Success with QR Codes

QR codes are being used in creative ways on business cards, company brochures, signs, apparel and at fundraising events to promote instant giving.

A Chili’s fundraising campaign for childhood cancer resulted in 291,000 QR code scans that appeared on coloring sheets and table tents created specifically for the effort.

“With the ever-growing presence of technology in our guests’ daily lives, Chili’s utilized this up-and-coming trend as a unique way to reach our supporters of St. Jude,” Ms. Flowers said. “With more than 290,000 QR codes scanned throughout the campaign, this medium proved to be an effective and tech-savvy way of encouraging guests to donate.”

Read more at: Mobil Commerce Daily

Read previous blog post: QR codes or Scan tags – Using them? and how are they working for you?

Update - Apps for Attorneys - Tax Law on your iPhone or iPad

New apps for the iPhone and iPad (different apps) that contain the latest text of both the Internal Revenue Code and the Treasury Regulations for public finance and tax lawyers.

According to the developer, "This application is intended for tax professionals and was not created for those not trained in independent tax and legal research. You can search using keywords or terms plus you can create boolean expressions using "AND" or "OR". You can even specify a "hit" only if a word or term is within x number of words of another word or term."

And if being in a building with limited internet or phone access -"No internet connection needed. The apps work in a concrete basement as well as in a 40th floor conference room because the data is stored right in your iPhone or iPad."

For full details, visit LawToGo website

Be sure to visit our previous post for more Apps for Attorneys

Links to iPhone and iPad apps for Attorneys is provided as information only. Actual use of any product mentioned and benefits perceived are the responsibility of the user. This blog does not provide legal advice.

Why content is so important for SEO

Content, content, content....a word that seems like nagging to many of my clients.

The major search engines are focusing on creating the best possible user experience, which means sites that offer relevant (new, creative and unique)information stand to gain the most visibility.

This following image provides a graphic explanation of the importance of content. To see the enlarged size, click here.

How often do you visit your website?

I asked this question at a presentation last week, and was surprised to hear that most people fail to visit their own website, and worse fail to check the traffic analytics and feedback. Just because your webmaster (or you) have designed a nice website, the job isn't over.

A few days before this presentation, I visited the websites of two acquaintances. One had missing images and no alt text, and missing text color in the navigation. The other had three typos and a several broken links. (See Focus Group Pet Peeves below.)

Your website, and especially your home page is the first impression a visitor has of you, your expertise and professionalism. Even though you may have hired a webmaster to design your site, the ultimate responsibility falls upon you, after all - it is your image and your business.

Once your site is online, it still requires maintenance. Changes in search algorithms can require changes in your source code, keywords or content in order to stay visible.

A competent webmaster will keep you appraised of the changes that need to be made to keep up with the search engine algorithms, and will consistently check their work for broken links and missing information or images. No one is perfect and mistakes can be made, however, errors should be corrected without delay. The longer a page stays online, the more likely it can become part of a cache page in search results.

Your web designer/SEO/marketer should be working with your success in mind. If they are analyzing your traffic, they can work with you to understand which pages and links are popular and respond to pages that are losing ranking with changes or fresh content.

It is essential to know what your customers and prospects are seeing when they visit your site. Are they impressed with how well your website represents you? Do they bookmark, share or +1 your site? Is your content fresh, giving them a reason to return?

One of the best ways to determine if your site is working for or against you and your goals, is to utilize a focus group. Unbiased, unrelated (no friends or family) selection of people to give honest feedback on what they saw, felt and learned from your site.

From the many focus groups I run on my clients and prospects websites, the top pet peeves are:
1. Tiny Text.
2. Text too hard to read against the page background. Least favorite: gray text against white background,
3. Sound that launches automatically, whether it's music, a greeter voice on the website, or the auto responder telling you to check your email.
4. Outdated websites with no current content and several broken links.
5. Finding themselves opted-in to receive additional information, usually an e-zine, after they responded to a free offer with no advance indication that they are being opted in.

The number of websites on the internet is growing everyday. Even if your market is only your local area, you still need a consistent plan of action, and consistent changes in order to stay as visible as possible in the search results.

Wishing you awesome and continuing success !

