Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts

Thursday, November 2, 2017

How to Market Your Law Firm in Today’s Online World

As new technology emerges and new trends take over, how we market our business changes. You have to keep up in order to stay relevant, and all of the moving pieces should work together seamlessly so you can spend more time focused on generating new clients, and less time trying to string these things together.
So starts a very, very relevant post by Tom Foster over at Attorney@work.com


  • Utilizing client relationship management software
  • Reputation management
  • Lead nurturing
  • Using analytics


True this is an infomercial piece for Tom's company, Foster Web Marketing. The bottom line though is that it is also a tidy and fresh reminder of what we need to think about in our internet marketing worlds.

Please click here to take a read.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#marketing #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Friday, August 18, 2017

Erin Levine You Are A Star!

Divorce lawyer Erin Levine is a friend. She also reads this blog. I know the latter to be true because, as a friend, she tells me that she reads this blog. On top of all that, Erin is now an internet star.  No, I am not talking about her new legal start-up, Hello Divorce. I am talking about her appearance on Lawyerist.com.

Erin's Desk!
(Didn't know if she would be happy with me putting a picture of here here?)
Lawyerist.com is one of my favorite blogs. Lots of great lawyer stuff. One of my favorite sections of the blog is its How Lawyers Work feature. Each week Lawyerist has an interview with a lawyer about his or her work space, and the technology he or she uses.  Fun stuff (with pictures).

Guess what? This week Erin is the featured star in How Lawyers Work. Yahoo!!!! Click here to check her out! Erin, when next we meet I shall bow to your celebrityness!! Way to Go!

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#lawyerist #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Small Firm Legal Marketing Blog

I am always on the look out for new sources of information to help make the practice of law more efficient, more pleasant, more profitable. To that end I recently find a new blog that I think is pretty good: The Small Firm Legal Marketing blog. Produced by a Washington DC personal injury lawyer who only gives us his first name, Maxwell (sort of a lost marketing opportunity on his part), the blog includes tips into search engine optimization, product reviews, and social media plans.

The blog is pretty new, but I think it has a lot of potential. While not grand in scope or content (kind of matches this blog in that respect) it is worth a click, so click here to visit smallfirmlegalmarketing.com.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Specialty Blogs Work The Best

If you are going to take the time to publish a blog, it may as well generate some business for you, right? Well, the key to that success would appear to be a very tight focus. Thanks to our friend Kevin O'Keefe for letting us re-post his recent article on niche law blogs. Yours truly is a St. Mary's College alum, and thus wise in the ways of college basketball. Kevin cheers for Gonzaga, so we must hold that against him. Nonetheless, he does know blogs, which almost evens out his character score. Here is what Kevin writes on niche blogs:

Most large law firms publish law blogs by traditional practice groups. There are over 130 employment-law blogs being published by Am Law 200 firms, alone. 

The 2017 Report on the State of the Legal Market from Georgetown Law and Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute, widely labeled as the “Georgetown Report,” signals that publishing blogs focused on general practice areas is misguided. 

Niche-focused publications demonstrating subject matter expertise are key. 

Why? The erosion of the traditional law firm franchise over the last ten years. Clients are disaggregating work and allocating work to different law firms based on subject matter expertise established, in part, through niche blog publishing. 

From the Georgetown Report: 
One significant result of this disaggregated approach is that the client’s relationship with its outside counsel may – and often does – shift from a traditional client/trusted advisor relationship to more of an ad hoc, transactional relationship. In the latter model, the outside lawyer becomes less of a counselor with respect to the overall matter and more of a provider of specialized services that the client is unable to provide internally or acquire more effectively elsewhere.  
Fox Rothschild, which publishes thirty-seven law blogs, is one law firm that recognizes the disaggregation concept in its approach to blogging. 

