Legal Marketing & SEO Blog

Hi Friends,

So what is a blog, why should you blog, and where is the best place to get a free blog. Here are the answers:

Q: What is a blog?
A: A blog is a Web site that is made up of posts that are arranged chronologically, and are archived by date and category. [ Blogger Blog Definition | LexBlog's legal blog definition ]

Q: Why should you blog?
A: Blogging gives law firms an easy way to highlight news items and publish commentary on what is happening in the legal world. In addition, most blogs have news RSS and ATOM feeds that summarize their authors posts and are aggregated in new news feed search engines like Feedster and Technorati. News journalists are using these blog search engines to find sources and information for their stories (and stories are breaking on the blogs, such as the CBS news documents, and the Whitehouse reporter with the false name and... :). As many news stories concern law, blogs are a great way to get in front of reporters. Many established law firms are doing it, such as Preston Gates & Ellis and Stark & Stark.

Q: Where is the best place to get a free blog?
A: Google's Blogger is the best place to get a free blog. There are many other places for free blogs (eg LiveJournal - for teens with style or MSN Spaces - for teens without style), but Blogger has the cleanest interface, and is very easy to use.

You enter in your contact information, choose a subdomain, choose a template, and you are ready to post. You can take a tour of Blogger here.

Blogger allows you to FTP (or more ideally sFTP) your blog on your own servers or you can use their hosting service blogspot.com.

Blogger has a lot of information about the service online. Rather than repeat their tutorials and instructions, here are the links to information that will help you set up your own Blogger Blog.

• Blogger Tutorial
• Blogger Help - FAQs and support
• Blogger's Blog (Blogger Knowledge)
• About.com's Blogger articles and resources
• Molly Holzschlag has an online video on learning Blogger (part of it is online for free, the full video requires a subscription or you can purchase the CD ROM of the video for $29.95).

Posted In Blogs , Free Marketing Tools , Google , Useful Tools & Web Sites

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

I will start this series of posts on free marketing services for law firms with Justia's own free lawyer Web sites service.

Although we have only been up and running for a few months now, this has been the one project we focused on from the get-go. It is the same backend as our pay system, with certain limitations on the number of sections and pages, as well on the number of localities and practice area keywords for search engine optimization. Currently there are only three template designs, but we will be adding additional designs over time.

All Justia's free Law Firm Web sites include:

• Your Own Subdomain (firmname.justia.net)
• Template Web Design
• Search engine optimized pages
• Firm Home Page
• Firm Profile Page
• Firm Location Page
• Practice Area Profiles
• Attorney Profiles
• Web Resources Page
• Legal Articles Section
• W3C Web standards design & layout
• U.S. 508 and W3C's Web Accessibility Guidelines

Setting up a site basically is composed of a few steps.

1. Registering into the system.
2. Initial firm data entry with the Step by Step Editor
3. Additional editing using the Site editor - if desired
4. Previewing the site and/or Publishing

You do not need to publish the site immediately. The (unpublished) preview will allow you to see the Web site exactly as it will appear to users. You can add content and data multiple times, until you are ready and the publish the site.

You can update the site with our online editing tools 24/7. You can even change designs whenever you wish (limited to the templates we have in the system).

We save the data in database and publish static xhtml files for faster loading for users and search engine spiders.

Even if you already have a Web site, you can make a free Justia law firm Web site. You can even link to your current Web site.

So with that introduction, let's begin a walk through the application in the following blog posts.

1. Initial Registration
2. Initial Data Entry
3. Additional Editing, Previewing and Publishing the Site

Peace - Tim

:: I See a Darkness, American III - Solitary Man by Johnny Cash

* Justia's free Web site service was originally announced on Sheba's Hug Pug Weblog.

Posted In Free Marketing Tools , Justia News , Useful Tools & Web Sites , Web Site Design

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

Here is how you register into the system. This will seem obvious to most, but here it goes...

You begin on the Justia free Web site home page and click on the "New User >> Sign Up Now!" button.

Posted In Free Marketing Tools , Justia News , Useful Tools & Web Sites , Web Site Design

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

We are now ready to start entering data. You do not need to have everything ready, although it would be helpful to have some home page, firm overview, practice area(s) and attorney information ready for the application.

If you do not have some information, just continue in the application, you can always add it later before you publish your Web site, or you may add or modify your Web site after it is live.

I will show some of the input screens here (the others are very similar).

Enter you password and log into the system.

You will see an overview screen. This screen lays out the steps you be following in the application for the initial data entry.

Posted In Free Marketing Tools , Justia News , Useful Tools & Web Sites , Web Site Design

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

We are now ready to preview the Web site....

Click on the "Preview" button

Posted In Free Marketing Tools , Justia News , Useful Tools & Web Sites , Web Site Design

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

Do you have time but no marketing budget? Well here is a set of solutions for online marketing of your law firm for free!

These free services are especially valuable to lawyers that are just starting a practice, such as those by recent law school grads, or attorneys leaving larger law firms to start their own firm. And of course even established firms can use some free services once in awhile.

