friday might be great, as they might be killing a bit of time waiting to punch the clock for the weekend. Every list is different, so feel free to experiment.
Sending your first campaign is only the first step…
Sending your first campaign is a really really big deal. You should be proud. You put yourself out there, and that’s the first step to allowing you and your firm to be found online.
Now, let’s take advantage of that momentum and talk about how to grow your list and how to keep pumping out great content.
Getting new subscribers
That first group of readers is going to be the easiest. You already know them. Getting folks you don’t know to sign up will be a lot harder. But alas, we’ll talk about a few ways to get started. The first two require little to no technical ability. You can start doing it today and to be quite honest, you’ll likely have your best results there.
Ditch the business cards, sign them up for your list in person.
We all know the value of meeting industry folks face to face. Attorneys are some of the best networkers I’ve ever met.
All of those events, the hours of chit-chat, the passing of business cards, all with the hope that one day someone will remember your firm when they have the need.
What if they didn’t have to think back to that charity dinner 18 months ago, and instead only had to remember the person that emailed them two weeks ago?
That’s the real power of email marketing. So now that you have a newsletter, you can use it to stay in front of all of those people you’re investing time to meet with.
So rather than saying “Here’s my business card, call me if you ever need help.” you can say, “I have a newsletter that goes out every other week or so that will help you with <problem they might have>. Would you like to sign up? It’ll only take a few seconds.” And then whip out your phone, go to Lists, choose your main email list, and then in the upper-right corner click on the button to add a subscriber and just enter their name and email address. You could even hand them the phone to have them enter it themselves. Done!
Or, if you don’t want to have to pull out your phone, just keep a pen handy. When you ask about the list, if they say yes, make a quick note on their business card, then manually invite them to the list later that evening when you get home.
Your loyal readers are also a great source of new subscribers. After all, they’ve already gotten to know you and the value you’re providing them. And, like most networked professionals, they probably know others just like them that might also benefit from your newsletter.
So, once a month, or once every other month, depending on how often you email your list, let everyone know that you’re on the lookout for new subscribers. Let them know the effort that you put into the list. Maybe even pull on their heart-strings a little bit by reminding your readers of all of the value they’re getting FOR FREE. And then ask if they’d take 30 seconds and consider forwarding your email to friends or colleagues that might also benefit from the information you send out.
MailChimp has a handy little merge tag for a forwarding link that will allow your readers to forward your email and have the recipients be prompted to sign up for your list as well. Just highlight your call to action (the sentence that’s asking folks to sign up) and click the link button. Select “Web Address” and set it to *|FORWARD|*.
Creating a link that will help your readers forward your campaign to a colleague.
Mini Contests
Another way to entice folks to forward your email is to run a little contest. For example, you could raffle off say, three $20 amazon gift cards, or maybe a copy of a book that’s pertinent to your audience. Then ask them to email you with the names of folks they forwarded your email to. For each one that signs up, enter them in a chance to win.
Worst case, you have 3 folks sign up and you spent $60. Might seem expensive, but the beautiful thing about email marketing is that you have time to make that money back. If even one of those clients calls you for a 30 minute consult in the next 18 months, you’ve likely made your money back.
Get your website to drive new subscribers…
It’s fairly easy to get a signup form onto your website. If you use WordPress, just add the Mailchimp plugin. Follow the instructions to add the form as a widget in WordPress.
If you use AmazeLaw, just go to Email Marketing, and click “Connect Mailchimp” button and you’re done.
But, like sending out that first campaign, adding a form to your site is not enough. You also need to actively promote your list in order to entice new signups.
Obviously, “promote your email list” is the type of pithy advice run away from here at AmazeLaw, so here are some easy, concrete ways to promote your new list on your own website.
Landing Page
A landing page is just a dedicated page whose sole purpose is to get a visitor to perform an action. In this case, the action is to get someone to sign up for your email list.
Create a page in WordPress or AmazeLaw, and give it the same name as your list. The content is pretty simple, you don’t even need a picture:
[Headline: Big benefit they’ll see from signing up]
This is a paragraph about what your life will be like after you’ve signed up and are reaping said benefit. Imagine how easy life will be. No more worrying about missing the latest news and getting caught unaware.
Here’s what you can expect:
Easy to digest updates about [your practice area]. No legalese! We promise!
Curated industry news so you don’t miss the best content out there.
…
No spam. Ever.
[Signup Form]
Pretty easy, huh?
Protip: Add a link to your landing page in your email signature with a simple call to action. Something like “Sign up for our free bi-weekly employment law update.” or “Free estate planning tips in your Inbox every week.”
Post/Page Footers
Having a signup form on your contact page, or home page is a great first step, but often times, visitors to your site won’t be coming through the front door. A good percentage of your traffic, particularly search traffic, will likely go directly to your blog posts where visitors are looking for a very specific answer to the problem they’re searching for.
They’ll likely never see your homepage, and unless you do a bunch of cross-linking (linking to other posts or pages on your site), they may not see another page before they move on with their day, armed with the answer to their query.