Mark L. Silow, firmwide managing partner for Fox Rothschild, recently told Bloomberg Law that he’s amazed both by the amount of traffic that the firm’s blogs attract and by the amount of business that they generate. According to Silow, a niche focus is key: 
The thing that we encourage, and actually insist on in our bloggers is that they be very focused, that they be very specific. We would never approve of someone who says I am going to write a litigation blog. It has to be much narrower, much more focused. 
Why does Silow insist on niche blog publications?
Clients are hiring experts. They are not hiring law firms, they are not hiring generic lawyers, they are hiring experts. If you can blog today on a decision that came out this morning involving a really specific technical aspect of the law, you have now portrayed yourself as a current expert. 
Silow’s thinking closing parallels the findings of the Georgetown Report:
The buzz word is disaggregation, where clients, especially the larger and more sophisticated clients, are no longer saying “Fox Rothschild is my law firm, whatever legal issues I have pick up the phone and call Fox Rothschild.” They have now have litigation counsel for this, they have litigation counsel for that kind of issue. They have tax counsel, real estate counsel, securities counsel, and all kinds of counsel.” 
Those who can project and have the real specific expertise are getting more and more work.
There’s little doubt Fox Rothschild is outperforming the majority of large law firms on the blog front. The reason is a proactive and strategic focus. Rather than the tired and old marketing and business development by practice groups with a large number of lawyer bloggers, Fox Rothschild looks to opportunities for growth.

Fox Rothschild’s blogs can have as many as six or eight bloggers, but a good number have two to three bloggers, with some as few as one. The firm is tapping into the interests and passions of its lawyers in order to establish firm niche expertise.

Fox Rothschild’s business success is in line with the findings of the Georgetown Report:
There are, of course, many reasons that some law firms outperform others – including historic location, practices, and client base – but there are two characteristics that seem to have emerged over the past several years as particularly important in marking firms as likely winners: strategic focus and proactive response to the needs and expectations of clients.
Though there are exceptions, general practice oriented blogs struggle, especially to start. The blogs do not become must-have publications for clients, including in-house counsel. The blogs do not get shared on social media. The blogs do not get cited by reporters, bloggers, or the courts.

As a result, the lawyers’ interest in blogging wanes, and the blog shows it. The firm has wasted an opportunity (and often hundreds of thousands of dollars in collective lawyer time).

Legal blogs present an opportunity for lawyers and law firms to make a name for themselves as subject matter experts. But follow the wisdom of the Georgetown Report and Fox Rothschild. Go niche law blogs.

2017 Report on the State of the Legal Market [Thomson Reuters]

Kevin O’Keefe (@kevinokeefe) is the CEO and founder of LexBlog, which empowers lawyers to increase their visibility and accelerate business relationships online. With LexBlog’s help, legal professionals use their subject matter expertise to drive powerful business development through blogging and social media. Visit LexBlog.com.

LexBlog also hosts LXBN, the world’s largest network of professional blogs. With more than 8,000 authors, LXBN is the only media source featuring the latest lawyer-generated commentary on news and issues from around the globe. Visit lxbn.com now.

Please click here for the original of Kevin's article.


Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#kevinokeefe #blogs #nicheblogs #lawblogs #marketing #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Interesting Stats on Referrals to the Blog

I was checking out the stats for the viewers that are coming to this blog.  I learned some interesting stuff.

44% of the visitors to this blog click through from Google. Not so surprising.

17% are clicking through from my Facebook posts. That is surprising in two way. It shows me that people are actually paying attention to my Facebook posts, and that Facebook is a legitimate generator of traffic for my blog. Good news for Facebook.

Zero traffic from Yahoo and Zero traffic from Bing. That surprised me, and really reinforced to me that Google really is the Dominant search engine.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Live Chat on your Website

Over at Legal Productivity Michael Miceli has an article addressing the idea of including a live chat feature on your website. According to Michael:
Unlike calling in to your office or submitting a contact form on your home page, live chat offers the ability to interact in real time with a prospect. They’re happy because they’re in the hunt for your services, they want instant acknowledgement and you’re interested in booking that consultation appointment. When it comes to lead generation, there’s no time like the present to take action and engage. 
. . .
For those visitors that do not engage, live chat has been shown to reduce your bounce rate (rate of exit directly from the page) and it also helps boost the number of visitors who return to your site for another visit. A good rule of thumb is to engage someone who has been idle on a particular web page, for at least 15 seconds, with a pop-up chat window. These are often accompanied by audible sounds that alert the visitor as well.

