I was recently interviewed for an article called, “Best Practices for Law Firm Websites.” It was an honor to talk passionately about how law firms can build world-class websites with the Aprio Advisors interviewer. They have posted the article on a rich news portal called, “What’s Next” – The insights […]
Website Best Practices – an Interview with 6 Web and Design Experts – by Nicholas Gaffney
This article first appeared in LAW PRACTICE TODAY on April 14, 2017. A moderated panel by Nicholas Gaffney. Websites have come a long way since the original online brochure. Today’s websites not only offer information about a firm’s people and practices, they’re designed to […]
Lawyer’s Guide to Marketing on the Internet, 4th Edition – Ready to Order! By Greg Siskind and Deborah McMurray
Lawyers in firms of all sizes will benefit from the advice, trends and best practices that fill this new book just published by the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section. Use this resource to transform your website, email, social media and overall online strategy. Get closer to target prospects […]
Content Pilot Releases the Full Research Study and Report: “How do they Measure Up? 2016 Global 50 Law Firm Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices”
DALLAS, TEXAS – Content Pilot LLC announced today that it is making public the results of its 6th comprehensive analysis of the websites of the largest law firms in the world, based on Ten Foundational Best Practices. The 2016 AmLaw Global 50 law firms consist of 40 firms “headquartered” in the […]
Results – 2016 Global 50 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices – Executive Summary
Introduction We have finished the 6th analysis of the world’s top law firm websites based on Ten Foundational Best Practices. The first study in 2005 set precedent by identifying the top ten foundational things law firms must do to ensure their websites were satisfying what visitors wanted. It was the […]
Marketing Technology is the new Black – but success in a law firm requires some rules
I just spoke at the sold-out-standing-room-only LMA Tech Midwest (#LMATech) conference in Chicago. It was the first Legal Marketing Association tech conference held in the Midwest, but it followed in the very successful footsteps of its older brother, LMA Tech, which takes place in San Francisco each year. The audience […]
Content Pilot Announces “2016 Global 50 Law Firm Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices”
Content Pilot announced that it has begun the research for its next study, “Global 50 Law Firm Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices.” This is the 6th such study, which focuses on identifying and establishing foundational best practices that matter to visitors, and that, based on client interviews, move the needle […]
Lawyers and CPAs – This January, resolve to make your bios move the needle – Make them 3-D
Doing anything that moves the needle is hard. All the “I resolve to do this and that (eat more kale / break a sweat / cook more / drink less)” business requires so much diligence and determination that, by now, most resolutions are on the cutting room floor. I used […]
Website Case Study: Kaplan Kirsch – Not your typical law firm
Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell is a 17-lawyer firm with a remarkable story to tell. Operating out of two offices in Denver and Washington, DC, lawyers’ work and clients span the U.S. Kaplan Kirsch handles the legal work for the country’s most visible and important infrastructure, transportation and landmark projects. And, […]
Branding and Website Case Study: Louisiana Litigation Boutique Keogh Cox
Investing in smart strategy isn’t just a big firm luxury. Increasingly, aggressive, ambitious boutique firms with a good story are spending time and money to design plans to make smarter short- and long-term choices. Keogh Cox, with one office in Baton Rouge, LA, is one such firm. With a 45-year […]
“Lean Data” makes more sense for law firms than big data.