Sumner M. Davenport is a Solutions Consultant.
Best Selling Author and Keynote Speaker
Solutions, not just answers.
Solutions are not one-size-fits-all.
Follow on Facebook

Facebook News Feed - are your friends getting your posts?

Facebook has changed its News Feed, so that by default, you can only see updates from people you've "recently interacted with." This also means that if you are not interacting with your friends, they may not be seeing your posts either.

To fix this click on the arrow next to "Most Recent."

From the dropdown menu, click on "Edit Options."

You will see the default is "Friends and pages you interact with the most".

Select "All of your friends and pages."
Click "Save."

Be sure to tell your friends because they might be missing your posts until they make this same change.

MANAGE YOUR NEWS FEED:

1.) If you only want to see posts in your news feed from friends who have made recent status updates, then start again at the drop down menu under "Most Recent".

Select "Status Updates".

2.) If you only want to see posts in your news feed from selected friends, then start again at the drop-down menu under "Most Recent" to "Create a friend list."

A window will appear with your friends images. Make a name for this list and select the friends you want included.

Click Save.

Now when you return to your page, and click "Most Recent", you will see your new customized friend list added.

By clicking this, your news feed will only show posts from the friends in this list.

Be sure to tell your friends because they might be missing your posts until they make this same change.

REMINDER: Your friends may find it difficult to find your custom business page unless it is correctly linked from your profile. You can still have your privacy controls set so that only your friends can see your posts, however, visitors can more easily find your business page. See my blog post titled: "Are you making it difficult for people to find your business on your social media profiles?".

Wishing you awesome and continuing success !


Sumner M. Davenport is a Solutions Consultant.
Best Selling Author and Keynote Speaker
Solutions, not just answers.
Solutions are not one-size-fits-all.
Follow on Facebook

Getting your own custom Facebook page URL

If you are trying to figure out how to get your own custom Facebook fan page URL for your Facebook business page here’s how you do it.

You must have 25 or more fans (people who have liked your page), before you will be able to set a username. If you do not yet have 25 fans on your page, start suggesting to your friends to like your page. Underneath your Facebook fan page profile picture there is a button labeled “suggest to friends.” you can use this button to invite your friends to come support and like your fan page.

After you are logged into your Facebook account, go to http://facebook.com/username.

If you have not yet verified your account, You will be prompted to do so before you can create a username.

Once on the username page, select your profile, business page, Group (that you started) or Facebook App that you created from the drop-down menu.

If you have not yet met the requirement of 25 fans, you will see a message that your page is not eligible for a username at this time. Gain your 25 fans and return.

After you have obtained a minimum of 25 fans, return to http://facebook.com/username. From the drop-down menu to select your profile, business page, Group (that you started) or Facebook App that you created.

A new text box will appear asking you to enter your desired username.

Here is where you want to give it some thought.

Your Facebook username is one of the most important factors to getting your page, profile, or Facebook group ranked in search results. You want to make sure that your username is both short and descriptive and includes keywords that users might be using to find pages like yours.

Facebook has a few defined limitations:
1. You cannot change the name once you have selected it for this page.
2. You cannot transfer ownership to anyone else
3. You cannot violate anyone's trademark. They also do not allow you to use Facebook in your name.
4. You cannot obtain page names with the intention to sell them.
5. Facebook can delete or claim your custom name for many other yet undefined reasons according to their Terms& Conditions.

After creating your custom URL you can now use this web address to hand out to your customers, prospects, e-mail list, and website visitors so that they can easily find your Facebook page and spread the word.

You also want to make sure that this custom page is connected to your profile so your current and new friends can find it. See my blog post titled: "Are you making it difficult for people to find your business on your social media profiles?"

Wishing you awesome and continuing success !


Sumner M. Davenport is a Solutions Consultant.
Best Selling Author and Keynote Speaker
Solutions, not just answers.
Solutions are not one-size-fits-all.
Follow on Facebook

Google launches instant pages on Chrome

Instant Pages is just one part of Google’s new and revised overall Instant platform. With Instant Pages in Chrome, you can skip the extra seconds waiting for a page to load and get to the answers you're looking for faster with webpages that load instantly.

