Legal and Business Writing Consultant : Lori Herz : Write For Clients : Professional Writing and Online Content Consulting

Service professionals who want to enhance their online presence and visibility need to understand the basics of search engine optimization (SEO).

Well-written content that’s relevant and useful to the people you work with and want to work is a cornerstone of any website. But, all that great content won’t do much for you or your business if the major search engines (think Google, Yahoo! and Live Search) can’t find your site.

That’s where SEO comes in. It’s the art and a science of creating Web pages that appeal to human visitors and rank well with the search engines. There are different approaches to SEO. The resources that follow will give you some practical tips and insights on organic (a/k/a natural or non-paid) search engine optimization.

You’ll find a solid introduction to organic SEO in this:

• Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization from SEOmoz.org
  

• SEO Tutorial from webconfs.com
  

• Post from SEO expert Lee Odden on Search Engine Optimization Basics
  

If you want to build on this knowledge base, you can subscribe to and regularly read the:

• High Rankings Advisor Search Marketing Newsletter 
  

• Online Marketing Blog 
  

• Search Engine Journal

• SEOBook 
  

To move further along the learning curve and see how you can incorporate SEO into your online business writing, you can refer to:

• Rhea Drysdale’s post on How to Write Good for Search Engine Marketing 
  

• Heather Lloyd-Martin’s instructive SEO Copywriting Preferred Practices Guide and e-book on the same subject

• Tom Pick’s excellent roundup of the best articles and blog posts from 2007 on optimizing website copy for SEO
  

• Karon Thackston’s article on What SEO Copywriting Is … and Isn’t and directive to Stop the Slaughter of Innocent Copy!
  

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When I started out as a lawyer 16 or so years ago, service professionals who wanted to use their business writing to gain visibility and grow their reputation had a choice of several print platforms, including:

• Trade journals

• Newspapers

• Newsletters

• Books

Among other common features, this traditional media group boasts:

• Static content

• One-way communication

• Space restrictions

• Limited distribution

• Gatekeepers

Fast forward to 2008. Traditional media is now keeping company with, and losing ground to, a host of new media (also called social media or Internet media) outlets such as:

• Blogs 
  

• Vlogs 
  

• Podcasts 
  

• Social Networks 
  

Real-time community, dialog and interactivity are key markers of this growing media space.

Service professionals looking to (1) build business relationships and (2) direct their marketing communications through new media channels will find solid guidance and practical tips via:

• Edith Yeung’s 50 Habits of a Highly Effective Blogger
  

• P.J. Fusco’s Five Getting-Started Blog Questions
  

• Kevin O’Keefe’s post on Why Every Client Should Want an Attorney Who Blogs
  

• Pam Slim’s inquiry into What the heck is a vlog? 
  

• Darren Rowse’s vlog post on how to Differentiate Your Blog

• Openculture's Podcast Primer

• Dennis Kennedy’s Podcasting for Lawyers

• Jessica E Vascellaro's WSJ article on Social Networking Goes Professional

• Business Week’s Social Networking 101
  

• Denise Howell’s and Ernest Svenson’s exchange on Social Networking for Lawyers
  

Although a few of these posts target a lawyer audience, service providers working outside the legal profession will also find them relevant and helpful.

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We’ve all experienced moments when we’d give anything to be invisible. At those times, it seems safer and easier to just disappear. Then there are times when we really want to be noticed. To get that attention, we’ll step on a soapbox, dress flashy or walk on the edge.

Whether we embrace or shun it in our personal lives, visibility has become a prerequisite for success in the business world. Your clients and prospects won’t know the first thing about you or your services until you grab their attention and engage them in a meaningful dialogue. There are many ways to make yourself stand out as a service professional. But, for years, the Web has been a main line to visibility.

Whether you’re a solo professional or practice in a firm, you can create a Web presence and online communications that attract attention and build strong client relationships. Here are some tips and tactics to help you along:

As Kevin O’Keefe reminds us - by channeling Robert Scoble - your goal isn't to attract the widest possible Web audience. A better aim is to become a credible and indispensable resource in your “niche area.” I've found that you can jump-start this process with a who-what-how intake.

Ask yourself and your team these questions:

• Who do you want to draw through your Web door?

• What problems do they have that you can/want to solve?

• How do you solve those problems?

Once you’ve brainstormed the answers; you can design (or re-design) your website and site content for maximum relevance and benefit to your target visitors-clients.

