[Fredslist] Fw: [Expert Communications] Expert News June 2008
Gerald Goldhaber
geraldgoldhaber at yahoo.com
Thu Jul 3 16:47:26 EDT 2008
FYI. Gerry.
Gerald M. Goldhaber, Ph.D.
President and CEO
GRA, LLC
800 6th Avenue, Suite 26G
New York, NY 10001
(212)379-6661 (O)
(917)279-2303 (Cell)
www.goldhaber.com
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From: Expert Communications <expertcomm at earthlink.net>
To: geraldgoldhaber at yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 1, 2008 10:09:24 AM
Subject: [Expert Communications] Expert News June 2008
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Expert News
The Practice-Building Newsletter for Expert Consultants
June 2008
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* Marketing Brief How to Be Found on the Internet
* Training Center You Do the Work – You Deserve to Be Paid
* Expert Excerpt Risk Management for Experts
* Bonus Tip Your Golden Goose
Expert News is published monthly by Expert Communications.
We provide training tools and marketing materials, coaching and
websites for expert witnesses.
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Marketing Brief
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How to Be Found on the Internet
I received a question from one of our readers about his web presence and
I think you might find our email conversation helpful.
Expert:
I have a question: Why is it that my site does not show up on any
search engines, unless I type in the [domain name]? I have typed many
key words on different search engines, but my site does not show up on
the search results list! I also have many good domain names that all
forward to my main domain. I am even more surprised that when I type
[expert’s name], my site does not show up – which is a puzzle to me.
Rosalie’s Response:
The major factor is time. Google, for instance (and the one we are most
interested in), says presently it can take as long as 6-8 months for
them to “spider” and pick up new information on the Internet. I have not
found it to take nearly that long, but it gives you a benchmark. By the
way, vendors will see your site and offer to “submit your site to the
search engines.” Save your money; spidering is a process that proceeds
on its own.
Part of what we do in website design is to make a site as searchable as
possible and “popular,” in the words of the search engines. The number
one factor is precision in writing the title tags for the web pages.
Look at the very top of your browser screen and you will see the title
tag for the website page, hopefully echoing words on that particular
page, because the repetition of key terms appearing in the title tag and
on the page itself helps.
The second factor in effective SEO (search engine optimization) is to
create incoming links from other sites with some connection to yours.
Example: When a client suggested a link from his wife’s candle making
site, I told him it would be a waste, because the search engines’
algorithms require that the sites be related. The relevant links are as
much of the reason I list my marketing consulting clients on a few
Internet expert witness directories as for the business coming directly
from the directories; I want the incoming links to make the expert’s
site more “popular” with the search engines. (By the way, I don’t use
link farms.)
The third factor is to have pertinent keywords on the pages themselves.
Until a few years ago, the Meta keyword list was the major attraction to
search engines, whether the terms appeared on the pages or not. This is
no longer the case -- they should be used in the text.
Another optimization step is to write a Meta (rough definition: unseen)
description of each page, which is a sentence, not just a string of
keywords, of about 25 words or less. Although the primary objective of
the description is to “sell” the searcher on coming to the site when he
reads it in search results, I work into the Meta description I write for
each page the keywords that are in the title tag and the page text for
that page, to increase the SEO odds.
Last, and definitely least, is the list of Meta keywords themselves.
Google and Yahoo no longer look at Meta keywords, although some other
search engines do. I have to assemble the terms from the page anyway, in
order to write the title tag and Meta description, so we code them for
each page.
To see the title tag, Meta description, and Meta keywords for each page
of your website, click on View in the icons at the top of your browser
screen, then click on Source, and you can read them.
Hope this helps!
Rosalie
(Rosalie Hamilton is the Expert's Expert on marketing. She is a
consultant, coach, outsourced marketing provider and the author of *The
Expert Witness Marketing Book* http://www.expertcommunications.com)
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Quote
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“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have
let go.” -- William Feather
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Training Center
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You Do the Work – You Deserve to Be Paid
Note from Rosalie:
Many experts express frustration about collecting their fees from
attorneys and how to protect themselves in their engagement agreement.
SEAK recently released a CD Expert Witness Retention Contract that does
a great job of covering the many points an expert should at least
consider including in his or her engagement document.
You may want to adopt the entire document, but, if not, there are many
portions to choose from that might apply to your specific practice (and
past experience with attorneys!!) The authors, formerly practicing
attorneys, suggest consulting with your own attorney to determine what
language would be appropriate for you.
A couple of my marketing clients have simply personalized and are using
the complete document. On the other hand, one client feels that his
attorney prospects would be put off by such a long document, so he
picked out the two elements that addressed areas in which he had been
“burned,” and just added them to his existing contract.
Expert witnessing sometimes feels like a game, and the Expert Witness
Retention Contract gives you a preview of what can and sometimes does
happen on the playing field and some help in not getting beaten.
