Remember the days before the pandemic when we actually went to court for trials? In one of my many weird cases, the defendant had managed to continue the trial seven times and delayed my client’s day in court for over a year. Here is the technique he used, and while it is not something I…
Category: Starting Your Own Law Firm
Don’t Be That Attorney – The Uncommitted Extortionist
I see this a lot in the wrongful termination context, and I even warn callers, who are seeking to have their case handled on a contingency basis, that they will likely encounter this type of attorney if they make enough calls. I call these attorneys “Uncommitted Extortionists.” The Uncommitted Extortionist is an attorney who will…
How to Use Flat Fee Arrangements to Promote a Winning (and Profitable) Practice [Updated]
Flat fee arrangements are amazingly liberating. Most of my fellow litigators won’t take a case on a flat fee, either because they are concerned that they will grossly underestimate the time the case is going to take and end up with an effective hourly rate of $8.25, or simply because they think they’ll make more…
How to Earn Money on the Side Selling Guns and Methamphetamine
For attorneys who have not yet applied the marketing techniques set forth in How to Create a Big, Fat Pipeline of New Clients, making a buck can be a hard slog. But according to a federal grand jury indictment, one enterprising Orange County attorney found a way to earn some extra income with a…
How to Market Your Law Firm With a Podcast
Why you should market your law firm with a podcast. I am relatively new to the podcasting phenomenon, but I have fully embraced this great method of law firm marketing. Arguably, the concept of podcasting in its broadest sense – making digital audio files available – has been around since the ‘80s, but the ability…
Don’t Dumb-Down Your Content – How to Show Off Your Expertise
Although my law firm thrives on content-based, Internet marketing, sometimes I am still taken aback when I see how well it all plays out. (Keeping in mind that to protect the confidentiality of my clients I change the story sufficiently so that even they would not recognize it), this week, I received a call…
Six Rules for 100% Caller to Client Lead Conversion
Caller to Client Lead Conversion I sometimes hear attorneys crying the blues because they are devoting lots of time and resources to marketing, but they just can’t get their firm to where they want it to be. If you find yourself singing that tune, it may be time to take a hard look at your…
Don’t (Necessarily) Fear the Duplicate Content Reaper
Duplicate Content Will Google and the other search engines ban you if you publish duplicate content? Before I answer, let’s discuss the reason this issue would ever present itself. I don’t recommend or suggest that you ever publish IDENTICAL duplicate content. But if you have a blog for each of your various practice areas, it…
Another Benefit of Content-Based, Niche Marketing
I scored a hat trick this morning, and I wanted to share the experience with you. At the risk of sounding all lah dee dah and altruistic, I did not get into law for the money. If you read my profile page, you’ll see the motivation to go to law school was a conflation* of…
Does the Trifecta Approach to Law Firm Search Engine Optimization Still Work?
I’ve received this question a few times now by email, so rather than providing the same response each time, I thought I’d respond with an article. I published my book How to Create a Big, Fat Pipeline of New Clients for Your Law Firm in Just 10 Days (hereinafter, “Pipeline”) in 2013. It shot to…
Two Inexpensive Ways to Add Images to Your Articles
I found gold today, and I had to share. Whether you are creating a blog post or posting an article on JDSupra, you should include one or more images. According to some studies, adding an image increases readership by as much as 94%. When I add an image to a JDSupra posting, it…
The Definitive Guide to Starting Your Own Law Firm . . . is Coming
Starting Your Own Law Firm When I created this website, I sought to make it a resource for new attorneys who want to start their own firms, and for established attorneys who want to grow the firms they have. There are many resources for learning the mechanics of starting a firm, so I spent…
Kindle Unlimited Review – You Just Became a Genius for $9.99 per Month
Stick with me while I get to the point.** I actively enjoy marketing my law firm. Probably because of my entrepreneurial bent, I find it very gratifying when I come up with a new marketing idea, implement it on a Monday, and by Wednesday of the following week it is already bearing fruit…
Law Firm Marketing – The Easy, No-Cost Way to Crush the Competition
I listen to a lot of podcasts, always looking for good law firm marketing ideas that I can pass along. I find that the same ideas seem to come in waves, and one idea currently riding the crest is the idea of scheduling your email time. The new conventional thinking (read to the end to see…
Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
A recent incident again showed me the power of niche marketing and reminded me that it is important to keep feeding the pipeline. Occasionally I brainstorm niches for my practice areas and buy appropriate domain names, intending to create informative websites for those topics. During one such brainstorming session about nine months ago, I decided…
How to Manage Multiple Blogs Crazy Fast (for FREE!)