But what a perfect time to start a relationship. By answering their question you’ve provided value and built trust. It’s the perfect time to remind them that, hey, if you want more quality advice or analysis just like this, sign up for my newsletter!
Alright, time to recap. We’ve gone from nothing to:
Signed up for a free MailChimp account.
Created our first email list
Built and sent our first email campaign
Set up our website to attract new subscribers by using landing pages and blog post footers
Learned to leverage our existing contacts for new referrals
Staying consistent
Now that you’ve setup your email marketing essentials, we need to create a system for consistently delivering little knowledge bombs to your subscribers.
And consistency isn’t just how often you email your subscribers, but your ability to consistently deliver something that your readers value.
Steve Martin quipped in his autobiography that it wasn’t the ability to kill it on a given night that set the great comics apart. After all, most comics could kill it every once in a while with the right audience. It was the comics that could produce a great show night in and night out that were truly successful.
And just like Steve Martin, you need a system to deliver consistent value.
How do we do that?
Creating a schedule you can stick to…
We talked a bit about scheduling your campaigns so your customers are most likely to read your posts. Now let’s talk about how to schedule your campaigns so that they fit within the constraints of a busy attorney’s calendar.
You know it, I know it, so let’s not pretend that your email list is going to top your list of priorities for the week. So let’s just acknowledge it up front and figure out how to move forward anyways.
If you’re like me, you might tend to overestimate what you can accomplish, and that’s doubly true for todo items that aren’t sitting atop your priority list. So, if at this very moment, in your excitement over setting up email marketing for your firm (you’re totally psyched right? Right?!) you think that you could handle a weekly email campaign, let’s adjust that right now. Take your totally logical and reasonable estimate and cut it in half. Make it every two weeks, or make it monthly if your estimate was bi-weekly.
This will help you avoid the trap of committing to an unrealistic goal, missing it, and then bagging on the whole thing when a month has gone by and you missed your deadline.
And now that you’ve given yourself that break. Commit to it. You have no more excuses.
Set a recurring calendar reminder for 5 days prior to your campaign. Spend 30 minutes compiling your content. Don’t worry about being perfect. Just get a bunch of content in there.
Three days prior to the campaign spend another 30 minutes refining that campaign to make sure that the content is actually worth interrupting your audience for.
Forget for a moment that you’re an attorney and that you’re actually interested in the law. Forget that you want more clients. Forget every inclination you have to talk about yourself.
Just imagine your ideal client reading your email and constantly asking the question “What’s in it for me?” and “Why do I care?” If a sentence or bullet point isn’t written to answer those two questions, cut the sentence or rewrite it so that it is.
And finally, one day before your campaign is to go out, spend 30 minutes and perform the following exercise:
Read the following articles that summarize some simple techniques for coming up with headlines that inspire action
Now, set a timer on your phone for ten minutes. Turn off your wifi, and just start listing out subject lines for your campaign. Don’t worry about how good it is, just get it out and move on to the next one. The goal here is quantity.
When the timer goes off, look over your list. From the perspective of your ideal client, which one do you think would inspire them to skip the ‘delete’ button and actually read that email?
There’s your subject line.
For example, here are 10 subject lines I came up to use in an email that would describe this exercise using those formulas. Which one resonates with you?
5 subject line secrets that will get your email read… 7-Minute brainstorms that WILL get you new clients… Write subject lines like Don Draper, even if you’ve never written a word of copy… Send emails that get read 50% more than ‘real marketers’ with 10 minutes of work Write emails your clients WANT to read… Don Draper couldn’t beat your copy if you follow this one simple exercise… 5 minutes could mean the difference between being spammy and being awesome How to avoid writing subject lines that make your email invisible… Are your subject lines wasting the effort you put into your newsletters? What professional copywriters do when they can’t think of headlines
That was 10 minutes of work. Some of those headlines are clearly better than others. Some are repetitive, and that’s ok. But you’ll notice, the odds that the first subject line (the one you would’ve used had you not done the exercise) is the best one is slim.
This simple exercise will routinely get you two or three times as many opens on your campaign.
And that means two or three times as many opportunities to get in front of your clients, which means two to three times the ROI for all of this effort you’re putting in.
How to come up with (great) content
It can be hard to come up with something to say week in and week out. And it’s even harder when you only have 30 minutes between client meetings to do it.
So rather than setting yourself up for 30 minutes of staring at a blank page, let’s create a simple system for building up that hopper of great content throughout the week, so when it comes time to write, you just need to pull items off your stack.
First, we’ll need a central place to accumulate all of these notes.
Everyone’s style is different, so I’m sure you can come up with a tool that works best for you. But the whichever method you choose, the key is to optimize for being able to take a note as quickly as possible whenever the thought strikes.
I prefer to use Evernote. I just keep one note and add newsletter ideas to the top of it as I come across them. My wife uses Trello, creating a new card for every idea. I’ve seen folks use Google docs. I’ve also tried using a Word document or even writing in a notebook, but those two options make it hard to access from my phone on the go, or lack the ability to quickly copy and paste a URL for a link I want to remember to share.
