We’ve heard endlessly (more than once from me) about the imminent death of newspapers, the collapse of a once-great industry and business model, etc. and the correspondent rise in the power of social media. No one will dispute that news organizations are having a very difficult time adjusting to the post-internet economy, and I’ve written here about the increasing significance of blogs, Twitter and other new platforms.

Nonetheless, law firms (like other corporate entities) still strive for just a mention of the firm or its lawyers in a “major newspaper” or “national magazine.” I spent ten years editing an actual “National magazine” at the Canadian Bar Association, and I was struck by how much lawyers and law firms wanted to appear in its pages. PR agencies would constantly propose lawyers as interview subjects, and large national firms would ask for PDFs of an article featuring their lawyers to post on their websites. They clearly perceived some value or prestige arising from a mention in the magazine — even more so, I’m sure, in the Globe & Mail or National Post. But is the perception accurate? I’m not sure enough law firms ask themselves this.

Media appearances have long been considered a self-evidently valuable marketing effort. But just like any other such effort, they still demand a degree of ROI examination. Most lawyers would say they want the value arising from the imprimatur of legitimacy and respect that a media outlet bestows — “we were quoted in The New York Times!” And don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of power still invested in these legacy media brands that can make them powerful players in this new landscape. But from law firms’ point of view, “major media mentions,” in isolation, can’t automatically be assumed to have an effect on a law firm’s brand and business development. They need to serve a purpose.

I was often tempted to ask the law firm marketing professionals seeking an appearance in National: “You do know that only other lawyers read this magazine, right?” Because it sometimes seemed to me they were investing a lot of time and effort in getting their lawyers in front of their competitors rather than their clients. They might have had good strategic reasons; for example, a firm’s repeated appearance in a nationwide legal periodical could translate into recruitment and lateral hiring advantages. But just as often, I suspect, a request to profile or interview a particular partner was driven by that partner’s combination of ego and influence.

All of which is to say: before setting out to get you or your firm into any kind of media outlet, be certain why you’re doing it and what you hope to get out of it. Brand management, profile enhancement, business development, referral generation, expertise demonstration — these are all valid reasons for pursuing media exposure, but most won’t apply in every situation. Be strategic in your choice of media placement, just as you should be with every other marketing choice. For example:

• If you run a small family law practice in New Brunswick, will you get more value from a mention in the Globe & Mail or in the Fredericton Gleaner? The answer depends on whether you want a prestige injection or a business development opportunity.
• If you run a civil litigation firm in Montreal, do you want to be profiled in Canadian Lawyer or in the Montreal Gazette? The answer depends on whether you want referrals from other lawyers or higher profile within your local business community.
• If you own a full-service firm in Edmonton with a smaller Calgary office, do you need attention from the Edmonton Journal or the Calgary Herald? The answer depends on whether you want to strengthen your headquarters or develop your satellite.

Before setting out on media placement efforts, lawyers and firms need to ask themselves: where do we want to show up, what do we want to be noted for, and why? Answering those questions correctly will greatly amplify the effectiveness of those efforts.

Ask anyone involved in legal marketing, and they’ve probably been face-to-face with a lawyer who insists on using bad fonts.  Last night it wasn’t a lawyer making this kind of bad choice, it was the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team.

His mistake wasn’t a mild one.  It wasn’t a bad call between sans serif or serif, or even an overly conservative fixation on Times New Roman.  No, instead  Mr. Gilbert’s choice was the ever mockable Comic Sans.  The design pundits on Twitter were chuckling about it so much, CNN was compelled to cover the story. Really. Over a font choice!

It’s a mild-wakeup call for all of us.  Not in terms of a potential embarrassment like this, but rather to reconsider the impression that different type face choices can make.  That while some font choices support the credibility of the writer, making the wrong one – Comic Sans topping that list – can do real damage to the message.  Need a refresher?  Check out the website Typography for Lawyers.  I can’t say I agree 100% with the advice, but a lot of it I do.

