Potential Clients Only Care About 3 Things. Here They Are.

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When it comes to doing business with an attorney, prospects only care about 3 things:

  1. The Benefits they receive because of your services
  2. The Value they perceive a relationship with you will bring
  3. The Results they achieve from your service

If you’re an estate planning attorney, don’t sell estate plans.  If you’re a divorce attorney, don’t focus on the types of family law services your firm provides.  If you’re a defense attorney, don’t focus on how many different types of crimes you can represent.

These are all features of your service. People don’t buy features. They buy benefits.

They buy solutions not service, because they expect everyone to have great service.

They buy other people’s experiences of your service.

They buy your credibility as presented by your marketing image.

They buy based on their emotions, but they want logical reasons to justify their decision.

And they buy guarantees and promises, so don’t make them if you can’t keep them.

Fundamentally, the reason why people or businesses seek out your law firm is because they have a problem and they are asking you, “Do you have a solution?”

That’s why your law firm marketing must focus on more than communicating just the features of your product or service.  You must make sure all your legal marketing efforts answer the questions that prospective clients are asking, not just give them a laundry list of everything you can do.

6 Reasons Why Video Belongs In Your Legal Marketing Mix

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Here’s a statistic that is hard to wrap your head around: more than 4 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every day.

YouTube also says that more than 6 billion hours are watched each month – one hour for every person on Earth.

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Video is a great way for attorneys to connect with prospects on your law firm website and demonstrate expertise in your field of practice.

Beyond the YouTube stats that demonstrate virtually everyone is viewing video online, here are 6 more reasons why video belongs in your legal marketing mix:

1. Better search results. According to Forrester Research, videos are 53x more likely than traditional websites to be found on the first page of Google search results.

2. Better retention. Forrester Research found that people retain 58% more with both visual and auditory stimulation.

3. More traffic. Forrester Research reports that over 60% of all web traffic comes from online video.

4. More likely to buy. People who view a video are 64% more likely to purchase (comScore).

5. Found in the C-Suite. 65% of senior executives say they have visited a vendor website after watching a video. 59% say they prefer video to text. (Forbes’ Video in the C-Suite).

6. More likely to be shared. Video has the best potential to be shared and go viral compared with other media.

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What Social Media Users Like to Share

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new study out from market research firm Ipsos reveals that 70% of Internet users have shared content on social media sites in the past month.

So why is this important?

One of the main reasons attorneys participate in social media is for lead generation, and having your posts shared with others boosts the popularity of that post and gives an implied endorsement to what you have to say.

So it would behoove you to be aware of the type of content that is more likely to be shared. Here it is:

The next time you find yourself stuck on what to post on your social media sites, refer to this list – and include a picture!

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A Law Firm Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Guide to Understanding Your Website’s Rankings

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How Long Will it Take My Site to Rank?

The world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a lot like the Wild West.  You have the barkeeps and the bandits.  The barkeeps work hard and earn an honest living for a long time (unless they are gunned down by a bandit).  The bandits steal and earn money quickly but are more than likely to be gunned down themselves during their next heist.  If you haven’t gathered already, the barkeeps are white hat SEOs and the bandits are black hat SEOs.  Their earnings are derived from your rankings.

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Many search marketers work very hard to stay on top of the latest trends and work tirelessly to create a place that people want to go and hang out (the bar).  They will tell you the truth about where you are and how long it will take you to get where you need to be.  There are others who really have no real talent or resources other than the ability to sell you on quick wins and a fiverr.com account where they can buy a truckload of easy links that may make your site rank in the short term before it gets penalized for spammy practices.

In order to create value for your visitors and for you as a law firm, you have to know where you are and form a plan to get you where you need to be.  So let’s start with the basics.

What Are the Basics That I Need to Know as a Lawyer About SEO?

Pay Attention to Your Design

First, you need a well organized site that is visually appealing and applies current design trends so that your visitors do not feel like you stopped caring about them years ago.  It is normal to redesign a site every 2-3 years, especially if your ROI or conversions have dropped. (Pro Tip: WordPress makes it easy to redesign a site by just building a new theme instead of rebuilding each page.)

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A skilled law firm Web designer thinks about how the visitor goes through the site, what they are most interested in and what will compel a visitor to contact the law firm. Designing for your visitors is critical and is the foundation of good search optimization.

Make Your Content Easy to Understand

Google has to crawl (basically download and parse) and understand the pages on your site.  Your visitors need to understand your site as well as how it is organized.  Relevant content is a must for your law firm website.

