More on biographies and microsites

Recently, I posted my comments on lawyer biographies (profiles) and the emerging concept of lawyer microsites -- a concept I first read about on the Great Jakes blog.

In the July 2010 issue of Strategies:  The Journal of Legal Marketing, author Robert Algeri of Great Jakes Marketing Company elaborates on this intriguing concept.

Algeri states:

According to a 2009 survey of general counsel at major companies performed by the Wicker Park Group, law firm websites played a surprisingly large role in the process of selecting outside counsel.  The survey's revelations include:

-- One hundred pecent of respondents visited a law firm's website when evaluating and purchasing legal services.

-- Ninety percent of respondents said that the attorney bios section is the most important section of a law firm's website -- and the one they visit most.

Algeri continues:

My marketing firm recently ran the traffic data for several law firm websites that we manage.  We found the 56 percent of page views occur in the attorney bios section.  Some major law firms that we have spoken with report that over 70 percent of their traffic occurs in the attorney bios section.  All of which begs the question:  If attorney bios are the most important and most visited section of law firm websites, why do so many firms neglect them?

My regular readers know that I consider most attorney bios to be poorly written and a complete waste of valuable website real estate.  We know that clients and potential clients are going there.  How long will we continue to squander this resource?

Joe Pulizzi: How much should brands pay for content marketing?

If you care about content marketing, you should subscribe to the Junta42 Content Marketing blog, written by Joe Pulizzi.

In a recent post, "How much should brands pay for content marketing," Joe delves deep into one of my favorite subjects -- how to price content writing services.  True content marketing involves not only individual bits of content, but also the strategy and execution surrounding that content.

Joe's post was inspired by another great content writing blogger, Kate Headen Waddell at Savvy B2B Marketing, who wrote Pay Peanuts, Get Monkeys.

According to Joe, the process of creating content includes:

The marketing plan

The content strategy within the marketing plan

The specific tactics (i.e, a blog) within the content strategy

An editorial plan for the tactic (the managing editor's role)

Base content for the tactic (i.e., a blog post)

Review of the base content (expert review and proofreading)

Distribution of the content through the content management system

Optimization of the content for search engines (on-page and off-page)

Syndication of the content (i.e., through Facebook and Twitter)

Integration of the content (back to the marketing plan and other content and traditional marketing strategies)

Measuring the content (through analytics, conversions, direct/cross sales or other qualitative measures)

Reevaluating the content (based on the feedback about the content through analytics)

When calculating cost, most clients look only at the base content -- not the entire process.