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Example Scenario

This article originally was published in the May 2007 issue of LLRX.

You have worked for a large firm for many years and you have made the decision to either go solo or start a small firm. You were used to having access to all your information via an Intranet, file server, and your desktop. You could practice law and let the IT department worry about when the printer jammed or if you got a virus. Now that you are solo, you are the one that has to deal with all those problems as well as practice law.

Originally published January 15, 2007, on LLRX.

Two years ago I wrote about what was going to be BIG in 2005. It was a fun take off on the VH1 BIG in 2004. With technology and the Web changing at an ever-quickening pace, I thought it would be good to predict what I think is going to be BIG in 2007. So let’s get started.

Content Syndication – My News, My Way

Two years ago I predicted that RSS was going to take off. It did, but not in the way that it should have. Many factors contributed to the lack of wider adoption of RSS, but now the playing field has changed. Publishing companies are seeing the value in RSS and how content can be syndicated to other Websites, and more importantly, delivered directly to readers. The software companies have also caught-on to the power of RSS and are integrating the RSS format directly into their applications. Much of this can be attributed to the explosion in the number of blogs over the last five years. Microsoft will help expand RSS adoption with the introduction of their new operating system Vista, and with user migration to Internet Explorer 7, released several months ago. Both have integrated features to facilitate the use of RSS.

RSS will be the vehicle for syndicating content, but it won’t just be text and images anymore. The popularity of content such as video and podcasts will continue to grow this year. OPML will also start to gain some traction as well.

OPML stands for Outline Processor Markup Language. It will have many useful application as a content syndication vehicle as it continues to develop. The most common use at the moment is to bundle a number of RSS feeds into one file, which you can then in turn import into another aggregator. So if I wanted to share my Legal Blogs folder from my news aggregator with you, I would export the folder as an OPML, allowing you to import that file and use all the feeds to which I am subscribed, via your own aggregator. This saves both of us time because I monitor about 50 legal blogs, and it would cumbersome to copy and paste each feed URL into a document to email to you.

The Social Web Becomes the Regular Web

Last year was all about the "social Web." In 2007, we will see how the social Web will be absorbed into the "regular" Web. Blogs and Websites will for the most part become one and the same. We won’t differentiate them as much because blogs will continue to be integrated into mainstream Websites and their core features, such as blog comments and RSS, will become an accepted part of all Websites. This integration has already started with the re-launch of Time.com, along with use of these applications in mainstream media sites such as the WashingtonPost.com and NewYorkTimes.com sites, to name just a few. These publishing giants have taken social Web concepts and placed them directly into their respective Websites. These features include a blog aggregator which is summary content from many sources (Time.com), columnist blogs with comments enabled, podcasts, and a "save and share" feature on all their articles which allow you to bookmark or share links to articles via social communities like Sphere, Newsvine, Digg, and Del.icio.us.

The next generation of the Web will continue to prominently include online community building features. Websites like Second Life will continue to change the way we interact with each other. Companies will no longer just be on the Web, they will interact on the Web. The legal community will, to a certain degree, follow suit. Advertising rules and regulations will continue to evolve regarding how blogs and Websites are treated by the state bar associations [Link].

Originally published December 17, 2006 at LLRX.com

The end of the year is closing in fast and you will undoubtedly ready many "year in review" articles this month. Rather than writing a column referring to what we covered this past year, I want to get you thinking about next year, so you can start the year off right - with a strategic plan for your website that is integrated into other firm goals for 2007.

Reviewing Your Current Website

Hindsight is always 20/20, so – what didn't you accomplish with your website last year? Do those unaccomplished goals still hold value within the scope of your overall marketing strategy? If so, do you want to make sure these goals figure prominently in your plans for next year?

In following with what website plans were not implemented, did you perhaps add a new feature or features that failed to generate the response you anticipated or simply did not work? To what can you attribute this lack of success?

Looking at what you have done and how your website has contributed to your overall goals and marketing efforts will help you to focus your plans for improvements and enhancements for 2007. Review all aspects of your website, from design to content to traffic statistics to clients who engaged your services through the site. Having a complete picture of what happened over the course of the last twelve months will provide you with valuable data. 

The next step in this evaluation process is to draw up a short list of ideas and changes that you want to make to your website in the next year and put it aside. Then take a look at the competitive landscape that surrounds you.