I don't disagree with him. He provides more compelling reasons in support of live chat:


By getting the basic information of the visitor, the person fielding your firm’s chat inquires will be able to schedule a consultation, or at least take their information for a follow up call. Assuming your firm is organized and methodical in following up with leads, live chat will likely help boost your monthly total. How much? A study by Forrester Research indicated live chat increases website conversion by 20%.

These are all salient points. I take exception to none of them. I suppose it isn't any more burdensome than the current default of having a staffer screen new business phone calls? Still, questions arise. At what price do we family law lawyers chase new business? If we are engaging in advice chat, the chat portal will have to be staffed by a lawyer. Does a ten second chat create a privileged attorney-client relationship? How does one perform a conflict of interest check? What is the operating cost of having a lawyer man the chat portal? What is the operating cost of having a staffer man the chat portal? Does the solo lawyer want chat messages popping up at random times throughout the day? For chat to meet its purpose, it must be live and instantaneous. You won't be able to hit do not disturb like you do with your phone.

I love the idea of live chat. If I am a large national or regional family law firm sure I could see the value of chat. For a one or two person shop I question the cost/benefit ratio. I would love to receive some comments from folks that have actually implemented live chat. Write in!

Please click here to read Mr. Miceli's original article.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Law Practice Management Webinar

MyCase  is presenting Top 10 Law Practice Management Tips for 2016. Featuring lawyer and law practice management advisor Heidi Alexander, the program is scheduled for Wednesday, February 24th at 11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET.


Per the program brochure:

Gone are the days when you can hang a shingle outside your brick and mortar law practice and expect clients to walk through the door. Times have changed and so has the practice of law. In this webinar, Heidi will discuss her top tips for managing a modern law practice. 
You'll learn:
  • How to keep pace with growing client demands
  • How to be competitive in an increasingly saturated market
  • How to make your practice more efficient
  • How and what technologies to implement
  • How to take your practice on the go
Hope you can make it!
Karen O. Gray, Esq


PS- We know life gets busy. If you can't make it to the live session, register today to receive the webinar recording.


PPS- MyCase was recognized as Marketing Department of the Year for providing outstanding educational content & webinars for legal professionals by the 2015 American Business Awards.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Sunday, January 31, 2016

That's A Big Family Law Firm

Consider these numbers:

200+ lawyers
10 partners
100+ offices
Lawyers in 30 states
An international practice that includes lawyers in the UK

Such is the behemoth that is Cordell & Cordell, the country's largest (and fastest growing) family law law firm.

Utilizing the for men only marketing approach, St. Louis based C&C has exploded since its 1990 founding as a general practice law firm.

Aggressive advertising, aggressive expansion, aggressive attorney recruitment have driven C&C, an unsurpassed social media presence. Reminiscent of Jacoby & Meyers and Hyatt Legal Services, Cordell & Cordell has hit its stride as this decade's model for consumer oriented law firm growth.

From a marketing and internet perspective this firm has it all. If you want to learn from one of the most innovative marketing machines in family law practice click on over to the C&C websites. They are sites to behold.
They also have an evolved presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc., etc.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#cordellcordell #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Which Social Media Platforms Are Important For Lawyers?

"Conversationprism" by Brian Solis and JESS3 - http://www.theconversationprism.com/. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conversationprism.jpeg#/media/File:Conversationprism.jpeg
I sat down with my 18 year old daughter this weekend to discuss social media.  The options left me dizzy: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, the list goes on and on. Those are just the ones that are hot for teenagers and twenty-somethings.  I decided to investigate further.

I installed the Instagram app on my iPhone, created an account, and within two minutes I had four followers!  Pretty impressive. I went deeper and learned that the function of the app is to communicate with others by posting photos. I posted a photo of my dog. I got no responses, replies, whatever? I decided posting photos of my dog was not a productive means of marketing my family law practice. I deleted the app from my phone.

My experiment begged the question: which social media options are relevant to me and the marketing of my law practice?  The consensus among law firm marketing experts is that LinkedIn is the best.  Attorneyatwork.com asked the experts at the Legal Marketing Association. Each of the three experts said that LinkedIn wins. Facebook was also popular. So too was SlideShare, a service that allows you to uploads presentations, PowerPoints, etc., for the world to view. You can view the discussion by clicking here.

