Here’s our quick look at what Stem clients have been busy with over the past month:

• Web-based practice management solution Clio picked up three recommendations from TechnoLawyer’s recent post SmallLaw: A Law Practice Survival Guide for the Involuntarily Solo.
• Florida criminal attorney Ron Chapman addressed the issue of false accusations of domestic violence and explains what police are not allowed to testify about when a case turns on whether a person was acting in self defense.
• Nursing home attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld was interviewed by Ottawa, Illinois-based newspaper The Times, where he gave tips on how to detect nursing home abuse.
• A new feature article entitled “Green Buildings: Moving to the Mainstream” has just been published on BCRELinks.com, which is published by Clark Wilson’s commercial real estate group.
• Texas contingent fee litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey blogged about a recent US Court of Appeals decision that labeled STOLI translations “insurance fraud”.
• Arizona criminal defense lawyer Lawrence Koplow blogged about how to make your criminal record almost go away, addressing issues related to DUI convictions, wrongful arrests, criminal records, and expungement. Lawrence also just published a post on Super Extreme DUI convictions.
• New York injury attorney John Hochfelder launched a new site, Brain Injury Lawyer FAQ, where he answers questions about traumatic brain injury lawsuits and related topics.
• Addiction treatment center The Meadows was pleased to see that The Intimacy Factor, co-written by Meadows Senior Clinical Advisor Pia Mellody, was highly recommended by Dr. Drew Pinsky in Newsweek.
• At the New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog, attorney John Marshall discussed some of the factors that can affect your blood alcohol content and showed how quickly one can become intoxicated.
• Products injury law firm Hissey Kientz LLP is gearing up to launch a microsite to support its new Herbal Fen-Phen practice group.

We’ll be back next month with more news and achievements.

If a blog post doesn’t receive any comments, does that mean you struck out?

Actually, it’s quite common for blog posts not to receive comments. In the legal industry, and especially with lawyer blogs, we see it all the time.  The truth is the majority of online readers are lurkers. It’s called the 90-9-1 Rule, where 90% of your readers won’t respond in any way, 9% will contribute and participate once in a while, and 1% will do the vast majority of digital interaction.

This can be a difficult phenomenon to explain, but it hardly means that you haven’t connected with your intended audience.  Remember: the more focused the subject, the smaller the target audience. Apply the  90-9-1 rule to most lawyer blog audiences, and it’s a recipe for a comment-free wasteland.  I also think it’s quite unfair to compare a lawyer’s blog comment numbers to the more news-y blogs out there. You can’t compare a lawyer’s substantive commentary to ATL or ABA Journal.

Two important points:

1. Some blog posts just don’t warrant a comment — case in point, see my last post on the sudden abundance of twitter experts our there. It’s received zero comments, but 41 retweets and 1500+ visitors. The post was a fun lark, but clearly not worth commenting on.  That doesn’t mean it didn’t strike a chord or find an audience.
2. There’s always a chance for commentary to connect with readers in the future — Another example: back in 2006 I wrote the Top 10 Uses of RSS in Law Firms.   Three weeks passed and it might have had 30 readers. It subsequently got picked up by Dave Winer, and took on a life of its own.  To this day, that post drives more visitors to my personal blog than anything I’ve written there since. … Side comment: This story is also one of the reasons I still believe in search marketing and the power of positioning content in front of audiences. Blog commentary & search exposure combined continue to have a long-term impact on my own content marketing.

Bottom line: Are comments nice?  Of course they are, but you have to see the big picture.  As most experienced bloggers will tell you, comments are only one form of feedback. Don’t forget to also watch:  site traffic (both post specific, and general trends),  social media mentions, email feedback, mentions on other blogs, and general increases in your profile (eg. offers for speaking engagements) & your personal network (eg. more industry-based friends & contacts).  You need to consider all the available metrics as a group.  Micro-measuring comment counts (or even counting interactions post-by-post…) isn’t going to cut it in face of the 90-9-1 rule.

About an hour ago, Kelly Phillips Erb, aka TaxGirl, put an entry on Twitter that I think most regular users of the service would agree with:

Some people obviously see value to twitter, and some think it’s a waste of time.  Everyone has a right to critique, so that’s not (entirely) at issue. But when it comes to writing about the nuances of Twitter (or any web tool for that matter) – those ‘how to become a success‘ type stories – having a little experience should be a prerequisite. No?  Frankly, there are a few ‘personas’ out there that I think most of us wish would stop before they start.