Are you using it?
Does it make a difference in your search activities?

Smart webmasters and marketers will be making significant changes to websites to get them to the top of the first page results, including now buying ads.

How is your SEO working for you?

Every week I meet someone who asks if I include SEO in the services I offer. I answer yes, followed by the question "what is your understanding of SEO?"

The answers usually include something similar to " making it easier for search engines to find my website, changing keywords or meta tags, etc" While that answer is a partial explanation of SEO, it fails to answer the full picture and the best way to accomplish it.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of your website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Search engines don’t read text, view images, or watch video the same way a human being does, so your website must include certain instructions so that the search engine can not only find you, but can also deliver visitors to your specific content.

What once worked in the past, may not work as effectively today, as the search engines consistently change their search algorithms; the method that they find and rank a website and web page. With the introduction of “instant search”, “plus 1” and results from social networking sites being delivered, your website must consistently change to keep up with the changes in the search engines practices.

In the beginning, SEO was as simple as changing a few meta tags and keywords in your website code. Then as the internet grew with millions of websites, and thousands in your niche, SEO had to evolve. Some of the previous efforts for SEO no longer work today. At one time, cross linking your website (I’ll post your link on mine, if you post me on yours) was popular and for some websites it created an increase in traffic and interest in their products; especially if those linking websites were in their niche. Then the search algorithms changed again and these cross links just washed each other out. For a long time (and still), many SEO companies started placing their clients website on hundreds and thousands of non-specific directory sites. Although this “might” increase the traffic to a website, it has no positive effect on page ranking or earning authority ratings with search engines. Plus, search engines many times either ignore or block these non-important sites, so your link becomes worthless. On the other hand, placing links on high authority sites, especially in your niche area, have a greater potential of delivering better visitors to your site, and increasing your overall ranking.

For years we have been telling clients that content is important, and current content is essential, yet many websites are still launched and left to sit for months and even years, A website with no new activity will soon fall to the bottom of the sandbox, and then take extra efforts to relive it. Internet searchers are becoming more specific in their request, and demanding quicker results. Keeping your content current gives you a better chance of answering those search inquiries.

SEO works when it is included in your overall marketing plan, which includes your website, your blog, your videos, your email newsletter and all your social networking sites, (ie: Facebook, LinkedIn, legal specific sites, etc.), tied in with your offline marketing efforts as well. Working on only one area can be more costly in time, potential designer fees and low returns.

Internet marketing returns better results with (1) a strategic plan; (2) Analytics; (3) Analysis of results vs goals; and (4) Adjustments. Rinse and repeat.

Wishing you awesome and continuing success. Happy Internet

How secure are your passwords?

Over this past weekend it was breaking news that Apple's survey website had been hacked and a collection of accounts and passwords were then posted on the internet. Fox News Twitter account had been hacked and erroneous news stories posted.

If the passwords of these giants can be obtained by serious hackers, how safe are the passwords you use on your online accounts from the identity thieves? Despite numerous warnings about easy passwords, or the need to change passwords regularly, many people still ignore the warnings.

A network software security company found that 1 percent of the 32 million people it studied had used “123456” as a password. The second-most-popular password was “12345.” Others in the top 20 included “qwerty,” “abc123” and “princess.”

The most popular (and easily hacked) passwords still used today:
1. Your birthday
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182
10.(your first name, or any part of your name)
11. 12345
12 123456789
13. Password (with and without capitalization)
14. iloveyou
15. princess
16. jesus (with and without capitalization)
17. jesus saves
18. 1234567
19 12345678
20. abc123
21. babygirl
22. monkey
23. Lovely
25. michael
26. Ashley
27. 654321
28. Qwerty
29. (the name of the website you're on)
30. letmein

The advice is to stay away from common and easy passwords, especially for your critical online accounts that have sensitive and/or financial information about you.

I read a hint somewhere that can be helpful: Take a sentence and turn it into a password. Something like "This little piggy went to market" might become "tlpWENT2m". (Now that I've given you this example, please don't use it, compose your own creative sentence). You might find an online password creator tool easier if you have several passwords you need to create.