I’d also like to add a couple of my own tips:

1. Establish management buy-in first. Who stands up to the Partner that wants to choose their own font?  Or worse, wants to choose a new font every month? If the answer is ‘who cares…’, don’t bother investing your time creating standards.
2. When possible, however, creating approved firm standards for font face style & typography can help. Embedding those standards into printed work, forms production, templates, etc. can save a lot of headaches. It can also reduce internal bickering; and support those individuals tasked with maintaining consistent application.
3. For firms with a visual identity guide or style guide, be sure to include these font & typography standards. Define the font face usage not only in print materials, but also in digital placements. What are the acceptable line heights, kerning (space between letters)?
4. Delete Comic Sans off of every new workstation your firm purchases.  Nip those unsightly system fonts before they cause problems! :)

My newest column was published at Slaw.ca today, titled: Injection Marketing Undermines Credibility.  Within this piece, I’m trying to deliver two central messages.  The first is pretty straight forward: that embedding  links or messages about your services within web conversations is not only ‘tacky’, but it reflects terribly on you and your business.

For the generations of lawyers who’ve spent the better portion of their lives absorbing marketing and advertising, especially via unidirectional channels such as television, there’s a real need to disconnect from that experience.  Those who grasp the concept of “paying it forward” early (think altruism, educating, and connecting) will most often develop a large and mature network of web-based relationships. Those that don’t…  are destined to invest hours into the tools, and gain little traction.

Point being? If you’re not obtaining new relationships with your web marketing efforts, it may be time to work a little harder on ‘outreach’; and ease off on the frequency (and intensity) of your marketing message.  Relationships are the number one objective for your marketing success online; which brings me to the second central message of the column, SEO without spam.

Great SEO is dependent on these relationships, especially relationships with other online publishers. Let me spell it out in SEO terms:

• a large social network translates into reciprocal linking (linking to and from others in your online social circle) ;
• that network of links will grow in size boosting your link popularity (Google PageRank, and the like);
• link networks are not only valuable when in sizable number, but also in terms of domain diversity (not the same people always linking in – new relationships help shape this diversity);
• websites that link in based on similar topic coverage are better aligned and authentic (also valued by the search engines);
• similar subject websites also generate links within the body of the page’s text (valued more by the search engines, compared to blogroll links or footer links).

Websites that are really great performers in the search engines – call it ‘link juice’, call it what you will,  have this kind of link network behind them. On-page SEO tactics aside, the real “silver bullet” to SEO rankings is relationships.  Kill those, and you kill your SEO potential.

Unsolicited (or unexpected) commercial messages (a.k.a. spam) kills marketing – good SEO & credibility are just the first casualties. Fortunately the answer is very simple: hang out your shingle and do your business on your website. If your web travels take you elsewhere…  be yourself, be professional, and leave the salesman at home.

Spurred by Martha Sperry’s recent post about the numerous benefits to bloggers that Facebook offers, I decided it was past time for me to revisit and complete an old project: creating a Facebook Fan Page for my blog Law21. It’s still early in the process, and I’m learning as I go, but I can see a lot of valuable applications of a Facebook Fan Page to a legal practice, and I thought I’d share some of my initial thoughts here.

By way of brief explanation: a Facebook Fan Page is a dedicated page on Facebook for your business, organization or other commercial entity. You use it to publicize and promote your business by publishing news, updates, information, offers and so forth, and by inviting your professional contacts and interested friends to become “fans.” These people show up as members of the Fan Page, they can post messages and engage in conversations on the page, and they receive new entries from the Fan Page in their Facebook update feeds. Considering there are now 400 million people on Facebook, there’s good reason to take it seriously as a marketing platform. Nicole Black has an excellent summary of how to set up and use a Facebook fan page for a credit union — you should go read that first, substituting “law firm” in the appropriate places, and then come back here.

