I would recommend starting with one Facebook business page for the law firm. They take a lot of care and feeding, so to build more than one at a time might be a monumental task at first. One option is to have it focus on one major practice area, industry group or area of focus in your business and marketing plan, but I would suggest making it multi-focal to start. Your clients and friends need to be reminded what your firm is capable of, so let it cross-sell for you. Try to encourage conversation, an emphasis on your clients’, as well as your, activities, and don’t ever stop creating topics and conversation, and inviting people to come visit through its promotion on all of the social networks you are using.

Facebook accounts or profiles should always be separated in to two different types – personal and professional. How embarrassing it would be to have had a fun night out on the town only to have an embarrassing photo of you tagged to your Facebook page where clients and future clients will view.  We recommend always getting permission from partners or management if you do set up a professional blog, social networking profile or anything else that will use the name of a law firm or company name. Even if the name of the company or law firm is only in your biography. Get it in writing.

Now, if you have a professional law firm or company FaceBook Fan Page or account set up you may want to have your IT staff create the accounts using the employees law firm / corporate email address. That way the firm always has control over the account.

I strongly urge law firms to set up individual Facebook accounts for each member and to advise the of their individual policies such as the purpose, what you will allow and not allow on the Facebook page, and making sure they use them for “law firm” business only. I would encourage the employees or attorneys of the firm to also add friends to their account that would be appropriate and to use care. Also I would encourage them to have their network become “a Fan” of the law firm’s Facebook Fan Page or Account.

There are a lot of legal pitfalls to avoid so we would recommend obtaining advice from employment lawyer that specializes in reviewing employee handbooks and Internet policy to make sure your covered.

This shift and the ability to communicate credibility has law firms positioning their law firm’s Facebook like icons on high visibility areas of their web pages. This means that lawyer and law firm Facebook fan pages that have the most Facebook users who “like” what they have to offer will appear higher in Facebook search rankings.

Right now there are two different ways that a Facebook user may “Like” your law firm’s fan page. The first technique is by adding a Facebook “Like” link or plug in on your law firm website so that users of your website may click on your law firm’s Facebook’s “Like” icon. The other option to generate more Facebook.com fan page “Like” votes is by creating a fan page within Facebook for your law firm that is separate from your personal Facebook page which gives Facebook users the option to “Like” your law firm.

Facebook has confirmed that there is no difference, at this point, which option is best for placement on its search engine.

So, what does this mean for lawyer marketing on Facebook? It means there is a value to promote not just your Facebook profile, but more importantly to push users, visitors, clients and colleagues to vote or “Like” your law firm Facebook Fan Page. Also, using a dual strategy where you include the Facebook Open Graph API and website/blog plug-ins you will achieve the very best results.  Also, becoming more active on Facebook with a law firm page is am important step toward increased visibility in social search results resulting in more new clients and establishing effective web credibility.

Lawyer Success, Inc. (lawyersuccess.com), has been a leader in solo and small law firm web lead generation since 2003. We help law firms get ahead of their competition through the use of highly specialized law firm Internet marketing techniques. Call the law firm marketing experts at Lawyer Success, Inc. now at (769) 218-6099 or log on to http://www.lawyersuccess.com to learn more about turnkey blogs, social media marketing and other web lead generation solutions for lawyers, attorneys, legal professionals and law firms of all sizes.

The point of having a face book page for law firms is to keep the public informed of what is going on in the firms practice area. This gives potential clients the confidence that the firm is active and current. What I have found useful is to link both facebook and linkedin to twitter. Post a comment on one and it proliferates through all sites. For longer articles make a post to facebook. The end goal is to keep everyone informed.

Are you a legal professional who aspires to become a legal writer? Maybe you are an attorney or paralegal who is looking to make some extra money or work from home. If that sounds like you, we would like to discuss your qualifications and see if you would be interested in becoming a legal writer for us.

We created a website called Legal Writer Jobs with all of the details. Our company is unlike the rest as we do not outsource our needs to non-U.S. or non-legal professionals. In fact, we are not one to outsource any work, but we really have a need for either a part time or full time legal writer.

