I’ll let you know the results after a few different attempts at Facebook ads.
Here is the picture that I uploaded for this second ad:
And, of course, the copy reads:
Attorneys, Find out who’s hiring in the legal industry for less than $5.
Here’s the real question: Does it entice you?
Twitter’s e-mail was awesome.
Why?
1) I opened it.
2) I read through it.
3) It provoked my attention.
Twitter is so good. I can’t decide whether to even hold this against them.
Other questions that I’m wondering:
The Twitter team sent out an e-mail to Twitter’s users (Subject: “Update: Twitter Apps and You”) and posted a few updates about Twitter’s evolution on its official blog (e.g., The Evolving Ecosystem or A Better Twitter.) Each presents information about Twitter’s growth and changes but uses slightly different language to communicate or emphasize certain points. Does that make sense – should the same information be found in one place? Or, even if the varied perspectives/distribution methods are valid, is cross-referencing appropriate?
I love Google Voice. I use it for personal reasons so I figured I may as well try it for business reasons as well. Rather than go with a local number, I decided to go with a vanity number (local to Houston).
You can now reach me at 1.832.ESQ.JOBS (1.832.377.5627).
For the next week, I’m making all of my outgoing business calls via Google Voice just to test it out. I’m guessing it will sound more professional than calling people via a cell phone, especially because AT&T doesn’t work too well around my neighborhood.
For this project, I bought a cool, new pair of headphones (with laser-tuned audio!) that have a microphone (and a mute button!). So far, I’m pretty happy with my purchase although I could see a noise-canceling microphone coming in handy or a wireless headset or a headset that connects via bluetooth. Maybe that’s how I’ll upgrade.
This past weekend, I celebrated Yom Kippur. When I went to atone for my sins, I had no idea that my websites went down. My mind was preoccupied with fulfilling my promise to be nicer to my family this year and figuring out the ingredients in gefilte fish.
If you rely on your websites to generate income – whether directly by selling products or ads or indirectly by finding new customers or clients – you’re operating at a loss during the time your websites are down. Every second that a website takes to load or every error message a website reveals means another frustrated sale or client. To fix a website requires patience – patience to find the problem and patience to fix it. As the seconds tick on, the more anxious you become but the more you have to stay focused on the task at hand.
Whether it takes hours or days to fix your website, this is lost time. It’s hard to say the time spent is unproductive or a waste. There is no other choice: you must fix your websites before you can move on to other work. It’s nothing less than a prioritized task that rewards you by returning your site to its status quo – the same site you started with hours or days ago – with the added bonus that you now have to find time to make up all the work you missed.
…so that’s where I’ll be if you need me.
After some thinking, I’ve decided to move my first webinar to next Wednesday, September 15th from 4-5 pm and my second webinar to Wednesday, September 29th from 4-5 pm.
I know this is the second time I’ve moved the webinar so let me explain my reasons:
1) We had a short week due to Labor Day
2) Those who celebrate Rosh Hashanah have an even shorter week
3) I’d like to be able to get the power point slides to the attendees before they attend so they can have questions prepared.
4) Along the same lines, I’d like to provide more information about what I’ll be presenting during the webinar so potential guests will know if it’s for them.
On Friday, I’ll post a brief blurb about my presentation so you can find out more about it and decide whether it’s worth while for you to attend.
In the meantime, I’ll send an update to everyone who already registered for the webinar (thank you!). You’ll get to either join for free next week or, if you can’t make it, I’ll hold a private “redux” for you.
And, no, I am not making a habit of changing times for webinars. But, like the title says, entrepreneurs make mistakes.
Next week, I will host my first campfire, an hour long training session that will include a presentation, Q and A, and any chatter for which we have time!
On Wed, Sep 8 2010, 4:00p.m. – 5:00p.m. EDT, the campfire will focus on how to use WordPress 3.0 to create a business website. You can sign up here.
WordPress, Websites, and Your Firm
Site members and newsletter subscribers will be able to sign up at a discount.
If you don’t receive the announcement but believe you should have, send me an e-mail! melissa at recruiteresq
Some law firms eschew social networking sites due to their potential as time-wasters and block access to them from work.
Other lawyers or law firms see social networking sites as a way to build or fortify relationships or find smoking gun evidence to win cases (e.g., in divorce matters). Usually, these are the firms that also take the time to draft careful social media policies to guide attorneys and staff members on how to use these sites.
Which one has it right? Well, in general, it’s hard to say without knowing the costs – including the opportunity costs – and benefits. When it comes to social media, it becomes even trickier. The costs – especially the opportunity costs of attorneys or staff members billing clients or doing other tasks – are incurred immediately. On the other hand, the benefits usually take months to become apparent. Even then, the benefits may be too intangible to assess a value.
And then Google steps in and changes the game.
Gmail users may now place calls directly from Gmail to any telephone in the United States for free. Telephone calls abroad are relatively cheap as well. Read the official announcement here or, if you prefer, watch the commercial. (I think it’s cute and clever.)
Disregarding what this means for VoIP in law firms or international communication, this is social media with immediately realized benefits(!), especially for small firms. For one, Gmail calls save cell phone minutes. For two, it makes it much easier to “pick up the phone” and keep in touch with people – clients, the associate down the hall, colleagues at other firms. Okay, okay, I’ll admit that this is not a scientific observation but rather personal opinion: Most of us who have grown up on web or video chatting did so to keep in touch with family and friends. This association makes the technology much more casual and less intimidating.
I’d be interested to know how firms are reacting to this announcement:
Further reading: Gmail Phone Calls Are All About Facebook, Not Skype (Wired)
After an unexpected “vacation” and no internet, I’m going to push back my first campfire to September 8, 2010.
Trust me, it will be worth the wait. Click here to get tickets.
Starting in September, I will host a “campfire” every other Wednesday from 4-5 pm Eastern.
The campfires will include 30 minutes of training on technology or career topics and 30 minutes of chatter.
Here is the tentative schedule of topics:
WordPress, Websites, and Your Firm
September 1, 2010
4-5 pm
Writing Effective Law Job Posts
September 15, 2010
4-5 pm
Cost for Non-Members: $19.99
Cost for Site Members: $9.99
Today, will be my second year attending the info360 AIIM Expo and ON DEMAND Expo here in Philadelphia. This year I also hope to spend more time at the ON DEMAND Conference and Expo, which as the press release describes is “the largest digital printing and automated production event in North America.”
The two organizations and conferences focus on different aspects of technology within an organization. ON DEMAND focuses on all the big things in digital document production arena. The info360: AIIM Expo reaches out to providing the information management industry with technologies and strategies to “capture, manage, share, access, and store documents and digital data.”
As someone who is more focused on content rather than the document production aspect, I will mainly be headed over to the AIIM events. In specific, I am heading over to sessions about content creation, how to access content easily, how to share content, and also a session on e-discovery. However, so long as my pass allows me, I plan toto wander through the ON DEMAND expo hall to see “the next big thing” in both areas.
For those of you in Philadelphia, the conference is set for today, April 20th until April 22, 2010 in the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Ok, I’m back to taking notes on the opening keynote entitled, “Use the Downturn to Rethink and Thrive” by Michael Rogers, MSNBC’s “The Practical Futurist” and Technology Expert.
Once I get time to post the entire schedule, let me know if there are any specific subjects you’d like me to blog about and/or any questions you have for any of the presenters.
(Note: I will put in links later. So check back later.)