Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

This is part four of a four-part article.  For complete article, see link below.

“Web analytics programs are capable of generating a vast amount of information,” said Casey.  “There are far too many metrics for users to process and interpret.  Measurement tools are only useful when there is something specific to measure.

“The challenge is not to get more data, which can needlessly complicate your decision-making,” said Casey, “but to get better data.  Be strategic.  What is the purpose of this online content campaign (within the context of our business goals), and which select measurements will indicate progress towards achieving this goal?”

Let’s go back to that article on patent reform.  You post it on your website.  You reference it in your blog.  You e-mail it to clients, potential clients, referral sources and media sources.  You post it (with links back to your site) on a variety of social media sites and content syndication sites.

On your website, analytics will let you know who visited the page and how they got there.  In addition, you will discover if they stayed a while, read the article and downloaded a copy.

“If no one comes or if visitors take a quick look and ‘bounce,’ you know that there is something wrong with the content,” said Casey.  “The subject is not newsworthy.  The headline or keywords need work.  The article is too long or too short.  It is too dense and needs shorter lines and subheads, to encourage skimming.  It is too casual or too filled with legal jargon.  In other words, it needs work.”

An e-mail analytics program will let you know who opens the e-mail and clicks on the link.  Other analytics programs will indicate how your article fares in the blogosphere or is shared or re-tweeted on social media and content syndication sites. 

The information generated by web analytics is a valuable tool to help lawyers and law firms plan -- and continuously improve -- their content and their online content distribution campaigns.

Content marketing and web analytics: The yin and yang of any successful law firm marketing campaign

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This is part three of a four-part article.  For complete article, see link below.

“Not only does the Internet facilitate the wide distribution of content,” said Casey, “it also allows lawyers and law firms to closely track distribution – to know how many visitors click on the content; how much time they spend reading, listening or viewing the content; and where (your website, search or some other site) they found the content.”

Web analytics is a process for collecting visitor or consumer data, analyzing those data and generating reports on the overall performance of these different channels.  It extends well beyond your website into virtually every online channel your law firm might be using.

“In the early days, web analytics programs focused on the simple measurement of activity on a law firm’s web site,” said Casey.  “Today, a good law firm website still contains useful information about the firm and its services, but the site functions more like an interactive hub to which all of the firm’s online content distribution efforts are tied.”

In addition, most social media sites have their own built-in analytics programs that can be accessed for more details about activity on your accounts on those sites.

The popular Google Analytics program is free and yields information about site visitors, including number of visitors (unique, new and repeat), page views, repeat rate, visit length, page view length, page view per visit, bounce rate (those who leave quickly from a given page), entry pages (where visitors enter you site), exit pages (where visitors leave your site) and referral sources (direct traffic, search engines and other referral sites).

Among other things, Google Analytics can chart data over time, compare data month-by-month or year-by-year, and internally compare different sets of results.

“Other commercial web analytics programs allow the site administrator to ‘dig deeper’ into the data,” said Casey.  “Most analytics programs will record detailed information at the user level, allowing administrators to track the number of times a given user came to the site, which pages he or she viewed and, in some cases, the location from which that user is connecting.”

“At Tenrec, we combine basic Google Analytics with a program called Urchin (essentially, Google’s commercial analytics product) to obtain different levels of results for our clients,” said Casey.  “There are many programs out there.  The one you select should be determined by how you plan to use the results.”

It is important to remember that no performance metric is inherently bad or good.  A limited number of the right kind of people visiting your content and reaching out to your firm is a better result than hundreds of visitors who take no action.

Content marketing and web analytics: The yin and yang of any successful law firm marketing campaign

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This is part two of a four-part article.  For a link to the complete article, see below.

Online content marketing involves publishing content (like the article on patent law) on your law firm’s website (including mobile website version), client extranet sites or blogs.  It involves the e-mailing of your article (or newsletter) to clients, potential clients, referral sources and media sources.

“An integrated online marketing program is an essential part of a law firm’s marketing program,” said Casey.  “Content marketing involves distribution of your content using popular social media sites (like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) as well as successful content syndication sites (like JD Supra, LegalOnRamp and Scribd).”

Each time your keyword-rich patent law article is published on one of these sites, it is indexed by Google and other search engines – enhancing results for searches on terms like your name, your law firm’s name, your geographic area and the relevant subject area.

“The term ‘content’ applies to almost any kind of material your firm is publishing,” said Casey.  “It applies to documents like press releases, experience descriptions, attorney biographies (profiles), client alerts, blog post, white papers, email campaigns and e-books on legal subjects.

“Content also includes non-written files, like an online ad campaign, courtroom graphics, a PowerPoint deck, or photos of an open house or employee charity event,” said Casey.  “It includes online surveys along with survey results.  And it definitely includes audio or video recordings of a presentation, a seminar or a webinar.”