Check out the site Freelance Legal Writer Jobs for more information and how to get started.

Justin Kistner, an analyst at Webtrends said that social media websites like Twitter  and Facebook would likely diminish in popularity by 2012. Our law firm marketing consultants have been involved with Web marketing for 11 years and have seen the rise and fall of many popular websites.  We agree that social media is likely to peak around 2012 and that the next big thing is right around the corner probably likely to appear some time in 2015.  This is consistent with some other observations about specific sites.

Other exerts in the field of web traffic and usage analysis such as Compete,  say that the number of Twitter users has flat-lined. Compete, a Web analytics firm, says that the microblogging website’s number of visitors hasn’t changed much since June and that its roughly 22 million visitors in December 2010 was about 770,000 fewer than its highest number, which was in August 2010. And other analysts paint the same picture, raising the question: Has Twitter peaked and what does this mean for lawyer advertising and marketing effectiveness?

Although it appears that the “Twitter fad” may have indeed peaked, another social media website, Facebook, continues to see steady growth in both visits and new accounts. In January 2010 Facebook drew 133.6 million unique visitors which out ranked the grandfather website Yahoo that garnered 132 million visitors. Another important statistic is that Facebook is the number one website when it comes to the amount of time people actually spend online using the website.

Compete.com, the popular Web analytics firm stated, “In January, 11.6% of all time spent online was spent on Facebook (compared to 4.25% for Yahoo and 4.1% for Google. Google still holds the number one spot with 147.8 million visitors, or nearly half the U.S. population.”

The question becomes, what does this mean to attorneys and law firms when it comes to their Internet marketing strategy? We believe that social media marketing for lawyers is here to stay and will continue to grow in importance as these social media sites learn how to turn their massive membership in to business opportunities.

I particularly like websites or social media sites that take in detailed information or demographics from their user. The user can add personal details such as their favorite movies, books, career, job title and more valuable information for marketing purposes. Unlike Twitter, this enables advertisers to zero in on specific demographics or groups that offer the best match for their services making pay per click advertising very attractive and targeted.

Call Lawyer Success, Inc. to discuss any questions you have about marketing your law firm online or on social media sites like YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter or others. Call (769) 218-6099.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 15 years ago today that the Florida Bar would be legally authorized to prohibit lawyers in Florida from solicitation accident victims or their family members within 30 days of the accident.  The ruling stated that the Florida Bar Association had substantial interests in protecting the privacy rights of accident victims and the reputations of attorneys.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion back in 1995 was unexpected in light of previous high court rulings on attorney speech.

The bar had passed the rule after conducting a two-year study which showed that many people looked unfavorably on the legal profession using such advertising.

A lawyer-referral service known as Went For It, Inc. and its attorney owner argued that the rule infringed on the First Amendment rights of attorneys and noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had protected “truthful” attorney ads since 1977.

However, a sharply divided Supreme Court reversed the lower courts and reasoned that the public perceived many attorney-solicitation letters as an invasion of privacy that reflected poorly on the legal profession. They cited citizen letters, including one that read: “I consider the unsolicited contact from you after my child’s accident to be of the rankest form of ambulance chasing and in incredibly poor taste.”

The decision led other states to pass similar waiting periods on solicitation letters.

One of the biggest mistakes most law firms make due to time restraints and the push for developing new business is the lack of responsiveness and the neglecting of current client relationships or relationships of the past. LinkedIn.com is a popular business networking tool that has a very good reputation for developing new business for law firms and solving the issue of keeping in touch with client of new and old. One of the best practices we use when using LinkedIn.com to market our clients our law firm internet marketing company is to make sure you send invites to new or potential clients. This is a great way to make sure that #1 – you make a great first impression, #2 – keep in touch with new clients or potential new clients. We find that is a very courteous and well received.

