Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

In recent years, Google has built upon its international network of data centers to supplement its search offerings with a wide range of online (rather than desktop) software applications.  Most significantly for lawyers and law firms, Google in 2006 introduced a package of free online enterprise software application -- meant to compete with Microsoft Office -- called Google Apps.  In this January 2008 article, commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch discussed this new platform.

Virtual desktop:  Google now delivers free office software over the Internet

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Social networking sites like LinkedIn bring the kind of interaction that lawyers and other professionals enjoy in "live" business, industry, professional, civic, religious, charitable and personal interest groups onto the Internet -- and supercharge it.  In this September 2007 article, commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch interviews lawyers, law firms and legal consultants about the legal marketing uses of online social networks.

Linked in or left out:  Software and the Internet supercharge social networking

Sidebar:  For the truly adventurous:  Law practice in Second Life

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Thanks to two extremely influential changes -- the cross-provincial practice of law and advances in technology -- the best law firm satellite offices have evolved to become essential strategic tools for many modern law practices throughout Canada.  In this April 2007 article, commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch interviews a number of Canadian law firms that have achieved success with satellite offices.

Law firm satellite offices:  Passive orbiters or strategic tools?

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When it comes right down to it, client service is the quality many clients use to distinguish one law firm from another.  To keep their clients happy and to differentiate themselves from the competition, an increasing number of market-savvy law firms are creating, implementing and marketing formal client service standards.  In this December 2006 article, commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch discusses ways in which progressive Canadian law firms are creating and using client service standards.

Canadian law firms using client service sgtandards to set themselves apart

Sidebar:  Basic client service standards

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As a law firm grows larger -- subdividing into practice groups, moving onto more floors or into additional facilities, merging with or acquiring other firms -- it becomes much more difficult to know "who knows whom" and "who knows what."   A CRM system allows a law firm to manage all of its contacts in a central database, with several levels of security.  In this May 2006 article, commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch discusses the marketing uses of CRM systems by progressive Canadian law firms.

Know what you know:  Canadian firms use CRM systems

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Podcasting is a means of publishing and distributing digital audio (and increasingly video) files over the Internet.  They are becoming increasingly popular with lawyers and law firms -- as a tool to showcase expertise in an established and credible format.  In this January 2006 article, which was commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch discusses the successful use of podcasts by law firms in Canada.

Write about it?  Blog about it?  Broadcast it!

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The term "RSS" draws a blank stare from most lawyers and many of the administrators who work with them.    RSS is the technology that has fueled the amazing success of blogs on the Internet.  In fact, RSS feeds can propel much more than blogs.  In this January 2006 article, which was commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch discuses the marketing applications of RSS feeds and aggregators.

On beyond blogs:  RSS supercharges legal communciations for Web 2.0

Sidebar:  Different flavors of syndication

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In the modern marketplace, savvy businesses and law firms are adopting weblog technology as a useful and proactive tool -- to promote products and services and to manage their images.  In this November 2005 article for the Canadian Bar Association, Janet Ellen Raasch discusses the use of weblogs by forward-looking law firms in Canada.

Web logs help lawyers estalbish themselves -- quickly and inexpensively -- as thought leaders in a niche market

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