All types of reputation-demonstrating content can be posted not only on your own website, but also to a wide range of (mostly free) social media and content syndication sites.  Once posted, this informative content is available 24/7 and around the world.

Content marketing and web analytics: The yin and yang of any successful law firm marketing campaign

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Good content has always been one of the best ways for a lawyer to establish and maintain a professional reputation.  In the hands of potential clients, good content demonstrates your understanding of the law and your ability to do what you claim to do.

Let’s say you write an excellent article on the recently signed patent reform act.

Prior to the Internet, your options for distribution of that article would be limited.  You could submit it to print publishers who could decide whether or not to publish it and how to edit it.  By the time it appeared on a client’s desk, it might be three months out of date.

In addition, you could snail mail a copy of your article with a cover letter directly to your list of clients, potential clients and referral sources.  You could include it in the firm’s print newsletter. You could mail it to reporters covering the patent law beat and hope that they give you a call next time they are writing a story on that topic.

And that was about it.  You really had no way of knowing what happened to that hard copy – if the publication was read or if the envelope or newsletter was even opened.

Today, thanks to the Internet, the options for distributing a well-written and informative article (and all kinds of content) to a wide range of interested parties are vastly expanded.  So, too, are the options for finding out if the article was opened, was read and prompted further action on the part of the reader.

“In the Internet age, online content marketing is the best way for lawyers and law firms to establish their reputations and attract new business,” said Per Casey.  “And web traffic analysis is the best way for lawyers and law firms to measure the success of a content marketing campaign and move forward based on that information.  Content marketing and web analytics are inseparable parts of the same strategic process.”

Casey discussed strategic content marketing and web analytics at the monthly educational program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, held Oct. 11 at Fogo de Chao Restaurant in Lower Downtown Denver.

Casey is founder of Tenrec, a web technology consulting firm that focuses on the legal industry.  Over the years, he has collaborated with dozens of well-known law firms on successful web technology projects.  Casey also serves as member-at-large on the LMA International Board of Directors and as co-chair of the LMA Technology Committee.

This is part one of a four-part article.  For the entire article, see:

Content marketing and web analytics: The yin and yang of any successful law firm marketing campaign.

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Here is part four of my article on broadcast journalism for lawyers and law firms:

Using the Internet, lawyers and law firms can bypass the traditional mainstream media entirely and self-broadcast their own video and audio – on their own Web sites or on sites that accept user-generated broadcast content.

 

When lawyers appear on television or radio, law firms can post links on their Web sites or blogs or even request the files for posting.  In addition, using inexpensive equipment and applications, they can easily create their own video and audio podcasts for download from law firm Web sites.  It helps to have a good video/audio editor on staff.  In this day and age, no lawyer presentation should go unrecorded.  Law firms can also “broadcast” these reputation-building podcasts to clients and prospects via email alerts.

 

Once created, law-firm-generated video and audio can also be posted on a wealth of online content sites, which provide automatic RSS feeds that attract search engines.  (RSS should also be added to any of your own Web site content.) 

 

The line between print, broadcast and online news has become increasingly blurred.  Print publications host audio and video on the Web sites – some of it generated by professionals and some of it contributed by “citizen journalists.”  Television and radio station Web sites also include text and photographs.

 

A law firm, for example, that cannot get the local TV station to cover the opening of its remodeled lobby can now make its own video and post in on the station’s well-optimized Web site.

 

All modern media sites host blogs by their reporters, which can include links to video and audio.  All of them offer versions for mobile devices.  All of them offer subscriptions via Facebook, Twitter, RSS, email or text.  All of them accept user contributions.

 

Law-firm-produced video and audio can also be easily posted on a wide range of social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Martindale-Hubbell Connected.  It can be added to social content sites like JDSupra, Legal OnRamp and HubStreet.  Legal Talk Network is a “talk radio” vehicle for lawyers and law firms.  Savvy lawyers and law firms are even posting their own videos (and broadcast ads) on YouTube.

 

Finally, use Twitter to send out a short notification and a link every time you appear in the traditional broadcast media or self-broadcast your own video and audio content.

 

Be that lawyer!  By consistently and carefully pitching, catching and self-promoting -- using traditional and online broadcast media -- lawyers and law firms can optimize search engine results and successfully spread the word about their professional expertise.

Here is a link to the entire article:

Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast your expertise, build your reputation

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Here is part three of my article on broadcast journalsim for lawyers and law firms:

 

In the case of a breaking news stories, news directors and reporters often come to you – looking for a comment (if you are directly involved in the story) or background (if you are an expert in a particular subject area).

 

If you are involved in a newsworthy event, understand that “no comment” is a terrible response to a media inquiry – especially if you are captured fleeing on camera with your hand in front of your face.  If the case or matter is truly newsworthy, the story will appear with or without your input.  Strategize with your client and, with the client’s permission, make sure that your client’s point of view is included in a dignified fashion in the report.

