The Net Impact Roadmap

The decision to take on a project like a new website is daunting enough.  Often coupled with that decision is another that is make-or-break for an organization, do we build the new site in-house or hire it out?  There are a lot of great reasons for each extreme of this decision.  There are also some real dangers for each.  I have to admit, in our years of working with clients and prospects, seldom do we see an internally developed site that comes in on time, on budget and supporting industry best practices.  This is not to say it can’t happen, and great if it does.  I’ts just not that common.  Why is that?

First a quck case study.  An Internet marketing client of ours, very progressive and intelligent group, leaders in their industry and well recognized nationally were operating a 6 year old ecommerce site that had just become ungainly.  Too many add-ons to the database, too many demands that were unanticipated at time of build and too many new generations of marketing people and IT had taken it’s toll. So, the right decision? Build a new site.  Off the shelf?  No way, too many special needs.  Custom but reusing exisitng platforms, yeah, that’s an option.  Bids for the new site from our team and competitors came in between $30k to $60k.  Expensive?  Maybe.. but for a web content management system that is customized for the exact business needs of a mission critical element, probably worth it. 

For several reasons, the “build it here” syndrome, paying for services when you have staff etc… the decision was made to go internal.  Result? 

• If this had been an outsourced project with a  forecast at the high side at $60k to the high bidder,  timelined to take six months to complete and consume approximately 200 hours of the client’s staff time (say at $100k with full load).  You have six months of disruption and $160k out of pocket for internal and external. 
• As an  internal project it took 2 years to build, consumed a full-time developer and a great deal of IT, web design and marketing team assistance and still didn’t result in the responsiveness that marketing needed.  That calculates into well over $350k of internal costs and a delay of an extra 18 months in getting to market.  I’d like to say that this is an exception but it is not.  This kind of experience seems to be more common than you would think.

Does that mean that it is not possible for a firm to build their website internally as well or better than using an agency?  No, absolutely not.  Plenty of horror stories exist for the alternative path.  Planning, resource selection and scope definition are needed on every project.  With that in mind, either way, inside or out,  there are few things you need to consider if you are planning to replace your site.  Let me share.

1. The first issue is to determine, “Who is this site meant to serve?”  in other words, “Who is the customer?”  In too many organizations there is still a turf struggle between IT and web marketingstaffs.  If your website is a mission critical piece of your marketing, then I am sorry to point out that the marketing department must be the customer. (IT staffers please insert “groan” here.)  The needs for content updates, product promotion, advertising and line extension has got to be where it starts. Your firm will be at a tactical disadvantage if every change, especially content changes and image changes, has to go through IT.  Truth is, most IT staffs really do not want to make the changes. They just don’t want to clean up marketing’s errors. What they tell me is that: “We would rather do it than fix it.”  Can the non-techy marketing team mess up a website?  Absolutely, but with the right platform and training, this won’t disrupt the server side of the equation.  In most enterprise focused WCMS platforms you can build in the proper level of authorities with enough containment to be certain that your content is fresh while the site maintains it’s integrity.  Most also have a life preserver allowing you to roll back to a recent correct instance and just do the changes again.
2. Second thought is, “What technology choice do we make?”  In some cases there is no choice.  Your infrastructure is in place and you will select an approach that fits.  In a cloud environment or SaaS though your choices are wide open.  How about, static or CMS?  It has been a long time since anyone argued the value of a static site over a CMS.  I think that debate is settled for any major player. 
3. Who will maintain the site once it’s built?  That  issue is sometimes, “Which CMS to use?”  I personally have no issue with open source IF a firm has the in-house expertise to maintain a Joomla or .NetNuke site with redundant developers or IF you sign a maintenance contract with the agency that developed your site initially.  Your call.  I will remind you though that there is not a corporate body with open source that is obliged to keep your personalized code and customization in step with new releases and or required web-wide advances.  Once you pull a version off the shelf then it is an obligation of your team or your development partner to keep things running through all of the changes that move the web forward.  Is there a fee for that?  Sure but you are either paying that fee as a service expense or payroll expense anyway.  Your new site will need fixed, debugged and modernized.  That’s how it is.  Plan on it.  If up time is critical then you need a resource.  24/7 support? Inside or outside is up to you.
4. Hardest point of all, “Do we build it here or partner?”  The build-it-here approach is admiarable but usually not a great argument for ROI.  The other questions linger about skill sets, priorities and redundancy.  The solution very well could be to perform all functions in-house if that effort does not challenge other customer centric or high priority projects.  Without redundant and comparable skill sets then you have to ask, “Who gets the B team?” - your clients, your other internal projects or your new website.  Part two of this question is to make certain that the bench strength will be in place in case your ace developer, artist… gets hit by the proverbial bus or a superior job offer.  A sudden change in business fortune can also change your priorities.  If that dreamy project for your top customer finally gets signed you may have a new dilemma, pull your web development team or hire into the new project.  It happens.  Who carries the ball if any of these events come to light? 
5. Often overlooked as well is, “Who manages the project?”  someone has to hold numerous feet to the fire or deadlines fall onto a to-do list next to ‘turn in my expense report’.  I have seen several projects falter because it is not the high priority of a critical task holder. 
6. Is partial partnering an option?  Could your creative team hand off designs to an outside web development team working in an environment that your IT team has proposed?  We do it all the time, and I’m sure other firms do as well.  Your look, feel, branding and functionality requirements built to your specs don’t necessarily require a 100% custom back-end to still give you the responsive machine you want developed in a stable platform that IT will approve and maybe even later support.  How about content and page population?  Often we will build out a sample set of pages and train the client’s marketing team how to populate the rest.  This combines some real hands on training with just in time creativity and also transfers the project ownership to your team pre-launch.
7. Finally, remember that you are building the site for a purpose.  It needs to bring traffic, develop leads, generate sales and build you brand.  All of your post-launch requirements have to be in place.  Can you do the SEO?  Can your team determine and your developer build testing oriented calls to action?  Will your analytics be built in?  Site map prepared for the search engines?  Having a great looking site that no one sees , or even worse, no one converts on, is not the reward for a long project like this.  Who makes sure that the new site is built for driving trafffic, improving conversion and testing for improvement? 

