Marketing The Dot Com

ICANN Not Buy Competitor's Name

2011-06-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

While the Milwaukee County Circuit Court answered 'yes' to the question, "Can competing law firms buy my name or my firm's name to compete against me online?" ICANN (http://www.icann.org/) is at the exact opposite position, at least as far as TLD's (top level domains) are concerned.

ICANN is an acronym for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is the global body that oversees the Internet address system

ICANN takes the 'no unfair competition' to the limits. When issuing new top level domains, the rules apply for confusing the consumer and confusingly similar domain suffixes are verboten. So, for example, if Martindale Hubbell snagged .lawyers, Thomson Reuters would be blocked permanently from acquiring .lawyer as a suffix.

Like the move to IPV6 that will expand the quantity of Internet addresses available, the move towards 'keyword TLD's' is slow because both have profound worldwide impacts.

For those for whom ICANN is most concerned - the financial industry, global manufacturers such as .coke - the cost of acquiring a TLD is minimal compared to others that seek more generic TLD's. The application fee that Coca-cola can expect to pay for the .coke suffix, or Pepsi for the .pepsi suffix, is $185,000. Those types of suffix-seekers can also expect to pay about another $100,000 in setup fees and annual maintenance fees of $100,000.

For those who will be seeking the generic TLD's, the application process differs. Where Pepsi wouldn't be allowed to acquire the .coke suffix on the basis of unfair competitive marketing practices, a fact that the Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge missed in the Habush keyword case, ICANN will accept all applications for those seeking generic terms. If Lexis' group provides a profound purpose for owning the .law suffix that is equally met in purpose by Thomson-Reuter's application, ICANN will force the competing entities into auction. At that point, the sky is the limit and a suffix such as .law might go for multiples of millions of dollars.

But what does this all mean to the small law firm (Habush is small compared to Baker-McKenzie just as Van Wagner & Wood and Brandau & Waltz are small compared to Habush)?

ICANN policy prohibits competing entities from acquiring the same suffixes or confusingly similar suffixes; that policy is emphasized and brought into the light more now as it will be over the next three years as these new suffixes roll out to remind the Chief Justices that hear appeals such as Habush's forthcoming appeal in the confusing keyword case that unfair competitive practices can be easily defined and proscribed. If the Appellate Court judges (or Supreme Court Justices, as the case may be for Habush) reverse Milwaukee's decision, it will give the small law firm protection.

Additionally, where the suffixes '.com', '.biz', '.pro' are specifically intended for all commercial, business and professional concerns respectively, and '.edu and '.gov' for example are restricted, the intended purpose of suffixes such as .law or .lawyers will be defined by the winning applicant or bidder unless ICANN restricts the new suffix.

Helpful links:
ICANN: http://www.icann.org/
CNN on the Generic Dot Com: http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/20/technology/dot_brand_domain_name_icann/index.htm
Global Radio: http://www.rferl.org/content/icann_has_censorship/24244549.html
Milwaukee Circuit Court: http://county.milwaukee.gov/CourtServices7714/ClerkHomePage.htm

Milwaukee Court Rules Competitors Can Buy Your Name

2011-06-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

A Wisconsin court (Milwaukee County Circuit Court) recently ruled on the nationally publicized case answering the million dollar question, “Can your competitors rightfully buy your trade names and trademarked names as keywords to market their firms?” The court said, ‘yes’, and the plaintiff promises an appeal to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

The case is of Habush, Habush & Rottier vs. Cannon & Dunphy (ABA Journal), both of whom are Wisconsin PI firms. Cannon purposefully used the names of the attorneys at the Habush firm as keywords in its pay-per-click campaigns on search engines.

Keywords are triggers; each campaign contains keywords that trigger the related advertisements. A campaign manager can target just search engines or include the search engine’s network composed of high traffic/profile websites such as CNN, YouTube, etc.

In this case, when searchers conducted a search on a search engine or on a network site for any of the attorneys’ names at the Habush firm, Cannon’s ads would appear and link to the Cannon website.

Habush attorneys claimed a violation of their privacy; the court concurred that Cannon was indeed violating the privacy of those attorneys, but the judge rationalized that the violation was no different than placing the advertisements of the Habush firm and the Cannon firm next to one another in a yellow pages book. Both parties claimed unclean hands; judge concurred.

Habush’s appeal may reverse the Milwaukee Court judge, but until and unless it does, the gateways holding trademark infringing marketing tactics like these at bay just got lifted.

Notably, Google previously prohibited that type of conduct; now, Google declines to investigate trademark abuse in keywords; they will continue to investigate it in the text (or graphics) of advertisements.

Applying the Milwaukee Court judge’s logic, there’s little reach from keywords in search engine campaigns to keywords in metadata on a website, and then only a short reach to other forms of trademark infringements.

Sigma’s words of wisdom:
1. Your main website is on a ‘.com’; at minimum, you should also own the lease on the .net version, and may want to include other top level domain leases, such as .org, .biz. Ensure that you own the license for domains that depict your trade names, such as:
a. YourFullLegalName.com and .net (e.g. ChristopherTVanWagner.com, .net)
b. YourCommonName.com and .net (e.g. ChrisVanWagner.com, .net)
c. YourFirmsLegalName.com and .net (e.g. VanWagnerWoodSC.com, .net)
d. YourFirmsCommonName.com and .net (e.g. VanWagnerAndWood.com, .net)
e. YourFirmsMarketedName.com and .net (e.g. VanWagnerWood.com, .net)
2. Remember that keyword-intensive domain names (e.g. trademark-attorney.com) fail trademark protection rules

How did Cannon achieve getting their advertisements to display when people were searching for a Habush firm attorney?
Cannon setup numerous pay-per-click campaigns in the various search engines. They then selected the names of the attorneys at Habush and the Habush law firm name as keywords to trigger the campaign’s advertisements. They expanded their breadth of exposure to include all search engines and networks. When a search was conducted on the search engines for Habush’s firm or an attorney there, Cannon’s ads displayed. Cannon’s ads linked to Cannon’s websites.

Previously, search engines monitored the use of trade names and trademarks in two ways: in keywords and in ad text; they prohibited trademark infringement by prohibiting the use of trademarks and trade names without permission, and stated that they would close paid campaign accounts for violations. Those protections have changed. Google, for example, no longer will investigate the use of a trade name or trademark as a keyword.

Response to ABA Journal comment by Pul-lease:
The comment condemns Habush for having not thought of this first.
The court said that both parties came with unclean hands.

The comment continues to condemn Habush for having failed to buy his rights to the name keywords to prevent Cannon from directly targeting them.
In pay-per-click programs, the rights to keywords cannot be bought out. Pay-per-click programs use keywords for bidding purposes. Notably, the rights to keywords also cannot be bought in organic results.

We’re hopeful of a reversal on appeal; in the meantime, it’s a free for all on your names… keep a watch, please.

Sidebar – We disagree with the Milwaukee Court judge; his rationale fails. We also find Cannon & Dunphy’s behavior deceptive and underhanded. Since the court commented that both plaintiff and respondent came with unclean hands, we’ll note that we don’t condone either party’s actions along this vein. Cannon & Dunphy’s campaign was run by a relative of the one of their attorneys (Halloran); Habush’s campaign was run by the Search Engine Guys.

Fowled Rationale, Judge: He found that buying a competitor’s name as a keyword in a pay-per-click campaign paralleled placing an advertisement in the yellow pages, both pitting one firm against another side-by-side. Yellow page headings are generic (e.g. Attorney or a subheading, Personal Injury). Generic keywords such as attorney or personal injury would parallel the placement in a yellow pages book, but specific headings such as ‘Robert Habush’ or ‘Dan Rottier’ do not.

The judge relied on advertising rules that provide that advertisements may not mislead a consumer wrongfully (such as to place, person, product, time or price). Habush sued for invasion of privacy. Next, the judge concluded that a savvy online software shopper wouldn’t be mistaken. Last I read the reasonable person test, Mr./Mrs. Reasonable Person weren’t software shoppers. If we take that a step further, the fact remains that the majority of Internet users are common consumers. Lastly, the judge determined that folks wouldn’t be confused by reaching Mr. Halloran’s profile when looking for Mr. Habush's profile, for example. Perhaps a poll would help.

Our best wishes to Mr. Habush on his appeal.

The Significance of Metadata

2011-05-26T06:51:00.000-07:00

Are you going crazy optimizing your website and looking for those 7 or so specific keywords to put in your Metadata Keywords tag?

Well, stop.

The Metadata of a website can contain numerous values, but it has long been held that there are three that are key to success: Title, Description and Keywords.

Title Tag
The 'title tag' is the metadata value that appears as the title of the webpage in the search engine results pages. It's true purpose is to get visitors to your website. While changing the position of words or changing words in a title tag can have a profound effect on the webpage's positions in the search engine results pages, it may surprise you to know that it can be inconsequential. For example, if your webpage content is focused on 'umbrellas' and your title tag is 'Oreo Cookies Recipes', search engines will index the page relative to umbrellas. If you omit the title tag (not a good thing to do by the way), search engines will still index the page relative to the content.

Description Tag
The 'description tag' is the metadata value that succulently describes the subject matter of the content on the page. Search engines such as Google optionally determine whether to use your description, and more frequently provide the description sometimes acquiring it from a not-for-profit directory (http://www.dmoz.org/). A description tag is no longer required; the first paragraph content on each page of your website should sufficiently provide a description of that page's content.

Keywords Tag
The 'keywords tag' is the metadata value that lists the keywords for which you hope to optimize the page for and get it indexed on with the search engines, but it is a rather useless tag for search engines as few use the tag. Google does not use the keywords tag. Directories sometimes use the keywords tag.

Does Domain Age Matter?

2009-07-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

Does the age of a domain matter?

The answer to that question would be a question: matter to what? Does it matter to its price (such as during a domain reseller bid or in the negotiations to dissolve a company)? Does it matter to its ability to perform online?

Domain Age Factor For Price or Not?
A midlife (about 5-6 years old) or elderly (about 10-12 years) domain is valuable if:

the domain has been used to market online with a focus that parallels your intent to use that domain, and

the domain has gained online authority and ranks well in the search engines, and

the domain has not been the subject of spam to the search engines or with email, and

there is some assurance that the current links to the domain won't be dropped when you buy it.