I will quickly run through the free marketing solutions list today, and then over the next few days, I will walk through exactly how to set each of these solutions up, as well as show examples of how they are being successfully used by law firms right now.

Some of the step by step setup examples I will be doing in the next set of posts might seem simplistic or obvious to Internet veterans, but "how do I do this" is the question I am always asked, and simply pointing to a URL often doesn't seem be enough how-to. So look forward to some step by step screen shots.

And I will also explain the differences between these free services with some higher end custom non-free services (like custom Justia Web sites or highend LexBlog Lawyer Blogs), but with a real focus on the free :). So let's start...

Free Online Marketing Solutions for Law Firms

1. Free Search Engine Optimized Web sites from Justia

These template Web sites are search engine optimized for one locality and one practice area. You can make a free Web site even if you already have a paid Web site.

2. Free Blog from Google's Blogger

A Blogger blog and BlogSpot hosting are free, and relatively easy to setup. One downside with the hosting service is that the "Next Blog" in the blog NavBar will sometimes link to a blog that would best not be seen by... clients. One of the hidden risks of free.

3. Free Mailing List from Google Groups

Google Groups is now in beta, but it provides easy administration of a mailing list, does not have annoying banners on every page, and your posts will get archived in the Google Groups database, which includes an archive of Usenet.

4. Free Web Directory Listings in the Open Directory and Washburn Law School's WashLaw Legal Web Directory

The open directory listings are used by 100s of Web sites, including Google. Washburn's WashLaw.edu is the best law school Web directory of legal resources. Justia is listed the Open Directory and WashLaw.edu so should your law firm. And both are free listings.

5. Free Website tools and clip art/photos from numerous sources

This post will include some links to good free tools and art Web sites, as well as to directories that have lists of the free tools and resources.

While I have focused on what I believe are the best free services for law firm marketing, I will also mention some others along the way.

Peace - Tim

:: Big Bang Baby, Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop by the Stone Temple Pilots

Posted In Free Marketing Tools , Useful Tools & Web Sites

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

I got so excited about the new Google Toolbar for IE on Windows, that I for got to add the real exciting news for the Windows community... Internet Explorer 7 is coming out in beta this summer.

Bill Gates talked about it at the RSA conference (see the MSDN IEBlog Post). Here is what Microsoft Corporate PR Group had to say when interviewing Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President - Security Business & Technology Unit on the Microsoft PressPass site.

PressPass: What’s next for Internet Explorer?

Mike Nash: We’re very excited to announce at the RSA Conference today that this summer we’ll release a beta of Internet Explorer 7.0 for Windows XP with Service Pack 2, which will have even more enhancements to security and privacy protections. These enhancements align very closely with the three core tenets of Microsoft’s security approach that I mentioned earlier. Internet Explorer 7.0 will be the most secure browser we’ve ever released, building on and surpassing the success of the SP2-enhanced Internet Explorer 6.0. We don’t plan to ship it until it meets our quality bar, which we’ve set pretty high.

Of course what we are interested in is how prominent will the new MSN Search be in new IE7 (I know that everyone thinks this is all about Microsoft going after Firefox, but my belief is that the real target is Google (The Inquirer - CNET)).

You can get more exciting breaking Internet Explorer news on the IEBlog on the Microsoft Development Network Site.

Peace - Tim

:: Where to Now St. Peter?, Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John

Posted In MSN Search

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

Google has released a beta of the third version of their toolbar. It works for... Internet Explorer on Windows.

The Google Toolbar 3 has a SpellCheck for when you are inputing data into online Web forms...

It has a word translator - just hover your mouse cursor over an English word and Toolbar's WordTranslator will tell you what it means in your own language. WordTranslator currently supports translation from English into Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Google Toolbar's AutoLink button will automatically create a link to an online map. AutoLink can also link package tracking numbers to delivery status, VIN numbers (US) to vehicle history, and publication ISBN numbers to Amazon.com listings (side note: watch the Amazon - Google relationship).

And of course all the good stuff from previous Google toolbars, Google PageRank, Popup Blocker etc... etc...

... when will there be an offical Google version come out for Firefox for the Mac...

Peace - Tim

This item - one more found by way of Gary Price on the Search Engine Watch.

:: Twice As Hard, Shake Your Money Maker by The Black Crowes

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

Nolo, Justia friend and our main content provider, has relaunched their Web site with a new design that focuses on users' legal needs. The new Nolo site is segmented into six legal issues channels, leading to a much better user interface. The interface is much cleaner, with everything visible above fold on the home page.

As one can see, the Web site is in consumer friendly yellow :)

Nolo.com's six channels are:

• Business & Human Resources
• Patents, Copyright & Art
• Wills & Estate Planning
• Property & Money
• Family Law & Immigration
• Rights & Disputes

Having now played with the new Nolo site, I can say without a doubt that it is easier to find an article or product than on the old Web site. (I do have some notes and suggestion, but I will forward those directly to Nolo :).

Overall a great improvement. The new structure makes the Nolo Web site much more consumer friendly, and ideally lead to more Nolo eBook, software and physical book sales :) Very nice - congrats!