Many times companies build sites around their business structure instead of their visitor’s needs.  This is so common it is alarming.  If your firm’s focus is car accident cases, you need to have an obvious link on the homepage that encourage visitors to click for more information on car accident cases.  Build that page to be better and more useful than the page of any of your competitors.

Don’t make visitors hunt for information.  Use a content outline to help plan and organize your site so that it is logical (for search engines) and easy to find (for visitors).

Don’t Sell, Be Useful

This is a pet peeve of mine.  I have never been to a law firm’s website and not known that it is a law firm’s website.  It is obvious.  There is no need to tell people in the content that you can handle their case.  Instead, provide what they seek.  Add value to their visit.  Use social proof (testimonialsreviews) judiciously, show some cases you have won, but above all tell them what they need to know and answer their questions.

Be Interesting and Authoritative

If you do not have the time or resources to write high quality content, pay a top notch writer to do it for you.  Google analyzes content for relevance and readability.  Google has the world’s largest testing platform for Web pages.  Their goal is to return a result that answers the question entered and that the searcher finds interesting enough to stay and read.  This is commonly called time-to-long-click.  If a searcher finds your content and immediately returns to Google to pick another Web page, they have told Google that your content was either not relevant, informative or unhelpful.  Next time someone searches for that query, Google is less likely to show your content in the results.

What Are the Factors that Drive Rankings?

How Google ranks websites is a closely held secret.  If anyone tells you they have the magic formula, they are not being truthful.  However, there are several things that we do know.  A list of the top factors that Google has announced as well as from our experience include:

  • Authoritative links are huge.  Links from trustworthy sites that are on pages which are relevant to the content on your site they are linking to is one of the biggest ranking factors. For example, a scholarly website discussing car accident causation factors that links to your car accident infographic is a successful and powerful link.
  • The number of different high quality domains that link to you is highly correlated with good rankings.
  • Have a physical location in the city where you want business. All of the searches that have keywords indicating a business (lawyer, law firm, attorney, etc.) will return local listings at the top of the results 90% of the time.

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  • Reviews on Google (as well as other trusted rating sites) increases your visibility and chance of a prospect contacting you with their case.   If you put yourself in your potential client’s shoes and do a search for “Palm Beach Car Accident Lawyer,” would you pick the attorney with no reviews or the firm with ten five-star reviews?  This is also highly correlated with rankings.
  • Brand and business mentions help search engines know who you are.  Google used to return EMDs (exact match domains) for certain keywords because it had difficulty distinguishing the difference between a keyword and a brand name.  If you search for Rackroom Shoes, you probably want rackroomshoes.com.  Google uses brand (co-citations/co-occurrence) along with instances of your business name and address found on quality sites to understand the strength and trustworthiness of your brand.
  • Having well-written, properly organized, and properly optimized site content is also critical to rankings.  No one wants to click on a search result that just says “Home – mylawfirm.com”.  Google will probably display a better (more relevant) title for you anyway but you get the point.  The title and description of your page are important elements that tell Google and the visitor what your page is about.
  • There is also some early evidence that having active Google+ profiles can be very helpful in gaining rankings for your site.

What Is the Amount of Time That it Will Take My Law Firm’s Website to Start Ranking?

This is a very difficult question with several variables, but I will do my best to lay this out.  Your search vendor is not a black box that drives traffic and conversions.  The vendor is a partner that magnifies what you already do to put you in the best position to get the cases for which you are looking.

In my experience, law firms that are active in the community (online and off), have good relationships and actively promote their brand are the ones who experience the most success with their websites.  This is because Google uses many factors to determine rankings, not just links.

For now, high quality, relevant links are still a primary factor in determining rankings and should be sought. If you have a new site with no links and your top competitors have established sites with hundreds of sites linking to them, you should obtain a similar amount in order to be competitive.  Remember to follow the tips above on the type of links to target.

If you take the number of linking sites that your competitors have; let’s say 200, then you will need to get close to that mark in order to be in the ballpark to start ranking with them. But one thing to keep in mind: not all links are created equal.  One link from a university website can be equal to a hundred blog articles or directory links.  So, it really has to do with the quality and number of links that you acquire that will enable you to compete with other firms’ rankings.

It is possible to buy thousands of links in a month to rank for what you want, but with the advent of manual penalties and Penguin filters from Google, we highly recommend against this.  Instead, go the slower route of convincing people to link to you.  This can be done in the following ways:

  • Create content that people want to link to.
  • Do promotions that people will share and link to.
  • Ask people you know for links.
  • List your company in authoritative directories.
  • Share quality blog posts with non-competing blog owners.
  • Write a glowing article about another business or organization.
  • Ask a business if you can put a testimonial on their site in exchange for a link.

