Jim Calloway, attorney and director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program, and long time blogger at Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog has a new venture. Under the auspices of the ABA Law Practice Management Section’s Law Technology Today, Jim has started a podcast series called “The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology” with Sharon Nelson.
Their first podcast entitled “Electronic Marketing: Harnessing the Web’s Whizbang,” runs 33 minutes and can be heard here. Some of what they discuss includes:
Electronic Marketing, generally:
- Plan your strategy, and for audience
- It’s a long term process, so be patient
- Measure intake as to how clients came to firm, and ask if they went to your web site to check out firm
Web Sites:
- Must have one
- Content is still “king,” change often
- Get domain name that is short, focused and reflects your name/practice (initials as in xyzlaw.com not memorable)
- Avoid flash (search engines can’t read, too slow to load)
Search Engine Optimization:
- Forget metatags, search engines don’t use them anymore
- Rather, focus on domain name, title of site and headers, rich and new content, keywords
- Caveat emptor when it comes to SEO consultants (too many “snake oil salesmen” out there)
Design:
- Hire a professional – prices vary, but $2,000-$5000 is a good range
- Design for your audience
- Full contact info on home page
- Change content frequently
Podcasts:
- Nothing but “Internet radio”
- Ensure new content often
Electronic Networking:
- Listservs are good; e.g., solosez (for solos and doesn’t require ABA membership)
- Have electronic version of 15-20 second elevator speech to send upon request
- Remember clients’, friends’ special occasions
E-mails –
- Avoid spam (if no business relationship, bad idea)
- Never send e-mail when angry
- Always include signature and contact information
- Self promotion (even at bottom or in signature) is bad idea
Electronic Ads –
- Banner ads are “worthless”
- Many directories are not worth money, even big name directories “haven’t really paid off”
- Make sure you cap dollar levels for Google ads ($ can get away from you)
There is more, so give it a listen.