The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Law firms, especially big law firms, tend to rely on SEO to market their practices online.  The age-old question is: how do I get to Page One on Google?  The new problem is that Page One of Google is changing.   Leveraging search results has always been more of an art than a science; and, the picture is shifting again.  Google's algorithms and search results pages get tweaked from time to time, and it pays to monitor trends, which develop over time .  One current trend is the increasing exposure of paid advertising on the sought-after first page of Google search results.  Looking at a first page result now versus those same results, even as compared to a few years ago, yields a significant difference.  There are more paid advertising results (generally PPC) at the top of the page than ever before, and the prominence of those ads has been amplified.  Furthermore, map results are displayed directly below paid advertising, in a more prominent way than those results have pre ...

Legal research options abound, more so than ever before.  This is in line with the general proliferation of law firm technology, buoyed by the rapid advancement of cloud technology for use in business.   But, with legal research, the challenge of finding the right products at the right rate structure is particularly important, because legal research is still a high - number budget line item for law firms.     Legal research is the life-blood of substantive work for so many attorneys that the systems they use for research just have to work.  But, no law firm has an unlimited budget.  And, if you try to research legal research tools on Google, or a lesser search engine,  the results are often overwhelming, and only bring more confusion into the equation.  Ah, the irony drips.   To cut through the noise, check out the ‘ Legal Information Buyer’s Guide & Reference Manual ’ , which   is  updated annually,  ...

Remember  that old Twilight Zone episode ?  ( It’s a cookbook! )   Well, this time, it’s  not hungry aliens  that are coming for us: it’s your server, and what it really wants is your wallet.   If you haven’t fully adopted cloud software, you’re likely storing your documents and email on a server.  But, there are a lot of associated costs for maintaining physical servers, like: the space they require, their need to be cooled, the electricity they suck up, the requirement to manage your own data backup and the frequent replacement cost.   But, when you are entirely cloud-based, you’re essentially renting server space from another entity (probably Amazon or Google, even if you’re using another vendor), and all those affiliated costs go away.  And, since  the cloud is essentially eternal (at least so far as your lifespan is concerned)  the replacement cost never accrues.  Instead, you pay monthly o r  annual fees for ...

If you’re a solo lawyer , it doesn’t make sense to invest in a phone system.   But, you don’t want your clients to have your personal phone number, either.  What if they start texting you?        So, what’s a thrifty solo lawyer to do?     Enter  Google Voice , which is the answer to your prayers  . . .  i f the answer to your prayers is finding a better way to answer your phone when your clients call.   Google Voice allows you to ‘mask’ your personal phone number, while still receiving calls at your personal phone.  It’s free; and, it takes less than a minute to setup.  All you have to do is create or sign into an existing Google account, select a phone number, and you’re good to go.  Then, publish your new Google number,  and  get calls at your smartphone,  without  ever reveal ing  your personal phone number.   If you’re a solo  attorney ...

When thinking about how to market a law firm effectively, the question of frequency is important, especially as it relates to  content marketing : get as much of your stuff out there into the world, as often as you can, and people are bound to pay attention to you.  It’s not quite that simple; but, that is the gist of it.   I n addition to having a lot of marketing materials in your holster,  though,  it’s also important to consider the breadth of  your  marketing attack.   In 2019, you can’t just market to one or two channels, because it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know where your best leads are going to be looking for legal services information.  Maybe your best client is somebody who’s given up on Google search, and now prefers  ‘ in-app search ’ , because that’s easier to do on a smartphone?  Or, maybe your best client has given up on Facebook, and switched to LinkedIn, to avoid all the political nois...