Should You Modify an original tweet when retweeting?

Sure, there are more burning questions in the world today, but I’ve come across this question on more than one occasion. Just last week I engaged in a conversation on Twitter about it and many were surprised to learn of the emerging MT standard.

Awhile back, Twitter hijacked the organic, community established retweet or RT and made it into a native retweet button with no accomodation for commentary. However, many of us still use RT @username so we can add comments to retweets. Which leads us to the question — should you modify the language in the original tweet when retweeting it? Even if it’s just a spelling or grammar correction? (more…)

Sure, a lot of us are using social media, but at the same time, a lot of us are watching this train going by so quickly and trying to figure out how to get onboard.

Find out how lawyers and law firms can use social media for client acquisition, knowledge management and business development.

When: March 22, 2012, 12:00PM – 1:00PM, EST
Speaker: Samantha Collier, Social Media for Law Firms

Limited Space. Click here to register!

Join Samantha Collier, who will show you how to set up an effective Facebook Page and LinkedIn Profile, blog content and, of course, Twitter.

Even if you’re hip to social media, tune in to figure out how to convert your knowledge into a concrete strategy.

About Samantha: (more…)

You’ve read about the many virtues of blogging and started a blog of your own. Useful, current content will bring a few eyes, but for traffic numbers you’ll need to promote the blog. Here are three ways to do just that:

1. Social Media

Over the past couple of years, I’ve seen Twitter and Facebook rank consistently among the top five traffic sources for blog posts, with Twitter often taking the top spot (Use Google Analytics to track these numbers). Posting to LinkedIn, Google Plus and other platforms can help, but I consider these a secondary tier based on my experience with traffic referral metrics. Some of that may be due to the effort and time spent creating vibrant communities in these spaces. (more…)

The virtues of blogging range from marketing your practice to personal enrichment. And people are listening as thousands of new blogs are created every day. But you haven’t. Why not? Here are some of the more common reasons:

1. I don’t have the time – I’m starting with the most obvious reason, and frankly, the most legitimate. Creating meaningful blog posts takes time. Some of the bloggerati can crank out quick posts while many of us take at least an hour or two (or more) per post. Posts don’t have to go on for thousands of words. In today’s hyperactive world, they probably won’t get read all the way through anyway. A concise, helpful 500 word post will likely get more eyes, and of course, take less time to write. And remember that you don’t have to publish a post every day or even every week. Frequency helps if you’re trying to build traffic and exposure, but put that thought on the back burner when starting out. (more…)

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…)