Setting up a Facebook Fan Page for your law practice is one thing — turning it into an exceptional value-add for both its members and your business can be another. A lot of Fan Pages seem to just sit there, rarely issuing updates, not really telling visitors anything interesting about the company or taking advantage of the features Facebook has to offer. This silence suggests that their owners created the Page because someone told them to and haven’t given it much thought since. These desolate Fan Pages don’t give people any payoff for becoming fans, and their low member totals are duly reflective. Their lesson is: don’t start a Facebook Fan Page unless you intend to give it regular attention; like an abandoned blog, it can actually drive down your prestige by conspicuously collecting dust by the side of the road.

Many other Facebook Fan Pages are active, but they’re not always the right kind of active. Just like a lot of personal Facebook accounts and Twitter feeds, these Fan Pages suffer from IAAM Syndrome: It’s All About Me. Every update and every data point on the Page is all about the business: its latest accomplishment, its newest office, its most recent press release, and so on. Absolutely, there should be some of this content — part of the goal of a Fan Page is to keep your Fans engaged in what you’re doing and what you’re up to, and to use them to spread that word far and wide. But it needs to be balanced, if not outweighed, by content about and focused on the Fans and what interests them.

For every entry on your Fan Page about your firm’s activities or offerings, there should be at least one or two entries that focus on your Fans: a link to a mainstream news article about one of your key practice areas that your clients (and potential clients) care about; a question or opinion poll about a current-affairs issue that affects your client community; a conversation-starter that lets your fans kick around an engaging topic, serious or otherwise. As Niki says in her article, a good Facebook Fan Page is a community, and you should do what you can to encourage interaction, facilitate dialogue and build relationships within that community.

On top of that, you can make this community even more special by giving your Fans bonuses or insider access they can’t get from your website or your firm’s newsletters. Write an article that’s only accessible by clicking on a link from your Fan Page. Provide an exclusive offer — a half-hour’s free consultation, say, or free parking in your building, or a list of kid-friendly diners near your office — that only your Fans will hear about. Set aside one hour to do a question-and-answer session for your Fans on any legal subject of interest. Give people an incentive to become Fans and to pay close attention to every new announcement or addition to the Page — increase their sense of belonging and exclusivity.

What’s more, remember that Facebook offers you a lot of unique options for packaging your content. You can create Photo Albums of your office or staff members, maybe for a special event like a birthday or baby shower, helping to humanize the members of your firm who are otherwise only known through those stiff, posed, smiling photographs on your website. Schedule Events at your firm like in-house seminars or outside speaking engagements by lawyers. Post Videos now and again, either little three-minute advisories from the managing partner or links to a relevant and interesting item at YouTube. Use the RSS Grafitti application to send your Twitter feed directly to your Fan Page. Profile one of your Fans once a week or once a month, introducing him or her in more detail to the other members of the club.

In short: keep it active, keep it interesting, and keep it about your Fans. Those are the three keys to a successful Facebook Fan Page — and, not incidentally, to everything you do, say or publish under your firm’s banner.

Taglines as branding devices have been a subject of  interest for some time now.  Jeanine Magsitza compiled a list of 100 law firm taglines in 2002;   Nathan Burke analysed AmLaw 200 firm’s use of taglines on their websites in 2005; and a few months ago, Carolyn Elefant advised on how to write a good tagline.

Curious to see whether taglines have changed much since 2002, we decided to update the list and see if we could find more. We compiled the list by scoping out hundreds of US, Canadian, and international law firm websites, starting with the AmLaw 100 2009 and  Lexpert’s 30 Largest Canadian Law Firms and Magsitza’s big list from 2002. If we could quickly discern a tagline, we made note of it here. We left out generic-type taglines that really only refer to a state or city, or simply to the number of years the firm’s been around.

Taglines follow a variety of formats and styles; repetitive pairs, patterns, puns, and wordplay all figure prominently, and all with the goal of describing the firm’s philosophy succinctly and (hopefully) memorably.  (For more discussion of tagline formats, see this report from InterAct Marketing.)

Do they accomplish those goals? You be the judge!