PLUS, when setting your "secret questions" for an email reminder of your password, use your own questions or answer only the ones that most people wouldn't know about you.

Yes, it may feel aggravating to have to remember different passwords for different accounts, however, compare that to having your account hacked and your identity violated, or your money stolen.

Are you making it difficult for people to find your law firm on your social media profiles?

Social media has become one of the most popular avenues to promote your law firm. Smart marketers are adding social media (more than using social media exclusively) to their marketing plans.

There are a few common mistakes on these sites that may be working against you instead of supporting your law firm. Interestingly enough I seen social media "experts" and "strategists" making some of these same mistakes, which means they may be missing great tools to assist their clients.

There are many social media sites, including some niche exclusive legal sites, which can be a great addition to your marketing, however, my next two blog posts will focus on your attorney and law firm listings on Facebook and LinkedIn.

FACEBOOK:

Setting up a profile and a business page is easy. You can choose to use your profile to chat with friends or business associates or both.

Separate from your profile is your business Page. Hopefully your business Page is set up as a page and not a profile. Facebook T&C disallows using a profile as a business, and can delete your account and all your hard work if you violate this. This point is addressed is a separate blog post.

When setting up your profile, the info section asked for your Education and Work.



If you have a Custom Business Page set up, the system will attempt to connect you to your page. Otherwise it will create an empty placeholder page. You will not be able to edit this placeholder page. You can "like" this page, and also have others "like" it, however, as it is has no value to your marketing.



It is at this point that many people set up a business Page.

When you have a business Page established, the system will attempt to connect you to your page. It is not automatic. If your Page was set up after you initially entered your Employment, you will need to go back and manually change the link.

When logged into your Profile, go to your "Edit Profile".



Click on the section Work and Education as shown in the above image.

Begin typing your law firm or business name EXACTLY as you named it when you set up the page. Here's where many errors take place. Facebook can only find your correct page when you enter the EXACT name you gave it. Sometimes it may be the same name as you previously entered, however this time Facebook will attempt to find your new correct page. Sometimes it will be the same exact name you originally entered, however, Facebook assigned numbers after the name and your correct page has different numbers which has created a completely different URL.



When you see your correct law firm name in the drop down list, click on it.This will add it to your Employment section.



Fill in the remainder of the information and be sure to click "Save Changes" before exiting.



When you next see that both your correct Business Page and the placeholder page are listed, you can delete the one that you don't want.



If you have other company's you are affiliated with or employed by, you can add them here as well the same way. Note that the first one you add will be the primary one shown at the top of your profile and top of the list under your Work and Employment tab.


When you have a set up a Business Page, you are designated as the "owner" and you maintain the ultimate control. You can add administrators through your manage permissions and these Admins are limited to posting and editing. They will not have access to your profile or any other pages you own. I am an "Admin" for several client Facebook Pages, and my clients have the control to change that permission at any time.

When you attach your Business Page to your profile, it has the potential to extend your marketing reach. If you are using your profile for personal communications, you may consider setting up a different profile for profile for professional use and make sure your Business Pages are linked.

Someone from your personal profile may be able to visit your Business Page from your personal or professional profile, however, they will only find your profile if you have it listed as owner of your Business Page. If you are keeping personal and professional separate, then your professional profile should be listed as page owner on the page. You also have the option of not posting the page owner on your page.

Remember to set and monitor the security settings of your Business Page so you control if users can post content, versus only being able to comment on your posts.

Check back for a follow-up post on how to get the maximum exposure for your business on your basic LinkedIn profile.

Happy Networking.

About the Author:

Sumner M. Davenport is a Solutions Consultant. More than general answers - SOLUTIONS! As there is no one-solution-fits-all, when appropriate, she suggests her clients add social networking to their marketing mix. Among her services she offers creation of standard as well as custom Business Pages, plus management of content and exposure. For more about her services, follow Sumner M. Davenport on Facebook.

Security on Facebook - app to scan and protect your account

Yesterday a number of people found malicious and offensive posts on their profiles and pages. Unfortunately these posts were not from the persons indicated. Some form of hacking had taken place.

An excellent article was written in March on PCMag.com on two apps that can protect your Facebook account.

