Real Lawyers Have Blogs : Law Blogs, Social Media, Twitter

Thanks to everyone who attended Wednesday's webinar, "Creating and Organizing your speech," presented by attorney, communications professional and certified CLE provider Faith Pincus of Pincus Professional Education and LexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe. Faith blogs on The LexBlog Network at Speech Advice.

This webinar was the second in a series on public speaking that LexBlog is hosting with Faith. Her March presentation taught attendees how to get a speaking engagement and what to do once you have one. 

Faith gave the audience an acronym to remember: AMI -- Audience, Message, Image. She did a brief recap of "audience," covered in the last webinar, but focused the hour mainly on "message." 

She emphasized catchy introductions, meaningful conclusions, and above all, organization. 

You can listen to the full recording of "Creating and Organizing your speech" at LexBlog's events center. Gail Lamarche, Director of Marketing at Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A. also did an excellent recap on Heather Morse's Legal Watercooler, but it's well worth listening to Faith present. 

Faith's next webinar with LexBlog will be September 14, 2011 on " Improving your delivery," where she'll discuss (among other subjects) how to get over your nervousness. (In the meantime, a couple of books she recommended on this topic are Speaking Scared, Sounding Good by Peter Desberg and Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking by Michael T. Motley.)

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Thank you very much to all who attended yesterday and made it an interesting discussion. Just in case you missed the event, a recoding is now available. You can also download a copy of the mind map (pdf) used in the presentation.

Some of topics covered were:

• Scheduling time to blog vs. blogging as the inspiration strikes-- pros and cons of each
• Commenting on other posts as a way to get ideas
• Interviews
• Strategically-planned guest posts
• Sitting down and thinking of a list of questions

The next webinar in our ongoing series, "Writing for Blogs," is scheduled for April 28th. We hope you can join us then for some tips on how to most effectively tailor your content to your audience.

Again, I thank everyone for joining and welcome you to join us next month.

Have a good weekend.

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As is always the case, we're very appreciative of Cordell Parvin for joining us yesterday and also for everyone else who was able to stop by for the Client Development 101 for 2011 and Beyond webinar.

For those of you who made it out but would like to review some of the things covered, we have everything you need. These will, of course, be great resources to those of you who couldn't join us as well.

• First off, we have the webinar recording, which you can either stream or download. We're also working on improving the audio in some portions and should have an enhanced version available before long.
• Also, because we had a few requests, I've also included the slides from Cordell's presentation (.PPT via .zip).
• We also have this supplemental handbook that includes Cordell's business plan template (PDF), which is referenced throughout the webinar.
• And last but not least, Lindsay Griffiths of ILN has a phenomenal in-depth recap of the webinar over on her blog, Zen & The Art of Legal Networking. This is really a must-read.

Of course, if you have questions on any of the items covered or any other client development matters, you should feel free to reach out to Cordell via email. Also, if you would like to track his guidance on a regular basis, you should certainly check out his blog.

Again, many thanks to Cordell and everyone who was able to join us.

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Many professionals blog to attract new clients, but clients shouldn't be your only audience. A primary purpose of a law blog is to engage the influencers in your field: reporters, publishers, bloggers, association leaders and conference coordinators.

But how do you identify and engage the influencers?

On Thursday, December 16 at 12 p.m. EST (9 a.m. PST), LexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe will be co-hosting a webinar along with our new Director of Client Services, Lyda Hawes, titled "How to Find and Engage with Influencers in Your Area of Practice or Locale."

The webinar will discuss topics such as:
    •    How to identify the influencers.
    •    Making a list of the influencers in your target audience.
    •    How to listen to what the influencers are writing and talking about.
    •    Using Google Reader, Blog Search, and News to identify and engage the influencers.
    •    How to engage and build relations with the influencers through your blog and Twitter.
    •    How to use Linkedin to further connect with the influencers.

You can register for "How to Find and Engage with Influencers in Your Area of Practice or Locale" at LexBlog's Events Center. The password is "influencer."

As always, we’ll be recording this webinar. So, if you can’t attend, feel free to visit the LexBlog Support Site or Real Lawyers Have Blogs and view at your convenience.

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We had a great turnout at this morning's client webinar on speaking to your blog audience -- addressing your readers' real questions and concerns

LexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe discussed how to turn your blog into a story by gathering topics through encounters with clients and anticipating questions clients might ask before they actually ask them.

If you missed it or want to re-watch, you can view the recording here; you can download a PDF of the mind map Kevin worked on during the webinar by clicking on the image above.

Kevin mentioned several blogs doing an exemplary job of this, listed below. Thanks to Colin O'Keefe, LexBlog's editorial manager, for putting this list together.

Daniel Schwartz's Connecticut Employment Law Blog: Snow Day! What Employers Need to Know

• The post addresses a very real concern that employers will likely face.
• The title is abundantly clear in what the post is about.
• The post provides a clear how-to on drafting a policy.
• It is well formatted and very readable and easy to scan.
• Some clients may have settled on linking to The Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security then left it at that, but Daniel acknowledges most people already know this; it's important to always add something.