So, over the course of the day, any time I think of something that might be worth sharing with the email list, I write it quickly at the top of the note. And at the end of the week, I have all sorts of items I can pull from to write the actual campaign.
What sort of things should you be on the lookout for? Here are just a few:
Common questions from clients that you could answer in a paragraph or two
Events that your clients might find valuable (even if they’re not valuable to you)
If you happen to be attending them, mention that and invite readers to come say hello.
Legislative changes (but only those that, upon learning about would cause your ideal client to say “Oh man, I’m really glad I know that, I’m going to change X…”)
Articles that your potential clients would want to read
Anecdotes that can bring a little levity to the newsletter
Interactions with readers that could benefit others
Positive news about those in your readership. Did someone just win an award? Did they get some positive press?
Take note and share it. And then invite others to share their good news when hey have any.
If you get into the habit of taking note of these tidbits, you should find that when you sit down to write your newsletter, you’ll spend more time figuring out what should be left out, than figuring out what to add.
That’s it!
This isn’t rocket-surgery. It just takes patience and practice. If you have any questions, please let me know. And if you take this advice and create your own newsletter, be sure to add bryan@amazelaw.com to your subscriber list. See! You already have an audience!
Now quick, go write your first campaign. I’ll be here, looking forward to reading it.
Psst! Don’t forget to grab the starter template to get your email marketing started without a hitch!
41 Classic Copywriting Headline Templates When you’re stuck and need to come up with headlines or subject lines in your emails, these articles will get you unstuck right quick. It’s like mad-libs, except instead of laughs, you get tons of clicks 🙂
It goes without saying that websites that rank higher are often seen as more trustworthy by people. SEO helps achieve these higher rankings and makes your brand seem more credible. It also makes your website easier and nicer to use, which is good for visitors.
Staying competitive is so important for law firms because the legal market is saturated with options right now. Simply put, if other businesses like yours are using SEO and you’re not, they might get customers that could have been yours. Wouldn’t it be frustrating? SEO strategies allow law firms to stay visible and relevant in a highly competitive field. Read more on the role of online visibility below.
The Importance of Online Visibility
Imagine the online landscape as a vast, bustling metropolis where each law firm occupies a digital storefront. In this metropolis, clients navigate the streets not by foot, but through search engines, seeking signs (keywords) that lead them to the right advisor. A law firm’s online visibility ensures its sign is bright, bold, and beckons precisely when and where it’s needed. This is about making a meaningful connection at a moment of need.
For a law firm, exceptional online visibility means standing out in a sea of legal advice, not through loudness but through clarity and relevance. In practical terms, this visibility ensures that when someone types a cry for help into a search bar, your firm’s name appears as a guiding light amidst uncertainty. It can be anything from a plea for a defense attorney to a quest for a personal injury lawyer.
Moreover, this digital prominence is a silent testimonial to the firm’s adaptability and understanding of today’s client. A law firm that commands online visibility demonstrates its grasp of modern communication channels. It basically signals to the tech-savvy client that it is forward-thinking, accessible, and, most importantly, ready to meet them where they are: online.
Why You Should Care About Client Acquisition
What’s really important for the survival and growth of law firms is securing new clients. This process breathes life into a firm’s financial stability and paves the way for further development. Each new client introduces a new revenue stream. Basically, it supports the firm’s daily operations and enables it to invest in enhanced resources. This, in turn, boosts the firm’s reputation, which helps to attract more clients and sets off a cycle of continuous growth
A well-executed strategy in client acquisition ensures its relevance in an industry that’s constantly evolving. It offers an opportunity to display the firm’s legal expertise to a wider audience. With time, it becomes the go-to source for legal advice. Unfortunately, without a steady influx of clients, a law firm struggles to thrive or even sustain its basic functions.
What’s Common Between Law Firms and College Life?
Bridging from the critical role of client acquisition in law firms to the academic realm, we find a common thread in the crafting of essays, research papers, and personal statements. Students, as well as a highly professional personal statement writer, engage in a delicate dance of persuasion. They aim to showcase their intellectual rigor and individuality. Through essays and research papers, students articulate their arguments and insights, mirroring law firms’ strategies to communicate value to prospective clients. Crafting a personal statement further parallels this, as students distill their unique experiences and aspirations into compelling narratives. This exercise underscores the universal significance of effective communication, which can be about anything from securing clients for a law firm to achieving academic success.
Why to Build and Follow SEO Strategies
Adopting a structured SEO strategy brings several unique benefits, making it a smart approach for businesses. Here are five reasons.
It improves the user experience (UX). Search engines reward sites that offer value to visitors. With a decent SEO strategy, you’ll make your site faster, easier to use on mobile, and simple to navigate. This not only helps with rankings but also keeps visitors happy, leading to loyalty and repeat visits.
Local SEO gets a boost. If your law business has a physical location, pay special attention to optimizing for local search. In terms of that, focus on local keywords, setting up your Google My Business listing, and managing local citations. A random approach might miss these steps, but a strategic one attracts valuable local traffic.