One app, Norton Safe Web for Facebook  is bundled with the Norton products, but anybody can use it for free. It scans your Facebook page's links and reports any bad ones.

If you're concerned about dangerous links (and you should be), there is also another app recommended and more info in this article at PCMAG.com .

Happy and safe networking

How important is your email address?

Companies spend thousands of dollars making sure their logo, company colors, message and image are consistently and professionally represented.

One area that seems to be overlooked is the importance of your email address being consistent with your firm. New lawyers and lawfirms starting out are signing up for free email accounts, (ie:Gmail,Yahoo, etc.) as their business email, instead of using an email address with their firm's website name. Many people will add a second “business” email to an existing personal account. Free email addresses say: I’m new, I’m small and I’m cheap; which is usually not the image a law firm wants to project. 

Websites mirror the image of a law firm; many times with the firm name as the website and/or domain name. To maintain a consistent professional image of your law firm, your email address should be the same as your website address. Christine@mylawfirm.com, has a more professional image than mylawfirm@gmail.com. 

Spammers have software that crawls websites searching for email addresses, and "contact" and "info" and two used most often and receive the highest spam.  Select a name for your catch-all email address to be something less common, and use a alias email address on your website to deter spam.

This shows not only a level of professionalism, but also assures your client on a subliminal level, that you really are with the firm. With growth of email scams, this one little area may make a huge difference to the very prospective client you are attempting to reach.

Most website packages come with a minimum of at least one email address, which your webmaster could have forwarded to your free or aol address if you only want one area to check emails. This way it can still be convenient for you, yet show the most professional image for your law firm, large or small.

We placed a poll on a previous blog and the results seem to say the same thing:

How important is it to your professional image to have a business email address (yourname@yourbusinessname.com) instead of a free email address.

Essential 48%
Very Important 25%
Not Important 7%
No Difference 11%
Don’t know 9%

This is something to consider in your overall branding plan.

A Little Humor

"Hello, thank you for calling Computer Repair."


Caller : "Hello, our printer is not working."


Customer Service: "What is wrong with it?"


Caller : "Mouse is jammed."


Customer Service: "Mouse is jammed? Printers don't have a mouse!"


Caller: Mmmmm??.. "Oh really?... I will send a picture."


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Apps for Attorneys

iJuror - For use during voir dire and jury selection. Features allow you to quickly enter basic information, plus enter your notes to flag jurors for peremptory challenge or dismissal for cause. At the end of the day this application will compose a complete report of everything you have entered and with a tap of a button, email it to your office. Much more fun than sticky-notes. ($9.99)

Dropbox - A free file sharing system that allows users to share files (photos, documents, videos, etc.) from one device to another, whether it be multiple computers and operating sysgems (Windows, Mac, Linux), iPhones, iPads, Android and Blackberry devices. Dropbox makes sharing easy when working with other attorneys by inviting them to any folder in your Dropbox, and it'll be as if you saved that folder straight to their computer. Available basic (free account) up to 2 BG space and pay plans for larger usage. 


Documents To Go by DataViz - Store and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe pdf files on your SmartPhone or PDA. Prices vary on type of device.

JuryTracker- Note juror observations, keep notes tied to a specific juror, have those observations and notes time-stamped. ($4.99)

FastCase gives you free access to primary law from all 50 states, in addition to federal law. (free)

iPleading- The iPleading allows attorneys, paralegals, and law students to easily create litigation documents on their iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.($9.99)

Billing Timer by iPunchclock. - When you initiate a task, just hit start and the timer begins recording that shift. It allows you to keep multiple time sheets open.  ($4.99)

Court Days -- Day Calculator For Lawyers. Court Days allows you to quickly calculate the number of court days or calendar days (or a combination of the two) before or after a given date. ($.99)

Popular Design Mistakes on Websites & Social Media Pages

The importance of having a professional internet presence grows each day as more attorneys place their law firm profiles and websites on the internet.

Designing a productive website and social media image is more than just putting text on the internet. Effective web designers and internet marketers have experienced why certain components are important in making your sites both visitor and SEO friendly.