101 Law Firm Taglines – 2009 Edition

AmLaw 100 2009:

1. Akin Gump: Power of Collaboration
2. Alston & Bird: Leadership. Creativity. Results.
3. Baker Botts : Deeper Understanding. Better Solutions.
4. Baker & Hostetler:  Counsel to Market Leaders
5. Bingham McCutchen: Legal Insight. Business Instinct.
6. Bryan Cave:  A Broader Perspective (SM)
7. Crowell & Moring: Experience. Creativity. Results.
8. Dickstein Shapiro: Experience Innovation
9. DLA Piper: Everything Matters
10. Faegre & Benson: More together.
11. Greenberg Traurig: We’re Built for Change (SM)
12. Haynes Boone: Setting Precedent (SM)
13. Holland & Knight: Industry focused. Relationship driven.
14. Howrey: The Advantage of Focus (SM)
15. Jenner & Block: When it’s a Matter of Importance. (SM)
16. Jones Day: One Firm Worldwide
17. Kilpatrick Stockton: Traditions of Innovation
18. Locke Lord: Practical wisdom, trusted advice (SM)
19. McGuireWoods: Relationships that Drive Results
20. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius: We’re In This Together. Your Team and Ours.
21. O’Melveny & Myers: Connecting Communities, Clients, and People
22. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker: One Vision. One Firm.
23. Perkins Coie: Legal Counsel to Great Companies (SM)
24. Reed Smith: The Business of Relationships
25. Shearman & Sterling: Aligned for Excellence
26. Shepard Mullin: Our Mission is Your Success
27. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal: Partnering for Progress
28. Steptoe & Johnson: When Experience Matters (SM)
29. Womble Carlyle: Innovators at Law

Other US law firms:

1. Adams & Reese: Out in Front
2. Andrews Kurth: Straight Talk is Good Business
3. Arnall Golden Gregory: Not If, But How (SM)
4. Barnes & Thornburg: Enduring Values
5. Bernstein: A Business Approach to Legal Service (SM)
6. Boyle Fredrickson: You’ve got ideas. We protect them.
7. Burr & Forman: Results Matter
8. Compatore Law: Legally Speaking
9. Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz: IP Smart. Business Savvy. Client Connected. (SM)
10. Cozen O’Connor: The confidence to proceed.
11. Davis Wright Tremaine: Defining Success Together
12. Dickinson Wright: Great Lawyers. Great Law Firm.
13. Ervin Cohen & Jessup: It’s Not a Common Practice. (SM)
14. Foster Townsend Graham: Damn Fine Litigators.
15. Fox Rothschild: Let Our Experience be Your Guide (SM)
16. Fredrickson & Byron: Where Law and Business Meet
17. Gardere: Legal Knowledge. Human Wisdom.
18. Goulston & Storrs: thinkresults
19. Greenebaum: Breakthrough Law (SM)
20. Grodsky & Olecki: What makes us different makes us better.
21. Halloran & Sage: Your solutions start here. (SM)
22. Harris Beach: Lawyers you’ll swear by. Not at. (SM)
23. Holland & Hart: The Law Out West
24. Holme Roberts & Owen: Experience Listens. Be Heard. (SM)
25. Jackson Lewis: All We Do is Work (SM)
26. The Law Firm for Non-Profits: Helping Good People Do Good Things^®
27. Leonard Street & Deinard: Uncommon Wisdom. Common Sense. (SM)
28. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith: Client Focused. Results Driven. (SM)
29. Miller & Chevalier: Discern the Difference (SM)
30. Morse Barnes-Brown Pendleton: The Law Firm Built for Business (SM)
31. Munsch Hardt: Right Firm. Right Now. (SM)
32. Murthy: We Know Immigration Matters (SM)
33. Phillips Nizer: Resourceful Representation (SM)
34. Quarles & Brady: Common Ground. Uncommon Vision.(SM)
35. RMKB: A Better Legal System (SM)
36. Rose Law Firm: A Heritage of Results
37. Sheehy Ware & Pappas: Experience you need. Results you want.
38. Snell & Wilmer: Character Comes Through (SM)
39. Strellis & Field: Experienced. Driven. Effective.
40. Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald: Building Solutions (SM)
41. Wells Jaworski & Liebman: Effective. Efficient. Expeditious.

