June 2006 Archives

Via Matt Homann, Steve Pavlina gives us 10 ways to relaxify our workspaces. I have an office on the 21st floor that really has little personality to it. I have a white board, some paper taped to the wall with examples and other Web stuff, and a plaque/picture of the history of Wrigley Field. Outside of a picture of my wife and me on my desk, I have no other real personal affects there. That needs to change. I spend the greater part of my day in that office and I should make it more "me."

So soon I will bring some other personal affects to my office to be hung up on the walls as well as some other pictures for my desk/credenza. I think if I'm going to talk on the phone, have meetings, and do paperwork I might as well have something interesting to look at. Plus, it makes others feel like you are there for the long haul...and you probably mentally are committed to your job when you have more personal things at the office. I've been in my current job almost a year and two pictures is just not enough.

The grandfather of the Web speaks out about Net Neutrality. I've been hearing some bits and pieces of this topic over the last few months, but Tim makes it pretty clear on what Net Neutrality is and what it is not. His last comment is what hits home for me:

I hope that Congress can protect net neutrality, so I can continue to innovate in the internet space. I want to see the explosion of innovations happening out there on the Web, so diverse and so exciting, continue unabated.

Other Net Neutrality Content:
* Definition from Wikipedia
* "No Tolls on the Internet" article from The Washington Post 6/8/06 (may require registration with the paper)
* "Getting a Fix on Network Neutrality" from Knowledge at Wharton
* Net neutrality fans "crying wolf"? - c|net

Tom Kane over at Legal Marketing Blog (again, a fellow BlawgThinker) has a revised list of questions you should have on a firm client intake form. Of course his version is legal focused, but in reality, any firm, of any size, should have a list like this to determine how referrals were given, if the client is worth taking on, and how you think you and your company will interact with them and their company. The last thing any party wants is to engage in a relationship that is destined to be fatal from the beginning. I've written a couple of articles on law firm Web sites and strategies behind them. A few of them refer to placing a client intake form on your Web site for potential clients to fill out. Tom's list is a great starting point to develop that on-line form. Make sure you ask all the right questions on your on-line form to answer all your questions on your off-line form.

Fellow BlawgThink attendee Michelle Golden has some great tips on phrases not to put on your firm's Web site. Phrases inclue:

• Collectively, we have 2,864 years of experience
• We're large enough to...yet we're small enough to
• We partner with you

There are more as well. One of the common themes with these phrases is that they are of the "we" mentality when in reality to get the best bang for your Web site marketing copy buck is to use phrases that indicate how your firm can help "them" or the visitor. So use phrases like:

XXX can help guilde you through the divorce process....

Michelle also gives a great list of proactive words that avoid the "we" mentality. Remember, content is king and content that engages your visitors to feel comfortable with your company and interact with you is even better.

Rachel Andrew reviews a first look at Microsoft's upcoming FrontPage replacement Expression Web Designer over at Vitamin. The review compares EWD to DW8. Interesting review if you are not a hard-core hand-coder.

This article was originally published in the May 20 issue of LLRX.

This is the first in a series of articles where I will cover how to create and manage a firm Web site yourself.

Introduction

When choosing to start a Web site there are two roads you can go down. One is to hire a Web design firm who will take care of all the back-end set-up, which includes hosting and domain registration. The other road is to do-it-yourself. First step in getting your Web presence up and running is to select a Web host and to choose your domain name and get it registered.

Pricing

Let’s start off with what is on everyone’s mind: How much is this going to cost me? Hosting plans can range from free to hundreds of dollars a month, depending on what your requirements are and what you are willing to pay for. Often you will find that you get what you pay for when it is free, and other times you may be over charged for high-end service. For most solo and small firms who are looking to start a Web presence, you can find Web hosting for as reasonable as $10 per month. I believe it is better to start with what you need at the time, knowing that you can always upgrade your plan if you require additional features.