It isn't the mere age of a domain that determines its value; rather, it is the level of achievement towards the objective of the domain (thus the website at the domain) that determines value. Consequently, a new domain can have the same value as an old domain.

While the mere age of a domain shouldn't influence price, there are other factors that may influence it greatly such as the keywords in the domain, which can greatly influence online success if the website at that domain did well. If the domain contains keywords that you intend to trademark or use in your business to describe your business activities, the value may be much higher to you than others.

Does the age of the domain play a part in its online success?

If an older domain and a new domain compete head on, all factors parallel (same topics, like keywords in the domain, like back links, similar but not duplicate content, and like size), the website with the older domain will fair better competitively at least for a period of time.

Search engines such as Google inform new domain owners that they should expect a period of at least 6 months (and customarily can take up to 12 months) for a website to be indexed and take its place in the search engine results.

Who Owns The Copyright

2009-06-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

To determine who owns the copyright to any content conduct the quick copyright test below.

Did you originate the material for which you want to claim a copyright under copyright law?

Did you hire another person under a "work-for-hire" agreement to create material for you?

Did you create the material that is to be protected by copyright law from other materials with proper citations to the other published original works?

If you answered "yes" to the above questions, the chances are good that you own the copyright, but there are exceptions.

Originator. Under copyright law, you can claim a copyright so long as you originated the material. If you answered "yes" to the question, then you need only put that material into a fixed medium and stake your claim. Copyright law no longer requires an originator to publish the material; rather, a copyright is established upon creation in a fixed medium. Ideas, thoughts or even manuscripts that are idealized, but not put into a fixed medium cannot be copyright protected. A fixed medium includes any medium that can preserve the material such as a word document, a website, or on paper or in a paper tablet. If you were not the originator, then you cannot claim a copyright until and unless the copyright is transferred to you from its originator.

Work-for-hire. Under copyright law, you can hire another person to create material on your behalf so long as that was the intended agreement before the material was created. A work-for-hire agreement must be in writing, signed by both parties and explicitly state the event upon which the copyright is transferred (usually upon final payment). Under contract law, your agreement must be in writing if it valued at more than $1,000.00, cannot be completed within one year, or is between a non-business person and a business or legal entity, even if it is not a work-for-hire. Note that the mere provision of "notes" or an outline for the person creating the content under a work-for-hire agreement does NOT create a copyright for you in the final material created from your notes or outlines.

Works from other works. Anyone who copies material from a website and republishes the copied material or materials on their own website violates copyright law. See Digital Millenium Act of 1998, or Google on DMCA law. Copying content on the web parallels copying someone else's test in law school - it will get you taken out of the game. Copying another's content and making changes to it is plagarism. Basically, if you cannot create it anew, don't create it. In addition to "creating" a civil tort albiet copying or plagarizing content for which you might get sued, and violating federal law, copying content on the web creates duplicative content on two (or more) websites the results of which will be a duplicative content error that will result in one or both websites falling in the rankings for searches relative to the duplicated content. Duplicative content can also cause greater harm; for example, repeat offenders can be banned from search results. You should create rules for handling copyright infringments (some suggestions are provided below).

SPECIAL NOTATIONS:

The penalty for filing a false DMCA complaint is $100,000.

Search engines are not in the business of mediating between competitors, nor refereeing in spamming wars. If you file complaints with the search engines that are barely-true, false or part and parcel a spamming war with a competitor, the chances are very good that you won't like the outcome. Do not file a complaint with any search engine without having first contacted the owner of the website you claim is infringing upon your copyright with a request to take the duplicative content down. A complaint should only be filed with the search engines when you have exhausted the remedies below so as to avoid appearances of a spam war.

If your website content is duplicated, change the content immediately, and contact the webmaster of the site that is infringing upon your copyright to ask that the content be imemdiately removed (within 24 or 48 hours). Once it is removed, you can restore your original content. If the webmaster fails to remove it, issue a cease and desist demand to the owner and webmaster. If that still fails to get the duplicated content taken down, file a DMCA complaint. We strongly suggest hiring an experienced Intellectual Property Attorney.

Helpful links:
DMCA
Intellectual Property Attorneys
Copyright Litigation Attorneys
Trademark Litigation Attorneys
Patent Attorneys

Intellectual Property Attorneys

2009-05-01T04:35:00.000-07:00

Intellectual property attorneys can provide critical legal services before a problem arises, as well as during litigating a claim to protect your copyright, trademark or patent. Some of the IP attorneys that we have worked with and recommend are listed below.

Myers, Boebel & MacLeod
Patent Litigation, Minneapolis MN, Nationwide

Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C.
Madison & Milwaukee Wisconsin, Nationwide

Von Briesen & Roper
Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha & Mequon Wisconsin - Nationwide

Michael Best & Friedrich LLP
Nationwide

Wilhelm Intellectual Property Firm

The Legend - Professor Hal Dorf

2008-09-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight, several managers, leaders, coaches, parents and children gathered together to chat about the good old times. Those "good old times" encompassed building an association of students who created an international study abroad program, facilitating an international seminar bringing leaders from the world's market to a symposium of exchanges that fostered careers, lifelong relationships and learning. Those times brought cultural studies to elementary schools, and dance to an entire county. They fueled spirits in people who caused great feats to be accomplished in short periods of time.

As I look back on those times, they are fondly recalled as some of the most courageous, adventurous and brain energizing days of my life, and there is one man that holds a shining light - my former professor, my former boss, my mentor and my friend, Professor Hal Dorf. And there is one woman whom all who have known Hal have come to love and adore, his bride, Miss Arlene. (She's been his "bride" for some 25 years plus =).

I'm sure I would not speak out of turn to say that every one of us holds the highest regard, greatest respect and a lifelong admiration for Hal, and for Arlene. We would say that we also hold the deepest debt of gratitude, but Hal would tell us that the glory belongs to us.

Hal and Arlene lead a life of example. Hal earned his undergraduate degree at NMU, and his masters at IMEDE (Lausaunne, Switzerland). He formed an alliance with Thunderbird College (Arizona) that led to an alliance between the NMU College of Business students and Thunderbird's Inernational Studies programs. He mentored students into coaches, and coaches into mentors. Together, Hal and Arlene have shown us deep devotion, what it means to stand beside your spouse, and that united - anything is possible. They have shown us that believing in the good in people will rise them to the call, that calling people to fulfill their dreams will benefit multitudes, and that life isn't about cramming people into little boxes on a hillside - it's about freeing people to their own excellence.

(I developed a process for projects in reflection of their lives, "Get by Giving" - which by the way is the way the Internet works best!)

Tonight, when I thanked him for touching my and my family's life through his wonderful teachings, he reminded me that it was not him who taught me, but rather me who taught him - he merely opened the door - we walked through. That's so typical of Hal - he always gives the glory to the man in the arena, the one sweating blood to make a dream come true. But we, all of "us" know that it was his belief in us that made things possible.

It is an honor to know him, and privilege to have walked with him. Thank you, Hal.

Spam For A Greater Good

2008-09-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

If I had but one wish today, it would be to channel all of the negativity, hatred, anger, and TIME (oh the TIME) of all spammers into a greater good... with all that spam out there, it would benefit this planet immensely.

FindLaw Busted For Deceiving Clients

2008-09-24T04:05:00.000-07:00

There is a wide divide between companies that "do websites" for profit and webmasters that embrace the concept of marketing lawyers online to bring together two vital ends: people who need legal help and people who offer it. There is also a wide divide between those who do whatever it takes to win (including breaking the cardinal rules) and those who embrace the psychological interactions online, the purpose of information, the value of intellectual needs and exchanges, and the goal of helping people. The former examples are what FindLaw has done; the latter is why I am a much former representative of FindLaw. Moving the soap box over....

If you haven't heard, FindLaw got busted by Google for breaking the cardinal rule: selling links.

The reason that the term "got busted" has been used to describe FindLaw's action is because it has forever and a day been against Google guidelines and rules for any website owner (or the company in charge of managing it - in this case, FindLaw) to sell links to other website owners. The primary objective of such links is to "pass link juice" from one website to another. "Link juice" is simply explained as passing the authority that one website has earned/gained in Google's eyes onto another website - much like you would refer a client to another lawyer along with your glowing remarks. The more authority you have in the legal community, the greater the weight of your referral. The same applies online.

Many BLOG's have posted the FindLaw bust, and shamed FindLaw for having sold links. I concur, it was a shameful act because FindLaw holds itself out as being an authority in the legal marketing industry; therefore, they knew or should have know that it was wrong, but they chose to do it anyway. What they did is "against the rules" and perhaps better known as "greed." The person responsible for that choice is their search engine marketing manager, but that responsibility must be shared by all of his managers - somebody has to have the courage to say "it is wrong" and "the buck stops here" in corporate America. The SEM manager knew both that it was wrong and that he could gain leverage in the search engine results by releasing small inventories of "link juice" and selling them at high dollars. One report by a former FindLaw manager said they pulled in nearly 1 billion from selling links. As a FindLaw competitor, I'm not in favor of them making money through massive projects such as those, but my views go to the ethical side of their choice.

They broke Google's rules, that's a given, and it is up to Google to hold the line on their rule prohibiting the selling of links by properly punishing FindLaw and all websites that participated in the game, or forever appear the empty threat or institutional mongrel that they have forever denied. Of course, such punishment would have to be bestowed upon their many other URL's, such as the thomson.com marketing campaign they launched almost immediately upon "getting busted" for selling links for FindLaw.com.