Some of the glaring errors that show up too often, which make your website or your social network pages appear to be unprofessional, include:

(1) Using text in your images, or using images only instead of text. This makes your text hard to read on certain browsers and your content cannot be indexed or searched, therefore not search engine friendly.

(2) Using text that is under 9pt in size. If its too hard to read – people won’t even try.

(3) Your links aren't clearly labeled, don't tell your visitors where they'll end up. The only say "Click Here."

(4) Inconsistent navigation. Different navigation layout on every page simply confuses your visitor.

(5) Too many colors, too many sizes and too may font designs in the same text area.

(6) Too many typos. An occasional typo is usually accepted, however, having someone other than the designer proofread for spelling, grammar, capitalization and content is time and money well spent.

(7) Background graphics or solid backgrounds that don't contrast well against the text, making it hard to read.

(8) Dead links, link rot and/or no 404 pages. Custom 404 pages help you to maintain visitors that typed one of your page names in error, or clicked on a dead link in your site. Your custom 404 page should appear consistent with your site image and have the same navigational links to help your visitor find their way to the live page they are looking for. 

(9) Contact pages without live email addresses or contact forms. If you visitor is looking to contact you via email, make it easy for them by making your email a live link, instead of text in a static graphic. Fill in forms are handy to help them tell you what they need, and to protect your email one more level away from being harvaested by spammers (this is no guarantee however and spammer software continues to get more sophisticated.)

10) Low content. Original content and content that answers your visitors questions will set your website above the rest. If your website is a simple one page bio, then it still needs to answer the question - why the visitor should contact you. 


Plan your branding strategy. Design your website from the perspective of your prospective client and their needs. You can have a simple design and still deliver a professional image.

No opt-out from your address & phone number being given to Facebook apps

Your friend just suggested that you join them in a new game or accept a hug, a card, a link to your photos and activity or some other Facebook app. It may look like harmless fun, but is it worth it? 

Last Friday, Facebook rolled out new permissions that give applications access to individuals’ addresses and phone numbers.  In a Facebook developer blog post, they announced that it is adding it to the company's "User Graph object," or the permissions required to install an app.

Surprisingly many people still give out their home addresses and phone numbers on their profiles.  This makes sense for businesses who want their location known, but for individuals who are constantly finding their privacy invaded, placing your home address on any social network can be too much exposure.

When you agree to an app, a window pops up where you must click to allow it access to your profile, so you can use the app. Now these apps get more personal info about you than ever before.

Come apps require access to your friends information, through your profile and others access your data whether you re online or not.

It is important to review the terms and privacy policy of the app before clicking approve. Check to see if this app will openly share your information with their affiliates or 3rd party suppliers.  

Facebook can be a platform to boost your business connections, or a place where you chat with your friends. In either case you should select the apps you agree to with case and make sure your privacy settings are current. 

If your spam has increased in your inbox, you may want to check your apps and your privacy settings.

Happy networking...

Original post date January 17, 2011

Extending Your Exposure Through Strategic Internet Strategy

Please bear with us during our efforts to move this blog from its previous server.

Who owns your assets?

Asset: noun
1. a useful and desirable thing or quality
2. a single item of ownership having exchange value.

Your website domain name is an asset. Your domain name represents your business name, links to your website and/or your blog(s).

Your Social Network accounts are assets: i.e:Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, AVVO, etc.

Who owns and controls your assets?

You should.

There are honest web designers and Internet marketing consultants who maintain control of their clients assets; and they have long term mutually beneficial relationships. There are others who maintain their clients by holding them hostage through the control of these assets.

And there are clients who maintain ultimate control and grant the designers and consultants access to do all that is needed. In our experience, it is this type of consultant who is working on a client satisfaction basis.

Domains/Blogs/Websites:
Many lawyers wisely delegate the responsibility of designing and publishing their website and blog to a web designer or web design company. For many reasons, they may also delegate the ownership of their domain accounts (asset) and their hosting accounts to their web designer. Many people do this because they don't understand, don't want to be bothered with the details, or don't know what the risks are.

Your domain account (the company from whom you purchased the domain, ie: GoDaddy, NetworkSolutions, etc) lists the owner of your domain name(s) as well as the administrative and technical contacts. This account also controls the settings for where your email and website(s) are hosted. Your hosting account holds and publishes all the files for your websites and blogs so they are visible on the Internet.