Here are my ‘top-10 tests’ to figure out if you should stay away from that fashionable Twitter article:

1. You don’t have an account.
2. You have an account, but have six tweets to your name.
3. You followed six hundred people with no tweets in your account, and can’t figure out why no one returned the favour.
4. You’ve been on (but mostly off) the service for less than three months.
5. You’re a journalist and your editor told you to start an account.
6. You’re a journalist who’s opened an account expressly to write a story about twitter.
7. You’re evaluating the ROI of twitter as a business development tool.
8. You’re a marketing consultant and you think “it’s about time” to write about this twitter thing.
9. You’re intentionally set to write a Twitter critique article purely for the backlash & media exposure.
10. You’re David Letterman. (ok, funny filler. enjoy!)

Avvo’s Marketing Manager Conrad Saam recently produced a feature comparison table for the various legal blogging platforms. Unfortunately, the list included a number of inaccuracies, prompting responses from Kevin O’Keefe (for Lexblog), Rick Klau (for Blogger), and a number of others. The list was also a pretty short, and seemed to be crafted to showcase Avvo’s new entry into the market.

Ok, fair enough. That’s Avvo’s prerogative on their own blog, and Rick & Kevin did a fine job standing up for their services. But beyond the controversy, the post did raise a couple of very common questions: 1) which blog software & vendors are out there?, and 2) how should lawyers make their decision on a provider?

Let’s start with the second question. Picking a blog software is all about finding a good fit. It’s a balance between your budget, your skills (and the skills of those you employ), the control you require over the software, and the amount of ‘hand holding’ necessary from your provider. Broken down further:

• Budget:  This one should be easy, but is often not. If you’re spending dollars in this space, you quickly find out that your money is not going to software. Blog software is cheap, no matter who provides it. The cost comes from the added extras: a professional design, custom coding, functionality changes, software upgrades, training, backups, security, etc.  Do you want someone to pick up the phone when things go wrong?
• Skills:  The less money you spend, the more you need to be comfortable with the out-of-the-box (OOTB) product. And free, often equals OOTB plus your time (or the time of people you pay).  This is a balance, however, and many people can create & manage a blog themselves, with the time committed varying case-by-case.  The best advice I have to give to lawyers is: a) to value your time invested in extra blog management tasks, and b), to know the limits of your resources. 95% of the time, blogging is a simple painless process. But if you lose  a couple of weeks each year tinkering, you need to consider whether this is a hobby or a business investment.
• Control: Many of the hosted solutions restrict the design options and custom coding, so you need to be content with the product they are delivering.  If you require complete control of the design and functionality of your blog, that can have a big influence on your decision. WordPress, for example, has both a free hosted version, and an open source free download that may be installed on your own servers (the former being a self-managed solution, and the later offering the most control). Feature wise, blog software are often very similar. So how do you differentiate? For me, the big factor is design flexibility. Either pick a provider that delivers that professional looking design, or choose a  software with complete custom coding capability.
• Hand holding: Being a novice at anything is tough, and blogs are no exception. Most lawyers are good writers, but few are coders. Many seasoned bloggers often forget how many hours they’ve invested in learning this stuff. Personally, I think most new blogging lawyers would benefit from focusing on their transition to the first-person opinion-driven blog writing style. If you think you need training & advice, don’t choose software. Choose a service provider.

Now for Part 2. Here’s a list of some of the viable options out there. These are solutions, companies or software, that we have personal experience with. Depending on the circumstances, any of them may be a good fit to build or host a legal blog.