There are many, many other ways to build links in a quality way.  Finding a strategy that works for your firm can be a process of trial and error when first starting out.

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Your overall Web strategy also needs to be considered when planning your firm’s link building plan.  One of your practice areas may be extremely competitive and have very established competitor sites.  Instead of starting with that area, it may be a better approach to shoot for a slightly less lucrative practice area or location with less competition in order to rank more quickly for terms that can drive results.

The reality is that, depending on the amount of competition in a particular location and practice area, it can take a year, or years, to get to where your competition is.  Your competition may have spent tens of thousands of dollars on their Web presence.  Keep in mind that your competition did not stop what they were doing just because you entered the game.  You will have to catch up to where they were, plus how much they did while you were catching up.

What Can Law Firms Do to Help Speed Up the Process?

The really cool thing about Google is that they want to reward brands, trustworthiness, and authority.  There are some easy shortcuts that law firms can take to help their vendors help them while still sticking to white hat tactics.  Here are the top five:

  • Share relationships that you have that can lead to great link opportunities.  Several of our clients who were on the boards of organizations and have bio pages on those websites.  There is nothing wrong with asking for a link to your website or to your bio on your website.  Another example – if you have a good relationship with a local newspaper, see if you can get a great story written and posted on the paper’s website about something you did or an opinion you have.
  • Get reviews!  Reviews influence rankings as well as conversions.  People love social proof and use it to make decisions.  If your law firm has none or only one or two reviews on Google, Yelp or Avvo, you are missing the boat.  Your Web vendor cannot do this for you.
  • Read your content.  If you do not feel comfortable sharing a new blog post on your personal Facebook account, then it is probably not interesting enough for anyone else to want to share or link to.
  • Participate in your community.  Hold an event.  Sponsor a charity.  Create a charity or scholarship.  Give away free legal counseling for students at your alma mater.  These things get natural links and brand mentions because people like to share great things that others are doing.  Keep your vendor in the loop and they can do outreach to leverage these offline activities online.
  • Share what is important to you.  Share your knowledge: videos, resources, papers and important changes to laws.  Visitors to your website are determining whether to choose you or not.  Help them know what makes you different.

Well, if you have made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. To close, I think it is important to say that some sites take months and some take a year to start producing results.  It really depends on competition and how new you are to the Web.  Being new to the Web is not such a bad thing these days, contact us to ask why.

The most important advice that I can give is to make sure that your Web vendor actually reviews your site before suggesting a strategy.  There should be clear expectations and goals established for your site.  Your vendor should have regular meetings with you and partner with you to create a plan for success (even if takes longer than you would like).  Remember that a high-quality vendor will tell a potential client the truth even if it is not what they want to hear.

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7 Steps to Create a Lead-Generating Website [INFOGRAPHIC]

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It is estimated that 95% of law firms already have a website (I’m not sure what the other five percent are holding out for…perhaps they still think the internet is a fad), but too few attorneys are consistently generating quality leads from their online presence because they lack great content.

Google has made it increasingly difficult to rank high without putting a lot of quality content on your website. One of the best ways to do so is via a blog, which allows you to add unique, high quality content every day to your website.

The infographic below from ReachLocal.com provides 7 essential ingredients you must have in your website to help you land more leads:

What Works for Business to Business (B2B) Content Marketing

The Rainmaker Institute mini logo (1)he B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn has more than 50,000 members, making it one of the largest groups on the popular business social network. Recently, 815 members of the group responded to a survey about content marketing about what works and what doesn’t for B2B content marketing.

According to the survey results, content marketing is used primarily for lead generation; here are the tactics being employed and their effectiveness rankings:

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Not surprisingly, LinkedIn tops the list for the most effective social media platforms for content marketing, followed closely by YouTube. Video is becoming increasingly more popular since it is an easily digestible format:

 

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In addition, the survey uncovered the following trends:

More than 82 percent of B2B marketers are increasing their content production over the next 12 months.

YouTube is gaining popularity as a social media platform to reach and engage B2B audiences – Facebook is losing ground.

Marketing automation is on the rise. 61 percent of marketers use marketing automation platforms, up from 43 percent last year.

You can click on the following link to see a slideshow of the entire survey results: B2B Content Marketing Report 2013.

