Yesterday, while checking my stats, I noticed some traffic coming from a Yahoo Group. I went to check it out, and found a great resource I recommend for small firms and solo attorneys looking to ask questions and get feedback from peers on all things legal marketing related.

Yahoo Groups: Solo Marketing
Description: This group is set up to discuss marketing ideas for small law firms and sole practitioners.
# of Members: 424

This is a VERY active list. I’d encourage any legal blogger to check it out. This discussion group is not limited to blogs or web sites. Rather, it is a place to discuss anything a solo or small firm professional could ask. It’s a great place to learn from others in the legal marketing business.

Popularity: 6% [?]

All right. It’s early and I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one (I was moving over the weekend, so I’ve been out of the loop…..so if I get the timeline wrong here, I apologize). Kevin O’Keefe from LexBlog and the anonymous editor of BlawgReview are now engaged in a public spat.

July 27th- Kevin O’Keefe asks “What’s ALM paying Elefant and Ambrogi?” In the post, Kevin wonders if ALM (American Lawyer Media) appreciates their star bloggers enough. When newspapers and magazines are taking a revenue hit, they need to explore other outlets to generate new cash. Giving the example of Lisa Stone leaving ALM to work on BlogHer, Kevin asks whether ALM will really follow their bloggers’ lead in reconfiguring their blogging (and new reader acquisition) strategy.

Okay. Now part 2.

Then, on August 3rd, the anonymous editor at Blawg Review posts: “What’s with Kevin O’Keefe: Kevin O’Keefe’s panties are in a knot again.“

Now, I’m skipping a lot of details here and there were emails sent back and forth between the two parties. Then, emails that were intended to be “private” were published…..etc.

I’m not involved with this at all, and this isn’t a post taking sides with one side or the other. My interest here is in the results.

To be completely honest here, this isn’t really a blog FIGHT. It’s more of a gentlemanly discussion, though a little bit of spirited and colorful language is thrown in. So, what are the possible outcomes of having a public blog fight?

1. Increased Readership: Since the two fighting parties are referencing each other’s posts, they link to each other. Readers of one blog will definitely check out the other blog to see where the beef started, and to take sides.

2. Increased Loyalty: There’s nothing that brings a group of people together like an enemy. Look at armies. Look at sports teams. When you’ve got a concrete enemy to be against, you develop an identity.

But at the same time, a blog fight could:

3. Lead to a tarnished image: Getting too personal or too vulgar can make even the most professional blogger seem childish. It can also make someone look like a bully.

4. Take over the agenda: Both the writer and the reader can get so consumed with the fight that they forget the reason the blog exists in the first place. Trust me, this has happened before.

So, with that all said, I’ve got an idea. Since this blog isn’t the biggest, most read blog on the block, I’m going to start something. I’m going to target someone that has a lot of readers, so I can increase my traffic. And I’m going to come up with such a heinous insult that the blogger just has to take notice.

Here goes:

Seth Godin hates blind manatees.

There. I said it.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Bill Sweetman has an article entitled “Blogging with the Whales” that perfectly illustrates, in first-person form, how a blog can (and should) bring in business. For those that won’t read the article, let me sum it up for you.

Mr. Sweetman was on vacation and wanted to go on a whale watch. He picked up some brochures, and it seemed like all the tour companies offered nearly identical services (sound familiar?). So what did he do next (come on, you know the answer)?

He went to the internet.

He looked at the tour companies’ web sites. And, predictably:

“The companies without Websites immediately lost my business.”

So, he looked at the remaining contenders and quickly learned that, like their brochures, the websites had the same information…..but there was an exception:

“Quoddy Link Marine, to my pleasant surprise, also had a “Sightings and Updates” blog. The blog is maintained by Danielle, a marine biology graduate in charge of photographing, identifying and recording the whales and sharing that information with various marine research organizations.

…… The “Sightings and Updates” blog also demonstrated to me that Quoddy Link Marine really cared about whales and the environment, not just selling whale tour tickets. Thanks to their blog, I also felt one degree closer to the people behind this tour company than with those from any of their competitors.”

Now that’s how it’s done!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Legal marketing is hard. There. I said it.

When you’re trying to market a law firm you will, without question, face the following paradox:

“We want to seem ____________ but we don’t want to seem _________________”

Let me explain.

For example, in law firm advertising, firms want their campaigns to be clever, but not too clever. That would seem gimmicky…..like the firm is trying too hard to look “cute.”

Firms want to be seen as having expertise in specific areas, but they don’t want to be perceived as only serving that niche. For example, a tech firm the has expertise in the Open Source area definitely wants to show their specialty. However, they don’t want people thinking that Open Source is all the firm does, as having a niche practice can be a great opportunity to bring in business for other practice areas.

Law firms that have been in business for a considerable amount of time often use their legal tradition as a selling point. However, relying too heavily on the past can be seen as being resistant to the future as well as the present.

Firms want to be seen as being up-to-date on technology/legal issues/regulatory concerns. Blogging is a pretty good example of this. But, as with all things there is a line. Sure, you want people to think “Wow. This firm is really ontop of things.” But, do you have the same opinion of a firm that has a myspace profile?  A firm that puts ads on YouTube? Or, a firm that buys an ad on the million dollar home page?

Finally, firms want to be noticed, but having their logo everywhere can take away from the perception of professionalism. Some attorneys/firms see advertising and marketing as unbecoming. But, given the competitive nature of the legal industry, firms need to create awareness. The result: a delicate balance.

Reminds me of my favorite Steven Wright quote:

“There’s a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot.”

Popularity: 6% [?]

I want to try something different here.

We all know that legal blogging is getting very popular and is changing the way law firms market, the way attorneys share their opinions and expertise, and how blogging changes the “conversation.” So, given the fact that legal blogging is relatively new, we can be sure that there will be some fallout or issues that result from blogging.

So, I’d like to open the floor to speculation. Let me first give some examples of things that have already happened:

1. Because of blogging, well-known attorney bloggers will leave their firms and go solo.

2. Because of blogging, a large law firm will receive an incalculable amount of bad publicity for firing a prominent legal blogger.

I don’t want to limit this to the attorney blogging world. I’d also like to include legal issues that arise because of blogs.

3. Because of blogging, companies will fire their employees for pictures posted on their blogs.

4. Because of blogging, cases will be retried after attorneys realize a juror posted disparaging comments about the defendant before the trial.

So, here are a couple of predictions I have. Let me know if they’ve already happened and I’ll put them on the “checked” list:

1. Because of blogging, investigators will be able to identify a murderer who assumes their blog is anonymous.

2. Because of blogging, an employee will disclose details of illegal activities within their company, resulting in a book deal.

Please add your predictions in the comments section. I plan to keep this post updated regularly.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I just saw another post on Denise Howell’s departure from Reed Smith after writing the last post, and had to point to it: Blogging World Abuzz as Attorney Mom is Fired.

So there’s another angle to the story. Now, not only is Reed Smith known as the firm that fired a prolific and influencial blogger…..they’re also known as the firm that doesn’t support working mothers.

So is it true that Reed Smith doesn’t like bloggers or mothers? That’s absolutely irrelevant. Regardless of what happened, that’s the perception right now. I would hate to be the person responsible for putting a positive spin on this PR nightmare.

Popularity: 6% [?]