To learn more about the makings of innovative Web content, tune into an ongoing series on the topic at Brian Clark’s Copyblogger. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen is another great source of information on how you should write for the Web.

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There’s something about being on the edge of a new year. There’s a sense of possibility that compels us to look at things from a fresh perspective. It’s a time that lends itself to renewal and renovation.

Like other aspects of professional life, our business writing can benefit from a new-year-inspired overhaul. Service professionals can accomplish this by trying out new channels of content delivery and distribution, including:

• Blogs
  
• Syndicated articles
  
• Press releases 
• White papers
  

You can also revamp the substance of the written content you produce to market and support your business.

It’s long been said that content is king on the Web. But, it reigns offline, too. As Amber Simmons eloquently writes at A List Apart : “[T]he words that shape the page lie at the very center of an engaging visit. If the words aren’t beautiful and meaningful, the sleekest design in the world won’t compensate for it. The body can never replace a missing heart.” When you write helpful material that engages your clients and prospects, you foster the human-to-human connection that makes you stand out in the crowded field of service providers.

For some more ideas on re-designing your business writing for the New Year, take a look at Bronwyn Jones’ article on Better Writing Through Design and this Dosh Dosh post on Using the Right Content Development Strategy. While both pieces address writing for the Web, their guidance applies to your offline endeavors as well.

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I’m planning to regularly round up writing and communications tips I’ve culled from my feeds and daily Web work.

To start off with a theme of sorts, I found a few recent tip sheets organized around the number 5.

First up are Five Tips for Writing Great Web Content brought to us by the Daily Writing Tips blog. They stress the importance of using a clear, jargon-free and conversational writing style.

Next, internet marketing strategist Lee Odden offers Five Tips for Content Distribution Networks. One of the best ways for service professionals to gain visibility on the Web and elsewhere is to produce written content that addresses the needs, interests or problems of the people you work with and want to work with.

But, as Odden points out, production is just one part of the equation. You also need to make the content readily available for consumption. Odden identifies several main distribution routes, including:

• Blogs

• E-Newsletters

• News Organizations

• Social Networking Sites

Next, Brian Clark of Copyblogger sets out Five Steps to a Truly Unique Blog. The two steps that stand out for me are:

• Identify the Difference

• Maintain Your Credibility

Taken together, they point up that your business writing (and your readers) will usually benefit from your unique perspective if it’s anchored in your authenticity instead of “false confidence or arrogance.”

Rounding out this roundup is a comprehensive listing of 150 Resources to Help You Write Better (yes, it’s a mid-span “5” tipped by Raymond Ward at the (new) legal writer blog ). Among other material, this roster comprises online:

• Almanacs

• Citation Guides

• Dictionaries

• News Media Resources

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Charles H. Green’s recent post on Faking Customer Centricity is a nice coda to my earlier commentaries on:

• Communicating with Authenticity

• Building Trust Through Your Business Writing

• Communicating Mixed Messages About Client Relationships

Green points out that, although the “language of relationships—feelings, apologies, empathy” is very much in vogue in the business world, many companies only pay lip service to being “customer-centric.” He gives a few examples of how businesses fail to back up their proclamations of customer care. From there, it’s easy to launch into our own experience.

For instance, what happens when a salesperson wearing a cute “I’m happy to serve you” button grumbles at your request for help? You feel slighted, maybe even ticked off. The same holds true when you ask a vendor to make good on their service guarantee and they offer a host of reasons why your particular problem isn’t their responsibility. This disconnect between promise (implied or overt) and action makes an indelible negative impression.

Service professionals often produce marketing materials and other communications stating “we care about you and your business” and “we put you, the client, first.” It’s very easy to embed those words in your business copy. But it’s much harder to prove to your prospects and clients that you mean what you state. The proof comes through their interactions with you.

How are you backing up your written claims of client-centricity?

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FastCompany.com alerted me to a discussion on strong customer relationships hosted by the Tom Peters blog.

Responding to his own question - What is a Customer Relationship? - contributor Steve Yastrow offers us this two-part definition: “A customer relationship is an ongoing conversation with your customer … in which the customer never thinks of you without thinking of the two of you.”

The concept of customer relationships as conversations got me thinking: What kind of conversations – and, thus, relationships - do service professionals typically foster through their business writing and other client communications?

Not too long ago, I made a late-night run to one of our local big name supermarkets. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was reassured by a large sign in the window that read “we’re open late for your shopping convenience.”