Big Data is getting bigger. According to research firm IDC, big data services and technologies will grow at a compounded rate of 27%, exceeding $32 billion by 2017. The greatest challenge is knowing how to make it work for us in a law firm – how can we learn from it, […]
Law firms+data+marketers: the love-hate relationship between marketing and math
The first “marketing and math” presentation I gave was for the now-defunct Marketing Directors’ Institute conference 15 or so years ago. It was, looking back on it, rudimentary – but it was a start. I told the law firm marketing audience to care about client and matter profitability, realization and […]
Richard Hsu connects with lawyer (a/k/a) celebrities in a unique way (Hsu Untied)
Writing my first blog post in 2015, I wanted to choose a topic that would have broad appeal. I’ve written about technology/IP/M&A lawyer Richard Hsu several times. The first time was nearly three years ago when I first read his definition of strategy. I’m including it here, because every New […]
Law firm innovation – Read the TED takeaways and 10 “Shark Tank” presentations from the 2014 Futures Conference
I am happy to share this “insider’s” view of the 2014 Futures Conference at Suffolk University Law School October 16-17 in Boston. Following Tom Sager’s keynote, three TED-style speakers (Jeff Carr, Abe Geiger and Ron Staudt) each spoke for eight minutes, then 10 facilitated teams of attendees dispersed to classrooms […]
Still buzzing about the 2014 Futures Conference at Suffolk Law School in Boston
If you want a running commentary of the 2014 Futures Conference, search for #COLPM2014 on Twitter. It’s an excellent, real-time, meat-of-the-matter summary of the six TED-style talks, Tom Sager’s keynote, our ten facilitated breakout teams and their “Shark Tank” presentations to our judges. The program was designed around innovative thinking […]
New Website Case Study: Super Regional Firm Winstead (winstead.com)
Here is what 300-lawyer Winstead explains to website visitors, and it's why a buyer of legal services should take a look a them: “Destination: Wherever you need to go” represents Winstead’s attitude, as well as the vastness of our experience and technical resources that clients rely on. Clients in virtually […]
Create relevant website content that drives search engine and human traffic – Guest Post by Janet Ellen Raasch
"Site Optimization and Online Awareness" is the 8th of the Ten Foundational Best Practices for law firm websites. "Lawyer Biographies" and "Content (Other than Bios)" are 4 and 5, respectively. In 2005, I launched the AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices research because I determined that law firms were […]
New Website Case Study: California firm Downey Brand (downeybrand.com)
For more than 80 years, Downey Brand lawyers have been key figures and played pivotal roles in the growth of Northern California and Northern Nevada. Advancing both public and private interests, Downey Brand clients are frequently at the center of the region’s most strategic and vital activities and investments. While […]
To win more business, don’t underestimate the value of visceral appeal.
For more than two decades we have known that corporate counsel and other buyers of legal services have two levels of decision-making. They make an intellectual decision when creating their short list, evaluating expertise, perceived technical skill, and other features that are important to them – geographical reach, depth, rates […]
A champagne toast to a grand 2014 – and my one piece of New Year advice
Many law firm consultants, prognosticators and pundits have written long blog posts and articles with predictions for law firms in 2014. Given that website visitors don't read (they scan), I prefer tiny bites of information and opinions, as opposed to having to scroll to China. I have several predictions this […]
A big year of awards and enhancements for Content Pilot
As the founder of Content Pilot, I am proud when the company and team I have built does well. Our biggest test of success is how our clients feel about us. Every engagement – regardless of size or client – means the world to us, and our mission is to […]
Ouch! Thinking about designing a law firm mobile app? Read this review first.
If you are thinking it's a good idea to launch a mobile app for your law firm, first read this review by Jeff Taylor. Jeff is a lawyer in Oklahoma who writes a popular blog called, "The Droid Lawyer." This is a scathing review of Sidley & Austin's mobile app […]
Results: 2013 AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices Research – Part I
I just presented the Keynote address at the 2013 LMA Legal Tech Conference in San Francisco, previewing the results of the 2013 AmLaw 100 Websites research findings. Congratulations and thanks to Clare Ota and Adam Stock for organizing a sold-out, superior conference. Sponsored by Content Pilot LLC and supported by […]
New Website Case Study: Tennessee firm Chambliss launches new site (chamblisslaw.com)
Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C. (“Chambliss”) is not your grandmother’s Tennessee law firm, in spite of the fact that it is 126 years old. From a style of doing business standpoint,the 56 lawyers are accessible, approachable, entrepreneurial, scrappy (the opposite of white-shoe), big fun (not boring), innovative and forward-thinking. From […]
New Website Case Study: Oklahoma firm Doerner (dsda.com)
Doerner Saunders Daniel & Anderson LLP ("Doerner," which rhymes with burner) is the oldest law firm in Oklahoma – its founding and Oklahoma's statehood happened at about the same time. It is a fresh-thinking, contemporary firm and it has been from the beginning – working with clients who were shaping […]