I had another question.  Before we get to which social media platform is best, I must ask if socia media works at all as an effective tool for marketing a law practice. The experts seem to think so.  I am not so sure, but because there is a chance it might work, I am going to do it.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Ever Wonder Where Your Website Is Listed?

I got an unsolicited e-mail (i.e., SPAM) today from a some guy (I won't bother to name him or his company). Here's what he wrote:
Good afternoon,  
I was just looking at your site, and I have a number of clients within our network looking for injury lawyer in California. I DO NOT work as a lead broker, referral agency, or pay-per click advertising service. I'm simply looking to direct my clients to a relevant site when they're looking for an attorney.  
Your site looks like it could make a strong fit for them. I am looking to work with a lawyer today, therefore give me a call as soon as possible. 
Thanks in advance.
Here's the problem:  I don't practice personal injury law! Frustrated that my time had been wasted I wrote the guy back:
Apparently you did not look at my site too hard. If you had you would know that I am a family law attorney, and not a personal injury lawyer.  Bad demonstration of preparation and professionalism…
Not willing to leave well enough alone, he writes me back:
Actually your website and law practice is listed in the largest directory online, as a personal injury lawyer. Take a look here: http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Law/Services/Lawyers_and_Law_Firms/Personal_Injury/North_America/United_States/California/

Therefore I assumed you practice injury law as well. It seems the bad preparation and professionalism is on your part, listing your website in a practice area directory that you don't practice law.
I clicked on the link. It does go to an index/listing site for personal injury law firms.  He was kind of correct. There is a firm listed by the name of Harding & Harding.  That is a firm that I was partner in more than 15 years ago.  My firm is Harding & Associates Family Law. Intriguingly when then think click on that link it takes you to my current law firm web site. All you see there is family law, family law, family law.  Not word one regarding personal injury.

Pretty insulting stuff from a guy trying to sell to me. Why would I buy services from someone who does not do their homework, gets their facts wrong, and then tells me I am wrong when I am not? I wouldn't, particularly given that I am not a personal injury lawyer, which is the segment that he is trying to sell to. Another point to consider: even though I am not a personal injury lawyer, I have friends who are, and who would be intrigued by such an approach. . . .

Besides how not to sell services, there is another lesson to be learned here. It is a good idea to inventory your online presence once in a while to look for mistakes -- like a link to my family law law firm being on an index for personal injury firms. For that reminder I must actually thank Mr. Bad Salesman.

P.S. How much ya wanna bet the guy is gonna feel compelled to comment on this post, by which he will identify himself rather than staying anonymous?

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#badsalesman #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

How's Your Profile Pic Looking?

Do you have a picture of yourself on your website? On your blog? On your Facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter pages?  Sure you do (or sure you should). Are you happy with it?  Does it catch the eye of your readers?

Of course I have a headshot of me on my website bio page (www.johnharding.lawyer). It's a nice color shot of me in a suit.  It's boring, but it lets people see me.  It goes along with the other headshots on the website, so some degree of uniformity is required.  For my other marketing avenues though I was looking for something different.

That search took me to a website called Fiverr. Fiverr deserves special mention.  On the site you can find artist, writers, programmers, virtual assistants, models, all ready, willing, and able to do odd little jobs for you with a starting price of $5.  It really is pretty cool.  I found it by chance, and while surfing around in the site a find a guy in Turkey who runs a little business called photoenhance.

I created a Fiverr account, uploaded my photo to photoenhance, and for $21 I got these pretty cool stippled portraits.






















I know it didn't take the guy a long time to create them, but it certainly would have taken more than $21 of my time for me to make them myself. Now I have two new options for advertising me.  I think the black and white one makes me look very Wall Street Journalish, don't you?

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Monday, May 11, 2015

Paid Content Distribution - You Call it Blogging, I Call it a Spammy Waste of Time.

I was at a CLE conference recently, standing in the hallway talking to some colleagues.  One of those folks flatteringly commented on my blogging, and asked me how I do it? I responded as I always do:  I do it very easily.  It's fun, and it only takes a few minutes per day. Her response was a firm No Way. I found a company that will write the posts for me, and it only costs $40 per post.