UK law firms:

1. Berrymans Lace Mawer: Clear Concise Advice
2. Bond Pearce: Clients First
3. Browne Jacobson: Law, less ordinary.
4. Charles Russell: Understanding Relationships
5. Clifford Chance : Committed to Helping Our Clients Succeed
6. Holman Fenwick Willan: Lawyers for International Commerce
7. Irwin Mitchell: Towards a Positive Future
8. Lawrence Graham: Lawyers. Just Different.
9. Linklaters: Globally Minded
10. Mischon: Not just any law firm.

Canadian law firms:

1. Aikins, Macaulay & Thorvaldson: Legal Expertise with You in Mind
2. BCF LLP :  …Making it Possible
3. Blake Cassels & Graydon: Business is our Signature
4. Borden Ladner Gervais: It Begins with Service
5. Brazeau Seller: Business people. Business law.
6. Clark Wilson: BC’s Law Firm for Business
7. Cox & Palmer: The Difference is a Great Relationship
8. Crease Harman: We Mean Business.
9. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin: Beyond Results (TM)
10. Field Law: Our Practice is Your Solution
11. Fillmore Riley:  Practicing Excellence
12. Fraser Milner Casgrain: Your Future is Our Business
13. Gowling Lafleur Henderson:  A Tradition of Excellence
14. Lang Michener: High Performance (R)
15. Langlois Kronstrom Desjardins: A large firm with a human touch
16. Macleod Dixon: Local Expertise, International Depth
17. McMillan: Take the Lead
18. Robinson Sheppard Shapiro: Our Independence Makes the Difference
19. Siskinds: Leaders in their Field
20. Stewart McKelvey: When Results Count.
21. Zvulony & Co: A Small Firm That Acts Big. (TM)

Reader-contributed taglines:

• Harrison Pensa: In any case.
• Boughton Law Corporation: Built on relationships (TM)
• Harris & Moure: The International Law Firm for Business
• Dolden Wallace Folick: Insurance Law Expertise…It’s Our Policy
• Hull & Hull LLP: Trust Experience (TM)
• Hoyt & Bryan: Partners in Planning, Friends for Life
• Bernson & Burnham, PLLC: “We look at the law differently.”
• Davis LLP: Nationally Established. Internationally Recognized.

Did we miss your firm? or get it wrong entirely? Drop us a note in the comments, or an email in the coming days, and we’ll revise accordingly.

And finally, a huge thanks to Emma Durand-Wood (who now has a profile on the Stem website).  Emma was responsible for pulling this idea from one of our brainstorming sessions, researching and then compiling the list! A great project, with valuable results!

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.

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

An item just posted on the Stem news page: JD Supra announced its new law centers this morning; a feature that should add both context & browsablity to their community-driven collections.

The law centers are broken down into four core divisions: personal law, business law, government law, and law practice management; with each major area then divided into related sub-centers.

What I like generally about this addition, is that JD Supra seems much easier for the casual visitor. If you’re trying to track down an employment lawyer or personal injury lawyer, there’s now a single location I can point people to (or bookmark) that shows the latest postings, and who are leading contributors.

I also like the top-5 contributor list on each page’s sidebar, which is based on the publishing track record within the category. The top-10 contributor list on the homepage is great for larger groups or big contributors, but these top-5 lists are a great way to stand out with 20 to 50 documents.

And if I put my SEO hat on for a moment, the practice centers also offer a host of new landing page opportunities for topical searches from the search engines. Making legal content more accessibile is JD Supra’s goal, and the additional search exposure adds to that offering.  I expect the link value from the practice centers will distribute evenly across the site, and more importantly, into each of the content items. Both the contributor profile pages and the content pages should see an ongoing benefit.