Competitive Analysis

Knowing what you have worked on over the last twelve months is a good starting point, but information about what your competitors have accomplished is an essential component of your future planning process.  Has your competition taken specific business away from you? Is another firm or practice providing a service that is within your field of expertise? Do other firms have value-added services that you offer but have not properly communicated or marketed, or that you can enhance to extend the range of your services to clients? Remember, you do not have to be the first to offer a online service or implement a technology application (such as a blog, wiki or an extranet).  The objective is to determine how to implement one or more of these applications in a manner which keeps you competitive and expands your services.

Ideas that you will want to consider include the following?

• coordinated offline and online branding
• e-mail updates on topical subject matters
• client portals
• web-based client intake forms

After taking a quick look at your competitors within the context of the "marketplace" (location, industry, etc.), you can add more context and content to your wish list of ideas to implement over the next year.

This article was originally published in my column, Faulkner's Practical Web Strategies, November 12, 2006 at LLRX.com

It is probably the most taken for granted webpage you visit every day—the infamous homepage that appears each time you open your Web browser. Many see it as just another page that they immediately click away from once their browser is open. Others actually change it to something more meaningful or interesting. Traditionally, the homepage, is usually set by someone else at first, but with the expansion of the Web 2.0 era and the greater adoption of RSS you can actually do more with your homepage than ever before.

The problem with homepages is that you only get to choose one page. If you are lucky enough to be able to switch this page (some companies lock down their computers so this feature is disabled) you are forced to make the difficult choice of picking a page that suits your needs. Many choose a search engine, a news site, or another favorite website. With personalized pages becoming more common place, it only makes sense to maximize that experience to get the best of both worlds. At the end of this article I’ll take you step-by-step on setting up a personalized homepage with one of the services I mention below. So let's see what is available for you to use and how you can get the content you want all in one spot.

This article was published in my column Faulkner's Practical Web Strategies for Lawyers in the April 15 issue of LLRX.

I am often asked, "Is 200,000 hits a month good for a Web site?" when talking with lawyers at meetings and other events. Of course the number changes every time, but the general inquiry is the same: how does someone determine if their Web site is successful or not? For some it is all about the numbers. The bigger the numbers, the more successful it is. To others, they want to track a specific ROI to their Web site, which could be I receive x amount of clients for every y amount of phone calls via my Web site.

My typical response to these types of questions is that the success of a Web site is determined by a variety of factors that are weighted differently by each individual asking the question. In reality, the success of a Web site is in the eye of the beholder, and it is the management of the expectations put on a Web site that determine if it is successful or not. While that may sound like a cop out for an answer to some, it is very true. For a large firm, a Web site may be largely a marketing tool for exposure, but their focus to gain more clients is through their partners and rainmakers. For a solo or small firm in a suburb of a metropolitan area, a Web site may be a great way to bring in clients and distinguish them from the lawyer down the street.

Reasons Why People Visit Your Web Site

Before you can make some adjustments to your Web site, it is best to understand some basic behaviors of the types of visitors that come to your Web site. Visitors to your Web site are most likely doing one or more of the following:

• Shopping around for legal services
• Looking for someone they can trust
• Looking for someone who has expertise and success with the problem they have

Like many services, visitors to law firm Web sites are shopping around for legal services. Many have a problem that they cannot solve on their own. They want someone who can help them solve their problem, whom they can trust, and who will accomplish the assignment without breaking their bank account. Your Web site is one of the first exposures a potential client has to you and your firm. Building initial trust via your Web site is crucial to get that visitor to even consider filling out a client-intake form or making that initial phone call.

Tips for Improving Your Web Site for Success

Assuming that your Web site, at the bare minimum, gives your firm exposure to someone seeking a lawyer who is on the Internet, the following tips will help you identify ways you can improve your Web site to meet your expectations.

Look at Your Web Site Statistics

Every Web site host should provide you with some statistics about your Web site. It is best to look at these statistics before you make any other adjustments to get a baseline of what is really happening on your site. Looking at these statistics can help you identify problem spots as well as traffic trends. Some key statistics to look at are:

• Entry Pages
• Most Visited Pages
• Search Terms
• Bounce Rate
• Referrers

Entry Pages. This is the first page a visitor comes to when they are on your Web site. This is a key report to know if your visitors are entering on your homepage first, or going to a specific content page. If visitors are entering your Web site on your homepage, you will want to take a look at your Exit Page report next. More on that when we get to bounce rates. If visitors are first entering your Web site on a deeper content page, such as a practice area, you will want to see if that matches with the types of clients you may be gaining from your Web site.

