One of the most effective approaches to growing your law practice is to apply the 80/20 rule or the “Pareto principle” to your marketing activities.

Knowing what the 20% high return activities are that will bring 80% of your results, is especially important for lawyers who are constantly struggling to find time to grow their practice.

I was reminded of this principle as I read David Meerman Scott’s blog post today called About You. In the post Meerman talks about the lost opportunity of not having a well written bio or About Us page.

I’m amazed when someone writes a terrific blog or has a great Twitter feed (or a presence on some other social networking site) but fails to say who they are. Don’t they want to stand out from the crowd?

Your blog’s “about” page, your Twitter bio and the other places you interact on line are a great opportunity to say who you are! It is an essential element of personal branding. Don’t ignore the opportunity to tell the world about you.

Not only is a biography or “About “page important on your blog, LinkedIn or Twitter profile, but your biography page is one of the most frequently visited pages on your law firm’s web site.

What does you biography page say about you?

Your biography page should effectively communicate to prospective clients and referral sources:

• Who are the clients you serve? 
•  What is the value you provide clients? 
•  How do you differentiate your practice?
• What are your credentials and experience?

Answering the above questions will take time and can be challenging to summarize into a short synopsis. However the time you spend creating a biography that tells people “who you are”  and more importantly how you can solve their problems, will be a 20% high payoff activity that can produce 80% of your results.