But the most concerning wrong here is the deceit: FindLaw deceived the lawyers that entrusted FindLaw to market them online ethically. We are not talking about ethics in legal marketing here, folks, but rather webmaster ethics - the heart of any business intending to market online. FindLaw claims to be a webmaster to law firm sites; FindLaw is a member of the same organizations that I am a member - organizations that preach the good guidelines to follow; they knew that selling links was wrong, and yet they concealed the possible harm from their clients. Some FindLaw representatives have posted claims that they did not know. That would not surprise me - the representatives are not trained in search engine optimization; they are trained in selling; they aren't trained in search engine marketing; they are trained to regurgitate talking points to drive the sale to close. Now, there are many reps that truly care about their clients, but that care is constrained by the product offerings that FindLaw makes available to them. Even so, most reps likely don't understand the technical side of marketing online, so they likely are not to blame for having deceived the lawyers that took part in the selling links program. Conspiracy would likely be proven if the challenge were there, but in my humble opinion, that responsibility goes to the managers.

Other BLOG's have indicated that FindLaw didn't do anything wrong, stating that FindLaw charged for links on its high ranking pages much like any other directory. In part, FindLaw has always sought to leverage select clients with links; that was done long ago, and is apparent online. Google has already noted those links. The actual "sales of links" broke known Google rules because the links are wrong because of FindLaw's "other acts" and "object intent". Those other acts included positioning the high ranking web pages to leverage other websites and host links to those sites after the links were purchased. In other words, FindLaw did not link to authorities in the legal industry because of those attorneys' past trial record or years of experience, nor did they seek to help people find a key piece of information, but rather, they linked to those sites without the proper programming behind the link that would indicate to search engines that the link was not intended to pass link juice to that site. The object intent is evident - boost the page rank of the client site, albeit unethical ways. So, FindLaw's claim that they don't do whatever it takes to win is disproved; they do, even unethical acts proven when they "got busted".

And yet other BLOG's have depicted the outrage of webmasters in the legal community at Google for having done nothing to FindLaw, despite the long standing Google threat of doom to anyone who sells links to pass link juice. I believe that the webmasters of the world have covered this well, and I wholeheartedly agree that Google should hold FindLaw accountable for their intended objective. By doing so, Google would not penalize directories as a whole - directories are good, they help us find information - but rather penalize those whose object intent it is to do something that they know should not be done. If it were anyone else, perhaps even lawyers.com, the penalty would be 6 months in the brig (i.e. Google Sandbox). I can understand why webmasters are outraged.

Results (top rankings in Google) go to those who play by the rules and work for the placement - they get by giving valuable information to the users of the Internet.

Interestingly enough, another BLOG post I ran across indicated that FindLaw was switching websites periodically. It stated that FindLaw would post your website, and then swap it periodically with another nearly duplicate site. The purpose of the swapping was to trick search engines into believing that the site had new content. In other words, another means of deception.

I wouldn't recommend swapping up websites to try to trick Google into believing that you posted new content. I do recommend doing the work - i.e. write the content!

We always ask our clients to tell us if they are involved in any other online marketing for this very reason. We do not participate in nor want anything to do with paid linking programs. We also don't knowingly link with FindLaw websites because it has long been rumoured in the webmaster community that they practice less than ethical search engine marketing - I believe I first heard of FindLaw selling links some 12 months ago through a company in Florida that has since been sold.

So, what can you do as a law firm who has a contract with FindLaw? Ask for a report of all inbound links to your site, and then ask for a report on any of those links which would qualify as "paid links" or "unethical practices" under the "Google guidelines" - then ask to have those links removed. In any case, at least then you will have the foundation of material upon which you relied.

And how can you tell if your site is being swapped-up? Make changes to specific words, sentences or paragraphs, and then print it off. Follow up by checking those changes to see if they disappear. One attorney in Green Bay reported that he had made changes to his website, but then some months later, those changes were "un-made". That result may indicate that the site was swapped-up. You could also just ask FindLaw...

^.com^

dominator - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

2008-04-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

dominator - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Dominator defined by Merriam Webster

"dominator"
Etymology:
Latin dominatus, past participle of dominari, from dominus master; akin to Latin domus house — more at dome
Date:
1611
transitive verb1: rule, control 2: to exert the supreme determining or guiding influence on 3: to overlook from a superior elevation or command because of superior height or position 4 a: to be predominant in b: to have a commanding or preeminent place or position in intransitive verb1: to have or exert mastery, control, or preeminence2: to occupy a more elevated or superior position
— dom·i·na·tive \-ˌnā-tiv\ adjective

D O M I N A T O R

2008-04-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

D O M I N A T O R - Tried, proven, true...

Dominator (roller coaster)

2008-04-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Dominator (roller coaster) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Dominators at the King's Dominion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Dominion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PKDEntrance.jpg

More Dominators

2008-04-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

DR Systems - Dominators in the medical field.

Dominators

2008-04-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Dominator Wax - Japan's premium wax

Who Created The Net?

2008-02-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Did Al Gore Develop The Internet?

Al Gore was instrumental in backing legislation that permitted commercial communications to flow over the government sponsored backbones in the United States. Al Gore envisioned the vital impact that the commercial sector could realize through Internet communications. If he had not backed and pushed through the legislation that allowed the NSF to grow, it is possible that the Internet would have been detained many years and many current electronic communications and commerce exchanges would not exist. It was through Gore's legislation that the commercial sector in the United States grew on the Internet.

From that legislation, Pack and Radio, Pack and Satellite, and ARPANET were developed to further develop and test each of the radio transmissions, mobile-type transmissions and wire transmissions respectively. In 1979, the first tests were conducted successfully (at 100 kilobits per second =). VoIP was tested at that time over a 50 kilobits communication stream through what could be described as compressed methods. The three bands were combined in 1977.

In part, those tests, the original foundation of the net, and the net today carry a common thread that is often called Net Neutrality - freedom of use, speech, commerce and interactivity.

^.com^

Helpful links:
ICANN
IPv4
IPv6

CS3 Sharing Violation

2008-01-05T22:22:00.000-08:00

Have you received a "sharing violation" with CS3?

If so, here are a couple of things to check out.

First, CS3 provides automatic synchronization, so check first to see if you are synchronizing on the fly, and if so, disable synchronization until you correct the sharing violation issue. It may not be the cause, but it can be problematic. Also check your server setup; if you are running a testing server, then your current site or page may be trying to access the test server, and a failure will create a sharing violation. If that doesn't work, go next.

Next, you might try minimizing your screens to look for an alert. In every occurrence of a sharing violation that I have seen, the culprit was the temporary file, which is created because of leftover's in memory (on scratch) when you move from one file to another. Cancel the action. Test. If that doesn't work, go next.

Next, go into site management, and reveal all hidden files. Then look for a TMP file. These are the result of the above paragraph. They are duplicate files created when the first item occurs or when you have multiple sites open (there may be other situations that cause the temporary files to be created, but these two are predominate). Delete the temporary files. Test. If that doesn't work, go next.

Next, clear cache. If that doesn't work, reboot. CS3 creates its own conflicts...

^.com^

Who Is On The Net?

2007-12-31T23:53:00.000-08:00

The World Is Online

Asia - about 460 million (12%) of the population and growing quickly.
Europe - About 338 million (42%) of the population.
North America - about 235 million (71%) of the population.
Latin America - about 116 million (21%).
Middle East - about 34 million (17%).
Oceania - 19 million (55%)
Africa - 44 million (5%)

Total - about 1.25 million (19%) of the world is online.

Source - Google, 2007.

As we bid 2007 good-bye and bring in 2008, the numbers above are noteworthy. Regardless of your location, the Internet either is or will play a major role in your marketing scheme. For law firms in the United States, it is an integral part of marketing plans and strategies. Whether you rely on PEW Standard statistics or those above, over 70% of the U.S.A. is online.

^.com^

BLOGS - Their Effectiveness & Potential For Malpractice

2007-12-19T04:12:00.000-08:00

According to an article in Wisconsin Lawyer by Thomas J. Watson (Wisconsin Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., Madison) in an interview with Tracey Wood, (Van Wagner & Wood) Attorney at Law and BLOGGER (Wisconsin Criminal Laws & Wisconsin Drunk Driving Laws) and Dan Pinnington (Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Co. in Toronto), BLOGS provide effective marketing communications, but they also are a potential for malpractice. That article is summarized below.

BLOGS

10 million + Americans have a BLOG
Readership up by 50% in past 10 years
Informs current clients, attracts potential clients, markets legal services
Gen X'ers [people aged 28-42] and Millennials [people aged 27 or younger] judge attorneys by their web presence
Madison lawyer Tracey Wood has a blog, and she agrees with Pinnington. "Our blogs have helped us establish more of a presence on the Internet. People do not look for attorneys in the yellow pages anymore - they find them through referrals and Internet searches."
Attorney Wood receives referrals from her website and BLOG regularly
Spend the time to post to it regularly
BLOG establishes expertise in a particular area of law if that lawyer puts up content that is current, informative, and insightful

RISKS

The article provides the following categorization of BLOGS: information or advisory formats, and makes the following assessments.

Advisory BLOGS give legal advice and risk establishing an attorney-client relationship; conversely, informational BLOGS add a voice to online information devoid of legal advice
Law firms should avoid advisory BLOGS
Law firms should avoid BLOGGING in any environment that seeks to establish itself as an authority
"Many blogs have the comment feature turned off to avoid spam comments or other inappropriate replies being posted." Wood says, "In our blogs, we try to give a general overview of a certain area of law, or alert readers to interesting issues in our field."
Disclaimers are a must - include both notice that no attorney-client relationship is established and no legal advice is being or is intended to be given

WALKING & CROSSING THE MALPRACTICE LINE

The article provides:

Canadian insurance underwriter, Pinnington says, "I think it could be argued that referring a client to information posted on your blog post could be construed as providing `advice' from the blog." (See last note below).
Do not dispense legal advice.
Do not create any lawyer-client relationships.
Do not breach any current client confidences.
Do not make a false or misleading communication about your services.
Treat your blog like any other form of communication to clients or potential clients.
Assume your blog is a form of advertising or marketing, and follow the Wisconsin Supreme Court rules governing lawyer advertising and marketing.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY

Wisconsin websites and BLOGS fall under the rules of advertising (Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules 20:7.1, 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4)
Seek out information regarding client communications on the web in the state of Wisconsin
If you market into another state, the general rule of thumb is that the ethics rules of that state apply to you whether you are licensed in that state (NY specifically states same)
Webmasters should not include states in any of the meta data or content (unless unavoidable) that would indicate a desire to market into a state in which the firm does not do business - natural exceptions to the rule would be those associated with a lawyer's credentials such as law schools, prior employment, and prior practices
Google Webmaster Tools provides a means by which webmasters can localize a website for search purposes
Pinnington's comments regarding directing people to information on the Internet (where he states that same could be construed as giving advice from that source [if a lawyer directs a potential or current client to their website or BLOG]) may need some clarification. In almost all situations, the lawyers' website or BLOG information is derived from some other source (for example, the Wisconsin Justice Department, CCAP, or a county court clerk's website). A lawyer's website often serves as a convenient repository of link to frequently referenced facts, links to other websites (such as is often found on a resources or law library page), or the attorney's credentials. In those instances, it would be easier and natural for a lawyer to refer a client to their website, and directly to that information ("just click on 'whatever'"). As well, attorneys often publish printed newsletters, and place those on their sites, subsequently referring a client to that article. We believe that Mr. Pinnington meant to refer to the types of articles that claim to be an authority on a subject and seek to dispense legal advice therefrom, or to articles posted by a channel that means to establish itself as an authority in some regard; with that, we concur. Therefore, if the channel in which you BLOG is a recognized authority or referenced by other online mediums as such, then you may be walking that thin line.... or crossing it. We note that Attorney Tracey Wood's BLOGS are posted on her website, which establishes itself as a piece of advertising, and on BLOGGER, which does not establish itself as authoritative on any matter... looks safe to us.