Most Visited Pages. Consider these pages as your most popular pages. Most visited pages, or most page views generally are ones that visitors look at the most. This report consolidates all the pages, by ranking, into one nice listing of what visitors are looking at. You may be able to identify a page that has important information regarding one of your services is not being looked at a lot you may need to investigate why. Is it your navigation? Is it how the teaser on your homepage is phrased? This report helps identify those types of instances.

Search Terms. Search terms are another key indicator as to what visitors are using to find your firm's Web site. If you have tailored your Web site correctly with terms that describe what type of services your firm provides, you should see the same terms in this report. If you do not see them, you may need to adjust the copy on your Web site so that it is more in line with what visitors are searching on. It is not uncommon for a law firm Web site to use terms that do not match those for which a visitor is searching. Remember, more often than not a potential client will not be searching on the technical or legal term for a type of case, but rather the type of problem they have.

Bounce Rate. The bounce rate can be determined by dividing your exit page by the entry page that matches it. For instance, if your top exit page is your homepage with 100 exists, and your homepage is on your entry page report with 200 visits, then your bounce rate is 50%. This means that 100 visitors entered your Web site at your homepage and then immediately left without going to any other pages. Some analytics programs, like Google Analytics, provide a report that shows the bounce rates for your Web site. Others will require you to do some comparison to determine your bounce rate for certain pages.

Referrers. Knowing how your visitors found you is also important. A referrer report will tell you the site a visitor was on just before coming to yours. Often the first couple of referrers will be search engines. Other times you will see directories that list your Web site. If you register your Web site with a directory listing, or pay for search result listings, you will want to make sure those Web sites are in your referrer report.

Building Trust with Proper Design

Did you know that you have less than 30 seconds to make a positive impression or grab a visitor's attention to continue reading your Web site? If you have a home-grown Web site that was built in Microsoft's Front Page or Publisher, or by your nephew, it is time to trade up.

Professionalism is what immediately starts to build a potential client's trust in you and your firm, not the standard clip-art of the scales of justice that is on that template you used. There are many firms that can provide you with a professional looking Web site for minimal costs. Some will even help write the copy that goes on the site and make sure it is search engine optimized.

Having a cleanly designed Web site is a start to building trust. Use colors that are inviting, not dark or heavy. It is best to put a dark font color on a light background, not the reverse. Make sure your Web site will print out easily without cutting off text on the right side of the page margin. If you want to see some of the best designed and formatted Web sites, take a look at Internet Marketing Attorney's Nifty Fifty. These independently evaluated Web sites cover areas such as design, content, usability, interactivity and more. You can get some good ideas from these Web sites concerning features to include when developing your Web site.

Design goes beyond pretty pictures and clean lines though, to how your navigation is written. The how your page "scans" is also important. That is a key thing to remember; Web users scan Web sites, not read them. It is only when they see something that catches their eye will they read more about that topic. So if your Web site is very text heavy, you will want to break up those paragraphs into readable, scannable chunks of content. This is where the words used in the headlines are always key. It is also important not to bury content that is important so your visitor can contact you. Make sure you phone number, or client intake form is readily accessible from anywhere on your Web site. Once that visitor decides they want to call you, don’t make them search too hard for how to do it. Having your contact information in your footer is always best.

It's About Them, Not You – Evaluating Your Copy

The problem with many legal Web sites is the copy in them. More often than not, the Web site content will focus on what the firm has to offer; what the firm can do; what areas of law in which their lawyers are experts.. What the content should address is how your firm can help a visitor solve their problem. An easy way to see if you have self-centered copy on your Web site is to count up how many times you have "we" in your copy vs. "you." You will want phrases like "Thomas Jones, LLC can help assist you in a child custody hearing," or "The Bill Smith law firm are experts in the new bankruptcy laws to help you get back on financial track." The focus is on them, not you; it  is important for a potential client to see that you care about their needs. Just this slight change of text and content orientation will help bring clients to your firm versus them moving on to the next one.

Conclusion

Web site success is based mostly on the owner's expectation. If they have a certain expectation that their Web site should bring in 10% of their firm's clients, then their Web site needs to be geared to bring in clients. By analyzing your current Web site statistics and visitor behaviors you can determine where you can make improvements. Cleaning up the copy on your Web site to make it client focused and adding phrases that target their needs will help you build trust. Having a professional design will also build trust. It is through that initial trust where a prospect will have the desire to call your firm, or fill out a client intake form to contact you.