Content becomes more strategic. With a structured SEO plan, your content strategy aligns with what users are searching for. This ensures your content not only draws people in but keeps them engaged by meeting their needs. Without a plan, content might attract visitors, but not for long.
Backlink quality matters more than quantity. A well-crafted SEO strategy focuses on getting high-quality backlinks from reputable sites. This is much better than collecting links from any source. Quality backlinks make your site look more trustworthy to search engines, improving your rankings.
It builds your brand’s authority. Regularly producing valuable content that ranks well turns your business into an industry authority. The structured SEO content showcases your expertise, attracting readers and elevating your brand. In the long run, this can lead to more industry connections, partnerships, and opportunities.
Effective SEO Strategies for Law Firms
For law firms, certain SEO strategies are more critical. Here’s a breakdown of these tactics.
Local SEO matters a lot
Law firms need to show up in local searches. This means using keywords that mention your location and practice areas. Add these keywords to your website’s text, meta descriptions, and titles.
Make pages for each practice area
If you specialize in different legal fields, like divorce or personal injury, create a separate page for each. Fill these pages with useful, keyword-rich content.
Answer common legal questions
People often look online for legal advice before hiring a lawyer. Include FAQs and legal guides on your website. Use keywords related to these common questions.
Show off your lawyers
Write detailed profiles for each lawyer so that it’s easier for potential clients to find what they are looking for. Don’t forget to focus specifically on their skills and successes. Remember to use keywords that potential clients might search for and make it easy for them to get in touch.
Collect and display reviews
Trust is key for law firms more than for most other businesses. It’s actually easy to show potential clients that others have had a good experience with your firm. You can do it by just displaying reviews and testimonials. Ask happy clients to leave feedback on your Google My Business page and legal directories. This will benefit you a lot, believe it or not.
Get listed in legal directories
Links from well-known legal directories can boost your SEO. They also put your firm in front of people looking for legal help. Focus on getting listed in respected directories.
Follow advertising rules
Make sure your SEO efforts don’t break any legal advertising rules. Everything on your website should be honest and not misleading, following your local bar association’s guidelines.
Incorporate video content
Create videos where your attorneys answer common questions or break down complex legal topics. These videos not only make your site more engaging but also keep visitors longer, which search engines like to see.
Improve your website’s speed
Everyone hates a slow website. If yours loads quickly, visitors are more likely to stay. Fast loading times are also a plus point for search engines ranking your site.
Leverage social media
Share your articles, videos, and legal insights on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. This approach doesn’t directly boost SEO but helps drive traffic to your website, increasing visibility.
Implement schema markup
What is schema markup for? It helps search engines understand your site’s content better. Experts say that this can lead to richer search results, making your listings stand out.
Choosing the Best Strategy
First, get real with your firm’s strengths and zone in on those practice areas. That’s your content goldmine. Next, remember that your clients are mostly local unless you work entirely online. So your SEO strategy should be as hometown-focused as a high school football game. Local SEO is your best friend. Then, keep it simple and straightforward—no one’s impressed by jargon except maybe your law professors.
And lastly, track what works and what doesn’t. Use tools like Google Analytics with the same diligence you’d apply to a legal brief. Adjust, adapt, and remember: the right strategy is about being useful, being local, and being accessible, not about gaming the system.
Final Thoughts
To grab more clients, law firms need to nail their SEO game. As a specialist, focus on what you’re good at, talk about it in ways people actually search, and keep it local.
Remember, throwing around big legal terms won’t win you any fans. Keep it real, easy to read, and relevant. Use tools like Google Analytics to see what’s working, kind of like checking your reflection in the mirror. Adjust your tie, straighten your strategy, and keep pushing.
A solid SEO strategy makes you visible, gets you clients, and sets you apart as the go-to legal expert. It’s about being there when someone types their life-changing search into Google. Make sure your firm is the answer they find.
Online gambling is accessible and diverse. For example, one of the most currently popular entertainment options is Aviator Oyunu Azerbaycan – a crash game developed by Spribe, which is popular on platforms such as Pin-Up online casino. This article explores why this unique game attracts Azerbaijani gamblers.
Understanding Aviator Game at Pin Up
Let’s begin with an explanation of what is Aviator at Pin Up Casino AZ. It’s a crash or fast game based on a multiplier. The main idea is to place a wager, up to 100 AZN, then wait until the plane (multiplier) takes off and enjoy the multiplied winnings.
However, there are a few ground rules, such as follows:
you can place two bets simultaneously;
you must withdraw winnings before the plane crashes;
you can cancel the bet before the game launches.
Therefore, Aviator is different from slots or skilled-based games. Slots are entirely based on luck, and you have no control over how much you win. Aviator is based on luck, too, but you can withdraw a winning once you’re satisfied with its size. As for poker and blackjack, they require a thorough understanding of rules, so they are more complicated, while Aviator is beginner-friendly.
