Happy Year of the Dog

Chinese New Year is coming up and, as fortune would have it, January 29, 2006 marks the start of the Year of the Dog. I know one smart pug that just can’t wait for the...

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Chinese New Year is coming up and, as fortune would have it, January 29, 2006 marks the start of the Year of the Dog. I know one smart pug that just can’t wait for the festivities to begin.

Anyways, as this year winds down, Sheba and I would like to offer some legal marketing suggestions for law firms.

Woof!

Did you catch that? If Sheba were to repeat herself, I’m pretty sure that she’ll say the same thing again. The lesson here is that barking is a poor way to communicate with people. If you want to communicate clearly with English-speaking people, then speak English. Likewise, if you want to communicate with Spanish-speaking clients, then make sure your web site contains Spanish pages. Otherwise, you are just barking at them and they’ll have to turn to a translator to decipher your message. And, who knows how accurate those are.

Don’t bark at clients. Speak to them in their own language.

Se Habla Inglés

But, your law practice is different. You don’t need a Spanish page, because your audience speaks, reads and writes English fluently. Sure, they do, but do you? Consider for a moment the problem that Plain English for Lawyers seeks to address. Now, look at your law firm’s web site and see if it is easy to read and communicates to potential clients using the keywords and phrases that they would use to describe their problems.

Translate your web site from lawyer English to client English.

Turkey?

Sheba loves turkey. I mean she L-O-V-E-S turkey. So, when I am trying to communicate with her, you won’t find me waving around a big flap of turkey because her eyes will be glued on the turkey and not on me. Likewise, if your law firm web site automatically plays some audio, video or flash file whenever someone visits your site, you can bet that your client will be distracted by the special effects when they should be focusing on the great content on your site.

Unless you are selling turkey, don’t wave it all over your web site.

May you and your clients enjoy a safe and prosperous Year of the Dog, sorry, Pug.