Originally published in the March 15, 2006 issue of LLRX. This version has since been updated covering additional resources.

Where do you get your legal news and updates from? Law journals? Your state bar association? Online searches and watchlists? LexisNexis or WestLaw? The problem with those resources is that they require reading. You have to sit down and read text on paper or a screen. Enter the podcast, an audio file that can be downloaded or burned to a CD that can be played anywhere, anytime. Here I will explain what a podcast is, describe their potential, and how to find and subscribe to them.

What is a podcast?

At its core, a podcast is nothing more than a recorded audio file, just as a blog is nothing more than a website. But like blogging, the value of podcasting comes from the content that is written and how widely it is distributed. According to Wikipedia a podcast is:

"...the distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the internet using either RSS or Atomsyndication for listening on mobile devices and personal computers."

Legal podcasters, like legal bloggers, share knowledge, opinions, and commentary on topics that can advance the profession while keeping us up-to-date on legal topics or new legislation. In many cases, they are produced by the same person creating content in both mediums, written and spoken.

The Future of CLE?

In 2004, Duke University gave its entire freshman class an iPod. Why? It was an experiment, with professors recording their lectures and making them available as podcasts to students to listen to and reference. It is an experiment that has taken off, and now many universities are producing podcasts for students. Why is this relevant? Today, over forty (40) states require mandatory continuing legal education credit for lawyers licensed in that state. Regardless of the state, all lawyers need to keep up on what is happening in their areas of practice, to maintain a competitive advantage inside and outside the courtroom. Podcasting is just one more way to keep up to date on what is happening in your area of law.

The biggest difference, though, is that you may not receive CLE credit for your efforts. At least not yet. Robert Ambrogi, a lawyer and contributor to the Law.com network believes that podcasting could be the next wave of how to obtain CLE credit.

One of the great things about podcasts is that it is a listening medium, which makes it much more flexible to stay up-to-date on legal information. For instance, I, like many others, have a decent commute to work. Truth be told it is about an hour and twenty minutes each way. In that time I will work on my computer, gaze out the window, listen to music, and more recently listen to podcasts. That commute time is a perfect opportunity for me to catch up on topics and commentary on the web and legal industry.

Self Study

One way many lawyers will obtain CLE credit is through self study. This is where podcasts have their current potential, though there is no official report of a podcast being accepted as a self study CLE course. Many CLE courses are submitted by approved organizations. Individuals producing podcasts may not go through this process of getting approval before publishing them, and thus lawyers listening to them may not receive credit for listening to them.

Regardless, if you apply for self study CLE credit with your state, if you find the right podcast that covers topics in your area of law, the information is valuable no matter what source it comes from. We should all strive to continue to educate ourselves to be the best in our fields, whether credit is given or not.

If you are not sure about what your state allows for self-study CLE, check out the ABA's MCLE center or your state bar's website.

How to Find Podcasts

There are many directories that list available podcasts to which you can subscribe to. Often you will find them by accident if you are reading a legal blog or one is referred to you by a friend or colleague. Popular directories such as iTunes, Odeo, iPodder, and Podcast Alley provide listings to many legal podcasts, though none have a specific legal category at this time. At the end of this article, I have links to several legal podcasts, directory listings, and legal information provider's podcasts.

How to Subscribe and Listen to Podcasts

If you are not familiar with the process of subscribing to a podcast, here are the basic steps. Note, you do not need an iPod to listen to podcasts. You can listen to them on any MP3 player or computer.

First you will need to download a podcast aggregator. If you already use a news aggregator like FeedDemon, you can use it. iTunes is another popular software if you have an iPod.

Second, select a podcast directory to search within. For this example, I'm using Podcast Alley and doing a search on "law". The first result is May It Please The Court by J. Craig Williams. Click on the link which gives you some additional information about the podcast as well as an option to "subscribe" to it. Click the "subscribe" link and you are then presented with a URL to copy and paste into your podcast aggregator. If you are using iTunes open the program and do a Ctrl U and paste the URL into the subscribe screen. If you are using FeedDemon, copy that URL into a new Channel.

Third, connect your MP3 player of choice to your computer and transfer the audio files to your portable player. If you are using iTunes, it will transfer automatically after it downloads the most recent podcast. If you are using another aggregator such as FeedDemon, you may download each individual podcast from each entry in the RSS feed.

Once loaded onto your portable music player, you can listen to the podcast from anywhere. If you download the audio file to your computer, you can burn a CD and listen to it on the go as well.