^.com^

Tort Alert - Keep Those Websites Updated

2007-12-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

Law Firms Have Been Sued For Failing To Update Websites!

According to Larry Bodine, a well known law marketing expert, in May 2006, a Berlin, Connecticut law firm sued his previous employer, a New Haven, Connecticut law firm for failure to update a website that listed a previous employee as one of the members of the firm. The employee, Robert Murphy, had begun his own law firm. However, his previous employer failed to remove his listing as an attorney with the firm. Murphy claimed damages and won.

The same premise could apply to any website that is relied upon for information about a professional, a company, or a service. If you manage any type of professional organization, or any organization that holds itself out to be an expert in any area, then you run the risk of being sued by an employee that leaves your employment especially if that employee goes into competition with you or in a competing line of work.

Law firms be aware - if one of your associates or partners leaves your employment, you should immediately update your website accordingly.

^.com^

Net Neutrality

2007-12-10T04:19:00.000-08:00

Net Neutrality - The Basis of The Internet

Net Nuetrality is a much larger pandora's box than simple control over commerce because it is the basis on which communications are and can continue to be transferred. The Internet transfers information without interpretation - i.e. neutral. A set of rules established in the 70's still exists today and because of its founding fathers' visions (Al wasn't part of those talks), it is built for substantial growth. Those rules allow for communications to be picked up from one location and transferred across communication mediums (wires, radio, sattellite, etc.) to another location. During its travels, the information is wrapped up in a blanket to prevent it from being interpreted; those blanket-wrapped communication bundles are called packets. The packets are dropped off at their destination, and interpreted by a tool - this process is referred to as client side activity because you (the client) have a tool that acts to interpret the information that was sent to you.

Internet transfers work similar to your snail mail. Your mail deliver person picks up your mail from the PO, reads the address, and delivers it to your door in sunshine, sleet or rain. Provided the mail person is not removed from his or her intended route, the mail goes through; a deviation in the routing can cause a delay in delivery or loss of mail.

Simularly, that is precisely how the net handles your communications, and despite any hiccups, Internet communications are delivered to their Internet address.

An ISP - Internet Service Provider - facilitatea that process by managing servers connected to the Internet. The Internet has two main backbones in the United States - one in the west and the other in the east, just like the electrical system in the US, and in fact reliant on it. Many web servers are connected directly to the Internet on the main backbone, while others are connected to another server that is connected to the Internet directly. Previously, whether a server was on the main backbone or on a connector mattered in regards to the ability of that server to provide bandwidth to its users. Today, those discrepancies are far less meaningful in the United States; rather, the differences are more obvious to country location than city location, or to the method of connection by the end client (you, the web surfer) and whether you use dial-up or broadband than they are to whether you are directly on the main backbone or off of it by one or three connections because the throughput has so dramatically improved. The ISP's recieve packets of information, read the address, and deliver it to your address.

If ISP's develop software to interpret the packets, then the process becomes dependant on the recieving software's ability to read the packet that was sent, as well as the sending software's ability to send a packet that can be read. If those types of restrictions exist, then communication outside of the ISP is limited or revoked.

That is the basis of net neutrality - Net Neutrality seeks to keep all communications from one end to another end neutral so that all persons can access, send and receive communications without interpretation. The reason that so many ISP's are up in arms about Net Neutrality is because they either want to control communications so as to restrict what you can read, see, send and receive or they are at the other end of the argument and want no restrictions placed on any net communications. Restriction will undoubtedly limit communications. Any restriction would impact the way the net operates, and it is believed (and probably true) that the ISP's that want restrictions want to create a commerce stream of their own which excludes other ISP access.

Neutrally yours,
^.com^

Second Life? What Happened To The First One?

2007-12-08T04:35:00.000-08:00

What is Second Life?

Second life is an experiment open to whomever wishes to partake. In essence, it allows people to go through the exercise of assessing and resolving a problem and forming solutions to test their outcomes. It is a form of social networking designed to look at financial problems, but has grown into many other fields including legal analysis, jury trial, jury selection, and a host of other adjudication processes.

http://secondlife.com/

If you have time, check it out and let us know what you think.

^.com^

Lawyers That BLOG in Wisconsin

2007-12-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin Blogs by Wisconsin Attorneys

Wisconsin Criminal Laws - Comments about Wisconsin law by Attorney Chris Van Wagner, Van Wagner & Wood, Madison Wisconsin

Wisconsin Drunk Driving Laws - Comments about DUI defense and DUI laws in Wisconsin by Attorney Tracey Wood, Van Wagner & Wood, Madison Wisconsin

Presumption of Innocence - Freestyle, comments on Wisconsin laws by Attorney John Birdsall and Attorney T.J. Perlick-Molinari, Birdsall Law Offices, S.C., Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin

Deliberations - Jury selection and discussions about jury deliberations. Deliberations is written by Anne Reed, a trial lawyer and jury consultant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

IP Blocks

2007-12-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

What is an IP Block?

An IP is an Internet Protocol - and easiest to think of as a set of rules by which the Internet operates. The acronym IP is widely known among Internet mail and web hosts (usually just called "hosts"), and is usually associated with the "address". An IP address is an address on the Internet. Theoretically, it is said that every website has its own unique IP address. That isn't exactly accurate. What is accurate is that every IP address on the web is unique, but more than one website can share a single IP address (called virtual hosting, shared hosting, and just hosting).

Can a certain IP address be blocked on the net? Yes, any IP address can be blocked at the firewall of a server and thus prevented access by users attempting to see that website from the specific IP address.

Is blocking an IP foolproof? No. A user can simply go to another IP address and access the site if that IP address is not blocked.

Who blocks IP's? Typically, server administrators perform the actual block of an IP address by entering a block command into the server's net files that says, if IP X comes to visit, block him. However, you can also block IP addresses at the domain level by inserting coding in the web server files. If you insert the incorrect coding, you can block more than just one IP; in fact, you can block all visitors including search engines.

Why would a person want to block an IP address from their website? There are many reasons why people opt to block a particular IP address from access to their website. The most common is spam or virus attacks. Blocking an IP is rarely successful in those situations because of the nature of the attacks - the attacks are usually handled by a program (usually a script) and not a person, although a person wrote the program and executed it. A person who does that sort of thing is guilty of criminal harassment, and can be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the nature of the harassment and the extent of damages.

^.com^

Viewpoints

2007-12-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

All of the opinions expressed here are mere ramblings and instant thoughts in reaction to some other catalyst on the net or nothing at all... and only the opinion of the poster.

Pay Pal - Is it spam?

2007-11-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

Is that message that you received from paypal.com actually a piece of spam?

Here is how to determine whether PayPal email's are spam:

First, Paypal messages ALWAYS include your name - the name you use in your PayPal account. Spam usually does not use your name.

Second, if it includes your name and you still question it, do not follow the links within the e-mail; rather, type them into the browser URL. Those links will ALWAYS begin with HTTPS:// because all PayPal website activity is handled on a secure layer - HTTPS.

To see a larger image, visit PayPal Verified.

The URL (address) begins with HTTPS, and the PayPal icon is displayed to the far left of the address.

Another method for determining if an email that says it is from PayPal is actually from PayPal is to read the headers of the email. If it is truly from PayPal, it will say that it is from PayPal.

Headers of an email are similar to a shipping log - they contain the address of original, the route the email traveled if it was sent to another location before arriving at your inbox, and the message's unique identification number. To read the headers of the e-mail, right click on the email (before you open it) and click on "options" or "properties". If it is from paypal, it will state an address, then @paypal.com.

^.com^

Vertical Integration - Vertically Integrated

2007-11-24T17:35:00.000-08:00

What is vertical integration? And what does it mean to you?

An organization is said to be vertically integrated when it either owns or forms alliances with its "upstream" and "downstream" vendors and distributors, from point of origin to point of sale, and in some instances through the point of reselling. To become vertically integrated, a supplier, wholesaler, or distributor usually purchases one or more of its suppliers or one or more of its distributors. The more points of distribution or suppliers owned by a single entity or group of commonly held legal entities, the more vertically integrated the company is said to be.

Vertical integration is not a new concept, it has in fact been at the heart of marketing theory (and the American economy) for decades. I recall my grandmother telling me a story about vertical integration when she proclaimed Henry Ford a "brilliant man who funded his suppliers, built his distributors, and lobbied to replace horse trails with horseless wagon two-tracks".

Ten years ago, companies formed "strategic alliances", which were for all intents and purposes a more glorified name for a vertical integration through a selection process for preferred vendors, a "tying" of selected vendors, and pricing points for gross amounts of business allocated into those companies who were privileged to be a strategic partner.

No, vertical integration is not a new concept. Just last month, Google bought yet another company along its vertical path.