 

If you are asked to provide background on breaking news in which you have no direct involvement, it is usually because you have let the stations know ahead of time that you are an expert, are available to comment, and can speak coherently and intelligently in front of a camera or microphone.  Do not be afraid to make this contact.  Broadcast reporters are always interested in deepening their pool of qualified legal experts.

 

It never hurts to be on-site, either.  When terror suspect Najibullah Zazi was inside the Denver Federal Courthouse, hundreds of reporters were waiting outside for hours in the frigid winter weather.  Local lawyer and media commentator Craig Silverman was not sitting behind his desk waiting for the phone to ring.  Instead, he braved the weather to circulate in the crowd of local, national and international reporters.  As a result, his face and voice were all over the evening news.

 

Be aware of a major change in the way modern news directors and reporters “catch” their stories and expert commentators in the Internet age – Google and other search engines.  According to recent reports, 85 percent of all reporters use Google on a daily basis.  If you want the call to comment on a particular legal development, your name must show up in Google results for the keywords used by a researching reporter.

Here is a link to the complete article:

Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast your expertise, build your reputation

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I encourage my clients to create online bios that are more than simple lists of credentials -- bios and profiles that can stand alone as marketing documents.  These generally include three categories:  a narrative, case studies and personal quotes.  This post talks about the narrative section.

Each narrative should begin with the law firm marketing statement.  It continues by placing an individual lawyer withing the context of that statement.  In other words, how does this particular lawyer fit into the big picture and contribute to the "whole" that is the firm?  It is important to include this information on each page of a Web site so that, once a bio or other item is printed out from the Web site, it can function as a free-standing marketing document for the firm.

In the next sentence, state the lawyer's practice area and unique focus within that area.  Then, proceed like a news story.  A news story always starts with a news peg -- what is currently most interesting about this lawyer and his or her practice?  The news peg is what gets a readers's attention and makes the reader want to learn more.

Think like a potential client who has printed out three bios of lawyers for a potential representation -- and is looking at these bios spread out on his or her desk.  How can you make yours stand out from the others -- and get the call?  Is your bio a routine list of credentials -- or is it recent and compelling.  Does it place you at the cutting edge of your selected practice area?

Most Web site bios today pull certain categories of routine information from a database -- items like "education," "publications" and "admitted to practice."  Because of this, there is rarely a need to repeat this information (which makes most readers' eyes glaze over) within the narrative -- unless it is particularly recent, unusual and newsworthy.  Don't distract readers from your message with these mind-numbing credentials that mean little to the average reader.

The only time I might duplicate database info in the narrative, for example, is if a lawyer not only graduated from law school, but graduated first in his or her class.  That means something.  (I will sometimes discuss law school info and awards in the narrative section of the bio of a young associate -- who has not practiced long enough to accumulate newsworthy professional accomplishments.)  I  might include a publication in the narrative if a lawyer who focuses on employment law recently spoke or published on the new amendments to the ADA, which took effect in January 2009 (with a link to the full text).  it has to amplify, not dilute the message.

Keep the narrative section focused on relatively recent accomplishments.  A narrative that is packed with old accomplishments (unless these remain truly newsworthy) leaves the reader with the impression that the lawyer has become complacent and is not at the cutting edge of his or her area of practice.  Clients want a lawyer whose skills are up-to-date.  This is valuable online real estate.  Once you have made partner, it is assumed you have many more interesting things to talk about than where and when you went to law school and the fact that you once wrote an article on environmental law (when you now practice professional liability).  That's old news.

Finally, use graphic cues to make the narrative section of your online biography easy to read.  All too often, Web site bios are one big chunk of text.  Online readers (and print readers, too, for that matter) want to skim -- not read.  If you don't make it easy, they will not read.  I can hardly plow through some of these bios -- and I am being paid to do it!  What will a client do?  The client will pick up and read the bio that doesn't look like hard work.

Use short paragraphs (no more than three sentences) with generous white space in between.  Use column widths that are not too narrow and not too wide -- but just right.  Use keywords to attract search engines to your narrative.  Keep the narrative section of your bio to 300 words or less (use internal links to other parts of your site when you want to amplify something).  Ideally, this first section will fit on one screen of text.  Never, never, never -- no matter what a graphic designer tells you -- put your bio text reversed in white on a dark background.  It is very hard to read.  Remember -- many senior executives in a position to hire you are older and may have bad eyesight!

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Can you even remember how law firms were marketed before the advent of the Internet?  It seems hard to believe that the first law-firm Web sites appeared only about ten years ago.  Since then, some firms have progressed through five generations of their Web sites.  A few are still launching their first.  Most are somewhere in between.  In this March 2005 article, Micah Buchdahl of HTMLawyers discusses today's best interactive sites.

What a difference a decade makes:  Effective client service and marketing on the Internet

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