Charlatan SEO company gets sued by its unhappy law firm client
From the very first days of Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines, lawyers have wanted to appear at the top of search results – "above the fold." That spawned a slew of hucksters forming companies that promised unwitting lawyers that they could get them to show up on top […]
The best lawyer videos I’ve seen – watch Richard Hsu
"Video" comes up in every website conversation I have with lawyers and marketers. Everyone wants to add video to their websites, but few know how to approach it strategically, uniquely and so that the end result is superior to what you had without the added media. I have written about Richard […]
Website visitors don’t read (and we’ve known this for a long time)
Law firm website analytics show that visitors don’t read the content that we painstakingly create. Visitors are scanners – they efficiently scale the pages with their eyes in a big F pattern, catching a headline, keywords or infographics that catch their eye. We hope that something registers, and that there is […]
What law firms can learn from my experience with the strangest dessert in San Francisco (maybe the world)
While In San Francisco to speak at the monthly San Francisco LMA luncheon on Website trends (with Barbara Abulafia, Keker & Van Nest, Jeff Yerkey, Right Hat and Per Casey, Tenrec), my colleague Keith Wewe, another couple and I were hosted by Elizabeth Lampert for dinner at Twenty-Five Lusk. This modern and tony restaurant, located […]
The most startling finding from the 2012-2013 AmLaw 100 Websites research – A troubling deficiency
Content Pilot is just releasing the findings of the 2012-2013 AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices research. Objectively reviewing the websites of the nation's largest law firms is an arduous process. There are Ten Foundational Best Practices – must-have features and functionality for today's law firm sites - and each FBP […]
Year-end website bio housekeeping for lawyers in 30 minutes or less
People don't like to start on new projects the last few days of December. The pre-holiday bustle that focuses around family, food, faith, fa-la-la and folly has subsided, and we look ahead to the first full week of January to really start work. This year, these last December days are "lost" days […]
Waller: A successful law firm website case study
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP is a 200-lawyer firm headquartered in Nashville, with offices in Birmingham, AL and Austin, TX. The work that “Waller” does in the healthcare industry belies its relatively small size. It is known throughout that industry as the leader, the number-one firm, the “player” in […]
5 Tech tips to increase your productivity – Courtesy of Attorney at Work Blog
David King Keller surveyed a few of us at the Legal Marketing Association's Tech Conference in San Francisco on October 10-11, 2012 and published an article on the Attorney at Work Blog. The focus of the conference was for speakers to share big and little ideas that "can increase your visibility, your productivity […]
What’s your message? No, really – What’s your message?
Is your message what you say it is – let's say, your positioning strategy that results in a tagline – is that your message? Or, is your message what others say about you, or post about you on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest? Marketoonist Tom Fishburne spoke at Google's marketing conference […]
Content Pilot announces NEW Law Firm Website Ten Foundational Best Practices – 2012-2013
As Content Pilot and Right Hat gear up to conduct the AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices research for 2012-2013, the two companies have combined forces and released the latest list of “must-have” attributes for your law firm website. This has been substantially overhauled from the 2010 list. “Mobility” is […]
Back in America
I've just returned from two weeks touring and cruising Italy, plus other countries that are on the coastlines of the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. It was a great immersion in ancient cultures and centuries-old cathedrals and basilicas, combined with the joy of spontaneous, contemporary exploration and choice-making. But this post isn't about […]
The Twitter logo: 2 years old and over-the-hill
Twitter leaders decided that the old bird was over-the-hill. And too fat. No more tubby, toddler-appropriate tiny "Ts," either. Logo refreshes aren't unusual, but they typically happen over decades, not months. For example, take the evolution of the NBC logo (all the NBC logos below are the property of […]
The yin of the web designer and the yang of the client – whose ego wins?
For nearly 30 years, I have bought and sold design services, and since 1996, I have worked with website designers. Wait, I shouldn't count those first years of web design, because they were horrifying experiments in this crazy new medium, but I can legitmately herald 2000 as the year that I […]
Lawyers (and everyone else), ask yourself: Am I my resume?
With yet another high profile resume-fake (Scott Thompson, who was ousted as Yahoo! CEO after four months among accusations that he lied on his resume about having a computer science degree) I am compelled to write this blog post about telling the truth on your website and other biographies. Whether […]
What law firms can learn from Dyson’s (think vacuum cleaners) anti-branding slur.
British industrial designer, Sir James Dyson, is best known for his iconic bagless vacuum cleaner that he peddles on television. And among frequent travelers who wash their hands in airport restrooms, for the Dyson Airblade, which dries your hands as would the edge of a tornado. But after a recent […]