Vertical integration has its upside, as well as its downside. To its benefit, it provides the means by which a product begins as a tree in the forest and ends as the box end on a saltine cracker box having integrated along the way its many counter-partners not the least of which were the mills in Munising, Michigan, the press rollers in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the glue factory in Appleton, Wisconsin, and the printing press in Neenah, Wisconsin.

It is at the moment when one of those links is severed, when the product is imported rather than manufactured in the United States, or when the entire process is outsourced that the U.S. economy begins a fatal deterioration. Or perhaps that statement should be made in the past tense.

The manner in which the term "vertical integration" is used in politics today refers to a political movement of integration from the White House to the corner store. If it becomes anything near the powerhouse of homeland security and the right to ease drop with judicial review, then it likely will have the same benefits as the current or past political managers have seen/done.

However, if the term "vertical integration" is meant to infer growth in privatization in the United States, then perhaps it might be an answer to a problem that is yet - according to Greenspan - still unfolding.

Before you veto vertical integration, consider its roots, and what it meant to the U.S. a mere ten years ago. At that time, it meant the Kimberly-Clark's of the U.S. were forming alliances with providers in the U.S., not outside of the U.S. It meant GM engaging in labor talks without labor unions (forgive me Father - he was a Union Steward) for the purpose of forming alliances between the people "on the field" (i.e. blue collar workers) and the people in the boxes (i.e. the managers) without penalties. It meant streamlining production, cutting costs, reasonable profits, and a product produced by and for residents of the United States.

Before you veto integration along the vertical production of goods, look about your surroundings and count the number of manufacturers in the United States, ask what the gross domestic product ran over the past ten years - then compare it to that of Germany.

Vertical integration is not a four letter word. It is the means by which the United States may privatize its production. Why? You ask, do I use the term "privatize"? Because production in the United States is not privatized any longer; it is internationalized. Privatization means ownership by the inhabitants of the country, rather than its government. But what is difference between the means of production upon which a country thrives - and survives - being owned by an international - and non-US - company and it being controlled by a government that redistributes the wealth back to the multitudes? When production becomes internationalized, when imported goods exceed exported goods, when the economy goes global, so does poverty. And folks: poverty expands into wealth like heated molecules into frigid air.

Perhaps it is time for companies in the United States to form alliances and to build their nationalized strength - that is vertical integration at its best.

And what does vertical integration mean to you? After all, you cannot buy a court (or at least you shouldn't be doing that sort of stuff), and you cannot buy your advertising agent, but you can form alliances with those who "serve" you and with those you "serve" to better the process through which you achieve your firm's goals. As was true of strategic alliances ten years ago, it means being accountable to your upstream, as well as your downstream. It means taking responsibility for outcomes. Business is never "just business".

^.com^

3 Steps To Get Rid of Spam

2007-11-13T03:20:00.000-08:00

Three steps to get rid of spam!

Set up a rule for spam in your e-mail program. It is really easy to do. Step-by-step instructions guide you through the process.
Download the free trial version of CA - Computer Associates - AntiSpam AntiVirus program. Try it for 30 days free.
Get a cold beer... you just got back 3 hours of your day.

CA Handles SPAM

2007-11-13T02:22:00.000-08:00

CA is Computer Associates. CA handles spam wonderfully well! We highly recommend it.

Without hesitation, we recommend Computer Associates.

How to get it - Get Computer Associates Anti-Spam, Anti-Virus Plus program now. Note - even if you have a firewall on your network, this program will work with it. It does not interfere with the firewall applications or hardwired firewall box. Rather, it handles email after it arrives in your e-mail program.

Others We've Tried & What We Think

Trend Micro - Good, but not as good as CA. We got hacked while using it. We actually liked the trial version better than the full version.
Norton - Good, but not as good as CA. Aside from being lesser than CA, we were not impressed with being inundated by spam during our trial version when in fact we did not have that much spam before the trial version.
Adaware - Good for cleaning up spyware, but it does nothing for spam.

The Spam Rule

2007-11-13T01:55:00.000-08:00

Taking on the spam battle is like going to war and not knowing who the enemy really is!

For a very easy to follow, straight-forward set of instructions to set up a rule in your Outlook program to direct spam to the deleted folder, rather than the inbox, see

OUTLOOK RULE - SET IT UP - EASY TO DO - REDIRECT SPAM TO THE DELETED FOLDER

Dear Spammers:

2007-11-12T04:44:00.000-08:00

While the world may be focused on the latest political agenda, people whose businesses rely on the web are screaming, "I'VE GOT SPAM! GET RID OF MY SPAM! I HATE SPAM!"

If you would like to voice your opinion about spam, post a blog note here... click on COMMENTS.

We are happy to contribute right away!

^.com^

Be Weary The Online Reporting Tools

2007-10-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

Ranking Reports, Grading Reports, Website Assessment, FirmSite Analysis

Be weary of the online reporting tools... be very weary!

Ranking Reports

First, it helps to understand what a ranking report really is. While it is often touted as a means of identifying the true position of a website relative to other websites in the search engine results, it is flawed - and not just a little, but seriously flawed.

Ranking reports are typically created with tools, such as WebPosition Gold, Rank This, or Grading Reports. Those tools test search engine results for keywords supplied by the human end user. First flaw - The test are a snapshot of the search engine results at that moment in time, but results change based on many factors including publication of new content on your or other websites.

Second flaw - humans supply the terms upon which the test is conducted. If the person supplying the terms is an expert in search engine marketing, they may also have a good grasp of the top search terms used for your website's industry; however, those terms change, and search terms are more unique than they are differentiated. For example, a website with 1,000 unique visitors per month can look to their analytics reporting tool (the software used to measure traffic to the site) and see that some 800 different key phrases were used to find the site. Some may be similar, but most produce different results. A single criterion therefore cannot answer the question, "how does my site rank?" The true questions is, "how does my site rank for this term?" And the reality is that the term provided may not have been used by any searcher within the last 6 months.

Grading Reports

Next, we have the grading software. Those ask an end user to provide a URL (the address of the website), a set of key words or phrases, and from that information proceed to grade the website. Again, the key term causes a serious human error in the analysis as noted above. It also uses a set of rules to determine an outcome, which rules may or may not have an effect on the site's placement in the search engine rankings, the website's ability to be found, or off site or back end tools that remain invisible to the testing program.

Grading software also omits certain factors that need to be included, or includes factors that often excluded. Those factors often fail to affect the site's ability to leverage itself in the rankings. For example, a legal disclaimer is often verbosely written with legalese, yet few search for the disclaimer unless they are another website builder wanting to know what they should say. However, the 14th grade level of those terms affect the software's results; meanwhile, they do not affect the website's ranking.

Ask Questions

Most of our clients are lawyers, and the single most important ability of a lawyer - the thing that will set apart the men from the boys and the women from the girls, so to speak - is the lawyer's mental capability to dig for the truth. If you are presented with a ranking report, a grading report, or any other form of software-based report, ask questions - ask lots of questions.

What factors were used to determine the testing procedure? Who determined those factors? What exactly does this test measure? No, I mean "exactly, what is it measuring"? Who and what is being compared? And how do you know that what it compares is important, or if it will even have an effect on my income?

Then turn to your computer, bring up Google, and begin search queries. Use the terms that your clients use when they walk into your office for a FIRST visit. If your site is not ranking well for those terms when you search, it is not ranking well for those terms when your prospective client searches. If you don't get to present, you can't be considered for hire.

^.com^

New Sites - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

2007-10-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have a new website. When it launched, it showed up in the top of the results in all of the major search engines, but then it disappeared. I found it - at position number 45. What is going on?

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Often times, a new website will appear in the top of the rankings on one or all (Google, Yahoo, MSN) of the major search engines when it is launched and then fall in rankings shortly thereafter. In some instances, the new website will maintain its position in Yahoo and MSN, while loosing position in Google.

Side note - Some online searchers prefer Yahoo results because they often include newer sites; others prefer Google results because they often include trusted sites. Many webmasters argue both ways, and some condemn Google for not including the new sites. The results we have seen indicate that the top results in Google include those sites which Google has come to trust and that regularly and manually update their content, rather than those that do not.

Another side note - Regardless of the debates about results, the fact still remains that Google handles nearly 60% of all search, while Yahoo handles less than 25%, MS less than 10%, and Ask less than 5% according to compete.com (http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/comscore-sept-core-search-queries-us.jpg), which tends to report traffic numbers at about half of their actual results.

Get Trusted

Which brings us to the next topic - earning trust. If your website has been around for a while and pegs it in top position, you likely appreciate the Google trust-test. Websites trusted by Google often rank superior above those not trusted by Google. However, if your website is new, you will have to earn that trust, an exercise with a fruitful end if accomplished, but one that can take up to a year.

Focus On The Main Objective

By focusing your website on a single or few objectives, you will produce pages (upon pages, upon pages) of keyword rich targeted content, the synergy of which will combine to give your readers a better experience and your site a better ranking (providing all other factors are accounted for properly).

If however, your focus is highly competitive, then your website may require much more attention in the form of content additions and updates, as well as good relationships.

Develop Good Relationships

The third objective is to develop relationships. For the most impact and the best benefit, those relationships should be with websites of like minds - in other words, the inbound links from websites focused on similar topics will benefit you more than inbound links from websites focused on other topics.

Law Practice Management, Marketing & Technology

2007-09-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Facebook Group

Tim Stanley (Stanford) of Justia.com announced the creation of a new group on Facebook, Law Practice Management, Marketing & Technology. Membership is open. The group will be beneficial to anyone who manages or owns a law firm, handles the marketing duties, or oversees the technology services and hardware at a law firm. The subject matter also includes topics such as opening your law firm, working with clients, billing and collections issues, online and offline law practice marketing and legal ethics.

Every law firm deals with these types of issues, whether a criminal law firm in Wisconsin or an intellectual property law firm in Sillicon Valley.

To join the group, you must be a member of Facebook. Joining Facebook is easy; just visit http://www.facebook.com/. To join the group, join (or enter) Facebook, then search for law practice managment.