Peace - Tim

 
Aside #1: Many of Nolo's software products, e.g. WillMaker Plus, are now licensable for commercial use by law firms, as Nolo has started to make inroads into the law firm and attorney solutions market. Click Here to Learn More about Nolo's Professional Licensing.

Aside #2: I will now be adding a link to an iTunes song that I am currently listening to with some (most? all?) posts going forward. Today's iTunes song link:

:: Box of Rain, American Beauty by the Grateful Dead

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

From the founders, product marketers and programmers of MySimon and Wisenut and an AltaVista product martketer/programmer, comes... Become.com - a search engine focused on commercial products and services. Become.com is now live for beta testing.

This is the first version of their search engine, so expect many improvements over time. The interface is very clean. Certainly one to watch.

Peace - Tim

Posted In Search Engine Marketing

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

Google held their first Analyst day on Wednesday. You can find the Webcast here. Gary Price has a good overivew of the media comments and mentions at the Search Engine Watch Blog. Look for a lot more personalization features - all lined up with local ads (for law firms :).

Peace - Tim

Posted In Google

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

Yahoo! has released a beta version of their toolbar for Firefox, if you run Windows.

A Macintosh version should be out soon (you can get an email from Yahoo! when the Mac (or Linux) version is ready by clicking here).

You can read more about the Yahoo! Firefox tool bar on the Yahoo! Search blog.

The main value I see (for me at least) is being able to add RSS feeds into MyYahoo! And the Yahoo! Firefox toolbar also has the AltaVista Babelfish "Translate This Page" functionality.

Once it is out for the Mac, I will add it to my Firefox browser (along with my other Firefox extensions, GoogleBar, the unofficial Google Toolbar for Mozilla and my A9 Firefox toolbar). And I can hardly wait for the MSN Search Firefox toolbar for the Macintosh.

Peace - Tim

Posted In Yahoo! Search

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

As Google continues to focus on the local advertising market, it has now released Google Maps. The maps (which on the Macintosh work with Firefox, but not Safari) allows one to scroll along a given area, placing additional graphical elements onto the screen as one scrolls, rather than redrawing the whole screen to show the map.

Little Sheba the Hug Pug's Backyard Dog Park - Hoover Park

You can also get directions or do a local search (for lawyers or restaurants or auto body shops...) on the location shown in the map screen.

Overall the interface is clean. I am sure they will add some features to compete (defeat?) Yahoo!'s and MapQuest's maps. Maybe Google will combine the scrollable interface with an Amazon/A9 like street pictures and/or with Google's Keyhole technology. And then make it work with a Treo that has GPS and then... Competition and programming will eventually make this all happen :)

Here are some links:

Google Maps
Google Maps FAQ
Google Maps Tour

And here are usability comments from Gary Price (of ResourceShelf.com fame) on the Search Engine Watch blog.

Or just do a Google search on "Google Maps".

Peace - Tim

Posted In Google , Online Yellow Pages

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Justia Legal Web Site Design - Justia Lawyer Blog Design
 

Hi Friends,

I thought I would do a quick post on a few Google Resources. Not that there is really anything new here, just that Justia's blog is new, and we felt should have some posts of and links to the basics.

So here are some Google resources...

First is the Google Blog. It is used by Google to introduce new features of and changes to their site, such as today's post about Google adding the "Local" link to the Google home page for Google's Local Search.

The Google-Friends announcement list has (finally) moved to Google Groups from Yahoo! Groups*. In what can only be considered a blatant rip-off of the Google-friends list, Justia has also set up Justia-Friends at Google Groups as well. So please join the Justia list when you sign up for the Google list.

Google Guy - is an engineer at Google who posts on the various search engine discussion boards about Google's results and rankings among other things. Google Guy is really Matt Cutts [ pic ] a programmer at Google, but that may change, since he chose the moniker GoogleGuy rather than his own name so the person behind the name could be switched out with another programmer (maybe even a female programmer) at any time.

Read a summary of some of the things the Google Guy has stated on the discussion boards here.

Here are some non-Google Google resources, starting with two message boards worth checking out. The WebmasterWorld.com Google Forum and the SearchEngineWatch.com Google Forum

And here is Google Rankings, a tool to check your ranking in Google, which apparently has been okayed for doing such checks by Google's legal department. They have many other nice tools and scripts there that can be used in search engine optimizing your Web site (keyword density tools, Yahoo! Rankings... ). The site is certainly worth checking out.

And here is a paper on the Google prototype for historical purposes.

Well, the new news of this post is Google putting the Local search link on their home page. And since you read this far, then I will give you the key to doing well with Google's local search...have your full street address on all of your Web site pages.

Peace - Tim

And finally, visit Google Labs for the interesting public betas that have been released. The one I like is Google Site Flavored Search. Here is a law flavored search.
 

* Yahoo! Groups is the former eGroups (and OneList), which was originally Scott Hassan's FindMail before it was a commerical enterprise. Larry's brother Carl Page was one of the co-founders, along with multi-company co-founder (including FindLaw) Martin Roscheisen and, of course, the man with the original plan Scott.

Posted In Google , Online Yellow Pages , Search Engine Optimization

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