Archive for May, 2010
Law firm web design and the importance of Legal Videos Monday, May 17th, 2010

It has often become difficult to capture the attention of online visitors entirely with written contents and diagrams only, these days, most people want to have a video representation of a law firm to access them further on their competency to handle some legal issues. People often rely to a large extent on the television, Internet and videos in making some critical decisions not only on their legal needs but also other areas of their needs. As a law firm, you can take advantage of the video settlement brochures to create a positive impression about your competency. Aside video settlement brochures, live videos, and other digital media contents will create an impactful information fast in the minds of your prospective clients in a better way.

There are different forms in which legal videos can be of help. Some of the most prominent types of legal videos include; Investigative legal videos, Viral legal videos, and legal videos for Search Engine Optimization. Some of the effective ways you can optimize your legal videos on your law firm website are; video-taping medical procedures, video-taping attorney television commercials, video-taping legal seminars, and deposition videotaping.

Deposition videotaping on legal law firm websites involves deposition taping as well as rolling transcripts over the tape. These deposition videos can thus be transferred unto your law firm website . Video-taping seminars and transferring such videos to your law firm website is ideal especially when you are presenting papers and lecturing some professional organizations. When such videos are placed on your website, your potential clients can judge you based on that. Seminar videos are great marketing tools to expand your law firm business.

Investigative legal videos are mostly used in providing information about the legitimacy of a claim for online visitors. Viral attorney videos are informative videos which are placed on the internet for millions of viewers to share among each other. They are strong law firm marketing videos which can serve several purposes at the same time. Attorney TV commercials and videos are high quality explanatory videos about the different aspects of a law firm which serve two main purposes which are; law firm marketing and information dissipation. One good thing about law firm video commercials is that they can also be transferred to the law firm website thereby offering a great leverage for the law firm.

Law firm videos can serve different purposes for different online visitors, the most important thing here is that law firms should use high quality videos for all purposes.

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The art of getting what you and your client want in a legal case or relationship Monday, May 17th, 2010

One of the challenges being faced by attorneys these days is negotiating with colleagues and clients alike. The negotiation does not center on cost of legal fees alone but also include; How to mediate a legal dispute, how to acquire the services of other attorneys and settle their fees, how to schedule the deadline for a legal case or project, and many more. Te act of negotiation is needed in these situations and it is clearly defined as a process in which two different parties pursuing different goals try to reach an agreement on an optimal course of action.

Flexibility is one characteristic that attorneys must possess to be able to have successful negotiations. When one negotiation process is not working, a good attorney will adapt to it and try another means of negotiation . When it comes to negotiating, an attorney will not want to be a carp who only see limited options, such a carp attorney will always want to maintain the “ status quo” and will not want to be defeated in any negotiation process. Such bad negotiating attorney will not want to see the positive side of the long term cost of the deal, he only interested in the short term financial gains- this is not good for an attorney law firm business.

The best negotiating lawyers are flexible in thought and strategy. These are attorneys who are always quick in changing their negotiating tactics and strategies depending on the personality and level of reasoning of the other party. Good negotiating attorneys will remain cooperative as long as their clients or colleagues are cooperative in the way they are negotiating with each other. In every negotiating situation there are 4 likely outcomes which are; win/win, lose/lose, win/lose , and no outcome. In a lose /lose situation , neither party is able to achieve his or her goals and in a win/win situation, each party is satisfied with the outcome. In a no outcome situation, no agreement was reach before the conclusion of the negotiation.

To be a successful negotiator, an attorney must understand that the other party’s needs and aspirations are quite different from his own and it is very essential that you narrow down your negotiations to one issue, though you must be prepared to list and plan several other negotiating options. As an Attorney you need to do some quality research on many negotiation components such as the delivery dates, quality of services, possible outcome of a case , and many other things that can make your negotiation very flexible.