What she was talking about was a ghostwriter, or in modern day social media parlance paid content distribution.  PCD is not a new idea, but is it a good idea?  Remember how the conversation started?  My friend commended me on my blogging!  She knew me, in part, because of the blog posts that I write! That's important.  Hell's bells, that's why you blog, to draw attention to yourself.  People appreciate my blogs because they know that I write the content.

PCD is not personal. It tells the reader nothing about the writer.  Sure the posts take up bandwidth on the internet, but that's all they do.  Readers can detect canned content.  There is so much PCD these days that I would offer it is not worth the cost. The internet is now overrun with blogs -- and that includes lawyer blogs. PDC just adds to the dilution of blogging efficacy.  LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google are all re-writing their algorithms and filters to block commercial, PCD, advertisements.  If the site filters don't catch the canned content, site/group administrators will.

I know because I am a LinkedIn group moderator and I send PCD posts to the dumpster every day. After all, all a $40 paid blog post is is Spam. Let me give you an example.  You pay a PCD company to write posts for you relating to New Jersey family law.  They write the posts and then post them to every LinkedIn group that you are a member of. I am the moderator of the AAML group on LinkedIn.  An article with the title New Jersey Women With Cheating Husbands Need to Visit My Website To Protect Themselves hits my moderation queue. Appreciating that I am acting as the gatekeeper for a national group, and figuring out in a nanosecond that the post is a blatant solicitation rather than actual information that an AAML member can actually use, I send the post straight to the spam folder (if LinkedIn has not already done that for me). What have you gotten for your $40?  Not much except for an irritated group moderator who does not appreciate having to take the time to insulate other group members from your annoying advertisements; and a report to LinkedIn that you are a spammer so that it can start blocking all of your posts to all of your groups.

I have said this before, and I will say it again:  If you want social media to work, you have to work at it. Is PCD working at it?  No. It is a good way to get rid of your extra cash though...

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Facebook Gaining Power. Will Soon Dominate The World.

I post to Facebook.  I do it because I am told I must do it as part of a social media marketing plan. I also take to it to gather evidence to assist me in representing my clients in their divorces. I must confess though I don't get Facebook?  I have no interest in telling burglars that I am on vacation in Europe. I don't appreciate other people splashing photos on the internet of me enjoying my private life.  I don't need to know that someone really loved the bagel that they had for breakfast. The stuff people put out there, and the success I have realized using it against them in court is stunning!

Apparently I am alone in my need to keep my bizness my own. Facebook is gaining strength and taking control of the internet in ways that are hard to fathom.  In fact market reports just this week indicate that while other social media sites like LinkedIn are losing steam, Facebook is on a dramatic uptick.

An article by Adrienne La France in The Atlantic supports the fact that Facebook has you, and you, and you hooked tighter than a size 1 corset on Kate Upton.

Consider these facts (thank you Kevin O'Keefe for culling the article down):

  • Roughly half of the adults who use the Internet report getting their news from Facebook alone.
  • Media companies are already hugely dependent on Facebook for traffic. Vox, for instance, gets 40 percent of visits through the site. Other leading news organizations get something like a quarter of site visits from Facebook.
  • Facebook more than doubled digital ad revenue over the course of two years. The $5 billion in ad money Facebook made last year represents 10 percent of all digital ad revenue.
  • The average American smartphone owner spends more than 42 minutes a day on Facebook. Facebook accounts for one out of every five minutes spent on a smartphone.
  • Facebook has succeeded in thriving financially on mobile while leaving desktop behind. Facebook is getting a quarter of all display ad revenue and more than a third (37 percent) of display ads on mobile. Facebook’s share of revenue on desktop dropped 20 percentage points last year, while its share of mobile revenue went up 20 percentage points.

Those are some stunning statististics! The message is clear, if you want to succeed with internet advertising, you have got to be on Facebook!  Ughh.....

Please visit hardinglaw.comwww.hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#facebook #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

New Hardinglaw.com Website


www.hardinglaw.com

Here is why...

