General Practice, Solo, and Small Firm Division
Solo
Spring 2003 vol. 9 Number 3
The Five W's (and Two H's) of Online Newsletter
Publishing
By Jimmy L. Verner, Jr.
So you want to start a newsletter for your practice. Many of
the big firms have newsletters. Why shouldn't you? In fact, you
can compete with anyone when it comes to publishing online
newsletters.
Before you start tinkering with your Web site, ask yourself a few
basic questions about your proposed newsletter. Consider the
traditional who, what, when, where, how, why-and how much. Let's
start with "why" because it's the most important question.
Why do you want to do a newsletter? Because other firms do it?
Because it looks cool? No! Although there can be side benefits to
newsletter publishing (such as self-study CLE), the main reason
for a newsletter is to generate business. You must keep this
purpose firmly in mind.
To answer the "who" question, ask yourself how you want to get
your business. Are you a specialist who draws your business from
other lawyers? Or do you get most of your business directly from
the public? In other words, for whom are you writing?
What will you include in your newsletter? If you are writing for
other attorneys, you will want to impress them with your
expertise. If you are marketing to the public, your material
should be more "bulleted." For this reason, "canned" newsletters
can be useful for general marketing. If you specialize in an
area, you should write your own newsletter.
When should you publish your newsletter? You want to call
attention to yourself, but not so often that it becomes annoying.
How often is this? It's hard to say, but most newsletters come
out weekly or monthly.Where should you publish your newsletter?
Your Web site is the best place. Two important search engine
criteria are the amount of Web site content and the frequency of
change to the Web site. If you post to your Web site and archive
issues, your Web site will come up higher in Web searches.
How should you publish your newsletter? You should e-mail the
newsletter in addition to posting it online. But beware of your
jurisdiction's disciplinary rules when preparing your
subscription list. Certainly with respect to laypersons, your
list should be opt-in only.
Finally, consider how much time and money you are willing to
invest. If you prepare your own newsletter, the time investment
can be considerable, but the monetary expense will be small. Many
free or inexpensive Web-authoring tools and bulk email programs
are available. If you buy your newsletter and pay someone else to
publish it, then you will pay more but invest less time.
Jimmy L. Verner, Jr., is a principal at
Verner & Brumley, P.C., a four-lawyer family-law firm in
Dallas, Texas. He can be reached at
jverner@vernerbrumley.com.