But probably the biggest difference for me, is the balance JD Supra now has between search and browse. As many of my fellow law librarians can tell you, information seekers often vary in terms of their search-vs-browse orientation.  Not everyone is the same in that regard.  What JD Supra had been lacking, was the functionality to support the browsing style.  The practice centers, in my view, fill that gap and create a more complete service.

Congratulations to everyone at JD Supra!

Stem client John Hochfelder is the host of this week’s blawg review, which comes with an interesting personal touch – the review is both dedicated to, and the theme guided by, the life of his late father.  The publication date was also timed nicely for today, his father’s birthday.

And before anyone guesses wrong, the theme idea and craftsmanship was all John – So full credit to him!  And really, you don’t contrive a story like this.

What I would like to write about, web strategy wise, is the opportunity Blawg Review provides for legal bloggers looking to establish themselves.  Around since its first edition in April 2005, Blawg Review is one of the oldest and can certainly now be described as one of the strongest rotating blog carnivals. Each week someone new hosts the review on their blog, offering a personalized round-up of commentary (in this case, legal blogs) from the previous week.

Hosting a blog carnival has always been a solid web-marketing tactic, but like most things that work well in the online space, isn’t always easy to pinpoint why.

Two of the big issues I see with many new bloggers is that they are often: link-poor and (web) relationship deprived. Getting past those barriers, while difficult, requires: 1) writing commentary that is substantive & genuine in tone and 2) having the personal web-network of relationships that can help increase exposure.  Gaining attention in the blogosphere, simply put, requires both ‘the steak’ and ‘the sizzle’.

So how does hosting a carnival like Blawg Review help? A couple of ways. First, there’s a benefit on the link front – the host blog usually receives its fair share of quality incoming links. Links, I might add, that are based on substance (not schemes) and links that are strong on subject relevance.

And second, the host blog puts itself on the radar of the legal blogging community.  At a number likely over 5000 now, that’s not always an easy task.

Now let me make my confession (’cause Ed’s waiting for it) – I’ve never actually hosted Blawg Review.  So now that I’ve told you what a great idea hosting is, let me remedy my cobbler’s kids routine and say that I’m signed on to host while the Olympics are on in Vancouver (as is the Canadian Trademark Blog).

This is something I regret not giving priority to when I first started Stem, and probably a lesson to be learned by others who are looking to raise their own blogging profile.

This past Sunday I published my latest Web Law Connected column over at Slaw, titled “The Formal-to-Informal Rule of Lawyer Web Publishing“.

The title of month’s article is a bit of a misnomer, and my suggestion of a rule is a mental guideline more than anything. The basic premise is to be careful about taking raw unfiltered conversational exchanges online, and automating (RSS imports, Widgets) their re-publication to your business network. As stated in the article:

My formal-to-informal rule is simply that it’s always ok to route formal commentary to informal and conversational web tools; but that unfiltered, informal, or conversational tools should be considered a place of final destination.

For those who consistently stay on message, don’t mix their personal & business networks, or see little use for flippant or sarcastic comments, having a content routing strategy may make little difference. Unfortunately, I seem to fail those tests on a number of fronts. :)  But that’s ok. The important message here is self-reflection in an honest way, and recognizing when fail-safe measures are required.

As I said at the end of the article, I don’t know if everyone else needs a rule… but it makes sense to me. And if it raises awareness of potential problems with content routing, especially for those lawyers with more conservative clientele, then mission accomplished.

As an aside, I’ve altered my personal publishing routine, and will now try to coordinate new article releases to Stem’s JD Supra account. The rationale, for those interested, is two-fold. First, Canadian published content isn’t treated as nicely in the US search results (a.k.a. geo targeting), so I’m attempting to improve cross-border search exposure; and second, I want those JD Supra syndication partnerships to help increase content distribution.

TechCrunch published an important post yesterday about the amount of time we invest in Twitter. Using Robert Scoble as an example, this post demonstrates a valuable lesson for everyone. There’s a risk involved when we disproportionately web-publish to another company’s service. The cost is that we increasingly ignore our personal web-publishing efforts.