^.com^

Specificity of hyperlinks is key

2007-09-25T03:47:00.001-07:00

What Is It That They Want Me To See, To Read, To Go To??

When you create a hyperlink from one page to an article, entry, notation or reference on another page, be sure to include the anchor so that the person clicking on that hyperlink immediately sees the text, message, article, reference, etc. that you are directing them to. If the hyperlink is to a page in general, then no specific anchor must be specified, but if it is to reference text, it is best to do the work for them and make it easy for the user to find the text to which you refer.

Named Anchors - Anchor Text - Anchors - Book Marks

One of the neat things about Information Technology vs. the web is that IT has its terms that have never changed, while the web has many terms that mean the same thing. Named anchors is one such term. From an IT focus, it simply means a place "bookmarked" on a page with the notation, # to name an anchor - a place to which you can link to and go directly to that place on the page.

If you have ever clicked on a link to go to an article that was referenced in another page, and you are directed to some point half way down from the top of the page, that is the effect of a named anchor being used in a hyperlink text.

Today, named anchors are also called bookmarks, anchor text, anchors, and a variety of other names dependant upon the tool being utilized to create the HTML behind the scenes. Many home grown applications call them by other names.

The benefits of assuring that you send people to the right place on a page are numerous. For one, they might read the information to which you sent them with the link. It will make it easier for them to find the information. It will reduce the amount of frustration they may feel with clicking on a link to go to yet another page when they want information.

If the link to which you are referring your guest goes to a page on another website, it is wise to consider loading that page in a new window so that the guest does not loose your website and therefore be a historical visitor never to return. It also helps the visitor quickly return to your site, particularly if that information was not exactly what they wanted.

^.com^

Removing Descriptions From Google Results - Snippets

2007-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Q: My page is showing up in the result with a description that I don't want it to use. How do I contact Google and tell them not to use that description?

A: The description displayed in the search results by Google is called a "snippet". Snippets can come from any text on the page or in the meta tags. As well, an onslaught of sites pointing to a website can cause particular snippets to appear because of the recognized popularity of that page for given textual inbound links.

To request removal of a snippet, you need only add a line of code to your header.

Google provides the following instructions.

Prevent or remove snippets

A snippet is a text excerpt that appears below a page's title in our search results and describes the content of the page.

To prevent Google from displaying snippets for your page, place this tag in the "head" section of your page:

Meta name: name="GOOGLEBOT"
Meta content: content="NOSNIPPET"

Note: Removing snippets also removes cached pages.

If you want to your page to have a snippet in our search results, but want to prevent Google from using description information from the Open Directory Project, you can use the robots META tag.

^.com^

Fell Out Of Google After A Redesign

2007-09-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

On Sep 20, 9:57 pm, a poster wrote:

Fell From Google Listings Completely After Redesign

I recenlty had one of my sites completly be removed from Google's > index. This happened shortly after our site that we had for over 7 > years was redesigned. I am not sure if this had something to do with > it or not. Prior to this, we have had good placement. I have > inspected our site closely to make sure that it falls within the > Google guidelines and have posted for a reconsideration submission. > If indeed we were blocked because of some sort of violation, how long > does it take to come back up? Also, how can we find out what caused > us to fall from the listings completely?

Thank you in advance for your service and for your time!

Recognition Woes

The fact that you mention that you fell out of the Google rankings after your redesign sends up a red flag for a couple of reasons. But without the current site and the old site to compare, it is nearly impossible to give you a precise answer. However, such phenomena has been knowingly caused by the types of actions explained below and offered as some of the steps you might want to take in your investigation process.

If your new website completely and radically differs from your old website, then the chances are pretty good that your file names changed. Since Google indexes on your unique URL that content which is associated with the URL, your new URL's will not have the presence in Google that your old URL's did. The new pages are entirely new content to the Google's of the world, so you would need to start from near scratch in rebuilding your relationships with other websites that point to both your homepage and your interior pages. Typically, however, if a site is redesigned and it changes its focus and is then dropped, the problem is beyond the issue of a change in page file names because the home page would still be indexed by Google and would upon a new crawl of your site likely be reindexed for the new focus and content.
In that the site fell off the edge of the earth, the first thing you may want to look at is your index file. If the index file of your website adapted a different extension when it was redesigned, then the index file that previously existed may not now exist, or it may exist in duplicate of another home page. For example, say that your site's index file was previously named index.htm; if after redesign, the website used index.html, s/he created an entirely different file. Even with an entirely different file name, browsers will still display your home because browsers seek the index file by using a particular protocol - they first look for an html file, then an htm file, then a shtml file... eventually, they will interpret the file name and display the home page all within seconds. However, the same is not true for your indexed pages in the search engines. If your site was published with a newly named index file, the search engines will not immediately recognize the change. In that instance, you will probably want to create a sitemap and submit it to the Google's of the world so that they can find your site. The other option is to save the site as it was previously saved, with the same previous extension, but be sure to delete the new page or it will produce duplicate content.
Next, compare all of the file names in your previous site to the file names in your new site. If the topic and focus of your new site is the same as it was for your old site, then copy the new site's pages to the old site's filenames (rename the new pages with the old file names). Delete the new file names from your server to avoid duplicate content.
If the file names are the same, but the file extension differ, then you need to verify if the new extensions are needed. The naming convention used for file names in your website may or may not have been used for the new site. For example, if your previous site used PHP and your new site uses ASP, even the same file name will have a different extension (a PHP application compared to an ASP application), thus creating an entirely new file. If that is the situation, then you need to know if the new extension is required for some application running on your website. If it is, you may not be able to simply change the file names. If it is not, then refer to the renaming procedure mentioned above.
If none of those issues seem to be the problem, then I'd suggest looking at the optimization of the site. Make sure that the site is not stuffing keywords (using keywords that are not in the content of the page or placing keywords in the content in an illogical manner so as to get them recognized by a search engine's crawl on the site). Whether the optimization of your site is incorrect, I'd suggest having a professional search engine marketing expert review your site for proper optimization before resubmitting it.
While there are many other factors that can affect a website, the next one that I would look to if none of the previous situations exist is how your pages are manipulated from the server to the browser. If for instance your server files contain a refresh procedure or a redirect procedure, the resulting rendering of those pages may be seen as cloaking - the process of telling the search engines that the page is about one thing, but showing the end user something else. Cloaking is a big no-no. If that is the situation, you need to address it immediately, remove any scripts that cause a false positive to the search engines or end users and resubmit the site to the search engines when you are sure it is clean.

Hope that helps!

^.com^

Which is most important, Content or Design?

2007-09-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

Is the content of your website - those words that sit in your design - the most important element of your website, or is the design that holds your content more important?

It can be a toss-up because if your design is not appealing, pleasing and inviting, if it does not speak volumes by its mere presence, if it is pale instead of bold, if it lacks professionalism, the content may be passed over for a website with a more commanding presence. And thousands of dollars, hours of design work, and trials over the "right blue" or "deepest red" will be for not.

However, if your website does not contain content relative to the search terms and phrases used to find someone with your expertise, your site may never be found.

Content is king on the net.

^.com^

Desktop to WWW (TM) - Client Acquisition & Retention

2007-09-18T23:37:00.000-07:00

Your Promotion Begins With Providing Your Contact Information

One of the most effective ways to increase business from your website or any other piece of marketing material is to post all of your contact information in plain view. For a website, that means placing your contact information in the header or in another obvious position above the bar (above the bottom of your computer screen). 800 numbers greatly increase telephone traffic.

For printed material, your telephone number and address should be in the top header, in the footer, or in the left or right margin.

800 numbers increase telephone calls, but the interesting fact is that many people will call on your regular line. An 800 number tells people that you invite their call.

While everybody has a cell phone, not everybody necessarily wants calls on their cell phone from new clients at all hours of the day and night when an answering service or machine can easily take the call for follow up the next day. As well, some people never give out their cell phone numbers.

One way to show a client how important they are to you is to give them your cell phone number. If you print your cards without a cell phone number on them, then you can determine who gets the number. By writing your cell # on your card before handing it to a client, you are making a profound statement - you are inviting them into your circle. That simple act lowers one more of the hurdles: bridging the gap.

Professionals of every field can benefit by providing good contact information on all materials, including email signatures, printed letters, and websites. Contact information on a website also provides benefits to your search engine optimization by displaying (called presentational mark-up) your address including the city and state, as well as your phone number for those who search by area code or actually search for you by your telephone number.

Google Alerts - Who Published That?

2007-09-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Google Alerts - In Beta

You can receive a play-by-play or once-a-day report of everything that matches your name, business, keyword, or lawsuit that is found in the latest relative Google results including news, website launches and postings, and BLOG posts by setting up a GOOGLE ALERT.

http://www.google.com/alerts

These alerts can keep you aware, if not current, on developing news stories, the latest Packer results (Go Pack!), your competitor, other friends and foe in the industry as well as industry press releases and product launches, research results, case studies.... .

It can give you an idea of how quickly your BLOG post or website update gets into the search engine results. Preliminary tests indicate that it is fast (our posts hit the results in the same day), but not as quick as a newsfeed for a breaking story. ***UPDATE*** We just posted this and it hit the alerts within 15 minutes!

^.com^

Reciprocal Linking - The Right Way

2007-09-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Is It Okay To Set Up Reciprocal Linking?

The Internet is all about links. Reciprocal links are a means of providing a simple one-to-one referral to another website, which is the entire purpose of the Internet - to find what you want when you want it. But the question about reciprocal linking - exchanging links with another website - keeps coming up. On our company website, http://www.sigmaonegroup.com/, you will find an article about reciprocal linking. Here are a few notes worth repeating.

Pages upon pages of links to sites that reciprocate the link back to your site (or to a third party site) for the purposes of leveraging a site up into the search engine results is NOT - I repeat NOT - permissible according to the stated "TOS - Terms of Service" on Google.

I've been quoted numerous times for saying that reciprocal linking is not a bad thing. It is not, but some quotes were out of context. There are "rules", if you will. But haphazardly formatted reciprocal linking for the sole purpose of gaining improved search engine ranking results in an attempt to spam the search engines is easily detected (just in case you were wondering) and can produce a negative effect.

