TechnoLawyer: Law Firm Marketing/Publications/Web Sites

Coming September 23, 2008 to TechnoFeature: Over the years it has become increasingly important for lawyers to have an online presence. Firm Web site, check. Blog, check. But what else can you do? Joining a professional networking site like LinkedIn can help. In this article, law firm marketing expert Anne Parys provides her top ten tips for using LinkedIn as an effective marketing tool. From creating a profile to interacting with other members, Anne will demonstrate the best ways to use this unconventional tool to network and build your practice.

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Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming September 2, 2008 to TechnoFeature: With so many ways to market your firm, which vehicles should you pursue? In this article, law firm marketing specialist Stephen Fairley shares ten points to consider when creating a marketing action plan. Do you know your Ideal Target Market? Can everyone in you firm explain your Unique Competitive Advantage? If not, read Stephen's ten tips to give yourself an edge and improve your marketing mojo.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming August 15, 2008 to Fat Friday: Bunji Fromartz reviews his Verizon XV6700 smartphone, James Atkins shares his thoughts on LegalTech in terms of venue and topic focus, Michael Schwartz discusses the Yellow Pages advertising advice he follows, Brent Blanchard explains the unfortunate continued importance of WordPerfect 6.0, and Leslie Shear discusses migrating from Timeslips to Bill4Time. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a business class color inkjet printer, an email marketing service (see article below), and a biometric accessory for entering passwords on your computer. Don't miss the next issue.

Gift Wrap Every Email You Send
By Peter R. Olson

Lawyers often overlook an important marketing tool — the email signature. In well-managed firms, everyone uses the same signature, perhaps linking to recent articles and news on the firm's blog or Web site. However, the larger your firm, the more difficult it becomes to keep signatures up to date. And even if you can do that, email signatures are easily overlooked by recipients.

WrapMail ... in One Sentence
WrapMail enables your firm to literally wrap every outbound email message with an interactive letterhead that you can use to point recipients to pages on your Web site.

The Killer Feature
Unlike an email signature, which resides locally in an email client, WrapMail is Web-based so there's nothing to install and no training required for your staff. Instead, they just send out the same old email as always. But when these messages leave your firm, WrapMail places your firm's custom wrap around them, transforming everyone in your firm into a marketer.

Other Notable Features
Wraps consist of graphics and text. You can color the background as well. Most importantly, you can embed links and track the number of clicks using WrapMail's control panel. If you don't have access to a Web designer, WrapMail can design your wraps for you for $250 each.

You can create as many wraps as you want and assign them to specific people in your firm. For example, if you accept online payments, create a wrap for your office manager that links to your online billing page. If your partners publish articles, create wraps for each of them with their photo and links that point to their respective articles. Your marketing department can keep all your wraps updated using a Web browser.

What Else Should You Know?
Wrapmail offers a free Personal edition plus both Small Business and Enterprise editions. The Personal version works only with a wrapmail.com email address.

With the Small Business edition, your email from your existing address gets wrapped by WrapMail's server en route to the recipient. WrapMail does not store the content of your email messages, only the date, sender, and recipient for reporting purposes. WrapMail charges $40 to set up your account, and then $5 per user per month.

Larger firms or firms concerned about security can opt for the Enterprise edition, which entitles you to your own on-site WrapServer. You also received extended customer support and reporting. This edition sells for $2,500.

Learn more about Wrapmail.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a document management application that doesn't require a database (see article below), a business intelligence program that analyzes your firm's financial data, and litigation support software that handles discovery documents and deposition transcripts as well as trial presentations. Don't miss the next issue.

A Place For Your Stuff
By Peter R. Olson

The late comedian George Carlin had a famous routine called "A Place For Your Stuff" in which he made many keen observations about our propensity to collect "stuff." Law firms, of course, are notorious for all the "stuff" they collect. These days, much of it is electronic, but many lawyers still can't find anything. As it turns out, we don't only need a place for our stuff. We also need a better way to manage it.

Novabrain Business Explorer 4.0 ... in One Sentence
Novabrain Technologies' Novabrain Business Explorer 4.0 enables you to better organize, find, and share structured and unstructured data such as contacts, events, email, documents, and more on your own computer and across your firm.

The Killer Feature
Unlike most document management systems, Novabrain Business Explorer does not use a database to store your data. Instead, it uses XML files either on your local hard drive or a file server. As a result, you don't need a technician to get up and running.