So, I’m already over 1400 words and haven’t explored all the possibilities. Just remember that as you embark on a new site, there should be a set of KPIs you hold the project members accountable for, whether internal or external.  Speed to market, usability, platform stability, ease of support and marketing effectiveness cannot be written off because it was an internal job. Hold your project to a higher standard.  Then decide who to hire.

New Year – New Look!

Like waistlines, websites can get rather soft if you do not keep working on them…  

So here are a few tips on how to whip your website into shape for the new year! (No scale involved) 

1) Blog. Having a blog marketing campaign is a great way to offer your Internet audience a more intimate view into your business. You can share your ideas almost as fast as you can think them up. And, unlike your website, your blog can be a two-way conversation with your visitors! 

2) Add new, relevant content. A stale website is about as inviting as stale bread. Adding fresh content not only gives users a reason to visit your site more frequently but can increase your search engine rankings too. If your site isn’t easy to update, talk to us about installing a content management system, like Auctori.

3) Reach out to your users. This year consider sending an email newsletter. This is a simple way to position yourself as an expert in your field and stay in touch with clients. Email Marketing less expensive than most traditional marketing campaigns.

4) Become a social butterfly. Today it is simply not enough to just have your website optimized; you also need to ensure your company has a strong presence on social media networks. By incorporating social media features into a marketing campaign, companies can create their own brand-focused community that allows for user-generated content.

5) Pump up that SEO! Make sure your keywords and descriptions for all your pages are optimized to their fullest so that search engines and, most importantly, potential clients will be able to find your site.

Why wait any longer to start working on your website’s image?

Contact The Net Impact to learn how we can get your website in the best shape it can be to hit the ground running in 2010!

Wandering what The Net Impact team has been up to? Check out our January Newsletter to find out!

Unidev and The Net Impact Team with St. Louis Area Foodbank to Sponsor Office Food Drive

Unidev and The Net Impact are joining forces with the the St. Louis Area Foodbank to sponsor a food drive this holiday season. The canned food drive will be held from December 18 through January 5 at our office in Chesterfield, Missouri.