If your firm offers special seminars or educational workshops with potential clients, offering an invitation through social networking sites like LinkedIn.com can make life much easier for reaching out to your prospective clients on both an individual level and on a group level. The feedback our law firm clients consistently receive utilizing this technique is uniformly positive. Also, keep in mind that LinkedIn.com is great for finding colleagues and past clients.  Making a new connection is just like freshening up your your old client referral list.  Our clients have been able to really refine their client referral programs making and revisiting with connections on LinkedIn.com.

Many of our clients used to just simply accept the LinkedIn invitations, believing that this exchange has no more relevance to their practice that the typical “meet and greet.”  However, LinkedIn is an effective marketing tool just as joining a civic group or business networking group.  Be cautious though of using LinkedIn to blindly identify and invite new clients or push unsolicited invitations in the hopes of develop a huge network of referral sources which spans the globe. I realize there are most marketing companies promoting this idea but it is a violation of the rules of professional ethics in all 50 states for your to do just that.

The best way to attract people and clients that have never heard of you before in a manor that keeps you inline with the lawyer advertising rules is to build a very robust profile and create a legal group where people may join. This is a technique that is completely permissible and will allow you to ethically market to a potential audience (now with 60,000,000 members). We typically advise our client to set up groups in which they offer potential or existing clients entry and participation.  This builds value and value enables you to demonstrate expertise and skillful application of legal services.

One of the other benefits of LinkedIn is the relatively simple user interface. This interface makes it very simple to add, edit or remove information within minutes. This application also enables attorneys to connect with new clients, potential clients, past clients, and referral sources daily with just a few minutes of effort. No more having to buy lunches or setting golf outings to make a fresh connection.  The theme of LinkedIn is business communication and everyone gets it.

To discuss some of the best practices your law firm can take to develop a strong presence and create value using LinkedIn. Call the 11 year veterans of Lawyer Success, Inc. You can speak to one of our marketing experts immediately by calling (769) 218-6099.

There is an absolute myriad of information available on the internet. People from every inch of the world have a literal web of information available at the push of a button. Therefore, you must introduce YOUR particular information as quickly and as professionally as possible in order to run far ahead of the pack. One key way to go about presenting the favorable information that you want to be known for is through social networking.

Social networking sites, such as Linkeden and Facebook, are very powerful tools when it comes to marketing your legal practice. There are also social networking sites available to lawyers and lawyers alone. Social networking can make a large firm seem small and personable and an individual seem larger than life. The best possible way to go about designing and maintaining a successful social networking site is to have a lawyer website designer tend to the details of making the perfect lawyer website design. You may be a professional when it comes to law, but the niche of lawyer website design is the profession of lawyer website designers. These are the individuals that could literally make you or break you in the world of social networking.

Also a very cost effective marketing plan, lawyer website designers can spread your practices key qualities amongst an abundance of social networking sites. Your name will be popping up on search engines everywhere, one click leading to a virtual treasure trove of information on your law practice. A sort of amped up directory, lawyer website designers can tweak your listing to be so much more than a simple address and telephone number. You can provide reviews, testimonials, awards, basically anything that you would find as desirable to be known to the public, to be known for.

Another benefit of social networking is the ability to find people that can help you. For example, searches can be done for potential new business and also for business that provide services to legal practices. Jobs can be found as can new hires.

Social networking is beneficial to lawyers in so many ways. A dynamic lawyer website designer with a clear vision of a supreme lawyer website design is detrimental to your practices future. A skillful designer partnered with an unmitigated lawyer could prove to be virtually unstoppable. A successful social networking site could prove to be ultimately the wisest decision you could make to boost your business’ notoriety.

Call Lawyer Success, Inc. at (769) 218-6099 if you would like a free consultation regarding social networking marketing and strategic planning.

There is a wide range of websites that are available in this day and age. This is not surprising given the fact that there are indeed so many operations and processes that have migrated online and which are able to give a world of convenience to users. This is one of the main reasons why a lot of lawyers want to use the services of capable and experienced lawyer website designer in order to have a world class website that is all so alluring to users and is also able to attract a number of online users.  As the website deisgn companies specialize into different niches, Lawyer Success has been producing high quality lawyer websites for over 8 years.

