Twitter.  I would guess that this is probably the least understood and most underutilized social media platform by lawyers.  And when you think about it Twitter only gives you 140 characters (characters, not words!) to get your idea across.  So how could you possibly use this tool to help build your law practice?  Today on the JDBlogger Podcast I interview attorney Jared Correia on his new book Twitter in One Hour for Lawyers.
This book was published by the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association.

In the interview Jared discusses the five different areas of your practice that can benefit from a strong Twitter presence, how you can use Twitter to generate new clients, and some of the ethical concerns you need to watch out for before firing off that first Tweet.

You can get a copy of Jared’s book here:

Tool of the Trade

This week’s Tool of the Trade is Tweriod.  Other than having an awful name (they claim it is pronounced Twe-Roid), it is a pretty handy tool that is free to use.  What Tweriod does is evaluate your Twitter followers to determine when they are typically online and then issues you a report so that you  know when the best times are throughout the day to post your Tweets.  The more people who see your Tweets the higher chance of getting the interaction with your website or you personally.  It is also a great tool you can use with Buffer and when scheduling your content distribution on social media.

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Today’s special guest on the JDBlogger Podcast is the Podcast Answerman himself, Cliff Ravenscraft.  Cliff is a prolific podcaster having released more than 3,000 podcast episodes and is widely considered the authority on podcasting world-wide.  He is also the founder of the GSPN.tv network and the host of six podcast shows.

In my interview with Cliff he shares his entrepreneurial story – how he found the courage to leave a well paying job to establish himself as the go-to person in the podcasting world.  Cliff also shares business principles that have resulted in success for him and how they can be implemented in your law practice.

Finally, I couldn’t have the Podcast Answerman on the show without getting a couple of tips for any of you who are thinking of taking the plunge and starting a legal podcast.

Tool of the Trade

This week’s Tool of the Trade is Long Tail Pro.  This is a tool that I recently came upon that can help you with keyword research as well as monitoring how your (and your competitor’s) websites are performing.  Great tool for finding those keywords that are relevant but not quite so difficult to rank for.

One of my favorite features about this tool is it also allows you to see where Google is ranking your website for various keywords.  This is a great help in tracking your progress and the effectiveness of your blogging and marketing plan.

Finally, I have changed up the format of the podcast slightly and will now be doing the Tools of the Trade segment after the main portion of the show.  Let me know what you think and what your thoughts are in general of the Tools segment.

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In this week’s JDBlogger Podcast episode I interview Chelsea Callanan.  Chelsea is a practicing lawyer, blogger, and career coach – she founded her company Happy Go Legal, to provide resources and education to the new generation of lawyers on professional development and work-life balance issues. Her number one suggestion to lawyers is to take time to identify what it is they are working towards, and what achieving it will mean for their life.

In the interview we discuss why now is a great time to get started with a legal themed podcast, how it can benefit your law practice, what formats work well and why, and what it takes to not only get a podcast started but to keep it going for the long run.

Here are a few of the links to resources that Chelsea mentions in the show:

Podcast Launch – A Step by Step Podcasting Guide Including 15 Video Tutorials

Tools of the Trade

In this week’s Tool of the Trade segment I discuss how you can re-purpose your older blog articles to drive more traffic to your site.  Too often we draft great stuff for our blogs but after a day or two it gets buried never to be heard from again.  Through tools like Buffer and Hootsuite you can take your oldies but goodies and distribute them throughout the week on the various social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.  The result is more traffic to your site and less pressure on your to create new content every day.

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Many lawyers believe that the end game of marketing their law practice online is to be #1 in the Google search rankings.  And while it is true, we all want to be number one with Google, it is just as vital (if not more) that you create content that is engaging and will convert the causal reader into a client.

To do this you must find your voice – the thing that makes you different from the rest.  Too often legal websites all peddle the same drivel over and over.  But if you follow the attorneys who are doing it right you will see their personality come through in their writing, podcasting, video, or whatever platform they use to get their message out – and some of them even have opinions (gasp!).

In this episode of the JDBlogger Podcast I discuss the three things you must do to bring out the best ‘you’ for your online marketing efforts.

Some of my favorite bloggers and podcasters who I think do a great job in letting their voice and personality come through are:

Sam Glover at the Lawyerist

The writers of Lawyerology

Chris Brogan at The Human Business Way podcast

Michael Stelzner at the Social Media Marketing Podcast

Cliff Ravenscraft at Podcast Answerman Podcast

New Podcasting A to Z Course with The Podcast Answerman!

The next Podcasting A to Z course starts on May 20, 2013.  You can click HERE to register and if you use the discount code “Skiba” in the shopping cart when you order you will receive an immediate $100 off the price of the course.  As an attorney, you are a professional.  You need to sound like a professional.  Check out the course.  You won’t regret it!

Continue Reading…

A few weeks back in Episode 15 of the JDBlogger Podcast I discussed how you could build a law practice you don’t hate.  I received a lot of response to that episode and surprise – there are a lot of lawyers out there who really don’t like what they do for work each day.  But despite being unhappy with chosen profession many lawyers feel trapped and don’t see any other opportunities to use the education and skills that they have so heavily invested in.

On today’s podcast I speak with Marc Luber.   Marc is the author of 99 Things You Can Do With A Law Degree and the founder of a video website exploring what to do with a law degree and sharing advice for professional development called JD Careers Out There.   Marc is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and has used his law degree to work in the music industry and as a legal recruiter in Los Angeles.  Today you will get tips on how to make changes within the practice of law or to even venture out to a different career path – and just maybe find happiness along the way.

Tool of the Trade 

This week’s Tool of the Trade is Libsyn.  I use Libsyn to host my podcasts and to track the stats on how many downloads I get for each episode and where people are listening to the podcast from. It is a good idea to have a separate host for the audio files associated with your podcast.  Libsyn’s rates are very reasonable and I have had zero problems with them.  If you are thinking of starting a podcast head on over to Libsyn’s site and check them out.

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