“Unidev and The Net Impact are looking forward to getting involved with such a wonderful organization. The FoodBank is at the center of a network of charitable people who want to make sure that no one in the area goes hungry, and for this reason, we are excited to be in a position to help those at this generous organization feed those in need this holiday season,” said Steve Thomas, President of The Net Impact.

The St. Louis Area Foodbank has grown to become the bi-state region’s largest non-profit. Through their mission “to feed hungry people by distributing food through partner agencies, and to educate the public about the nature of and solutions to the problems of hunger”, the St. Louis Area Foodbank is on track this year to distribute 20 million pounds of food and personal care items through their network of 500 partner agencies.

Looking for a way to give back to the community this holiday season?!

Stop by our office from December 18th through January 5th, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to donate  canned goods that will help the foodbank ensure they have the needed supply to get through the holiday season! Our office is located at 16690 Swingley Ridge Road, suite 260 in Chesterfield, Missouri 63017.

Learn more about how your organization can benefit the Greater St. Louis Area Foodbank by visiting: stlfoodbank.org

Read the full press release here! 

Defining Features for Your Website

We are all followers of the “coolest new thing” to a certain degree.  I am as guilty as anyone out there. I see the face wall created for Repower America and start surfing the web for modules and show it to our development team. In retrospect, if I had found a decent module or fired up the developers to create such a piece, what would I do with it?  Which of our customers could use it?  Our nonprofits like Users First Alliance might like this.  But, even if a client loved the idea, would they see enough value to be willing to pay for it?

 Truth is, pieces of web candy like this are being created daily by a universe of talent, and they are great for their purpose.  They are perfect for their mission.  But do I need or do you need this same illustration of cool for our purposes?  Most often the answer is “No.”

Most of the time just because we can create something is not a good reason to create something.  That’s very true for web development.  Whenever a new client for web marketing shows us a beautiful, well-constructed, large and expensive flash splash intro page for their website, we can almost guarantee before even looking at their analytics that many customers bounce right from that page. Also, repeat visitors will often direct link into an interior page to avoid the long intro.  And finally, usually the flash page does not lead to a higher conversion.  Why is that? 

Well, especially in B to B, most visitors do not come to your site to be entertained.  They are on a mission.  If they know you already, they visit your site for a purpose.  If they do not know you, then your flash may be impressive, but it slows them down.  Unless you are YouTube, inform and do not entertain.  Now I am not against flash or custom applications.  I am constantly in awe of some development work I’ve seen.  That’s not the point.  What do you need your website to do?  What do your visitors want?  Could you build the site with a quality carpenter’s hammer, or do you need one that is hydrogen powered?

In our web strategy sessions, we have advised some clients that their web strategy may not even require a website.  Working with social media, if you are an entrepreneur with a start up, your business is event driven or you are a sole practitioner, you could create a large web footprint by stepping into Facebook and LinkedIn.  You can support those web “places of business” with Flickr, YouTube and the increasingly popular Twitter.  Of course what this requires is time.  Consistent posting, commenting and responding is critical and required.  But what it does not require is a web site. 

Something to think about?  What do we need as our online footprint?  What tools do I require to get my story across?  Can I get where I want to go with a regular toolset, or do I need a hydrogen powered hammer?

Here’s some Internet Marketing and Web Design Yuletide Cheer from The Net Impact …

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all cross the ‘net,
Marketers were hoping, Click-throughs, their site to get.
The stockings were hung by the modem with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas would leave new software.

The retailers were twittering instead of in their beds,
While visions of last minute shoppers danced in their heads.
The online forums were busy with commotion,
as I had just settled down for the latest Facebook promotion.

When in my email inbox there arose such a buzz,
I logged off my Facebook page to see what this fuss was.
Then what to my tired eyes should appear,
But an inbox packed full of late holiday cheer!

O’ how my Google analytics had flew,
So many hits, I didn’t know what to do!�
With visitors and goals increasing so quick,
I knew in a second it had to be the pay per click.

“Now Google, Bing and Facebook searches are mounting!
My metrics are filled with clicks to be a counting!”

Now my search engine rankings on a daily basis fly,
I’ve never had so many potential clients interested to buy.
So many visitors’ my website did attract,
I knew all this online success was due to The Net Impact.

