Estate Planning: What the new interest rate hikes can mean for your clients...

The Fed has raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. How could these changes effect your estate planning practice? 

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/estate-planning-how-to-adjust-to-rising-rates-1450866602

#estateplanning 

In as little as 8 years, your smartphone has now replaced...

Read more here...

Upcoming Wyoming Bar Association CLE's: September 9th, 2015 (Jackson Hole Wyoming)

Please join us for the upcoming CLE's hosted by the Wyoming Bar Association.

Faculty Speaker: Dustin Ruge

CLE Credits: 4 (total)

Times:

Social Media for Attorneys

9:45 AM - 10:45 AM (1 Credit)

Time for a Makeover? Attorney Brand Management
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (1 Credit)

Attorney Marketing on the Internet
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM (1 Credit)

LinkedIn Networking for Attorneys
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM (1 Credit)


Location: Snow King Hotel

400 East Snow King Avenue
Jackson, WY 83001

To Register: https://www.wyomingbar.org/for-lawyers/events/programs/?event=15#

#cle  #lawyermarketing #wybar 

Dustin Ruge Speaking at the NACDL Annual Meeting, Friday, July 24th, 2015

Dustin Ruge will be speaking at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Annual Meeting on the Top 5 Marketing Facts Every Attorney Should Know on July 24th @ 12 noon. Presentation will be live and available via webcast.

For more information and registration: 
http://www.nacdl.org/Annual/

Date & Time: Friday, July 24th at 12 noon

Location: Westin Denver Downtown Hotel in Denver, CO

Faculty: Dustin Ruge


#cle  #socialmedia #lawyermarketing #nacdl #criminaldefense

The Fate Of The Law School Class of 2010

A recent article in the New York Times chronicled the outcome of the 52,488 law school graduates from the 2010 graduating class. With changes in the legal market and joining the supply of 1.2 million attorneys in US, many ended up here...

• Only 40% are now working in law firms compared to 60% in 2000

• 85% of law school graduates have taken out some type of student loans

• The average outstanding student loans range from $77K - $112K 

• Many of the graduates who are practicing law have started their own practices due largely to the lack of jobs at larger law firms

All of this should be eye-opening for a number of reasons including:

1. The business of law is going through a transformation as is ripe for future disruptions such as private funding and equity ownership. 
2. Many of the younger attorneys joining the market tend to be much more technologically savvy and are more inclined to advertise and compete for business online. 
3. The amount of student debt carried by many of these attorneys can create higher levels of burden on them and their potential for free mobility in the market place. 
4. Many of the practice areas they tend to start out in as solo's are in criminal defense and family law- creating even higher levels of competition in these already competitive practice areas.

#lawyermarketing  #lawschool  #debt  #law  #lawschool

Is your website costing you business?

Attorneys often ask how consumers view them, how they search for them online, and how they can best position themselves for maximum consumer exposure and results.

But what about other attorneys?

Many attorneys I have worked with over the years claim to get some of their best clients and cases from other attorneys. Moreover, some of the best attorney referral sources are from other attorneys.

So what are attorneys doing to better market and position themselves to other attorneys and more importantly, what are other attorneys looking for in other attorneys and why? A recent in-house counsel report helps to shed light on this issue and how you as an attorney can take advantage of it.

Click Here To Read More...

#lawyermarketing  #referral  #attorney  #lawyer  #website  #conversions

Is Your Law Firm Ready for April 21?

April 21, 2015 could be a defining moment for your law firm. Why? Because Google is planning on telling the whole world (through their own search results) whether or not your online marketing in
mobile ready or not.

On average 30% of people (and growing) will access an attorney website each day through mobile devices. Moreover, attorneys who advertise to the Hispanic community could take an even bigger hit. On April 21st Google has announced that this can all change...especially for those who are not prepared and for those who are fortune enough to benefit from it.

Are you ready?

Click Here To Read More...


#lawyermarketing #attorney #lawyer #mobile #seo

AZ Bar Association CLE: Attorney Marketing On The Internet (Wed March 4th @ 12 noon) 1 CLE Credit

Please join us for the upcoming CLE on Attorney Marketing On The Internet hosted by the Arizona Bar Association.

