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Marketing & Making Money

The Virtual Law Office Debate: Virtually Impossible To Succeed or Not?

August 22, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

There’s an interesting debate over at Lee Rosen’s Divorce Discourse blog, in response to his provocatively titled-post, What the Virtual Office Advocates Aren’t Telling You. Lee argues that despite all of the buzz over virtual law offices, they’re unlikely to succeed because “there’s not much demand among clients for a virtual practice.” [...]

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One, Two, Free: Excerpts from My Plenary on Free

August 17, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I was honored to deliver a plenary talk on the second day of the most excellent Minnesota Solo & Small Firm Strategic Solutions Conference. Though I know that lots of people prefer talks that offer straight-up marketing advice, I took a slightly different tactic, with a presentation entitled “One, Two, Free: Endless Challenges [...]

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Upstart Outsmarts LegalZoom

July 29, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

If you thought that lawyers couldn’t effectively compete with low-end, quasi-legal providers like Legal Zoom, think again. There’s a new upstart service, aptly named Upstart Legal that’s come up with one formula to take on non-lawyer alternatives.
The brainchild of attorney John Gerber, UpStartLegal.com offers a web-based, legal package that gives entrepreneurs the legal documents [...]

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How to Make Your Website More Interactive

July 22, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Too many lawyers squander the awesome power of Web 2.0 by putting up static websites that aren’t much more than glorified brochures (memo to these offenders:  you don’t need a website to post a static document online.  You can simply put it up at a site like Docstoc or Scribd!)  Perhaps lawyers believe that adding [...]

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If Ten Year Olds Aren’t Watching TV Commercials, Prospective Clients Aren’t Either

July 22, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Tonight, before heading out to the pool for a swim, my ten year old daugher, Mira set the Tivo to record one of her television shows.  The show was scheduled to run at 9 pm, with a second showing at 9:30.  Since I was sure that we’d be back at least 9:30, I asked Mira [...]

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The Shout-Out Lawyer

July 13, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

This tape is remarkable not so much for the content (the abuses of freemium – which is somewhat interesting) but rather, for displaying something that we rarely see:  a client giving a lawyer a shout-out.
If you don’t believe me, skip ahead to 1:38 of the tape, where Ben Chestnut, MailChimp’s co-founder, describes how moving MailChimp [...]

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The One-Sheet Generator. Yours, FREE, At MyShingle

July 12, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

So, ever heard of a one-sheet?  Perhaps the best description comes from Wise Geek, which defines a one-sheet as a
single page document designed to provide a burst of information about a product for the purpose of sales or advertising….one-sheets are also usually constructed with some care to create a flashy, appealing image which makes them [...]

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Should Lawyers Post Video Testimonials From Clients?

June 23, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Don’t get me wrong — I’m an unabashed fan of video for lawyers.  As I’ve said many times, most recently in this presentation, video satisfies Internet users’ craving for intimacy, as well prospective clients’ natural curiosity to get a peek at the lawyer behind the online presence.  Likewise, I’m also believer in the persuasive power [...]

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Marketing by the Numbers: A Video WhyTo on Marketing Your Law Practice

June 21, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m not a professional marketer. But as someone who speaks and writes about going and growing solo, I’m often asked to speak about what lawyers can do to attract and retain clients. It’s the kind of talk that could put me to sleep because we’ve all heard it before: network, have an online [...]

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Don’t Ignore Your Core: Lessons from the Demise of Slideshare.net

June 17, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I’ve been a longtime fan of Slideshare.net ever since I discovered it over three years ago. For those unfamiliar with the site, Slideshare.net is kind of like YouTube for PowerPoint; it offers a platform for users to upload slide presentations and embed them at their own site.  But Slideshare’s usefulness doesn’t stop there – I’ve [...]

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