Note from Meredith:
The Expert Witness Retention Contract has been favorably peer-reviewed
by plaintiff and defense counsel, judges, and expert witnesses. Learn
more about it in the Training Products section of our website
http://www.expertcommunications.com or at http://tinyurl.com/5azgud
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Expert Excerpt
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Risk Management for Experts
The law generally affords certain immunities to an expert witness from
civil liability stemming from testimony or communications made in the
course of litigation. The law on this subject is somewhat sparse and
varies from state to state, but the expert should remember the following
general guidelines:
- Expert witnesses are almost always immune from suit for defamation,
negligence, and the like from adverse parties.
- There is a continuing trend, however, of allowing the *retaining*
friendly party to bring negligence claims against the expert.
- Such negligence cases against a friendly expert may be hard to prove
as the party may need to prove that but for the expert's negligence,
they would have won their case (a trial within trial requirement).
- Court-appointed experts enjoy greater protections than “hired”
experts.
- Experts should always tell the truth.
- Expert witnesses are *not* immune from criminal perjury liability or
professional disciplinary actions.
The potential liability of expert witnesses varies from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction. To help avoid potential liability, experts should practice
sound risk management. There are many techniques that can minimize an
expert's exposure to loss as a result of her work as an expert witness.
These techniques include the following:
1. Testifying honestly
Experts should *always* tell the truth. Truth is a defense to defamation
actions. Truthful testimony is not perjurious. If an individual is
untruthful, the law may offer her fewer protections from civil
liability. Additionally, she could be subject to professional discipline
and her reputation can and should suffer.
2. Doing one's homework and being competent
Experts should double- and triple-check their data, computations, and
conclusions. Many experts get into trouble because of sloppy work. It is
best to be careful and do a good job.
3. Show up
An expert witness is under a contractual duty to appear to give
testimony in the case.
4. Not discussing cases
Expert immunity is strongest for statements made in court that are
relevant to the litigation. It does not apply to statements irrelevant
to the litigation.
5. Maintaining insurance
Experts should consider maintaining liability insurance against the
risks associated with serving as an expert. Even if actual expert civil
liability is relatively rare, such insurance will provide peace of mind
and will pay the legal costs of defending claims. Experts should check
their professional liability policies to see if these cover their expert
work.
6. Not destroying, losing, or misplacing evidence
Experts must be very careful with evidence. They should not use
destructive testing techniques unless all counsel and parties approve in
writing. In many cases, spoliation of evidence will result in the
expert's retaining party losing the case and it may subject the expert
to civil liability and negatively affect the expert's reputation.
7. Calling cases as one sees them
This is true even if the testimony is unfavorable to the party who
retained the expert and contrary to how she originally intended to
testify. Honesty and truthfulness are paramount.
8. Avoiding conflicts of interest
Experts should not get involved in any cases where there may be a
conflict of interest.
9. Think before suing retaining counsel for nonpayment of fee
Many claims against experts begin as counterclaims after the expert sues
for nonpayment of fees. Before suing a client for nonpayment, experts
should consider whether they are vulnerable to countersuit.
10. Be thoroughly familiar with rules of professional ethics
Even though an expert witness generally enjoys broad immunity from suits
from the opposing parties, there is no immunity that can be claimed when
defending professional complaints related to her expert witness work.
11. Avoid being privately retained as an “agreed upon” expert by all
parties
At least one court has held that such experts do not enjoy the
quasi-judicial immunity that court-appointed experts enjoy.
Additionally, the expert does not enjoy “adverse expert immunity” as the
expert is hired by and “friendly” to all sides. The liability is strong
in this situation because it is highly likely that one or more parties
will not be happy with the expert's opinion and may consider suing.
-- excerpted with permission from *The A-Z Guide to Expert Witnessing*
by Steven Babitsky, Esq, James J. Mangraviti, Jr., Esq, and Alex
Babitsky, MBA. Find more information on this 626 page hard-bound text at
http://tinyurl.com/6orfga
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Legal Levity
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Real Court Records…
“Now doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in most
cases he just passes quietly away and doesn’t know anything about it
until the next morning?”
-----------------------
Q: Do you recall approximately the time that you examined that body of
Mr. Huntington at St. Mary’s Hospital?
A: It was in the evening. The autopsy started about 5:30 p.m.
Q: And Mr. Huntington was dead at the time, is that correct?
A: No, you idiot, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was
performing an autopsy on him!
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Bonus Tip
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your Golden Goose – Your Database
One of the most important parts of marketing strategy is building,
maintaining, and using a database of clients, prospects, and referral
sources. In its most basic form, a “database” is a box of business
cards, some with scribbled notes on them. At its best, a database is a
software application containing a detailed record of each person or
business that includes contact data, personal information, relational
experience, and a system of codes for sorting by various categories. The
minimum data you should have is an accurate listing of contact
information such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email
addresses.
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Fine Print
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Expert Communications
Expert Witness Marketing & Training
140 Island Way, #288, Clearwater, FL 33767
Tel 727-467-0700 Fax 727-467-0800
meredith at expertcommunications.com
*Expert Communications* - We provide expert witness training tools and
coaching, and create marketing plans, materials and websites for expert
witnesses.
Find additional articles and resources for experts at
http://www.expertcommunications.com
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