• Hosted WordPress – Located at wordpress.com (not  .org).  While it lacks in full control over the design and ability to modify code, the platform is very solid. You can apply your own domain name (recommended if you want to move your blog later); and if you’re a CSS whiz, you can pay to apply your own custom template. Good choice for: the somewhat tech savvy &  budget conscious. Comparable to Google’s Blogger.
• Self-hosted WordPress – Located at wordpress.org (not .com), where you download the software and install yourself.  This is what we use for our own blogs here at Stem. In my view, it offers the most control, but also requires the biggest investment. If you see WordPress design themes for sale, or freelancers offering WordPress design, it’s more than likely for the self-hosted version.  Good choice for: the most tech savvy, OR, a lawyer outsourcing development and wanting full control over the layout, design & functionality.
• Lexblog – Ignoring the colourful personality of the CEO, Lexblog remains the industry leader. We have a number of co-clients with them, and I do recommend Lexblog as a ‘turn key’ solution. As described in the budget item above, you don’t hire Lexblog for their software. They’re hired to execute my laundry list of added extras, and to answer the phone when you need help. Good choice for: the time conscious, less tech savvy, new bloggers.
• Justia – Probably the second name out of most peoples’ mouths when they think lawyer blogs (and perhaps the first for websites). Tim Stanley & Co. have an excellent industry reputation, and their blogs are prominent in many markets.  Good choice for: same crowd as Lexblog, but for those that like Justia’s blog designs better.
• Google’s Blogger – This was my first blog software, and where I continue to host my personal blog. For me, Blogger remains the simplest solution available, free or paid. I would strongly advise putting a domain name to your blog ($10/yr) before you start, so you have a migration path later. But short of some widget functionality (which can be hand coded into the templates), I have few complaints. Good choice for:  those lacking tech skills, little to no budget, but want get going. Comparable to Hosted WordPress.
• G2 Web Media – Long time legal blogger Grant Griffiths, who also has a bootcamp introduction for new blogging lawyers, is a frequently missed alternative. G2 Web Media has some nice designs, and works as an intermediary using the self-hosted WordPress solution. Good choice for: the lawyer who wants a unique blog design, custom functionality, but needs to outsource design & support.
• Skunkworks – Our local friends up here in Canada, Skunkworks are another reliable developer option. Doug Jasinski and company have a combined background in both traditional media and advertising, along with some solid multi-platform blog designers. Good choice for: the lawyer that wants their blog to match firm branding efforts.
• Drupal - Drupal is one of most flexible CMS products I’ve worked with, but I’m hesitant to recommend it as a blog platform for individual lawyers. Especially for the less tech savvy. Where Drupal does fit in nicely is for community driven websites – a collaborative blog for a legal association perhaps. I put Joomla in this class too. Good CMS, but you’ll be tinkering if you want to use it for blogging.
• Movable Type & Typepad – Comparable to WP self-hosted and WP hosted, respectively.  Movable Type is the core platform Lexblog uses, without LB’s configuration bells & whistles. Typepad tends to be underrepresented in the legal market, and we don’t currently host any clients there; but some colleagues do, and sing their praises.

There are undoubtedly others; especially more companies that build blogs for lawyers. But I can only work from personal experience here (so please don’t email asking to be listed). Also understand that your decision is not carved in stone. As long as you put your blog on a domain that you own … did I say that enough times in this post? ;) …  you can migrate to another platform in the future.

Good luck with your new blog!

For someone who does the vast majority of their work online, including using Google Apps quite extensively here at Stem, I was pretty excited to see this announcement about the new Google Chrome Operating System.  That is, until I hit the second paragraph:

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.

Maybe it’s just me, but when you “Introduce” a new product line (See post title: “Introducing Google Chrome OS”), shouldn’t you have something to show now? And not in 16-18 months.

Awfully kind of you to introduce me to the new OS, Google.  Hey! I know, let me return the favour with my own introduction. … See you in 2011! :)

A fun idea germinating from a discussion with Jordan Furlong… Is it possible to reduce a company’s elevator pitch down to the 140 character limit of a twitter entry?  Brevity never being an easy task, it seemed like a challenging & hopefully productive exercise. So, I’m in.  I’ll queue the entry below up on my own account in a few minutes.

If anyone reading would like to also take part, please include a #TEPitch hashtag.  And for those of you not on twitter, here’s what I came up with:

Stem does leg work to help law firms get noticed: in search engines & social web + build grass roots brands, trans 2 profile & MSM #TEPitch

Fitting everything into an entry like this is near impossible, so getting down to the company’s core services was essential.  Obviously, our phone rings here at Stem because we are a lawyer SEO company. That’s a foundation, so I’m putting it right up front. We also stick to working within the legal industry. I think that’s decipherable from the company name, but important for the message. Our development of new ideas, fleshing out of web brands, and the ‘trickle up’ effect on media coverage round out the last few words.

While we deliver a fair bit of consulting, both informally within our retainer service and via written reports, I always like to say that Stem executes projects on behalf of clients, and that our opinions come along for the ride. The word consulting is also a tough term to differentiate, so while ‘doing the leg work‘ may be too casual for some, at least for me, it’s a more expressive way of putting it.

I’m also overlooking some of the web development work we do, but again (& like any elevator pitch) something had to give.  I consider web development a ‘value add’ element we bring to client relationships, and (at least for now) not directly why we get hired.

So there you have it. My tweetable elevator pitch for Stem. If you’d like to try the same for your company or organization (or blog, or ???), please do. The more the merrier!

And… Happy July 4th to all our friends & clients down south!

Cheers,
Steve