My web design looks great on every PC,
This has caused quite the jump in visit frequency.
TNI knows great customer experience is all in the details,
This is why I am bringing in the sales!

The Net Impact’s wish is this: may your site bring you gold,
And may all of your holiday wishes end up above the fold! 

The Net Impact’s Holiday Gift to You!

Interested in learning more about Google Analytics?

In light of the Holiday Season, The Net Impact would like to offer 2-hour Google Analytics training sessions for only $99. Our specialists will train your employees on the Google Analytics system and on how to use the reporting for success. Training sessions can be arranged as webinars or off-site meetings based upon your company’s needs. Contact The Net Impact to find out more about our training session special and how to take your analytics to the next level!

What’s been going on at The Net Impact? – Check out our December Newsletter to find out!

Homebuyer education site enhances design and implements web marketing strategy

On November 9, 2009, Gohomebuyer.com, a comprehensive website dedicated to educating homebuyers to make an informed decision when buying a home, launched their newly redesigned website, which was designed and searched engine optimized by The Net Impact.  

“We hired The Net Impact to help launch our new product, Go Homebuyer!. The Net Impact redesigned our website, Facebook page, and assisted in developing a plan to help drive hits to our website. Their level of knowledge about design and optimization was tremendous. Thank you for putting us on the right course for web success!,” said Amanda Pozzo, Real Estate Educate, GoHomebuyer.com.

Go Homebuyer! Originally contacted The Net Impact to help implement a search engine optimization strategy. To create an effective approach, our team reviewed Go Homebuyer! ‘s current web analytics. After conducting a thorough internal site traffic analysis, we developed a plan of action to increase the site’s visibility in search engines and to improve visitor navigation. Go Homebuyer! also utilized our press release optimization service to boost the visibility of their press release, add additional links to their website and  to increase target traffic flow to their website.

When working on the SEO strategy for Go Homebuyer!,  Go Home Buyer! came to the realization that  their website would benefit from a site redesign in order to improve visitor navigation and conversion . In addition to search engine optimization services, Go Homebuyer! also looked to our web design services to boost their online prescence. Our design team created a new website and new landing page structure for the online company, which was then handed over Go Homebuyer!’s in-house developers who  applied the design. To reflect the look and feel of the newly designed website, we also designed a custom Facebook  and launched the Go Homebuyer!’s Facebook Advertising Campaign.

Gohomebuyer.com  offers a variety of online resources covering the most interesting and relevant information in real estate today. This includes a comprehensive suite of online courses which includes video, audio, graphics, activities and much more. Since Go Homebuyer!’s resources are all accessible online, the need for a user-friendly and attractive website is an important aspect to the success of their business.  Our search engine optimization team and web design team were a perfect match to meet Go Homebuyer!’s  online objectives to increase search engine visibility and to enhance the look and feel of their new website.

“We enjoy working with out-of-the-box thinkers like the Go Home Buyer! team.  Their innovate approach to bringing information and education to new home buyers and their  openness to new marketing ideas made this a great project for all parties.  We will follow up with a web analytics review in about 30 days to confirm and challenge aspects of our original strategy.   Any changes as well as additional testing is already in our thought process,” said Steve Thomas, President, The Net Impact.

 The presentation focused on:

-Understanding your Google Analytics Dashboard

-Navigating the Google Analytics report suite

-Defining the metrics that matter most

-Setting up goals to track conversion

The engaging conversation highlighted all of the advantages, latest features and benefits of Google Analytics. One of the topics covered was tracking social media traffic. Erica emphasized the importantance of tracking social media sites on the campaign level to effectively gather and analyze social media analytics.With Google Analytics, you can thoroughly analyze results using the various filters and components Google Analytics offers.  For example, tracking social networking sites will show you social media traffic sources in relation to your overall site traffic. This will in turn give you a good idea of which social media tools are working most effectively for your brand.

Web Account Manager, Erica Sharinghausen leading the discussion on understanding your Google Analytics Dashboard

What is a good bounce rate for my website?” …. “How do I track my Facebook Advertising? … “What metrics should I pay the most attention to?”