Factors that Attract Azerbaijani Players to Pin Up Crash Game Aviator
Like most online entertainment options reputable software providers offer, Aviator is based on RNG and Provably Fair algorithms. Simply put, its results are completely random (based on luck) and fair. Thus, it means that you can’t trick or hack Aviator, so its popularity can’t be attributed to this.
So, what makes Aviator so appealing to Azerbaijani players in Pin Up? Here are a few suggestions:
Simplicity. Many claim that slot machines are the simplest entertainment options. However, these people may not play Aviator. It’s simple and available as a demo version, so Azerbaijani players can enjoy it for free before investing real money. The main goal is to cash out before the plane (multiplier) disappears.
Control. One of the biggest appeals of Aviator is control over your winnings. The plane may disappear immediately after launch, but that’s rare. Thus, users have more control as they decide when to withdraw and the size of their winnings.
Application of different strategies. This factor comes from the previous one: players can place one smaller bet and another bigger one. They can withdraw the bigger wager immediately, enjoy winnings, and let the smaller one increase further to enjoy the adrenaline rush. Other strategies are also applicable.
The ability to use autoplay features. Aviator has auto-bet and auto-withdrawal buttons. Therefore, you can determine at which multiplier the game must cash out.
These are a few factors that attract Azerbaijani gamblers. Users should also consider responsible gambling guidelines to protect themselves from unnecessary losses. Although Aviator is enjoyable, limit your spending to prevent addiction and financial losses.
To conclude, Aviator is fun and offers more control, which attracts Azerbaijani gamers. It has simple rules and convenient control features. Aviator also provides customization options, such as players can switch off effects to ensure the game runs smoothly.
Starting your own firm is hard work. You don’t have the same resources that big firms have to market yourself. But luckily, what you lack in budget you gain in scrappiness. You can move quicker and with less oversight. You can ditch the BigLaw stuffiness and appeal directly to the clients you want to help.
Here’s our promise. We will deliver an actionable plan every week that can be implemented in less than 30 minutes a day, that, applied consistently, will provide you with an audience of prospective clients that lets you focus on the law instead of glad-handing at every networking event that rolls through town.
Remember, consistency is key if you want to build up that consistent stream of clients. Consider us your coach. We’ll give you a plan, every week.
Want to get early access to these tactics? Sign up for the email list and we’ll deliver them right to your inbox, every Monday morning. If not, check back on Fridays for that week’s plan.
Law Bloggers use their blog to increase their status and credibility among other lawyers.
When you’re just starting out, this seems like the easy, logical place to start.
After all, you know the law, you can provide deep commentary on the law that other lawyers would appreciate, and that Small Firm Inferiority Complex is a powerful beast that is always thinking of ways to justify to your big-firm brethren that just because you’re small, it doesn’t mean you’re not an expert.
Here’s the thing though. Your clients don’t care. If they were interested in learning the nuances of law, and could understand that deep analysis, they wouldn’t need your help.
They want to know how the nuances of law affect their daily life. How do they solve that one nagging problem that they’ve ended up at your site trying to solve? And can you explain that problem, that pain, to them better than they could explain that pain to themselves. That’s how you win a client’s trust. Not, by being the most vocal fish in a small pond of blogging lawyers, but by doing the legwork to convey true understanding of your clients’ day-to-day problems.
Now, I won’t deny that there’s certainly value in convincing other lawyers that you’re worth a referral, and sometimes it’s valuable to provide a unique insight and circulate it among your peers. But make no mistake about it, writing for lawyers should be considered a rare guilty pleasure, not the focus of your firm’s marketing plan.
Law Bloggers consider their blog to be a separate entity from their firm.
Law bloggers often see their blog as an extension of their personal brand; a sort of hedge against becoming too synonymous with their parent firm lest they decide one day that they want to move on. That’s a great strategy, and I’d recommend that strategy to any associate (or partner) at a big firm.
What’s more, if you were to separate your firm website from your blog, you’re effectively making sure that none of the SEO value generated by all of that effort is transferred to your firm. Having them both under the same domain is critical to ensuring that your firm and its blog rank well in Google.
Blog posts don’t pay the bills, clients do.
Your blog isn’t about you. It’s about your clients. Everything you do needs to be geared toward their needs, their desires, their pains. Every marketing activity you spend time on need to be focused on one of two things. One, getting more prospective clients to your site. And two, convincing them that you’re so deeply in tune with their problems that they absolutely can’t afford to not contact you for your expertise.
In short, you need to focus on blogging to get business, not being in the business of blogging.
To that end I would strongly recommend looking outside the law industry and into small business marketing for your marketing advice, as your small-firm’s marketing is much more closely related to that of a pool salesman* than a law blogger.
* Marcus comes off a little “marketing-guru” at the beginning, but trust me, you’ll love him by the end. One of the more genuine applications of business blogging I’ve ever seen and a simple framework you can always fall back on when you’re searching for what to write about, or even why you’re bothering at all.