Social Network Accounts:
Your social network accounts include the popular Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter; and also your legal specific accounts, i.e: SuperLawyers, Findlaw, AVVO, etc. When used effectively, these accounts mirror your professional image and should also include posts from your blog and current cases results. 


When delegating any part of the control of your Internet assets, you may want to consider the benefits of delegating a shared control.

When you delegate all control to another person - web designer, consultant or company:
1.) This person has sole access to the account where the domain name was purchased. Many web designer have a reseller account with domain registrars (i.e., GoDaddy, Network Solutions etc.) and they purchase your domain for you through this account and keep it in their account base.
2.)They maintain full control and have the only password access to the account. Any changes are in the total control of this web designer.

This may sound good from a one viewpoint, however, consider this:

(1) If your web designer is a sole proprietor, and something happens to them (accident, illness, death), how will you obtain access to your asset? If they have maintained full control, you may wait months or years, or never obtain the access information. If your web designer is a member of a company, hopefully the company will have this information for you.

One company experienced this problem. They had been working with the same person for years who took care of everything Internet for them. Unfortunately this person was the victim of a car accident which then left all of his clients without any access to their Internet accounts. We were able to work with this company and the registrar of their domain name to prove their actual ownership. Even so, it took months to finally gain access and rightful ownership to the domain and all the related Internet files.
Another customer was not as lucky and had to purchase another domain name and wait out the expiration of their company domain name. This required opening new accounts and rebuilding their entire website.

(2) If you want, for any reason, to change your services to another company, you will have to request access to your asset. If you are working with an honest consultant, there should be no lost time in making the transfer. Unfortunately, I continue to hear stories of delayed transfers, sudden cancellation fees and additional payment demands as the assets are held hostage.
Attorneys aren't immune from this. Even though you may have the legal knowledge and means to fight it, do you really want to be spending your time on something like this?

There are honest web designers and Internet consultants who have long term mutually beneficial relationships.  Work with one under a shared control agreement.

If you aren’t sure who is listed as the owner of your domain account, you can check at www.whois.net

You will see something similar to this:

Register Your Domain Name Here


Free Domain With Annual Hosting Plan!

Commenting as Part of Your Marketing Strategy

As you know from working with your clients and presenting your cases at trial, it’s important not only what you say, but when and where you say it. The same is true for the Internet. However, your comments on the Internet can work for you long after you have published the post.

Commenting on cases in the news can work to highlight your expertise and opinions. When posted efficiently your name can be in front of the news media, which can be helpful when they are looking for a comment on the subject from a local attorney.

Comment marketing works best when following four points.

1. Timing
When it’s in the news, it’s time to act. Many news blogs and websites have a cutoff for comments. Commenting early keeps your post at the top, usually right after the story. Posts on social sites (ie: Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) are also excellent sources for law and case related comments. (More about Social Media in the article “The ‘Social” in Social Media Marketing).

2. Content
Make your point in under 300 words. Many comment areas have character limits, so if you become accustomed to 300 words, you will fit most comment areas. When permissible, link back to your website. Read the T&C of the sites before you comment so you know which ones will edit your post, remove your website link, or require you to use a verification log in.

3. Location
Be selective where you comment. High Authority sites (as explained in Social Media for the Small Law Firm) can increase your website ranking. These sites usually have a consistent very high traffic volume of visitors who then potentially may see your post. Posting on small blogs and low ranking sites may give you space to comment with very little actual value to you. Small sites usually have non-moderated commenting, which can potentially lead to a negative light being placed on your comment.

4. Consistency
Commenting occasionally will end up being more of a time waster than an effort of value. Being consistent by commenting several times a week, if not every day, will prove to be a better investment of your time.

Most attorneys are already busy with their cases, blogging and internet socializing. Finding time to blog a complete blog subject every day can be time consuming, which is one reason why some many people fail to do it consistently. Effective commenting can be a substitute, however, it can also be a time investment.

Timely commenting requires staying on top of law and case alerts, researching cases on the legal and news wires and establishing accounts of high authority sites. Using commenting as part of your marketing works best with a plan.