While this may seem strange coming from the guy who penned Lawyer Marketing with Twitter, the issue is not about twitter, facebook, linkedin or friendfeed. The issue is our ability to create a balanced approach.

Earlier this year, D’Arcy Norman wrote about social network sharecropping. The idea that we are dumping our thoughts, pictures, notable links and relationships into the hands of others. And let’s make no bones about it, that’s what’s happening. When we publish to servers that are not ours, we are giving away control. But at what price?

The issue as I see it, is not that we’re using these services. But rather, that we are participating in an unbalanced way. In the legal sphere, my big concern is for those lawyers are engaging these tools without first having a personal web presence. That’s right, a blog!

Using social networks and social media without a blog to tie these services together, is simply a bad move. Especially for lawyers, who may be starting late in the game, you cannot skip steps. Guess what Connie Crosby did last year when her twitter account was accidentally cancelled? She blogged about it, and more important, she got results! Not having a blog means you are not a player. If you lack that personal publishing presence, that means you don’t have a voice on the modern web. It’s a position of web marketing weakness.

The other problem I see is the ‘no follow’ trend of the big social networks. Most of these services, including Twitter, have cut off the outbound link value of their links, including individual profile pages. That means, while many believe they are contributing quality content to these services and getting a valuable link back to their firm or company website, this is increasingly not the case.

Unfortunately, that’s not the way the ‘nofollow’ attribute or link popularity was intended to work. Link popularity is supposed to reward quality content & the people who create it.  Similarly, the ‘no follow’ attribute was created to prevent blog comment spam. But now combined, these two features are used by the big social networks to create black holes of link value. Draw you’re own conclusions here, but either way, the loss of publishing control puts the content creator at a disadvantage. At the whim of a third party, who may delete your account at a moment’s notice, and without recourse.

Now what all this adds up to, is that web publishers should own their own land (ie. websites & blogs). This is an extremely important point for lawyers & law firms. You wouldn’t let an outside company own your firm domain name, right? You protect it! It’s the same lesson here.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t participate in these communities. You should participate! But in a balanced way, and not at the expense of establishing a personal blog. Frankly, twitter without a blog is just playing around. If you are using social media to participate and build a reputation, you need to back it up with some substance. And though some may disagree, my take is that substance frequently requires more that 140 characters.

I understand that blogs are hard work, and that twitter is easier. So what? If you’re going to put hours into this, the last thing you want to do is take the easy way out. As the TechCrunch post says, blogging  delivers those memorable pieces that you (and others!) will refer to for years to come.

It’s an easy equation really. Blog something of value first, and then go chat with your friends about it.

Soon to be unveiled in the upcoming issue of the ABA LPM’s Law Practice magazine will be LegalWEB2.0, a new column to be edited by yours truly.  I’ve included a small image capture below to pique your interest! If you care to squint, you can probably get a sneak peak at the into blurb from the first article, written by PMA extraordinaire Erik Mazzone!

The focus of this new column will be on the practical aspects of web innovation within the legal community. My role, or at least as I see it, will be to track down stories (and authors) that highlight the latest methods of web engagement. The read write web is an environment that’s constantly evolving, both on the public-Internet and within law firms. My hope, is that this column will help lawyers decide which tactics & technologies are valuable investments of their time, and which are not.

I’m very excited to be expanding my role with Law Practice in 2009.  I’m also thankful to have the mentoring and guidance of Editor-in-Chief Dan Pinnington, as well as Joan Feldman and Joy White.  All three have been incredibly helpful, and I feel confident going forward knowing that I have their support.

And while I’m on the thank-you circuit… I’d also like to acknowledge former Editor-in-Chief Dave Bilinsky, who both got me involved in LPM and persuaded me to sign up for (yet) another volunteer gig. Thanks Dave! ;) Actually, all sarcasm aside, my time with LPM has been an exceptional experience.  It’s a extremely smart and fun group to be around. And I highly recommend it.

