I found this post at Daily Blog Tips to be interesting. It seems that if your website domain name is registered for a longer period of time (say a 5 or 10 year registration) it will get a bump up the search engine rankings as compared to a domain that is only registered for a short period of time (say 1 or 2 years). That seems to me like reason enough to register for a longer period of time.

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The ubiquitous Seth Godin recently posted an article to his blog that is relevant to the recent discussions we’ve had on this blog related to Premium Pricing.  You can view his post in its entirety here.  His point is essentially that it’s easier to make a million dollars selling a $10,000 service to 100 people than it is to make a one dollar profit selling to a million people.  The point is exaggerated for emphasis, but nonetheless it is still a valid point.

As lawyers running our own law firms the question we should ask ourselves is whether the pricing strategy in our law practices more closely resemble Wal Mart or Neiman Marcus?  There is an entire discussion that can be had on exactly how to command premium fees in your law practice, and I plan on addressing that very issue in the free e-book on that subject that I’m publishing the next couple of weeks.  But, first you have to understand it is a superior model.

I know a divorce lawyer who has been practicing 30 years (twice as long as I have) and whose technical skills are very well respected in his community.  However, he takes the Wal Mart approach - low fees, high volume.  I have often been opposite him in cases where, despite my having half his experience, I made literally two to three times the fee he did in the case.  When he and I talk about this he essentially admits he is afraid to raise his fees.  He thinks he will lose business.  He doesn’t realize that would be a good thing (despite my repeatedly telling him so).  He could double his fees and even if he lost half the volume (which he wouldn’t because of his reputation) he’d make more money, work less and be able to deliver a higher level of service to his clients.  That’s a win all around.

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Local search is a terms that describes a search on the internet that provides results that are relevant to a particular geographic area.  Local search can be an important part of the marketing mix for a solo lawyer or small law firm.  The most recent statistics I’ve seen report that 30% of all searches are local in nature (meaning they involve a local customer looking for a local merchant) and 70% of U.S. households use the web to help them make their decision when buying a product or service locally.  That is an astounding number to me and has important implications for lawyer marketing.

There are several sites that support local search queries.  Some allow free listings, some charge a fee and most will provide a free listing and offer some enhanced services or placement for a fee.  You should at least make sure that your firm is listed in the Google and Yahoo local directories (note this is different from being in their search engine index).   Here are the sign-in pages for the Google and Yahoo local directories and several other of the more popular local search engines.

Google Local
Yahoo Local 
Superpages
Yellowpages.com
Local.com
Judy’s Book
TrueLocal

If you have your own favorite local search engines, please tell us about it in the comments section.  And, if you found this post to be helpful, I’d really appreciate it if you do any or all of the following: subscribe to our feed, blog about this post on your blog, and/or tag it with the social bookmark sites above.  Thanks!

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In my prior post on Premium Pricing I discussed the benefits of premium pricing in the law practice and I promised to revisit the specific strategies involved in actually doing it.

I was recently contacted by Stephen Gustitis of The Defense Perspective blog regarding that very issue.  I promised him I would move that article up my list of writing project priorities.  So, I sat down to start writing on the subject of Price in the law practice.  Specifically, I wanted to address how to command premium fees (i.e. how to get them and how to deserve them).

As I started writing, I realized I had much to say on the subject (my wife says that’s too frequently the case for a growing number of subjects!).  But, this is such a critical issue.  And, so many lawyers completely miss the boat here.  There is the whole value pricing vs. hourly billing issue on which entire books have been written (my favorite are the ones by my friend, Ron Baker - that guy gets it).  But, there is also the subject of presenting the price to the prospective client, how to desensitize the client about high fees, how to pre-screen prospects that can’t or won’t pay premium fees, and the list goes on.

So, I decided I can’t do the subject justice in a single blog post, and I don’t want to start another series (I’m currently posting a weekly series called Lawyer Marketing 101 et seq.)  So, I decided to write a free e-book on the subject.  I am going to do a brain dump of everything I know and do on the subject of pricing for the law practice.  The plan is to offer it in the resources section of this blog.  I am working on it now and will have it ready in 14-21 days.