Roughly five years ago Harding & Associates Family Law launched an updated website. It was innovative for its time, and immediately garnered national attention for its design and content. It brought color, style, and impact to the traditional, boring, old school resume style websites that were the default for family law firms. In fact the layout and style became a template for family law lawyers and law firms around the country. We won't name names but if you were to look at certain law firms in say Colorado, California, New Jersey (as well as a few dentists, accountants...) you would see websites patterned after ours.

Time passes. Websites grow stale. That's how we were beginning to feel about ours. It needed to be more mobile friendly. The content needed to be updated. The design needed to take advantage of the newest programming options. We got in touch with our friend Rodney Warner at Connective Web Design. We spent the money, we invested the time, and now we are launching a new and improved hardinglaw website. It is bold, it is flashy, it is exciting, it is informative, and it is useful. It is also cutting edge. Of course it will also be copied and modeled just like the last one. But that's okay. As the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Value of Social Media

Besides being fun for me, this blog has a very definite business purpose. It is a marketing tool intended to advertise my family law practice. It is a social media tool. Now I can give you more first hand proof that social media channels, including blogs like this, work.

My friend (and often quoted practice management expert) Lee Rosen is huge into social media. Just for twitter he has more than 17,000 followers. A couple of days ago he mentioned this Family Law Lawyer Tech & Practice blog in a twitter post he sent out. Here is Lee's tweet:
Does not look like much, does it? But boy did it work! With one click of his mouse Lee advertised this blog to more than 17,000 people! Then, BOOM, 120 people clicked on the tweet and visited this blog.  That's 120 strangers learning about me. That is great traffic! It has continued for two days now, and more than 200 people have clicked through.  Just as exciting, a high percentage of those visitors then clicked through to the website for Harding & Associates Family Law! That's the magic of social media folks.  I didn't even do anything and I got to introduce myself and my law practice to hundreds of new people. People who can hire me, people who can refer to me, people who can think about me.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#twitter #socialmedia #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Evernote & Biz Cards From Your Hand To Your Contact Manager

Business cards are still a great marketing tool.  They are not virtual, they are tangible.  You can touch them, feel them, smell them.  They work to market you and your practice, and they work to expand your networks.  Handing them out is still an essential element of professional practice marketing.  Collecting business cards is still an essential element in developing your business network. 

Whether you use Microsoft’s Outlook, or Salesforce, or Apple Contacts, or AbacusLaw, or Amicus Attorney, or Goldmine, etc., you need to get those biz card buddies, and their biz card information into your computerized contacts directory.  In days gone by that meant typing the information, line by line, into your computer.  Now you can implement better technology to streamline the process of handling those business cards that you are collecting.

If you use Evernoteand you should — you need to be aware of its awesome business card tools.  With the Evernote app on your smartphone you can take a picture of a business card, have it immediately imported into your Evernote account, export it to your contacts on your phone, and then synchronize it with your Outlook directory or any other contact management program that you use.  Fear not, reading these steps is more complicated than doing the real thing.  For some of these client management programs — Salesforce for example — it is even easier because they have a dedicated Evernote interface.

Even if you have to do it the multi-step way without a dedicated interface, it is still incredibly easy.  Keep reading to learn how. . .  Make sure you read all the way to the end for a bonus tip!

Step One:
Install Evernote on your smartphone.

Step Two:
Lay a business card down on a flat surface.

Step Three:
Launch Evernote on your smartphone, click on the Camera icon, then select the Business Card option.

Step Four:
Move your camera over the business card until Evernote detects it and then automatically takes the picture for you. 

Step Five:
Evernote then reads the business card and imports all of the information as a new contact in your Evernote account.  Nothing for you to do but watch. 

Step Six:
Tell Evernote to send the information to the Contacts app on your phone.  Evernote completes the task immediately, and that biz card buddy’s information is now in your system.

Step Seven:
Synchronize you phone contacts with whatever other Contact program(s) you use.  Nothing could be easier.

Step Eight:
Sit back and enjoy your techie awesomeness!


Free Bonus!  Now keep reading for your super awesome bonus tip, that is particularly great for you LinkedIn folks . . .

If you have a LinkedIn account — again you should — Evernote has a one-click feature so that you can connect on LinkedIn with your new business card buddy.