When you hire a skilled lawyer website designer, you are able to get across your vision for the website across so that you will be able to get a website that is exactly as per your specifications. This is quite suitable for those who would like to make sure that their website gets a lot of traffic. This is possible only if your website has something distinctive in its lawyer website design specifications that other competing sites are not able to offer at all.

Planning and developing an effective website is tough work and if you want to do it on your own, you risk making the types of mistakes that could cost your ability to have success.  Just as many people could file their own bankruptcy or divorce forms, this is would be inadvisable by any legal professional who understands all the potential pitfalls and unseen issues, it is advisable for you to look at Lawyer Success, Inc. as your partner in effective lawyer website design.

Our website design service produces some of the most top notch and top in class lawyer website designs available to take care of your deepest website designing needs. This is indeed quite an effective and systematic way to go about designing and configuring a suitable website that is able to attract a lot of traffic online.

There are a lot of people who are looking online for legal services. If you are able to put out unique and attractive content to catch their attention, you would be able to ensure that this catches their eye and that you would be able to garner a large part of the market. It also helps to have it optimized n terms of search engine optimization so that you are able to get a lot of traffic that can get translated later into dollar value business for you. This is the basic objective of a lawyer website and if you are successful you will be amazed at the results.

Call Lawyer Success, Inc today and speak to one of our veteran lawyer website design and search marketing specialists about your needs today. Call (769) 218-6099.

The legal profession is quite dynamic and progressive too. There are quite a lot of instances of this when you find that lawyers as well as their clients are quite clued in about what is happening in the world around them. This is why it has become very imperative for lawyers to evaluate lawyer website design options that would help them have a website that suits them and potential clients very well. We live in a highly networked world and more  businesses today leverage their business assets on the Web this day and age. It is thus natural that people should also expect that lawyers have websites online which is why a suitable lawyer website designer is needed.

Getting online is not a simple task as you need to look at various aspects of the value proposition that is being sought to be put out for the benefit of your clients. An effective and competent lawyer website design process looks at the various variables that are essential to ensuring that the website that is designed is top of the class and is also able to make a difference to your law business in dollar terms. This is where a good lawyer website designer would make it easy for you to know what really ticks and what can get a lot of focused traffic to your website.

With good lawyer website design, it is possible to look at various elements of how to convert mere online traffic into business for you. There would be a lot of unique design elements and also effective SEO that will help you in your quest to gaining the hearts and mind share of clients and prospective customers. The skill of a competent lawyer website designer lies not only in the look and feel of the website but also the fact that it has to be quite attractive as well as appealing.  This is where Lawyer Success makes a lot of sense as it is able to help you get the right kind of design that will get your online law business soaring like nothing else can.

With LawyerSuccess.com it is easy to ensure that you get professional advice and superior tips on how to make your lawyer website work. This is the result of years of expertise that this site offers and the many rich experiences in helping lawyer firms in being successful. After all, expertise and proficiency does not come in a day and you need your website to be in safe hands that will make it reach heights of excellence which Lawyer Success is able to assure.

Call Lawyer Success to see the search engine optimization and design samples that have generated results for our clients for over 8 years. We have over 11 years of experience helping law firms of all sizes generate more leads from the Web. Call (769) 218-6099 for a free consultation.

The Web is a complicated and yet very simple way to generate high quality legal clients. The problem is, there are many people in our industry who claim to be experienced law firm Internet marketers or search engine optimization experts. In fact, my kids are learning how to create a Web site in grade school.

But I am not about to turn my business or financial goals over to them. Not yet any way.  The other issue is most of these “website designers” do not have a clue about the practice of law, the Rules of Professional Conduct that govern lawyer advertising or your the ideal clients to target for your practice.