Also, you need not upload email and documents nor must you check them out. Instead, you store everything where you normally store it, the difference being that Novabrain Business Explorer keeps track it. Think of it like iTunes for your email and documents.

Other Notable Features
Novabrain Business Explorer integrates with Microsoft Office, bringing with it a true client/matter classification system as opposed to the nested folders in Windows that many law firms use. Thus, you can save email and documents into Novabrain's index automatically by client and matter so that you can easily search for and find them later. Novabrain Business Explorer also provides version tracking so that you can access all prior versions of a document.

Novabrain Business Explorer's search goes beyond the many free desktop search tools that exist thanks to its context search capabilities. For example, instead of simply searching for a keyword, you can search for attributes such as matter and date range to improve relevancy.

What Else Should You Know?
Novabrain comes in three versions — Free, Pro, and Enterprise. The Free version is for single users. The Pro and Enterprise editions include collaboration features and the ability to search across your firm. The Enterprise edition also includes document numbering, Microsoft SharePoint integration, and centralized administration and customization. The Pro version costs $199. The price of the Enterprise version depends on various factors. Learn more about Novabrain Business Explorer 4.0.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In A View from the Gallery, the classic television space opera Babylon 5 took a left turn and shifted the point of view to a couple of maintenance workers. It was a refreshing change of pace.

In Role of a Paralegal, Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton, a personal injury law firm in Virginia, uses the same device, showcasing two of its paralegals.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton has embraced videos to an extent few others have. For example, the principal partners each have a video bio on the firm's site.

Nonetheless, I found Role of a Paralegal disappointing. The concept is excellent. I think it's helpful for prospective clients to understand how a law firm works and the roles of those who work there.

The problem with this video lies in the script and production. Jackie and Roslyn, the two paralegals featured, provide a lot of helpful details about what they do, but their script meanders. It needs some editing to make it tighter.

The soundtrack needs some cleaning up (or the firm needs better microphones). Also, the b-roll that shows someone (Roslyn?) working in her office while Jackie is speaking practically defines the idiom "too little too late."

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton has an excellent concept here. With a better script and better production values, it will have a first-rate video.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Houston-based The Krist Law Firm uploaded a video last Thursday entitled Texas Helicopter Crash Lawyer Testimonial.

Although it could use some polish, this video serves as an excellent example of how law firms can and should use YouTube.

With a running time of 1:22, it's short but luxurious compared to the typical 30 second TV spot. The Krist Law Firm uses the additional length wisely.

The first 45 seconds features client Myra Vasquez discussing the helicopter crash that took her husband's life. In the last 37 seconds, partner Scott Krist describes the outcome of the ensuing wrongful death case, including the nondisclosure of some key evidence by the defendant.

Although filmed in high-definition, the camera work and lighting could stand some improvement, and I would like to see a title at the end with the law firm's name, telephone number, and Web site, but these are small quibbles. No, it's not Michael Clayton, but it's effective marketing.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Coming June 27, 2008 to Fat Friday: Martin Dean responds to Ross Kodner's recent TechnoGuide Post about email confidentiality, Carol Bratt provides some line and page numbering tips for Word and has a few words about so-called power users who are anything but, Philip Franckel provides two Yellow Pages advertising tips, Dwight Corrin suggests three more rules for modern day email etiquette (and we join the debate with tips of our own), and Fredric Gruder draws from 30 years legal experience to offer insight into why general counsel don't hire small firms. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In an excellent article entitled The Power of Google Link Juice, venture capital legend Fed Wilson writes:

"I've thought about moving my blog from this lousy URL (avc.blogs.com) to something better. But I can never get past the google juice issue."

In other words, thanks to years of quality inbound links, Google thinks so highly of Fred's blog that his articles often appear on Google's first page when people search for keywords in those articles. If he changes his domain name, much of his Google link juice will evaporate.

What's the Lesson?

Carefully choose your domain name for your firm's Web site and blog(s). They should reside at the same domain name (which does not mean they must reside on the same Web server).

What Are the Consequences of Ignoring This Lesson?

Let's look at an all-too-common example.

A law firm launches a Web site at www.myfirm.com. Great. The site attracts links to its lawyer biographies, articles, etc. Great. A few years later, the firm decides to launch one or more blogs. Great.