These were just a few of the questions answered “at The Net Impact’s Introduction to Google Analytics seminar, which was geared to introduce business professionals to the basics of web analytics. Erica shared valuable insights on how to utilize Google Analytics to optimize online marketing, improve website performance and increase conversions.  Attendees left with a better understanding of how Google Analytics works and what tools and reports would best serve their individual business.

The Most Important lessons learned from the presentation

- Adjust spending on paid keywords that have high bounce rates

- Identify your problem – unpaid keywords with high bounce rates

- Identify landing pages that need to be more relevant or need stronger calls to action

-Setting up goals to track online success

The Net Impact Team would like to thank everyone who participated in the Introduction to Google Analytic Seminar and we are  looking forward to having many more interesting informational sessions to come!

Check out these great photos and videos from Wednesday night’s seminar!

Getting in the mind of your website visitor

In the last decade, tracking website analytics has rapidly evolved from simply data crunching to a very powerful decision making platform. Web analytics is an important tool for Internet marketers and web designers alike to make choices about how to improve traffic flow, design calls to action, update search engine optimization and enhance the overall strategy of a website.

Paying close attention to visitor behavior on a website through analytics, is very similar to paying attention to the consumer behavior for a store, brand or product.  Think of it this way… a store manager arranges their shop with the most marketable items in places that grab the shopper’s attention and are easily accessible and highly visible. Just as the store manager is looking to make the shopper’s experience more satisfying by arranging their store based on the habits of his consumers, so that it is easy and enjoyable to navigate through, a website creator should take into account what information is most sought after on their website and the habits and pathways visitors are taking to get there.

Without web analytics it is next to impossible to measure and analyze website visitor behavior. Analyzing visitor behavior allows you to determine activity as it affects profit, sales and areas (pages) of interest. Page views, navigation, entry and exit pages, time spent, languages, geographic locations, visits, and keywords used in searches are a few of the features that are able to be determined using web analytics. By simply tracking items that are most often viewed you can learn what items or products on your site, receive the most attention. In this way you can adapt your offerings to attract more traffic and while doing so monitor what sparks and keeps visitor’s attention.

The Net Impact team places special emphasis on the importance of clickstream tracking, or the following of a visitor’s clickstream as they move throughout a website, down to every microscopic detail. This analysis offered by Google under the name Event Tracking Tool,  allows you to track every movement your visitor makes as a unique event. Analyzing every small movement, or micro-conversion, your visitor makes provides you with useful feedback used to make changes to your website to improve your visitor’s experience, which will in turn enhance the overall value of your website. Every micro-conversion a visitor makes is important because, no matter how small the movement is, it is still conversion, you are still getting the visitor to do what you want them to dig deeper and deeper into your website.

An excellent example of this is The Net Impact’s findings with the website www.vangoghgallery.com. VanGoghGallery.com is an online collection of Van Gogh’s works. The website received thousands of visitors each day. The Net Impact helped Van Gogh gallery setup Event Tracking Methods to gain greater insight into the navigation patterns of its main landing pages.  Through event tracking, Van Gogh Gallery was able to determine that the large image links on the page received 98.5% of the click-throughs compared 1.5%  for the side navigation links, going to the same page. This was helpful for determining the elements necessary on each page to get visitors to take the next step.

In conclusion, if you ever wondered how to analyze website user behavior, determine which search terms they come from, which pages are most visited, which pages are of least interest  and how to maximize your ROI, look into implementing  a Web Analytics solution. Analytics will help you conduct a behavioral analysis of your website visitors, and with that information you can make the required changes to your website that will improve your overall conversation rate and make your visitor’s website experience one that is enjoyable.

To find out how The Net Impact can help you with your Google Analytics needs, contact us today for a free assessment and consultation!

Online public relations increases search engine visibility

Until recently,  companies and PR Firms wrote press releases in a very uniform fashion designed for the eyes of the traditional journalist. But the evolution of online public relations has created an entirely new approach to the writing and distributing process of press releases.

The purpose behind most online public relations efforts is to increase overall online exposure, which will in turn direct more people to visit your targeted website.  Increased online exposure can lead to greater brand development, a stronger relationship with your public, increased interest from the media, more connections with potential partners and increased lead generation causing greater revenue.