Voir Dire and Social Media

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Facebook crowned as the top-visited site in 2010

 According to a report from Internet analytics company Experian Hitwise, Facebook accounted for 8.93% of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010. Google.com ranked second with 7.19% of visits, followed by Yahoo! Mail with 3.52%, Yahoo! with 3.30%, and Google-owned YouTube with 2.65%.

The Experian analysis found that the most frequently searched term this year was "facebook."

"Facebook" was the top-searched term overall for the second straight year, followed by "Facebook login" and "YouTube," says Experian.

What does this mean to your 2011 marketing plan?   In today’s competitive market, marketers who maximize the free and customizable Facebook platform may find staying connected with their clients and gaining referrals surpasses their paid marketing channels.

Moved from previous service. Original post January 3, 2011

Google New Preview and Star Features

Two new Google features are striking a high note with some people and hitting a bad nerve with others.

THE PREVIEW FEATURE:

On the plus side:

+ Searchers can see a thumbnail of your landing page by simply clicking the magnifying glass next to the search result. If you have multiple pages in the results, the searcher can get a visual idea of which page they want to visit. This may motivate faster decisions in result selection.

+ The thumbnail image may be the deciding factor to the searcher. Visually appealing pages may see an increase in page rank, regardless of SEO efforts. (note: previously used SEO techniques required re-vamping when Google introduced instant search anyway.)

On the minus side:
- If you recently changed, or regularly change your page content, the thumbnail may not match your actual page.

- Some CAPTCHA gateway pages may not be protected, and still show up in Google's thumbnail.

- Adult content only sites may also produce thumbnails, requiring adjustments in parental controls

Some searchers will spend extra time looking at all the previews without having to leave the search page, others will find the thumbnail saves them time.

THE STAR:

You will also notice the star next to the magnifying glass.

On the plus side:

+ Click this star and the next time you perform this same search, your starred web sites will show up at the top - above the ads and above the organic results.

On the minus side:- Web designers and marketers will have to be more creative on how to keep their websites ranked at the top of the page results.

Have you checked your results to see your your websites show up?

With every change in search algorithms (Google, Bing, etc) new efforts need to be made to keep your website fresh, interesting and findable. The longer your website sits without change, the easier it will be for your competition to rise above you on the page.

Moved from previous server. Original post date 11/15/2010

QR codes or Scan tags – Using them?

A Quick Response (QR) code is a two-dimensional code with various data (phone numbers, text, photos, URLs, etc.)that can be scanned by smartphone cameras. Scan tags from Microsoft are colorful versions of your custom scan code. These scan apps have been available since mid last year. Are you using them?

Smartphones have the capability to scan and read QR codes or Scan Tags with the click of a camera.

If you are listed on Google Places and Google Maps, Google has automatically generated a QR for you. Put this QR on your business card, brochures or in your print ad or poster and someone scanning it will land on a map for the location of your business.

A scan tag on your business card can be useful when you are meeting a new attorney or potential client away from your office. A scan tag of the courthouse location can be useful when given to a client who has not been there previously. Scan the tag and their smart phone now has the location and directions. (Note: A Scan tag app must be added to the phone. This is a separate program, not to be confused with using the phone's camera.)

As a general rule, normal five-line color Tags must be at least 3/4" by 3/4" as seen by the user; black and white Tags must be at least 7/8" by 7/8". These size requirements include the white space around the Tag.

I use both types. A colorful Scan Tag on my business card always raises questions People ask what it is, how it works and then more discussion about my services. A QR on a product flyer (one of my books) links directly to the purchase page. An associate uses her scan tag to link to the page on her website announcing her upcoming speaking events.

All you need is your computer to generate the QR codes or Scan Tags and then place them on your business cards and brochures. You can create a QR or Scan Tag for simple text, a URL, an email message, an SMS or MMS, a phone number, or a location. (http://www.qr-barcodes.com/online-generator)

With a Microsoft Scan Tag you can get reports of how many times your tag was scanned and from what geographic area. (http://tag.microsoft.com/)

These have been available for many months.

Moved from previous server, Original post 2/16/11