But then the firm runs off the rails by placing its blog at a different domain name when instead the firm should use a subdomain of its existing domain name (e.g., asbestos.myfirm.com).

The upshot is that the blog will not benefit from any of the firm's existing Google link juice. The blog will have to start from square one.

Why Do Law Firms Make This Mistake?

Many law firms don't appreciate Google's dominance and how much power it wields. And so they wind up falling prey to one of three lines of faulty thinking.

1. Too Complex or Expensive

Some firms host their blog using a free service such as Blogger on the mistaken belief that it's difficult or expensive to host their blog at their existing domain name.

Blogger and other free services don't allow you to use your own domain name, but plenty of modestly-priced services do and the process is not difficult. You simply create a CNAME in the DNS settings of your domain name, and then domain map this CNAME using the tools provided by your blog hosting service.

Notwithstanding all that jargon, it will take you 10 minutes — 9 minutes to read the instructions and 1 minute to do the work. TypePad has the best explanation I've seen.

2. The Blog Beta Test

Some firms host their blogs at a different domain name because they're unsure about blogging and don't want the content on their main site. These firms should not bother blogging. You can't get a little bit pregnant after all.

3. Vanity URLs

Some firms want their blog at a vanity URL such as asbestoslawyers.com instead of at their firm's domain name. I understand the appeal of a memorable domain name, but from a search engine optimization perspective you then have to worry about juicing multiple domain names rather than one.

If you insist on going this route, at least envelope your blog in the same design template as your main site. This way, visitors can somewhat seamlessly go from your blog to your main site and back again. The URL will change, but people may not notice.

If you haven't built much equity around your current domain name and your site is small, you could move it to the more memorable URL that you now prefer for your imminent blog and use HTTP 301 redirects to preserve whatever Google juice you had.

Coincidentally, lexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe offers similar advice today about vanity domain names, including some tips on how to secure one, but he does not discuss the benefits of sticking with your established domain name (assuming you have one).

How About a Tasty Test?

Given that we're discussing "juice," it just so happens that I recently perfected a recipe after 4 years of tests. This fairly popular dish in the Northeast surprisingly pulls up only 1,570 listings on Google when the search terms appear in quotes and 35,500 without quotes.

Even though TechnoLawyer Blog doesn't usually cover food, it has considerable Google link juice. Therefore, I think there's a good chance Google will list my recipe on its first page. No tricks here. Just quality content written well.

Here's my recipe.

Here's the Google search with quotes.

Here's the Google search without quotes.

Check these Google searches on Thursday or Friday to see how the recipe is performing now and you'll see my recipe listed on the first page. Remember, people at this very minute are searching Google for keywords of great interest to you and your firm. Make sure they find you.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Today we bring you a clash of two personal injury firms.

McDivitt Law Firm: A Groundbreaking YouTube Video ...

McDivitt Law Firm handles personal injury cases in Colorado. A few hours ago, the law firm uploaded a video to YouTube that represents a breakthrough despite its flaws.

The video portrays the firm as a father-son (Mike and David) operation with Mom managing the business. Mike plays the role of the tough lawyer who has seen it all while David shows a softer, more compassionate side (as does his Mom). You can tell that they all rehearsed prior to filming. Preparation makes such a difference.

The camera moves in an unconventional manner with some frames purposely missing or sped up, which gives the video a reality TV show feel but does not detract from the message. In the end, the McDivitts make their point — they understand what you're going through and will fight for you.

I do have two quibbles. First, the description needs a link to the firm's site.

Second, Mike wears a frumpy-looking suit without a tie while his son David dresses casually. To better showcase the theme about the firm having both a hard and soft edge, Mike should have dressed in a power suit and tie. I think people like seeing their lawyers dressed well.

Reibman & Weiner: (A Lot More of) the Same Old, Same Old ...

Reibman & Weiner, a personal injury firm in New York, certainly seems to have done its research — to its detriment. Its YouTube video uses one cliche after the next, almost like an homage to all those late night TV commercials for legal services ("Have you been injured?" — yes, that line is in the video).

I will give Reibman & Weiner points for taking advantage of YouTube's longer format to delve deeper into the (well-worn) playbook than you would see on TV.

And The Winner Is ...

McDivitt Law Firm easily wins today's battle of the law firm videos. Bring on the sequel!

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.