Will Podcasting Catch On?

In February 2006, eMarketer reported that more companies are looking to advertise or sponsor podcasts due to the targeted audience that a podcast can provide. PEW Internet for Life Project in July 2005 reported that 13% of Internet users even know what a podcast is. That number has undoubtedly increased since then. I recently saw a billboard driving into Chicago for the new AT&T that said "Podcasting Delivered," referring to their Internet access service they provide. Adam Curry, the one often referred to as having started podcasting, recently stated on his show the Daily Source Code that it may take another three years for podcasting to become really well known. Though still in its infancy, the legal arena has seemed to adopt blogging quickly, and they may just do the same with podcasting.

So Who's Podcasting in the Legal Industry?

While there are many podcasts available on a variety of topics and subjects, there are just a few as of today that are specific to the legal industry. There are a couple of lawyers podcasting as well as a few legal information providers. The following is a beginners list of podcasts to subscribe to.

Lawyer Podcasts

• Bag and Baggage (Podcast Feed) - Denise Howell, appellate and intellectual property lawyer with Reed Smith.
• May it Please the Court Podcast (Podcast Feed) - J. Craig Williams, a founder of The Williams Law Firm.
• Coast to Coast (Podcast Feed) - J. Craig Williams (May It Please The Court) and Robert Ambrogi (Lawsites)
• The Legal Talk Network - a network of lawyers nationwide providing the latest legal news.
• The Legal Underground Podcast (Podcast Feed) - Evan Shaeffer, a trial lawyer in the midwest.
• The Rethink(ip) Aloud Podcasts (Podcast Feed) - IP lawyers, Douglas Sorocco, J. Matthews Buchanan, and Stephen Nipper
• The Kennedy-Mighell Report (Podcast Feed) – Legal technologist extrodinaire Dennis Kennedy and online legal research guru Tom Mighell explore the world of legal technology with an Internet focus.

Legal Information Providers

• FIOS Podcasts on Demand - FIOS podcasts featuring hour long seminars covering a wide range of E-Discovery topics.
• Merrill - Legal solutions provider has several on-demand seminars for download in mp3 format.
• Ten Minute Mentor - The State Bar of Texas' podcast on mentoring and practical information to lawyers.
• The Westcast (Podcast Feed) - Thomson West podcasts on legal news.
• Update Philadelphia Bar Association – The Philadelphia Bar Association has a variety of podcasts covering topics from Practice Management to Interviews.

Directories

• iPodder (http://www.ipodder.org/directory/4/podcasts/categories/law) - Download aggregator software as well as search for legal related podcasts.
• Podcast Alley (http://www.podcastalley.com/search.php?searchterm=law) - A specific search for "law" in podcasts listed in Podcast Alley.
• iTunes (req. download) - Search for "law" under Podasts in iTunes to get a listing of available legal related podcasts.
• Odeo (http://www.odeo.com/find/law) - Record, download, and share podcasts with Odeo.

Update: Since publishing this article, the Creative Common's Podcasting Legal Guide was released with some great information on the legalities surrounding podcasts.

How often do you use the Internet during the day? Two hours a day? Four? Whether you are filing a brief, searching for new legislation in your state, or researching legal information about a particular case you are working on, the Internet has become an integral part of our lives. Traditionally, web browsers are pretty similar in functionality. Out of the box you can bookmark favorite web pages and organize them. That's about it. There are, however, some great additions to web browsers that can make your experience better, faster, and more efficient through the addition of toolbars, bookmarklets, and extensions.

Security Warning

Security is always a risk when installing any third party plug-ins on any computer. Before installing any new software, extension, or plug-in on your computer, contact your system administrator.

Toolbars

Toolbars are great additions to web browsers. They allow you access to information right from Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox instead of going to search engines or specific websites. Google, Yahoo!, and now LexisNexis all have toolbars that can speed up your search process and allow you to focus on matters that require more attention.

Google and Yahoo! – Similar in function, the Google and Yahoo! toolbars are among the most popular toolbar around for both IE and Firefox. These toolbars allow users to search the Web, provide a pop-up blocker, auto-fill, access to news, spell-checking and other features.

Yahoo! Toolbar
Google Toolbar

In typical Google fashion, they currently have a beta of their next version available at http://www.google.com/tools/toolbar/T4/. This version offers a more streamlined approach by incorporating additional icon buttons versus text-based buttons. The toolbar also allows you to create custom buttons to your favorite websites or RSS feeds. Finally, the new toolbar allows you to send clips or links to web pages via SMS messaging, or through your Gmail account.