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LinkedIn (or Left Out) for Lawyers

Until recently, very few lawyers and corporate counsel had even heard of the social media site LinkedIn.  In fact, it surprises many to learn that LinkedIn was launched ten years ago.  How quickly things have changed!

Ninety-five percent of ABA members indicate that they have posted their profiles on LinkedIn. Seventy percent of corporate counsel indicate that they use LinkedIn regularly as a tool to find and vet outside counsel.  These statistics come from a 2012 ABA survey.

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LinkedIn is now one of the world’s most popular websites.  If you would like to be found by potential clients, your LinkedIn profile has become even more important than your website biography.  If you are looking for networking opportunities, your LinkedIn presence and activity have become just as important as your face-to-face networking.

LinkedIn launched in May 2003.  “From the very start, LinkedIn differentiated itself as a site for business, business development and recruitment rather than a social site,” said Phil Nugent.

“In just ten years, LinkedIn has gained 225 million users around the world, including 80 million users in the United States,” said Nugent.  “More than 173,000 people join LinkedIn each day.  It is a great place for many attorneys, because the demographics of LinkedIn skew older, wealthier and more-educated than any of the other top social media sites.”

Nugent discussed effective use of LinkedIn by lawyers and law firms at the monthly educational meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, held July 9 at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in LoDo Denver.  Nugent is a non-practicing attorney and principal at NCG Strategic Marketing.

“Successful use of LinkedIn as a business development tool has three steps,” said Nugent.  “First, you must post a complete and compelling profile.  All too many lawyers and law firms leave it at that, however, and then wonder why LinkedIn is not working as well as they had hoped.

“To achieve success on LinkedIn, you must build a strong network of connections in terms of both quality and quantity,” said Nugent.  “With this accomplished, you can leverage LinkedIn as a business development tool to find others, to get found and to conduct market research.”

Getting Started on LinkedIn

The creation and posting of a good profile is step one of a solid LinkedIn presence.  However, it should not be the same as a lawyer’s website bio.  Instead, it should be designed to satisfy the unique needs of LinkedIn’s search algorithm.

“LinkedIn’s algorithm uses a metric to quantify profile strength, which has a huge effect on search results,” said Nugent.  “Different areas of your LinkedIn profile carry different weights.  You should aim for a profile-strength of “all-star,” or as close to 100 percent as possible.”

Nugent discussed and gave specific recommendations regarding the algorithm’s weights.

Name and title (25 percent) — Do not make the mistake of simply listing a generic job title in this very important space.  It should include carefully selected keywords – the keywords that those searching for someone like you are likely to use.  The title category can be as long as 120 characters, or about 18 words.

Photo (5 percent) – A profile that includes a photo is seven times more likely to be viewed than one without a photo. Be sure that the photo is both professional and recent.

Summary (10 percent) – Use your summary to tell a compelling story about how you help clients solve their legal problems.  This section should include plenty of keywords.  It can include up to 2,000 characters, or about 350 words.  Spell check is always recommended.

Education (15 percent)

Previous two jobs (30 percent)

Three recommendations (15 percent) 

Another smart tactic for promotion of your LinkedIn presence is to customize your profile’s URL.  LinkedIn automatically generates a random URL, but this easily can be changed to a much shorter version featuring your name.  Additionally, you should be sure to add links to your website and blog.

On the “Edit Profile” page you can add content modules that include projects, publications, honors and awards, patents, certifications and languages.

“Throughout your LinkedIn profile, remember that content is king,” said Nugent.  “The copy should be compelling and should include plain-English keywords that are the same words that will be used by your target market or your ideal clients.  These keywords should indicate who you are and what you do.  Avoid ‘legalese’ — unless your clients use it, too.”

Once you have prepared and posted a strong LinkedIn profile, you want to make sure that people can actually gain access to it.  Go to the “privacy controls” section of your profile and choose the settings that allow “everyone” to view your profile photo and visibility.

Creating a LinkedIn Network

To support a strong LinkedIn profile, you need a strong network.  When it comes to building a network, you can pitch as well as catch.  This means that you shouldn’t rely only upon the invitations that you receive; you should proactively send invitations to those with whom you would like to be connected.

A LinkedIn network works like a big circle, with you in the middle.  First-degree connections are direct connections.  These are the people you have accepted and who have accepted you.  Second-degree connections are friends of these friends.  Third-degree connections are friends of second-degree connections.  Your level of visibility into third-degree connections is limited, and a request to connect must be routed through the second-degree connection that controls the relationship.