ManageWP Review I mention this service on the resources page, but it is such a game changer that I wanted to do a more in-depth review here. ManageWP is a service (and plug-in) that allows you to manage multiple WordPress blogs from the same dashboard. Using the term “WordPress BLOG” is a bit of a misnomer…
Don’t Make it Hard for New Clients to Call You — How to Make Your Phone Number Clickable
The estimates vary, but it is safe to say that more than 50% of Internet searches are now being made on mobile devices. So, if a potential client is searching for an attorney on their smart phone and you win the search results derby, don’t throw away your victory by frustrating the client’s desire to…
Understanding Long Tail Searches, and Why You Should Keyword Optimize for Your Location
Over and over again I see attorneys make the mistake of trying to optimize their websites for the biggest and best search terms or, worse, paying big money for pay-per-click ads for those terms. Allow me to explain why, as counter-intuitive as it may appear, that you want to optimize for the search terms that…
It’s Your Time to Shine, Juke Box Hero
In a town without a name, in a heavy downpour Thought he passed his own shadow, by the backstage door Like a trip through the past, to that day in the rain And that one guitar, made his whole life change – “Juke Box Hero” by Mick Jones (Foreigner) At the risk of sounding grandiose…
Does Starting Your Own Law Firm Have to be a Lonely Experience?
I happened across an article entitled Thinking of Going Solo? Think Carefully, published on the American Bar Association website by an attorney named Jennifer Ator. It is important to read the introductory paragraph, because Ms. Ator specifically confirms that starting your own firm can be a wonderful thing, and states that once her friends “eventually…
How Does Google Work?
In my book, How to Create a Big, Fat Pipeline of New Clients for Your Law Firm in Just 10 Days, I discuss all the factors Google looks at to determine which search results will appear on page one. I came across this very good video that discusses the issues as well, and provides a basic…
Chocolate-Covered Strawberries Restore My Faith in Humanity
No doubt much to the chagrin of my partner, I give away an obscene amount of free legal services. The thing is, I’ve been doing this so long that I have worked out easy solutions for many of the legal problems I get calls about. Most attorneys would no doubt bring the caller in and…
New York Busts 19 Companies for Fake On-Line Reviews
Bloomberg Businessweek published a great article on Tuesday, discussing fake Yelp reviews, following a sting operation in New York, designed to catch businesses engaging in the process. Referring to the process as “astroturfing”, the article details the sting by the New York State Attorney General. The AG set up a fake yogurt shop in Brooklyn,…
Five Reasons Attorneys Get Suckered by SEO Marketing Scams (and How to Make Sure You’re Not One of Them)
In my book, How to Create a Big, Fat Pipeline of New Clients for Your Law Firm in Just 10 Days, I provide the following anecdote: There is a classic Peanuts comic, where Linus is going door to door trying to sell wadded up pieces of paper as cat toys. His sales presentation is good,…
Yelp Reviews for Attorneys – Yelp Sues the McMillan Law Group, Claiming it Posted Fake Reviews
Yelp Reviews for Attorneys As part of your legal marketing, it is very beneficial if you can offer testimonials, and great if you have good on-line reviews. However, what follows is a cautionary tale of why attorneys must avoid the temptation of creating their own reviews. My primary practice area is free speech and defamation,…