The nicest thing about the Google Toolbar for IE is that you can search Google instantly. Those who use Firefox may not see the need for the toolbar as there is a search bar already built into the browser. The next version of Internet Explorer, IE 7 will incorporate a similar feature.

LexisNexis – LexisNexis released a toolbar for IE in January 2006. Those who have a LexisNexis account can conduct specific searches directly in its databases via this toolbar. The interface is very simple, with a basic search box and then a "Select Source" drop menu where you can drill down to specific areas ranging from Codes and Regulations to Federal Litigation. It even lets you search Shepard's. Get the LexisNexis Toolbar at www.lexisnexis.com/toolbar/.

Bookmarklets

Bookmarklets are small pieces of JavaScript that allow browsers to access websites or perform specific requests to websites right from your browser. Bookmarklets are usually placed on a toolbar and not in your bookmarks, which make them easy to access.

TinyURL – There are many bookmarklets available on the Internet, but none are more efficient than TinyURL. Have you ever received a link in an e-mail that wraps to the next line, but it breaks? You then have to copy and paste the URL into your web browser and hope that you got it all in order to open it. A frustrating process to say the least. TinyURL solves that problem. TinyURL is a website that allows you to paste large URLs into its interface, and it will in turn automatically create a shortened ("tiny") URL that is easy to use and will not break when placing in an e-mail message or posting on a website. This bookmarklet allows you to create that "tiny" URL without having to go to their website. You can create a tiny URL from any web page just by clicking on the bookmarklet link in your toolbar. You can get the TinyURL bookmarklet at http://tinyurl.com/#toolbar.

Extensions

Extensions are somewhat similar to bookmarklets, but they provide more features. Often they work like min-programs or scripts that extend the functionality of a browser far beyond its original framework. Currently extensions are only available for Firefox. Personally, I use Firefox solely for the use of extensions. They allow me to leverage my browser to accomplish tasks and access information quicker than IE. If you use Firefox, here is a short list of extensions that you may find valuable to assist with your tasks on the Internet.

All-in-One Gestures – This extension allows you to use your mouse to navigate, or perform other macros within your browser. Move forward, back, open a new tab or window by holding down your right mouse button and performing a specific gesture. Use pre-defined gestures, or create your own. After using this extension, you’ll never surf the web the same way again (the URL is http://tinyurl.com/cg6xy).

CustomizeGoogle – While Google is the most popular search engine around, it is not always the most relevant when it comes to search results. CustomizeGoogle adds links to other major web and blog search engines to perform the same search you just did in Google (the URL is http://tinyurl.com/df242).

PDFDownload – PDFDownload is a nice extension that gives you options when you click on a PDF in your browsers. You can open it in a new tab, download it, view as HTML in a new tab or cancel the download. These options come in handy when you click on a link that you didn’t realize was a PDF, or when you want to view other pages while the PDF is opening up (the URL is http://tinyurl.com/bfkpy).

GoogleSuggest – Sometimes we don't use the best search phrase when looking for certain information. GoogleSuggest adds a list of other suggested search phrases that are similar to the one you are typing in. It dynamically narrows your search phrase as you type it in (the URL is http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/suggest/index.html).

Additional Search Engines

Another advantage to Firefox is that it allows you to load additional search engines into it's default search box. Do you prefer to search Yahoo! vs. Google? No problem. Do you like to search Wikipedia for certain topics? Adding Wikipedia to your search box is as easy as clicking a link. You can add many different search engines to your Firefox browser by heading to https://addons.mozilla.org/search-engines.php?application=firefox.

Conclusion

Armed with the right arsenal, your browser can be configured to be much more functional than visiting website to website. While Firefox has the most customization possible, using the right toolbar can enhance your experience using Internet Explorer as well. At the end of the day, using a toolbar or extension is about accomplishing the task at hand faster so you can move on to other tasks.

Originally published on my column on LLRX, Faulkner's Practical Web Strategies for Attorneys, February 15, 2006.

It is a new year and we've all jotted down a few resolutions for ourselves – and probably already broken a few too. So now is a good time to also make a few resolutions for your organization as well. Start things off this year with a fresh look for one of the most public faces of your firm – your website.