Stephen, I guess I have you to thank for this new project - I hope you find it profitable!

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Well, I had decided I would wait until the second generation iPhone was released.  You know, let them work out the kinks, avoid falling for the hype, etc.

And, then I saw this guide.  Wow!  This is me wiping the drool of my laptop.  I really wish I hadn’t seen that.

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After announcing the release of Blawg for Profit, I received several questions from lawyers about why I thought blogging should be a part of a lawyer’s marketing program.

In my opinion, there are a number of reasons to have a blog for your law practice. Here are nine of them:

1. It’s cheap. You can start your own blog for less than $10 per month. Compare that to yellow page advertising.
2. It’s fast. You can start a blog and have it live on the internet in literally a matter of minutes.
3. It’s easy. Once you understand how blog publishing software works, if you can write an e-mail then you can publish an article to your blog.
4. Blogs are search engine friendly. Do you google? An increasing number of people have google as their home page. Google and other search engines rank quality blogs higher than static webpages. That means when a prospective client types in your target keywords (e.g. mobile divorce lawyer) you come up on the first page of the search results (no, really go do it - type in my number one target search phrase for my practice blog, mobile divorce lawyer, in google and see what comes up). Same thing for alabama divorce lawyer and alabama divorce law, etc - you get the idea. It works.
5. Blogs establish your authority. Publishing a blog is much like publishing a book. You become viewed as the authority for your subject matter.
6. The media look to blogs for sources for their stories. Not only do prospective clients find bloggers on the internet, so do the mainstream media. Do not be surprised if you are contacted to be a source for a story in your practice area. Last year a Time magazine reporter contacted me about a family law story she was working on. It turned out I was not able to help with exactly what she was looking for, but still.
7. It’s a way to grow a nationwide network of other lawyers. Bloggers support one another. They link to each other’s sites (which helps the search engine ranks of both sites). They refer business to one another. They share resources and tips.
8. Blog articles can be easily “repurposed” for other publishing efforts. A series of blog posts can be easily turned into an article or report you can offer to prospective clients or that can be published in a bar journal. Writing articles has been a staple in lawyer marketing for years. Blogging gets you in the habit of writing content that can be re-used for that purpose in other media.
9. It’s a public service. Many of us became lawyers in order to make a positive contribution to society. If you publish good, helpful content on your blog, your site becomes a valuable resource to those in your target market.

There’s more. But, do you really need any?

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I recently have had “e-mail discussions” with several lawyers who contacted me about how effective my divorce law practice blog (www.alabamafamilylawblog.com) has been at bringing me business.  When I tell them, they often are incredulous.  But, it’s true.  Next to referrals, it is the number one way I get clients in the door.  And, it is unbeleivably cost effective.

Fine, they say, but I’m not technically inclined.  I don’t know how to start a blog or which service to use.  Now I can tell them I have the answer…

Drum roll, please…

I am pleased to announce that I have teamed up with the highly respected -maybe less so after this announcement - Grant Griffiths to create a program (Blawg for Profit) that will walk solo and small firm lawyers (actually any lawyer could use it, but I suspect only solo and small firm lawyers will) step by step through the process of creating, launching, marketing and maintaining a blog from scratch.  Soup to nuts from concept to client; it’s a success blueprint for blogging.

I cannot yet reveal all of the details.  And, it will not be available to purchase for a couple of months yet.  But, I wanted to let you know its coming.  In the meantime we will be releasing several FREE resources to help those of you who are ready to launch your blog, or are ready to increase the effectiveness of your blog where it matters - getting prospective clients to find it and contact you as a result.

Some of these FREE resources to look for include a Blog Service Comparison Chart to understand the myriad choices of blogging platforms that are available and which is best for you, a free e-course (7 Days to a Better Blog), and last, but certainly not least, a new blog on blogging that will be jointly authored by the aforementioned Mr. Griffiths (who was apparently not busy enough with the half dozen or more that he is publishing currently) and yours truly.  Details will be released on this site and Grant’s Home Office Lawyer blog as they become available.