Any topic that will be of interest to prospects, the media and potential partners (such as a new product launch, industry news, events, community activities, etc…) can be used to construct a press release that is search engine optimized and distributed online. Then, distributing optimized press release via newswires has the power to directly reach millions of Internet users, generate inbound links to your website and raise search engine visibility of your website. The Net Impact’s most often used press release distributor is PRWeb, an excellent proven third party partner for publication of your online press releases, with an average charge of $200 per release.

Most newswire services offer you an exact report on how many people accessed your optimized release. This is an essential tool in gauging your reads and impressions.  In addition, through other analytical tools, such as Google Analytics, you can determine when someone follows a link to your targeted website through your optimized press release.

Now that online news sites such as Yahoo News and Google News contain such an abundance of press release content and RSS feeds, it is easy to syndicate news. An optimized press release can get you a page one SERP result for your relevant keywords in the search engines, news engines and news websites. So we see that press releases are not only an effective tool for distributing content to the media and consumers, they are easily syndicated creating an excellent opportunity to attract organic traffic and incoming links.

 A well written online press release has the ability to:

1.) Capture the attention of editors, journalists and bloggers looking for compelling topics for news stories

2.) Live on the web indefinitely. Press Releases are  published to various websites and blogs, giving your content a long shelf life as the content is never deleted creating enduring links.

3.) Create conversation on social networks.The press release link will be shared indefinitely through social media marketing, such as Twitter and Facebook

4.) Be viewed by new prospects – your target audience.

*As a result of all of these activities, hyperlinks will generate that will point back to the release creator’s targeted web site.

How to re-purpose a press release.

Once the press release has been released, there are still opportunities for increased exposure. The Net Impact Recommends:

-Writing a company blog post with the press release content

-Sharing the announcement using Twitter                                                                                        

-Posting an update on the press release on your Facebook                                   

-Adding the press release to the news page on your company website

-Posting any media collateral on other social sites

-Sharing the press release on your company newsletter

-Distributing the press release internally so associates can share it with their friends and business partners

Lastly, creating a calendar for PR that plans a regular expectation for your potential publishers is important.  Frequent and consistent news will generate more interest in your pieces as publishers begin to rely upon them. 

 Don’t forget, the best public relations strategy is to find a worthwhile angle to a story and create excellent content that is visible to your target audience. Combining creative ability and optimization skills to create compelling, keyword relevant press releases will only prove to be a rewarding public relations effort for your company.

 If online press releases sound like something your company should be doing but you do not know the right approach,  have the time or the resources, Contact The Net Impact to help you begin your online public relations effort in an organized manner. The Net Impact’s public relations services include press release copy-writing and press release submission through third party online platforms.. We can help you implement a successful public relations strategy into your overall marketing plan.

 Yes, even lawyers can be social

Just a little over ten years ago, lawyers saw websites as simply another entry point to their firms, the other entry points being their office phone and of course, their firm’s front doors. But today’s overwhelming increase in the activity on social networks by legal  professionals, has created an exponential number of entry points for law firms. According to the recently released, 2009 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report, one in eight firms uses social networks. The report also stated that tools that use the Internet are significantly increasing the productivity of lawyers and decreasing their wasted time.

When used to a lawyer or law firm’s best advantage, social media has the power to serve as an effective public relations tool that has the power to increase awareness of a lawyer’s expertise, knowledge or experience in their practice area. In addition social media has the ability to create and build on relationships that will make a positive impact not only on a lawyer’s image, but also on their overall career.

Four ways legal professionals can benefit from social media
 

1.) Enables the exchange of valuable information

The consistent exchange of information is the essence of social media. An example of this would be reading or writing a blog post. Blogging is particularly useful for enhancing one’s legal knowledge. An attorney who commits to maintaining a blog, or frequently participating in conversation on social networks,  builds credibility as they  develop and refine substantive expertise in their area of practice through their online content. Discussing developments through writing and online interaction requires a very concentrated effort and is an ideal way for a lawyer to share their expertise and establish themselves as a leader in their area. In addition, most blogs allow readers to leave comments in response to posts, and many bloggers use this feature to carry on dialogue with readers.