HOW TO SET UP AND MANAGE A RECIPROCAL LINKING PROGRAM

If your purpose and intent in establishing a reciprocal linking program is to provide a means by which people may find other information on the net, then you should establish it. If your intent is to gain increased ranking position in the search engines, reciprocal linking is NOT the way to do that - rather, you should put your fingers to the keyboard and create (note - not borrow) original content that adds value to the online community. Write is right.

Shortly after posting this note about recirpocal linking, someone took it for full face value and began launching hundreds of pages of content every week in the form of BLOGs and other websites, with tons of links to their main site. So, some clarifications are needed here. Pushing out hundreds of pages of content with similar purpose is spam. I guess it is easiest to say it this way - do the right thing, and it will be successful. If the motive is to trick the search engines, it will get detected; if the motive is to add value to the Internet and benefit other people, the the rewards will come.

With that said, here is the method by which a reciprocal linking program should be run.

Establish a list of the people to whom you wish to link. That list should consist of people you would refer other people to for services, products, advice, or whatever they sell or offer. Note - affiliate programs do not fall into this category regardless of who they are or what they do. Affiliate programs are intended to provide a means of revenue to compensate the creator of original content and benefit the affiliate offor with clients. (More later on affiliate programs).
Contact every person on your list to ask them if you may link to them and if they will link back to you. You probably have received numerous email solicitations for reciprocal links. Typically, they say something along the lines of "I visited your website today. Your content would be of interest to my clients and my content would be of interest to yours."
Create a directory for your reciprocal links. For example, you can call it something as simple as /links, or you can more descriptive (wisconsin-attorney-referrals, for example), but you need not be descriptive here because these pages are not being written for search engines and you may be much better off to save your descriptive words for your file names. The first file in that directory will be the index file. That is the page on which you will link to another site.
Before publishing that page, set a no index, no follow rule on any pages containing links to sites that you cannot vouch for. To do so, you include a meta data tag (meta tag) in the header. The meta tag is named "robots" and the meta content is "NoFollow,NoIndex".
List all of your buddies, with their website addresses hypertext linked. "Hypertext linked" means that it is an active link to that website. For example, http://www.sigmaonegroup.com/. You can also use descriptive anchors, such as, lawyer online and offline marketing and link from those words to the intended target site, here that would be Sigma One Group because that is one of Sigma One Group's offerings. The anchor text serves to make an "online referral" for "lawyer marketing on and offline." You need not include a "no index, no follow" meta tag or link description to sites that you can vouch for as being reputable websites of reputable lawyers (perhaps in other states).
Publish. It is a good idea to receive a link before extending one. But somebody has to be first. If you are doing the inviting, the standard procedure is for you to create a link to their site first. If you publish first, just be sure to verify that a link to your site has been published.
MANAGE THE PROGRAM. Once you set up a reciprocal linking program, you assume the responsibility for managing it. If you fail to manage it, and links become broken, as they often do, the broken links will be detected. When they are deted, you can and likely will loose ranking and may be removed from the index until such time that you fix the program. If your site is removed, there are no guarantees that it will be included again in the search engine index.

Always be sure to check your outbound links often. Test your links to other sites to ensure that the link still works. Sometimes, people move their websites without implementing the correct server commands (301 redirect) or forwarding script.

Always check your inbound links often. Test the link back to your website. If the link is broken, let the webmaster know that it needs to be fixed.

Can broken inbound links cause problems for a site?

Absolutely.

If another website inbound's to you with a broken link, but includes the domain name and TLD (sigmaonegroup is a domain name, and .com is a TLD), the search engines will follow the link to your site and search for the page. If the page is not found, the search engine robots will receive an error message. If your web server is properly configured, the error will be a 404- Page Not Found. If there are numerous broken links, the effect can be negative. You can verify what the search engines see as inbound links to your site by using sitemaps and checking your inbound statistics often.

Side Notes:

I've read some online notations indicating that including the "No Index, No Follow" syntax in your meta data provides a benefit. Again, at some point in time, the effects will likely parallel your intent. If you intend to spam the search engines, the effects will be negative - either immediately or at some later point.

^.com^

Online Search Market

2007-09-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Did you know?

Our online local search market is estimated to grow to a $2.5 to $3 billion market opportunity by 2008. http://www.local.com/

- The Kelsey Group

Going Mobil

2007-09-14T01:06:00.000-07:00

Ensure That Your Website Is MOBIL-compliant

Google's free mobile ad placement will end in 65 days. If you haven't tested it out, you probably should give it a try. Set up an adwords account (click on the advertising button on the Google homepage), and then approve mobile advertising.

But before you do that, make sure your website is mobile-compliant. For an excellent example of a mobile-compliant website, check out http://www.vanwagnerwood.com/. The really great benefit of the site's navigation is that it acts as a directory in a mobile phone screen. The "call me" graphic in the upper right hand corner of the site is the very first thing people see. They need go no further to call Van Wagner & Wood, S.C. than to access the website.

Other examples appear below. "YES" means that the site is mobile-compliant technically and the phone number shows up immediately; a NO means that it is not mobile compliant or the phone number does not show up. (If known, the webmaster is listed).

YES - Van Wagner & Wood, http://www.vanwagnerwood.com/ (Sigma One Group)
NO - Frank Pasternak, http://www.frankpasternak.com/ (Frank Pasternak)
YES - Robert Fless, http://www.robertflessas.com/, (unknown) (note - number appears, but is difficult to read)
NO - Mandell Ginsberg, http://www.mandellginsberglaw.com/ (FindLaw)
NO - Fraker, http://www.wisfamilylaw.com/ (FindLaw)
NO - Hart, http://www.rhart.com/ (FindLaw)
YES - Kelly habermehl, http://www.kellyhabermehl.com/ (Unknown)
NO - Birdsall Law Offices, http://www.birdsall-law.com/
YES - Reiley Law, http://www.reileylaw.com/ (Sigma One Group)
YES - Stillings Buchinger, http://www.stillingsbuchinger.com/ (Sigma One Group)
NO - Domnitz, http://www.domnitzlaw.com/ (FindLaw)
NO - Hunt Law, http://www.huntlawgroup.com/ (Lexis) - errors
NO - Michaelis Law Office, http://www.michaelislaw.com/ (FindLaw)
NO - Credit Solutions, http://www.creditsolutionslaw.com/ (FindLaw)
NO - JKS Ander Law, http://www.jksanderlaw.com/ (FindLaw)
NO - Wisconsin Work Comp, http://www.wisworkcomp.com/ (Unknown)
NO - Herrling Clark, http://www.herrlingclark.com/ (FindLaw)
YES - Brabazon Law, http://www.brabazonlawoffices.com/
YES - Herrick Hart, http://www.eauclairelaw.com/
YES - Craig Kuhary, http://www.waukeshacriminaldefense.com/ (Design unknown)
NO -Expert Law Firm, http://www.expertlawfirm.com/ (Elgin)
NO - Mishlove Law, http://www.excellentlawyer.com/ (Unknown)
NO - North Shore, http://www.northshorelawfirm.com/ (FindLaw)

-- That's page 7 of the results.

Ten years ago, the US was "going online", which meant that they were getting dial-up Internet access. Five years ago, broadband was "the only way to surf the web!" And today, websites are going mobile. If your site has a NO next to it, it did not pass the Google test screen.

JUST-I-A FREE Civil Case from JUSTIA

2007-09-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

Justia Posts Free Case Law Online

Did you get that: "FREE"

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It's a secret.

^.com^

Ranking Reports

2007-09-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

Website Ranking Reports - What is a website ranking report?

A website ranking report can mean different things to different organizations and people, but the standard meaning of a "ranking report" is a report produced by an automated application to test where a website ranks in one or more search engines for the keywords and key phrases provided.

Ranking reports are limited in many ways.

First, the application can report data that is compromised through either the extractions it records from search engine results or sponsorship. Some applications may report information in a manner which would entice the user of that data to buy other of its products.

Second, it is limited to the search engines selected, and assuming the results are correct, it is further limited by the keywords or phrases used to conduct the ranking test. For example, I saw a recent ranking report listing "madison wisconsin drunk driving attorney" and "drunk driving attorney green bay wisconsin". That site ranked #1 for both search phrases. The problem is that nobody has told end users that they are supposed to search with that phrase, and the majority of website visitors aren't using that search phrase.

Third, ranking reports may not include paid advertising - often called PPC, for "Pay Per Click". While a person may manage a campaign that runs in the 10's of thousands of dollars, hence placing the website PPC advertisement on numerous results pages, the typical ranking report generator fails to retrieve those ads.

Are ranking reports of any benefit?

Yes, ranking reports can provide a reference point by which to measure variances - but! they are forbidden by Google.

Can ranking reports harm a website's position?

It is not the ranking report per say that can cause harm. Rather, it the means by which ranking reports are created that has the propensity to cause harm.

To create an automated ranking report, an application is configured to query one or more specific search engines and to retrieve the results. Most rank reporting tools provide a means by which the user specifies which search engines to query, the number of concurrent connections to each search engine, and the keywords or phrases to use in the query. When the ranking report request is executed, the application begins rapid consecutive queries against the search engine.

Before sharing Google's notice regarding ranking reports, it may help to understand "what is a search engine?"
The term "search engine", even when used as a noun, has multiple meanings. Given the context here, we will assume we are speaking about "search engines" such as Google, Yahoo & MSN. While each search engine produces unique results, from a thousand foot view, they basically work the same way. Generally speaking, search engine companies write applications called "bots", "robots", or "spiders". People use those terms in sentences such as, "Google's bot came to my website," or "My website was visited by a spider." While the syntax infers that a spider or a bot physically came to your server where your website resides and did something, that isn't exactly how it works. Spiders never leave home. Rather, they are run from the server where they are saved (reside). They make a request for information, usually beginning with a request for a robots.txt file (see Matt Cutts BLOG for info about robot.txt files), crawl through the list of files provided by the directory (or sitemap), and save that information in a repository. Later, the data in that repository is filtered - by algorithms - to produce the data that is then uploaded to the computer databases that then produce the results.
The data produced as results to a query on a search engine may be publicly available but is produced through proprietary methods. From this viewpoint, which is a very simplistic explanation, one could define the results produced to a query as the intellectual property of the search engine, and the databases queried as the property of the search engine.