It is easy to forget about your website after you first launch it. Many law firms have what is typically called a "brochure" site, which is just a few pages of marketing copy about their firm and what type of services they provide. With the web increasingly becoming an integral part of our daily lives, including locating products and services, your website may require some freshening up. This is not to suggest that you need to completely redesign your website, but there are several types of approaches you can take to update your site, ranging from easy to challenging projects. You will want to focus on updates that will help you bring in clients who are more informed about you and your firm, what you do, and how you can help them.

Easy

Don't have a lot of time to dedicate to updating your website? These easy updates are the ones you can make in the shortest amount of time possible, yet which can still improve your website by leaps and bounds.

Marketing Copy. When was the last time you looked at the copy on your website? Was it last year? When the site was launched back in 2003? By revising your marketing copy you can give your website an intellectual face-lift. One tip when revising marketing copy - remember that visitors scan, more than read, long paragraphs of copy. Break your copy up into coherent chunks, and use sub-heads so visitors can hone in on what they are looking for quickly.

Attorney Bios & Photos. Have your attorneys been published in the last year? Have they won significant cases or been involved in visible pro bono or public service projects? Make sure their biographies reflect these additions. Clients like to see more than an educational background for attorneys they may potentially work with. Plus, are you still using black and white photos of your attorneys? Maybe it is time for a new photo shoot where you can get color photos of your attorneys. These photos can be multi-purposed and also used for press releases, brochures, and publications.

Contact Information, Directions, and Maps. You always want to ensure that your potential clients know how to contact you and find your office. Having a main office phone number (or client intake line), detailed directions to your firm, as well as a map, is a great client service. Don't make them take the extra step to look you up on an Internet map service; give them one right on your website. A bonus to having this information on your site is that it will help your firm get picked up on local search results as well.

I am the Treasurer for my condo association, and this makes me in charge of researching and signing contracts for all of our maintenance services during the year. Winter was quickly approaching and I needed to find a new snow removal service for our building. As I surf the Internet daily, I headed to Google Local search to scout out companies to contact for a RFP. I use local search on a regular basis for a variety of searches for my area, mainly restaurants. My success rate is usually pretty high, and I thought this search would be no different. I was wrong. Instead, my search produced only two snow removal companies, and the rest were lawn care and maintenance services. Knowing that many lawn care services double as snow removal services, I didn't feel too bad with the results, but what discouraged me more was the lack of supporting information for me to read in my quest to find a service.

Like many other consumers, I prefer to do as much research and comparison of products and services as possible prior to placing any phone calls to companies. This includes reading company websites to find out as much information as is available about the organization before I send out an RFP. I want to know how long they have been in business, where they are located, how to contact them, other clients they serve, endorsements and more. In the case of this particular search however, I found that many of the relevant companies did not have websites. The websites that were referenced were local yellow pages type pages. One company did have a website, and I was even able to do an RFP through an online form which made the process really easy. That is convenience that wins business, and it won mine.

Why is my situation important to you? Local search is growing more popular with your next generation of clients, and if your firm isn't listed in the local search engines, and not with just a phone number, you could be losing valuable business.

It is the end of the year and with 2006 creeping up on us, now is a great time to take a look back to see if my technology predictions held true.

Last year, I predicted that three types of technologies were going to hit it BIG in 2005 and go from early adopter to main-stream use. Those technologies were RSS, desktop search, and collaboration software. After looking back at 2005, it is safe to say that I was about 50/50 on these predictions. Not all of them became main-stream, but have become more well known to the average Internet user. I think I was one year too early for my predictions to come true. So let's review and give a reality check on RSS, desktop search, and collaboration tools.

RSS - Really Simple Syndication

My Prediction:

RSS began to grow in 2004 and it is going to be BIG in 2005. Starting to gain speed at the tail end of this year, online publishers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and a variety of other online publishers are all accepting the medium, it will only be a matter of time before the little orange icon is everywhere. RSS aggregators such as Bloglines, Feed Demon, and even MyYahoo! are bringing the medium into wide spread use.

Reality Check: RSS didn't come as far as I thought it would this year. That’s not to say that it didn't make a big impact on the way we gather information. RSS aggregators such as Bloglines and NetNewsWire had stellar years in terms of gaining users. In fact, Google just released a beta of a Web-based news aggregator called Google Reader. With more than 1000 known aggregator programs and bots scouring the Internet, it is safe to say that RSS is picking up speed. In fact, RSS has had so much impact that Windows Vista, Microsoft's next operating system due out next year, will have RSS aggregation capabilities built right in.