Dan Harris' China Law Blog: How To Sue A Chinese Company. Part I. Jurisdiction And Service Of Process.

• The post is written in clear, simple language with a smooth lead-in, not a case name.
• It's a basic guide/how-to, which is much more readable than starting with cases discussed and then going from there. The post is about issue at hand; the end results, not the cases.
• Again, the formatting is easy to read. The post is broken up into a series.

Hogan Lovells' Chronicle of Data Protection: What the US Election Results Mean for Privacy

• Excellent job by author Christopher Wolf of taking a major news story and applying it to his audience.
• The post anticipates questions and even raises issues that may not have been thought of previously.
• It is a well researched post that brings in a wealth of outside information.

Dan Clement's New York Divorce Report: Five Common Sense Rules for Divorce

• This is not the most complex of posts, but still accomplishes its goal; it's short and to the point, and explicitly lays out advice for married couples going through a divorce.
• Again, it's written in a style that's easy to understand.

Deirdre Wheatley-Liss' New Jersey Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog: I signed a contract to Buy my first House - Now What? The Attorney Review Process.

• Like the other posts mentioned, this selection references a very specific issue and question.
• It's good practice to answer a question in title, but leaving it with just the question wouldn't quite be obvious enough of what the post is going to discuss.

J. Scott Key's Georgia Criminal Appellate Law Blog: 4 Great Non-Law Blogs that Help My Appellate Practice

• Again, Scott's audience isn't just potential clients-- it's other attorneys as well. Aiding other attorneys can enhance one's reputation.
• This post does a stand-up job of going outside standard law blog content.
• Scott actually getting ended up noticed by one of these four blogs, Presentation Zen, who tweeted a link to his post.

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The LexBlog Network Webinar Series for LexBlog Network members continues to be a big draw. This month's webinar on the 'Effective Use of LinkedIn for Business Development' conducted by Kevin O'Keefe drew over 200 professionals.

Here's a recorded screencast for those who were unable to attend. You may also download a copy of the mind map (pdf) used in the presentation. For a full screen view of the video just click those 4 arrows pointing out on the bottom of the video player

Some of the points covered:

• How is what I do with my blog related to my LinkedIn profile and presence?
• What value does LinkedIn hold for business professionals/attorneys?
• How can it be used as a business development/marketing tool?
• What are some etiquette tips on professional social networking?

This webinar will also be posted along with our other recorded webinars on the LexBlog support site.

If you had any additional questions about writing for search, feel free to contact our Helpdesk at support@lexblog.com or at 1-800-913-0988. And stay tuned for more information about our next client webinar next month.

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We had another great turnout for today's webinar on marketing your blog, with close to 140 attendees.

You can download the chart Kevin used by clicking on the image above. If you were not able to attend, or would like to view the webinar again, you can view the recording on our support site, which also houses several of our previous webinars on a variety of topics.

If you have any questions about anything discussed in the webinar, feel free to contact Kevin (kevin@lexblog.com) or Pam Garfield, our Director of Client Services (pam@lexblog.com).

Be sure to also mark your calendars for our next client webinar, topic TBD, on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.

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You’ve got your blogging strategy set, your blog is designed and developed, and you’re ready to launch. Now you’re probably wondering the best way to let the world know your blog is up and live. Or maybe you've been blogging for a while, but want to make sure you're getting the type of visitors to your blog that you want.

In our next webinar, exclusively for LexBlog Clients, I'll cover Marketing Your Blog at Launch and Beyond, focusing on how to blog and use social media in a way that builds readership and drives quality traffic to your blog.

I’ll cover:

• Building out your blogroll and integration with your Web site
• Press releases and other public relations efforts
• The value of blog directories and announcement sites
• Using social media and networking such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon
• Engaging with thought leaders, the media and A-list bloggers

This webinar will be held on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 12 pm ET/9 am PT. You can register at our Event Center. If you need the password, direct message Support on Twitter or contact our Director of Client Services, Pam Garfield.

As always, this webinar will be recorded and archived on our Support Site. So, if you can't attend, feel free to watch at your convenience.

I’m looking forward to sharing my take on blog marketing strategies with you, and to hear your feedback on what you’d like to learn.

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We were fortunate enough this morning to have Cordell Parvin join us for a webinar as part of our continuing effort to serve lawyers and law firms on the LexBlog Network.

Cordell, a nationally recognized career and client development coach for lawyers, covered such topics as how clients select an attorney, the importance of creating a business plan, and how to build relationships based on trust, rapport and social media tools.

You can view the recording of Cordell's webinar on our Support site. You can also download the accompanying slides from the presentation by clicking on the image above.

Cordell's blog, Law Consulting Blog, provides a wealth of information on client development. You can subscribe to his blog by email (visit the homepage and sign up) or by RSS.

Additionally, some of the questions answered and topics covered in the webinar are discussed in further detail in past blog posts:

• Weak Ties Point
• A success story about LexBlog client Alison Rowe
• How to prepare a business plan
• Making time for Client Development
• Deliberate practice

We're very appreciative of Cordell taking the time to share his experience with our clients, and we're hoping to do additional webinars with him in the future.

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