And, if you have particular questions you would like answered in this product, it’s not too late.  We are still putting the finishing touches on the content.  So, if you have questions, e-mail them to me or Grant or post them to the comments section of this post.  Although we will not be able to address every question, we will certainly attempt to answer as many as we can.

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Jack called me. He was finally ready to take the plunge into his own solo practice. He’d wanted to do it for a couple of years. In fact, he’d flirted with the idea right out of law school, but he just wasn’t sure how to make it work.

It didn’t take long at the small family law firm at which he worked for him to decide he would be happier calling his own shots and rising or falling on his own merit. With a couple years of practice under his belt and a wife that earned enough money that they would still keep a roof over their heads and food on the table even if he did not bring home a paycheck for a few months, he was ready to bite the bullet.

He contacted me about marketing. He only had a few of his own files. He was well respected in his practice area (domestic relations), but he wasn’t sure where the business would come from. He knew I had a successful family law practice (his words - not mine) and that I often consulted with other lawyers about marketing their practices.

So, we agreed to meet each Friday morning for coffee at Mostly Muffins (the muffins and iced coffee were on him). We came up with a marketing plan and discussed the various strategies, tools and tactics that I thought he should use.

Lawyer marketing is changing. What might have worked at one time (hang a shingle and the world will beat a path to your door), doesn’t work now. An ever increasing amount of people are researching lawyers and the law on the internet before going to see a lawyer. SEO and PPC, Blogs and Tags - Internet marketing for lawyers is here whether we lawyers know it and profit from it, or not.

But, in addition to cutting edge online strategies, you can’t forget the fundamentals of marketing either. That is why this tutorial is called Lawyer Marketing 101 et seq. - its the basics and beyond. In it, I’ll reveal the same strategies that Jack and I put in place in his firm from the basics (USPs, branding, positioning, etc) to the most advanced online strategies (pay per click advertising, blogging, etc). From networking to referral systems. Whether you are just starting your own practice or simply looking to add some more marketing tools to your toolbox, you will find some actionable information here that will make you money.

And, in case you are interested, Jack’s practice and his growing family are doing great. I hope you profit from the lessons in this tutorial to the same degree that Jack did.

Lesson 1 - Take aim, THEN fire
Lesson 2 - A Strategic Foundation
Lesson 3 - Create Compelling Client Attraction Tools
Lesson 4 - Lead Generation Strategies
Lesson 5 - Follow Up & Educate
Lesson 6 - Master the Enrollment Process 

Coming Next: Client Delight - the ultimate retention and referral strategy

If you like this post, please refer it to your friends and associates and subscribe to our feed.

NOTE: The facts related in this tutorial are a fictional recreation of semi-fictional events. Literary license has been taken by the author to make himself sound cooler than he really is. Many muffins were harmed in its creation.

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In this post at Build A Solo Practice, Susan does a good job of setting out the factors that lawyers should consider in deciding whether and how much to charge for the initial consultation.

Personally I do charge for consults and recommend other lawyers do the same. There are several reasons. Here are a few:

1. I do it for positioning in the mind of my prospective clients. I charge premium fees for premium service in my divorce practice. If I gave the consult away for free, it undermines that position.
2. People value what they pay for more than what they get for free.
3. You avoid the “tire kickers” who can’t afford you and are shopping for the low cost provider (which, even setting the fee aside, generally make the most difficult clients).
4. It makes it more difficult (though not impossible) for someone to get a consult for the sole purpose of conflicting you out.
5. It pre-qualifies the prospect. If someone is not able to pay my $300 per hour consult fee (which I apply to their flat fee if they hire me) then they will not be able to pay the fee to hire me. If that’s the case, it wastes there time and mine for us to talk for an hour.

In Susan’s post she makes a compelling case for new lawyers just getting started to give free consults. And, certainly you can make the argument that an hour spent for free with a prospective client is better than an hour spent twiddling your thumbs in your office. But, in my book, the sooner you can get to the point of charging for the consult, the better.

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Most online marketers realize the importance of quality inbound links.  Fellow blawger Jamie Spencer, of the Austin Criminal Defense blog, addresses the issue of how to get such links in this post.  His advice: post good content and link out to other similar blogs.

It’s great advice that Jamie has obviously put to practice with great results.

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