After you have finished importing the business card and saving it in Evernote, Evernote will launch a pop-up window with a one-click LinkedIn button.  If your new biz card buddy has a LinkedIn account Evernote finds that account and then sends a LinkedIn connection request to that person.  How great is that!  This is an example of how software makers are getting away from the old proprietary, keep-em-to-ourselves mentality, and instead they are embracing the benefits of platform sharing.  The Evernote/Salesforce and Evernote/LinkedIn partnerships are examples.  They expand their user base, and we the users expand the  benefits of our accounts.


Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#evernote #linkedin #businesscards #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Monday, October 13, 2014

.lawyer and .attorney domains available

Here's something fun for you internet marketing junkies.  .lawyer and .attorney domains have been released.  I don't have any hard statistics to back this up but I suspect that if you have yourname.lawyer or yourname.attorney it may help with searches and steering traffic your way.  If nothing else it is a way to expand and further personalize your internet empire!

Visit your domain name reseller (Go Daddy, 1&1, etc.) to get yours today.

P.S. johnharding.lawyer is taken!

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Marketing Automation

As a group we lawyers are growing into the idea of social marketing. LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, blogging are all options that we are dabbling in. Some of us check in everyday.  Others go months at a time with no interactions.  What should we be doing?

The first step is planning.  The second step is implementation. The combined exercise is called marketing automation.  You can do it yourself, or you can let others do it for you.

There are technologies and companies that will do the work for you. Custom software solutions exist, as well as entire companies created to step into your marketing shoes for you. There are writers that will create content, and technologies that will disseminate your marketing across the many platforms that exist.

Wendy Coombes is a marketing consultant with an expertise in technology.  According to Wendy, if you are to successfully employ technology based marketing  in this day and age you must cast a wide net, and you must plan, plan, plan.  When done properly marketing technology enables business to execute campaigns, automate processes, and measure their impact. Over at Duct Tape Marketing Wendy posts a great article on her methods for marketing automation. Click here to read Wendy's original article.

As for letting someone else do the work for you, there are all kinds of pay-to-play providers ready and willing to go to work for you.

The 20 Most Popular Marketing Automation Software Solutions
© 2011 Capterra, Inc.

Admittedly some of these solutions may be a bit too grandiose, and too expensive, for the average family law law firm.  There are more modest alternatives.

If you want to do something as simple as creating a blog, you can pay others to do that for you.  Lex Blog will be happy to do ALL of the work for you.  Alternatively there are hundred (nay thousands) of independent writers out there will to provide their services for hire.  Check out BlogMutt, Blur Group, or oDesk.

Then again, you can do it yourself (I do!).  As Wendy advises, make sure you have a plan.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Another Social Network For Lawyers

Have more free time than you know what to do with?  Want to spend 24 hours a day social networking?
Believe that you must engage in every form of social media in order to successfully market your practice?  Want to spend so much time on social media that you won't be left with any time to practice law?  Right on!  To help you fill the void there is a new social media site targeted at us lawyers.

Foxwordy bills itself as a fun, easy-to-use, relatable platform for lawyers to connect, collaborate and get work done more efficiently than ever before.  I can't tell you much more.  Foxwordy requires you to apply for membership.  I am not willing to go to that trouble.  But you might be?  If you do sign up please share your comments.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law.

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Friday, February 14, 2014

Include Graphics In Your Blog

http://www.tribalcafe.co.uk/visual-marketing-psychology-of-colors/
If blogging is part of your practice promotion you must include graphics in your posts.  Graphics draw the attention of your readers.  Graphics pull your readers in to your articles.  We live in a visual society.  Visual marketing is key.  Readers are conditioned to expect visuals, and they get bored if those visuals are not there.  Additionally, graphics contain certain HTML coding that draw the attentions of search engines.

Over at the mind mapping software blog Chuck Frey has a great article on creating blog graphics.  You are going to have to give him your email address in order to download the pdf report, but it is worth it.  Click here to check it out.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

#blogs #graphicsinblogs #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Solo nets Supreme Court win!

I know this has nothing to do with technology, but I think it is pretty cool. Andrew Simpson is a sole practitioner in the U.S. Virgin Is...