After gathering my groceries, I approached the checkout area and saw a line of about a dozen people waiting for the sole cashier on duty. Spotting the store manager, I politely asked if another cashier could open up. He looked at me and gruffly responded that someone was coming out, but that people should expect to wait when they shop so late at night.

Being the shrinking violet that I am (not), I pointed out that the store is open until midnight and prominently displays a sign communicating that fact. I also suggested that the manager remember that there are other late-night supermarkets in town and that his words actually impact way more than the dozen or so individuals consuming them in that moment.

To be sure, my shopping experience that night – which I’ve since shared with a number of local friends - was far from unique. We’ve all been on the receiving end of poor customer service. But, as consultant David Maister suggests, my experience does point up the potential dangers of treating client connections as fleeting transactions rather than lasting relationships. It also highlights the fallout, in the form of negative word-of-mouth, that service providers can generate when they send mixed messages about their willingness and ability to serve their clients well.

Perhaps, then, my local supermarket would have fared better had its manager engaged me in a candid conversation and admitted: "As the sign says, we are open until midnight. But, we can't provide you with fast and efficient checkout or plentiful and affable employees after 9pm.”

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Not too long ago, bloggers Michelle Golden and Charles H. Green spent some time outlining why they object to the use of the terms “trust” and “trusted advisor” in professional firm marketing materials.

Green - who co-authored a great book, The Trusted Advisor, and offers programs on the same subject – opined that professionals shouldn’t overtly publicize their status as, or intent to be, trusted advisors to clients. Why? Because trust is “an outcome, not a come-on.”

Reiterating Green’s belief that it’s really up to clients to deem their service providers trust-worthy, Golden adds that “trusted advisor” is used so often in promotional channels that “it’s now cliché.”

I understand and respect Green’s and Golden’s points. But, I'd like to offer a slightly different  perspective.

Trust has become a key concept - and key word - in the service professions for very good reasons. We live in a world where people often don’t live up to their promises. In essence, most business disputes concern a breakdown in trust. So, as professionals, you need to be vigilant about the role of trust in business matters and refrain from giving clients false expectations of your services.

That said, if you’re sincere and determined in your desire to foster trust-based client connections (really, the only kind of client connections there should be), there’s nothing wrong with letting the world in on that authentic intention. People seeking your help will only benefit from your candor about placing a premium on trust.

To be sure, you don’t need to use the words “trust” or “trusted advisor” when describing your offerings in online or print communications (although I see nothing wrong with using them). There’s lots of ways to let clients and prospects know that you’re committed to cultivating trust-filled, meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with them.

Regardless of the words you choose to state your commitment to trust, as Golden and Green suggest, this can’t be an empty promise. You have to team your public words with consistent, professional and personal action. As the very cliché phrase goes: You need to walk your talk.

For more insight into building trust in business relationships, check out Green’s latest Carnival of Trust , a collection of 10 recent blog posts on this important topic.

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In an earlier post, I discussed the concept of Client Experience Management. As a business writer for service professionals, I’m also very interested in the related concept of Client Evangelism.

Client evangelists are people who are so pleased with, and passionate about, services they receive that they voluntarily shout the provider’s praises until the rafters ring. I first learned about this kind of consumer zeal through Ben McConnell’s and Jackie Huba’s terrific book, Creating Customer Evangelists, and now continue my education at their Church of the Customer Blog.

Always on the hunt for practical input on this front, I was pleased to run across a McConnell-Huba article titled Customer Evangelists: Spreading the Word. In it, the authors list some telltale signs of client evangelism, including:

• Clients passionately recommend you to others

• Clients give you unsolicited praise and feedback

• Clients forgive your occasional services lapses, but tell you about them

McConnell and Huba also identify avenues for fostering client evangelists, such as:

• Planning a social media strategy that incorporates blogs, e-mails and podcasts

• Soliciting client feedback

• Creating an open, two-way line of communication

Providing another take on this topic is an article called Capturing the Voice of the Client culled from the Originate! Business Development Newsletter (the article is part of a free preview issue of a newsletter that's available by paid subscription). Documenting an initiative undertaken by the law firm Patton Boggs, the piece highlights how the firm has built a strong service culture around creating opportunities to listen to, and hear, its clients.

One way the firm accomplishes this goal is by publishing a biannual magazine. The publication gives its “key clients” a chance to “talk about issues relating to their businesses.” Likewise, it offers the firm an invaluable opportunity to showcase its “intimate knowledge of the client’s business, organization, culture, industry and financial metrics.”

