So, we're into December. Are you ready for Christmas? I don't mean present shopping, I mean things like getting an e-card organised, christmasifying your website, putting your office closing dates on your website and in your email footer? If you need help you might want to look at our range of Christmas marketing opportunities .

There are two interesting reports that I came across recently that might not have reached your inbox yet. One is the Legal Services reform paper from HM Government. The Orange Rag has a good summary and a link to the full PDF. The other is The Big Bang Report from the Byfield Consultancy & Fox Williams. Subtitled "Opportunities and threats in the new legal services market" it's a well constructed research piece on the current market framework and the opportunities presented therein.

So, that's all from me, please have a glance at the other articles in this newsletter, have a great December a merry Christmas/happy Hannukah/happy New Year/happy holidays* and I'll speak to you next in 2010.

Regs....David.

* Delete as applicable (see my blog for more on this topic)

In this issue:

• Smartphones...the new rage?
• 2010 New Year Resolution
• Social Media...still all the rage
• Google Caffeine Update
• Site of the Month - John Collins & Partners
• Word Clouds
• Featured LinkedIn Discussion
• The Funny Bit at the End - LipDub

Smartphones...the new rage?

Do you have a Blackberry, iPhone, HTC or Palm Pre? I guess you love it. Why do we get so passionate about gadgets? There's no doubt that the impressive usability of the iPhone has fuelled the recent surge of interest in smartphones. So I'm on a hunt to find out which was the first UK law firm to publish an iPhone app. The first I know of is the Barnetts case tracking app but others include the Bott & Co. Car Incident Assessment app and a digital dictation app from dictate2us. If you know of iPhone applications developed by UK law firms please do let me know.

2010 New Year Resolution

Repeat after me: "I must add email newsletters to my marketing mix, I must add email newsletters to my marketing mix." There is at least 10 years of good evidence that one of the most effective marketing tools is the humble email newsletter. Yet many law firms are still not taking advantage of this, the most common excuse being "I don't have email addresses" . Why not make 2010 the year that you address the issue. We can make it really easy for you with our email newsletter service.

Social Media...still all the rage

Social media still seems to be all the rage. Our recent tips booklet on this very subject is now finished, along with a "social media service" that aims to give clients a headstart with their social media strategy. Full details at http://www.conscious.co.uk/socialmedia

One great LinkedIn application I came across recently was Company Buzz. Company buzz is an application you can add to your Linkedin profile that will monitor Twitter feeds about companies found in your profile. You can edit which companies and phrases it monitors. The results can be displayed on your public profile or on your personal Linkedin homepage. Well worth a look!

For a more complete "reputation management" application, you might want to look at Reputation Defender.

Google Caffeine Update

There has been some chatter around the SEO world recently that the next "Google update" has been rolled out onto one of their data centres for more widespread testing. You can access that data centre using http://209.85.225.103. You may know that Google updates it's algorithm from time to time and when they roll out the changes you should keep an eye on your search engine positions to see if anything changes drastically, or if you want to be really diligent, do some searches on http://www.google.co.uk and the compare the results to the other server above. We will be. Bear in mind that it is unlikely that Google will do a full roll-out before the New Year for risk of alienating online retailers and advertisers during the most important shopping season of the year.

Site of the Month - John Collins & Partners

This month we feature a brand new site that has just gone live for John Collins & Partners (http://www.jcpsolicitors.co.uk/). Classic use of white space, combined with some striking imagery in the header (used in offline marketing materials & their office) combines for an effective home page design. Not only that but there are some great "signposts" to newsletter signup, library, Twitter and even Facebook.

Word Clouds

Perhaps you have noticed that from time to time that you come across websites that use "word clouds" (like the small image on the left). A word cloud is a compact collection of words shown in various sizes. Originally it was used to show what search terms were most popular on a particular site. Increasingly it's just being used as eye candy on sites or in presentations. If you want to make one of these then try http://www.wordle.net. It's fab, and what we used to make the image shown on front of some recent presentations we gave at the Law NEC event. Give Wordle a try, it’s very easy to use...it must be, I can use it!

Featured LinkedIn Discussion

Referral fees? Do they make your blood boil? A necessary evil? A standard business practice for most industries? Where do you stand? Whatever your view why not come and participate in the discussion in the Law Gazette LinkedIn group and join the other 35+ people who have posted a comment. There's also a great question in the Conscious Solutions Client Network titled "LawNet, QualitySolicitors.com, The Legal Alliance - shouldn't the Law Society be doing this?" however you will only be able to get to this discussion if you are a Conscious client.

The Funny Bit at the End - LipDub

Are you into the Black Eyed Peas? Well even if you aren't sure who they are you will recognise this song, it's been all over the airwaves recently. This YouTube video is a "LipDub" version of the song. LipDub is a type of video that combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video (there is more info on Wikipedia). Whatever you think of the song or the idea you can't help but be impressed by how much organising this group of students put into the whole thing. Oh, and just the beat of the song alone might make you smile. If you prefer Bryan Adams watch this video.