“The quality of your network is important,” said Nugent.  “If you accept too many random invitations, your network, although large, may not be sufficiently useful.  If you accept (and send) too few invitations, you won’t be able to use the database as it was designed.

“Before accepting any invitation,” said Nugent, “ask yourself if this person is potentially a client or a source for the kind of work you really want to do. Strive for balance between the quantity and the quality of the invitations you accept.”

When vetting an invitation, check out the inviter’s profile.  Is the invitation from a real and (apparently) respectable individual?  Does the inviter have quality contacts that might prove valuable?  Does the inviter have a large number of contacts?  Did the inviter include a personal note with the invitation?  “Rely on these factors to determine if it makes good sense to connect,” said Nugent.

When sending out your own invitations, start with your existing contact list.  Include your firm’s partners, associates and staff; members of professional, business and industry groups that you belong to; and referral sources, clients and friends.

“Never allow your network to stagnate,” said Nugent.  “It should grow continuously.  When you meet a new contact, follow up within 48 hours with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn instead of (or in addition to) an email or a written note.  To facilitate this tactic among those you meet, consider including your LinkedIn address on your business card.”

Using LinkedIn for Research

“A well-crafted LinkedIn network is like a finely tuned sports car,” said Nugent.  “It’s really a waste if you just let it sit in the garage.  You should take it out for a spin as often as possible.  The more you ‘drive’ LinkedIn, the more you’ll discover its usefulness — and the more you’ll realize what a powerful tool it can be on a daily basis.”

Your LinkedIn network is essential when conducting pre-interaction due diligence.  “You can search your network in order to find out useful information about prospects, their companies, clients, competitors, consultants, referral partners, media sources and employees,” said Nugent.  “The quality of your results will be determined by the quality of your contacts and the size of your network.

“LinkedIn can help provide answers to many important questions,” said Nugent.  “These include who is the right person to talk to in a particular organization?  What can I discover about this person prior to our meeting?  Who else is on their team?  Who might be able to provide me with background or an introduction?”

LinkedIn’s “advanced search” capability allows you to refine a search by relationship, location, current company, industry, past company, school and language.  Search can be further narrowed by groups, years of experience, function, seniority level, interests, company size, Fortune ranking and date joined.

Lawyers who want expanded search capabilities and additional functionality can try a premium membership on a monthly basis rather than sticking with the basic free membership.  However, the free membership provides plenty of power for most LinkedIn users.

“In just ten years, LinkedIn has gone from being a novelty embraced by techies to a must-have marketing tool for all professionals who hope to compete in today’s marketplace,” said Nugent.  “By creating a strong profile and a robust network, and by being an active user, any lawyer can vastly enhance his or her online visibility and reputation.”

Determining Which Social Media Platforms Work Best for Your Law Firm [INFOGRAPHIC]

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When you consider the overwhelming number of people who are now using social media, the question you should be asking is not, are my prospects, clients, and referral sources using social media? The question you should be asking is, which network are they using most often?

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you are your client.  Just because you don’t actively participate on Facebook or other social media platforms don’t mean your clients and prospects aren’t.   Very few law firms are aggressively going after these platforms; it’s an opportunity to get ahead of the curve. Plus, search engines now rank social media pages, so it’s very important for SEO.

Depending on the demographic of your clientele, you may have more success with one social media platform compared to another. The infographic below, based on the latest social media usage data from the Pew Research Center, can help you determine which platforms can work better for you, depending on the profile of your ideal target market:

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What Clients Want from Your Law Firm’s Website

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When a client comes to your office, they are expecting to meet a lawyer they can trust who respects them and will represent their case well. The same guiding principle applies to what prospective clients want from your law firm’s website: a trusted resource that will provide information and guide them to a lawyer they can trust. There are several ways you can be responsive to client needs on your law firm’s site.

Descriptions of Legal Proceedings

Your prospective clients will likely have many questions about the events that are going to take place surrounding their case. How many times can they expect to meet with you or a partner attorney? How many court hearings will they need to attend? Is there any background work required on their part? What sort of emotions might they experience as their case reaches a trial? You could provide a resource webpage, or even a thorough blog post, on your site that walks clients through the process and provides answers to their concerns.

Clear Explanations of Laws

Your legal training and expertise gives you have the ability to understand complex rulings and, using your strong relational skills, you also have the ability to explain the details of those rulings in layman’s terms. Your law firm’s blog is an excellent place to write about recently passed laws or judicial rulings. Particularly, if a law will directly affect your client base, you should consider devoting the time to explain the information to your site visitors.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

As you have practiced law you have more than likely encountered the same questions, or type of questions, from your clients. Questions such as: Do I have a case? What is a personal injury? How much will my attorney fee be? How much can I get in my settlement? Consider creating a section on your site to address these most frequently asked questions in a FAQ section. Your firm will be seen as a legal authority and will simultaneously build trust with potential clients.