Everyone knows Google is the ruler of the roost when it comes to search. In this guide, we’ll take you through the steps to make sure your firm’s Google setup is a firm foundation for the rest of your marketing efforts.
What a lot of small law firms miss out on is the fact that Google provides a number of free tools to help site owners (that’s you) adhere to best practices that can help Google better understand what your content is about. And when you make Google’s job easier, it can only help your prospects of ranking for important search keywords.
We’re going to walk through the setup of each of these tools to make sure you’re taking advantage of all the free stuff.
Your Google Account
First thing’s first. You need to have a Google account. If you use gmail, you’re probably familiar with all of this, but I would highly recommend setting up a separate Google account specifically for your firm. It’ll make things much easier down the road.
If you use Google Apps for your firm’s email, awesome, you already have a Google account, and you can use that email and password to sign in.
If you don’t use Google Apps, you can still create a Google account using your business email address, just use this form.
Google Analytics
Google analytics is a tool that keeps track of who’s visiting your site and when. It’s a very powerful tool that we’ll get into in more detail at a later time, but for now, let’s just get your site set up and verified.
First, log into google analytics by going to http://www.google.com/analytics. Once there, you’re going to create an account by clicking on the “create an account” link in the top right corner.
Google analytics is structured by accounts and then by property. Accounts act as a grouping of websites (properties). For most firms, you’ll only have one property, but if you have a law blog on a separate domain, like blog.myfirm.com, or myfirmblog.blogger.com, you may want to manage multiple sites.
Let’s start by following Google’s instructions for setting up your firm’s account.
Click on the ‘Admin’ link at the top of the page. From here you should be able to create a new account. Fill it out as follows (let’s assume your firm is called AmazeLaw Firm and your website is amazelawfirm.com):
Account Name: AmazeLaw Firm Website Name: Main Website Website URL: http://amazelawfirm.com Industry Category: “Law and Government” Reporting Timezone: Select your timezone Data Sharing Settings: It’s ok to leave the defaults here, but for the paranoid, you can uncheck “Anonymously with Google and others” and “Account specialists”.
When you’re ready, click ‘Get Tracking ID’ and accept Google’s Terms & Conditions.
Congratulations, you’re now staring at a rather techy looking page that contains the code you need to add to your website in order to get tracking up and running.
If you use a content management system like WordPress, Drupal, or AmazeLaw, all you need to do is authenticate with Google Analytics and it will suck the code in for you. For example, on WordPress, if you go to Plugins > Add New and search for “Yoast Google Analytics” you can install a plugin that will allow you do suck in your code. There’s even a nifty video over here that will show you exactly how to set it up.
If you use AmazeLaw, just log in and go to your dashboard, there should be a giant button asking you to authenticate. Clicking that will automatically suck in your tracking code.
Now if you don’t use WordPress or AmazeLaw or if you need a developer to add the code for you, here’s a sample email you can send your developer that will instruct them on how to add it to your site. By the way, this should be an amazingly simple task for any competent developer so don’t let them charge you for more than an hour’s time to do it (it’ll likely take less than 10 minutes depending on how they’ve set up your site.)
Hi <Developer’s Name>, I would like to add google analytics to my site. The following code needs to be added to the <head> tag on every page on my site. <Copy and Paste the tracking code here> Thanks! <Your Name>
That’s it! You can verify whether the tracking is installed by going to Admin > Choosing your account and property, and then .js Tracking Info > Tracking Code. Next to your Tracking ID, you should see “Waiting for Data” or “Tracking Installed”.
Google Webmaster Tools
Google doesn’t provide much direct control when it comes to how your site appears in search, but what little control it does give you is controlled from webmaster tools.
When you log in, if you don’t have any sites set up, you’ll see a welcome video and a simple text field where you can put your domain to add your site. Simply enter your domain, and click ‘Add Site’.
If you followed the steps in the Google Analytics section above your site should already be verified. If not, follow one of the procedures Google outlines in order to verify your ownership of the site. Unfortunately, it may require help from your developer.
Google+ Authorship
Google+ may not be poised to take over Facebook any time soon, but it’s generally accepted that having a Google+ profile set up (if not actively updated) is a best practice for SEO. Google has indicated that going through the process of verifying the authors of content on your site will act as a quality signal in search algorithms. In other words, set up a Google+ account for yourself, and link it to your website.
If your email uses the same domain as your website (it does right!?) then the process is simple. Just log into Google+ using your firm email address and then go to this link and submit your website.
If you don’t have an email address for your domain, something like myfirm@gmail.com or awesomelegalsolutions@hotmail.com, then it requires a bit of effort to get authorship set up, and honestly, your time would be better spent signing up for Google Apps for business and moving your email over there. After all, bill@awesomelegalsolutions.com is a lot more professional than awesomelegalsolutions@hotmail.com.
Google Places
And finally, it’s time to get you on the map. This is absolutely key to making sure your firm is available for Google to list at the top of localized searches. You know, the ones that show a map and a list of 5-10 businesses.
Signing up for Google Places is quick and easy as well. Go to the Google Places signup page and click “Get on Google”.
