Plugins extends the functionality of WordPress, the already terrific, free, open source blogging platform. But with over 18,000 to choose from, it can quickly get overwhelming. We occasionally review some of our favorite plugins, like WPTouch which allows you to Get Your WordPress Blog Mobile Friendly In Less Than 5 Minutes.

Here are three plugins that enhance the back-end administrative functionality of your WordPress blog.

Maintenance Mode – Most bloggers like to tinker with the look and feel of their creations. But you don’t want the world privy to those font and color experiments, widgets tests, and other formatting excursions. Maintenance Mode plugin adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know the site is down for maintenance. Logged in administrators get full access to the blog including the front-end. (more…)

Here at Avvo, we’re constantly talking to attorneys about how to get the most out of the time, attention and resources they devote to online activities. One of the critical themes we hit on is the need to develop a “core web presence.” For many, this will be their website. For others, their blog, Avvo profile or even a Facebook page. The idea is simply to have a place that contains everything you want potential clients or referral sources to know about you and your practice.

This is not to say that non-core web activities should be neglected. Quite the contrary – non-core tools or web presences can and should be used heavily. It’s just that these services should be viewed as supporting players in the overall mission of enhancing the content and visibility of the core. (more…)

If you blog, the free and open source WordPress is the way to go. The number of sites built with WordPress is over 60 million and counting. Why it is so popular? It offers a range of features and flexibility, with a simple and intuitive backend user interface. It’s optimized for search engines. Oh, and it’s free.

But it’s much more than just a blogging platform, it’s a content management system (CMS), often touted when differentiating WordPress from other blogging platforms.

What exactly is a content management system? Generally, it’s an application that’s used to create, manage, store and deploy content on Web pages. With WordPress you can quickly and easily do this by adding pages, transforming your blog into a traditional website without having to hard-code each page. Thousands of plugins add unique functionality. These pages can include: (more…)

One Outlook feature I get asked about all the time by attorneys is the ability to attach a signature to a message. Some of them are asking about how to do a basic signature without having to type it (or copy/paste it) each time; others have already figured that out but want to have MULTIPLE signatures and be able to easily select among them depending upon the message. So let’s do a little primer on how Outlook 2010 handles signatures (some of this will apply to earlier versions as well).

First, let’s get into the Signature Editor. From Outlook click File | Options and go to the Mail section. The 3rd button down (on the right) is “Signatures”. Click that and you’ll get the “Signatures and Stationery” dialog. If you have any signatures defined you’ll see them listed on the left. (more…)

We’re big believers in blogging and love Evernote, so it was just a matter of time before we combined the two for an optimized blogging experience.

Evernote can be used to store blog post ideas, links, images, quotes, and drafts of posts. Compose and access information via Evernote’s desktop application, mobile app or the website. Information is saved as you type and syncs across all devices.

1. Create a blog notebook in Evernote. Evernote is organized by notebooks and notes. Create a “Blog” notebook which will host your blog post ideas. Come across an interesting post, Twitter update or Facebook conversation you’d like to expand upon? Or, inspired when reading a book, watching television or having a conversation? Open your laptop or phone and quickly create a new note in the blog notebook, add a title (or subject) and that’s it! Each new blog post idea is contained within a new note. Before long, you’ll have dozens of ideas waiting to be explored. (more…)

I’ve come across a few posts recently recommending great blogs about blogging. Like 10 Amazing Blogs About Blogging to Start Reading NOW and 10 Terrific Creative Writing Blogs. Missing from these lists are the very helpful blogs about the art of blogging that are geared towards lawyers. Blogs come and go, including blogs about blogging. Here are five that have stayed the course: (more…)

Traditionally, law firms have used the holidays as an opportunity to say thank you to their clients. And nothing shows your utmost gratitude for your clients like a generic holiday card or useless token gift, right? Not so much.

If you truly appreciate your clients (and in this saturated legal market – you had better truly appreciate them!), don’t give them a gift that sucks. Another letter opener or [insert lame keepsake] with your name and logo on it is not exactly going to wow and delight them.

Why Should You Wow and Delight Your Clients?

Because your business exists in a small town. The name of that small town is The Internet, as Gary Vaynerchuk points out in his book The Thank You Economy. Thanks to social media, word of mouth is back with a vengeance. Years ago, if a business treated a client or customer poorly, everyone in the small town would soon know it and may choose to stop patronizing that business as a result. Nowadays, your clients don’t just have the ability to share their experiences with your firm with a few co-workers and their best friend. Now, via social media channels, your clients can tell their 367 Facebook friends and 852 Twitter followers whether or not they liked working with you in 5 seconds or less. That makes what your clients think of you more important than it has ever been. (more…)

Whether you’re new to Twitter or want to expand your reach and engagement in the legal community, there are tools, practices and lists to help you grow your presence into a more meaningful and rewarding experience.

Here are a few of the top resources and practices to help you find lawyers and legal professionals to follow.

Tools

Wefollow – Enter a tag and find a relevant list of Twitter users. Lawyer returns a list of more than 1,800 users, and law students, 400+. Librarian turns up over 1,000. (more…)

If you haven’t noticed, Google is working to deliver much more localized search results. Which makes sense considering as many as 20% of searches on Google are related to location. So, if your law practice serves clients that use search to find local businesses, like law firms, you may find value in claiming and optimizing your firm’s Google Places profile and taking advantage of the local search channel.

Here are some tips and resources that you may find useful in growing your firm’s presence in local search results.

Is Local Search Right for My Law Practice?

The first question you might want to ask yourself is whether local search marketing is right for your firm. And the truth is that it’s not right for every firm. However, if you provide local legal services to consumers, and if you have systems in place to efficiently and effectively handle inquiries that might be generated via local search, then taking advantage at least of the local search marketing techniques that are free, is probably worth doing. (more…)

Trying to maintain a current, relevant legal blog is hard enough.  Podcasts require a whole other level of commitment. Not surprisingly the landscape is littered with dated efforts. However there are a few legal podcasts that continue to churn out quality programming. Here are our Top 10 picks:

1. Lawyer2Lawyer -  With over 300 podcasts spanning six years, Lawyer2Lawyer is the longest running podcast on the Legal Talk Network.  An episode on social media hosted by Bob Ambrogi, Kevin O’Keefe and Scott Greenfield got me started on Twitter over two years ago, so I’m especially appreciative of this series.

Recent podcast: Legal Blogging, Ethics and First Amendment Rights (more…)