The bottom line is this. If you realize the full value of having one of the best law firm websites in your market, then this advice will serve you well. First I would like to say that having the best law firm website is going to be expensive, BUT it will never COST you anything!  What I mean is; you will pay a decent amount of money to generate leads for your law firm because there are many hours required to generate the amount of traffic needed. It takes 100 visits to your website to generate 1 new law firm client. But it won’t cost you anything as it will become a new profit center for your firm. The wealthy become wealthy by creating multiple streams of income and make the proper investments to launch each new profit center.

So if you want 20 new clients a month, it will take about 2,000 visits per month to generate that volume of business. So how do you generate 2,000 or more visits to your website? Do you run a Pay Per Click campaign?  Well, you could but with the average price at about $15 per click and about 1/3 of your clicks coming from your competitors checking your website out, this is not such a great idea.

So, we need focus on four things and do them very well in order to generate and convert as much traffic as possible. In doing so, you can forget about doing any other advertising because you won’t need it. This website generates numerous clients per day for our company and we simply do no other advertising. Think about how much money you would save by cutting out the phone books, online legal directories, Pay Per Click, etc. In fact, we don’t even spend a dime in Pay Per Click advertising at all saving us 1,000s of dollars every single month.

So lets get started. In order for you law firm to have the very best and most effective law firm website in your market we need to focus on 4 things and do them very, very well.

1. You need a good solution. You need a website that is very professionally designed with simple navigation, content structure and call to action themes throughout. If you want cheap clients offer them a cheap looking website. If you want top cases or top clients, you have to present your law firm in a much more high tech and professional way.
2. You need the best search engine optimization strategy - If you want Google, Yahoo, AOL or Bing to take notice of your law firm website, return often and index you for the very best keyword phrases, you have to give the search engine robots what they are looking for. That is clean, organized and index-able text content and HTML/PHP code.
3. You need a Content Strategy – Does your firm write content to generate more traffic or  to generate more  new clients. They are not the same thing. I have a client who was killing himself every day using Dream Weaver (a popular web page building software program) and creating new pages and new content for his website. He was spending hours just to create a couple of new pages. Worse of all he was writing the wrong king of content.  Sure, the content he was writing generated tens of thousands of hits every month to his site but he was not getting calls. I showed him that the type of content he needed to write needed to target the searches people were using to hire a law firm like his. He now enjoys the extra time he has using our system and his “new content” generates many new clients daily.
4. You need to comprehensive plan for Web Access Diversification – There are so many places to advertise your law practice. New websites are popping up daily. Site like: attorney directories, social media, legal and business networking, article sites, and the list could go on forever. How do you spend your time effectively managing these sites? How do you discover and add yourself to new ones? How do you know which ones to really work and which ones to set and forget? A comprehensive plan along with an experience Internet marketing consultant can make this simple, fast and effective.

At Lawyer Success, we have been involved with law firm Internet marketing and developing the very best law firm websites since 2003. Our founder and chief law firm Internet marketing advisor, James Greenier, has worked with 7 of the top 10 most trafficked legal sites on the Web. Take advantage of his expertise to help get your practice above the competitive threshold and in to success. Call (769) 218-6099 today!

If you are planning on putting a website video on your law firm’s website than you should avoid the following mistakes.  If not, you may be turning potential clients away from your law firm.

1. Does your lawyer video look like a B-rated horror movie? Details are everything and first impressions are lasting impressions. Lighting, picture quality,  and sound quality give instant sense of your credibility, professionalism, and trustworthiness.

2. Not building trust or selling you. Video is all about personality and making a personal connection. Allow yourself to be you. Speak clearly and memorize your pitch instead of trying to read a script. Allow your personality to shine through. Point out you main strengths and point of difference.

3. Not creating videos for different practice area pages. Creating relevant videos is a very good way to increase your credibility, showcase your experience, and address the potential clients’ issue directly. We usually create a home page video, attorney profile videos and practice specific videos for optimal results.

Let’s not forget that web video can be optimized for search engines and can be used to draw in traffic from users of social media sites such as YouTube.

Call Lawyer Success, Inc, for a free rate quote. We offer a flat fee for up to 10 onsite lawyer videos. Call us today at (769) 218-6099.