In the map that appears, search for your business, either using the name or your office address if you have one. If it appears in the search box, click on the business to claim it. If not, just select the “None of these match. Add your business” link at the bottom of the search results to create yours in the system. Now, if you don’t have a Google+ page for your firm, this will go ahead and create the page for you as well.
There are a few fields worth noting when you get to the point that you need to enter your address information. The first is, well, the actual address. Many solo’s don’t actually have a physical office, and even if you do, it’s likely that you want to serve an area larger than the city in which you live. If you don’t have an actual office, enter your home address (you’ll be able to hide the address later). But whether you have an office or not, make sure you check the box that says “I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location.”
And finally for the “Category” field, you could put the general “Legal Services” or if you have a specialty try that. Search along the lines of “Family Law Attorney” or “Employment Attorney” to select your specialty.
Once you have filled out that information, it’s time to let Google know where you operate. If you checked the box above, you’ll be given the option to list out cities, or choose a radius around your office. I would suggest a radius, but that’s entirely up to you. If you want your office to also appear on the map, just check the box “I also serve customers at my business address”.
When that’s done, you’ll be prompted to create a Google+ page for the business and sign Google Terms of Service.
You’ll be asked to verify your business by mail, and you can then go ahead and edit your Google+ business page.
Whew!
That’s it! Take a break. Now you can edit your site knowing that you’re all set with Google.
Was that too much? Want help?
This stuff can get super hard to keep track of. That’s one thing we pride ourselves on here, is our ability to stay on top of best practices on the web, and then building it into our system so that you don’t have to worry about it.
If you want to spend more time being a lawyer, and less time tinkering in HTML…
It can be pretty daunting trying to figure out how much to spend on a law firm website these days. There are companies charging tens of thousands of dollars and promising the moon, and there’s always your cousin’s friend from college who would do it for a case of beer and a bucket of chicken.
Sometimes it helps to just set some expectations. Your mileage may vary according to your goals, your geographic region etc, but here are some ballpark figures that will give you a good sense for what you should get for your dollar, and help you figure out just how much you can afford to spend.
So let’s kick this off at the bottom.
Less than $500
The old adage goes, you get what you pay for. This bucket usually contains either family friend discounts, students doing the work, or your run of the mill website builder like GoDaddy or Wix.
If your goal is just to have a site that you can point people to, and don’t intend to do online marketing, blogging, lead collection etc, this might be the way to go. Be careful here though. A lot of times the website builders are loss-leaders for the business. For example, GoDaddy makes the website builder cheap to get you to do your web, email and domain hosting with them, which often ends up being a more expensive and lower quality offering than going out and getting decent options separately.
For example, I use DNSimple for domain and DNS hosting. I can’t recommend them enough. And for email hosting, $50/year for Google Apps is an absolute steal.
$500 – $1500
This is a tough range. It’s tough because it’s likely that you could find someone to do the work for the price, but it’s going to be very difficult to judge the quality beforehand. A developer that’s worth their salt will be able to charge A LOT more than this, so here, you’re typically dealing with local developers that might not be around very long. You want someone that will be around 2 or 3 years from now and who can answer an email at the drop of a hat if there’s a problem. Now, if you’re willing to take a bit of the management tasks on, you could probably find a very talented international developer on oDesk that could do a great job for this price.
$1500 – $5000
This is what I would consider the sweet spot for most solos. In this range you can get a good developer to do a basic site that’ll cover the bases for most of you.
When I say “cover the bases” I mean:
Uses a nice responsive theme (looks great on mobile devices)
Uses a Content Management System like WordPress or Drupal. Avoid hard-coded sites as you’ll need to contact your developer any time you need a change.
Has a BUILT-IN blog (I saw a recent post that suggested attorneys should have a separately branded blog. That is such terrible advice that I would consider it dangerous.)
Uses best-practices like semantic markup to make your site more easily parseable by search engines.
Can offer limited tech support for the foreseeable future.
A classic looking, basic typographic logo if you don’t have one yet.
Redirects from your existing site if you have one. Basically, make sure that anyone linking to your existing site ends up on a relevant page on your new site. Without this, any SEO clout you’ve built up will disappear.
And the ability to walk you through how to do basic edits (like writing blog posts) yourself.
What you likely won’t get at this price point:
Custom photography
Custom graphic design (the theme you use will be the “web designer”)
Custom copy
Comprehensive branding
$5000+
Once you go over $5k, the sky really is the limit. You could get a custom graphic designer to do a completely custom design just for you. You could get a marketing consultant to do your bidding. Really, at this price range, it’ll be really confusing because it’ll likely be a much larger to-do. There might be an law firm SEO consultant or an AdWords consultant. All of these things can be positives, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed and there’s a lot of sharks at that price point that’ll promise you the world and never deliver. If you’re spending that kind of money, make sure you get references and demand quantifiable proof that the investment was worth it. If they’re good, it’ll be more than evident.