This month’s Texas Bar Journal inlcudes a republication of my article, It’s Not the Tool, It’s You! Many thanks to the TBJ’s technology editor, John Sirman, for picking it up from Slaw‘s RSS feed.

It’s also worth noting from a web-marketing perspective. The next time someone says blogging & RSS aren’t valuable marketing tactics, consider routing them over to this post.  This is the fourth article I’ve had published by the Texas Bar Journal, and each was picked up via personal web publishing. The State of Texas has been extremely kind to Stem on the client front too, introducing us to both McClanahan Myers Espey LLP and Hissey Kientz LLP.  Two top quality firms we’re looking forward to working with in 2009!

My point being … I don’t just talk the talk. The vast majority of Stem’s own marketing efforts involve web-publishing and content marketing.  If I slow down on the content flow, especially when things get busy as they are now, then Stem pays the price. Email inquiries slow, and the phone stops ringing.  Conversely, when I jump back into the fray, good business things happen.

It’s not always that simple. But lesson learned: sometimes it is.

For all you iPhone groupies out there – besides the guy writing this post who wasted an entire day waiting in line for one of the first Canadian editions – there’s a new blog in town! Jeff Richardson has started a new site called iPhone J.D. and it looks like a good one!

Now to spin this back to my own topic, I’d like to describe the lesson that Jeff is teaching us about building a profile online. And that is, blogs don’t have to be about substantive law to have an impact! Jeff has a class actions and liability practise, not an iPhone-tech law practise. So where’s the value? He’s just wasting his time right? Nope. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite the fact that Jeff has disclaimed any connection to his firm, that little link back to his working life is set to become a major asset for the firm. And they likely don’t even know it. … Mark my words here. Over the next year, Jeff’s blog will attract many links, and will probably surpass his firm’s website PageRank of 4 within six months.

From that point forward, Jeff’s blog will drive every lawyer profile and practice page for his firm website up in the search engine rankings. All because of the link juice that link will pass back to the firm.

Think about that for a minute. His firm which has 10 offices and looks to have hundreds of lawyers, will be surpassed by the indirect efforts of just one single lawyer. All because Jeff took the time to blog about a topic he’s passionate about.

A hobby? Sure. But his clients and potential clients also get to see his personality, his level-headed nature, and a love for the topic. That kind of insight does come into play when hiring a lawyer, and yes, personality counts.

Most lawyers love their work. After years in this industry, I’ve come to believe those that have any kind of longevity also have a passion for legal practise. Blogging, on the other hand, is about constant reflection and writing about something you care deeply about. If you’re going to last at it, just like practising law, you’d better love the topic.

The lesson I spoke of earlier, is that a popular blog will drive your law firm’s web marketing efforts, whether it’s a topic directly related to your practise, or like Jeff’s blog, is only tangentially related.

If you’re going to start blogging, my suggestion would be to get this part early. Make sure your blogging topic satisfies something within you. Make sure it’s a topic that’s both fun and drives you to write! As I’ve said before, blogs aren’t law firm newsletters. Yes you need to think about things strategically, but always write for yourself first. Your readers will thank you for it.

Now, where’s my feed reader? … I need to go subscribe to Jeff’s blog.

Update: Completely forgot to tip my blogging hat to Dave Bilinsky for sharing with me. Thanks Dave!

The content distribution channels just keep coming for legal documents sharing service JD Supra!

Just announced over on their JD Scoop blog, Stem client JD Supra has launched a new Facebook application to help users stream their content into their facebook profile.

There are two potential options during the install process. One is the mini feed, which will create a small summary of the last 3 documents the user has uploaded to JD Supra.

And the second option, which I think is the preferred path, will display the full feed of your documents, plus display a replicated copy of your JD Supra profile page.  Here’s a screen capture from Stem’s JD Supra profile:

And one of the document summary screen:

Another impressive addition to JD Supra’s vision for social legal documents! And, I might add, a very subtle way to insert one’s professional profile and credentials into their facebook experience.

Anyone who says the legal industry doesn’t get web 2.0 … better take a look at this! :)