You need to develop as many negotiable points as possible, and relay these to the other party while negotiating, don’t be angry if you are losing out on some of the points you made, if you lose some , you will gain it from another source. You need to read the mind of your clients psychologically to be able to convince him about your points.

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Making the right choice for your attorney law firm web designer Monday, May 17th, 2010

One of the most critical decision you must make after deciding to create a law firm web design is who will design the website for you? As a matter of fact, your law firm web design expert must possess some 4 main critical abilities; He must be consultative in his approach to you and your law firm, he must possess the expert design abilities, he must possess the right experiences needed for the job, and his job must be competitively priced.

When your law firm web designer has a great consultative approach , then he will be able to be a great advisor rather than just a graphic designer or a law firm web design expert. Such a web designer should make himself available as a wide resource for enhancing the value of your law firm on the internet, he should be able to ask you lots of questions especially regarding your goals and aspiration for your law firm before , during and after designing such website. He should provide you with ongoing consultations especially as new technologies are evolving. He should not only collect money from you for the services he is rendering, he must advice you on the best strategy to go about the web design.

It is true that a law firm should not be stingy when it comes to getting the most suitable law firm web design for your law firm. As a matter of fact you must be ready to invest in an expert web designer. He should be knowledgeable in not only web design but also SEO strategies that will get your law firm website on top of search engine ranking. There are significant advantages in hiring a web designer that is basically trained for law firms, he will be able to deal with some ethical and complex issues which may affect attorney-client relationship through your law firm website. So make some research into the backgrounds of as many web developers as you can to get the right one for you.

The most professional law firm web developers may charge you an average cost of $10,000 for 30-40 web pages and such price also include search engine optimization as well as cost of maintenance for a whole year. This means that your competitive pricing will depend on how many web pages you require and what size of website you want among several other factors.

It is very important that you demand for an explanation for the kind of prices your web developer is charging you. You must conduct a periodic evaluation of the website to ascertain if their services justify the price you paid.

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Important web pages you must include on your law firm web page design Monday, May 17th, 2010

A well thought-out plan is needed if you actually want to build a reputable law firm web design. There are some web pages you cannot do without, for instance, your law firm website brochure for instance is often needed especially when you want to provide adequate details about your law firm. Such law firm brochure page will include essential information such as ; Home page, About us page, Practice areas, attorney biographies, attorneys cases, representative pages and contact us page. These pages do contain brief description of your law firm as well as mission statements. Some also contain the lists of links to each attorney biographies, and information on degrees and cases handled. The home page is what determines whether you gain or lose a prospective client.

If you want to maximize the potentials of your law firm marketing strategies on your law firm website, you will need to include some certain pages and such include; case summaries, frequently asked question pages, and many others.

The frequently asked question page is one of the most disregarded pages on law firm website, most attorneys do not understand the importance of this page in their law firm marketing and web design strategies. The frequently asked question page can serve different purposes to different potential clients, For instance, most new clients do not need to come to your office to make enquiries about your services, they can easily find answers to their questions on such page. Your frequently asked question pages will also help your potential clients prepare much better for a legal case and it such page will also explain some legal procedures that may apply to their own peculiar legal needs.

A law firm news feed is another important part of a law firm web design that must not be neglected. The newsfeed is just a news supply stream system which briefs you law firm website visitors about the current happenings both in and outside the legal world. News feeds can serve different purposes just like any other component of your law firm web design. As a matter of fact it can be used in giving news announcements about a situation of things in a particular place within your locality or internationally. You can also use it to announce new products and services being rendered by your law firm.

Attorney biography pages are used in getting personalized information about your law firm’s attorneys. Attorney biography page will let your clients know more about the professional qualifications as well as the backgrounds of your attorneys with a view to create more familiarity between your law firm and such potential clients. You Also need to understand that practice area specific articles will add significantly to your traffic generation online.

Case summary pages should go along with your newsfeeds, your clients will build more trust in you when they know the rate of your success through your case summaries. They will trust you more regardless of your chargeable fees , as long as you can get their legal matters resolved.

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