Practical Tools and Resources

In a world of smartphones and apps, Web users crave information that is interactive and engaging. Think about a complicated question or process you could streamline and create an effective tool to guide your clients through the nuances. Personal injury lawyers may choose to include an interactive questionnaire for clients to determine the severity of their injuries. A family lawyer may feature a child support cost calculator on their site. Be creative and find a quality marketing team of designers and programmers to bring your vision to life.

Introduce Your Firm’s Attorneys

An often overlooked, but necessary element of any law firm site is the attorney bio pages. Your clients will instantly get a sense of your attorneys when they meet face to face in your office, but what about beforehand? That first impression almost always happens online. It is important to make a good impression. Consider including bits of personal information to show that your attorneys are well rounded individuals or, better still, include a professional video highlighting each of your partners. Remember to be engaging; your clients want to know they can trust you. In the 21st century, building trust oftentimes begins online.

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Can You Hear Me Now? Tips for Communicating with Counsel

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Imagine that some circumstance arises that leads you to need an attorney. Perhaps you have a dispute with a neighbor, are considering adopting a child, or have been wrongfully terminated from your employment. No matter what your legal matter may be, you may find that a common question arises in your mind: How do I best communicate with my attorney? Today’s technology provides many options for communication, ranging from social media websites like LinkedIN and Twitter to increased modes of communication such as Skype video-conferencing, and texting. It can be confusing for a client to know what the most effective way is to communicate with an attorney (especially if he or she is represented for the first time). Here are a few tips you may want to consider:

1. Ask your Attorney. Many attorneys have the ability to use different modes of communication. Your attorney, however, may prefer you contact him or her using a particular mode. Some may prefer email, while others may be better able to respond to telephone calls. You may find that your attorney’s preference for how you get in touch is based on the circumstances. If you are running late to a settlement meeting, a call may be more effective than an email, for instance. Open a line of dialogue with your attorney about their specific suggestions as to how you can best communicate with them.

You should also remember that your attorney may be able to better communicate with you if he or she knows your preferences. Most attorneys request of their clients an email address, phone number, and mailing address. If you do not use a cellular phone or other mobile device, allow your mail to pile up, or do not have privacy in your home to review sensitive emails, you will want to share this information with your attorney.

2. Consider the Length and Frequency of Messages. We may all have had the experience of leaving a voicemail so long that the recording turns off, resulting in an incomplete message. And we may all have had the experience of writing lengthy emails, especially when those communications are about concerning or pressing matters. When communicating with your attorney, you’ll want to consider the length and frequency of your messages. Ask your attorney to share with you his or her typical response time by posing a question like: “How long do you suggest I wait for your response before reaching out again?” You may find that you can avoid unnecessary fees and costs by preventing duplicate messages. You may also want to ask your attorney to share with you a few months into the attorney-client relationship whether he or she has suggestions for managing emails or other communications that are particularly lengthy. For instance, before writing a lengthy email on a particular subject, you may want to just drop your attorney a line and ask whether a call or email will be more effective.

You may also wish to discuss with your attorney limiting each email to one issue, or to start a new “thread” or email conversation once your exchange reaches a particular length.

3. Format your Messages for Clarity. One suggestion I often share with clients is to use numbered lists or bullet-points when exchanging emails with me. This not only helps me to more easily digest lengthy emails, but it speeds up the process of responding, which can save the client time and money in return. I have also found that when a client sends a lengthy email with many questions interspersed, I can respond more quickly by typing my response into the body of the client’s original email. In those circumstances, I will use a bold and colored text to respond, and instruct the client to respond in all capital letters. While the formatting of your messages may not have an impact in a single instance, over the life of a case these kinds of strategies may be effective for you and your attorney.

4. Be Prepared. When you are planning to exchange email, teleconference, or otherwise speak with your attorney, attempt to reasonably anticipate what questions she or he may have for you. At times, you may want to reach your attorney’s legal assistant or office staff to ask whether your attorney suggests you review or provide documents. Being properly prepared can help you make the most of the time you and your attorney spend in discussion.

Whatever your legal needs may be, speaking with your attorney about how best to communicate can lay the foundation for a more pleasant and effective attorney-client relationship.

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