The queries executed by a ranking report tool are made to the filtered results. Google's position regarding ranking reporting tools, as it is explicitly provided in the webmaster's tools area, is quoted below.

"No Automated Querying
You may not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system without express permission in advance from Google. Note that "sending automated queries" includes, among other things: using any software which sends queries to Google to determine how a website or webpage "ranks" on Google for various queries; "meta-searching" Google; and performing "offline" searches on Google." Directly from "terms of service" http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS

A ranking reporting tool is "software" that "sends queries" "to determine" "ranks" for the various queries.

What if someone else queries for my website ranking? Would that harm my website?

During the configuration process to set up a ranking report request, users are typically provided the options to select which domain names to test, including select pages on that domain. In most instances, the instructions with a ranking report tool direct the user to specify his or her domain name first, and then select other domain names for comparison. When the ranking report is executed, that information can be passed to the search engine. As well, several ranking checks on a particular domain name could also indicate that a site is checking its ranking.

Will it harm your site? That's a question that I will need to defer to Matt Cutts, because I do not know. What I can tell you is that any ranking report requests will originate from a select Internet address, called an IP - Internet Protocol - address. While many people subscribe to services that provide dynamic addressing (such as Time Warner) or proxy addressing (such as AOL did provide), the majority of your online usage can be - at minimum - followed back to your ISP - Internet Service Provider. It can be associated with your domain name is redundant requests are made. And if you have your webmaster tools open, or some other application, such as Adwords open, the correlation between your discrete IP and a ranking report running behind the scenes on your computer is immediately detectable. The Google's of the world may not provide you with information about a visitor's IP, but they have that information.

If you suspect that someone is running ranking reports against your domain name for the purpose of causing you issues, then you may want to utilize traffic monitoring tools that will detect the IP address of anyone coming to your site or making a request for information from the server where your domain is hosted. Google Analytics does not provide that type of information. However, other traffic monitoring applications provide that and more. Later, we'll compare traffic monitoring tools; for now, you may want to refer to ClickZ, searching for website analytics or analytics tools, as there are several articles, but I could not quickly find the comparison research articles. If you suspect problems, you may want to start a log to record incidence.

Is Google's Vanessa Fox Nude On Her BLOG?

2007-09-12T03:04:00.000-07:00

You'll have to visit her BLOG post 11 September 2007.

Vanessa's BLOG --> VanessaFoxNude.Com

Do I really NEED a website?

2007-09-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

Q: Do I really need a website? Or can I just rely upon my yellow pages guy to post my yellow pages ad online? It has my phone number.

A: Today, every business really needs to be online.

For the past five years, we've conducted numerous studies to test whether a business benefits from a website. Without question, the studies have proven a resounding, "yes!" Those studies have included yellow ads - printed telephone book ads - and their online advertising (some yellow ads also provide an online version of the ad). And we've compared those businesses side-by-side with the same types of businesses who also advertise in the same like manner in the same geographic area, but also have a website. In each instance, the business with the website drew more clients, patrons, or inquiries than the business without a website.

One question that usually arises at this point is whether those contacts become customers. Many business owners do not have time to answer endless streams of e-mail questions and they worry whether that will be the only end result of having a website. It is not, but whether the site converts clients is another topic.

Later, we will cover websites much more in depth. For now, we will cover the typical "yellow pages" website compared to a "real website". To date, some yellow books have offered an online version of the print ad and called it a website. Let's clarify terms and call those ad displays because the majority of yellow web ads are simply a jpg or gif display of the print ad.

It is also important to know that all studies have indicated that those websites which provide easy navigation to all of the content on the page and an abundant amount of content have proved much more successful than those websites containing 3-5 pages. While the amount of information provided to the end user is directly related to the level of success of the website, it is only related if the information can be found easily. A website with a flat navigation (a link to all of the pages from all of pages) has consistently proven to be more successful than any other type of navigational layout. There are many reasons for the success, but the major one that we are addressing here is access to information, because having a website provides information about you and your company far beyond that which a yellow ad or a newspaper ad can provide.

There are many reasons for having a website; of paramount importance is the fact that a website provides information about you, your company, and your product (or service) far beyond that which a yellow ad or newspaper ad can provide. A few other reasons are:

To provide information about your business or product and then transact online business (called e-commerce).
To facilitate inquiries to your business and information from your business.
To gather information anonymously from website visitors that will help you improve your marketing mix, your product, the manner in which you deliver it to market, how the product is positioned in the market, and the channels through which you promote your product.

Product -vs- Services

Although the term "product" is used often whenever the marketing mix is discussed, service industries have a product, too. The product in a service-based industry is its service AND the method of delivery of those services.

Marketing The Dot Com

2007-09-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Letter of Introduction...

The practice of search engine marketing is an increasingly specialized area of business marketing; and it is nearly critical in the legal field. Today's online market is much more competitive than yesterday's yellow pages advertising. Websites, BLOG's and search ranking have spawned a new breed of competitive market share, competitive market advantages, and competitive warfare. Unless you are one of the fortunate who were born with a keyboard under one hand and an iPod in the other, you can easily find yourself overwhelmed by the terms, tools and technology; the endless options for building a successful online presence; the ongoing and never-ending new demands for content; and of course, the aggressive pursuit of the "#1 position" in Google.

For the people who publish online photo albums, genealogy pages from a boxed program, or engage in chats and apps with sites such as MySpace, keywords are seldom a concern or the consequences severe. However, for a small law firm dependent upon a stream of clients flowing in from the Internet, one keyword, a single key phrase, or repetitive "bot" visits can mean the difference between exposure above the bar (the bottom of your screen) or below the bar; and, indeed, position is everything.

When a website appears in the results below the bar, the phone calls into the firm from prospective clients cut in half; page two positioning reduces the calls to a third; and anything beyond that will cause your paralegal to check the telephone's dial tone.

With a few years of marketing under my belt (since 1970 something), as one of few selected to pilot test FindLaw in the field, I watched a small privately held company, with its legal directory and free legal statutes come into fruition as a Thomson company and earn its Thomson pin. As one of few consultants born into a family that analyzed data structures during dinner conversations, and with a desperate desire to help people achieve success through integration of all marketing channels, I resigned from FindLaw in July 2006 to continue my previous journey in professional online and offline marketing. Indeed, the days of "monthly quotas" are long gone, and while this BLOG may reveal the many obstacles encountered and endured over the past year, emphasis is justly placed on the task at hand of giving you the help and advice you came for.

My private partnership has fewer clients to whom we passionately devote our time and energy to their pole position. My staff and I have: studied millions of instances of competitive marketing "phenomena" both on and off the net; encountered nearly every security attack (viruses, trogans, etc) revealed on the FBI and FTC's website (either as the intended victim or by protecting our client who was the intended victim); collaborated with W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium); and studied nearly every Search Engine Marketing methodology. We continually pursue understanding of online marketing for the benefit of our clients, most of whom are small professional companies making their way in a world of endless filings, appeals, schematics, red tape and x-rays, with little time to devote to additional streaming rhetoric.

This BLOG will serve as your "advance sheets" to our private feeds (newsletters sent to registrants via e-mail) in which we hope to share helpful insights to online and marketing strategies, marketing channel integration, and a few of the many "pets" we've coined such as Next Dimension Marketing (TM), marketing "from desktop to world wide web" (TM), The Dominator (TM), and Coin This (TM).

Thank you for your time.

If you are a licensed professional, we invite you to contact us via email (info at marketingthedotcom.com) about private membership and access to InTheLoop - the newsletter published by MarketingTheDotCom.com.

Together... onward.

Tagged By Tim

2007-08-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Our very first post is in honor of Tim Stanley, CEO at Justia, co-founder of FindLaw.com, member of the board of directors for the largest online repository of legal content, search engine marketing extrodinaire', and above all - a man I'm honored to call a friend.

In Tim's words:
Justia is involved in online public interest projects, legal aid, civil rights, free legal and consumer information and educational projects. We recently developed a US Supreme Court Center, with all of the US Supreme Court decisions at http://supreme.justia.com, legal blog (blawg) search at http://blawgsearch.com and developed a site for Tulane Law School's Katrina Legal Aid group at http://www.fromthelaketotheriver.org/.

Justia's Marketing Group provides legal marketing solutions, including search engine optimized Web sites for law firms. We have also developed legal intranet portals with General Electric's finance group (http://www.ge.com) and Nolo Press (http://nolo.com). These are being used by well over 100,000 corporate and state employees.

Justia's Specialties:

Justia provides free legal, consumer and educational information online, including free case law, codes, regulations, case filings, blog search tools and legal summaries. Justia develops public interest, legal aid, and civil rights Internet Web sites for friends. Justia develops legal blogs and law firm Web sites, hosts an online lawyer directory and provides online advertising services for law firms.

Helpful information:
Justia: http://www.justia.com/
Justia's BLAWGS search: http://blawgsearch.justia.com/

Tag! You're it!

2007-08-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to be tagged online?

"Getting tagged" is just like playing the game of "TAG", or like getting called on in class to give your opinion or provide information. "Tagging" occurs frequently in the BLOG world when one BLOGGER tags another BLOGGER for a post on a particular topic.

The term "tagged" is derived from the fact that a person's name is usually displayed in a hyperlink to their site. The hyperlink code creates a "tag" to that person's website. BLOG world edicate compells one who has been "tagged" to respond in kind. Customarily, the "tagged" BLOGGer begins his or her response with, "... tagged by [name with hyperlink tag leading back to the tagger]."

"Tagged" is founded in marketing principles from the terminology, "tag line".

A tag line is a brief description about your company, firm, agency or product. It helps people understand your business focus, legal practice area, or your product's purpose. A tag line is one part of a brand's identity. For example, for Nike, the words, "Just Do It!" are branding text, and the "Nike swoosh" is a branding image. Whether viewed together or separately, the "swoosh" and the words, "Just Do It!" identify Nike and a segment of their product mix.