Where RSS fell short was in the sense that users either did or didn't know they were using RSS. Publishers still bury their RSS icons either in their footer or deep on their sidebars which makes it difficult to promote. Let's face it, the term RSS alone, an acronym that has many definitions, turns the average Internet user off or confuses them. According to the Yahoo's recent RSS study, 12 percent of users were aware of RSS, while 4 percent have knowingly used RSS. Based on that, the surprising statistic is that 27 percent of Internet users have a start page that uses RSS feeds such as My Yahoo!, My MSN, or Google's personalized start.

The good news is that with Microsoft taking on the battle to call RSS something else in Windows Vista. In Vista, RSS will be called "News Feeds," a more appropriate term for the type of content that is syndicated over RSS in my opinion. RSS didn't hit as big as I thought, but I think the release of Vista will be the tipping point for this technology.

Desktop Search

My Prediction:

Desktop search again started to pick up at the tail end of 2004 with the release of Google Desktop. Companies and products like X1, Google, Copernic, and Blinkx are taking the desktop search category by storm; Microsoft has a lot of catch-up to do with Longhorn, their next OS that will have a new search functionality built into it. I use X1 on my laptop and Copernic on my desktop. So far I'm impressed with both and have to say that this will be big when you find that Outlook search is too slow to find that one e-mail in your over-cluttered inbox. Both are time savers when searching e-mail, files and documents, as well as attachments.

Reality Check:Desktop search has slowed down in the last quarter of this year. The first half of 2005 brought on Yahoo desktop search with a version of X1, called X1 Lite, embedded in it. Google also released an enterprise edition of their desktop search as well as an updated Version 2 of their personal edition which integrated access to Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Talk. After Google's Version 2 was released, the focus on desktop search faded away as far as buzz is concerned. Companies like X1 have continued to improve on their technology and product line by releasing an enterprise edition early in 2005.

I thought desktop search was going to become more main-stream, but I have found that toolbars are still popular. I see them bundled more with other downloads than desktop search. I still find my version of X1 indispensable when searching for documents, e-mail messages, or photos.

Collaboration Tools

My Prediction:

Last on my list of predictions are collaboration tools. These include blogs, wikis, and forums (or bulletin boards). I start by asking a question: how many e-mail messages are in your inbox right now that are either a) conversations about a specific project you are working on, b) a version of a document you are working on with others, or c) messages of ideas from a group project? It seems to me that half of my disaster of an inbox is a combination of all of those. I work with three to five other staff members to publish e-newsletters, e-mail promotions, and Web site development. Most of those e-mail messages are versions of the same message with everyone's corrections on it before I can format it to send to our member base. It can be very daunting to keep track of it all. Collaboration tools such as a Wiki (basically online whiteboards) can save my inbox and yours too!

Blogs and forums are good for knowledge bases from what I have experienced with using products and services. Forums are great as an online community tool. Forums are a combination of a blog and a wiki. Anyone who has an account can post a message, and anyone with an account can reply. Some good examples of forums can be found at SitePoint.com and Macromedia's Developers Forums.

Reality Check: Collaboration tools are still growing. Wikis like Wikipedia have taken off as an authoritative source of information. Blogs and forums have continued to grow as knowledge base tools for companies both internally and externally. Many major software companies use forums and blogs in their support areas of their Web sites. Where this area is growing is collaboration using Web-based tools. The days of hosting a file on one person’s server to be accessed by many are dwindling. The next wave of the Internet is expanding the sharing of information through central Web hosts. Examples are 37 Signals’ Writeboard and Upstartle’s Writely. These two examples are not necessarily wikis, blogs, or forums, but rather secure online spaces where many can contribute on one document and then export out to popular word processing programs.

Collaboration seems to be the one of the needs of Internet users who are decentralized. Using Web-based tools seems to be one of the answers that will be explored in the coming year.
Conclusion

I think all three of these predictions are not over. With the next version of the Web coming, deemed Web 2.0, the Web is not only going to become a smaller, but more robust place to work in. By this I don't necessarily mean Web geeks, I also mean average Internet users. The Web is opening doors and breaking down barriers allowing anyone to collaborate, interact, and produce and retrieve content in a variety of new ways.

Web 2.0 technologies like AJAX, Ruby on Rails, APIs, and the DOM will enable users to collaboration, create, and share documents in ways that were much more difficult prior to late 2005. 2006 promises to be another stellar year for the World Wide Web. So hold on tight and be prepared to find solutions to problems you have been racking your brain over for years.

This article was originally published in Law Practice Today, December 2005 issue.