Where to Find Hosts

There are hosting companies all around the world. If you don’t know where to start looking for a Web host, here are a couple of suggestions. First, ask your colleagues in the community or look at their Web sites. Sometimes Web sites have a link back to their Web hosts in the footer. Using this method, you may find a common set of hosts that tailor services to law firms needs. For instance, when I look at other sites in the Web development and design community, I often see two common hosts, Media Temple and Dreamhost. Both have services that are exactly what this community seeks and their reputation is good with community leaders. You may find the same with the legal community.

Second, you can always do a Google or Yahoo! search on Web hosts. Of course, doing a Web search may be overwhelming because there are many Web hosts from which to choose.

Third, you can seek out Web host lists on Web sites like c|net. Finding a host will not be a problem. Finding a host that meets your business needs and criteria is where you will want to focus your time.

Criteria for Selecting a Host

Choosing a host should not be taken lightly. Moving hosts often is not an easy experience. This is mostly due to porting your content from one server to another, not the fact of choosing a new host to move to. Like choosing software to use for your firm, a Web host should meet certain criteria. While your criteria may vary, here are some basic questions that you may ask yourself when looking for a host.

Do you have an existing environment you want to leverage? An existing environment could be with your current client database or file management system that you want to leverage through an extranet or client portal.

Where is the host physically located? Do you care if the host is local or anywhere in the world? For instance, I live in Chicago and my host in California. To me this was not a big deal because I was looking for features and service, not necessarily a local company.

Does the host perform regular back-ups or have redundant servers? You will want to make sure your data is safe, even if the host servers' crash. I remember when the power outage hit Los Angeles about a year ago. My host went down because their power back-ups went down too. They had issues with about three of their servers which meant that they did not come back up online correctly. My data was on one of those servers. The good news was that they backed up their systems on a regular basis and all my data was restored without any problems.

What is the host’s privacy policy and terms of use regarding your data? Depending on what you actually put on your Web site, you will want to make sure your data is private. Read the company's privacy policy regarding how they deal with your data. If you leave and move to a new host, do they delete it? Do they "own" it because it sits on their servers? Understanding their terms of use also is important before signing up with a host.

Steve Rubel gives a quick 35 ways to use RSS feeds today. Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg. Add a little Feed Flare to those managed feeds and you can get one hell of a powerful marketing medium. Sooner or later anything that you are interested in will have an RSS feed associated with it. WCMS systems are understanding the power and many are building it in. Here are some of my favorite that Steve points out:

• Real-time severe weather alerts
• Track your favorite football team
• Scan the latest videos on YouTube
• Peruse the latest photos on Flickr (RSS)

What's your favorite use of RSS besides to monitor your favorite blog or news source?

I've been cleaning out my aggregator, but at the same time I'm adding new feeds of blogs that I find fun to read and very knowledgable on topics. Here are just a few that you might want to check out:

• CopyBlogger (Feed) &– How to sell with blogs, email and RSS.
• Vitamin (News Feed | Features Feed) – Vitamin is a resource for web designers, developers and entrepreneurs
• AdaptivePath Blog (Feed) – Blog of Seattle renowned Web consulting company, Adaptive Path.
• WorkHappy (Feed) – Killer resources for entrepreneurs

Is it coincidence that all these sites use Feedburner for their RSS feed management? I think not...they know a killer resource when they see it.

Google has launched a new portal for search all the U.S. Government branches' Web content. Basically it is a version of their Personalized Page portal in which you can set up modules with recent news and information from your favorite governement office. By default my page came up with modules for Weather, White House News, Washington Post News, Google News: Top Government Stories, and a few others. You can add specific content from pre-defined modules very easily as well as non-government modules like Gmail.

According to the Washington Post story (free reg. req.), this search portal will take on other portals like FirstGov. At first glance, I may like FirstGov better. The Google portal may be practical if you can narrow down your focus, or if you want to do a specific search across many branches and offices, but out of the box it just looks like another portal. Maybe I'm not their target audience, but it just seems plain to me. Just my $.02.