Due to the possibility of user-generated content and ongoing communication, a single blog post can function as an excellent learning tool for a number of people. Many lawyers may reference their own blogs or the blogs of others in their field to research daily questions that may arise. Another positive benefit is if someone is looking for a lawyer in your area of expertise and sees that you are committed and are passionate enough about your career to blog regularly on the topic –  you may be placed a step above your competitors in their minds. Apart from gaining substantive insight and sharing valuable information, social media sites, such as  Twitter, can function as a great resource to find people who are talking about a very specific topic.

In the October Issue of Missouri Lawyers Weekly, I recently came across an excellent article that shared an example of how lawyers can use  Twitter as a tool to find out where a  certain conversation is taking place . According to the article by Jane Pribek, entitled “Twitter Tools for Tech-Savvy Attorneys”, Milwaukee lawyer Sean M. Sweeny, of Hailing & Cayo S.C., utilizes the popular twitter application.”You can enter search terms, and it will create categories where there are posts with only those terms. For example, I’ve been interested in the Milwaukee sick leave ordinance lately, so I entered that as a search term and some some interesting posts on the topic,”  said Sweeny. 

2.) Expands your professional network and opens up opportunities

Social media will put you in touch with others who are interested in your subject area, and getting to know these various groups online will provide you with possible collaborators, employees or employers. Through this personalized means of communication, you can connect with other attorneys, students, reporters and of course reconnect with old and new friends, and each new person you connect with has different value and potential.

According to a LinkedIn spokeswoman, there are 90,000 attorneys with LinkedIn profiles, and 212,000 people registered there as being in the law practice industry. With numbers like this, it is becoming increasingly easy for lawyers to utilize social networking tools to effectively network. For example, a partner at a firm may be looking to hire a lawyer and may come across your LinkedIn profile and present you with a job opportunity, that may not have presented itself had you not developed a strong presence on.  Also, since social networking sites are search engine friendly, don’t  be surprised if you get a phone call from a member of the press asking you to provide insight for a story or to publicize a recently won case.

3.) Social media has the power to humanize your firm
People want to hire other people, not businesses. While it is vital for your firm to have a  website to establish credibility and to provide all of the necessary information, it can be advantageous for attorneys to cultivate a uniquely individual online presence through social media. The overlap between social and professional makes lawyers more personable and more approachable. A major asset to social media is the ability to establish rapport online. Potential clients may be less intimidated to pick up the phone and call or email you if they feel like they know you. Sometimes being able to match a name with a face can increase their trust and comfort level, and put you a step above a competing firm that is a not as personable. People want to be able to speak with a specific person, and many times social networks can place a face with a name.

For example, a Facebook profile demonstrates you have a life outside the law office, and reminds clients that you are a person just like them. What’s more, your use of social media can benefit the profession by functioning as a public service. It is a simple fact that people looking for legal information go online. If you have written about or discussed some topic on which someone needs help, you have in a sense, provided a pro-bono service.

4.) And last but not least, social media can attract potential clients.
One thing we have uncovered through our experience in creating legal websites, is that social media is bringing profound change to law firm marketing. Word of mouth marketing, the leading source of work for the best lawyers, now ocurrs on the Internet. Due to social media sites. clients, potential clients and other attorneys alike can post comments on an individual lawyer or firm, and due to the unique characteristics of social networks, these comments are highly visible in search engines.

Building a positive reputation online and off, is the most effective public relations tool there is and brings in the best clients. Social media has the ability to spread your reputation far and wide to a variety of projects that may have otherwise not been aware of services.    

In conclusion, lawyers who successfully leverage social media tools to communicate, collaborate and network have a distinct advantage over those who do not. The most effective way for lawyers to use social media is to talk to people, not at them. Engage in conversation with others, don’t simply advertise your services or firm. Share information about your yourself and your personal experiences, and most Importantly, don’t be afraid to take off your  “attorney hat” and talk like you would in everyday conversation with friends, social media should be fun too! 

Legal web design and marketing,  is one of our specialties at The Net Impact. Whatever look and feel your law firm desires of its law firm’s online presence, we can help you accomplish it. We are confident that our skills in attorney marketing, social media and web design, can help your law firm’s web site reach the top. Contact The Net Impact today for a complete law firm marketing solution that is customized specifically to meet your law firm’s web site objectives.