I apologize for posting so infrequently this month, but I’ve been working on some “behind the scenes” projects that are very exciting (to me at least!).

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something for legal bloggers (and with a name like LawFirmBlogging, I probably should post on-topic articles from time to time), so today I’d like to share a new site with you.

Zippy.co.uk is a technorati-like search engine for blogs, but it has a LOT of information. Type in the URL of your blog, and you’ll get the following information:

• Internal Links
• External Links
• External/Internal Link Ratio
• Total 2 Word Phrases
• Total 3 Word Phrases
• Total 4 Word Phrases
• Textual Content
• Alexa Ranking
• Google PageRank
• Google Backlinks
• Number of Indexed Pages in Google
• Yahoo Backlinks
• MSN Backlinks

Aside from providing a way to centralize data from the different search engines, the 2, 3, and 4 word phrase count is especially useful. Since most people only enter 2-4 words in their search engine queries, knowing your keyword density is very important. Clicking on the Total 2,3 and 4 word phrases reports will give you a rundown of your frequently occurring keywords, with both a count and the keyword density.

If you’re looking for a quick, dashboard-like application that gives a very good overview of how your blog is performing, it’s worth doing a quick search with Zippy.co.uk

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When I was a little kid, my sister and I had a Saturday morning tradition. Our mother would give us each a couple of dollars, and we’d walk about a mile to Mike’s store. Mike’s was a tiny little convenience store with many different kinds of penny candy, and it was very popular with kids.

One day, on our way back home, I opened my little paper bag full of candy and pulled out a Cow Tale. I took a bite and hated it! I was right next to the canal, so I threw the rest in (the candy, not the wrapper!). I then noticed that no less than ten small fish swarmed the cow tale and ate it immediately.

The next Saturday, even though I hated the candy, I bought more cow tales. I went back to the canal to see if I could replicate the results. The answer: fish love cow tales.

What’s my point?

Let’s think about what would happen if my intent was to catch a lot of fish. I’d probably first think about worms, lures, etc. I might even go to the tackle shop and ask. Or turn on the T.V. and catch a fishing show. If it were today rather than when I was a kid, I’d just go online and do the research.

I’m sure I would get a lot of information on what works, what doesn’t, and I’d get lots of suggestions. But it’s safe to say that I wouldn’t end up with Cow Tales.

There’s a lot left to be discovered. Don’t just rely on what has been done in the past. Sometimes you need to throw candy in the canal and see what happens.

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Sometimes you need inspiration. Well, at least that’s true with me.

Keeping blogs and websites updated can often be trying and it takes a lot of effort. And sometimes I’ll ask myself: “Am I just wasting my time?”

I’ll look at the time I spend thinking of blog posts, writing, reading, etc., and do a little ROI analysis. It’s definitely a critical state of mind that leads to this. It’s rare, but it happens.

It’s times like these that make me look around for inspiration rather than validation. And today I found something truly great:

Hugh MacLeod’s “How to be creative”. 

If you need some inspiration, read this.

If you feel like you’re wasting your time, read this.

If you feel like you’ve got a great idea, but no one else agrees, read this.

Just read it. It’s that good.

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A couple of questions to ask yourself:

How do you foster the extraordinary?
Do you really want your firm to be seen as something special?

Which statement is true in your firm:

• We try new things.
• We take risks.
• We fail sometimes, but we learn from our failures.
• We do not take any risks whatsoever…..because we might fail.
• Not only do we not take risks, we repeat the things we know will not work.
• We are so dedicated to maintaining the status quo, that the thought of trying something new is unsettling.
• Please don’t talk to me. The risk of hearing a new idea scares me.

A thought occurred to me today, and I think I may be on to something. Sure, companies of all kinds say they want more business. They’re always trying to attract new clients. But maybe that’s not true.

I think we take for granted the idea that companies want to be innovative and better than the competition. Maybe that’s not the case.

When I think about it, why would you bother trying to put out interesting, though-provoking marketing materials, when you don’t want to be seen as extraordinary? When there’s no motivation to be better, the motivation switches to “let’s not be worse.”

If trying and failing is punished, wouldn’t you rather not try?

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This week has been fairly difficult for me to come up with blog posts. I’m doing some insanely monotonous, yet essential work, and it seems to have turned off the creative part of my mind. So, I have to apologize for continuing to point to Seth Godin rather than coming up with anything new.

Today, he has a post entitled “The two things that kill marketing creativity.” From it:

The first is fear.

The fear that you’ll have to implement whatever you dream up.
The fear that you will fail.
The fear that you will do something stupid and be ridiculed by your peers for decades.

Sound familiar?

Picture yourself in a conference room with your marketing committee if you have one. You have something that you really believe in; an idea that will get your firm noticed. It is clever, creative and smart. It stands out. It talks to your clients.

You’re really excited about it and you give a high-energy pitch to the room. And when you’re done?

Crickets.

And you hear the chorus of doubt:

• I think it’s a great idea…..just not for us.
• That’s cute.
• No one has ever done that before. Must be for a reason.
• Maybe some other time. Let’s go with what we’ve done before.
• Interesting idea. Let’s think about it. So, what was I talking about?

One of my favorite quotes of all time was something I read in Sally Hogshead’s “Radical Careering.” It’s great: It has a picture of the ugliest camel you’ve ever seen, and it says “A Camel Is A Horse Designed By Committee.”

It seems as if the committee is a machine that takes in a raw material called “creativity” and outputs something called “safe.”

But to be fair, it’s not the idea of the committee that’s the problem. It’s the fear. Why take a risk when you can compromise and get mediocrity?

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You know, Seth Godin is unique in that his writing makes me feel excited, inspired, hopeful, as well as depressed, amateurish, and boring at the same time. It’s because he’s THAT good. In fact, you know that moment when you read something and say “That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! Why didn’t I write that…” or better, “I never thought of it that way, but it makes total sense now!” And in that moment, when you’re nodding your head while reading…….That’s what should be called the “Godin Nod.” Which would be defined as:

Godin Nod- Involuntary head movement that denotes a moment of clarity as a direct result of reading anything by Seth Godin.

His latest post is entitled “Nobody Knows Anything“, and in it, he really breaks down the idea of marketing to the most basic level. And it could be a little scary to those of us in the marketing professions!

Rather than throwing in my two cents about his idea that “There are two kinds of marketing analysis, both pretty useless”, I’m telling you: go read his post.

You need to read this.

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