Seth Godin has a post entitled “How to live happily with a great designer” that does a great job explaining why so many companies settle for safe, average ads/print/brochures. One great line:

If you want average (mediocre) work, ask for it. Be really clear up front that you want something beyond reproach, that’s in the middle of the road, that will cause no controversy and will echo your competition. It’ll save everyone a lot of time.

But, he says, if you want great stuff, you’ll have to accept the fact that it will offend someone or it will make them nervous:

The Vietnam Vets memorial offended a lot of people. The design of Google made plenty of people nervous. Great work from a design time means new work, refreshing and remarkable and bit scary.

Read the whole post here.

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Robert Ambrogi’s Lawsites points to The Internet Marketing Attorney Awards which have been updated. From their press release:

The independent survey was conducted by marketing attorney Micah Buchdahl of InternetMarketingAttorney.Com and based on five criteria: design, content, usability, interactivity and intangibles.

Sites were awarded up to 10 points for each measure, for a maximum total score of 50. The high score was 45. Thirty firms rated a 38 or better to receive platinum, gold or silver honors in the U.S. large firm category. For the third time, reviews and awards were expanded to include a small/mid-size law firm category. The international category reviews (for non-U.S. firms) will be released in June.

Mr. Buchdal, the reviewer who compiles this list puts a lot of time into this. In fact:

More than 150 “non-billable” hours and six months went into this project. The small, mid-size and international firm categories received hundreds of nominations. Every one was considered. Objectivity and fairness continues to be my holy grail. Firms that have people I personally adore sometimes got roasted; firms that have some folks I would not share a beer with won some awards. There was no financial interest in this project and no financial considerations were involved. Not working for, or with, any company associated with the selling or building of web sites, or working for or with any company that has “considerations” in regard to these law firms, I did not pull any punches.

This site is an excellent resource for anyone looking for an objective perspective on law firm web design. I encourage anyone interested in design to check it out.

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Suzanne Falter’s Painless Self Promotion Blog has a series of articles on why blogs are better than web sites.

Throughout the article, Ms. Falter argues that:

Blogs are, quite simply, the next wave. So if you’re thinking about setting up a site, stop in your tracks and turn towards blogs instead.

I’ve been seeing a lot of this lately. And I disagree and agree at the same time. Sure, I think blogs are great. I love them. But I don’t think blogs are in opposition to “web sites.” Instead, I see a blog as part of a web site. Sometimes web sites are just blogs, but blogs are never web sites.

Whoa! I’ve really confused myself there. Nice!

My point is this:
Ms. Falter is arguing against static html pages that can’t be updated often, and I agree with her there. I think that dynamic sites with a content management system in the background are the way to go. And a blog can definitely be a part of that site.

This is the way I think of it.

A web site is a house. It contains individual rooms, hallways, the basement, etc.:

This is the blog:

So, the blog is part of the web site.

So I’m getting into semantics here I know. My idea is this: You don’t need to choose between a blog and a web site. You can have it all!

The best solution:
A site that has all its content stored in a CMS, allowing you to change any content you want, whenever you want. That way you have the flexibility of a web site and a blog inside.

edit:After further review, I think Ms. Falter is right……it seems that her work focuses more on the individual than on businesses, so I now understand what she’s talking about.

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No, not you.

That’s the title of a book I just finished by author Mark Stevens.

In it, Mr. Stevens puts forth one central theme: if every dollar you spend on marketing does not return more than one dollar in sales, your marketing sucks.

I think a lot of people think of marketing as an expense of doing business. We advertise because all our competitors are advertising. We do it because we have to. The book says it is necessary to scrap that way of thinking.

One thing that I have definitely been guilty of is looking at the competition first before coming up with ideas for a marketing campaign. When a law firm asks me to come up with a web site or ad campaign, I would look at what their competitors are doing. I would say to myself “Okay, if the other firms are creating clever, professional looking ads, I want to create something that one-ups them.”

Wrong way of thinking. Instead of the original goal (create a campaign that gets us new clients), the new goal is: create a campaign that looks better than our rival. It has shifted from something based on a measurable strategy to an ego-driven ideal. Bad.

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard about law firm marketing is: Everyone looks the same. And sometimes that’s the goal of a law firm. The firm wants to be seen as an equal, so they set out to look like the competition.

When I think of this, I picture boxes of store brand cereal.

In the cereal aisle, having a box that looks like the name brand makes sense. The store brand has the exact same product, so they try to look similar (even though kids know the difference!).

But should a law firm do that?

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This morning, while reviewing my daily RSS feeds, I noticed two posts on web design/marketing for attorneys and law firms.

The first is from Dennis Kennedy, called “Current Standards in Law Firm Websites - Some Improvements for You to Consider“.

Dennis took the client’s viewpoint when looking at firm sites, and in doing so, took a fresh vantage point that is sometimes ignored by firms. He found that many firm sites are working against the firm rather than for them.

His first complaint is the difficulty in finding contact information. He’s right there. Finding a phone number or email address is such a common reason for using a firm’s web site that it often is either forgotten or not given much attention. Though some firms do not want to list individual phone numbers of attorneys, firms should think of the main reason for having a web site in the first place: to get clients to contact them.

Another problem he found deals with attorney bios. In looking at as many sites as I do, I’ve found his assertion that bios are hard to find and use to be true.

Though some firms do not want to be too flashy and want to remain conservative here, I think that the attorney bio is an underused resource on many firm sites. The attorney bio is, in many cases, the ultimate goal. Your potential (or current) client has made it through your site and they’re interested in contacting someone. That’s great!

They’ve waded through the impersonal monolith that is the firm’s site. Now they are looking for information on the human being that can help them with their problem. But instead of learning more about the person, they are just given cookie-cutter corporate information.

I’d love to see more firm sites give their attorney bios much more personal attention. Aside from the regular email address, education, and practice areas, why not have the attorney actually say something first-person? If you’ve got an attorney that is a golf-fanatic, why not say so? If an attorney is hoping to sail around the world one day, why can’t they say that?

Aside from putting a human touch on the bio, it also gives an opportunity to break the ice. I don’t know about you, but I am much more comfortable starting a conversation with someone I know a little bit about. It’s much easier to say “wow, tough loss for the Bruins last night, eh?” than “I noticed that you’re an established expert with experience in corporate transactional blah, blah….” Sure, I want to know that. But it’s much easier to form a bond with someone with an interest than someone with marketing text.

I’m sure some will disagree with me. Some will say “We don’t want to put anyone off. What if a client is a huge Maple Leafs fan? They may choose to go with another firm because of our attorney’s favorite team.”

Well, that may, or may not be true. But I sincerely believe that trying to be safe all the time is a huge disadvantage.

The other post was from Larry Bodine on “The Compleat Guide to Web Marketing“.

He points to a 22 page white paper from Mark Merenda on “Using the Internet to Market Your Law Practice.”

Mark explains the importance of web marketing for lawyers in one simple sentence:

When it comes to looking for a lawyer, more Americans are turning to the search engines than the Yellow Pages

Well that just says it all, doesn’t it?

Enjoy these great posts. Now it’s time for me to add some personal information to my bio. Best to practice what you preach, right?

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At Law.com’s Small Firm Business, there’s an article entitled “Marketing on the Web” by Daniel J. Siegel, which is a good guide for anyone completely new to marketing a law firm using the web. So, if you’re trying to get started and your firm is considering starting a web site, check it out. If you’re a seasoned pro, you might want to skip it.

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