Attorney Website Design Blog

Next week, Amicus Creative Media is hitting the road to attend the 48th Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning in Orlando, FL. This industry-leading event, hosted by the University of Miami School of Law, draws estate planning attorneys, wealth advisors and accountants from across the country.

Working with over two hundred estate planning firms over the past few years, we welcome the opportunity to attend this event to connect with current clients and meet new attorneys who are looking to build a more powerful web presence. If you will be in attendance, please visit booth 229 to meet a few members of our great team and learn about our online marketing tools to propel your practice to new heights.

Local breakfast meetings or cocktail hours at your local bar association are invaluable business development tools that facilitate face to face interaction among like minded professionals. There is no replacement for good ol’ fashion networking, but with social networks like Google+ and LinkedIn, you can continue to stay connected, and meet new professionals in your field even when your busy schedule doesn’t permit many events out of the office. To maximize the benefits of virtual networking, consider the following:

In the words of Winston Churchill, “he who fails to plan is planning to fail”. This is most definitely the case when it comes to online marketing and the implementation of a dynamic content strategy. We see it all the time: a law firm launches a new website and is diligent about adding new content on a regular basis because they know this will help with SEO and make an all around better experience for their site visitors. But then life and the practice of law gets in the way. Suddenly bi-weekly posts turn into bi-monthly posts and as you can imagine, dwindle down to just a handful of new articles per year. Unfortunately, when your content strategy falls to the backburner, your web presence also takes a hit. When it comes to carrying out an effective ongoing content campaign, a bit of planning and brainstorming can make all the difference, allowing you to keep up even during the business times of the year.

Most successful attorneys get a great deal of their business through referrals from past clients, colleagues and personal connections. For the most part, these professionals have made a great impression and have become synonymous with effectively resolving a certain kind of legal issue so when a former client hears of a friend who is going through a divorce, they are quick to recommend the lawyer that they once worked with on their own family law matter. In addition to providing excellent service, your firm must also keep in touch with your contacts so they don’t forget your name and instead are constantly reminded of your expertise. An effective top of mind marketing campaign is all about reconnecting with your contacts throughout the year so your name is the first thing that comes to mind when the need for a legal professional arises. In developing the best top of mind marketing strategy for your firm, consider the following questions:

To make sure you are able to launch an effective online marketing campaign in the year ahead, you need to ensure that you are familiar with the various marketing tools and online resources in your arsenal, especially if you haven’t used these systems in some time. Over the next few days, take the following steps so you’re well-prepared to kick off a dynamic marketing campaign in 2014:

For the past year, we’ve held educational monthly webinars covering a wide array of online marketing topics. In the year ahead, we’re teaming up with experts across the legal industry to present informative programs on an even more diverse group of topics. These online events are free to attend, and will undoubtedly give you expert insight into strategies and tools you can employ to propel your practice in the year ahead.

Happy New Year!  We hope that you had a wonderful celebration to ring in 2014.

To kick off the start of a New Year, and make sure you’re investing in the right providers and services which will yield positive results for your firm, we’ve prepared a list of questions to consider during the selection of an SEO consultant.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen countless attorneys fall victim to SEO scams. In hopes of achieving top spots in the search engines results pages, firms sink thousands of dollars each month into these campaigns which often can’t deliver on lofty promises of quick results and thousands of new visitors each month. Given the technical nature of SEO, many attorneys feel that they don’t know enough to make an educated decision and make sure they are getting the most bang for their buck. To help firms ask the right questions during the selection process, we’ve prepared a white paper addressing the various concerns and issues that attorneys should consider in their quest for knowledgeable SEO assistance. We encourage you to download the report and refer back to it, if you’re looking to hire an SEO consultant in 2014. 

Ah yes, it's that glorious time of year when the world is preparing to say goodbye to 2013 and welcome in 2014. The start of the New Year is seen by many as a perfect time to begin fresh and commit to a new goal whether that be to lose a few pounds, quit smoking or save more money. While we can’t help you shed your Christmas weight or assist with resisting the nicotine pull after your morning cup of joe, we can equip you with expert tips and resources to help you market your firm more effectively in the New Year. Over the next two weeks, we will supply you with expert insight into best practices and effective strategies to increase your online visibility in the months ahead. Subscribe to our blog e-mail list to have these tips delivered right to your mailbox each morning, or check back here to learn from our team of experts who have helped over 750 law firms achieve great online success.

More companies are ditching paper mailings for the holidays, opting instead to send their warm wishes via email. Many digital advocates argue that this form of outreach is less expensive, less time-consuming and better for the environment. If you have yet to plan for your holiday mailing, you may want to consider sending an e-blast with your warm holiday wishes to colleagues and friends. If you’re an Amicus Creative client, you can even use our e-newsletter distribution system (built right into your Site Manager account) for your holiday outreach, reaching hundreds, or even thousands, of contacts in just a few minutes. Below you’ll find some helpful tips on creating an effective digital greeting that spreads holiday cheer to recipients.

by Kris L. Canaday 

Paralegals, especially paralegal support providers, are some of an attorney’s top referral sources.

When I worked in private practice, I knew the attorneys in the office where I worked, but could really only speak to the abilities of the attorneys I worked with directly. In a general practice firm, I knew we had certain attorneys that worked in certain areas of law more than others did. That was it though. If someone asked me who I recommended as an attorney in a certain area of law, my ability to respond was sorely limited.

When I worked in-house, I not only had the opportunity to work closely with my in-house attorneys, but attorneys in our other offices, as well as outside counsel and counsel from around the state (and sometimes beyond) who represented related-interest parties. In this capacity, it was pretty easy to get a feel for which attorneys stood out from the rest. Working with so many attorneys in one capacity or another was a great experience because it broadened my horizons so much. Knowing so many attorneys and seeing how each of them approached their work made it easier to make recommendations.

As Thanksgiving nears, and people all over the country travel to celebrate with loved ones, we wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the past year and the many things that we’re thankful for this Thursday and every other day that we get to do the work we love so very much.

Among our clients and colleagues in the legal industry, we are known for being a small company that is absolutely fanatical about providing white glove support. Over the past year, we’ve had the great opportunity to add to the Amicus Creative family both in terms of the number of attorneys we work with and our own team of marketing professionals, growing our client service, sales, design, development and SEO teams (you can meet them here). These additions haven’t taken away from our small firm feel; in fact, they’ve allowed us to provide even better service to the attorneys we serve. We know our own growth wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the support of our amazing clients, and they make us want to come to work every day so we can continue to help them propel their practices to new heights.

Our Insight in Motion library, and the number of e-newsletters our clients send out each month, has tripled meaning more referrals and greater visibility for our firms. LegalVault continues to be a potent tool for the estate planning firms we serve, allowing them to provide tangible value to their clients while strengthening their top of mind marketing campaigns. We are so incredibly grateful that these firms, and their clients, continue to put their trust in us and rely on us for access to their most important documents 24/7/365. We take this responsibility very seriously, and we continue to make enhancements to improve the service, and ensure optimal security.

We’ve also had the great opportunity to partner with new professionals throughout the legal industry, and have teamed up with new bar associations across the country as a member benefit partner. Our growing network allows us to provide more value to our clients in the form of educational webinars, white papers, expert referrals and discounts and monthly publications filled with marketing tips.

Whether you are a client, partner or one of our faithful readers, we thank you for the role that you’ve played in our great success over the past year. We are so appreciative of your support, and we vow to continue to bring the same passion, dedication and expertise to legal marketing in the year ahead.

On behalf of the entire Amicus Creative team, we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving filled with great food and cherished time with loved ones!