So instead of typing out:

<blockquote>"I'm a quote!"</blockquote>

All you have to do is type:

>"I'm a quote!"

No more typing out bullet point code or long “a href=” you can simply use asterisks and square and curved brackets.

Install it into your WordPress blog to give it a run. As an added bonus, if you use MarsEdit, it has a preview text filter for Markdown.

There are a few plugins to choose from, I’m using Michael Fortin’s PHP markdown.

I might try and do some customisation of the theme this weekend just to play around with it a little…

I use twitter, mostly because it’s fun and social, but also as a digital watercooler since I work in a solo/small firm setting. I follow and comment on mostly people I know from a professional setting, but always people I like (because they’re nice, or because they always have something interesting to say, thought the two are sometimes mutually exclusive). Gives a bit of real time socializing as if I were in a big office.

LinkedIn is great for making more serious business contacts and doing searches on people to get a bit more background. I don’t socialize much through it, but it’s a useful tool.

When I moved over to the UK, I was surprised at the number of people who use Facebook in more of a business context. There’s a definite subset of business contacts I meet that friend me on facebook over adding me to LinkedIn. With Facebook, I keep it strictly social, and most of my friends and family are there too. (So if you’re a business contact, I’ll defer you to LinkedIn).

But then comes along one of a number of social networking sites (SNS) that aim for a specific professional context. Texas Bar Circle is one, Gathering2 is another.

I’m not sure I get these sites, frankly.

Usability is paramount to any SNS site (or any site for that matter). Gathering2 fails badly on this point in particular: It is built in flash, which is totally inaccessible in my iPhone, is annoying because I can’t use my scroll wheel on my mouse or even have Firfefox remember my password. Once I’m in, I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do or why I should spend time there. LinkedIn groups are far better for people just interested in a topic. Or Ning.

I have broadly the same feelings (except for the Flash comments) on Texas Bar Circle. What are the advantages of these ring-fenced professional SNS sites? I know that the selling points often are:

• networking within your vertical profession, which may mean a chance to let your hair down (no clients) and chat informally about current events, practice related stuff, etc.

• news, blogs, events feeds tailored for your interest.

The only problem with both of these is that:

• I already network in person and online through all the other tools with people in my profession, so not so sure I need another forum. If I need some lawyer-to-lawyer chat, I can go to SOLOSEZ or SOLO IP for starters.

• I already have RSS feeds, email alerts, and other ways to take in the hosepipe of media information, plus I get all the other things I’m interested in at the same time as well.

So what’s the point of these services? Anyone using them and getting something of value they couldn’t get elsewhere?

Please:

• Don’t place Google Ads on your lawyer website. You’re a lawyer not a professional blogger, and it’s highly unlikely you’re going to make any money anyway
• Don’t use blogger to host your blog.
• Don’t forget to use some sort of analytics software to keep track of your visitors.
• Don’t be afraid to pay someone to help with web design. It’s probably not as much as you think, and it does worlds for how professional your site works.

Don’t forget that your blog and website is your calling card to the world.

If you ignore the above advice about blogger, please at least do the following with your blogger website:

• Do make sure your RSS feeds are linked from your page
• Do pay someone or code your own theme – Don’t use one of bloggers default themes!
• Do get your own domain name and have it redirect there.

Tools like this are really handy for solos and small firms because they save time and make use of a number of resources at once to help develop your online presence.

I don’t have a bit.ly account yet, but twitterfeed can use bit.ly for link shortening and even tell you how many clickthroughs you’ve had to your blog from twitter, which is handy to know for your impact.

Next up, I think I’ll have to investigate URL shortening services…

To me it’s a bit like a supercharged Doodle, which I’ve been using for awhile to help schedule meetings. The added advantage with Tungle is that if your schedule changes so too does your availability for meetings you’re trying to book, which is super handy when trying to book something with those late-to-reply people who end up having you hold multiple slots open for a meeting or make you rebook because you’ve already scheduled something else. Plus Tungle looks better.

The connector program for the Mac is in beta, and has stuck on me a few times but more or less runs smoothly. Currently it refers you to the Tungle website when scheduling, I’d like to see a way to schedule meetings directly on my machine. Syncing works pretty well with iCal back and forth.

Right now, there doesn’t appear to be a pricing model attached, so not sure what direction it will head, but this is a great idea, and well implemented.

You can find me at: http://tungle.me/jordanhatcher

LPM blogs

Build a Solo practice. Susan Cartier Liebel’s blog and one of the first I started following when I developed my consultancy.

There are quite a few others that I dip in on regularly, such as Chuck Newton and Home Office Warrior. These days I mostly just see what is out there via the twitter people I follow, though I very sorely tempted to join Solo Practice University to give it a go.

Tech for the solo/small firm

Keep up to date with Future Lawyer and for the Mac users, subscribe to MILO and read iPhone JD if you have an iPhone.

SEO

SEO Moz comes in very handy and has lots of tools to help with SEO. My Pro subscription has been useful, but there are plenty of things to get you started for free.

SEO Book. I bought and read Aaron Wall’s SEO Book and it’s been a great help to understand the issues and where to improve (even if I don’t get to do all of what he and SEO Moz recommend).

UK

In the UK we have the SOLO IP group, which I’d hoped would offer more practice management tips and tricks, and still has the potential to be a really useful resource specifically for IP practitioners.

The answer: to help build your business!

You have a business. If you’re reading this blog, you’re likely a solo or small firm lawyer. But this applies whether you are a lawyer in Chicago, a consultant in London, or a widget manufacturer in Kazakhstan. You have a business, and it is not selling advertising on your web content.

Lawyers sell their services, not ads.

Blogging help you sell your services in many ways. Through it, you can increase your SEO, making it easier for potential clients to find you, and build out your networks and reputational capital to build referral business and boost your standing as an expert (and so charge higher rates).

Putting ads on your site sends the wrong message in this environment. It says you aren’t serious about blogging as part of your practice and it’s a distraction to the people you want to stay focussed on your site and your content (and not clicking through to other sites to buy things).

Besides that, those ads aren’t likely to be very successful. That one beer a month that you can buy with the GoogleAds on your blog will be useful to console you when you think about how the blog isn’t helping your business.

This was admittedly a bit of a last minute idea for me, but realised that it worked pretty well. For next time, I think I’d:

• develop and deliver some exclusive Twitter content given during the event
• and do a bit of promotion around the Twitter feed.

I very much recommend upgrading if you haven’t already, especially as it looks like it has several SEO features already built in. It also might be a good time to try a new theme that takes advantage of some of the changes in WordPress.