This year’s post about best law firm websites is a little different than the past. In 2010 and 2011, I provided links of sites that I found to be the best representation of great website design in order to provide inspiration for firms that were looking to develop or redesign their websites. I based my choices on my own professional design judgement with a few criteria that I explained.
This year, nominations took place here, on Lawyerist.
Internet marketing & advertising company Yodle has been off our radar for a while. I first wrote about Yodle back in May 2009, I got a call from a pushy Yodle salesperson, and I expressed my annoyance on Lawyerist:
what Yodle actually does, as far as I can tell, is employ a bunch of jerks to call me (four times last week, plus an email for good measure), insult me, and try to bully me into becoming a client
Commenters reported similar experiences. Yodle responded by offering three months of its services to prove its worth. We called it the Yodle Challenge, and bankruptcy attorney Brea Buettner agreed to take part. In the end, Yodle did generate some profit for Brea, who called the campaign a success even though she decided not to stick with it.
But recently, the comments thread has gotten lively again (we’ve also discussed Yodle in the LAB), and it sounds like not much has changed in Yodle’s sales department over the last few years.
More and more legal question and answer websites are popping-up across the web. And while they can be very effective in terms of getting yourself in front of online audiences and demonstrating your expertise, lawyers ought to be conscientious about how they participate in these online communities.
Lawyers bill too little for two reasons. First, they believe that a lower fee will yield more clients. Alternatively, especially when they represent individuals and small business owners, lawyers feel sorry for their clients and end up billing what they think the client can pay — not what the lawyer is worth.
Do not fall victim to either of these faulty arguments.
Someone registers the domain yourlawfirm-sucks.com. Another lawyer posts their response to your c & d letter online. People leave bad reviews of you on Google Places, Avvo or LawyerRatingz. Disgruntled clients tweet, comment and status update about what a lousy job you did for them. Deserved or not, the internet makes reputation destruction very efficient.
I just finished reading Avinash Kaushik’s Provocative Ideas: Brand Destruction is Insanely Efficient Now. Beware! Needless to say (but worth saying), Avinash is a pretty smart guy. And while his article focuses on customers and companies, his observations are equally, if not more, applicable to lawyers and clients.
Guest post by Eric Christensen.
Many junior associates assume they could never land a whale of a big client for their firm, so they let this element of their practice slide, leaving rainmaking for the senior partners. Consequently, as these junior associates rise up in the firm, they are left scrambling to learn client development skills–on top of a rapidly growing workload. But a network is valuable only if it is in place before you need it. Build your network now, so you can rely on it later.
What many junior associates often overlook is that the future decision makers of a big client also start out low on the corporate ladder. By following this simple five-step plan, junior associates can start learning client development skills and building a network now. By forming relationships with peers at a variety of companies, junior associates can put themselves years ahead of their fellow associates and increase their long-term value to their firms.
Social media seems to be the topic du jour in legal marketing circles. Lately, it seems as if writers write, bloggers post and speakers speak about little else. While I agree that social media can be an effective tool for some lawyers, I do not agree that it is the best tool for all lawyers, everywhere.
Consider carefully before you get swept away by all the hype.
When you are starting your own firm or trying to build your practice, it is crucial that you build a brand, show off your expertise, and reach out to a large target audience. Social media and advertising can take you a long way, but with so many options in legal services, it is important that potential clients get more than just a sales pitch, and they want to know that their attorney truly lives up to his or her word.
As the saying goes:
It’s Not What You Know, It’s WHO You Know.
And the corollaries, who knows you and for what reasons they know you.
Of course, if “what you know” isn’t very much, then the “who knows you and the reasons they know you” are more likely to become liabilities than assets.
Keep Reading ⇒
It’s a strange thing to say, coming from someone who makes his living writing for websites, but a thought occurred to me as I was trolling around the Internet looking at my various social media profiles (Facebook, for example), wondering whether I was conveying the right message about myself.
The thought was: “You are not your website.”
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re wasting too much time online thinking about what you want to do rather than doing it, here’s my take.
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