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I’m very interested in a business trend called Customer Experience Management (CEM). Evolving in tandem with the new experience economy, the CEM model considers a customer’s relationship with a service or product from the vantage point of user experience. It asks providers to understand how their customers’ lives are enhanced or depleted as a result of consuming their goods or services. This doesn’t require super sleuthing. More often than not, this kind of customer – or client – information is readily available.

That’s because people tend to translate their consumer experiences into stories that they quickly share with others. A great example of this comes by way of a Fast Company article in which some “customer service champions” describe their own “stellar customer experiences.” Here, Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy depicts his monthly outings to a local junk store where the proprietor understands how much his customers thrill at the hunt for buried treasure. There’s also an anecdote about exceptional book store service relayed by Build-A-Bear Workshop founder Maxine Clark. Referring to something she calls the Cheers factor, Clark says: “People don't have to know your name, but there has to be that connection and recognition of your value as a customer and a person.”

Echoing Clark's perspective is the poignant customer experience story set out in a much-talked-about blog post called I Heart Zappos (flagged by Seth Godin). In it, a woman describes how she bought several pairs of shoes for her ailing mother from online retailer Zappos.com. Some of the shoes didn’t fit and she intended to return them, but couldn’t get around to it. When Zappos learned that the woman’s mom had died, the company sidestepped its corporate policy and arranged for UPS to pick up the unreturned shoes. What happened next, told in the customer’s own words, is what’s most heartening:

“Yesterday, when I came home from town, a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears. I’m a sucker for kindness, and if that isn’t one of the nicest things I’ve ever had happen to me, I don’t know what is.”

This kind of positive customer experience clearly derived from sincere human-to-human exchange. It wasn’t orchestrated or contrived.

With sincere interaction as a lodestar, service professionals can engage in Client Experience Management through written business communications.

For openers, you can offer newsletters, blog posts, articles, e-books and other content that helps clients navigate their business questions and challenges. The objective isn’t to tout your greatness or push your services. Instead, you have to come with a genuine desire to provide relevant and practical information that benefits your clients and prospects. When you close a project or resolve a matter, you can continue to engage CEM by sending a personalized thank you note welcoming your clients’ candid feedback about you, your work and your firm.

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There’s a new market culture that service professionals can no longer afford to ignore or opt out of. It goes by different names, including: the conceptual age, the experience economy and the creative age. But, the given name is largely irrelevant. It’s the market’s core message that really matters to service providers.

Blogger Hugh MacLeod beautifully captures this message in his now-classic commentary, The Hughtrain. If you prefer the quick-fix version, MacLeod gives voice to the new professional services consumer in this memorable quote: “We are hungry. Meaning is the prey.” 

This quest for meaning influences consumer decision-making. Professional services consultant David Maister and co-author Lois Kelly illustrate this point in an article titled Marketing is a Conversation. 

They suggest that it’s high time “we stopped thinking of marketing as a one-way propaganda campaign.” Instead, marketing is best viewed as a conversation in which we openly invite our business prospects and clients to share their “ideas, beliefs and perspectives” with us person-to-person.

Maister and Kelly don’t see this as a one-shot proposition, but an ongoing exchange that compels clients to regularly air their core “concerns, issues and needs.” This person-to-person dialoguing doesn’t have to be face-to-face. We can invite and nurture it through the content we write for our blogs, newsletters and other client communications.

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There’s a big buzz about sticky ideas - ideas that catch on like wildfire and take up residence in our minds. Malcolm Gladwell introduced the concept of stickiness in his bestselling book, The Tipping Point.

Building on his introduction, brothers Chip and Dan Heath reverse engineer sticky ideas in their book, Made to Stick. Informed by the work of political scientists, psychologists and educators, the Heaths conclude that there’s a blueprint for communicating ideas so that they’ll stick. It’s s-u-c-c-e-s-s:

• Simplicity
• Unexpectedness
• Concreteness
• Credibility
• Emotion
• Stories

Garr Reynolds picks up on this theme at his terrific blog, Presentation Zen. He discusses how the six key elements of stickiness “are easy to incorporate into messages – including presentations and keynote addresses.”

The same holds true for business writing. People are likely to remember and respond to our messages when we deliver them through simple, concrete and credible written content that tells a story with some emotion and offers an unexpected benefit to the reader.

For another interesting look at stickiness, you can check out this Inc.com piece on Marketing made Sticky.

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