Whatever you decide make sure the following:
Make sure that your domain name is registered under an account you can access yourself and that it’s registered TO YOU. As I mentioned, I really like DNSimple for this. They’re great people and they make managing domains really simple without some of the spammier upsell practices of companies like GoDaddy. Also, don’t let your developer own this account. If he’s out of business in 2 years, you’ll have a really hard time getting control of your domain (if you can at all).
Be wary of SEO sharks that mention link-building or keyword density when pitching SEO services. SEO is almost entirely based on writing good content that answers questions that people want answered. There is very little left that can “game” the system. Anyone that tells you they can get to the first page of Google for something like “DUI attorney Nashville, TN” and doesn’t immediately follow it up with a year-long content strategy is selling you a bag of goods.
Make sure you understand the ins and outs of your Content Management System before you sign off on the project. If you’re not completely comfortable with the process of updating your practice area pages or writing a blog post, you never will, and that’s the quickest way to make your investment depreciate like an abandoned house.
When in doubt, feel free to ask for help. I see all of the shady stuff targeting my wife’s practice and I want to scream, so I’m happy to share unbiased advice.
I hope that clears up some of the confusion in the space. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them…
Starting a forex trading career is an exciting venture, but it’s important to choose the correct broker before entering the market. With so many possibilities, the procedure might appear overwhelming. Do not be alarmed! We’ll walk through every stage of the process of selecting the best FX broker in this beginner’s guide.
Step 1: Consider Trading Costs and Fees
Trading costs and fees can eat into your profits, so it’s crucial to understand them upfront. Pay attention to factors like spreads, commissions, and any additional fees charged by the broker. While low trading costs are important, make sure you’re not sacrificing quality for price. Sometimes, a slightly higher cost may be worth it if the broker offers superior services and execution.
It’s also worth considering the broker’s policy on slippage and requotes. Slippage occurs when your order is filled at a different price than expected, usually during periods of high volatility. Requotes occur when the broker is unable to execute your order at the requested price and offers you a new price instead. Look for brokers that have transparent policies and minimize slippage and requotes as much as possible.
Step 2: Evaluate Trading Platforms and Tools
Your trading platform is your window to the forex market, so it’s essential to choose one that suits your needs. Look for a platform that is user-friendly, reliable, and offers advanced charting and analysis tools. Whether you prefer a desktop, web-based, or mobile platform, make sure it meets your requirements and offers the functionality you need to execute your trading strategy effectively.
Consider factors like site stability, execution speed, and available order types when evaluating trading platforms. Some brokers offer proprietary platforms, while others provide popular third-party platforms like MetaTrader 4 (MT4) or MetaTrader 5 (MT5). Take the time to test out different platforms and find one that you feel comfortable using.
Step 3: Research Broker Reputation and Regulation
When it comes to your hard-earned money, you want to ensure it’s in safe hands. That’s why it’s essential to research potential brokers thoroughly. Look for brokerage services that are regulated by reputable financial authorities like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the US, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Regulation provides peace of mind that the broker operates with integrity and transparency, as they must adhere to strict regulatory standards. Additionally, take the time to read trusted broker reviews and check online forums for feedback on factors like execution speed, customer service, and reliability. Hearing from other traders can give you valuable insights into what to expect from a particular broker.
Step 4: Analyze Deposit and Withdrawal Options
When choosing the right forex broker, it’s crucial to analyze their deposit and withdrawal options. Consider the following factors:
Variety of Methods: Look for brokers that offer a range of deposit and withdrawal methods, including:
Bank transfers
Credit/debit cards
E-wallets
Processing Times: Consider the processing times for deposits and withdrawals. Faster processing times can be advantageous, especially when you need to access your funds quickly.
Fees: Evaluate any fees associated with deposits and withdrawals. Some brokers may charge fees for certain payment methods or processing withdrawals.
Minimum/Maximum Limits: Check the minimum and maximum deposit and withdrawal limits imposed by the broker. Ensure that these limits align with your trading requirements.
Security: Opt for a broker that prioritizes security and offers secure payment options to safeguard your funds and personal information.
Step 5: Assess Customer Support and Service
Last but certainly not least, consider the level of customer support and service provided by the broker. You want to know that help is available when you need it, whether it’s assistance with technical issues or questions about your account. Look for brokers that offer multiple channels of communication and responsive support staff who are knowledgeable and helpful.
It’s also worth considering the broker’s educational resources and materials. Look for brokers that provide webinars, tutorials, articles, and trading guides to help you improve your trading skills and knowledge. A broker that invests in trader education demonstrates a commitment to their clients’ success.
Final Words
Choosing the right forex broker is a crucial step in your trading activities, and it’s worth taking the time to do your research. You can discover a broker that satisfies your demands and assists you in reaching your trading objectives by comprehending your needs, investigating the reputation and regulation of brokers, taking trading costs and fees into account, analyzing trading platforms and tools, and evaluating customer assistance and service.
Use the insights available on various dedicated platforms to make a well-informed choice. Remember, the right broker can make all the difference in your investment success, so select wisely!