Faculty Speaker: Dustin Ruge

CLE Credits: 1

Time: 12-1pm

Location: State Bar of Arizona

4201 N. 24th Street, Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85016-6266

To Register: https://azbar.inreachce.com/Details?groupId=ba54e60d-c9d0-43cb-97b5-c3b2ce1efd64

#cle  #lawyermarketing #azbar 

Is The Internet Really Dying? Many Say Yes

Yesterday we heard some pearls of wisdom out of Davos from the Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt

who proclaimed that “…the internet will disappear.” To many of us who work in the industry of internet marketing, this should come as no surprise…but to most it still is.

In November of 2014, an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “The Web Is Dying; Apps Are Killing It” was published after many prognostications dating back a number of years now that mobile is transforming the internet landscape. Additionally, many industry experts now predict that the number of people accessing websites in 2015 from mobile devices will exceed those who access them by PC. Why is this important? Because most websites in use today were not designed for mobile access.

But then again, neither was the web.

Many product innovators talk about the point of inflection in which products and industries hit their peak growth and then decline. So has the web and the internet as we know it today hit the point of inflection? More importantly, what forms of information and access will now replace it?

Here is what I do know: the growth of the internet without the simultaneous growth in access points (personal PC’s) was not possible. The growth of personal computing enabled the internet to grow and flourish but the sales of personal computers is now in decline - being replaced by mobile devices. Anybody who has ever tried to access and use the internet on a mobile device which is a mere fraction of the size of a 1024 X 768 resolution computer screen knows the limitations this now presents. Additionally, mobile now enables and utilizes something else a PC could never do: your location at any one time. This is what has help lead to alternative search applications we now refer to as “Apps.”

How have Apps changed the game? We know from the aforementioned Wall Street Journal article that 85% of smart phone users spend their smart phone time on Apps while only 14% of their time is spent on the web. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to visit any school, restaurant and bar to notice how pervasive the amount of time people now spend on smart phones truly is.

So here is the million dollar question: what will replace the internet? 

First off, nobody knows the answer to this question and if they think they do, well, they don’t. We may not be able to predict the future but we can look at trends and see the following:

• Apps are beginning of the next evolution of virtual productivity. As I have previously written, Apps are revolutionary in how they enable and improve processes in our everyday lives and the impacts are pervasive. Uber for example, which was in large part enabled by the Uber App is now helping to transform the nightlife and revitalization of downtown LA.

• The days of the website are dying along with the web. Will websites every completely go away? Not likely. But what will change is how websites are used and their overall importance in internet marketing. Far too many brand plays are now being made into the web for people to only trust one source of information – namely your own website. Decisions made online are increasingly non-linear and involve multiple information points and citations. Moreover, smart phone access is leading to increasing levels of alternative search vehicles and away from major search engines which were the mainstay of websites. 

 

• Google’s biggest threat is mobile – which is likely why they are trying to roll-out high-speed fiber networks and now mobile wireless services to their customers. Google understands what ultimately enabled the web (and their initial meteoric growth) and how losing that enablement threatens all of the advertising revenue they receive from businesses who advertise on their sustained search volume that the web provides.

• Your brand is no longer your website alone that you control but increasingly every web property that gives visibility to your brand that you largely do not. People now trust third party sources and reviews about you – even from nameless, faceless people on the web. This is what helped enable companies like Amazon.com to sell books and YELP to sell advertising. Search and trust on the web is no longer linear but involves multiple decision points all of which increasingly lead to action or inaction. How much inaction? Recent studies have shown that 45% of consumers have found something online that caused them NOT to do business with someone and most of this came from third-party brand sources.

In conclusion, yes, the web and the internet as we know it is indeed going through a major innovation transformation led largely by the change in access enablement from the personal PC to smart phones. Some will call this the death of the web or the disappearance of the internet – all of which makes for great headlines. What they don’t tell you is how quickly this death is coming and what it will be replaced with but we do know this for certain: it is coming and faster than anybody thought…

#lawyermarketing  #apps  #mobile  #branding  #internet  #web